I’ve gone and Supermotarded my 1200GS

[Yonkyo]

Having seen pics of a 1200GS with 1200RT wheels fitted, and wanting to improve the road handing of my GS. I’ve gone one step further and fitted some 17" 1200S wheels, which IMHO, are better looking. Plus the rear wheel is a 6.5 inch wide bugger, so it’ll take a superbike size 190 section tyre.

After doing over 100 miles on these, I ‘m over the moon with the way my GS handles now. The steering is so much lighter and precise, allowing me to effortlessly flick the bike through the curves like a sports bike. Excellent.

Motorway handling is excellent also, just as stable at high speed as with the standard wheels.

Ground clearance doesn’t seem to be a problem so far, though I haven’t really done any proper scratching on her yet.


Oh, and thanks to the Darren & Mike at Bristol Motorrad for their help and speedy service.

 

[newman7096]

Bet that exhaust keeps your tyre warm! Well the left side anyway!

 

[Yonkyo]

Bet that exhaust keeps your tyre warm! Well the left side anyway!

Its close about 10mm clearance...but i like sticky tyres

The rear wheel/tyre wont fit with the standard exhaust either

 

[Big Lee]

looks great! A smaller front mudguard will set it off just nice!

 

[GrinningGSer]

Looks fantastic Yonkyo

My concern would be that there are issues with the final drive, for which, in view of frequency of occurrence, we could justifiably claim 'unfit for the purpose,' when or if failure occurs.

If you increase final drive loads with different specification wheels, them perhaps you give BMW an excuse ?

 

[Timolgra]

It's a yellow 1200 with smaller wheels

 

[Yellow Peril]

even worse unlikely to go off road now either

 

[whitegloss]

can you say how much you paid for the wheels etc, did you use the discs from the r1200gs, are the wheels lighter?

 

[Dellis]

I presume this is so you can get round corners faster? Have to say it looks cool but........

Dave

 

[kiwiAdventure]

How do you ever ride the bike with that tank bag on. It looks like you have half the garage in there.

 

[Scottch]

Is it just me, or is the back wheel offset to the left when viewed from the rear?

 

[Schtum]

Is it just me, or is the back wheel offset to the left when viewed from the rear?

It will be. It's a recognised issue when fitting ST wheels on the GS so with the wider R1200S wheel it'll look even more pronounced, although the centre line is probably in the same place as the ST wheel.

 

[Yonkyo]

looks great! A smaller front mudguard will set it off just nice!

Yes, the wheels are just the beginning. Lots of carbon stuff next, including a neater mudguard.

 

[Yonkyo]

Looks fantastic Yonkyo

My concern would be that there are issues with the final drive, for which, in view of frequency of occurrence, we could justifiably claim 'unfit for the purpose,' when or if failure occurs.

If you increase final drive loads with different specification wheels, them perhaps you give BMW an excuse ?

Cheers for that mate

i'm not going to sleep tonight now......

mind you, the final drive is now taking an extra bashing, cause i cant stop myself wheeling the thing off every set of traffic lights

 

[Yonkyo]

It's a yellow 1200 with smaller wheels

Yes, but, no, but wider wheels

even worse unlikely to go off road now either

oh-no, I’ve still got my spocked wheels with TKC’s on em…

I presume this is so you can get round corners faster? Have to say it looks cool but........
Dave

I have to do something to try and stay with my mates on there KTM 950SM’s

 

[Yonkyo]

can you say how much you paid for the wheels etc, did you use the discs from the r1200gs, are the wheels lighter?

I got them for just under £800 from Bristol Motorrad.

I just swapped the disks and ABS ring from my original spoked wheel.

These wheels are alot lighter than my spoked wheels.

Note: if any one is thinking of doing this conversion, you will also need the R1200S rear wheel nuts (GS nuts are to long)

And you'll need to grind/cut about 5mm off the right hand side centre stand foot, as it will rub the edge of the tyre..

 

[Yonkyo]

How do you ever ride the bike with that tank bag on. It looks like you have half the garage in there.

Its ok, I can just see over the top of the bag. And its full of Steak & Kidney pies for my lunch…

Is it just me, or is the back wheel offset to the left when viewed from the rear?

It will be. It's a recognised issue when fitting ST wheels on the GS so with the wider R1200S wheel it'll look even more pronounced, although the centre line is probably in the same place as the ST wheel.

yes, Schtum is correct . The rear wheel is slightly off set, but I cant feel any difference on the bike… it handles brilliantly

 

[Yonkyo]

some pics of clearances....

no problems...apart from having to grind 5mm off the centre stand foot

 

[WindyChuffer]

Err excuse me for raining on your parade, but this seems totally and utterly pointless. Offset rear wheel meaning front and rear wheels are no longer aligned....I mean...how dumb is that? I find it very hard to believe that this doesn't adversely affect the handling and would love to know what a professional rider thinks of this arrangemet.

Why not just go buy a sports bike instead of turning the 12GS into something it simply 'ain't meant to be...

 

[Yonkyo]

Err excuse me for raining on your parade, but this seems totally and utterly pointless. Offset rear wheel meaning front and rear wheels are no longer aligned....I mean...how dumb is that? I find it very hard to believe that this doesn't adversely affect the handling and would love to know what a professional rider thinks of this arrangemet.

Why not just go buy a sports bike instead of turning the 12GS into something it simply 'ain't meant to be...

Thanks for your views..

The R1200GS is an excellent all-round do-it-all motorcycle. However, if the vast majority of your riding is on tarmac, and you like to make serious progress through the twisties, then I believe this conversion makes perfect sense.

Benefits:
Smaller diameter front wheel = less gyroscopic effect = quicker steering
Wider tyres = More rubber on the road = safer cornering
Vast selection of tyres and manufactures to choose from = not limited to a handful of skinny trailie tyres.
And loads more benefits that I cant think of right now……

The slight offset is not noticeable when riding

Oh and I ride a minimum of 640 miles per week every week does that make me a professional rider.

And finally. To my knowledge Pidcock BMW do this conversion or can supply these wheels as an option: http://www.pidcock.com/BMW/ look under “news”

I dont need to buy a sports bike, i already have a ZX-10R