1250 GS suspension question

[NicD]

Long time hexhead owner. May get 1250gs. Would appreciate any explanation of suspension adjustability for ESA and non-ESA verisons - to what extent can damping be adjusted manually on both and / or preload? I'm not asking for setting or generic info re suspension, but about the specifics of the 1250 suspension options. Thanks so much, Nic

 

[Daffy]

Hi Nic, it doesn’t really answer your question but you can download the riders handbook as a pdf from BMW and take a look what is possible.

https://www.bmw-motorrad.co.uk/en/service/manuals/owners-handbook.html

 

[littleade]

Hi Nic,

From what I remember (not ridden mine since October) for bikes with ESA the preload has 3 options, min, max and auto levelling. You also have Dynamic and Road modes for the damping. Think that's it for ESA but no doubt someone will clarify if I've missed something. No idea about non ESA bikes.

 

[bosnjo]

I have one month old GS without ESA. After 35 years of riding, this is my first bike that has such a big range of adjustment on rear suspension. It has remote knob to adjust preload and little knob on the bottom to adjust rebound. When I took delivery of the bike, it was so instable already in the first corner. So took it easy home and found out it was adjusted on softest settings. With help of a friend, I made all needed measurements and adjustments (for road riding) and now it's just perfect. If I decide to ride with a pillion I just have to turn remote knob 2 turns clockwise. However, just to let you know of how much adjustment it has, for my weight solo it's 12 turns from softest, then 2 more turns for pillion ride and it still has more then 20 turns to reach the hardest settings.
As for the front, I haven't found any possible adjustment.

 

[NicD]

I have one month old GS without ESA. After 35 years of riding, this is my first bike that has such a big range of adjustment on rear suspension. It has remote knob to adjust preload and little knob on the bottom to adjust rebound. When I took delivery of the bike, it was so instable already in the first corner. So took it easy home and found out it was adjusted on softest settings. With help of a friend, I made all needed measurements and adjustments (for road riding) and now it's just perfect. If I decide to ride with a pillion I just have to turn remote knob 2 turns clockwise. However, just to let you know of how much adjustment it has, for my weight solo it's 12 turns from softest, then 2 more turns for pillion ride and it still has more then 20 turns to reach the hardest settings.
As for the front, I haven't found any possible adjustment.

Thanks - no front preload? wow

 

[NicD]

Hi Nic,

From what I remember (not ridden mine since October) for bikes with ESA the preload has 3 options, min, max and auto levelling. You also have Dynamic and Road modes for the damping. Think that's it for ESA but no doubt someone will clarify if I've missed something. No idea about non ESA bikes.

thanks. and no way of adjusting the damping in the rider mode settings?

 

[CPJS]

Thanks - no front preload? wow

No front preload on the D-ESA either. If the rear is correct the front will be fine.

 

[littleade]

thanks. and no way of adjusting the damping in the rider mode settings?

The damping is set by selecting enduro (which I forgot about) road or dynamic on the left hand switchgear, which also has the min, max and auto for the preload. The mode button on the right hand switchgear controls the throttle response, traction control and ABS and again there are various levels inc Enduro, Rain, Road or Dynamic. There's also dynamic pro and enduro pro where you can set the Throttle response, TCS and ABS to suit yiur riding rather than use the factory settings.

 

[bosnjo]

I've spent a lot of time measuring and adjusting my rear setup to get it perfect and too found strange to have front setup without any adjustment but I have to be honest and say that after the rear was done the front felt perfect too.

 

[Deleted account 210609001]

The explanation of adjustments with ESA above seems about right to me.

While I have no doubt I'll set it on auto for preload and road for damping for 90% of the time, I found it strange that you can't choose a preload setting. On previous bike with ESA (K12600) you could select from three options - solo, solo with luggage, or two-up. I tend to prefer harder suspension so would set it accordingly.

I presume the front adjusts as well, but no way to adjust front and rear separately.

Despite (or perhaps because of) that, the ride quality of the 1250 is fantastic. I have yet to ride it 2-up, but hopefully will get to do that soon.

 

[NicD]

thanks, that's very helpful