BMW K 1200 S vs Hayabusa -- a review!

04busa

04busa

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I just rode the new BMW K 1200 S.  

Engine:
Hayabusa motor has perfect power delivery and sounds great.   Accellaration is controlled and awesome completely though the powerband.  The holy grail of engines if you ask me.

BMW Motor is almost odd sounding.  Although it is indeed very fast, there is a big flat spot in the power band.  You go from this odd flat spot into hyper-accellaration.  BMW has some work left to do.

Breaks: BMW has nailed the breaks.  Totaly awesome.
Driveline: BMW shaft drive sucks.  Haybusa much cleaner feel.
Transmission: BMW is ok but Hayabusa's way better
Comfort: Suprised to find that my Hayabusa is far more comfortable:  BMW puts your balls are in a vice somehow.  
Fit and Finish: I like the Hayabusa gauges way better than the cheapo BMW's.  BMW does not really stand out as a premium build, except for the totally bitching and functional mirrors.  
Suspension:  Besides the breaks, this is where BMW shines.  Adjustable suspension is a big "whatever" but boy does the bike handle on a rail.  

Conclusion: BMW missed the mark.  The engine, although very, very fast, is not as enjoyable as the Hayabusa.  Far as I'm concerned the BMW is not even all that attractive.  I'm fairly sure that I would still buy the Suzuki even if the two were similarly priced.  The BMW will get the nod (assuming they were the same price of course), once they get the motor tuned properly, improve the seat, and outfit the bike with fancier gauges and parts.  

But for almost 18K, shouldn't the BMW be the flat out winner? No way this bike competes with the Hayabusa.
 
BMW does not really stand out as a premium build, except for the totally bitching and functional mirrors. [/QUOTE]
tell me more about the mirrors that makes them shine....


Suspension: Besides the breaks, this is where BMW shines. Adjustable suspension is a big "whatever" but boy does the bike handle on a rail.
[/QUOTE]
you ever messed around with stock busa suspension settings?


But for almost 18K, shouldn't the BMW be the flat out winner? No way this bike competes with the Hayabusa.[/QUOTE]
exactly why the busa is in a different class... BTW, how much does that BMW weigh??,.......
 
If seemed to be as fast as a Hayabusa. But the motor was wierd. I did not get the impression that is pulled as hard as the Hayabusa, yet, I'd look down at the speedo and I'd be doing 110. Hayabusa is so dialed in.

One thing for sure is that I won't have any envy for the guy who drops 18 large on it
cool.gif


Oh, the mirrors were out wider than the Hayabusa. They also had a really cool tear drop shape to them. The Busa's looked VERY dated as compared to them
wow.gif
Sort of sad that the mirrors were my favorite cosmetic feature of a 18k bike.
rock.gif
laugh.gif
 
Definitely a much more objective review than the German engineering love-fest comparison in MCN. I would still like to see some reviews from riders who had never previously ridden or owned either bike. Even if there was such a review, it would still come down to the personal preferences of the rider. Style? Comfort? Handling? Torque? Speed? Cost? It all depends on what you're looking for in a bike. I attach a lot of weight to your review however becuase it comes from a fellow Busa rider with similar tastes. You also seem very willing to give the Beemer its props when merited. For me, I would be very interested if not for the 18k thing. I can't get past paying that much for one great all-purpose ST when I could get two great single purpose machine for the same. (i.e. a new 05 Gixxer 1k and a nice used cruiser.
 
(gm1300 @ April 22 2005 said:
another over hyped and  overpriced bmw .
i bet it wont be as reliable as a busa either .
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's a huge thing I have as a strike against BMWs in general.

They all seem to have power surging problems. I've heard it in the R1200C, r1150R, R1100R (all flat twins), as well as some complaints on this new K bike.

Also the original K1 was evidently a huge cluster... um... screw, and the last K1200T was tested as a Long Temer in Bike magazine (UK mag) and they found several pieces of the whole were failing, and badly, from about 8000 to 30,000 miles (different parts just went at different mileages... things you wouldn't expect to).
 
The last comment about things failing on the BMW after 8k miles would not surprise me.  The Hayabusa is the most bullet-proof and "perfect" motorcycle I've ever owned.  It is like God designed the motor himself
wink.gif


I really expected to fall all over the BMW.  It totally shocked me to feel a big fat power fart as I gunned it.  it was as bad as my old 1996 ZX-11!  Honest! It is just amazing how fantastic Suzuki products are.  The German Hayabusa clone will fail miserably.  The German suspensions are really cool, however!  Have to give them that.



<!--EDIT|04busa
Reason for Edit: None given...|1114143376 -->
 
So...18k and the best thing I heard was the mirrors are cool. I would just love to spend an extra 7k on my busa....all I can say about that is it ain't my mirrors that people would be talkin' about!
super.gif
 
Lets see go buy a busa, spend $8,000 in mods and your now comparing dollar to dollar bikes, tell you what, the busa will win hands down everything!
 
Are you saying that the Japanese outdid the Master Race???

You Vill be struck by lightning...... lol
 
You can almost get 2 Busa's for 18K... or just imagine how insane you could make a Busa for $8K worth of upgrades!

I plan on riding one of the BMWs myself in the next month or so, ive already call the dealer and they said come by anytime.
 
(greyrocket @ April 22 2005 said:
(gm1300 @ April 22 2005 said:
another over hyped and  overpriced bmw .
i bet it wont be as reliable as a busa either .
Click to expand...
it is overpriced like a harley by a few thousand
Click to expand...
i think it is more than a FEW thousand (my opinion)

i think the bmw should be $13,000 tops for the abs model

and i still wouldnt consider it due to the fact that it will most likely be unreliable and costly to fix/maintain like other bmw's

2 weeks ago on the day my busa was total'd i was riding with a guy with a bmw 1200(the previous sport model 1200 ) and he was telling me about all of the problems he had with it. he even had to put a new engine in it and claimed he dumped $10,000 dollars fixing it

.


.
 
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