The $21k BMW Motorcycle That Is Surprisingly Easy To Live With
Spending over $20,000 on a big BMW usually means dealing with a massive machine. The company is famous for giant adventure bikes and heavy touring rigs that eat up highway miles that can feel like a handful when you just want to roll out of the garage or crawl through town. The solution lies hidden in BMW’s lineup: a boxer-equipped naked that skips the towering fairings and tall seat heights. This machine quietly solves the clutch actuation headache as well.
BMW Uses Cunning Solutions To Minimize Fatigue
Most full-size naked bikes force riders to accept some painful physical trade-offs. The majority of brands build these models the traditional way: by taking the fairings off sport bikes. That leaves you with aggressive footpegs, flat handlebars, and a tall-ish first gear that hates creeping through urban traffic. Riding these bikes around town means roasting in trapped engine heat while constantly fighting a heavy clutch lever.
BMW avoids this design trap by relying on the physical layout of its famous boxer-twin engine for the naked in question. Keeping the cylinders horizontal keeps the heaviest mechanical parts sitting just inches above the road. This low center of gravity makes a heavy, full-size frame feel light and easy to balance the second you lift it off the side stand. To keep the ride smooth without making the handling vague, BMW uses an electronic suspension system that actively reads the pavement. It automatically softens to soak up potholes and stiffens up during hard braking or acceleration, saving your back on rough roads without sacrificing high-speed stability.
The BMW R 1300 R ASA Offers Effortless Usability With Open-Road Muscle
The BMW R 1300 R equipped with the Automated Shift Assistant takes this easy-riding focus to its logical peak. It keeps the strong, 145-horsepower boxer twin that owners love, but adds the automatic gearbox that takes care of the clutch completely. You get all the immediate, punchy highway drive of a 1,300 cc twin, but you never have to pull in a stiff clutch lever while waiting at red lights. At $21,250, it is a hidden gem worth every penny not by chasing unusable top-speed figures, but by being the rare big-bore motorcycle that is genuinely easy and comfortable to ride every single day.
145-HP ShiftCam Boxer Pairs With Clutchless Automated Shifting
The R 1300 R has a familiar boxer-twin engine. It has the same displacement as its siblings at 1,300 cc, and it makes the same power and torque: 145 horsepower at 7,750 RPM and 110 pound-feet of torque at 6,500 RPM. The torque is more than a Sportster’s output, and spread through the rev range thanks to BMW ShiftCam. That is also why it can use a high compression ratio of 13.3:1.
What ups the livability, though, is the Automated Shift Assistant. This converts the manual gearbox into an automated manual, which means you can choose to shift gears yourself or let the gearbox do it on its own. There is no need to touch the clutch lever at any point in time, which is a boon in traffic or on a long ride. The Cardan shaft drive eliminates on-the-go maintenance, saving it for the service center.
A Low 30.9-Inch Seat Height And Dynamic ESA Hide Its 527-Pound Mass
The R 1300 R uses a two-part frame, with the engine as a stressed member. An inverted front fork is paired with an Evo Paralever aluminum single-sided swingarm; 5.5 inches of travel is available at the front and 5.1 inches at the rear. Dynamic ESA, with automatic damping adjustment, preload adjustment, and load compensation, is standard. The brakes are up to the task of stopping this 527-pound naked bike, comprising twin 310 mm front brake discs with four-piston radial calipers and a single 285 mm rear disc with a two-piston floating caliper.
17-inch alloy wheels with tubeless radial tires ensure that handling is enjoyable despite the long 59.5-inch wheelbase. This is a long motorcycle at 83.7 inches and has a width of 34 inches. It can hold 4.5 gallons of fuel and has a low seat at 30.9 inches. That low seat height, combined with the weight carried low thanks to the boxer-twin engine, makes this feel light at slow speeds, which is another reason that makes it easy to live with, especially for older riders.
A Long Options List Can Push The Price Past $21,000
The base R 1300 R costs $16,695, but the addition of the ASA along with the necessary optional packages takes it up to over $21,000. For the base price, the aggressive styling is matched with some real-world usability. You get keyless ignition, a USB-C charging socket, and dynamic cruise control that maintains the cruise speed even when going downhill. The options list is where it is at: you can order sport suspension, sport tires, the automatic gearbox, and Dynamic Suspension Adjustment that continually adjusts the spring rate as well. Of course, you can have a whole bunch of accessories, too.
The R 1300 R Has Some Cheaper Alternatives
As good as this is, there are alternatives that offer more for less. The $17,499 Yamaha MT-10 SP might look like an aggressive streetfighter, but it is the most comfortable of the latest streetfighters from the known names, especially equipped with the electronic suspension in SP form. It takes on whatever you throw at it without drama, thanks to its surfeit of torque and horsepower with that wonderful CP4 998 cc crossplane engine, and it also has a full suite of electronics. There is no automatic gearbox here, though.
This is also the case with the $16,990 Moto Guzzi V100 Mandello Wind Tunnel. This is closer in concept to the BMW R 1300 R with its transverse twin-cylinder engine and driveshaft. But like all Guzzis, its 90-degree V-twin has a more relaxed power delivery, and it also offers a two-way quickshifter. Both these competitors offer six-axis IMUs, by-wire throttles, TFT screens, and the trappings of a modern luxury naked bike.
Source: BMW USA
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