K1600 vs Gold wing

[FE_Rex]

Thinking about shaking the fleet up a bit and getting a touring bike maybe in next 6 months. Let's say $8-12K. Looking at used K1600 or Gold Wing.

What would you get and why?

I'm not afraid to work on older bike. I will say I find fairings on the R100RTP and K1300S rather tedious
I am big guy both in height and width - I can flat foot a GSA and my FLHP has the police seat, 2" forward floor boards and a 1.5" rear brake pedal
Not sure if Comfy or Fast is most important, but both must be in abundance.
Current stable has little of everything Rocket3, GSA, Harley Tourings, a K1300s and, just for fun, KZ1000P & R1100RTP project bikes

Would would like the "scare you poo-less" of the K1300S, the ability to stretch out like the FLHP, and the easy handling of the GSA

 

[copb8]

The K1600 is definitely sexier but the price to pay would be maintenance and running cost. If you can do most of the BMW maintenance I'd be all over the K bike.

 

[one Wolf]

Both nice, and big. Would you consider a low mileage FJR? Pretty much all the amenities of GL or K1600 and just a bit less weight.

 

[budzrex]

Rode a neighbor's K1600, he wanted to try my trials bike out I can say if I was to ever go back to street riding it would have to be
on something equal to this bike

 

[bjhughes]

I've had Wings and Harleys (a few of each)...fine bikes. Toured the country on them many times without any issues.

Bought my BMW K1600 several months ago...no comparison. By far the winner of the bunch. I love it! I doubt I would ever go back to the others, but then I am a former long time sport bike rider in my younger years and this BMW is amazing. Comfort, power, smoothness is miles ahead.

I have owned several BMW's over the years so I am familiar with the maintenance costs for big services. I do most of the minor stuff myself (oil, tires, shaft service, etc) so no big deal there. For major services Honda and Harley are no cheaper so don't fall for that one.

Ride them both. That will be the final decision point for you. You really can't make a wrong decision.

 

[blupupher]

I had a ‘94 GL1500 for 20,000 miles and was a very comfy, but slightly sporty touring bike.
I had a ‘02 GL1800 for 6,000 miles and was still comfy, but a much sportier touring bike.
No personal experience on the ‘18+ Wings, but from those I have talked to and what I have read, not as comfy but sportier as previous models.

I have a ‘13 K1600GT now that I have not ridden more than 30 miles at a time (yet). Can’t really say how comfy it is yet for a long ride (better with bar risers, and looking for highway pegs), but this bike is more sport than any touring bike should be. To me it is more sport touring than touring.
With your height, I would stay away from the GT. The GTL has a little more leg room and bars are back a touch more. GTL also comes standard with a trunk.
There is also the K1600B (bagger) and Grand America models that come with floorboards. May let you stretch out a little more.

If you are into handling, the K is much better stock than the ‘01-‘17 Wing.
You can do a Full Monty Traxxion suspension upgrade on the Wing and will help greatly.

If we are at a pie run you can try mine if you want.

 

[FE_Rex]

Both nice, and big. Would you consider a low mileage FJR? Pretty much all the amenities of GL or K1600 and just a bit less weight.

I looked at motorcycle ergos and the FJR shows a 72° knee & 78° hip angle for me - That knee angle is no-go for me. My K1300S has similar numbers (73°K / 78°H), I added Helio bars and 1" drop pegs and still have trouble.

The K16GT shows (83°K / 90°H) which is a good comparison to my R11100RTP (77°K / 83°) which I do pretty OK on

 

[one Wolf]

Yes, I get the 70+ year old knee thing. Addition of Motorcycle Larry peg drop of 1.5 inch made a big difference. Good luck on your search.

 

[FE_Rex]

I had a ‘94 GL1500 for 20,000 miles and was a very comfy, but slightly sporty touring bike.
I had a ‘02 GL1800 for 6,000 miles and was still comfy, but a much sportier touring bike.
No personal experience on the ‘18+ Wings, but from those I have talked to and what I have read, not as comfy but sportier as previous models.

