On 1st June, production of BMW’s new K1200S superbike started at the BMW motorcycle plant in Berlin. However, the motorcycles currently manufactured will not go to customers but will be used for internal purposes including training and testing to ensure it's fully ready to hit the streets in September.
The K1200S is a new concept sports bike from BMW Motorrad and the second machine (after the R1200 GS launched in March) to reflect their new design philosophy of creating new bikes with more power, lighter in weight and with increased agility.
The K1200S is fitted with a 4-cylinder, in-line 1157cc engine producing 167 bhp at 10,250 rpm. The enginer designers were keen to achieve characteristics that would ensure rideable and fully controllable performance for the road. To that end the valves of the dual-camshaft engine are operated by light and rigid cam followers. Two balancing shafts in the horizontally-divided cylinder crankcase are made of light alloy – to ensure a distribution of masses and low-vibration running.
To achieve a flat design for the crankcase, the K1200 S has been fitted with dry sump lubrication. This permits an extremely low siting of the engine (there is no oil sump) and with the cylinder bank angled forwards to 55 degrees has helped to establish the machine’s low centre of gravity.
Suspension and chassis technical highlights are the Duolever and electronically adjustable suspension. The Duolever resembles a link square made up of two virtually parallel longitudinal links which are mounted in the frame so they can swivel and permit a precise up-and-down movement of the front wheel. This is mounted in an extremely rigid component, the so-called wheel carrier – a light component cast from high-strength aluminium alloy which is connected to the longitudinal links via two ball joints and performs the steering action. In turn, a longitudinal link connected to the central spring strut is responsible for suspension and damping. The benefits of this system are extremely high rigidity, combined with low weight, and an ideal wheel and lift curve.
With the ESA (Electronic Suspension Adjustment) option, yet another BMW innovation enters production. The spring preload and damping can be electronically adjusted at the press of a button which is conveniently sited on the handlebars.
The K1200 S will be available from BMW Motorrad dealers soon after the public premiere at the INTERMOT motorshow in mid September. The first machines to arrive in the UK will be the two multi-colour variants of indigo blue metallic/alpine white, and sun yellow/white aluminium metallic/dark graphite metallic. Two single-colour paint finishes (indigo blue metallic and granite grey metallic) will be available at a later stage.
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