BMW Motorrad has been on a roll lately, launching a host of new products seemingly every month for the last year. The company's introduced new off-roaders, new touring bikes, and even a few sportier options. One model in its lineup, however, hasn't been treated to the same level of new pomp and circumstance, and that's the brand's touring-focused bagger: the K 1600.
Designed as a compromise between a touring and a Harley-style cruiser, the K 1600 lineup is built to give riders the comfort and convenience of the former, with the style and execution of the latter. That's a fancy way of saying it's a cool-looking bike that doesn't suffer from the headaches of a traditional cruiser.
But the K 1600 could either be changing or, far more likely, be introducing a new model to the fold, as the company is teasing in its recent social media post. And if my hunch is correct, the new model is one designed to compete with Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycles in the King of the Baggers competition, or at least look the part.
I suspect this is a performance-oriented K 1600, and I hope it doesn't cost the same $110,000 that Harley-Davidson wanted for its model...
The caption of the post, along with the darkened everything, gives very little to what this exactly is. And even when you compared the silhouette of the motorcycle to the rest of BMW's lineup, you get exactly zero matches. But the bones of the motorcycle look very specific to one of BMW's models, and that's the K 1600. The only issue with confirmation is that this teased bike is far more low-slung and stretched, with a very distinct aerodynamic valence compared to the regular models.
In short, it looks far more aggressive than anything BMW currently has on offer. That, ladies and gentlemen, along with the current push in the bagger racing space by everyone and their mother, leads me to my theory that this model, something akin to a BMW K 1600 R, is hoping to compete there, as well as sell to the masses like you and I.
Hell, even the rear seems to have gone through some heavy aerodynamic changes to make it more slippery, though it's really that front end that gives me pause. I mean, there's K 1600 in it, but everything has been smoothed out, dropped lower, and angles like a bird of prey. And I'm sort of into it, even though baggers in general aren't my...bag. I'm so sorry, but not really.
Thankfully, we won't have to wait long until we find out what BMW's cooking, as the post's single line of text states, "Designed for full force. Ready for takeoff. Coming 15 May at 7 PM CEST." That's only a few days from now, so stay tuned.
