BMW K1 SUPERBIKE Extremely RARE (1/600 Sold in US) Collector Quality LO RESERVE

ATTENTION: LOW RESERVE AUCTION

BID TO OWN IT

This auction is for an EXTREMELY RARE

(1/600 sold in US - less than 7. 00 Worldwide)

BMW K1 SUPERBIKE

First time I saw one of these bikes I knew I just had to have one! It has been extremely hard to find one in this great condition! I purchased this bike from the second owner. Bike was reported to have been sold new out of BAVARIAN MOTOR WERKS in Cincinatti to Robert Pitcairen Jr - best known as the attorny for Pete Rose and the Cincinatti Bengals.  It has been garage kept and professionally serviced since new. Never abused or damaged. with just over 16. 38 actual miles looks like a new bike (or better). Draws crowds whenever it is ridden. Runs. sounds and rides amazing. smooth 5 speed transmission. BMW's proven shaft drive system. triple disc ABS brakes. nbsp;lots of power from the 1000cc liquid cooled 4 cylinder. handles nice and has exceptional wind protection. All body work very clean and scuff free. windshield clear as are gauge lenses. Heated grips are standard too. Bike comes with special edition FMW touring bags and full cover too. Don't miss out! You will not be dissapointed!

Fresh service and inspection just performed. new plugs. oil & filter! Checked out great!

Please fell free to contact me at 503-329-6555 Vehicle is located in Springfield Oregon (Pacific Daylight Time Zone) RIDLEY'S RIDES is a licensed & bonded Motorcycle and collector vehicle dealer in the state of Oregon dealer #DA1236

No Animal or human models were injured or harmed in this photo shoot! Max the Golden Retriever and the female model SAMI are of legal age and consented to the use of their photos!!

BUYER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL ASPECTS OF SHIPPING INCLUDING ALL COSTS AND ARRANGEMENTS! RIDLEY'S RIDES WILL PROVIDE SHIPPER WITH PICK LOCATION THAT IS ACCESSABLE TO LARGE TRUCKS!

TERMS & CONDITIONS

ALL VEHICLES SOLD AS-IS

RIDLEY?ˆ™S RIDES  reserves the right to cancel all bids and end an auction early at any time. should the vehicle no longer be available for sale.  The following terms of sale apply to all of our auctions. RIDLEY?ˆ™S RIDES welcomes all dealers and individuals to bid on our vehicles. Every vehicle we sell will have a clear title. I AM AVAILABLE 7 DAYS A WEEK  to answer any questions you may have. Please call. KIM RIDLEY @ 503-329-6555. email info@ridleysrides. com . I look forward to meeting you in person or speaking with you by telephone.  

* Successful high bidder should contact RIDLEY?ˆ™S RIDES within 24 hours at 503-329-6555.

* Successful high bidder will submit a $1. 00. 00 deposit in the form of a cashier's check. credit card. nbsp; wire transfer or Pay-Pal within 24 hours of the auction ending. unless other arrangements have been made.

* This vehicle is being sold "as is". unless a warranty is in effect from the vehicle manufacturer. * All financial transactions should be completed within 4 (four) days of an auction ending.

* RIDLEY?ˆ™S RIDES  accepts cashier's checks. certified funds. or wire transfers.

* The buyer is  responsible for all shipping charges. RIDLEY?ˆ™S  RIDES gladly can help the buyer arrange all shipping and transportation using only licensed. bonded and insured carriers that provide door-to-door delivery.

