Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126489
Krauser MKMIOOO Specifications Frame Hand welded. light alloy. tubular grid Frame weight: , 115 kg. Body shell: . . . . . . . . .. Formula One style. fiberglass cushion mounted. Zeus fittings Fuel tank: Aluminum 21 litre Suspension: Telescopic front fork. 160mm travel Brakes: . . . . . . . . . . . .. Front-perforated double disc with fixed caliper Back-perforated single disc with fixed caliper Wheels: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. Pressure die-east alloy Metzeler Perfect Tires: Front - 3.50V x 19 Rear - 5.1OV x 18 Engine: BMW R100RS Transmission: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 speed Dry weight 198 kg. 2.22Omm Overall length: Wheelbase: : 1.51Ornm 1.26Omm Overall height: Seat height: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 800mm Castor: _ 100mm o 00 0') ..... ..... ~ V ..0 o .... u o By Pat Eagan Like a girl who has been told many times that she is pretty and accepts that that is the way people see her, so too it must be accepted that people view the new MKMIOOO Krauser as beautiful. In three days time, I've received so many compliments from friends and total strangers regarding the appearance of the 12 bik~. The good impressions have come from motorcyclists and non·motorey· !Olists alik.e. l'v~ never had so many cars" spe~d up or slow down on th~ fre~way so that lhe drivers could check out what 1 was riding. The styling is art, not in the abstract, but the lines of the fairing and bodywork imply the essence of speed. That's approximately what the motor cop said to m~ aft~r pulling me ov~r. I believe that he just wanted a closer look 6f the bike although he did mention that I was almost 15 miles per hour over the speed limit. Going fast~r than th~ speed limit is very possible without realizing it on the Krauser. The combination of a stan· dard BMW RI00RS motor pushing a bike that only weighs 470 pounds and mufflers so efficient all you hear is the wind can have you motoring down the road at a higher speed than intended. Cruising at 70 mph is accomplish~d with about one eighth tum on the twist grip. The torqu~ of th~ B~m~r pow~r plant is not so much ma5Siv~ as it is ~ffortless. So little throttle is required to mak~ for a speed increase of 10 mph. Conversely, at full throttl~ a standard Japanese lOOOcc four eylinder will pull away. Lik~ many beautiful wom~n. this on~ too has her flaws. Krauser uses standard BMW ~n compo~nts front and rnr, but they hav~ been stiff~ned up too much. Th~ MKMlOOO suffers from th~ dreaded SoCa"1 hop. Most of th~ fr~ways in Los Angeles and Orange counties hav~ a wash board surface which can hav~ your kidneys crying out in agony witJ»n a half hour of riding, If you hav~ masochistic t~nd~ncies, you'll lov~ 1-5. If not, you will be looking for altemat~ routes, but th~ rest of th~ freeways around h~re aren't a heck of a lot better and will still leave you in distinct discomfort. Also the seat and handlebar positions are very effectiv~ for cruising at over 100 mph, but at anything less have too much weight on the wrists and will have your wrists and hands asl~p within a short period oftim~. Front suspension travel has b~n shortened about two inches and it f~ls like both the damping and spring rates ha~ been increased. There was noticeable stiction which presumably will go away after a few thousand miles. The real problem is at the rear which suffers from a combination of thr~ factors: 1.) The bike is lighter than a standard BMW and therefore should require less spring and damping than standard; 2.) Since they are mounted at it more vertical angle than stock. again, the shocks should requires less spring and damping than standard: 3.) the shocks actually fitted appear to be the heavy duty shocks and springs as recommended for sidecar applications, which have heavier spring and damping rates than stock shocks. The bike was ridden on a couple of the local canyon roads and while the suspension didn't cause any problems there because of stiffness. more suspension compliance would still hav~ been appreciated. Evaluating the handling and suspension was a particularly tough job for me as there was no way that I wanted to be the first person in North America to throw one of these $15,000 beauties