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Editor@RubberMag.com |
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 BMW
Unleashes The Beast: K1200R
Our full feature on the new Bavarian
powerhouse can be found in the BIKES
section, or right here!
Just when you thought the growing "naked bike" segment
- sportbikes shorn of their plastic wrappers, unveiled for all
to see - was all about showing off and nothing about substance
and style, here comes the 2006 BMW K 1200 R. Unlike the weightlifter
who can barely scratch his own back, the K 1200 R is powerfully
built yet agile, massively quick yet perfectly docile for those
times you want to take it easy. It's the ideal combination of
menace and class.
BMW has taken advantage of the incredible technology housed in
the new K 1200 S - a straight-line speed machine that also accelerates,
turns and stops like a truly modern superbike - to create the
K 1200 R. In fact, except for revised bodywork and ergonomics,
the two bikes are very much alike.
And yet the two motorcycles couldn't be further in temperament.
The K 1200 S is sophisticated, urbane, while the K 1200 R is
built for the rider who lives for sport riding and uncompromised
appearances. The K 1200 R eschews full bodywork for a tidy, aerodynamically
designed instrument-panel fairing that incorporates powerful
asymmetrical headlights and the engine oil cooler. This is a
face that performance-oriented riders won't soon forget. Nor
will race fans, as the K 1200 R will form the basis for the BMW
Power Cup, with races to be held all over the world on special
race-prepared machines. Taking up where the popular Boxer Cup
left off, it's likely that the best, hardest-fought racing in
2005 will come from the ranks of the Power Cup.
Behold the most powerful production motorcycle engine BMW has
ever built, the beneficiary of decades competing at the highest
levels of motorsport. But it's not just about sheer thrust. Indeed,
the K 1200 R's revolutionary inline-four-cylinder engine sets
new standards not just for power - and, as important, excellent
power delivery - but it was designed from the start to be compact
and light. Moreover, its unusual configuration - the cylinder
block is canted toward the front wheel by 55 degrees - not only
reduces the entire motorcycle's center of gravity but also permits
innovating packaging solutions. The K 1200 R's layout is as far
from a me-too arrangement as you can get.
Thorough development of the 1157cc, liquid-cooled engine made
possible the 167-horsepower peak but is also responsible for
the engine's broad, flat torque curve; although it peaks at 94
pound-feet, 80 percent of the peak torque is available from 3500
rpm all the way to the 11,000-rpm redline. That's flexibility.
Maintaining high power and low emissions is one responsibility
of the K 1200 R's BMS-K (BMW Engine Management with Anti-Knock
Control) Digital Motor Electronics. This system features fully
sequential cylinder-specific fuel injection with integrated anti-knock
control and a three-way catalytic converter in the exhaust. Combining
the use of a sensitive oxygen sensor and fast feedback processing
in the engine-control computer with special anti-knock sensors,
allowed BMW's engineers to tune the K 1200 R's engine for maximum
power yet retain the ability to use less-than-premium fuel. (Maximum
power will be obtained on premium fuel, however.)
This sophisticated injection system allowed BMW's engineers to
boost the K 1200 R's compression ratio to a race-like 13.0:1,
which benefits not only power, but combustion efficiency as well.
That gives the rider more power and torque, and increases fuel
economy at the same time.
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