I have a ‘13 K1600GT now that I have not ridden more than 30 miles at a time (yet). Can’t really say how comfy it is yet for a long ride (better with bar risers, and looking for highway pegs), but this bike is more sport than any touring bike should be. To me it is more sport touring than touring.
With your height, I would stay away from the GT. The GTL has a little more leg room and bars are back a touch more. GTL also comes standard with a trunk.
There is also the K1600B (bagger) and Grand America models that come with floorboards. May let you stretch out a little more.

If you are into handling, the K is much better stock than the ‘01-‘17 Wing.
You can do a Full Monty Traxxion suspension upgrade on the Wing and will help greatly.

If we are at a pie run you can try mine if you want.

I am following your new bike adventure closely. I was VEEERY tempted by your bike- if my wife was not between gigs, you may have not have gotten it.

The budget will probably keep me away from the newer bikes, which, unfortunately means no quickshifter like my K1300S has

I am concerned about aftermarket acce$orie$on BMW - man they are HIGH and not much on used market

 

[blupupher]

I am following your new bike adventure closely. I was VEEERY tempted by your bike- if my wife was not between gigs, you may have not have gotten it.

The budget will probably keep me away from the newer bikes, which, unfortunately means no quickshifter like my K1300S has

I am concerned about aftermarket acce$orie$on BMW - man they are HIGH and not much on used market

Another issue is recently Goldwings have been priced way higher than they should be IMO.
I was looking for a 2008-2014 1800, and finding one how I wanted (ABS is a must have for me now that I have had it) and could not find anything within Texas and surrounding states for the price I wanted. A few in other states, but I don't care to do a fly and ride.
2008 are commonly priced starting @ $10,000 and 60,000+ miles. I know that mileage is nothing to worry about on a GW, but still 60,000 miles is 60,000 miles.
I have found using GW specific forums do give you a better price than facebook or craigslist though, but most of those are out of state.
The K1600 of same year and mileage are going for $2,000-3,000 less, and all K bikes come with ABS and again, have a better suspension than the 1800. Not all K bikes have the electronic adjustable suspension though.
Mine is a manual adjust, and for me, not an issue. I am so fat I set it to max and never will touch it again.

I wanted a bike with shaft drive, lots of storage (side bags and trunk), large displacement (> 1500 cc), electronic cruise control, more upright position, and ABS. That narrows it to a very small number of bikes.
I had gone to Wild West to look at a Kawasaki Vulcan Vaquero they had (even though it was a belt drive), but it had sold the day before.
I really was not wanting a cruiser, but the bike did interest me enough to go take a look (even though it was gone).
I do not want a Harley.

You also talked about plastics, the 1800 is bad, but I took most of it off twice doing stuff on it, and it was not horrible.
I have only seen videos of the 1600, and it looks like a nightmare.

 

[HunterSr]

Thinking about shaking the fleet up a bit and getting a touring bike maybe in next 6 months. Let's say $8-12K. Looking at used K1600 or Gold Wing.

What would you get and why?

I'm not afraid to work on older bike. I will say I find fairings on the R100RTP and K1300S rather tedious
I am big guy both in height and width - I can flat foot a GSA and my FLHP has the police seat, 2" forward floor boards and a 1.5" rear brake pedal
Not sure if Comfy or Fast is most important, but both must be in abundance.
Current stable has little of everything Rocket3, GSA, Harley Tourings, a K1300s and, just for fun, KZ1000P & R1100RTP project bikes

Would would like the "scare you poo-less" of the K1300S, the ability to stretch out like the FLHP, and the easy handling of the GSA

I’ve ridden both and kept the
K1600GT. If you like long comfy cruises get the Wing. If you like cruising and canyon carving get the K1600.

