FJR vs BMW K1600GT vs Triumph Trophy?

[Top_Speed1]

Me being 6'4" 238 L-bees I don't see it as that big of bike, probably in comparison about the same size/ratio as most FJR riders are to their bikes. The Goldwing I do see as big (n bulky) and without being able to detach the bags is a big anchor for me (plus I sit too low on a Winger anyway).

I'm favoring the Dk. Blue right now (I'll keep DonS as the proud owner of the CandyRed here on this forum) and without the bags she is mighty sporty IMO

 

[DragonflyTN]

Fred W: I too am very interested in the Triumph Trophy, but I've got a few problems with local Triumph dealership (and only one in the area). I've tried several times to arrange a test ride like the Triumph website says to do. Basically the dealers' response is "why should I give you a test ride when I am selling every Triumph can get my hands on in 30 minutes". Not only that, they are 45 miles away. SO...rather than experience the excruciating pain of dealer hate, I've been leaning BMW's direction. So far the BMW dealer has been very helpful.

 

[FJR Bill]

Fred W: I too am very interested in the Triumph Trophy, but I've got a few problems with local Triumph dealership (and only one in the area). I've tried several times to arrange a test ride like the Triumph website says to do. Basically the dealers' response is "why should I give you a test ride when I am selling every Triumph can get my hands on in 30 minutes". Not only that, they are 45 miles away. SO...rather than experience the excruciating pain of dealer hate, I've been leaning BMW's direction. So far the BMW dealer has been very helpful.

I wouldn't give up on that model and suggest you find another dealer. I would ditch that dealership, and wouldn't buy a crush washer from them. What jerks!!! Bill

 

[flyingz06]

looked at a new K1600GT last saturday. Great looking bike and the attention to details and finish is definitely BMW. The sounds of the bike is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

 

[Top_Speed1]

looked at a new K1600GT last saturday. Great looking bike and the attention to details and finish is definitely BMW. The sounds of the bike is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Yeah she's definitely all that BUT you should of taken her for a test ride! Only then can you start to justify her high price tag. h34r:

 

[beemerdons]

looked at a new K1600GT last saturday. Great looking bike and the attention to details and finish is definitely BMW. The sounds of the bike is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Yeah she's definitely all that BUT you should of taken her for a test ride! Only then can you start to justify her high price tag. h34r:

Right you are KJ: Gisele Bundchen is not inexpensive either, but Papa Chuy Viejo would love to pay for that ride! Tom Brady is so damn lucky to be able to afford Gisele!

 

[Top_Speed1]

looked at a new K1600GT last saturday. Great looking bike and the attention to details and finish is definitely BMW. The sounds of the bike is so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!

Yeah she's definitely all that BUT you should of taken her for a test ride! Only then can you start to justify her high price tag. h34r:

Right you are KJ: Gisele Bundchen is not inexpensive either, but Papa Chuy Viejo would love to pay for that ride! Tom Brady is so damn lucky to be able to afford Gisele!

Are her jeans melting off her thighs or is it just me?

Holy heatsrokes Batman, and Don you would be a very bad influence on me, good thing I didn't go to Mexico with you I would probably been jailed by the Federalizes for insubordination to you happily married couples

 

[SkooterG]

Holy heatsrokes Batman, and Don you would be a very bad influence on me, good thing I didn't go to Mexico with you I would probably been jailed by the Federalizes for insubordination to you happily married couples

Pfffft! You would be completely safe with him. He's in bed every night by 7 pm. Booooooring. All bark and no bite.

 

[tby]

Yesterday, my wife and I got to spend the day on a K 1600 GTL in the north Georgia mountains for the Dream House 500 ride. It's comfy, goes fast, and will pop a wheelie without trying. I scraped peg on both sides going up Blood Mountain. As heavy as the bike is, the weight really only bothered me when we stopped on un-level ground.

What I didn't like was the 15 minutes we spent on GA 400 at the end of the day. Major buffeting at 80-90MPH with the screen fully raised.

And those fairing air scoops? They put so much wind on me that I felt like I was on a naked bike.

It's off of my shopping list.

 

[Top_Speed1]

*- U should of rode the GT with the higher pegs, you definitely would not of scraped pegs (they r lower and more forward on the GTL model you rode).

*- I didn't try the air-deflector "in" scoops, kept them tucked in position. Salesman said those are for really hot days. Sounds about spot-on with your review of them.

*- My stock windshield (on my FJR) in all the way up mode has the same buffeting at 80-90mph. It's unbearable! So most likely this is the same problem on both bikes and a reason when I go to meets/gatherings that so many (majority) of FJR owners have bailed on the OEM shield.

Personally I didn't like the low seat position and close handlebars on the model you rode (GTL), gave me a GoldWing type of feel but I can see why BMW did this for that market. The GT on the other hand felt more like an FJR (but better) with seating and stance more on the sporty side. The GT also has more speed along with a throatier exhaust, more lean angle as mentioned for peeps (twisty-likers) like us. I'm sure the GTL will be excellent for the more "cruising/touring" crowd but clearly the GT is a different breed of animal! BMW did this that way on purpose to differentiate 2 models built on the same platform.

 

[oldryder]

Rode a GTL this summer. Buttery smooth. good power. large bike.

my biggest issue is long term maintenance. Everything on the BMW will be expensive and I predict (as an electrical engineer with a lot of years experience with components) that the neat handlebar switch for scrolling thru all the menu's will be unreliable long term and quite expensive to replace.

if I could afford to buy a new one every time the warranty ran out I'd consider one because I like technology. However, overall I think touring bikes are already obese and this one is worse than most.

