Long Beach IMS

[Dennis Andress]

Not many bikes in the parking lot. Can Am was the only manufacture willing to do demo rides.

 

Interesting saddlebag shape on the Honda VFR.

 

 

K1600GT

I don't get how something this big can be considered "sport." It's a really nice bike and I heard lots of positive comments. My impression? Simply that the seat felt very wide. Looking at it from this angle shows the frame is wider still.

 

 

GT on top. GTL on bottom

 

Close up of the GTL's dash.

 

Hopefully the little airfoil on the back of the saddlebags is just there for style...

 

 

 

These look like more fun.

 

 

Cute

 

Not cute

 

 

And, a bit of history.

[pbbeck]

I went to the show in LB. This caught my eye...

 

 

The Royal Enfield looks like it would be a hoot to commute on!

[Boffin]

 

The Royal Enfield looks like it would be a hoot to commute on!

 

Just so long as you do not ride fast roads - 65-70 is about tops for these, though fuel economy is fairly good.

 

Andy

[Motodan]

Thanks for the pixs. And your comment of the K16's (width) seat....interesting as that is one of BMW ad comments....how the engine/trans is narrow under seat area to allow narrower seat and foot peg relationship....helping leg to ground ratio Guess one must always assume the Ad writer never really sat on the product.

[Dennis Andress]

Thanks for the pixs. And your comment of the K16's (width) seat....interesting as that is one of BMW ad comments....how the engine/trans is narrow under seat area to allow narrower seat and foot peg relationship....helping leg to ground ratio Guess one must always assume the Ad writer never really sat on the product.

 

Don't take my word for it. My impression is tainted by my dislike of large bikes.

 

I also noticed the GTL's seat was considerably lower.

[essman]

Being as it was a rainy day, it seemed like there was a good crowd and it was a fun show. I can't help but think the dash of the new 1600 reminds me of , as a youngster, our family's 1957 Ford wagon dashboard--no GPS, of course.

[pbbeck]

There's not much that appeals to me about the new K1600GT. Dimensionally, it is nearly the same as my 1200GT, so why does it seem so ungainly and large. The seating position is radically different, like an RT with barbacks. The forward-leaning "GT" position is no more. The dash - at least when it is off - looks like it came out of a 1982 Reliant K.

 

Of course when the new K1200GTs came out I didn't like them. Then look what happened.

[Firefight911]

Dimensionally, it is nearly the same as my 1200GT, so why does it seem so ungainly and large.

 

2 inch longer wheelbase to start!

[sgendler]

Where are the pics of the v4 Tuono, dammit!

[Dennis Andress]

Sorry Sammy, I missed the Tuono.

[Dennis Andress]

Since there's been quite a bit of chatter about the K1600 around here...

 

Maybe something to pencil in on that pre-order form...

 

I wonder if I can retrofit that.

 

The bike seemed very narrow from the front. Note the

air intakes on each side of the oil cooler.

 

The front of the little silver thing I circled pivots out and around. It looked and felt like some kind of air vane. It can pivot up to 180 degrees.

 

 

I got a few shots of the Tenere too. There was not much interest in it.

 

 

 

 

[notacop]

Those Tenere' bag mounts look nice and tidy. Not like my Givi's were.

[kmac]

Are those bags on the Tenere aluminum or some kind of ABS/nylon/poly construction?

[Firefight911]

Are those bags on the Tenere aluminum or some kind of ABS/nylon/poly construction?

 

Plastic with aluminized panels.

[kmac]

So is that a plastic with a stamped aluminum plate over the top on the flat surfaces? Are they all plastic inside? Or is it only plastic on the corners like it looks?

[Firefight911]

All plastic with aluminized wrappers for looks only.

[TEWKS]

A musical question for the very two bikes tugging at me right now, the S10 & K16. Yeah I know, i'm a goofball.

 

Thanks for the pics D!

