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...