I owned one for a couple of years, sold it three months ago as I wasn't using it. Here's my write up from this site:
http://eurokclub.com/index.php
"With my limited KRS riding I'd say the following:
First impression is size, this thing is vast even compared to other litre plus bikes I've ridden (FJ1200, Honda Blackbird, ZZR1100). Size translates into weight of course, though only when pushing it about or trickling along at very low speed, once moving the weight translates into stability, and coupled with the telelever front suspension, the KRS is unphazed by bumps in the road, whether upright or cornering.
The size also means room to sit like a normal human, not contorted into a race monkey crouch. When you take into account the adjustable seat, handlebars, foot pegs and controls it'd be hard not to find a setup which allows you to be perfectly comfortable for hours in the saddle.
The next thing you realise is the speed, this thing is fast! Loads of torque fast, so a twist of the wrist in whatever gear you find yourself translates into a surge of acceleration - there's no need to cog down and chase revs to flick past traffic. Luckily, the servo brakes are awesome, to the point of overcooking it the first few times I used them. Now I've adjusted my brain, they're fab, and the added bonus of ABS gives you the confidence to press on when the road surface isn't perfect. I've yet to trigger the system on a dry road, and yet to ride in the rain, so don't know how it feels when the pulsing starts.
The picture isn't perfect of course, I have yet to think of BMW's indicator switches as better than the traditional setup, and I'm left wondering why they do it that way? On several occasions when in traffic, I have struggled to operate the throttle and right indicator or cancel them, since that hand is pretty tied up with just throttle and brake. Sure they self cancel, which is nice, but in town I don't want to leave an indicator flashing for three hundred yards as I pass several side roads. Seems much less safe to have an extra thing for my right hand to do, when the left has spare capacity.
It doesn't help that the throttle is heavy either. I have a rocker on there to make it bearable, but the strong return spring makes fine control a bit hard. Thankfully there's cruise control for the long motorway stretches or it'd be enough for me to sell the bike! I find the engine a little snatchy going form closed to open throttle, but this may just be me and I need time getting used to it. Perhaps the point here is that I didn't need to when leaping on a Blackbird: it just worked straIght away with no need to learn it's quirks, which of course translates into more brain capacity to concentrate on the road ahead, not thinking about how to ride the bike.
My bike has no switch for the headlights, so as soon as the key is turned they're on. I have no problem riding with my headlight on, but when I'm at home tinkering (setting up intercom, sat nav etc) I can't leave the ignition on without starting the bike or the battery drains. To get round this hold the turn signal cancel for 5 seconds - then the right turn signal for 5 seconds and the headlight shuts off and stays off until you restart. "side" lights stay on.
On the plus side, that light switch has been replaced with one for heated grips, which I've yet to need since I've only owned the bike a month. I'm a year round biker, so I'm sure they'll prove most welcome come winter, or the next time I'm in the Alps!
On to the shaft drive. The paralever has all but eliminated the weird lifting action shaft drives can give when accelerating, and the bonus of not oiling a chain is fab. No, the negative is the sound of the thing on the over-run: when I shut the throttle it sounds like the bearings are lubricated with sand! Fine when speeding up or cruising, but closing the throttle quickly makes a horrid sound - I just hope the bearings aren't failing, after all, the bike only has 33,000 miles on it.
Whilst we're on the sound theme, the bike is noisy in a mechanical jangling kinda way. The dry clutch is loud, the engine itself a whirling crashing thing. It's not intrusive when riding, but when compared to the Jap inline fours it's very agricultural. I expect that from the flat twin, but not from a K.
Back to the plusses, the instruments are superb. Old school compared to the LCD offerings now common, but no bad thing for that. Huge tacho and speedometer, with loads of warning lights and a clock. The inclusion of a gear indicator is great, as I have found myself cruising along in fifth without realising as the engine is so smooth - despite the noises!
The footpegs are wide and rubber coated, so no vibes reach your feet, and for me at 5'8" the riding position is great. Just the right amount of weight on my bum, though I do find the seat a little slippery when in waterproofs, which see you slowly slide down towards the fuel tank. It's not a major thing, and I only noticed when I thought about it.
The bike has a touring screen, which is vast compared to the standard one, and I find it superb in the higher position, allowing riding with my visor up even at motorway speeds. When down it causes a lot of rumble, so I guess I'm just the wrong height for it. I haven't tried the normal screen yet, and suspect it'll be better for trips to warmer places, as the touring one really does leave a pocket of still air behind it with very little airflow to keep you cool. Great for winter riding though!
