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I have a 2005 FZ6 with 25,000 kms. It is time for me to move over to a full sized touring bike, as my riding is now limited exclusively to touring (I commute 20 kms each day to work exclusively with my bicycle or running shoes).
A few weeks ago I completed a four day ride over 3,000 kms through the twisty mountain roads of eastern British Columbia. The month before that I did a three day ride over 1,500 kms around Vancouver Island, which included terrain varying from coastal highways to gravelled logging roads. Both trips were spectacular with extremely exciting, skill-demanding roads. The FZ6 is the best bike in the 600cc class I have ever ridden for this type of riding. It is wonderfully balanced and gifted with abundant power. Its geometry and ergonomics ensures physical comfort for the rider's body geometry and seating posture. I must confess that most of my touring routes are rich in twisty and mountainous roads, for which I shift into a racing posture around the bends, then ten minutes later I may be given the occasion to sit up for a few minutes on a short straight section. The continual repositioning of my body to suit the road conditions ensures that I am not locked down long enough to ever get cramped.
My tours on the FZ6 have been fraught with only one type of discomfort. My ONLY problem with the FZ6 as a long distance tourer is the incessant and painfully loud wind noise. Even then I protect my hearing with custom moulded silicone ear plugs and the best flip-up helmets I can find from Shoei (Multitec) and BMW (System 6). I have experimented with various riding positions but to no avail. The first few hours each day of a tour is fine, but come the fourth to sixth hour and onwards, the discomfort is intolerable - despite my insistence to ride on each day, given my itinerary. To cope, I usually lie my chest fully down on the tank, with my helmet below the boundary layer of trailing air from the wind screen (I have a stock screen). Note, some noise is also coming from the engine spinning along at 7000 to 8000 rpms - although this seems to be a minor source of the noise in comparison to wind.
I have judged the solution for me is to move up to a full touring bike. The larger body fairing will reduce some ambient noise; the full size wind screen will dramatically reduce direct wind impact and noise; the larger engine displacement will allow it to spin at half the rev's for the same speed, resulting in reduce mechanical noise; the shaft drive will also reduce mechanical noise.
My only candidate touring bike is the BMW K1300GT. Nonetheless, I had the opportunity a week ago to test ride a 2009 Honda ST1300, which I did merely to evaluate the effectiveness tall wind screens. With great relief, its wind screen adjusted in the raised position completely eliminated ALL wind impact noise. This essentially confirmed my course of remedy. As an aside: the ST1300 was a fine ride but not enjoyable, rather it felt boring - like riding a big car. I want a (sport) touring bike that will maintain the same level of excitement that the FZ6 has given me.
Yesterday I tested a BMW K1300GT and K1300S. I was limited to only sitting on the K-GT, as it was not prep'ed and available for test rides from the dealer. Regardless, the sitting test was valued by me as I consider my body fit to a bike is amongst the highest qualifications for my interest in a bike. Anyway, the K-GT fit my body perfectly. It has similar geometry interface with my body as does the FZ6 - which I have always considered the ideal fit for me. As such, both these bikes are deemed sport-touring in class.
I later test rode the 2009 K-S. My ride lasted for two hours for which I road up two mountain highways; these are very twisty roads, as they both lead to ski resorts at their peak. The roads have virtually no traffic in these months, so after scouting them, I was able to back track then fully "test" the bike for acceleration, speed, braking, and corner maneuvering. If anyone else has ever ridden the K1300S then they surely can foretell my reaction: that bike is AMAZING. The power is awesome. With only marginally more weight than the FZ6, but with 175 HP of power and 100 ft-lbs of torque, it is a veritable rocket. Do the math: with a reported 0-100 kph time of 2.8 secs (for the older K1200S), this amounts to 1.0 G force of acceleration. Ah ha, so that's how the beemer engineers sized up the powerplant - big enough engine to give maximum attainable acceleration before tires will break their grip on asphalt; anything b***** is superfluous. I did a few test launches of the bike; in all cases the bike's traction control (ASC) denied me a wheelie (good, I don't want them) as it pulled with maximum controlled acceleration. On paper, the math says the K-S will pull with 130% more acceleration than the FZ6 - Yup! that's what it felt like. The first time I launched, my stomach literally went up into my chest - just like when we go into a dive on a roller coaster. I was flabbergasted! What else? Well there is so much more to that bike: The ABS brakes made the rear binder's more usable. The suspension made working the hairpin corners more manageable. And so much more, but that is not the point of this review.
I have read that the K-GT has the same frame, suspension, engine and transmission. Essentially, the K-GT has only secondary elements upgraded from the K-S; that is, a b***** alternator, battery, fairing, screen, along with side panniers. The engine mapping is altered to offer a bit more torque at low revs (2500 to 3000 rpms), but at the expense of loss of power at the red line. I estimate it should have 100% more acceleration over the FZ6, compared to 130% for the K-S (when adjusting for varying payload weights). Actually, for the first 6000 rpms of the torque curve, the K-GT will offer more pull than the K-S. So, if one rides more relaxed (ie: up shifting far below red-line, say 6000 rpms), then the K-GT should theoretically pull continually harder than the K-S.
