In November, BMW released images of one of its new concept bikes. This bike is one that no one really saw coming, and everyone is talking about it now. The inline six is returning to the bike world in the form of the BMW Concept 6. This bike features a 1600cc engine four inches narrower than any previously manufacturered six cylinder on the motorcycle market. This engine gives a serious amount of power and torque, and the bike has a café racer body that is one of the sleekest motorcycles designs ever produced by BMW.

Now, an inline six cylinder engine on a bike doesn’t make a whole lot of sense just to think about. The six cylinder engine is going to be both wider and heavier than a four cylinder that’s capable of producing the same kinds of results. Yes, a six cylinder offers more power and smoothness, but it almost never covers the extra weight.

That being said, the market doesn’t necessarily run on sense and it never has. The Honda CBX1000, for example, featured an exotic inline six with chrome headers that became a cult classic. Unfortunately, the bike had handling trouble due to its weight, especially compared with four cylinder bikes of the same time like the Suzuki GSX, or the V-4 Honda Interceptor that eventually followed.

Today, the Honda Goldwing is the only production six cylinder on the market. Over time, the GL has increased its engine’s capacity. Today, it’s one of the smoothest powerplants on the line.

High performance six cylinder bikes, however, have been off the radar for several years. The release of details about the BMW Concept 6, of course, have people taking and heads turning.

The Concept 6 is surprisingly narrow for a six cylinder motorcycle. The cylinders are slightly oversquare, which assist the bike in spinning up and producing horsepower at higher revs. There is little space between the cylinders, and other components have had to be relocated from the side of the engine to other places, such as behind the crankshaft. This is what helps the bike to be narrower by four inches than any previous inline six.

It is expected that the peak output of the Concept 6 will be around what the K1300 is. It should produce about 170 horsepower. However, the big difference will be the amount of torque. It’s expected to produce 130 Nm of torque at 2000 rpm. Compare this to, let’s say, the Suzuki GSX1400 which has about 125 Nm of torque at 4700 rpm. The peak for torque will probably be around 9000 rpm.