The mirrors stay perfectly clear throughout the rev range, but I find them too widely spaced, being on the handlebars. Not sure why they aren't fairing mounted, and I find I can't just flick my eyes to check behind me, I need to turn my head slightly each time. Another point off for safety.
A huge plus for safety is the handling. The front end was a little odd at first, but very quickly you realise they're a major improvement over normal telescopic forks. There is very little dive on the brakes, so squeezing them mid corner doesn't have the bike lunging for the hedge. Bumps too don't seem to unsettle things when leant over. You're aware they're there, but they have no impact on your line. I've tweaked the rear spring and damping as the previous owner had it setup for two, and now find it a much more civilised ride. You don't get intense feedback like a sports bike gives you, more a sense of wafting along being isolated from the road, but with a confidence that the suspension is doing it's job so why bother you with information you don't really need? It isn't a track bike, so I don't expect or want to know about every last pebble on the road.
Lastly the luggage. The tank is plastic so you can't use a magnetic tankag. I was lucky and had the proper one thrown in, which clips snugly to the bike for and aft. Comes with zip in sections so you can tailor it to your needs, and a very useful flip over map pocket on top. I also got a top box thrown in, as well as the soft bag which fits on the rear rack. Not sure who designed the attachment device, or what they were smoking, but what were they thinking when they decided to have a huge grab permanently attached to the base of the box? Haven't they seen anything from Givi? All the luggage feels well made, but having the attaching parts come with the box / rear bag when off the bike is ludicras. I haven't bothered with the BMW side cases, as the left has a ridiculous cutout for the exhaust. I will be binning them and fitting Givi racks as soon as I can.
Think I better sum up:
Great: speed, brakes, comfort, instruments, suspension.
Bad: switchgear, mirrors, noise, throttle action, luggage.
A flawed diamond which has yet to convince me it is an improvement over the japanese offerings. Swap the switches for conventional items, mirrors for fairing mounted, change that throttle spring for a softer one and it'd be superb. Oh, and if you go touring, fit a decent luggage system!"
And another opinion:
Originally Posted by Zoot:
"Now I have about 1500Mi on the beast, over a number of different types of riding, I thought I might put pen to pixels and post some impressions.
Firstly, this bike is the 'easiest' big bike to get to grips with I have ever ridden. That is to say, after every brand of Jap bike 1000cc+, numerous Dukes, Guzzis, and the odd brit-bike thrown in, I have never felt so comfortable so quickly. In some respects the bike is so neutral in characteristics as to be hard to quantify. I know there is a bunch of weight sitting there waiting to bite me (sometime) but it just doesn't manifest itself in day-to-day use.
As an example of what I mean, I had a GXS1100E - big old beast, 245Kg dry, MONSTROUS engine for the time, typical for-the-era brakes and cycle parts and you knew it was just biding its time to put you into the weeds - and it did! It was top-heavy into corners, always seeming to want to topple in unless you were shifting it, in which case it was always threatening to slide the rear or lighten the front to the point of losing grip (on what passed for sport rubber in the 80s). The K, being heavier and more powerful just feels so much more flickable and confident than the old Gas Axe. Constrast that with my last Guzzi - a fully-faired Le Mans Mk V - 1000S - it was long and low and rewarded early set-up for a corner, and it was relatively light (240KG) but you were lucky if you were getting 70HP out of it, a bit more with my set-up of 40mm carbs, open filters and a nice set of Conti's. The gearbox was similar to the K in that it prefers a slow, definitive change, same dry clutch and shaft setup, but the Guzzi is worlds apart. While I loved it and would have another if I could find the right one, long-distance riding was not pleasant! The last time I brought it back from The Netherlands, via Spa I arrived feeling like Quasimodo's older, more arthritic brother!
I know I'm not comparing apples with apples... there is more than 20 years of technology and tyre development between the bikes, but that probably just shows how good the K is... Something more modern is the Aprilia Falco I have recently been fettling for my mate Charlie. All it took for me to realise my days of owning Japanese or Italian sports bikes were over was a 5 mile round-trip down the b-roads just outside my suburb. It was ponderous, uncomfortable and loud. DID I SAY LOUD??? In order to negotiate the bumpy, broken surface of the narrow lanes that make my favourite local 'circuit' it was necesary to take your life in your hands, put your brain in neutral and drive it like you stole it. Not a pleasant experience. I have many more miles on the Falco including droning along the motorway to Charlie's home in Bristol or Devon or Winchester - depending on where he is residing that month, and a stint commuting while I was working out just what was the best setting for English B-road blasting. It is typical of its' breeding - prefering the autostrada to the rutted track, the suspension cranked tight and leaned over bellowing 'look at ME!' to all and sundry. Considering this is Aprilia's Sport Touring offering I am glad I never succumbed and especially grateful I never bought the RSVR when I had the option...