* Every effort has been made to accurately and fairly describe this vehicle. RIDLEY?ˆ™S RIDES discloses all information known about this vehicle for auction. Please be advised that used vehicles may sometimes have miniscule scratches or dings inherent to their age / mileage and some mechanical parts could be subject to normal wear. RIDLEY?ˆ™S RIDES welcomes a buyer's inspection. If you plan on using a buyer's pre-purchase inspection. please schedule your inspection appointment prior to the auction ending. The buyer is responsible for any and all inspection charges and fees

INTERESTING FUN FACTS/ SPECS

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Now just keep telling yourself that. Joking aside these are extremely rare bikes and they grow on you after looking at the pictures for a bit (it was either that or the gin and tonic). Approximately 600 were brought into the U. S. and the production run from 88-93 produced less than 7000 world wide. If you are interested in one of these bikes I'm sure you are up on their history. For the gawkers. the K1 was conceived to change the publics' image of BMW motorcycles. Along the way the vision got a little cloudy and what the world got was a high speed sports tourer with alot of high tech features and styling that was. well. different. The styling actually had a purpose though. BMW had committed to the EU limit of a 1oohp and they saw aerodynamics as the way to get more speed with less ponies.

[This Retrospective: BMW K1: 1990-1993 was originally published in the January 2011 issue of Rider magazine]

Year/model: 1990 BMW K1. Owner: Ray Trujillo. Sacramento. California.

This was the second attempt by BMW at making the ?ˆ?Flying Brick. as the K100 was fondly referred to. palatable to the market. but it did not fare too well.  What the K1 did have going for it was looks. outstanding looks. one of the most fully faired (seven pieces!) sporting motorcycles ever seen. half the front wheel covered by another two pieces of plastic. all done up in the brightest red possible (or midnight blue). with brilliant yellow K1 graphics matching the yellow wheels. A visual knockout! And BMW claimed less drag on the K1 design than on any other mass-produced motorcycle.

Not that this elaborate a fairing had not been done before. as with Erik Buell?ˆ™s RR1000 and Moto Morini?ˆ™s 350 Dart. both appearing in 1987.

But what exactly was the K1 supposed to do? It certainly wasn?ˆ™t the traditional BMW sport-touring bike. as there was only some small optional soft-luggage to give it carrying capacity. Was it a superbike? Heck. for two-thirds the price of a K1 any of the Japanese sport tourers (emphasis on the ?ˆ?sport?ˆ?) could stay well ahead of the BMW. But that. maintained BMW executives. was not the point. This was a German superbike. which would stand on its own merits. True. the Japanese seemed obsessed with lap times and dyno ratings. and were more involved in internecine competition rather than worrying about the Europeans.

BMW had been obsessed with not mimicking the Japanese?ˆ¦not building a transverse-mounted in-line four. So the Bavarian-based company had come up with its own version of the in-line four. laid longitudinally on its side. According to legend. BMW had wanted to phase out the old-fashioned air-cooled boxer and hoped to do this with the K100 that was introduced in 1983. Unfortunately. the Flying Brick was no great sales success. as it did have problems. the major one being heat. The BTUs given off by the cooling system could toast a rider?ˆ™s lower extremities.

The same engineers also seemed to forget that the sidestand was on the left side. the same as the cylinder heads. Leave a K100 parked for a while on an angle. oil would seep past the piston rings into the combustion chambers. and on start-up the bike would look like a smoke-screen device. After a few years (1989) the smoking situation was taken care of by using a Citroen-based system of arranging the piston rings to ensure the oil would not get through?ˆ”maybe just a little did.

And nobody could deny that the slow-revving engine was a bit on the stuffy side of exciting.

It soon became obvious that the K100. and its RS and RT siblings. were not going to be great sellers. while the demand for boxers stayed strong. What to do. Give the motojournalists and the buying public a real shot to the old eyeballs. and improve performance. The crankcases and slightly undersquare cylinders (67mm bore. 70mm stroke) of the K1 were the same as the K100. but the head was quite different?ˆ”with four valves per cylinder. The compression ratio was increased from 10. 2:1 to 11:1. and a couple of pounds were shaved off the crankshaft to allow the engine to spin a little faster. The old Jetronic fuel-injection system was also replaced with one called Motronic. designed to more quickly react to the half-dozen inputs. from engine load to altitude.

Naturally an American magazine immediately strapped this jolly red giant to a dyno and measured rear-wheel horsepower at about 83. which was nothing exceptional?ˆ¦about 25 ponies less than a Kawasaki ZX-10.

