The BMWs are (finally) coming

[Dranrab Luap]

Originally Posted by Deans BMW

The BMW scooters for the US market will start production in the beginning of August. The US Dealer intro of the scooters will be mid October at a place not announced yet, delivery to the dealers will coincide with the October dealer show.

US pricing has not been determined yet.

Thought you would like to know. The demand for these BMW scooters are similar to the K1600's in that the demand is extremely high on a world wide basis.

I don't think it's fair to say demand is high until they land here or in whatever market and people start buying or ordering them. Interest is certainly high, but cost, reliability, availability, support and parts will all factor into whether or not that high interest translates into high demand.

[John Bentall]

Originally Posted by ArtCuisin

A cat born in a doghouse is still a cat.

I have absolutely no idea what this means in relation to the BMW scooter.

1) The BMW scooter is assembled in Berlin.
2) Berlin also makes all the engines and chassis for all K models, R models, and F models (not 100% sure about the engines on the F).
3) There is no physical room in the Berlin factory to manufacture the scooter engines. The choice was either NOT to make scooters at all or to subcontract the manufacture of this wholly-BMW-designed engine (according to Mr. Maier, the Scooter Product Manager whom I met in Garmisch, Germany a month ago) elsewhere.
4) Kmyco is a tried and trusted partner to BMW on previous projects, so was a natural choice to make the engines.

These are the facts as I understand them.

Who has got hard evidence to the contrary?

I totally understand if someone does not want to buy a motorcycle with an engine made in Korea, that is their right to do so. Let's stick to the facts in this thread.

[John Bentall]

Originally Posted by Dranrab Luap

I don't think it's fair to say demand is high until they land here or in whatever market and people start buying or ordering them. Interest is certainly high, but cost, reliability, availability, support and parts will all factor into whether or not that high interest translates into high demand.

The good news is that there is a high level of interest. If there was insufficient interest then BMW would probably not import them at all, so nobody could place an order in any case.

[=retread=]

[QUOTE=Tacoma;19282456]
(Don't buy the BMW scoot thinking ur going to impress the BMW motorcycle owners, to them the BMW scoot is an insult cause of its Kymco engine.)
the bmw single and parallel twins in their motorcycles have been built by kymco for years now !

[t6pilot]

Long beach BMW is saying late September/October
My wife is number one on list for first 600 sport with heated seat/grips
No price mentioned but salesgirl Robyn guesses 10-11k anymore and we won't be getting it

[gogogordy]

Originally Posted by t6pilot

Long beach BMW is saying late September/October
My wife is number one on list for first 600 sport with heated seat/grips
No price mentioned but salesgirl Robyn guesses 10-11k anymore and we won't be getting it

Robyn is the best...couldn't ask for a better sales rep.

[Speedo66]

I'm in Sweden on vacation and stopped at a bike shop to look at models we don't get here. It was a BMW/Kawasaki place and had a BMW scooter parked outside. Sooooooo, figured I'd try it on for size.

Got to tell you, this is a big, heavy scooter! I was sort of surprised by the weight.

I'll be back in the States tomorrow and see if anyone could post the photo I took.

[hexnut]

[Photog]

[Photog]

Originally Posted by Speedo66

I'm in Sweden on vacation and stopped at a bike shop to look at models we don't get here. It was a BMW/Kawasaki place and had a BMW scooter parked outside. Sooooooo, figured I'd try it on for size.

Got to tell you, this is a big, heavy scooter! I was sort of surprised by the weight.

I'll be back in the States tomorrow and see if anyone could post the photo I took.

Holler if you need help. I'd love to see the pics.

[Dabears]

Originally Posted by Speedo66

I'm in Sweden on vacation and stopped at a bike shop to look at models we don't get here. It was a BMW/Kawasaki place and had a BMW scooter parked outside. Sooooooo, figured I'd try it on for size.

Got to tell you, this is a big, heavy scooter! I was sort of surprised by the weight.

I'll be back in the States tomorrow and see if anyone could post the photo I took.

Your comment made me look up the weight on these. Jeebus! The C600 Sport is 549lbs curb weight, while the C650 GT is 575lbs! My big pig R1200GS is 495lbs in comparison (438 dry!!). A 2012 Piaggio BV 350 has a dry weight of 390 (curb weight guess- 415??)

I won't have to worry about developing scooter lust over these- simply no way I could envision comfortably handling that weight for general purpose scootering. Crikey.

[ScootTour]

Originally Posted by Tacoma

you guys don't understand,,, over here in the states, the U.S. the BMW dealers don't want to sell the new BMW scooter, they are ashamed of it, the same way Harley dealers rejected and still reject selling the V Rod. So when you guys walk into a BMW showroom you're going to laughed at, made fun of cause you want the scooter.
You have to impress the people in the showroom!
I have experience, the same thing happened to me when I visited a Yamaha dealer and wanted the Tmax, at first they didn't take me serious, then they did everything they could to talk me out of buying one, even threatening me not to bring it back or not to bring it to them to service, then they all laughed and made fun of me warning me that other motorcycle riders would make fun of me also,,,, I admit they were right!
Its NOT about what motorcycle or scooter you like or impresses you!
Its ABOUT what motorcycle or scooter that impresses everybody else!

true and false.

I mean yes, its true most motor cycle riders and motorcycle dealers do not take scooters seriously. However, they can in short....suck it.

I dont have to impress them and I dont care if they make total fools of themselves making fun of an automatic transmission motorycle while then jump into their automatic car to haul their manual transmission motorcycle to a rally.

Besides, I literally have zero time for people who judge my character or self worth based on what I buy.

[klaviator]

The weight of the new BMW scooters are around the same as the Burgman 650. None of the big maxi scooters out there are exactly light. Due to a low center of gravity and smaller wheels, they most likely will feel lighter and more nimble than you would expect from their weights. I am really not interested in getting a big scooter myself, partly due to their weights, however, heavy really depends on your perspective. Yes these scooters are heavy compared to your GS, or a smaller scooter, however, I consider a Burgman 650 to be the scooter version of a Gold Wing. It's about 300 LBS lighter than a Gold Wing.

[Starbuck21]

Originally Posted by ScootTour

true and false.

I mean yes, its true most motor cycle riders and motorcycle dealers do not take scooters seriously. However, they can in short....suck it.

I dont have to impress them and I dont care if they make total fools of themselves making fun of an automatic transmission motorycle while then jump into their automatic car to haul their manual transmission motorcycle to a rally.

Besides, I literally have zero time for people who judge my character or self worth based on what I buy.

Well said! My thoughts exactly! I have ridden motorcycles since 1970 and now I am older wanted something a bit more sedate. Love my Silver Wing and don't care if anyone else does!!! Believe it or not my friends STILL ride with me!

[gkgeiger]

Originally Posted by Starbuck21

Believe it or not my friends STILL ride with me!

Mine do too, but would rather not. One of them asked me to ride behind him so he wouldn't have to look at it. All my friends have been riding for many years.