As for the RS, I have far from pushed the boundaries of the bike - the only place I have given it its' head is the M4 - and while was good to know that there is more than 145MPH of performance there (bye bye Mr SV1000 ), it isn't why I bought it. More telling is my daily commute. A mix of urban roundabouts, B-roads and a couple of miles of dual-carriageway A road just before the office. It does it all in its' stride.
Dancing around the potholes and ripples of the low-traffic-volume farm track that makes up the first bit of my ride is less of a hassle than it is on my dual-purpose Aprilia Pegaso. 4th or 5th gear downhill past all the £1M houses and their 'dont park on my grass' mini-menhirs is easy and gives the smooth ride of an upper gear without the snatch or urgency of 3rd. While there is more 'crash' from the front if you do cross a pothole, the bike is stable and unfussed throughout and it is only the noise that makes you wince - possibly a side effect of running 42psi on the front Bridgestone.
As the road opens up to the meandering B4042 or B4040 between the strung-out Wiltshire towns it rewards a bit of a push - 60-70mph is nice and relaxed sitting in 6th with the low-down grunt needed to pass the inevitable farm worker off to the sheds, the school-run young mum in her 4x4 or the bus/tractor/truck heading to Malmesbury.
Inevitably I need to leave this paragon of smooth-surfaced B-roads to go more cross-country on the lesser-travelled roads leading to the back of Chippenham. Dropping off the escarpment of the 4042 into the plain below you are in the narrow twisty confines of your typical English country lanes. The Romans obviously never got this far, or if they did found little to interest them in creating for themselves a speedy exit. The roads follow the outlines of fields, bypass important trees and skirt long-abandoned farmsteads. Odd angles for intersections and the inevitable chance of meeting Toyota Land Cruiser pickups towing horse floats, Madza Utes and Range Rover Vogues naturally keep your speeds into the nearly legal. Again , the RS never feels like it is the wrong bike for the environment - maybe a little more weight on my wrists than I would like, but I'm sure that a few more miles and a bit more fiddling with the bars will find the perfect balance. The mix of ABS and the BT-021s inspires confidence, even though there may be mud or cow leavings around the hedrow-hidden bends. a dab of the well-matched Brembos always brings things down to a sensible pace without fuss and with good feel. Over-braked, certainly, at these low speeds, there is no intimation that the brakes won't reward you with instant restraint, should you need it.
Eventially I reach the more mainstream B4069, complete with its' picture-postcard villages very 2 miles which is both pleasant and frustrating in equal measure... still, it isn't far now until I can start mixing it with the daily toreador in his Vectra, Honda or Mondeo... reaching the A350 via a personal favourite collection of rat-run narrow twisting lanes, it is back to combatitive mode, avoiding the juggernauts, the unfortunate cage-drivers sweating in their lines of traffic, just waiting for the chance to inflict their inadequacies on a carefree biker dancing a fine line down the centre of the stationary lines of traffic. While the RS looks quite wide when you first sit on it, without panniers, the indicator pods are by far the widest point and so are a good yardstick to measure your gap with. the stability of the RS is its' forte here - cats-eyes, white lines and tar seams do nothing to upset the poise of the bike, never once threatening to move you from your chosen line. Just 4 miles of this cut-and-thrust seperate me from the open arms of my employer... dicing with death as I cross the line that separates me from my fellow-travellers into the domain of the potential disaster that is the delivery truck, the white-van-man and the disgruntled business suit you never feel that the RS is going to do anything other than what you ask of it and that with confidence and aplomb.
To say I am happy with my bike is probably self-evident, but more than that, I am invigorated and have a feeling for biking that, in my jaded middle years, I haven't had for a long time.
So far I have only recounted a small portion of my limited experience with the RS, having it loaded up with all the luggage and the wife on the back transforms it into a mile-eating holiday monster... that will be recounted when we have come back from our 3000-mile Euro-Oddyssy (sic)"
I don't seem to ride it any faster than my GSA but I do seem to get up to speed a bit quicker 
