First ride: BMW K 1600 B Bagger

I’m sitting low, behind a black tubular swept-back handlebar. In my mirrors are a couple of substantial but sleek panniers mounted low. I lift BMW’s 336kg Bagger off its sidestand – at least I try – but it takes me a couple of goes to muscle it upright, and I’m met with a wall of fairing in front of me dotted with screens, buttons and dials.

The information garnered from my senses from this first 60 seconds of being in the Bagger’s company tells me I’m about to spend the next five days aboard a big, lopey, comfortable cruiser. A motorcycle which maybe lacks a bit of feel, could do with a bit more oomph, but for a bike which is designed to turn more heads than corners, then it’s probably going to hit the mark beautifully.

What transpired during the next 2000km, however, was something utterly and delightfully different.

Tricked ya!
The genius of the Bagger is a hugely successful optical illusion. Looking every bit the stretched and slammed American-style bagger, the K 1600 B should not have handled as well as it did on my first day’s ride through Western Australia’s Dwellingup State Forest. After it had offered me clear and concise feedback, held inch-perfect lines with minimal input and galloped swiftly through the forest’s backroads with ridiculous ease, I arrived at the evening’s accommodation and set about getting some answers.

Pretty soon it began to make sense, because not only is the Bagger based on the same 1649cc engine platform of the K 1600 GT, it’s more or less the same bike just with a different subframe. And anyone who has experienced the GT before knows it’s a beaut handling sportsbike dressed in a sensible touring outfit. The two 1600s share the same engine, chassis, swingarm, wheelbase, suspension and brake packages and the seat heights differ by mere and surprising 3cm.

RELATED READING
K 1600 GT review

In fact, the passenger seat on the Bagger is only 7cm lower than the high pillion perch of the GT. The similarities even extend to the mid-mounted pegs which give the Bagger quite upright naked-bike ergonomics rather than your stretched out cruiser stance.

What it means is the Bagger’s handling is far superior to any of its contemporaries and in the right hands, complemented by that creamy turbine-like inline six-cylinder engine, will fleece more than a few smug sportsbike riders of their self-importance.

It’s 2kg heavier than its GT counterpart but because the weight is carried low, the bars are wide and the ergos so intuitive, at slow speed the bagger feels a fraction of its considerable heft and one of the easier bikes to manoeuvre at low speeds.

That engine
BMW’s inline six-cylinder 1649cc engine has got to be close to being the best in the business and, if you’re yet to experience it, you ought to add it to your bucket list. It’s gentle in its delivery yet booming in its execution. And while it’s softly spoken low down in the rev range, get it singing somewhere around redline and its high-pitched shrill pierces your soul.

It’s capable of 160hp at 7750rpm, with its peak torque of 175Nm chiming in at a similar 6500rpm. But the beauty of this engine is 70 per cent of that all-important torque, 125Nm of it, is on tap from just 1500rpm. That’s the peak torque output of the R 1200 GS available from where most bikes idle.

“If you do one thing,” smiled BMW’s former marketing guru Miles Davis. “Find an appropriate road and rev it all the way out to redline, snick the next gear using the quickshifter to redline again and again – you won’t believe it.”

So I did. The Bagger started slow and low before the engine’s note rose rapidly to a shriek, the cacophony conducted by the rapidly rising tacho needle. Second, through to redline, this time the sensation is emphasised by more speed, third, raucously fast, earsplitting shrill.

Fourth, by now the tacho needle is just bouncing between the 8500rpm redline and inch below as I head to top gear and while I’ll admit I didn’t have the heart to rev all the way out in top, as I released the throttle and let the engine braking bring the bike back down to a reasonable state, the exhilaration meant my heart was still racing and the ends of my fingers tingled with adrenaline until well after it was over.

Bells and whistles
Like any newly developed BMW, the K 1600 B is dripping with the very latest in motorcycle technology. Switchable engine modes and electronic suspension adjustment (ESA) all happens with intuitive and easy to reach bar-mounted controls. Mapping options consist of Rain, Road and Dynamic; elect rain mode and the power output is reduced, the severity of the throttle response toned down and the traction control intervention increased.

