Engine characteristics

[Slaine]

My 05 1200GS is my first GS, my first BMW and my first large twin having always ridden large sports bikes up until now.

Firstly I love it. Seems to suit me all round, no sore knees/back/wrists and the handling is great.

One thing I'm wondering about is the low speed engine behaviour. It seems a little snatchy. Pulling away from traffic lights whilst behind a slow car driver (admittedly I'm rarely behind anything at lights) can be a bit jerky if I don't smooth it out with the clutch. Is this normal? Engione braking is much more fierce than I'm used to, probably I'm changing down more than I need to out of habit.

Views?

 

[alimey4u2]

Found the same, even after servicing. May get better with miles, hopefully others will advise...

 

[The Burpster]

Balance

Get yourself a carb balancer and make sure you have the pots balanced.

Mine were out even AFTER a service, it takes a while and patience to do it properly and would be hugely time consuming (snd hence costly) as part of your £75ph service.

This simple excercise can transform your boxer.... (it has with my GS and the 1100s before it....)

 

[RickG]

Precise throttle balance is vital.

If you are a used to a multi, then two big bangs rather than lots of little ones will take getting used to, or rather the need to give the throttle the tiniest of openings in slow traffic in low gears.

Try keeping in higher gear than you are used to. With a bit of care you can plonk along in a high gear at no more than 2000rpm in traffic. Avoid the urge to keep changing down and just let the engine do the work as it has all the bottom end grunt you need. When you pull away from a standstill then short-shift back into the higher gears.

Unless you want to go fast of course.