BMW K 75SA

The Engine

This engine is so very different from the engine on the R65. Instead of being a low-end-torque machine with a big flywheel, the K75 feels like it has no flywheel at all. When you twitch the throttle, the familiar sensation of torque pulling the bike to the right is absent.

When I first started the engine, I thought something might be wrong -- there was a high-pitched whine accompanying the "normal" engine noises that was very strange sounding. I knew beforehand that K-bikes whined, I just didn't think it was quite so prominent. The engine sound actually reminds me very distinctly of the Jetson's hovercars -- that high-pitched whining putt-putt is almost exactly the sound of this motorcycle accelerating slowly away in first gear.

Something about fuel-injected engines has always made me feel disconnected from how it all works. This remains true on the K75. Although it certainly does accelerate well. I think this engine has less low-end-torque than the R65 though, since I've killed it once when the R bike wouldn't have died, pulling into traffic (bad time to kill an engine, by the way).

Starting this engine is also much easier than on the R65, although I think that is to be expected. The "choke" lever isn't actually operating a choke so much as a fast-idle cam on the injector controller. Once it's started, the engine idles smoothly.

The Driveline
The path taken by the engine power, getting from the engine to the wheel, is essentially the same as on my R65. The clutch on this bike feels much crisper (although perhaps my clutch will feel the same way after its replacement) than the R65, and the gearbox feels slightly improved. The one "major" change that I've noticed is that the shift lever now stops in the middle position after you've hit first gear (you can't press it down any more). This makes it a bit more obvious when you've gone all the way down.

The gearbox is still fairly notchy, with plenty of opportunities (or so it seems) to find false neutrals. I haven't actually found any yet, so I may be misinterpreting the catch I feel halfway through the throw. Downshifting feels a bit more positive though.

The Brakes
The first thing I noticed about the brakes on this bike was the fact that the rear brake actually does something. Unlike on the R65, I can actually slow down the entire machine with the rear brake on the K75. The front brakes feel sort of weak by comparison, but I can't tell if that's due to the rear brake being so powerful, or if it's that they're actually weaker than I'm used to. Perhaps "less bite" might better describe the front brakes -- I know they'll stop the bike quite well, you just have to be more aggressive to do it.

The Suspension
The K75S uses the Monolever rear suspension, which basically means you get one swingarm going back instead of two. It also means that you have one shock and one spring in the rear -- on the particular bike I'm borrowing, the stock shock has been replaced with an Öhlins shock with a remote reservoir. I can't really comment on the Öhlins shock, as I won't have time to adjust it properly.