So, it looks like I can have my cake and eat it too: ride with the thrill of the FZ6 but with the noise protection offered on typical full touring bikes. Alas, I expect to be able to tour all day with no fatigue come evening.
A few weeks ago I completed a four day ride over 3,000 kms through the twisty mountain roads of eastern British Columbia. The month before that I did a three day ride over 1,500 kms around Vancouver Island, which included terrain varying from coastal highways to gravelled logging roads. Both trips were spectacular with extremely exciting, skill-demanding roads. The FZ6 is the best bike in the 600cc class I have ever ridden for this type of riding. It is wonderfully balanced and gifted with abundant power. Its geometry and ergonomics ensures physical comfort for the rider's body geometry and seating posture. I must confess that most of my touring routes are rich in twisty and mountainous roads, for which I shift into a racing posture around the bends, then ten minutes later I may be given the occasion to sit up for a few minutes on a short straight section. The continual repositioning of my body to suit the road conditions ensures that I am not locked down long enough to ever get cramped.
My tours on the FZ6 have been fraught with only one type of discomfort. My ONLY problem with the FZ6 as a long distance tourer is the incessant and painfully loud wind noise. Even then I protect my hearing with custom moulded silicone ear plugs and the best flip-up helmets I can find from Shoei (Multitec) and BMW (System 6). I have experimented with various riding positions but to no avail. The first few hours each day of a tour is fine, but come the fourth to sixth hour and onwards, the discomfort is intolerable - despite my insistence to ride on each day, given my itinerary. To cope, I usually lie my chest fully down on the tank, with my helmet below the boundary layer of trailing air from the wind screen (I have a stock screen). Note, some noise is also coming from the engine spinning along at 7000 to 8000 rpms - although this seems to be a minor source of the noise in comparison to wind.
I have judged the solution for me is to move up to a full touring bike. The larger body fairing will reduce some ambient noise; the full size wind screen will dramatically reduce direct wind impact and noise; the larger engine displacement will allow it to spin at half the rev's for the same speed, resulting in reduce mechanical noise; the shaft drive will also reduce mechanical noise.
My only candidate touring bike is the BMW K1300GT. Nonetheless, I had the opportunity a week ago to test ride a 2009 Honda ST1300, which I did merely to evaluate the effectiveness tall wind screens. With great relief, its wind screen adjusted in the raised position completely eliminated ALL wind impact noise. This essentially confirmed my course of remedy. As an aside: the ST1300 was a fine ride but not enjoyable, rather it felt boring - like riding a big car. I want a (sport) touring bike that will maintain the same level of excitement that the FZ6 has given me.
Yesterday I tested a BMW K1300GT and K1300S. I was limited to only sitting on the K-GT, as it was not prep'ed and available for test rides from the dealer. Regardless, the sitting test was valued by me as I consider my body fit to a bike is amongst the highest qualifications for my interest in a bike. Anyway, the K-GT fit my body perfectly. It has similar geometry interface with my body as does the FZ6 - which I have always considered the ideal fit for me. As such, both these bikes are deemed sport-touring in class.
I later test rode the 2009 K-S. My ride lasted for two hours for which I road up two mountain highways; these are very twisty roads, as they both lead to ski resorts at their peak. The roads have virtually no traffic in these months, so after scouting them, I was able to back track then fully "test" the bike for acceleration, speed, braking, and corner maneuvering. If anyone else has ever ridden the K1300S then they surely can foretell my reaction: that bike is AMAZING. The power is awesome. With only marginally more weight than the FZ6, but with 175 HP of power and 100 ft-lbs of torque, it is a veritable rocket. Do the math: with a reported 0-100 kph time of 2.8 secs (for the older K1200S), this amounts to 1.0 G force of acceleration. Ah ha, so that's how the beemer engineers sized up the powerplant - big enough engine to give maximum attainable acceleration before tires will break their grip on asphalt; anything b***** is superfluous. I did a few test launches of the bike; in all cases the bike's traction control (ASC) denied me a wheelie (good, I don't want them) as it pulled with maximum controlled acceleration. On paper, the math says the K-S will pull with 130% more acceleration than the FZ6 - Yup! that's what it felt like. The first time I launched, my stomach literally went up into my chest - just like when we go into a dive on a roller coaster. I was flabbergasted! What else? Well there is so much more to that bike: The ABS brakes made the rear binder's more usable. The suspension made working the hairpin corners more manageable. And so much more, but that is not the point of this review.
I have read that the K-GT has the same frame, suspension, engine and transmission. Essentially, the K-GT has only secondary elements upgraded from the K-S; that is, a b***** alternator, battery, fairing, screen, along with side panniers. The engine mapping is altered to offer a bit more torque at low revs (2500 to 3000 rpms), but at the expense of loss of power at the red line. I estimate it should have 100% more acceleration over the FZ6, compared to 130% for the K-S (when adjusting for varying payload weights). Actually, for the first 6000 rpms of the torque curve, the K-GT will offer more pull than the K-S. So, if one rides more relaxed (ie: up shifting far below red-line, say 6000 rpms), then the K-GT should theoretically pull continually harder than the K-S.
So, it looks like I can have my cake and eat it too: ride with the thrill of the FZ6 but with the noise protection offered on typical full touring bikes. Alas, I expect to be able to tour all day with no fatigue come evening.
