The BMW Club East Anglia Section

The East Anglia Section has committed itself to promote the BMW Club at as many venues as it can and today, Saturday 19th March, members of the committee had arranged to be in attendance at Linds in Norwich, Cannons in Braintree and SBW in Hertfordshire for the launch of the new BMW K1600 LT & GT and F650GS.

I arrived at Cannons on this bright sunny day at 9.40am and met Matt and Sarah who had already set up our new portable table and pull-up display sign.

These items have recently been purchased by the East Anglia Committee for use at such venues and will be in use in the future at other meetings and bike shows we attend, to present a more professional image in our efforts to promote the BMW Club.

A short time later, Dave Massey and Mark Dutton arrived so we had a good Club representation on site. During the day other East Anglia Club members also turned up to support the Club and view the latest offerings from BMW Motorrad.

The early part of the morning started slowly but by midday Cannons was full of people looking at the new K1600s.

These new K1600s are packed with new features, the main one of course being the new 6 cylinder across the frame 1600cc engine, which is only slightly wider than some 4 cylinder bikes.  It has a state of the art headlight system where the light beams not only turn into a corner but the lean angle and speed of the bike is computed to point the light in the best direction! 

The dashboard is totally new with recessed instruments and built-in GPS.  A small lockable stowage area is located low down on each side of the fairing and good size panniers and the large top box allow excellent luggage carrying.

Without doubt a worthy successor to the earlier K1200LT.

During the course of the day we spoke to a number of potential new Club members, one in particular was awaiting collection of a new S1000RR which was parked in the showroom ready for him! 

All interested parties were given a Membership Form, EA Calendar and a recent Journal so hopefully not only will the East Anglia Section benefit from the day but also Cannons BMW, Linds and SBW.

During the day a variety of bikes appeared, hopefully to be traded in for a BMW but one in particular caught all our eyes!

A final word – if you would like to add your support to the club by offering to assist at various meetings, camping weekends and bike shows we attend, please contact a committee member.

Our names and contact details and all events are listed in the calendar and can be found here on our website. Your help will be greatly appreciated and you will enjoy the experience!

 
 

I arrived at Lind just before 10am and of course had just managed to miss out on setting up our stand – a clever bit of timing on my part, aided by the fact that I stopped off for a damsel in distress (well, parked up on her F650 in a lay by) who turned out to be just waiting for her advanced rider observer to turn up.

The weather was pretty near perfect for riding at this time of year and this was born out by the number of bikes that were already at Lind and by the number that continued to arrive over the next few hours.  Slightly unfortunately for us, many of the bikes were Harleys as Lind (who also own the Harley-Davidson franchise and run it in the next building) had arranged a Harley ride-out on the same day as the K1600 launch.

That said, I don’t think it put off any BMW owners, potential or current, from turning up and probably meant they got a few more folks looking at the new bikes who would not otherwise have done so.

As Mike has already stated, this was the first outing for our new pull-up banners which very neatly collapse down small enough to strap on the back of a bike.  I have to voice a personal opinion here and say that I think they are absolutely fantastic – eye catching with just enough information to make them useful yet not cluttered.

And they obviously were working their magic as I believe the five of us (Our esteemed secretary, Mark Weavers, and fellow committee members Tim Robinson, Cliff and Jenny Batley) suspect we have persuaded at least five more new members to join and passed on details to a fair few others who could potentially join.

We were well positioned between the front door and the way to the coffee machine (on free vend, so we took full advantage).

Also attending this event were Norfolk Advanced Motorcyclists and the Ride Safe campaign supported by the Norfolk Constabulary who brought along one of their R1200RT fleet.

Of course Lind also had their full range of Demo bikes available and, as well as the thunderous Harleys, there was a steady stream of folks taking those out too, giving us prime opportunities to ask if they were already members etc.

As for the new bikes, well I am afraid my focus (as that of most) was on the K1600’s, and whilst I sat on the new GS I have to say I didn’t even take any pictures of it.  Mike has already ably covered the myriad of new features the K1600 brings to the range and I can thoroughly recommend a personal viewing if you think we are making some of this stuff up, but they really have crammed in every gizmo that you can imagine, with I guess the one exception that Cliff noted: the radio is only available as an FM receiver, DAB not even being offered as an option.

However, there is a place to plug in your own tunes (in the cubby by your right foot) and you can even control them (if they are a USB or Apple iPod type) using the nifty thumb wheel on the left handlebar which also allows you to scroll through all the other options you can control.

Notice also the "blank" panel in the cowl above the clocks, this is where the slot-in GPS fits, as it is removable for security (you lower it in through the gap between the screen and top of this dash, and the windscreen lowers to lock it in place when you park).  I am even reliably informed that the GPS informs the on-board computer whether the country you are in drives on the left or right side of the road and it adjusts the headlamp accordingly – crikey!

I am now running out of words so here are a few snaps I took on the day which I hope are self explanatory: