COLUMNISTS 
BMW’s K1300GT excites in a very different way to the lean, taut and racy sports motorcycles I am usually drawn to. But, sizeable though it is, this bike is not just a plush tourer.
The first examples of this series failed utterly to excite. Launched five years ago as 1,200cc in-line four-cylinder bikes, they were hampered by clunky gearboxes and clumsy fuel injection that made them spitefully resentful of efforts to ride smoothly, especially at city speeds.
The 1,300cc bikes introduced this year are much better. The fuelling glitches have gone and, while not the smoothest out there, at least now the gearbox does not get in the way of your enjoyment. Improved torque from the larger engine also minimises the need to stir your toes – overtaking is simply a matter of opening the throttle rather than having to knock down a gear or even two.
This helps the 255kg motorcycle to feel like a machine you can chuck around. An upright riding position and wide handlebars mean it can be thrown into corners, while the predictable engine response makes it easy to lift it out of bends on the throttle. Within hours, I was dodging in and out of Paris traffic with the best of the city’s scooter riders.
How I got to Paris was another matter. Despite the fact that I live in London, about half an hour’s stroll north of St Pancras (rail portal to the continent) and have friends about the same distance from Gare du Nord (its Paris counterpart) I naturally decided to travel by motorcycle when I went to stay with them.
At the British end of the Channel Tunnel, having boarded the Shuttle, I suddenly noticed that a bolt attaching the rear subframe – on which the seat and the huge rear pannier bags are mounted – to the main aluminium frame was missing. The only other bolt visible on the right side was loose, too. With no tools, I tightened the one that was present by hand, and on the road in France I was able to wedge my boot against it to make sure it didn’t vibrate its way off completely.
Knowing that the BMW’s rear was potentially unsupported did take the shine off my rapid ride to Paris, and I arrived just in time for an early evening appointment. The journey had taken five hours, despite frequent stops to make sure the remaining bolt had not worked loose.
The final sprint through the chaos of Paris traffic and one-way systems gave me reason to be grateful for BMW’s decision to swap over to conventional indicator switches.
The company has an interesting relationship with innovation. Some places where it diverges from the norm are welcome – BMWs were the first bikes with anti-lock brakes; its bold experiment with the C1 crash-protected scooter introduced radical ideas that will return; and it has put into production front suspension arrangements that improve in many ways on conventional telescopic forks. But other ideas, such as an idiosyncratic switch set-up that puts a high workload on to the rider’s right hand, are just perverse.
On the K1300, BMW has finally adopted the industry standard of a single indicator switch controlled with the left thumb. The welcome move takes a burden away from a right hand that is already busy trying to control 160bhp and powerful front brakes that, despite the anti-lock system, demand a delicate touch.
The next day, the satellite navigation unit, one of the many options loaded on to this bike, guided me almost effortlessly to a Paris dealership – where the mechanics shook their heads sadly at the missing bolt, found another to fit, and tightened the remaining subframe fasteners. And then refused any payment.
My confidence in the bike restored, I felt up to mixing it with the scooters racing between the lanes full of cars on the Paris Périphérique. But I couldn’t keep up with them – because the panniers make the BMW too wide. With them on, the total width is more than a couple of baguettes laid end to end, and French drivers rarely leave that much of a gap to aim at. The panniers are quickly removed, though, so I made sure to take one or both off for subsequent skirmishes with the traffic.
Even one pannier, however, meant that I could leave my helmet and jacket locked away when I parked. And, importantly, my waterproofs – for, as with too many of my long-distance continental jaunts on a motorcycle, it rained. A lot. The BMW’s adjustable screen can deflect enough airflow to ride comfortably without earplugs, but it and the big fairing were not enough to keep off all the water from the sky and the road.
Raining or not, the bike is pretty comfortable. Extras on the SE model help, such as the heated seat and handlebar grips. Back in London, my younger daughter Cicely had fun fine-tuning the rear seat’s separate heating control.
The professor (my partner) had other reasons to be impressed. She is very picky about grabrail positioning, and the K1300’s big handles on either side meant she could brace herself against braking and acceleration despite the lack of a backrest.
For the rider, though, the best thing is that the shaft-drive bike is not confined to the comfy tourer role. This sizeable motorcycle feels like it will get you out of trouble, rather than into it. Going into a corner with a touch too much brio? Just lean further and let the bike take you round. A bit too much speed coming up to a roundabout? Stroke the brakes and all that excess energy will vanish.
It’s an endearing characteristic. So much so that in spite of solid rain on my journey back from Paris, and in spite of a fairing that could do better at keeping the rider dry, I was seduced – in spite of myself – by the K1300GT. It may be big and heavy, but especially as winter draws in, it does seem like a bike for all seasons.
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The details
Surprisingly spritely grand tourer
How powerful?
160bhp
How fast?
155mph
How heavy?
255kg
How much?
£12,840 for base model, £14,120 for the SE version
Also consider
Yamaha FJR1300: shaft drive, semi-automatic gearbox option, ABS, from about £13,000
