BMW K1600 GT 1 year ownership review, love it or hate it?

Exactly a year ago today I rode home on my shiny new 2023 BMW K1600 GT SE. Never before have I owned or even ridden this type of (huge touring) motorbike. My plan is loads of motorbike touring, and adventures starting with on the 01st of June 2024 an epic 3500 mile trip to Iceland from the UK. :-) Subscribe if your keen to see how that goes! :-)

[@petersmith2325]

Got the 2015 k1600. Had it 9 years now, tyre's depends on how you ride, don't forget it's a big bike dude. The only thing i must change is the windshield for better protection. Best bike I've owned. Keep the video's coming dude.😁👍

[@50adventures]

Many thanks :) new video went live 4 hours ago :) :)

[@PaulFrancis-SkyRascal]

Great vid mate, the new roundabout going into Swindon is finally done! 😂

[@50adventures]

Yes finally done :) after what seems like years! Lol

[@bigboss1966]

Nice review, I have come to the K in a similar way to you and totally agree with your thoughts. I do however still have a Hayabusa 😜😎. Tyres I also find it eats fronts like no other bike I’ve had . I love my K1600 they are amazing bikes .

[@50adventures]

Love the busa, I still have an EXUP 1000 here but its more 'garage art' and 1 or 2 shows a year for her. :-)

[@angelwings8815]

Pretty landscape views! England is soooo pretty!

[@50adventures]

We are super lucky to live in the UK I think :)

[@enricohockx171]

Nice review. I agree with most of your findings. I noticed you still have the original windscreen mounted. I swaped it for a big Puig because the wind noise was driving me crazy

[@50adventures]

I found the same after a long motorway run but concluded it was the helmet. ‘As I you can most likely see I now have the C5’ :)

[@enricohockx171]

@@50adventures I have to admit I am riding on motorways most of the time and I also have a C5. I like the C5 for many reasons apart from the wind noise 😀

[@50adventures]

lol as long as I’m not d deaf when I get back, I’m happy days. Did you get the inner padding to fit your head?

[@enricohockx171]

@@50adventures I think so. I hope so 😉

[@ianedgerton8219]

When using your connected app navigation do you import your routes from another source such s my route app?, I've had a couple of issues recently.

[@50adventures]

Hi Ian, I use the connected app to create the route. I have never imported a route as it stands. The app is not great for route planning but it works well enough for me.

[@MrL22]

Looking good. When we going on a road trip?

[@50adventures]

I’m off to Iceland in June :-) :-) I’m sure there will be plenty more local ones to help had though :)

[@22Royston]

Good stuff Simon. My K16 is possibly the best bike I have owned -proper luxury tourer. That said i’m staking my GS down to Morocco next month. My phone seemed to have GPS interrupts when I placed it in the cubby so on my longer tours I simply put it into a handlebar bag and no issues. Do you plan on doing a vlog kit review and set up ahead of your Iceland trip?

[@50adventures]

@@22Royston what a good idea 👍 once I’m happy with exactly what’s going to be getting packed I will a video :) love Morocco!! Enjoy! :)

[@JM-lb4lw]

Hi. What's the device with the red circled button on your left handlebar?

[@50adventures]

That is a Go Pro remote control button. Quite a snazzy bit of kit when mounting cameras out of reach :-)

[@viktortyshkevych1121]

What do you think about the seating position? I have the same bike, and my back hurts after each ride…

[@50adventures]

I have my seat in the high position, and with a fluffy seat cover. Before that I did get some pain in the bum and shoulders. Adding the height seems to have worked :-) (I will let you know after the 3500 mile Iceland Trip in June) :-) Not sure how much you ride, but also I find it takes me a while to get 'bike fit' after a break.

[@viktortyshkevych1121]

I’ll try to raise the seat. Let me know after your long trip. Thank you

[@50adventures]

@@viktortyshkevych1121 Fingers crossed for you. Thanks for reaching out and do let us know how you get on 🙂

[@BMWK-jo1kn]

MY 22' Grand America was unbearable until I avoided the TFT/CA issue completely. That app is insufferable. Why is it that a 200 dollar Garmin Drivesmart 65 GPS mounted to the bike can do exponentially more than the BMW app that essentially takes over your phone? Now my TFT has been relegated to a very complex, expensive fuel gauge. Love the bike now. Avoid the CA completely and you'll be happy with this bike!

[@50adventures]

I love mine! And I have no issues with it now I know what I am doing when setting it up. I must admit though a decent car play type set up would be fantastic!! :-)

[@terrystratford1235]

I'm toying with swapping my africa twin 1100 dct with a k1600, I prefer the pre 2022 models with clocks and a garmin satnav! Some great bargin low mileage ones for about £15k!

[@50adventures]

@terrystratford1235 the guy who is coming with me has an older k16 which he paid £10k for. One or two niggles but no mega dramas with it :) amazing value for money when second hand

[@MrBeracah]

All this time talking about the route, speed limits etc and so little commentary on the actual bike, what a disappointing review.

[@50adventures]

Im not going to disagree. lol It's my first video so hopefully things can only get better :-) :-)

[@MrBeracah]

@@50adventures hi sorry if I came across as very critical, that wasn’t the intention just an honest comment. Thks

[@albertol1529]

I could hear your sat nav, but how come you’ve got a female voice? I’ve got an RT and it’s a male, unless yours has transitioned!

[@50adventures]

That's a good question which deserves an answer! lol I just had a quick look through the app to see if there is a setting for the voice and there is not. Im guessing that it's just the new default? :-)

[@albertol1529]

@@50adventures I think because you’ve got the ultra premium tourer you get the fancier voice. I went through the app and there’s no choice either. “My” latest version is 5.1.1, which is what’s showing on the App Store. It must be in-built into your K1600 rather than the app. I actually noticed something on the app when I was trying to transition my navigator. You have to enable the traffic route compensation. About 3 or 4 months ago they added traffic to it. So I could see all the hold ups on the M1, but the bike never did anything to avoid them. That’s because I hadn’t told it to!

[@50adventures]

@@albertol1529 Good shout! Im the same, I assumed it would have just done it until I found the little option slider.

[@albertol1529]

@@50adventures The trouble is, it uses the car algorithm, not a bike one. It means that any time shown, doesn’t include filtering. It also nots the hell out of me because when I leave my house, it gives me an ETA. When I get to the M1, all of a sudden, the ETA goes out of the roof due to 16 miles of narrow lanes from MK to past Luton. It’s really annoying!

[@50adventures]

@@albertol1529 I have never used the ETA on any satnav for anything other than to try and beat it's guestimated time 😂