I've owned my 1250 Rallye from new bought 2019 and despite initial wobbles requiring the gold Hayes front callipers needing swapping out twice because they were leaking, overall I've been very pleased with the bike. I rode the 1300 a couple of times and thought it was pretty much the next bike for me right up until my dealer wanted an additional £15K on top of to trade in.
That got me thinking about what I can do to freshen the bike up and led to for me 2 mods which significantly improved the bike and a 3rd that did also, but not to such a great extent
1 - in April 2025 I took it to Geoff to get it Hilltopped at 30K miles. I posted on this already, but in summary very pleased with the results. I still don't know why I waited that long to get it done as it's so much smoother to ride, more midrange and allows more of the rev range to be used without feeling like you're being mechanically unsympathetic. I'm taking slow hairpins/corners in 2nd or 3rd when previously I'd be in 1st or 2nd.
2 - last month I took the bike to T-Tech Suspension in Newhaven and Luke applied similar magic dust to the suspension replacing the front with Tractive eX-PERIENCE and the rear with Tractive eX-CHANGE PRO. A little work getting the spring rates right and Luke was very attentive getting the damping adjusted in line with my needs to the point he was rushing to get it re-done on a Saturday before he went on holiday because he wanted to know I got exactly what I wanted before he left. He's a great guy and really knows his stuff. After getting it done and using AI to lead me I played with high and low speed compression damping ending up with a ride that was certainly pointy in the corners but not as comfortable as I was used to. So I reverted to what I know, which was booking in with a suspension specialist which in my case was Mark Hammond. He set up 2nd hand Ohlins I fitted on an old 1200GS with amazing success and the result was no different this time. He could tell the front and rear weren't working together and after a couple of hundred miles I can confirm it's fecking fantastic.
3 - at the last tyre refresh but before getting the suspension upgraded I swapped out the fancy gold spoked wheels for a set of OE alloys which reduce unsprung weight. I think I can notice the turn-in is better, but because I researched the shizzle out of it beforehand I don;t know how much was in my head!
Couple of points:
- I'd been riding around on shagged rear suspension on the 1250 without knowing it. First thing Luke did when I turned up was to push down hard on the rear seat and let it rebound, or should I say pogo. It took 4-5 pulses of the rear before it settled when it should be doing it in 1-1.5. Felt stupid not to have noticed, but turns out the OE shock goes somewhere between 30,000-50,000 miles and I'd been riding around with it and accepted the poor handing. Doh. Going from failed crappy suspension to what Tractive can offer for a sporty ride is a real eye opener. I love it.
- When I mentioned damping gone in the shock to my dealer they told me the extended warranty doesn't cover suspension over 30,000 miles ... good job I didn't renew this year then.
I'm really enjoying the ride on the old girl and I'm pleased I went through giving it a makeover. The free revving engine with more midrange coupled with the new suspenders has really rekindled the relationship with the 1250. I'm very happy with it and pleased I wasn't tempted with anything else. Hopefully I'm riding it in this state for many years to come ...
That got me thinking about what I can do to freshen the bike up and led to for me 2 mods which significantly improved the bike and a 3rd that did also, but not to such a great extent
1 - in April 2025 I took it to Geoff to get it Hilltopped at 30K miles. I posted on this already, but in summary very pleased with the results. I still don't know why I waited that long to get it done as it's so much smoother to ride, more midrange and allows more of the rev range to be used without feeling like you're being mechanically unsympathetic. I'm taking slow hairpins/corners in 2nd or 3rd when previously I'd be in 1st or 2nd.
2 - last month I took the bike to T-Tech Suspension in Newhaven and Luke applied similar magic dust to the suspension replacing the front with Tractive eX-PERIENCE and the rear with Tractive eX-CHANGE PRO. A little work getting the spring rates right and Luke was very attentive getting the damping adjusted in line with my needs to the point he was rushing to get it re-done on a Saturday before he went on holiday because he wanted to know I got exactly what I wanted before he left. He's a great guy and really knows his stuff. After getting it done and using AI to lead me I played with high and low speed compression damping ending up with a ride that was certainly pointy in the corners but not as comfortable as I was used to. So I reverted to what I know, which was booking in with a suspension specialist which in my case was Mark Hammond. He set up 2nd hand Ohlins I fitted on an old 1200GS with amazing success and the result was no different this time. He could tell the front and rear weren't working together and after a couple of hundred miles I can confirm it's fecking fantastic.
3 - at the last tyre refresh but before getting the suspension upgraded I swapped out the fancy gold spoked wheels for a set of OE alloys which reduce unsprung weight. I think I can notice the turn-in is better, but because I researched the shizzle out of it beforehand I don;t know how much was in my head!
Couple of points:
- I'd been riding around on shagged rear suspension on the 1250 without knowing it. First thing Luke did when I turned up was to push down hard on the rear seat and let it rebound, or should I say pogo. It took 4-5 pulses of the rear before it settled when it should be doing it in 1-1.5. Felt stupid not to have noticed, but turns out the OE shock goes somewhere between 30,000-50,000 miles and I'd been riding around with it and accepted the poor handing. Doh. Going from failed crappy suspension to what Tractive can offer for a sporty ride is a real eye opener. I love it.
- When I mentioned damping gone in the shock to my dealer they told me the extended warranty doesn't cover suspension over 30,000 miles ... good job I didn't renew this year then.
I'm really enjoying the ride on the old girl and I'm pleased I went through giving it a makeover. The free revving engine with more midrange coupled with the new suspenders has really rekindled the relationship with the 1250. I'm very happy with it and pleased I wasn't tempted with anything else. Hopefully I'm riding it in this state for many years to come ...
️ service) and they have been a revelation, no crashing or jarring over our pot hole strewn shitty surfaced roads just smooth fluid progress - fantastic! Next up was a Hilltop remap, this would be my 3rd GS (11 tc & 17 lc) to be flashed by Hilltop and I wouldn’t be disappointed as the bike was smoother, quieter, rev’d up quicker and had no low speed surging or flat spots and to top it all I was getting better mpg. A year later and just about 11k miles on the clock and I love the gs even more, it’s a great bike that does everything that I need it to do.
) it's a bonus not having to go down to first unnecessarily just because the engine was struggling.