 

[SkooterG]

Local rider here is getting rid of his GT. Three times it has broken down or left him stranded. He's had enough. He is selling his K16GT and his 07 GS and buying a brand new '12 GSA. Though the Kool-aid is strong with this one, he is NOT going to buy a BMW that has a water pump anytime soon.

 

[Warpdrv]

Don's story here is frightening enough for me to be scared of that product...

I'm surprised it was not posted here earlier...

https://www.k1600forum.com/forum/bmw-k1600-general-discussions/2988-requesting-your-help-locating-bmw-contact-assistance-my-12-k1600gt-parts.html

 

[RedPorscheKilla]

Priceless, the EPIC dispute, about taste.......

For me, and here I have to agree, ME. These been the points making me own the bikes I do.

I don't want to spend 25+K greenbacks just to own ONE bike, I want more bikes, so I've got me 3 costing together the price of one HD , or Beamer or MV Agusta or Ducatti or what not.....

I grew up in Germany and Beamer is cewl, but I odn't want to buy a dealership just to service my bike... so it goes with HD and the named before.

I bet those bikes are awesome in their own, but it's about taste and over that, people went to war for, is it worth? NOPE, IMHO.

If those two girls would come with that Beamer, trust me, I'd toss all of what I wrote before over board and jump for that Beamer :lol:

 

[tby]

Don's story here is frightening enough for me to be scared of that product...

I had a similarly bad experience when I crashed my Night Rod and a lazy dealer not doing what was necessary to secure 'backordered' parts. Crappy dealers are crappy regardless of brand but to not even clean the bike up is just... Wow. I'd have posted pictures of that mess all over the Interwebs with their name on it.

I look forward to having the chance to compare a GT to the GTL that I rode for a day. I don't think it's the bike for me but I'm willing to be convinced.

 

[DragonflyTN]

The good news is that MamaYama finally added cruise. That along with the adjustable seats and bars will likely keep me in the FJR fold.

 

[beemerdons]

Don's story here is frightening enough for me to be scared of that product...

I'm surprised it was not posted here earlier...

https://www.k1600forum.com/forum/bmw-k1600-general-discussions/2988-requesting-your-help-locating-bmw-contact-assistance-my-12-k1600gt-parts.html

My Brothers Warpdrv and tby, here's the Final Episode of my horror story with BMW Motorcycles of Salt Lake City. I was screwed, blued and tattooed until Mr. Cavanaugh jumped to my aid; Anthony then made things happen quickly, nothing worse than a lazy dealer (no matter what brand of moto)! Here is what I published in the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America "Owners News":

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TeKnophile, I'm the BMW K1600GT Owner from Arizona that hit a deer last October and waited for 5 months for Idiotic-Moron-Goofs at Salt Lake City BMW, UT to make repairs.

 

Long story short one month after I finally got my GT back last March this sad excuse for a BMW Motorcycle Dealership went broke, how they stayed in business at all is so scary.

 

Sad state of affairs is that there is a fantastic nearby BMW dealership in Sandy, Utah that would have been savvy enough to get my K16 back on the road in just two months.

 

However, BMW Roadside Assistance hauled myself, my Son (then 14) and my broken BMW to SLC, near the Airport. Then started five months of exactly your same scenario!

 

Finally in February I had the good fortune of being referred to Mr. Anthony Cavanaugh.

 

Up till then I was just dealing with any lackey who picked up the phone at BMW's 800 #!

 

Once Mr. Cavanaugh got involved, he cut through all the dealer poop and fixed my bike!

 

I hope for your sake that Anthony is still at Motorrad, he'll professionally help you out:

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Anthony Cavanaugh

 

Motorrad Team Lead

 

BMW of North America, LLC

 

Customer Relations and Services

 

Telephone

 

(201) 263-8215

 

(800) 831-1117 ext. 8215

 

Fax

 

(201) 930-8484

 

E-mail

 

[email protected]

 

Postal Address

 

P.O. Box 1227

 

Westwood, NJ 07675-1227

 

[Warpdrv]

Saw that Don, reading that whole episode you went through broke my heart though and would be concerned about the issues dealing with parts availability or lack of dealer support. Glad it got resolved in the end, but to be out of a machine that long was as you stated incomprehensible.

I know my dealer here in town and they are jackwagons, no test drives - they stand up on a pedestal and look down on you, talk to you like assholes, and CS there sucks from the owners statements around here.... We own a auto service station ourselves and I couldn't comprehend treating people in that manor, much less want to buy something from them. I just prey that not all BMW dealers are as bad as ours....

 

[wheatonFJR]

I think I will wait a few years, then buy a lightly travelled 2012 FJR.

I'm glad that Yamaha updated the FJR...because it means they will continue to produce the best sportstourer on the planet for a few more years...and thus will give me a good supply of FJRs to choose from in the years ahead to choose from. :clapping:

 

[Spud]

Don: Happy to hear that BMW North Salt Lake went tits up. They were the closest BMW dealer to me and I went in there on several occasions before I got my FJR. Arrogant prick assholes, the lot of them. Thought I might get treated differently the time I rolled up in nice Z4 Roadster I used to have, nope--still ignored.

Believe it or not, there was even a worse BMW shop in Post Falls, North Idaho--Beaudry Motorsports. You'd get a woody walking through that place--BMW, Triumph, Ducati, MV Augusta, KTM, and lots of all of them in stock. The had the ignore part down to a science. I was so happy to hear they also went tits up, too. I hope all of the douche-bag salesmen from both shops enjoy asking their customers now if they'd like to supersize that for only $.39, because that's the only place those guys are employable.

Done with the rant now.... :blink:

I did go to BMW Scottsdale in March and they were very cool.

Finally, in looking at BMW's homepage, I love this photo. Now I finally know what the big dual sport bikes are for--keeping it up after you blow the corner and run off the road :lol: