Comberjohn wrote:Bit like saying the current Bonneville is the same as a T140.
And are they not the same? :)49bhp out of 744cc on the T140, 67bhp out of 865cc on the present Bonneville - 36% increase partly due to 16% bigger displacement. Plus they look pretty similar. Yes, I know, new tech in but still...
"Just took 30 years for the boxer to catch up with the K100.
You know, water cooling, fuel injection, decent power output, etc.
By the way, that R1200 shaped hole in the hedge outside Maghera village is growing over nicely now.
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"
The basic principles in building the boxer are still pretty much the same since 1920 - at later stages carburetors were replaced by injectors, some of them have two spark plugs per cylinder, some of them partial oil/water cooling but the structure and theory are still the same. Simple, reliable and indestructable. Remember that one in Maghera brought to the centre stand after sliding about 10 metres on the cylinder head (sparkling up the night
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) and started on the button straight away
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. Never aimed to "catch up" with in-line fours. BTW I would not think of water-cooling as a development - much happier with the oil cooling.
The K100/K1100 was a great machine, without a doubt, the start for "modern" motorcycle engines for BMW. On the other hand after the K1100 it was all downwards for BMW K series for a while - the first 1172cc engine introduced in K1200LT performed not quite bright. Later (I think around 2003 but you can correct me on that) BMW had to re-think the whole concept and re-engineered the engine, replacing the 1172cc longitudinal in-line four cylinder engine with a 1157cc transverse in-line four which seems to be the way in future, even for the 6-cylinders. Followed by K1300 and K1600 - these can hardly be called BMW engines, Ricardo did most of the job.
So from my point of view, the top of the line for touring in BMW is the K1100LT (what I was trying to get), the bike having the most character and soul is the R1100/1150 (which I finally got and do not regret it). Once I get too old for motorcycling, may go for a car on two wheels (K1600GTL) but not in the next couple of years.
So even though production of the flying bricks ceased after 25 years (in 2008) and the boxer is still in place, we can celebrate both of them for being great machines. It would be interesting though to see if BMW ever comes up with the idea of 4/6 cylinder boxers either the Porsche or the Subaru way.