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/127963
SHOW INAUGURAL INTERMOT MUNCHEN By Scott Roussea u Photos by Sco tt Rousseau and Gold & Goose R EI ~ [g 00 0\ 0\ ...... -; l-< (j) ..n o ...... u o 14 MUNICH, GERMANY, SEIT. 16-20 ith the intern ational motorcycle wor ld bidding auf unedersehen to Co log ne a nd moving d ow n t h e roa d to th e New Mu n ich Tr ade Fair Ce n ter for th e firs t World Fair for Motorcycles and Scoo ters, you migh t think that the motorcycling com m unity wo uld pu t on its Su nday best and ush er in a new era of motorcycle trade fairs. Bu t w he ther they did so or not is a subjective ma tter . Yes, there were new mod els unveiled an d , yes, some of them we re stunners. Yes, the show was successful. So wh y the rese rva tion? Hmrnm , that's a tou gh one . May be th e p ro b le m la y in th e fac t th at the mot orcyclin g world was al rea dy p rivy to th e ex is te nce of ma ny of the n ew mod els prior to Interrnot, or mayb e it was because some of the juiciest rumors as to w hat wo uld or would not be ava ilable di d n o t p ro ve to be tru e. Th en agai n, 2000 see ms to be a magic number, seeing as it will usher in a new milleniurn and all. But lest we give the im pression that th e Mu n ich show wa s ho- hurn, there we re some su rp rises. And no t a one of them wa s d isappointing. Here are so me of the definit e highl ights. Hom e-t owner BMW, reveli ng in its 75th anniversa ry year of existence, and m ost a ssuredl y w anttn g .to im press sho w' attend ees in its ow n back 'yard , con tinued its recent trend of new and exciting mod el expansion by unveiling NewMunich Trade Fair Center one of th e rea l hi ts of th e s how - it s K1200LT lu xury tourer . Clea rly designed to target the Un ited Stat es' lon g-range tou ring market, the LT appears to have all the maki ngs of a Go ld Win g killer, fea tu rin g styli ng and . performance tha t is likely to pu ll more than a few co nverts over fro m the 10yea r-old Honda d es ign. Based on th e sa me chassis us ed on BMW's new-gene r a t ion K1200RS, co ns u m ma te d, of course, with BMW' s Telelever su speI!sio n sys te m up fro n t a n d Pa ra lev er swi nga r m (a lbe it a 3.15-i nc h-I o nger one) ou t back, th e LT d oes' not u tilize the eng ine as a rig id, stressed me mb er of 'the chassis, but rath er rests in a stiff, cas t-a lu minu m subfra me to repel any vibra tion from reachi ng the rid er. And, by the way, the eng ine itself is not a "full-blown" RS spec but rathe r a mild er version of the 1171cc four , w hich offe rs so me 98 bhp a t 675 0 rp m a nd prod uces rather broad, flat torque, over 74 Ib.-ft. at all eng ine sp eed s from 2800 to 6800 rpm . That force is tran sm itted to a rev ised five-speed gearbox which features fifth gear as an overdri ve to drastically redu ce engine sp eed s during sustained high -speed cruising . Bring in g th e unl a d en ,833- p o u n d (wet) LT to a halt shou ld be no problem , thanks to revised ABS com pon en ts d e si gn ed to h and le th e i n cr e a sed w eight an d ca pa city . While th e fro n t br ake is the same as that found on the RS, BMW ha s se en fit to pl ace a new fo u r-p iston uni t o n th e re ar w heel. Speaking of the wheels, they are (yo u gu es se d it ) th e sa me s tyle of 17-inch mags as those found on the RS. Bu t just look at it, really. Do you think tha t this is just a bui lt-up, add-on RS? O ne look at the sleek, curvy and full bod y