42 2005 BMW K1200S
The K.1200R.S successor that isn’t.
-by Brian Catterson
50 Back to the Future
From Hossack to Duolever.
-by Kevin Cameron
51 Keja Vu
The Flying Brick revisited.
-by Sieve Anderson
54 The Last Samurai
The classic 750cc Superbike’s final cry?
-by Mark Hoyer
76 Ten Best Bikes of 2004
Because eight aren’t enough...
82 Honorable Mentions
.. .and fifteen are too many.
86 Bene/li TNT
Did someone say "naked Italian model?”
—by Bruno de Prato
92 MZ WOOS
The unparalleled parallel-Twin.__
■■■■■■■■■H
72 Long-Term Wrap-Up
Honda CRF450R.
62 The New Middleweights
A sense of fun comes standard.
-by Mark Hoyer
97 Comfort-Max Gel Pad
More seat for your seat.
97 Dirt Tricks Carbon
Slider Guards
Lever savers.
102 Springer Jay Springsteen, still racin' ; after all these years. -by Allan Girdler PHOTO BY RICK'
12 UP FRONT ptM ■ ■
Ten Rest 2004.
-by David Edwards
16 LEANINGS ^o|g!Pc4M
Quiet classics of the showroom.
-by Peter Egan
20
TDC
Rubber Revolution,
-by Kevin Cameron
22
26
30
98
Hotshots
New Ider
cw
142
154 S
BMW HAS A NEW SPORTING FLAGSHIP,
and it’s got nothing in common with
anything yet produced by the
Bavarian Motor Works. The 2005
K1200S is a clcan-shect design with
an acrbss-the-frame four-cylinder engine and a
high-tech chassis that share not one single part
with previous K-bikes. More significantly, this is
the first BMW sportbike designed to be fully
competitive with Japanese offerings, instead of
relying on the traditional merits of long-distance
comfort and unquestioned reliability-not that it
isn’t designed to have those, too.
Cycle World was granted an exclusive behind-
the-scenes look at the development of the so-
called “K.40” project, with yours truly spending
three days interviewing the various designers and
engineers at the Munich headquarters and anoth-
er day at the Berlin factory watching a pilot
production model be assembled.
Of the many tales I heard during my stay in
Germany, two were most memorable. First was
the debate over the name: So radical a departure
is the new four-cylinder from its predecessors
that company officials considered dropping the
“K” designation altogether before ultimately
deciding to retain it. Second was the story of
the “Bavarusa,” short for Bavarian Hayabusa:
Anxious to commence development on the new
bike’s Duolever front suspension (see sidebar,
page 45), but lacking an engine to propel a
motorcycle to competitive Open-class sportbike
speeds, engineers sawed the front end off a
Suzuki GSX1300R and attached a prototype
fork. If that doesn’t give a clear indication of the
K1200S’s intent, I can’t imagine what docs...