{"id":63008,"date":"2026-10-08T04:46:51","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T04:46:51","guid":{"rendered":"urn:motra-oct3:MOTRA:8"},"modified":"2026-10-09T21:37:21","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T21:37:21","slug":"motra-motra-october-2005-review-bmw-k1200-lt-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/?p=63008","title":{"rendered":"The Goods \u2014 The BMW K1200 LT"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally published in Motorcycles On The Road Again, October 2005.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

The Great RAT was the perfect opportunity to test-drive my new bike \u2014 a 2002 BMW 1200 LT. In the past I have owned many different bikes including a Yamaha, a Suzuki and two Gold Wings. For the past 12 years I have exclusively owned and ridden Harleys. So to make such a drastic change from a Harley to the BMW took a lot of advance thought and soul searching. Don’t get me wrong, I loved my Harleys and enjoyed owning them, but with age, aching joints, and a desire to try something totally (and I do mean totally) different I sold the Harley and bought the BMW.<\/p>\n\n

In what was either a leap of faith or a plunge into stupidity I bought the bike without ever so much as even test riding one of them. However by the time I had ridden the first 50 miles on the K 1200 I knew that I had made a real good decision!<\/p>\n\n

To publish a motorcycle travel guide magazine it is absolutely necessary (that is what I tell my wife, anyway) to take a lot of motorcycle trips. When traveling by motorcycle there are several things that are very important to me as I ride: Comfort\n
Carrying Capacity\n
Range\n
Cost\n
Performance\n
Reliability\n
Fun<\/p>\n\n

(By the way, you will see even more about these important items in the “Touring Tips” article in this issue.)<\/p>\n\n

Comfort. Some weeks after the Great RAT ride I was talking to a vendor who customizes bike seats to make them more comfortable and he asked if I would like to have him “fix” the seat on my BMW. That was when I realized that although I had spent 10-12 hours a day on the BMW for 10 straight days I never even once thought about the seat. Amazingly, it had been so incredibly comfortable that it had simply been a “nonissue”. That is not a compliment that I would bestow on either of the two Gold Wings or the two Harleys that I have owned.<\/p>\n\n

The K 1200 is noted for being a little top heavy and I found that to be true. At low speeds the rider must always keep his guard up and maintain the balance of the bike. But the same features that make it top heavy at low speed make it handle extremely well at highway speeds \u2014 especially on the curves and the twisties. On the long straight roads the bike is unbelievably steady. And for a bike with such a large profile the crosswinds had little effect on the handling. The most dangerous part of the exceptional handling characteristics of the K 1200 LT is the absence of the sensation of speed. This is not a bike that allows you to judge your speed by the sounds of the pipes or even the wind noise. Watch your speedometer or watch your rear view mirror for flashing lights! The cruise control can save the rider a lot of money in speeding fines. You can easily get fined for speeding on this bike and this bike is so smooth it is fine for speeding. Although I am certainly too conservative to ride fast I have heard from a “friend of a friend” that you can easily set your cruise control and control this bike with one finger at 100 mph \u2014 and that even at 120 mph the ride is unbelievably smooth. Professional Drivers on a Closed Course. Please do not try this at home!<\/p>\n\n

Although not necessary on this particular trip, the LT has heated hand grips, a heated driver and passenger seat and a heated passenger backrest! Add to that two conveniently located accessory plugs for the rider and passenger that want to wear heated clothing makes this motorcycle a viable ride in the coldest of conditions.<\/p>\n\n

The height of the front windshield can be adjusted about 8″ up or down with the flick of a button. I thought this feature was an amusing gimmick until we went from riding in 40-degree weather (windshield up) to riding in 105-degree weather (windshield down) in a space of 72 hours.<\/p>\n\n

Then for the pure pleasure of whiling away time on the open road there is the sound system. AM and FM to be sure, eight speakers surround you with sound, the passenger has access to controls to change radio stations, control the volume or play a CD through the 6 disc CD player.<\/p>\n\n

Carrying Capacity. The “integrated saddlebags” (means you can’t remove them at night) and the tour pack offered more than adequate capacity to pack for a 10-day trip and even take along some magazines, and a couple of cameras. It was not even necessary to use the luggage rack on top of the tour pack or to bungee a duffel bag to the passenger seat.<\/p>\n\n

Range. The fuel tank holds slightly over 6 gallons. Average fuel efficiency during the Great RAT was 46 mpg (with over 50 mpg on some segments) that puts the range of the bike at almost 300 miles on a fill up. Impressive, but that is about 180 miles more than my personal endurance for sitting still. In west Texas where it can easily be 100 miles between gas stations (and they do not stay open all night) this range capacity is comforting to have.<\/p>\n\n

Cost. For a full sized, touring motorcycle the K 1200 LT is in the ball park with other large bikes at around $20,000. Factor in the incredible engineering that has gone in to this machine, its reliability and performance and the price tag starts to look like even more of a bargain. If you like to ride a lot and to put a lot of miles on a bike this will be an excellent choice. The thing we noticed in looking at used BMW K 1200 LTs was that there is no middle ground – they are all either high mileage bikes or very low mileage bikes. It is our impression that most people who do the research and decide on purchasing the K 1200 LT are people who are very serious about riding and who like to take a lot of trips.<\/p>\n\n

Performance. The 2002 model has an inline four and turns about 100 hp. The newer models have about 10 more power. Either way, give the throttle a full twist and you will hear the unique “K-whine” sound the engine makes as you enter speeding ticket territory. An on board computer gives you a constant update on your gas mileage, the average speed of the total miles you have ridden (including stopped time) and the range you still have available based on your remaining fuel. Everyone has to stop sometime and the Brembo Antilock Braking System is there when you need it. Deliberately activate it (you should orient yourself to how it affects stopping) and you will find a smooth stop with hardly more than a light bumping sensation \u2014 much different than the ABS in my pickup truck that makes you think you are skidding across 2 x 4’s. ABS \u2014 you don’t want to need it but it is good to know it is available.<\/p>\n\n

Reliability. So far, so good. On any specific vehicle only time will tell. But overall, the BMW machines have excellent records for their outstanding reliability. As one friend who is a bike mechanic told me “Buy the Beemer, you can’t break that thing with a hammer…”<\/p>\n\n

Fun. Ten days in the saddle, over 3,100 miles, every kind of road imaginable, a wide range of weather conditions, congested areas, open areas, pedestrians, cars, deer, possums, porcupines and prickly pear. This trip, on this bike, was almost too much fun to be legal. Interested, go test drive a BMW.<\/p>\n\n

I would let you try mine but I will probably be out riding that day.<\/p>\n\n

On a personal note I have found Alamo BMW in San Antonio and BMW North in Houston both to be very good people to deal with. With both of these places it is not just about selling you a bike it is about keeping you happy as a customer.<\/p>\n\n

Motorcycle dealers who take a long term view of the relationship, what a unique concept!<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally published in Motorcycles On The Road Again, October 2005. The Great RAT was the perfect opportunity to test-drive my new bike \u2014 a 2002 BMW 1200 LT. In the past I have owned many different bikes including a Yamaha, a Suzuki and two Gold Wings. For the past 12 years I have exclusively owned … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":900716,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[133,180],"class_list":["post-63008","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight","tag-motra-october-2005","tag-sl021"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63008","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63008"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63008\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":900327,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63008\/revisions\/900327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/900716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/motorcyclesontheroadagain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}