Another interesting Fortnine video. The K75.

[SIR REAL ED]

I think BMW can be a victim of their own success at times.
They pursue engineering perfection and go hazardously close to achieving it in the main.
But…
Certainly from my standpoint, engineering bugs out of their machines, skews the balance towards blandness. That reasoning will not stand up to forensic criticism, but bikes are affairs of the heart and as such, commonsense goes out the window.
Many great design advances have gone out the window because the devotees said no.
Would you buy a V100 with hub centre steering ?
If desirability was a function of perfection, this site would be Wild Bavaria…

"Engineering perfection". nows there a term guaranteed to cause arguments...... especially among Engineers!

Just like Beauty, Form, Function, Simplicity, Complexity, etc.  "Perfection" is a very subjective term.  Heck, for that matter, so is "Engineering!"

In the world of hardware design/development/refinement/production, a lot of criticism of how something was done, simply stems from the critic not knowing what the original design parameters and objectives were, or who the intended customers were.

style vs. cost vs. performance vs. cost vs. longevity vs. cost vs. simplicity vs. cost vs. ease of ownership vs. cost vs. target audience appeal, etc.

And all the niche manufacturers such as BMW, Harley, Moto Guzzi, Ducati, Norton, Triumph, Royal Enfield, etc. are always walking on egg shells with any new change in design.  Offend the pure practitioners/defenders of the "One True Faith," and they will close their wallets and hang on the the older models which were more true to the ideals of BMW, Harley, Moto Guzzi, Ducati, Norton, Triumph, Royal Enfield, etc.

Ooops, add tradition vs. cost vs. pride vs. cost vs. name branding to the above list. 

I think the Honda VFR750 and the Pacific Coast have often been accused of being "appliance like" and lacking "character."

[SIR REAL ED]

Side thought.  Wouldn't it be really cool to see BMW go back to their post WWII roots with a bigger version of the old 250 single shaft drive bike?

Say 450 to 700cc......

https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-german-motorcycles/bmw-r27-zmmz12jazbea/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_R27

[n3303j]

R27 (used $400) was my first real motorcycle. That was back in the '70s when we all had only had one motorcycle and it had to fulfill all of our missions. Life was simpler. It was good.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Side thought.  Wouldn't it be really cool to see BMW go back to their post WWII roots with a bigger version of the old 250 single shaft drive bike?

Say 450 to 700cc......

https://www.motorcycleclassics.com/classic-german-motorcycles/bmw-r27-zmmz12jazbea/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_R27

About as much chance of that happening as Guzzi bringing back the Falcone...

[n3303j]

Back when I bought my R27 the dealer (BMW) commented that the R27 was disappearing because the Japanese were making bikes that were faster and lighter and sold for less. BMW was also paying a royalty for every Earles fork they sold so that hurt their margin. In the end competition made the R27 disappear. It was a good long term, long distance machine. But most riders don't do long distance, long term rides. Average rider does 3,000 miles per year. At that rate most any bike will last 10 years. Doesn't have to be a BMW.

[SIR REAL ED]

Back when I bought my R27 the dealer (BMW) commented that the R27 was disappearing because the Japanese were making bikes that were faster and lighter and sold for less. BMW was also paying a royalty for every Earles fork they sold so that hurt their margin. In the end competition made the R27 disappear. It was a good long term, long distance machine. But most riders don't do long distance, long term rides. Average rider does 3,000 miles per year. At that rate most any bike will last 10 years. Doesn't have to be a BMW.

If you get a chance to watch the DVD "The John Penton Story," you will see a short segment on John riding an R27 in enduros.

[SIR REAL ED]

About as much chance of that happening as Guzzi bringing back the Falcone...

Agreed.  Too few boxes checked.  Very few potential buyers.  Very expensive for what it would be.

Royal Enfield is already marketing to that niche.

[rex007can]

In many ways, modern BMW are massively over engineered and exceedingly complex, I wouldn’t call that perfection.

Ryan did an interesting review of the BMW GS variable timing system a while back.
Overengineered for marginal gains indeed.

Someone should really loan him a Moto Guzzi to review around BC.
He'd be into it.
(he told me)

[twowheeladdict]

Design lined up crankshaft, transmission and final drive.

But it could have all been on the other side of the motorcycle.  I'm thinking no one considered it. 

[n3303j]

But it could have all been on the other side of the motorcycle.  I'm thinking no one considered it.

But they were already tooled up for right hand drive and left hand shift.

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

Just guessing, but flipping it may have required that the engine spin the opposite direction unless another shaft was added to the transmission. Extra shaft means more weight, complexity and size.

[n3303j]

Just guessing, but flipping it may have required that the engine spin the opposite direction unless another shaft was added to the transmission. Extra shaft means more weight, complexity and size.

All depends upon which side of the ring gear the drive pinion lies.
Ural reversed that ring gear/pinion relationship and went to a two shaft transmission to keep a right hand drive. Third shaft was reverse and kick start only.

[ohiorider]

I got back into biking with BMWs, after one Yamaha  750 Virago, in 1984.

85 K100RS
88 K75S
89 K100RS/ABS
93 K1100 LT  (this one was my least favorite!)
93 K1100RS
99 K1200RS

Obviously, I liked the K bikes.

However, the 1991 R100GS I purchased new in 1991 is still in the garage.  My favorite BMW out of all of them.  Having said that, the K1200RS was a mile munching machine!

Bob

[SIR REAL ED]

But it could have all been on the other side of the motorcycle.  I'm thinking no one considered it.

I'd bet it was discussed ad infinitum.  But only after the start up smoking was discovered.

Basically a non-problem easily solved by non-rotating piston rings with the gaps oriented away from the bottom of the cylinders.

Also easily solved simply be moving the kickstand to the other side of the bike.

I suspect very few owners found it to be bothersome, but simply "added character" to an already unique bike.

Fun to discuss, but I doubt it prevented anyone whom that bike appealed to, from buying the bike.

Added to the BMW mystique!