After owning more than 50 superbikes over 20 years, I have finally got my first 6-cylinder motorcycle. The xBhp Garage has been home to some iconic motorcycles, but this one is radically different from whatever I have owned so far. Without further ado, the motorcycle is the BMW K 1600 B or Bagger. But the obvious question is… why? 

Well, 6 cylinders is something I am fairly familiar with now. My BMW M340i is a straight-6. But six cylinders in a motorcycle is something I somehow managed to avoid owning all this while. So, historically, and if you know me, the BMW K 1600 B seems like a strange choice. 

My garage has traditionally been about superbikes, hypernakeds and motorcycles built around outright performance. I have owned Ducatis, BMWs, Kawasakis and some of the fastest motorcycles in the world, where performance is usually measured in horsepower, acceleration and lap times. I have even toured on rather unconventional motorcycles, including long-distance and Iron Butt rides on the Ninja H2.

So, why the BMW K 1600 B? Well, simply because there is nothing quite like it out there. Yes, there is the Gold Wing, and we will come to that later, but the K 1600 starts with something that has fascinated me for years: that extraordinary inline-six engine. In fact, this is the third bike I have gone for simply because of its unusual engine.

The first was the 2017 Kawasaki Ninja H2, with its supercharged motor. The second was the Triumph Rocket 3 R, with the largest-capacity engine in a production motorcycle. And then there is this. At this point, I’d say a big shout-out to Castrol POWER1 for keeping all of these machines protected and performing at their peak. No matter how unusual the engine, Castrol POWER1 has what it takes to keep it going for years. 

Coming back to the motorcycle, as a motorcycle journalist, I have ridden the BMW K 1600 several times. In 2011, I rode one from Los Angeles to New York, and I have ridden it extensively in Europe as well. I also had the privilege of showing my low-speed manoeuvring skills on one to Chris Pfeiffer, the greatest motorcycle stunter I have known and a dear friend. May he rest in peace.

So I know that despite the size, this behemoth can handle too. And it has a lot else going for it: features, technology, comfort, and German engineering. And yet, I keep coming back to the engine, the single biggest reason why I wanted this motorcycle. Even before horsepower and torque enter the conversation, packaging an inline-six transversely across a motorcycle without making the machine ridiculously wide is a remarkable engineering problem to solve.

The foundation of this motorcycle was the Concept 6, a concept motorcycle that BMW showed off in 2009. That resulted in the birth of this extraordinarily compact 1,649 cc inline-six. A short-stroke design with a 72 mm bore and only around 5 mm between the cylinder walls keeps the engine roughly 56 centimetres wide, scarcely wider than a conventional inline-four.

Even before putting a single km on our BMW K 1600 B’s odometer, the first thing we did was feed it Castrol POWER1. From our H2 to the Rocket and from our Hayabusa to our ZX-10R, we only trust Castrol POWER1 based on years of experience with it and some pretty insane tests that we put it through.

BMW canted the cylinder bank forward by 55 degrees and positioned the alternator and starter behind the engine rather than at the end of the crank, helping keep the package narrow and the centre of gravity lower. Thanks to hollow-cast camshafts and a dry-sump lubrication system, the powerplant weighs about 103 kg including the gearbox, while producing 160 horsepower and 180 Nm of torque, with more than 70 per cent available from as low as 1,500 rpm.

The appeal is not simply that it has more cylinders. An inline-six is inherently beautifully balanced, and from the saddle you feel incredible smoothness combined with a seemingly endless flow of torque. Instead of constantly chasing revs and gears, you can simply open the throttle and let this enormous motorcycle gather speed with ridiculous ease.

You really have to ride and rev it to understand how smooth a six-cylinder motorcycle can feel. Almost electric. Almost as if the engine has disappeared beneath you. Talking about sixes, I have to mention the Honda CBX1000 that I rode around ten years ago in Bangalore. That motorcycle left a mark on me like very few others have.

Of course, nobody needs six cylinders in a motorcycle, just as nobody needs most of the machines enthusiasts like us buy. Motorcycles have never been entirely about need. Sometimes the engineering itself is reason enough to want one. The obvious downsides are mass and dimensions, and in India there is another factor: heat.

Riding through temperatures around 40 degrees, particularly in traffic and over long hours, puts the motorcycle’s complete thermal-management and lubrication systems into a demanding operating environment. So obviously, my choice for my BMW K 1600 B is Castrol POWER1, as it has always been, no matter the motorcycle. 

Now, last but not least: why not the Gold Wing? I am admittedly a BMW fanboy. Beyond that, the K 1600 gives me the character I was looking for from an inline-six and still suits the more sporty way I like to ride a big motorcycle. After all, the BMW has 35 bhp more and is around 40 kg lighter. That’s a massive difference, if you ask me. But… if you ask me if I  would trade the K 1600 for a Honda CBX1000 and that soundtrack? On the right day, I probably would.

That’s more or less the why of it. Now, to the how of it. If you have followed xBhp and me, you know I like giving my machines a distinct identity at delivery. This time, the colourway was inspired by the Rynox Stealth Evo 4S jacket, a piece of technical riding gear designed and manufactured in India. At xBhp, all of us almost exclusively trust and use Rynox for all our riding gear and luggage needs. The reason is simple: they are just about the best at what they do, and everything they do is done right here at home. That is a matter of immense pride for us. 

The delivery and unveiling of the motorcycle became a community moment as well. The ceremony took place at the Rynox Store in Gurugram, and we were joined by more than 80 riders. I have always made sure that any new motorcycle I get, I share the joy with the xBhp community, so it was a given. And the response I got from the crowd when I started that 6-cylinder beauty up, well, I’d say they were pretty excited to see what future adventures await us aboard the BMW K 1600 B.