Similarly, at the other end of the spectrum, it’s all power and less intervention and Road is some-where in between. And while BMW is yet to release specific parameters for each mode, all three have a clever and conspicuous character of their own. The Bagger comes with two selectable option for the ESA: Road and Cruise. Selecting Road mode stiffens the bike up slightly while still retaining Bagger-like comfort, but offers more feedback and connectivity to the road than the softer, Cruiser option. Cruiser mode is perfect for relaxed-pace touring but tends to have too much movement when the pace picks up.

It boasts self-levelling Xenon headlights, a tyre-pressure monitoring system, a reverse gear and simply the best quickshifter I’ve used. The multidirectional quickshifter isn’t unique to this model, of course, but with so many manufacturers now offering clutchless gear changes, BMW still does it the best.

It’s the same with the electrically adjustable windscreen. A bar-mounted button allows either large or minute adjustments and a simple couple of taps can mean the difference between being buffeted around in the wind or sitting in still quiet air.

A 5.7-inch colour TFT screen in flanked by two conventional dials (speedo on the left and tacho on the right), but the display is customisable if you prefer your speed to be displayed digitally.

Bagger life
Many people would dismiss the Bagger as too large, too extreme and too luxurious. And yes, it probably is all of those things, but what’s important is that it’s so much more than that. I’ve ridden a lot of too-big-for-me luxury bikes and I’ve never felt so connected to the road as I did on this one. For a motorcycle this size, the feedback is quite remarkable. Its willing agility at speed and its intuitive and predictability at walking pace is excellent.

What gets under your skin about the Bagger is the contrast between that whopping great brute of an engine and the fine and precise nature of the chassis and handling. Give it a handful and roar of in jarring acceleration and when the fun roads start, the finest of input is all that’s required for a sprightly and spirited experience. It’s a typical BMW engineering feat.

Up-spec
Like many of its stablemates, the Bagger will be offered in various specification, depending on what package you opt for. I couldn’t get an answer as to exactly what is included under what package, but I suspect all will be revealed when the final pricing is announced in coming weeks.

What I do know is what was included on the bike I was riding, which I understand to be called the Deluxe, and that was keyless ignition, central locking for the panniers, fog lights, a GPS, stereo, heated rider and pillion seat, heated grips and forward mounted running boards.

The top-spec Bagger also comes equipped with a reverse gear, or Reverse Assist as BMW likes to call it. It uses a worm gear which runs off the starter motor and once selected via a button on the left-hand switch block, a thumb of the starter button increases the revs and engages reverse. It’s a useful addition to a bike of this size but let me assure you, 2km/h has never felt so fast!

SPECS: BMW K 1600 B BAGGER
ENGINE
Type: liquid-cooled, four-valve inline six cylinder
Capacity: 1649cc
Fuel system: Electronic fuel injection

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: 160hp (118kW) at 7750rpm
Claimed maximum torque: 175Nm at 5250rpm

TRANSMISSION
Type: Six speed
Final drive: Shaft

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Front suspension: BMW Motorrad Duolever; central spring strut, 115mm travel
Rear suspension: BMW Motorrad Paralever 125mm travel
Front brakes: 320mm disc with twin-piston caliper, ABS
Rear brake: 245mm disc with single-piston caliper, ABS
Wheels: Front – 17 x 3.5, rear 17 x 6.0
Tyres: Front 120/70-ZR17, rear 190/55-ZR17

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Claimed wet weight: 336kg
Rake: 27.8 degrees
Seat height: 780mm (750mm optional)
Wheelbase: 1618mm
Fuel capacity: 26.5 litres

OTHER STUFF
Price: TBA
Colour: Blackstorm metallic
Bike supplied by: BMW Motorrad Australia
Warranty: 24 months unlimited kilometres plus 24 months roadside assist