 

 

Pat

[kmac]

You need one of each, then i need to come and ride your spare one so we can do side by side comparisons. Then you keep the one you like the best and I ride the other one home so you dont have to worry about storing it.

[TEWKS]

You need one of each

 

Why the heck didn't I think of that! Problem solved, that was easy!

 

 

Pat

[Dennis Andress]

Thanks for the pics D!

Pat

 

You're welcome.

 

It seems that every touring bike on the market these days, except the Gold Wing, is labeled "Sport Touring." Our moniker has been stolen by marketing...

 

In the early `80's I restored an R90S rat into my dream touring bike. At the same time an Air Force buddy had a 1976 Gold Wing. It took a few months before I got over it and asked to ride it. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I put more than a few miles on his bike over the next couple of years. It was a good bike, just limited by its size and weight.

 

My previous bike was an `02 K1200 RS. I loved that bike; strong, stable, and fast. After around 40,000 miles the thought came to me that it did everything that old Gold Wing did, only better. To this day I think of the RS as a modern version of an early Wing. Yet it was still limited by its size and weight...

 

I'm riding a K1300 S now. I find that I compare it to that old R90S, which I rode for over 10 years. Where the RS was a full on touring bike with low bars, the S is a sport bike with minimalistic touring features. That works for me, at the end of the day, I find that I am not as tired and sore with the S. I'm imagine that some day I'll find it to be limited by its size and weight too. By then I'll be ready to buy an old airhead...

 

 

[Paul Mihalka]

This is what a R90S touring bike looks like: (Venezuelan Andes, 1977)

 

[StuGotz]

This is what a R90S touring bike looks like: (Venezuelan Andes, 1977)

 

 

Back when men were men, and ya had to use a bungee to hold your Krausers on....

 

Just kiddin' ya Paul, thanks for the pic.

 

And thanks Dennis for the pic's...wonder if IMS show days are numbered...

 

MB>

[beemerman2k]

Paul, those old air heads made such a huge impression on me in my teen years during the 70's, that I vowed I would buy one of my own someday. I was nuts about the R90S and the R100RT, thus my R1100RT. Those bikes stood apart from the rest for me even back then.

[Limecreek]

Paul, those old air heads made such a huge impression on me in my teen years during the 70's, that I vowed I would buy one of my own someday. I was nuts about the R90S and the R100RT, thus my R1100RT. Those bikes stood apart from the rest for me even back then.

 

Same here; so much so that I am currently shopping for an R100RS project bike.

 

Thirty years from now will our kids be looking for K1600GT project bikes? Will they elicit the same romantic emotion I have for the R100RS?

 

[kmac]

Now that is an interesting question and idea. Personally I doubt it.

I doubt that many of those will even be around. All of the older machinery like cars and bikes had such a simplicity that makes them so rebuildable. Plus so much of them was steel or aluminum and not so much plastic.

 

Old stuff was about clean lines, simple beauty, improved reliability, and small steps in improved performance. New stuff is all about technology and gadgets. That stuff will always be out dated in a few years.

 

I still se teenagers at my daughters school driving 60s and 70s muscle cars and beetles that they are building just like some of us did back in the 70s and 80s. You dont see much in the way of 80s and 90s plastic mobiles that they are building.

 

Those cars and bikes may have worked nice when new, been more comfy than older bikes and cars and had more amenities, but once that plactic crap starts to break down the entire vehicle looses any appeal.

[Glenn Reed]

Peter Egan did a good piece on this a few years back. The technology to rebuild/restore cares from the 60's on back is relatively straightforward. Once they start getting into electronic/computer controlled bits, it's not going to be anywhere near as easy.

 

As tto beemerman2K's point, I too was enthralled by the R bikes when I started riding in the late 70's and early 80's, thus the 1100RT now. I actually rode an R80RT to see if that was for me, and it didn't work, but they still are classic to behold.

[Quinn]

Wait, are you saying that my beanbag chair isn't an antique? How about my Radio Shack TRS80 computer?

 

----