JonesyGS
Registered user
I want to give my first impressions of my recent 1250GS test ride, and before I get a barrage of abuse I've had an old GS (1150) for some time and love it and have ridden the later twin cam 1200 model which was also great.
But, I was immediately a bit disappointed by the 1250 for the following reasons.
Firstly, the quickshifer was virtually unusable due to the stiffness of the change when not using the clutch (obviously)! Oddly when using the clutch the gearbox was pretty slick so I can only imagine it is related to the actuation or the gearbox design?
Secondly, with a cold engine there was a bizarre vibration through the footpegs which disappeared once warm and I guess either gearbox or shaft drive?
Also, I found the Auto setting on the suspension great until you started pushing on hard when the bike became unstable and a bit unpredictable. Changing to Dynamic helped but the bike was then too firm for 'normal' riding.
Related to this, I found the ABS over sensitive even in Dynamic mode, when using a bit of rear brake to help settle bike when pushing on it seemed to want to lock the rear and upset the composure of the bike, which was a bit disconcerting.
I also found the mode button irritating in that I had to push it several times for it to do anything.
On the plus side the fuelling is beautiful, the engine is better than previously by some margin in real world riding with bags of mid-range, the suspension is very good (generally), the brakes are great, especially initial bite and the thing is as comfortable as ever.
Now, I realise where I am posting this and would reiterate that I love the GS range but I was somewhat underwhelmed by the bike and am interested if anyone has had similar findings with their 1250?
This was a brand new 1250 Rallye with 270 miles on by the way. It also only did 36 mpg whilst in my hands
I would finally add that I've been riding motorcycles for about 40 years, including motorcross/enduro and track riding so I'm not exactly new to this game
I'm hoping the bike was a Friday afternoon build, interestingly the dealer took it straight into the workshop after I reported the issues as mentioned above, but in typical BMW sales patter he'd never heard of any of the issues I'd mentioned!!
But, I was immediately a bit disappointed by the 1250 for the following reasons.
Firstly, the quickshifer was virtually unusable due to the stiffness of the change when not using the clutch (obviously)! Oddly when using the clutch the gearbox was pretty slick so I can only imagine it is related to the actuation or the gearbox design?
Secondly, with a cold engine there was a bizarre vibration through the footpegs which disappeared once warm and I guess either gearbox or shaft drive?
Also, I found the Auto setting on the suspension great until you started pushing on hard when the bike became unstable and a bit unpredictable. Changing to Dynamic helped but the bike was then too firm for 'normal' riding.
Related to this, I found the ABS over sensitive even in Dynamic mode, when using a bit of rear brake to help settle bike when pushing on it seemed to want to lock the rear and upset the composure of the bike, which was a bit disconcerting.
I also found the mode button irritating in that I had to push it several times for it to do anything.
On the plus side the fuelling is beautiful, the engine is better than previously by some margin in real world riding with bags of mid-range, the suspension is very good (generally), the brakes are great, especially initial bite and the thing is as comfortable as ever.
Now, I realise where I am posting this and would reiterate that I love the GS range but I was somewhat underwhelmed by the bike and am interested if anyone has had similar findings with their 1250?
This was a brand new 1250 Rallye with 270 miles on by the way. It also only did 36 mpg whilst in my hands
I would finally add that I've been riding motorcycles for about 40 years, including motorcross/enduro and track riding so I'm not exactly new to this game
I'm hoping the bike was a Friday afternoon build, interestingly the dealer took it straight into the workshop after I reported the issues as mentioned above, but in typical BMW sales patter he'd never heard of any of the issues I'd mentioned!!
