First images new K chassis!!!!

Huggy70 · 08:24 AM

The are the first images of the new K series bike from the German magazine Motorrad.
It is a 4-cilinder but now transverse in the frame (like the Japanese). Probably with 1300 cc's but in the future a 1000 or so is possbile. They speak of 160-170hp. It should weigh 250 kg's (553 Lbs) fueled up (with shaft drive) It is angled at 60 degrees (forward) giving room for a large airbox and putting more weight on the front wheel (and putting the wheel closer to the engine because of the new front suspension) Also the fueltank can be positioned lower and more forward.
The front suspension is of the Hossack-type with two a-arms.
The fork is casted for lightweight. The paralever is new and is the same like the new GS.
All in all a very technically interesting machine...BMW is getting serious gentleman

Hugo van Waaijen

SparkyBlue · 10-10-2003, 08:10 AM

BMW definitely follows a different drummer. Lots of innovation eg. gear driven intake cam to keep the engine narrow. I wonder what the weight numbers will be?

motoyoyo · 10-10-2003, 08:21 AM

Nice looking motor as well as other modernized bits. The one big "uh-oh" that is glaring out at me though, is the longish wheelbase. Unless those are 14 inch rims, those tires look awful far apart. It seems that this is always where BMW ends up with their four cylinder bikes. From the looks of it I'd say it was about 4 inches too long on the wheelbase for it to be considered a half way serious sport bike. The Paralever is very long by itself and the forward cant on the cylinders makes it harder to tuck the front end in. I wish BMW could just start with say a 56-58 inch maximum wheelbase as their first spec and see where that leads them.

Huggy70 · 10-10-2003, 08:55 AM

A longer wheelbase doesn't necessarily mean that the handling is bad.
I've driven a Yamaha FJR1300 a couple of times and that steers easier than the S altough it has a wheelbase of 60.6''
Centralizing weight, different front geometry (possible because of the Hossack front suspension) can make a bike handle really well...
For some details on the Hossack suspension see:
http://www.hossack-design.co.uk
And an interesting article is from Tony Foale:
http://www.tonyfoale.com/Articles/RakeEx/RakeEx.htm
where he modified a bike and rode it with a rake of 15 degrees which still was stable. The test was also done with a Hossack style front suspension

Hugo van Waaijen

repoe3 · 09:18 AM

is is me or are the images mirrored or backwards...the arm is on the wrong side. yet the controls on the right bar is correct.

repoe3

team K · 11:01 AM

Note the unit transmission and wet clutch. That's a big leap forward for BMW and probably cut a good foot out of the wheelbase, not to mention the poundage of a separate bellhousing and transmission casing.

Looking at it a little more, it looks like the back half of the "tank" carries fuel and the front half is the top section of the airbox. When you combine that with the angle of the cylinder heads, you have a pretty straight shot down the intakes to the combustion chamber. It also means that the fuel is carried close to the center of the bike, yielding better mass centralization.

Would that metal gizmo on the left side of the tank in teh top picture be a way to get the fuel pump/filter out of the tank without having to pull it? It looks like the tank is made out of molded plastic, judging by the texture of the surface.

Also, there appear to be snorkels leading from the front into the airbox. This makes me think they might have gone with a pressurized airbox like most of the Japanese manufacturers have. It isn't supercharged, but you do get some benefit for just about no additional hardware.

Notice how all the heavy bits are located right about axle height. Nice.

BMW Atlanta · 01:23 PM

I thought the picture was out of phase too until I looked closer. The rear brake resevoir is on the right side and there is a shifter on the left as there is an opening for wet clutch on the right. Looks to be the real thing from BMW as the fasteners tell all, but time will tell if it makes it into production. Dont see any evidence of water cooling and it has to be, so this could just be a concept bike. Who knows???, nobody that I know of.

team K · 10-10-2003, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by BMW Atlanta
I thought the picture was out of phase too until I looked closer. The rear brake resevoir is on the right side and there is a shifter on the left as there is an opening for wet clutch on the right. Looks to be the real thing from BMW as the fasteners tell all, but time will tell if it makes it into production.

Looking at the finish and the details on the frame (note the curved line at the horizontal frame/swingarm mount), the castings in the top end and the fender mounts on the front fork (? - what the heck do you call that structure?), I'd say this is a pre-production model. There's just too much time and money spent on the finishes and shapes to just let this be a test mule.

roger albert · 10-10-2003, 01:33 PM

Agreed, those castings imply darn far along.
I think blindly correlating wheelbase to handling/sportiness is off the mark. The longest wheelbase in GP, by far, is the RCV211. It is also the most agile and stabil bike (a nice, and of course, very rare) combination. The weight may wank, but the wheelbase is a non issue, especially since the mass centralization does indeed look good. I'd lean much more to Huggy and Honda's very good theory and practice on that wheelbase issue.

markjenn · 10-10-2003, 01:41 PM

It appears to me that BMW is signing up to the ultra-long swingarm school of thought. The idea is that you want to get that swingarm pivot as far forward as possible (looks like it almost touches the back of the engine cases) then put a long swingarm on it. I forget the engineering rationale, but the R1 started it and everybody thinks it is the hot thing.

