“Although riding motocross in my teens I didn't get my road licence until I was 40. Through direct access. My first bike was a Suzki Vstrom DL1000. I owned this for a couple of years before selling it as I was away working in Saudi for 3 years. On my return I bought my second road bike the BMW K1300GT. What a machine!!, at 50 years old it suits me perfectly. Comfortable, reliable and is happy enough gently cruising round town or being a bit of a hooligan if the mood takes me. Great luggage space with panniers and top box. Top box is big enough for two full size helmets, very useful. The bike comes with added extras such as heated grips, heated seats, rider and pillion, electrical adjustable screen and cruise control. As well as Electronic Adjustable Suspension, and traction control as well as ABS braking. The on board computer is very good with tyre pressure monitoring. A really useful safety feature.
Although quite heavy with top box and panniers attached it's easily moved and obviously easier without them. Performance is stunning really. With 150+ bhp on tap it should be. Very fast bike that handles and the brakes inspire confidence. There are faster bikes out there but you start to sacrifice comfort. Not in this case. I'm really glad I bought it. I paid £5500 for a 2011 model with 40k miles on the clock. It was immaculate with full BMW service history. It's a great bike. When ever I get off it and walk away I always find myself looking back over my shoulder and smiling. Says it all really.”
“The minute I test rode one of these, I fell in love with it. I tell a lie, in 10 seconds I had fallen in love!
It is so comfortable: heated seats front and rear, heated grips, electric adjustable screen... So well appointed: cruise control (!), suspension settings adjustable from the handlebars, telemetry to let you know on screen if your tyre is going down... So adaptable - it can behave like a pussy cat, or something somewhat "wilder" if you grab a fistful of go... At very slow speeds it weighs a huge amount, but as soon as you are on the move, you would not believe how light and nimble it is.
My wife loves to ride pillion too. What's not to like?
Well, BMW have helpfully provided a 12v socket for powering a sat nav or charging your phone - but where have they put it? Down by your left ankle, where it is not much use at all. Oh, and it has a European connector, not a conventional in-car socket, so you have to buy a BMW adapter in order to make it work.
I bought a pump for those occasions when the tyres need a bit of air... I duly plugged it into the aforementioned socket, where it worked for a second, then cut out. Apparently, the bike has a CanBus, and no fuses - so when it feels the pump drawing 9 amps it says "My battery will go flat in a moment, so I had better cut out the feed to the pump".
Not helpful, so the pump now lives in my car - and works easily and reliably off the cigar lighter there!
But this is a niggle - the bike is AWESOME!”
“Held onto my K1300gt for 1 year and couldn't wait to get rid of it poor dealership they forgot to reattach the front brake lever after replacing switchgear and reliability with my particular machine switch gear replaced twice wiring loom replaced lovely power and comfort however when engine temperature starts to rise in traffic bike would continually stall and was hard to restart the finish to the wheels and fastners substandard and the rear rack was desolving after riding it through last winter. Not what i expect after paying premium money for! Tried the new Bmw Gs but again engine lovely but not fit and finish and would not deal with that dealership again tried the Ktm and the Honda crosstourer before trying the triumph explorer which I have now changed to and could not be more pleased with the dealership the fit finish and the overall machine as I have done 3000 miles in 3 weeks touring europe and already planning next years trip I ride two up in all weather's covering 9000 miles or more a year on this bike and about 6000 on my other bikes !
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