Timmy-tim
Guest
It would have been foolish of me to splash out a small fortune on a motorbike without even test riding it first...although I'm sure I could have, my girlfriend would have been less than pleased! 
So anyway I booked a test ride for last Friday, to try out the GS1200 and the new Adventure. I needed to see if, at 5' 9" tall, I could handle one of these monsters. I don't mind telling you that I was a little nervous, but with the nervousness came the excitment and a degree of 'I'm gonna do this, no matter what'. It was fairly chilly and very foggy on Friday morning, but I still managed to drag myself out of a nice warm duvet, onto my unfared bandit and rode the 40 miles to the showroom in Hertford. After a cup of coffee and a chat with one of the sales team, I was introduced to the GS1200 and it did look quite big. However, once I'd swung my leg over, it felt very comfortable and the engine sounded fantastic! Bearing in mind the icy, foggy, cold weather conditions and my relative inexperience, I felt entirely comfortable with the machine and confidence grew with every minute on the bike. The instant acceleration when openning the throttle, allowed me to exectue overtakes using a technique I'd learnt on advanced training..."point and shoot" is the name of the game with the GS. I loved the first gear, as it was not intimidating and could be used around town - all day! Needless to say, I returned to the dealer, with a stupid grin on my face.
...Next up was the 1200GS Adventure. Right then, there is no getting away from the fact that this is a very big bike. Not in terms of weight, but the seat height forces you to plan ahead and forced me to shift my arse over to get my foot down! Once on the move, I found that the Adventure gave me more comfort form the seat, better vision, better wind protection and more confidence when turning in, than on the standard GS. This Adventure had the panniers fitted and although they are wide, I still managed to filter through some heavy town traffic with comparative ease. I returned the bike, two hours later, unsure of which bike I would ultimately buy??? After another cuppa, a glass of water and a final wander around the car park, I did it! The deposit was swiped and I'd given myself the best Christmas present ever!
I don't have too much rationale on why I went for the 1200 Advenure, but I knew after 5 mins on the first GS that I was going to be going home with something. If I was that confident on a bike the size of the Adventure in a matter of minutes and in nasty weather conditions, with no experience of boxers, or trailies...what was it going to be like in the dry, after a couple of months on the beast?!? Fecking Fantastic! Oh my God, roll on March!!!!
I'll be very surprised if I haven't put well over 20,000 on it in the first year!!
Get one!!
:adv:
So anyway I booked a test ride for last Friday, to try out the GS1200 and the new Adventure. I needed to see if, at 5' 9" tall, I could handle one of these monsters. I don't mind telling you that I was a little nervous, but with the nervousness came the excitment and a degree of 'I'm gonna do this, no matter what'. It was fairly chilly and very foggy on Friday morning, but I still managed to drag myself out of a nice warm duvet, onto my unfared bandit and rode the 40 miles to the showroom in Hertford. After a cup of coffee and a chat with one of the sales team, I was introduced to the GS1200 and it did look quite big. However, once I'd swung my leg over, it felt very comfortable and the engine sounded fantastic! Bearing in mind the icy, foggy, cold weather conditions and my relative inexperience, I felt entirely comfortable with the machine and confidence grew with every minute on the bike. The instant acceleration when openning the throttle, allowed me to exectue overtakes using a technique I'd learnt on advanced training..."point and shoot" is the name of the game with the GS. I loved the first gear, as it was not intimidating and could be used around town - all day! Needless to say, I returned to the dealer, with a stupid grin on my face.
...Next up was the 1200GS Adventure. Right then, there is no getting away from the fact that this is a very big bike. Not in terms of weight, but the seat height forces you to plan ahead and forced me to shift my arse over to get my foot down! Once on the move, I found that the Adventure gave me more comfort form the seat, better vision, better wind protection and more confidence when turning in, than on the standard GS. This Adventure had the panniers fitted and although they are wide, I still managed to filter through some heavy town traffic with comparative ease. I returned the bike, two hours later, unsure of which bike I would ultimately buy??? After another cuppa, a glass of water and a final wander around the car park, I did it! The deposit was swiped and I'd given myself the best Christmas present ever!
I don't have too much rationale on why I went for the 1200 Advenure, but I knew after 5 mins on the first GS that I was going to be going home with something. If I was that confident on a bike the size of the Adventure in a matter of minutes and in nasty weather conditions, with no experience of boxers, or trailies...what was it going to be like in the dry, after a couple of months on the beast?!? Fecking Fantastic! Oh my God, roll on March!!!!
I'll be very surprised if I haven't put well over 20,000 on it in the first year!!
Get one!!
:adv:
