GS v Triumph Adventure v Honda Crosstourer in Ride mag

[Sooty09]

The ride test was a good read but I no longer take much notice of the ramblings of journalists, its their fault we will probably lose the best indicator operation of any bike I have owned.
The BMW had the best luggage, flippin hek the others must be rubbish.
My Shark evo will not fit in the extended top box (fits in my mates scooter top box) The panniers flop about on the floor when you try to pack them and weigh more than the contents due to a very complex mounting and opening system. Top loaders on the next bike please BMW.
Worst pillion footrests, my Missus agrees there, cost us £140 for a lowering kit. It would be much easier for BMW to make a bolt on bracket with various footrest depths, or make them all lower and shorty legs have to buy a lift up kit.
I think the results of the Ride test were fair though. I have test ridden R1200s for the last 6 years and and did not like them much. Now I have taken the plunge Im growing to appreciate the feel and ride, its not an instant love and the road testers did well to arrive at their conclusion in such a short time. I know I will still be getting to know mine when Triump and Honda riders are beginning to fall out with theirs

 

[drinkingparrot]

So you take along your Mrs., show her what you're buying and then tell her to feck off sounds like a recipe for great marriage.... good luck.

The only reason the wife was there, was to drive me to jefferies, and home again when I'd finished,I dont interfere when she's out buying a new ironing board, you need to get your priorities right, bikes are for boys, this isn't a knitting forum. Allthough I wonder sometimes

 

[beatmeier]

As far a pillion comfort is concerned, I have discovered a simple solution for this summer, I am riding the bike down through France and my girlfriend is flying down to Lyon, where I will pick her up - she won't get a sore arse and very importantly she can be a proper girly and take loads more clothes with her Best of both worlds we get to ride together in sun during the day and she can look hot in the evenings

Just done this the first time in may,,, and it's the dogs bollo..x. . Will do it again

 

[Rasher]

A reasonable test in Ride mag but I would have thought the Super Tenere was more in competition to GS and Explorer than the Crossrunner?

I think the GS and Tenere are far more similar, the Triumph and Honda are really road bikes, more tall tourers than "adventure" bikes.

I liked the Honda's engine but found it really uncomfortable, whereas many tests praise them, which is why a Journo write up is only ever going to be of limited use as we are all different.

As mentioned these guys tend to be younger lads and often used to thrashing everywhere flat out on a superbike that does not belong to them with all bills being picked up by their employer.

Most have never toured (or at least not like how many on this forum tour) and never ride two-up, I guess many have never used hard luggage and even on these tests probably throw all their kit in the van that is following them about (assuming they did not trailer the bikes to the shoot location)

I think of bike mag reviews more like movies "based on true events", a bit of entertainment, but probably not particularly accurate.

I would prefer the GS over the Honda or Triumph as I don't want the extra speed and I may occasionally venture onto a trail (at the very least I want the option)

I though the Honda Luggage was just acceptable (certainly no better than Vario stuff, but about the same size) the Yamaha luggage well made but far too small, and not seen the Triumph, riding the Honda convinced me I did not want anything much quicker than a twin cam GS.

Yamaha won for me as it is almost as good as the GS but without dodgy reliability and high servicing costs, the amount of good deals around meant I got a Yamaha for about £2.5k less than an equivelent spec / age / mileage GS and I have a load of cash left over to kit it out nicely.

I can't see too many people who really like their GS buying either of these bikes, but maybe some of the folk who are looking to move away from sports bikes like I did a couple of years back may prefer one of these as they will feel more familiar after a 30 minute test ride, so I expect to see them mainly eating into sports bike sales figures rather than damaging GS sales.

 

[DrPete]

I guess it wasn't a "group test" - or was the Multistrada broken down in the back of the RIDE van?

 

[Georgeeboi]

I suspect most GS/GSA riders will wait now for the water cooled version to see how it compares with the new bikes out at the moment. We won't know what effect it has on BMW sales for at least another year or so what I do know is GS /GSA are still selling very well and there residuals seem a lot better than the s10 and ktm smt.

