Riding a Missile for a day - BMW K1600 GT

[spacey1]

Not sure where to start with this...

Friday: Got a phone call late. You know how it goes. "What are you wearing?" No! Not that call.

The "what are you doing" call. I'm talking 17.30 Friday evening... Something like this...

Him: "Do you want to come down to the Mulberry Hill Farm?"
Me: "When?"
Him: "Now"
Me: "What?"
Him: Now or early in the morning, before it gets too hot.
Me: "It'll be dark..."
Me: "OK, I'll just check my busy schedule... ... Sure..."

So an hour later, I've packed almost nothing and ready to go. I actually haven't ridden in the dark for quite some time (more than a year or two, covid years that is... an eternity).
But heck, I installed those Denali driving lamps on the old 2008 R1200 GSA to ride safely at night didn't I? And it did get a service and a wash last weekend, no...

So in typical form, sans any sort of plan, I'm off. Fuel fill to the brim in Armadale. Did I mention hot. Blazing...
No GPS. Quick plan in my head. Albany Highway beeline to Narrogin for an overnighter, then Mulberry Hill in the morning.

The heat was oppressive. Road construction everywhere. Detours galore... It's way dark by now...

What am I doing in Pinjarra?

Quick reference to Google Maps. Oops.

So up the scarp and across to Dwellingup in the dark. Then over Pinjarra-Williams Road to Williams and Narrogin.
Lucky my Host and Hostess were understanding with the late hour when I arrived, complete with delightfully roasted chicken, spuds and salad.

Hit the sack around 23.30, up at sparrows to hopefully get underway in the cooler part of the day.

[spacey1]

Saturday: Cooler! It didn't happen. The A/C in the chinese ute is out of action. Great Wall's 7 year warranty is not worth much if they can't supply the parts to fix problems.
Still, that aside, the ol' chinese ute still does the job. Cheap and cheerful. But soddenly hot with no A/C.
The running in-car commentary was not to worry. After Mt Barker, it would cool down. Nope. Albany was blazing hot too.

With a limited list of chores to complete, unload the heavy gear off the chinese ute (that's what tractors are for). Leaking tap fixed. Drink gazillion litres of water. Jobs done.

Fish and chips on the Albany Jetty foreshore offered only small relief from the heat.
Then over the walk bridge to the pub, to be interrogated for covid authentication, and cold beer...

A visit to the Albany Model Railway display filled in a little time.





Rail Enthusiasts Disease (As if covid wasn't enough)


The Germans know how to build trains...


Then back to the farm for an ATV tour of the paddocks and sunset viewing with beer.

Sound good? It was even cold (about 20 degC) by this time requiring a jacket to ride around. Unbelievable!

[spacey1]

Sunday (Prime Time): Time to test the electric reverse on the 2019 BMW K1600 GT. Nice. It's raining. Oh great. 160 hp and 175 nm and it's the 1st rain of the year after a long dry hot summer.
And now officially cold, well sub-20 and with no gear for this climate... Well 'something borrowed' goes the old saying.

As mentioned, reverse out of the shed into the rain, gingerly follow the rules of gravity down the slippery gravel to the farm gate.
Rain mode selected. 'SLIPPERY' was an understatement. Heavy transports really have chopped up the road surface. And did I mention 'slippery'.
The silky Six was all over the place, and that was with an even throttle. No touching brakes around here...

Into Albany for a tank of 95, then back to Baker's Junction and the Stirling Ranges.

Lucky that enough of the switch gear was similar to my recently-sold 2020 R1250 GSA to work out the important stuff. Back into 'Road' mode now that the rain was gone and the roads were dryer.
Worked out the electric windscreen pretty quickly. People scoff at you when you say "I've got heated grips!" But like heated grips, once you've had 'em, there's no going back.
Adjusting wind protection and body-cooling on the move. Priceless! Well actually not priceless, bloody expensive. And those sensible and clever little forward facing wings that you just pull out to re-direct air over one's body. Cool...

JD was taking no chances of me getting lost this time. He decided to tag along with the chinese ute and act as my corner marker. I know you know who was doing the tagging along... Didn't get lost once this time.

I really do love that view of the Stirlings over the screen.





However, the big sports-tourer demanded some attention.

I did this ride back in June 2020 on my 2020 BMW R1250 GSA. /viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4295

And in October 2020 with a short screen up front. /viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4344&p=20968#p20964

It was shockingly windy on both of those occasions. It was shockingly windy this time too.

My compulsory stop on Chester Pass Road is the Formby South Road intersection.







Awesome view of the majestic Stirlings and Bluff Knoll.



Good to see that the Stirlings and surrounds are starting to recover from the massive bushfires from three years ago.

[spacey1]

Onto Borden,


Caught up to the chinese ute...


Then Nyabing


Stopped in Nyabing to lose the gortex jacket and side panniers, and a visit to the Nyabing Community Hub pub for a pint of good old fashioned 'fire engine'. Coke with raspberry cordial and ice. Very refreshing.

A highly recommended stop. Modern facilities, plenty of parking, friendly staff... and cold drinks.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-10/ ... g/10883516

Up the empty stretches of Datatine Road...


Then all good back country riding... Peterson Road to Dumbleyung.