 

[Bryan L]

Wing no valve adjustments . BMW adjustment is not a low cost deal . I think what you have in the stable is better than what your looking at . The GSA is lighter and better than both options and since you are a big guy its a easy to handle machine . I would of gone GSA but after the huge Tiger1200 for 2 years I went boxer RS series . Wing really needs a few upgrades , and air filter swaps are a pain in the butt . You could contact Rich in sales @ wild west in Katy they have a few nice 1600's low miles you could demo ride . They have a 2018 white wing tour used you may be able to ride .

 

[Texas T]

2008 are commonly priced starting @ $10,000 and 60,000+ miles. I know that mileage is nothing to worry about on a GW, but still 60,000 miles is 60,000 miles.

In 2010 I purchased my 2002 with 57K miles and I paid $10K for it at that time. It had a couple of doo-dads on it but was pretty much 99% stock. Now it has 170K and tons of rally / LD type stuff on it including the Traxxion setup and I cringe thinking about how little I might get for it.

 

[blupupher]

In 2010 I purchased my 2002 with 57K miles and I paid $10K for it at that time. It had a couple of doo-dads on it but was pretty much 99% stock. Now it has 170K and tons of rally / LD type stuff on it including the Traxxion setup and I cringe thinking about how little I might get for it.

I have seen 2 similar to yours (within a year for age, similar mileage and both had the Full Monty) and last I saw they had not sold priced around $4000.

 

[reg26]

I think the best thing to do is rent one of each for a few days. Test rides never really let you know what the bike is really like.

 

[LV Bandit]

Have never ridden either, but I regularly ride WITH guys in my riding group that own them. One has a loaded GW, he bought it new about 3-4 years ago, has almost 40k miles on it. The other guy has a 2012 K1600 he bought new, I think he has similar mileage even though his bike is older.

Both are experienced riders, when we hit twisty backroads the GW gets left behind. I've been riding right behind him and can see how limited his ground clearance is, and its a LOT of motorcycle to try to hustle down a curvy road. The K1600 has actually surprised me by how well it moves at a rapid clip down a curvy road. From riding behind it, doesn't appear even at a spirited pace that anything is going to scrape.

So IMHO the Beemer appears to be the sportier of the two bikes, by quite a margin.

I even considered buying one myself, read a LOT about it online, and spent some time perusing CycleTrader ads.

In the end, my cheapness (worried about the cost of maintenance and repairs - I have owned German luxury cars and my wife still does) won out and I decided to stick with Japanese bikes - so I picked up a like new 2020 Kawasaki Versys 1000 instead.

 

[FE_Rex]

Appreciative all the input, I still have to settle what gets sold out of the stable to make room for latest, be it GW or K1600 - truth be told - leaning K1600.

Maintenance-wise, looks like neither one is as easy / low-drama as a Harley Twin-Cam w/hyd cam tensioners. I am familiar with the “remove all Tupperware” first step of any action more than checking tire pressure on the two BMW bikes I have - never did a GW, but I am sure it is the same just different. I certainly didn't like recently ponying-up for a fuel pump and controller on my K1300s. Wasn't hard to change - just hard to pay for. It appears the valve checks on K1600 are not fun, but they look doable like the K1300.

When it gets cooler, I'll probably start going around to different dealers and sit/check on the bikes.

I like the rental idea - will have to look into that. I can think of several bikes (Rocket3, Vrod) that initially feel great, but after ~ 1-1/2 hrs you hurt enough to stop and take a break, you only last a 1/2 hr after the break and it gets progressive worse.

 

[blupupher]

One thing I just found out yesterday that the BMW has over the Goldwing is that BMW uses very few screw sizes.
I had most of the top plastics off on the 1600 and it only used 3 different size fasteners (and were all the same torx size), with 90% being the same, and it is quite obvious where the "oddball" size ones go.
When I did the plastics on my 1800, there were 6 screws for one side panel, and there were 4 different ones, some hex, some phillips.

That said, there were 3x the number of pieces on the BMW, but it was pretty simple to put together.

