To quote the immortal Talking Heads – “so, how did I get here”?
I’d never considered a BMW before. I’ve had a few early Hinckley Triumph’s, a Cagiva 750 Elefant, Aprilia Falco, and KTM 950 Adventure (50,000 miles) and 990 (35,000), and a host of enduro bikes.
I was thinking of changing the 990. Tried a Tiger 800 but not quite enough oomph. Thought of 800 GS.
So one day I found myself a BMW dealership and they were quick to offer me demos on the 800 and 1200. 800 not what I was looking for, but was impressed by the 1200 for an hours blast in the pee-ing rain. “Come back and take it out for a day” they said – another half day ride and I was pretty impressed.
Also considered 1190 KTM’s – they were shunting them out for £11,500 at the time. Called 4 dealers about trade in’s – 2 were “35,000 miler, not interested”, one offered me a sensible price (but £600 less than what I got privately). I called my local dealer as they had a second hand 15,000 miler, asked if I could have a demo, and mentioned I’d seen the cheap new one’s around, did they have one? “No we don’t, does this mean you’ll just go and buy it elsewhere, if so it’s a waste of our time and fuel”. Eventually did go for a demo and had mine priced up – they basically insulted it and then offered me £2400 (I got £4600 privately)! “So what are you going to do if I buy the 15,000 miler and bring it back in a few years with 40,000 on it?” “errr – you should buy a cheap second bike”. (noticed today it’s still there – 4 months later).
Meanwhile, BMW dealers were tripping over themselves. With good finance rates, a good whack off list, free prat nav and paniers (second hand apparently) I was persuaded. I was originally looking at second hand, but finance was double the rate and after discounts there wasn’t much in it (plus my eye was caught by the black engined Arctic white one.
So well done KTM – you lost yourselves a loyal customer.
So how’s it going? I’ve done nearly 5000 miles in 3 months, mainly commuting, and it’s growing on me. Out of the box, it seemed a bit lacking, so after reading around I got it Hilltopped – don’t want to get involved in that debate again but I got a big difference in all round drive, flexibility and usability. Fitted a bigger screen (V-technik) which has improved the wind noise. Ditched the ‘kin Annakees (fuggin’ racket) and fitted Conti Trail Attacks – still a fair amount of whistling but much reduced (guess it’s to do with all the edges around the front). Arrow can sounds great. May go down decat header route too – it still feels it wants to blast through the midrange quicker.
Engine is luvverly. Old cliché I guess but it’s nice and smooth and characterful and creamy and beefy at “normal” speeds – I enjoy motorway and general commuting on it. It goes deceptively quickly, with a decent (but not ballistic) top end. Acceleration at motorway speeds seems about the same in 6th as 4th. Makes a lovely thrumming noise, borderline loud at 90 ish on motorway with the Arrow Can. I’m getting a bit over 50 mpg consistently (990 was about 41 / 42).
Comfort is fantastic. I was a bit unsure about the high spec models but dealer convinced me there was little market for the others (’onest guv) ESA really makes a difference, hope it doesn’t break. Power modes? Well it’s in dynamic most of the time (normal suspension, traction control off (it doesn’t half get in the way of wheelies!), occasionally go to enduro or something for filtering / town work. 2 up is good. Gearbox was a bit clunky 1st 2nd 3rd but I’ve recently noticed I’ve not noticed it so it may be improving with age.
Generally gives impression of a really well developed, refined product. Clutch is light, brakes are ace, handles really well. Mirrors are clear, panier fitting all well thought through etc etc. Toolkit is a joke though!
Compared to the KTM 1190, no doubt the KTM is faster and more exciting. Open it up in 4th at 80 and about half a second later you’re staring at the sky, feet in armpits doing about 130mph. This is undoubtedly good fun – some of the time. But I felt with my 990 at least I could ride it properly – with 1190 I only felt I was using it anywhere near it’s ability at jail bait / ambulance speeds (yup – I’ve just turned 50) – and the GS is similar to the 990 in that respect, although much less fierce and moto-crossy in it’s nature. Suspect I’d feel the same about S1000 XR but I daren’t try one of them at least until I’ve got 18 months or so under my belt on the GS.
Never had shaft drive before. Not something I was interested in, but all I have done to the bike in 3 months is wash it a few times, and take the wheels out to have the tyres changed (and that was nice just leaving the rear caliper in place and not having to worry about the chain.
BMW ownership is a bit of a funny thing though. 45 page discussions about heated grips etc etc, and people giving me grief for not taking it off road (hey the 990 was far more of an off road bike and I never took that off road and no one minded)!
So it is overall a fun all round well sorted road bike which I look forward to doing boring journies on, and is at it’s best 90 % of the time, and not bad for the other 10%. I haven't been proper bike touring for years but a few of us are ferrying to Santander and riding back in September, so it has reignited that flame. A few friends have had a go and I sensed it was far livelier than they expected.