- Mark

blakebird · 10-10-2003, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by markjenn
It appears to me that BMW is signing up to the ultra-long swingarm school of thought. The idea is that you want to get that swingarm pivot as far forward as possible (looks like it almost touches the back of the engine cases) then put a long swingarm on it. I forget the engineering rationale, but the R1 started it and everybody thinks it is the hot thing.

- Mark

Long swingarm is the current hot setup on MotoGP, sportbikes, etc - I am guessing the longer the lever arm, the less impact made by each bump....very simplistic description.

On a shaftie like the R1200C, which does without a torque arm, it reduces jacking effect.

It appears in one pic that a coolant hose is in view....attached to nothing - radiator is likely fairly huge and would obscure what the photos are trying to convey.

In one pic, it almost looks like a coolant spigot fitted to the right front engine mount part of the frame.

...and I wonder what that black plastic knurled knob on the right side front is..... engine quick-release?

jrp · 10-10-2003, 02:22 PM

huh. I'd sure like to see some more details on those forks, I'm not familiar with Hossack suspension either (guess I should read that link!).

It does look like the rear swingarm is longer than it needs to be.

team K · 10-10-2003, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by blakebird
Long swingarm is the current hot setup on MotoGP, sportbikes, etc - I am guessing the longer the lever arm, the less impact made by each bump....very simplistic description.

On a shaftie like the R1200C, which does without a torque arm, it reduces jacking effect.

It appears in one pic that a coolant hose is in view....attached to nothing - radiator is likely fairly huge and would obscure what the photos are trying to convey.

In one pic, it almost looks like a coolant spigot fitted to the right front engine mount part of the frame.

...and I wonder what that black plastic knurled knob on the right side front is..... engine quick-release?

Long swingarms keep the weight up front, so the bike is less likely to wheelie under heavy throttle.

Also, I think the big plastic gizmos on the frame are nothing more than frame sliders. They look like they're mounted at the widest point on the frame. That would be a nice touch for a sporty motorcycle, integrated crash protection.

Note also, the clutch master cylinder is seperate from the switch cluster. It's probably lighter that way. Additionally, the throttle side cluster doesn't appear to have the master cylinder reservoir integrated into it either.

This is a huge leap ahead for BMW, IMHO.

Trevor Rossack · 10-10-2003, 04:04 PM

There is a pic of the faired bike in the current issue of the AMCN. It looks like it will be in the Hayabusa/Blackbird type of "sports" bike.

It does look like BMW are putting some interesting technology together again. As usual they will march to the beat of their own drum - it is nice that some manufacturers go their own way. Have a look at what KTM are/will be putting out.

Cheers
TREVOR

jrp · 10-10-2003, 04:50 PM

There is SO much space behind the frame, in front of the rear wheel, that I bet the actual gas tank isn't even ON that bike... I'm wondering if that front 'tank' isn't a battery/airbox, and perhaps a radiator shroud.

motoyoyo · 10-10-2003, 08:58 PM

Wheelbase is not a non issue in my opinion. From the looks of the photo, which is not an accurate measure by any means, I would place this chassis in the 62+ inch range. This is right about where the typical K bike has been for many years. I agree that maximizing the length of the swingarm is a good thing, but not at the cost of excessive wheelbase. Our S bikes wheelbase is 58.2 inches. I would have to say that this is a big factor in the reason we like our bikes so much more than a K1200RS, for example. I am personally not interested in a Habyusa type alternative for a sport bike from BMW, but I'm sure it could draw a big crowd anyway. I salute BMW for the great development effort and for keeping the mark interesting.

pwillikers · 10-12-2003, 08:48 AM

Interesting front suspension. Looks like a double a-arm setup with a sizzor linkage to the handlebars. The most car like bike front suspension I've ever seen.

Huggy70 · 10:07 AM

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, the design resembles the Hossack design, who converted some BMW's with his design
http://www.hossack-design.co.uk/
Interesting is that the front suspension can be really light.
On http://members.aol.com/arcticla/hossack.htm
you can read that the whole front suspension consisting of a steel fork, both wishbones, bearings and steering linkages weighed 2.8kg (Comparable frontforks weigh 14kg)

Hugo van Waaijen

SilverR1100S · 10-12-2003, 10:46 AM

Hi there

Here is a pic of the new BMW with fairing.

I's good looking to me.

see you
Coos

jrp · 10-12-2003, 11:17 AM

Thats a big housing for the clutch... I wonder if it isn't a dry clutch after all, as it appears isolated from the rest of the engine/tranny in those guts pictures...