R1300R vs M1000R vs M1000XR
Genuine first world problem. I've been riding with my K1300R for about 8 years now, 70.000 km, mostly long tours (6-12 hours per day) mountain passes in Europe, Alps, Pyrenees, Corsica, Sardina, etc. Riding stile is rather sporty, always use the full tire, rarely scraping the pegs on long curves. Never really high speed though, I basically never push past 140 km/h on straight roads. Still really enjoy the high horse power to overtake long trucks on mountain passes.
I've never had an issue with the K1300R and it is honestly a dream for my kind of riding: Long tours, sporty. But it now gets rather old and I can't get the wish out of my head to try something new.
I have genuine trouble finding a replacement that feels like an upgrade. The K1300R is rather special in motor characteristics, wheelbase distance, telelever suspension.
I've tried the R1300R (standard version) now on Sardina. And it was honestly quite fun, suited my riding style well enough with the torquey boxer. The only issue I had was that on a one hour test ride on a curvy Sardina road, I was already hitting 50+ degrees lean angle without really pushing it and being unfamiliar with the bike (nice that the bike is showing this on the display). I'm honestly a bit worried that after a few weeks, the bike will limit me due to the geometric boxer constraints when I want to push it for a fun stretch of free curvy road and quickly frustrate me. Maybe it is ok with the sport suspension version, which is slightly higher. Does anybody here have experience with the new R1300R and a sporty riding stile?
I had fun with the R1300R, but it did not feel really better than the K1300R in any way. It feels strange to me to change my motorcycle and not be excited about it.
The other options are the M1000R and M1000XR, which somehow I cannot easily test ride in Italy due to a restriction from BMW. I could try in Germany, but Germany basically has no nice roads to really get a feel of the bike without getting into very illegal speeds. I will still test ride them though, when I get the chance. I'm mostly considering those because they will feel like an "upgrade" from the K1300R, at least on the spec sheet.
M1000R seems like an obvious choice. I will test ride my wife's S1000R on Sardinia, just to see if I can get used to the higher rev riding style in general. But riding position wise, it is quite similar to the K1300R, and I'm sure that will be ok. I'm just worried a bit about the amount of vibrations I've been hearing about. I will still be riding long tours. Has anybody used that bike for longer tours? Riding it in the lower rev range for a while when you don't want to push it constantly?
M1000XR I will test ride in Germany soon, but I'm sure I will not really push it properly on the public roads here. Riding position is my biggest concern, I've never ridden these kind of tourer bikes with almost fully upright position. Not much space to move my behind back and forth on the seat.
It seems like the perfect compromise on paper, I just don't like the "sports tourer for rich middle aged man image" I guess? Has anyone experience with that bike?
tl;dr
- Want to replace my trusty K1300R
- R1300R felt ok when test riding on Sardina, but I'm worried about hitting the limits with my riding style. Maybe ok with the sport suspension?
- M1000R feels like a proper "upgrade", but is this suitable for long tours? Especially in terms of vibrations, longer stretches of riding in lower rev range?
- M1000XR feels like the best compromise, but worried about the upright tourer riding position. Will test ride that one in Germany soon.