There was a brief interlude to peruse the Dumbleyung North School Site 1910-1911 sign...




Overtaking the chinese ute, carefully of course...


Corner marker skills at work...


Onto Tincurrin... or at least the sign that says Tincurrin...


And back through the burnt bush to base in Narrogin.


Around 350 km for the day that included a huge variety of our Great Southern and Wheatbelt regional roads.

Numerous heavy haulage vehicles to experience the effortless over-taking performance of the silky Six.

So, as always, thanks to my hosts, JD and Sandra, for their amazing hospitality. Onya JD for the phone call. You never know... "plan, splan..."

And JD again, thanks for the opportunity to test blast your ballistic K1600 GT for 350 km.

[Cookie]

Great effort with impressive photos and write up, hope JD can sleep at night with the K back in the shed.

[spacey1]

The 2019 BMW K1600 GT: What a waste of an amazing motorcyle in this country. I can only dream about how it might be back in the Faterland on it's rightful environment, Autobahn blasting that is...
I've heard and read the expression, 'effortless endless silky smooth power' in many a media presentation/review, but it all pales to insignificance to the real live thing.

No sudden stab in the stomach you get on, say, a BMW S1000RR when it comes onto it's powerband.

Just per the label, 'effortless endless silky smooth power' An incredibly tractable engine. Technically, it's a lot easier to control lean mixtures on little pistons (especially when there are six) than on a couple of big ones (eg. 1200 boxer twins).
Brakes again having incredible stopping power. An absolute necessity to cope with the enormous power of the silky Six. It's no light-weight either at around 340 kgs.

The clutch-less Quick-shift gear shift on the 2019 BMW K1600 GT is streets ahead of the Quick-shift gear shift quality on my 2020 BMW 1250 GSA. I'm not personally a fan of the wet clutches on either of these modern bikes. The wet clutch take-up point is no where near as precise as the single plate dry clutch.

The technology onboard is extraordinary. From the aforementioned heated grips (5 heat positions, not the miserly GSA 'not hot enough' and 'toasted fingers today?' settings), heated seats fore and aft, electric windscreen (not quite tall enough for me), easily detachable side panniers and massive top box. Dynamic suspension and multiple Ride modes, all very easy to alter at will. Easy-to-read display with all the latest mod-cons.

I found the rear suspension a little harsh. Clarifying, once you've owned a couple of GSAs and experienced comfortable incredible long-travel suspension, anything else pales in comparison.

The seat is as accommodating as any other. Prime after-market opportunity.
Standing up to stretch the legs (cramps) was easy and without going bow-legged. The tank doesn't get in the way.

I'm sure that I'll think of something else to add.

Would I own a BMW K1600 GT six?

As mentioned earlier, in it's proper environment on smoother speed unlimited autobahns, yes, in a heart beat...

On our rubbish roads that are constantly beat up (down) by heavy transport vehicles, and the imposition of our national speed limits, probably not...

Did I enjoy the experience? Hell yeah!

If ever you get the opportunity to ride one, do!

[spacey1]

Great effort with impressive photos and write up, hope JD can sleep at night with the K back in the shed.

Thanks Cookie
His shed is getting a little crowded, not dissimilar to yours

[spacey1]

Well, it was back to that old demon...

How am I going to reconcile the ride home from Narrogin on the old 2008 R1200 GSA with over 200,000 km on the clock...

Will I want to sell the old girl?

So off I went on an early-ish start. Early-ish so to avoid hitting the city in the morning peak hour madness...

It was very pleasant riding weather. I headed out of Narrogin via Narrakine Rd. Then onto my favourite road home from here, the Wandering-Narrogin Road. Picturesque and winding its way through the country-side

And looking forward to that beautiful stop-over point, Pumfrey's Bridge.




Back on the road again after dragging my feet in the cool water, and over to that disaster-of-a-highway, the Albany Highway.

it's still a pleasure to be on-board the old 2008 R1200 GSA. Good power, comfortable seat and suspension, great road handling (helped by the TKC 70 tyres), precise clutch (single plate dry), that reassuring hum from the stock exhaust.

Sure, there's no cruise control, it has gears and no quick-shifter, and other mod cons and fancy electronics that the my new 2020 R1250 GSA is adorned with. It's no noisier that the 1250. It still has that feature where you can actually 'See & HEAR' the front tyre through the cowling up front. The exhaust, in fact, has a more peaceful tone, unlike the urgent raspiness of the 1250.

Try selecting 1st gear on those new wet multi-plate clutches without sounding like a 12 year old talking to his school mates who are standing only a metre away , announcing to all and sundry that 'Yes! I'm in gear now...'

My additions over the years have all withstood the test of time. The Wilburs suspension, Ultralite wheels by Woodys Wheels, re-mapped engine, proper night driving lights (Denali DR1s), and Touratech lockable screen extension.

Started heading down the scarp back to the big smoke and it's starting to heat up again. I'm inclined to agree with the populations sentiments on this. 'I'm over this hot weather...'

Stopped for a quick 'Share my location' on the Tonkin Highway.


Always good to let the Cheese & Kisses know when I'm around the corner. Sometimes the kettle is even boiled and a cuppa is waiting

But heck, the old 2008 BMW R1200 GSA is still a great ride