[19616]

This is an interesting bike, and it looks terrific.



It is especially a departure from all previous sporting BMW's, though. Crappy passenger seat (shoot, why bother? That seat's positively R1-esque! Just make it a solo bike), no obvious place for the hard bags....hope they sell 'em with heated grips!



What I wonder about is what it's target market is. Although it looks like it would be fun as heck in the real world, those HP and weight figures aren't anywhere near competitive with modern big 4 supersports.



Maybe they're shooting at the SS1000 Ducati (dropped after this year...ouch) or Buell XB12 (I know, completely different vibe, but it's another odd bike out), or maybe the Paul Smart LE Ducati. Maybe even the Tuono.



Bikes that aren't cutting edge in speed or handling but have bags and bags of character and let's face it, go faster than most of us can anyway.

 

[19616]

"I love my speed triple, but I can't say I'm all too fond of chain upkeep. "



Well said, my man.

 

[19616]

Well, right, but...

I understand what you're saying. I have an R1100S.

But old farts who go fast on the street but are done racing are also interested in bikes with real back seats. Bikes with hard luggage. Bikes with ABS.

The R1200S is a solo bike with apparently no hard bag setup, certainly not the system cases.

The R12S is really cool, don't get me wrong, and maybe there is enough interest out there. But I think that Ducati's ss1000 is sorta pitched to the same audience and Ducati is discontinuing it.