 

[APE]

Yamaha won for me as it is almost as good as the GS but without dodgy reliability and high servicing costs, the amount of good deals around meant I got a Yamaha for about £2.5k less than an equivelent spec / age / mileage GS and I have a load of cash left over to kit it out nicely.

Interesting theory - so you think the saving you'll make on servicing will outweigh the higher depreciation compared with a GS Suspect your cost of ownership will be significantly higher with the Yam tbh.

At least you'll be able to sleep at night - no more nighmares about crumbling FDs

 

[swissrob]

hope triumph have sorted out the engine issues compared to the earlier 800 - they are always being recalled for mapping updates and it has a stepper motor for the idle control that when dirty doesnt work and then you cant start the bike - perfect for an "adventure bike"

 

[Rasher]

Interesting theory - so you think the saving you'll make on servicing will outweigh the higher depreciation compared with a GS Suspect your cost of ownership will be significantly higher with the Yam tbh.

No, the dealer who put it on dem for 150 miles took a £2600 hit on the original new price, I would never have paid anywhere near list (£12k) but at the price I paid it will probably depreciatte no more than any GS.

My GS was bought at two years old from a dealer for £8.5k, the original sale was about £12k so how much did owner number one lose? Over £5k in two years, I would not call that good.

This residual stuff is all crap, the GS loses a huge amount of money over the first 2-3 years and then tails off. I only lost £2600 on my brand new ZZR 1400 in 3 years and 16k, although I got a grand off list, even so £3600 would still be far less than anyone loses on a GS over the same period / miles.

The real cost of depreciation is what you paid - minus what you get back, not what the list price was.

I doubt I would lose much more than a grand over the next twelve months, but if you compare to full list it looks awful.

Triumph and Honda have done a better job on RRP than Yamaha so I can't see them needing to discount much unless stock is left over at year end, seems unlikely for Triumph, but I would not want to buy the Honda new at the moment in case at the end of the year they are having to ditch a load of unsold bikes.

I will also save on servicing even using a dealer (30% - 40% lower labour rates and tappetts every 24k) but will do a lot myself after warranty expires, the bike does not have a double service interval like the BMW's.

Add in I no longer feel the need to spend £325 a year on warranty, dealer services average out cheaper anyway (plus first service is still free with Yamaha) and once warranty is up I save another couple of hundred quid a year doing most the work myself and I am about £500 a year better off excluding all the GS breakdowns and failures.

The GS had cost me £248 for Service, £325 for Warranty and £176 for repairs (stuff excluded from warranty) in the last 6 months / 3,000 miles - That amount should take the Yamaha up to the 24k service (about 3 years and 23,500 miles motoring) and leave a few hundred quid left over.

I can see the Honda and Triumph being quite expensive to service, the Triumph looks good with its long service interval, but I assume it still needs a yearly service and as most owner will only do 3-6k a year so the extended intervals won't help them mutch.

The Honda is not so bad until the Tappetts need adjusting and then I assume a huge bill will be forthcoming.

 

[APE]

Fair point you will lose a packet on any new bike unless you get a big discount regardless of brand - although I still think like for like you'll get more depreciation on a Yam compared with a BMW.

Regarding service cost you're assuming nothing will go wrong with a Yam and the BMW will be unreliable. Those are both sweeping statement. Any motorcyle can develop a problem - a proportion of BMWs are very reliable.

What will you do if your Yamaha breaks down or develops a fault ? Sell it and try another brand ?

Finally you do not NEED extended warranty - I haven't bothered and I still have two arms and two legs.

Good luck with the new bike I really hope you enjoy it

 

[Rushy]

A reasonable test in Ride mag but I would have thought the Super Tenere was more in competition to GS and Explorer than the Crossrunner?

Yes but the OP never mentioned the Crossrunner so i'm guessing that the test didnt feature it either.

 

[Deleted account Cooperman]

I suspect most GS/GSA riders will wait now for the water cooled version to see how it compares with the new bikes out at the moment. We won't know what effect it has on BMW sales for at least another year or so what I do know is GS /GSA are still selling very well and there residuals seem a lot better than the s10 and ktm smt.

The water cooled Crosstourer didn't finish the test due to a stone hole in the radiator