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Another ugly bike/fire David Robb

10K views 41 replies 24 participants last post by  Larry 
#1 ·


what year is this bike from..... 1983
i really can't understand how BMW can introduce 2 drop-dead gorgeous bikes last year..
the K1200S and the K1200R.....
and then come up with these 2 dogs

The R1200S and the K1200GT

ok, maybe some like this bike above
i surely don't

greg
 
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#4 ·
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#5 ·
Deans_BMW said:
OK guys, what is the secret to posting pics on this site??????????????

Greg, I have to respectively disagree with you.
i was just trying to get folks talking. who really knows what this bike looks like in person... no different than the new KGT, which thrills me very little from the 2D perspective as well.

time will tell

and.....
as for the comments above about the GS..... you ain't kidding
but she sure is fine to ride just about anywhere

greg
 
#6 ·
Greg,

I almost get the impression that BMW is doing a "Back to the Future" thing with the new designs. Remember the K1?


The K100?


The K1100RS?


And if you squint really hard, you can see all the history of BMW design in the new bikes
 
#7 ·
interesting perspective, jeff... and quite accurate.
do you suppose that this is deliberate, or have they finally run out of original thoughts?
the surely showed us some forward thinking last year, so why the michael j. fox show this year?

greg
 
#8 ·
Greg,

There's no accounting for taste.

I've always liked "quirky" even "odd". (Go Figure!)

Anyway,

1) I really like the R1200S. The shape of the tank cover/fairing is a bit "off", but nothing a graphic couldn't help (the red/silver one is better looking to me.) It looks elemental and personifies "form follows function". I could see myself owning one.

2) The K1200S leaves me a little cold. Just nothing special about it.

3) Ditto for the new K1200GT - might look better in person or in a different color/trim.

4) OTOH, I like the K1200R. But that new Aprilia (Tuono?) looks thrown together.

5) The R1200RT doesn't push any buttons - the bulbousness (almost cartoonish) of the R1100RT took a while to grow on me, but I now prefer it.

6) The R1200ST is one hell of a package, but the front end treatment is too odd even for me, and I feel there's no real market for it.

All in all, BMW needs to do SOMETHING to increase market share - at least they're not stagnating.

I no longer have it, but THIS is what a BMW should look like:

 

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#9 ·
I'm not sure how to answer that. The K1200S looked just as ugly when the pictures first came out. It wasn't until you saw it in person could you come to love it. Every time I look at that "slab-o-plastic" side fairing, it just SCREAMS for some sort of graphic. Stripes? Checkers? Something!
 
#10 ·
fasteddieb said:
Greg,

There's no accounting for taste.

I've always liked "quirky" even "odd". (Go Figure!)
If "quirky" and "odd" was what they were going for, then they hit a home run. I still look at these latest designs and have come to the conclusion that they either wanted some late 80s BMW retro thing, they were lazy in the CAD system and avoided smooth curves, or the Motorrad division's budgets are so thin that they jumped the "modelling in clay" phase of design.

Give it 5 years, and this too will pass.
 
#11 ·
I didn't like the pictures of the S when I first saw them and I remember a lot of people agreeing. Same type comments about being too Japanese like, etc. Now it is drop dead-gorgeous?

I am not arguing with you, because I like the S now too! I still think that there are certain aspects of the RS/GT that look better than the S and that they both have their own place. I have a feeling that we may feel the same about the new bikes once we see them in person and they grow on us!

Randy
 
#13 ·
6 months ago, I thought to myself every time I stopped at the dealer, 'who the hell would ride that stupid looking GS?'....now I look at them and think of the comfort, the dual-ness and the styling, and yeah, I would really like one. Hell, I am halfway coming around on the freak of nature naked street bikes as well...still not sure why. Think it's just the beauty of the machine within. :)
 
#14 ·
i look forward to seeing that GT in person..... and the RS as well.
i wish we could all experience those 2 new bikes in person together
to get each other's reactions...
that would be cool

greg
 
#15 ·
ClearwaterBMW said:
i look forward to seeing that GT in person..... and the RS as well.
i wish we could all experience those 2 new bikes in person together
to get each other's reactions...
that would be cool

greg
Greg,
How about a ride to eat near the dealer when the new bikes arrive? You're pretty good at organizing these, I may even make this one! I can't make the Blackwater Inn, I'm spending the week in Slidell helping my brother in law with flood repair.
 
