Best Touring Bike: BMW K1600GTL - Ten Best Bikes 2011

It’s one thing to win the game; it’s something else altogether to change the rules. But that’s what BMW’s new K1600GTL has done to the world of two-wheel touring. It’s no small feat to trump the revered Gold Wing in this category; but with its 11.2-second quarter-mile zip, near-sportbike-quality handling, electronically adjustable suspension and windshield, adaptive headlight that illuminates around corners, Bluetooth wireless capability, detachable luggage and utter ease of operation, the six-cylinder Beemer puts the Wing on the trailer. And from this point forward, anyone who believes that over-the-road luxury and thrilling high performance are mutually exclusive is…well, wrong.