So I guess that is a pretty good accolade.
I’d never considered a BMW before. I’ve had a few early Hinckley Triumph’s, a Cagiva 750 Elefant, Aprilia Falco, and KTM 950 Adventure (50,000 miles) and 990 (35,000), and a host of enduro bikes.
I was thinking of changing the 990. Tried a Tiger 800 but not quite enough oomph. Thought of 800 GS.
So one day I found myself a BMW dealership and they were quick to offer me demos on the 800 and 1200. 800 not what I was looking for, but was impressed by the 1200 for an hours blast in the pee-ing rain. “Come back and take it out for a day” they said – another half day ride and I was pretty impressed.
Also considered 1190 KTM’s – they were shunting them out for £11,500 at the time. Called 4 dealers about trade in’s – 2 were “35,000 miler, not interested”, one offered me a sensible price (but £600 less than what I got privately). I called my local dealer as they had a second hand 15,000 miler, asked if I could have a demo, and mentioned I’d seen the cheap new one’s around, did they have one? “No we don’t, does this mean you’ll just go and buy it elsewhere, if so it’s a waste of our time and fuel”. Eventually did go for a demo and had mine priced up – they basically insulted it and then offered me £2400 (I got £4600 privately)! “So what are you going to do if I buy the 15,000 miler and bring it back in a few years with 40,000 on it?” “errr – you should buy a cheap second bike”. (noticed today it’s still there – 4 months later).
Meanwhile, BMW dealers were tripping over themselves. With good finance rates, a good whack off list, free prat nav and paniers (second hand apparently) I was persuaded. I was originally looking at second hand, but finance was double the rate and after discounts there wasn’t much in it (plus my eye was caught by the black engined Arctic white one.
So well done KTM – you lost yourselves a loyal customer.
So how’s it going? I’ve done nearly 5000 miles in 3 months, mainly commuting, and it’s growing on me. Out of the box, it seemed a bit lacking, so after reading around I got it Hilltopped – don’t want to get involved in that debate again but I got a big difference in all round drive, flexibility and usability. Fitted a bigger screen (V-technik) which has improved the wind noise. Ditched the ‘kin Annakees (fuggin’ racket) and fitted Conti Trail Attacks – still a fair amount of whistling but much reduced (guess it’s to do with all the edges around the front). Arrow can sounds great. May go down decat header route too – it still feels it wants to blast through the midrange quicker.
Engine is luvverly. Old cliché I guess but it’s nice and smooth and characterful and creamy and beefy at “normal” speeds – I enjoy motorway and general commuting on it. It goes deceptively quickly, with a decent (but not ballistic) top end. Acceleration at motorway speeds seems about the same in 6th as 4th. Makes a lovely thrumming noise, borderline loud at 90 ish on motorway with the Arrow Can. I’m getting a bit over 50 mpg consistently (990 was about 41 / 42).
Comfort is fantastic. I was a bit unsure about the high spec models but dealer convinced me there was little market for the others (’onest guv) ESA really makes a difference, hope it doesn’t break. Power modes? Well it’s in dynamic most of the time (normal suspension, traction control off (it doesn’t half get in the way of wheelies!), occasionally go to enduro or something for filtering / town work. 2 up is good. Gearbox was a bit clunky 1st 2nd 3rd but I’ve recently noticed I’ve not noticed it so it may be improving with age.
Generally gives impression of a really well developed, refined product. Clutch is light, brakes are ace, handles really well. Mirrors are clear, panier fitting all well thought through etc etc. Toolkit is a joke though!
Compared to the KTM 1190, no doubt the KTM is faster and more exciting. Open it up in 4th at 80 and about half a second later you’re staring at the sky, feet in armpits doing about 130mph. This is undoubtedly good fun – some of the time. But I felt with my 990 at least I could ride it properly – with 1190 I only felt I was using it anywhere near it’s ability at jail bait / ambulance speeds (yup – I’ve just turned 50) – and the GS is similar to the 990 in that respect, although much less fierce and moto-crossy in it’s nature. Suspect I’d feel the same about S1000 XR but I daren’t try one of them at least until I’ve got 18 months or so under my belt on the GS.
Never had shaft drive before. Not something I was interested in, but all I have done to the bike in 3 months is wash it a few times, and take the wheels out to have the tyres changed (and that was nice just leaving the rear caliper in place and not having to worry about the chain.
BMW ownership is a bit of a funny thing though. 45 page discussions about heated grips etc etc, and people giving me grief for not taking it off road (hey the 990 was far more of an off road bike and I never took that off road and no one minded)!
So it is overall a fun all round well sorted road bike which I look forward to doing boring journies on, and is at it’s best 90 % of the time, and not bad for the other 10%. I haven't been proper bike touring for years but a few of us are ferrying to Santander and riding back in September, so it has reignited that flame. A few friends have had a go and I sensed it was far livelier than they expected.
So I guess that is a pretty good accolade.
