Hello BMWMOA Forum
I’m a soon-to-be new BMW Owner after putting a deposit on a 2018 Black Storm Metallic K1600 Grand America. I’m currently waiting for delivery of my new ride. I was told that it should arrive in the US this week, so hopefully it will make its way to my Dealer here in the Northeast over the next week or so.
I’ve been riding Japanese motorcycles for about 45 years now, primarily Sport Tourers. I’ve been a Kawasaki Concours owner since 1987, owning several of them over the last 30 years. My current bike (soon to be a trade) is a 2012 Concours 1400 Sport Tourer. Great bike, but as I approach retirement age, I’m finding that the Ninja style Sport Touring riding position is a little hard on my body parts so I’ve decided to buy into a bike with a more standard and comfortable riding position. With the exception of the Honda Gold Wing, most of the Japanese bike manufacturers don’t offer touring bikes with sport DNA, like BMW has, and I’m not interested in the Harley style cruisers.
I seriously considered the redesigned ’18 Gold Wing, but after doing some extensive research and talking to new GW Owners, I decided to look for another option. A friend suggested that I look at BMWs, but I have to admit I’ve never considered a Beemer before, for no particular reason, and always thought that they were way over priced from what other people said. Anyway, my friend suggested that I look at the K1600 GTL.
After not being able to find a Japanese brand as a replacement for Concours 14, I took his advice and visited a local BMW Dealer. The K1600 GT was very much like my C14, and the GTL was very nice but wasn’t quite what I was looking for as a change away from the Sport Tourer. Then I saw the ’18 K1600 Grand America. Unfortunately the only GA they had was already sold so I couldn’t ride it, but they had a K1600 B as a demo bike.
After riding the K1600 Bagger, I knew that this was the bike that I was looking for as a replacement for my C14, only in the Grand America version. The BMW Dealer was great, they allowed me to take the Bagger for a nice long ride so I could get a feel for how smooth the bike was, and I personally think the styling is awesome, plus it has the Sport Touring DNA that I didn’t want to loose, but offers a more comfortable standard seating position, with floor boards to stretch out my long legs on those longer rides.
The best part, as far as cost goes, the Grand America is about $2500 less expensive than the new Honda Gold Wing Tourer, and comes with more standard features, and more advanced technology for electronic suspension, ABS, better optional Navigation System, and the Shift Assist Pro clutchless shifting is a dream, and actually better for experienced riders than Honda’s DCT automatic transmission. The Honda Dealer was pushing me into a DCT Model, but as smooth as it is, I just couldn’t see myself riding a bike with an automatic transmission. For me, the BMW Shift Assist Pro is actually just as good as the Honda DCT and probably better due to more rider control than the Honda offers. Anyway, I can’t wait to take delivery of my new Grand America and go riding. I hope it’s as trouble free and reliable as my Japanese bikes have been over the years.
Kevin
I’m a soon-to-be new BMW Owner after putting a deposit on a 2018 Black Storm Metallic K1600 Grand America. I’m currently waiting for delivery of my new ride. I was told that it should arrive in the US this week, so hopefully it will make its way to my Dealer here in the Northeast over the next week or so.
I’ve been riding Japanese motorcycles for about 45 years now, primarily Sport Tourers. I’ve been a Kawasaki Concours owner since 1987, owning several of them over the last 30 years. My current bike (soon to be a trade) is a 2012 Concours 1400 Sport Tourer. Great bike, but as I approach retirement age, I’m finding that the Ninja style Sport Touring riding position is a little hard on my body parts so I’ve decided to buy into a bike with a more standard and comfortable riding position. With the exception of the Honda Gold Wing, most of the Japanese bike manufacturers don’t offer touring bikes with sport DNA, like BMW has, and I’m not interested in the Harley style cruisers.
I seriously considered the redesigned ’18 Gold Wing, but after doing some extensive research and talking to new GW Owners, I decided to look for another option. A friend suggested that I look at BMWs, but I have to admit I’ve never considered a Beemer before, for no particular reason, and always thought that they were way over priced from what other people said. Anyway, my friend suggested that I look at the K1600 GTL.
After not being able to find a Japanese brand as a replacement for Concours 14, I took his advice and visited a local BMW Dealer. The K1600 GT was very much like my C14, and the GTL was very nice but wasn’t quite what I was looking for as a change away from the Sport Tourer. Then I saw the ’18 K1600 Grand America. Unfortunately the only GA they had was already sold so I couldn’t ride it, but they had a K1600 B as a demo bike.
After riding the K1600 Bagger, I knew that this was the bike that I was looking for as a replacement for my C14, only in the Grand America version. The BMW Dealer was great, they allowed me to take the Bagger for a nice long ride so I could get a feel for how smooth the bike was, and I personally think the styling is awesome, plus it has the Sport Touring DNA that I didn’t want to loose, but offers a more comfortable standard seating position, with floor boards to stretch out my long legs on those longer rides.
The best part, as far as cost goes, the Grand America is about $2500 less expensive than the new Honda Gold Wing Tourer, and comes with more standard features, and more advanced technology for electronic suspension, ABS, better optional Navigation System, and the Shift Assist Pro clutchless shifting is a dream, and actually better for experienced riders than Honda’s DCT automatic transmission. The Honda Dealer was pushing me into a DCT Model, but as smooth as it is, I just couldn’t see myself riding a bike with an automatic transmission. For me, the BMW Shift Assist Pro is actually just as good as the Honda DCT and probably better due to more rider control than the Honda offers. Anyway, I can’t wait to take delivery of my new Grand America and go riding. I hope it’s as trouble free and reliable as my Japanese bikes have been over the years.
Kevin