The chassis had also been changed. though not drastically. The tubular frame had been beefed up a bit. and the conventional nonadjustable fork with integrated brace. complements of Marzocchi. used progressive damping and offered 5. 3 inches of travel. It also had less rake at 26. 5 degrees. a degree less than the K100. and half an inch less trail. The K1 suffered from limited steering lock. with a U-turn requiring more than two lanes to effect. A steering damper was hidden under all the plastic.

At the back was the new Paralever. a single-sided swingarm and driveshaft that had been used on boxers but never a K-bike. which was a commendable approach to reduce the ?ˆ?jacking?ˆ? effect of shaft drive. A single Bilstein shock. with preload adjustability. gave 5. 5 inches of travel. One downside of the Paralever was that it extended the wheelbase almost 2 inches.

The aluminum three-spoke Italian FPS wheels were unconventional in that the back wheel was 18 inches in diameter. the front. 17. A fat 160/60 radial was mounted on the rear. and a 120/70 on the front. The front wheel had a pair of floating 305mm discs with double-action four-piston Brembo cali­pers. the rear a single-action Brembo with a 285mm disc. All bikes for the American market came with the latest anti-lock brakes. The K1 weighed in at a shade over 600 pounds with five gallons of gas in the tank.

Throw a leg over the saddle. at a nominal 30-plus inches; a small tailpiece could be removed for a passenger. but the bike was not really intended to coddle a pillion. Ignition on. button pushed. and a muted noise came out of the short muffler on the left side. Unseen was a large collector box under the transmission. Click into first. and a smooth clutch take-up got the K1 rolling. The handlebars were at a good sport-touring height. not too low. but the footpegs were set rather far back. more than 5 inches farther than on the sporty K100RS?ˆ”very un-BMW. It was a super-sporty riding position. and the fairing coverage was more for speed than touring comfort.

The engine buzzed slightly over 5. 00 rpm. which most riders could happily ignore but some found irritating. On a smooth road the K1 could easily cruise at 120-plus mph. and it did quite well in the twisties. despite its more than 5-foot wheelbase. Its weak point was on bad roads. where the suspension was often thought to be ?ˆ?lacking?ˆ? and cornering clearance just adequate.

The last year for the K1 was 1993. also the first year for the new K1100RS. with the engine bored out to 1. 92cc. Buyers appreciated the RS fairing and saddlebags. About 7. 00 K1s were built over four years.

Then in 2004 BMW showed its new K1200 with the transverse-mounted in-line four?ˆ”just what the company had been trying to avoid 20 years before.

In a sleek departure from normal BMW practice. the K-1 featured a fully enclosed fairing.

Clad in futuristic plastic bodywork from stem to stern. the 1990 BMW K-1 motorcycle looks more like a design study than a production model from the Black Forest. Based on the "Racer" design mockup done by BMW in 1984. the K-1 represented BMW's desire to appeal to a more youthful market.

Motorcycle Image Gallery

The mechanicals found beneath the seven-piece skin were also a departure from BMW's standard fare.

A 1000-cc. fuel-injected. sixteen-valve. water-cooled. inline four-cylinder engine propels the K-1 to a top speed of nearly 150 miles per hour. Final drive is handled by BMW's usual shaft. which is housed within the massive. bright yellow. single-sided swingarm.

In front. four-piston calipers grip dual floating rotors. The rear wheel has its own disc brake. and the whole system is controlled by an ABS system to ensure safe stops even under less-than-ideal braking conditions.

Intended to compete in the sport-touring segment of the market. the BMW K-1 is blessed with a large. comfortable seating area. The tail section of the bodywork can be removed to expose the passenger's pillion hiding below.

Small storage compartments reside on each side of the tail piece. and each one has its own locking cover.

Through the 1980s. BMWs had been unique in design but conservative in execution. With bikes like the K-1 ringing in the '90s. BMW tipped its hand that future offerings would display a decidedly different side of its Teutonic nature.  

Also published at eBay.com