BMW can be more than satisfied after posting record sales in 2011 , a +6.4% increase from 2010 despite a waning world wide economy and now their super six cylinder tourer, the BMW K 1600 GT has been voted the “International Bike Of The Year 2011,” with two other of their motorcycles making it into the top five.

Announced at a press conference given by the Belgian motorcycle magazine Motor Wereld at the Brussels Motor Show. The award for the K 1600 GT comes from an international jury representing 25 motorcycle magazines: (Australian Motorcycle News (Australia), Auto By (Japan), Autocar India (India), Bike (Scandinavia), Bike (UK), Cycle World (USA), Der Reitwagen (Austria), Inmoto (Italy), KicXstart (Netherlands), Kiwi Rider (New Zealand), La Moto (Spain), Maximoto (France), Moto Kultur Asia (Malaysia and Singapore), Moto (Greece), Moto Journal (Canada), Moto & Loisirs (Belgium), Moto Mag (Israel), Motoraj (Czech Republic), Motoron (Turkey), MotoSi (Slovenia), MotorWereld (Belgium), PS Magazin (Germany), Revista Moto (Mexico), SuperBike (South Africa), Swiat Motocykli (Poland).

The K 1600 GT convinced the motorcycle journalists with its unique combination of comfort, performance and use of innovative technologies. The powerful in-line 6-cylinder engine was said to offer power, refinement and lots of fun. The bike’s sophisticated technology – in addition to ABS, traction control and navigation system, an adaptive headlight and electronically controlled suspension with various modes increase active riding safety – makes the K 1600 GT an incomparable touring motorcycle. On the road, the outstanding qualities of the K 1600 GT are its agile chassis and unusually light handling. All this gives the rider a unique riding experience, according to the jury, impressing the most demanding touring and sports motorcyclists.

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I swear I’ve poured over BMWs K 1600 GT technical specs half a dozen times and this function is not listed on their onboard computer, but it sure makes for proactive riding … and solving road rage.

Enjoy.

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Is this a real shift in paradigm or merely another passing trend? In naming its top ten best bikes for 2011, Cycle World cites the gaining ground of European bikes against Japanese bikes in the US motorcycle market. Leaving aside US bike brands, the likes of Ducati and BMW have fared better against a weak dollar than their Japanese counterparts, providing top quality at a price point much closer to the Japanese bikes than years ago.

Models like the Ducati Diavel won for best cruiser, proving that it is well and truly made to fit the American market, and there are no surprises with the BMW K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL taking out best sport tourer and best tourer. With Triumph and even Husaberg getting a mention, it looks like Europe’s motorcycle heyday might be back in terms of product, despite the increasingly waning economic conditions for a healthy market.

Cycle World says:

Evolution continues, in good times or bad, whether you believe in it or not. Seems like only yesterday we were content as could be to ride along on our dinosaurs and horses, and now look at us. One trend continues in 2011: the shift in motorcycle power from Japan to Europe. Last year, five of our Top Ten came from Japan. This year, only three—and two of those were bones of contention that required significant gnawing.

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When the BMW Concept 6 was first shown, it was a naked bake that made room for the first BMW six-cylinder motorcycle. On heading to production though, we got the sophisticated and powerful BMW K1600GT touring bikes. So what happened to that first naked sportsbike? According to internet rumours, we could see a new BMW K1600R six-cylinder naked developed.

VisorDown reports that a BMW K1600R could be in the works. Certainly a six-cylinder bike would suit both the design and riding style of a naked bike, but the six-cylinder that was developed by BMW is in fact, less powerful than the older four-cylinder “K” engine by about 13hp. To then tune-up the six-cylinder to make it more powerful makes us wonder if there’s any point to the exercise at all.

Not only is the K1300R a more powerful bike, it’s also a reasonably priced one, meaning that a new six-cylinder naked would have a tall order at coming close to that value for money. If the project does happen though, we could see the old 1300cc four-cylinder engine disappear altogether. With other projects keeping BMW busy at the moment, we might not see any BMW K1600R naked before 2013.

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We first saw BMW’s new touring models, the K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL at this year’s Intermot show, now a few months later BMW has realeased a video of the K 1600 GT in action.

No catchy music, no voice over, just the simple sound of that powerful 6 cylinder engine and some close up stills that it looks like we’ve already seen.

For complete details and specs on both BMW’s new sports tourers just click here.

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The new BMW touring models K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL have been released at the 2010 Intermot show. The two models have been designed with travelling in mind and are both equipped with BMW’s in-line six cylinder engine. The brand new models have been created for long and comfortable travelling but with enough power and riding dynamics to keep things interested. They are the production version six-cylinder models of the original Concept 6 model which was presented last year, and should prove to be an interesting new-entry in the touring segment.

While touring models don’t thrill like sports bikes do, the K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL are very impressive inventions from BMW and frankly if you’re going a long way, you may as well do it in comfort and style. They both feature smooth running, comfort, high power and torque (at 160 hp and 175 Nm), Dynamic Traction Control with Rain, Road and Dynamic settings and electronic suspension adjustment. After the jump you’ll find all the technical details of the new BMW touring models.

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The BMW Concept 6 which we saw at last year’s 2009 EICMA, went one step further in demonstrating that BMW Motorrad seriously considers itself at the cutting edge of new technology in the motorcycle sector. We’d like to see them play around more with electric bikes, but in the meantime our curiosity has been piqued with the announcement of BMW’s first inline six-cylinder production bikes.

While BMW itself admits that the bikes are born of its fascination with the six-cylinder engine in the world of automobiles, sometimes it’s this kind of approach that leads to innovation. The company says: “With BMW, six-cylinder in-line engines have stood for fascinating engine technology in automobiles for over seven decades, in a way which is unique among brands. In the near future, BMW motorcycles will also be available with an internally developed six-cylinder in-line engine.”

The BMW K 1600 GT and the BMW K 1600 GTL are the new six-cylinder motorcycles that BMW has developed, and both represent touring models. The former is slightly more sports-oriented, while the latter is designed for long range touring. BMW has so far only released sketches of the new models, with more pics and details to come at a later official launch date. Above is a video on new adaptive headlight technology which should also appear on these models. After the jump, you’ll find a short press release from BMW on the K 1600 GT and K 1600 GTL.

Continue reading: BMW six-cylinder bikes: K 1600 GT and BMW K 1600 GTL

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