#16 ·
Some of these bikes are supposed to show up in the US at the Long Beach Cycle World International Motorcycle Show. I've been told that the K1200GT will be there, but I also expect the others as well.

It sure sucks to have been on the early part of the IMS schedule.
 
#17 ·
I like the looks of the new bikes especially the GT (but not better than my '05).

About the only bike I really think is ugly in the current lineup is the GS, followed closely by the ST but...let's face it, people will buy anything, even a Pontiac Aztek.

I predict the new bikes will sell well.
 
#20 ·
Bobmws said:
Greg,
How about a ride to eat near the dealer when the new bikes arrive? You're pretty good at organizing these, I may even make this one! I can't make the Blackwater Inn, I'm spending the week in Slidell helping my brother in law with flood repair.
i surely be up for that...
glad that you'll be in slidell as that is much more important.
with my busted left ankle i'll have to be there in my armada instead of a bike.
katrina.... she keeps on giving
one of my nurse's daughters is rebuilding her house in biloxi
another of my receptionist's brother is rebuilding in hattiesburg

and now Jeff says that we'll have to go all the way to california to see the bike
sounds like a nice road trip to me

we can charter some jet and pick jeff up along the way....
he can climb on board with some texas-sized feast for us all to enjoy

who's in?

greg
 
#22 ·
<<i really can't understand how BMW can introduce 2 drop-dead gorgeous bikes last year..
the K1200S and the K1200R.....
and then come up with these 2 dogs

The R1200S and the K1200GT

ok, maybe some like this bike above
i surely don't

greg>>

Greg,

You really stirred things up here. The longest thread yet on the R-bikes forum. And that's good since there's been some rumbling that the forum isn't getting enough posts to continue on as a stand-alone category.

I usually don't comment on these forums on the merits of how a given motorcycle looks. (my wife says I'm completely tone deaf and have no sense of style. <g>).

But, I have both the R12ST and the K-S sharing space side-by-side in the garage; and, I frequently wash both of them, one behind the other. When they are both glistengly clean, I step back and admire both of them. If anything, the compound curves and angles on the ST are, at once, more intricate and intriguing than the more horizontal planes on the K-S. It almost looks as if the designers took the easy route on the K-S and sweated the details a little more on the ST. The ST does have a bit of that alien look to it, admittedly emphasized by the vertically stacked headlight, but as I've said before, the non-riding public always gravitates to the ST when the two of them are parked together; it seems to intrigue them, too. In sum, I think the ST has the more complex styling of the two, while the K-S might be more generic.

And, then again, maybe I'm all wet, especially after washing the two of them. <g>. I have no comment on the R12S, except to say that BMW finally gave the R-S crowd the lighter, more powerful, more focused bike they've apparently been asking BMW to develop for them.

My prediction on the new GT. They won't be able to keep them in stock, if they can keep the price from skyrocketing. 155 horsepower, full bags, lower exhaust, reasonable weight, decent fuel capacity, all those toys! - the North American market is going to go for this one. Dad can go touring with Mom and then turn around and play Ricky racer!

Miles
 
#23 ·
eljeffe said:
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For example, the image Greg posted above would look in the code as:

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kinda like this?
 

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#24 ·
Miles_MillerMy prediction on the new GT. They won't be able to keep them in stock said:
#1.
happy to stir things up on the R forum as i sit around and convalesce my left fibula
4 more weeks until i'm riding again
this place is really looking great/very grateful to be here

#2. i sure hope you are right about the GT... it's all in the price this year. with the FJR breathing down it's neck... bmw riders have always appreciated the offerings from yamaha so it won't take much to get a WHOLE BUNCH OF GUYS AND GALS to defect to the big "Y" if the GT's price is 6+K more than the GT

IMHO, of course

greg
 
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