Both bikes are ridiculous on how much stuff has to be removed to replace the air filter.
While I hate K&N filters, I see the draw of only having to do it every 50,000 miles.

Everything I have heard about the 1600 valves in check at initial break-in, check at 40,000 miles, and if still in spec, you will be fine.

 

[FE_Rex]

One thing I just found out yesterday that the BMW has over the Goldwing is that BMW uses very few screw sizes.
I had most of the top plastics off on the 1600 and it only used 3 different size fasteners (and were all the same torx size), with 90% being the same, and it is quite obvious where the "oddball" size ones go.
When I did the plastics on my 1800, there were 6 screws for one side panel, and there were 4 different ones, some hex, some phillips.

That said, there were 3x the number of pieces on the BMW, but it was pretty simple to put together.

Both bikes are ridiculous on how much stuff has to be removed to replace the air filter.
While I hate K&N filters, I see the draw of only having to do it every 50,000 miles.

On my K1300 all fairing screws are the same diameter, but there are 2 slightly different lengths and, no, they don't interchange

Air filter is pain on K1300S also. It has twin snorkel tubes running from the air box to the very front of bike. I swear is is easier to put one-piece headers in a big-block Fairlane than it is to sneak in those snorkel tubes

 

[blupupher]

...

Air filter is pain on K1300S also. It has twin snorkel tubes running from the air box to the very front of bike. ...

1600 is the same way.

 

[reg26]

I think a better comparison would be a post 2018 Goldwing to the 1600. Honda took a lot of weight off the bike in 2018. It's a different machine now.

 

[blupupher]

I think a better comparison would be a post 2018 Goldwing to the 1600. Honda took a lot of weight off the bike in 2018. It's a different machine now.

Yeah, I agree the '18+ Wing is more comparable to the K1600, but for the price he is looking at, a '06-'14 Wing or a pre '16 K1600 is what is in that range.

 

[xcaliber]

When the 1600 first came out, I was asking the dealer about maintenance. He asked me what I rode. I told a Goldwing. He said , oh you Honda goys , you think normal maintenance on other bikes is excessive. LOL I do my own regular maintenance . Oil, brakes, all fluids easy. Air cleaner , a pain not difficult just tedious.

 

[budzrex]

I swear is is easier to put one-piece headers in a big-block Fairlane than it is to sneak in those snorkel tubes

Did that years ago when a friend asked for some Saturday morning project car help. I swear it woudl have been quicker to pull the entire front clip off the car then start back from that point after the headers were on and have a cutting torch ready just incase those inner fenders even looked like they were going to get in the way again

 

[FE_Rex]

I just got really tempted
2018 K1600GT $12999

I am not ready to buy. Paid off front 11 acres at lunch today, wife has not started her new job yet and has been out of work for a few months, and the bike was GT not GTL or B. BUT - it sounds like a really good deal and I was looking for a 'sign" if I should move some money around and not pass up a chance to get a 2018 bike for the price of a 1213 bike. Doing my due diligence before committing to a 1-1/2 hr drive to the dealer ship I call them – I got my sign - >$1000 prep fee. Why didn’t they just come out and say bike was $14K I still would have been really tempted, why misrepresent what you want for the bike

Me - “Hello, do you still have K1600 in stock”

Sales guy - “I’m pretty sure - Let me go lay hands on it”
After short hold
Sales guy - “Yes, it is still here”

Me - “Ok, other than 6-1/4% tax and a $150 document fee, what else will I have to pay”

Sales guy - “We also have a “prep” fee to pay for going over the motorcycle, doing a full service, and basically verifying the bike is safe”

Me - “Does “safe” mean the tires are less than 5 years old - also how much is this fee – a few hundred bucks?”

Sales guy - “Uhh not sure about the tires we would have to look. Let me get with sales manager on the fee”
After short hold
Sales guy - “I’m sorry the sale manger indicated the prep fee is north of $1,000”

Me - We are done here, thank you for your time.