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Dr Johnson’s great Dictionary, the first of the English language, was published in 1775. It included the famous definition of “a horse” as “a neighing quadruped”.
Johnson’s technique was to illustrate the meanings of words by appropriate literary quotations. For example, the verb “to honey” was given the meaning, “to talk fondly”. Johnson gave as his illustration Hamlet’s denunciation of his mother’s infamous treachery;
“Nay, but to live
In the rank sweat of an incestuous bed,
Stew’d in corruption, honeying and making love
Over the nasty sty”.
Johnson defined the word “complex” as meaning “composite; of many parts; not simple”. One of his illustrative quotes was;
“With such perfection fram’d,
Is this complex stupendous scheme of things”.
A present day Johnson might, as an example of complexity, have referred to the specification of the 2009 BMW K1300S.
Consider a road going motorcycle, available from your BMW dealer now, which includes;
* A liquid-cooled, four cylinder, 1293cc, four valves per cyl., fuel injected, double overhead cam, four valves per cylinder, engine, capable of producing 175 horsepower at 9250rpm.
* Six speed gearbox with hydraulic clutch
* An “Electronic Shift Assistant” which allows the rider to change gears while holding full throttle
* Two stage cush-drive in the drive train
* Duolever and paralever suspension systems
* ESA ( Electronic Suspension Adjustment), with the choice of “Comfort”, “Normal”, and “Sport” modes
* An upgraded ABS disc braking system, now called “ASC” (Anti Spin Control)
* Heated hand grips and seat
* Cruise control
* Xenon lights
*
Such is the BMW K1300S. In Johnson’s terms, “a complex stupendous scheme of things”, albeit, to some, not “perfect”.
Vincents have been described as “a solution looking for a problem”. Does that apply to this new BMW? Is it, or some of its features, just complexity for the sake of something new, a matter of product differentiation driven by the cunning of marketing gurus? Views will differ.
The attraction or otherwise of modern marvels like the K1300S no doubt depend on the
extent to which, for the beholder,
“insulting age (has traced) his cruel way
and (left) sad marks of his destructive way”.
As I sit admiring it in my shed, I ask myself whether I would swap my 1937 BMW R6 for a new Meisterstucke. As Napoleon reputedly said to his wife, “Not tonight, Josephine”.
What is the attraction to me of a machine even older than me? Its aesthetic charm and sobriety are appealing, but I suspect that much also has to do with its technical simplicity. It is not, like the K1300S, “complicated”. For example;
* Two horizontally opposed cylinders provide good balance. Being a side valve motor, the cylinders protrude only minimally.
* Air cooling is adequate, simple, and very cheap.
* The 600 cc design provides sufficient power (17.75HP!!) for comfortable riding (solo or with pillion) at low revs and at sensible speeds (max 125 KPH). I won’t be led astray by horsepower!
* Side valve design may not be as efficient as OHV (notwithstanding Ricardo head design), but it is cheaper, has fewer parts to wear and tappets are easy to adjust.
* The low compression engine (6:1 compared to the K’s 13:1) is happy with the cheapest standard fuel.
* It has easily rebuildable and adjustable carburettors.
* The drum brakes are adequate, as long as you don’t get too close to anything solid.
* The four speed gearbox (with manual and foot change) copes with all normal road conditions.
* The shaft drive is adequately damped by means of a simple rubber joint between gearbox and drive shaft.
* The front suspension is by (admittedly primitive) telescopic forks, and is hydraulically damped.
* Rear suspension is by seat springs…pressure on the footrests may be advisable on rough roads, but if it was good enough for most riders until WW2 (“when men were men”), it’s good enough for me.
* It is light (175 kg’s compared to the K1300 at 302 kg’s), and the seat is low (72 cm’s compared to the K’s minimum 84 cm’s).
* There is not a computer to be found! To large degree, it can be repaired, and even rebuilt, in the bathroom, or on the side of the road. In short, the rider is mercifully independent of diagnostic tools and inscrutable, unrepairable, and expensive, black boxes.
Most of these are attributes BMW used to boast about. In 1937, the R6 was publicised as a “Touren-maschine”, with all the practical characteristics that implied. But of course man’s appetite for innovation is insatiable, and my old R6 was itself a step along an evolutionary road. It incorporated many novel features from BMW’s successful racing bikes to the mid 1930’s. The story was never going to end there.
The K1300S represents a change in approach unimaginable not so long ago. In 1977, L.J.K. Setright, writing typically in his eloquent and colourful history of BMW motorcycles, “Bahnstormer” (p172), concluded that;
“ All motorcycles are old-fashioned, and so is BMW. It still scores over all the
others by offering the best modern details(brakes, electrics and the like) and yet
keeping such good old fashioned virtues as quality, moderate weight, low centre of
gravity, good finish and easy handling. Nevertheless I am convinced that BMW
could make a much more modern and cleverer machine if they wanted to.
It seems they do not. In front of them all the time is the BMW image, a purely
notional and therefore unbreakable ikon which determines how a BMW
motorcycle must look, how it may sound, what it should feel like, and even
approximately how much it should cost.”
Setright was wrong in his prediction. As it is put in the June 2009 issue of “Cycle World”,
“BMW is a changed company. No longer the last bastion of bearded Belstaffers
bragging about reliability, the Bavarian Motor Werks is cranking out
performance bikes without quirks.”
I will end with another lexical reference. The word “nostalgia” originally had to do with home-sickness. But, perhaps in the last century, the usage was extended, and now means “any vague yearning, especially for the past, and especially when tinged with tenderness and sadness”. When I compare my old R6 with the latest BMW’s, I am a little nostalgic.
Tony Border.
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