Is it time to change?

[Hartley]

My 1250 GSA is coming up on 3 years old and nearly 17000 miles. I’ve always said I’d never own a BMW out of warranty so thoughts of a change were in mind.

The truth is, in my mind, the GSA has never quite matched my previous GS.

I loved that bike but after less than satisfactory warranty work I lost faith in it.

I find the GSA so big, can’t quite flat foot it and just don’t think it looks as good as my old Triple Black GS.

However, it rides beautifully, swallows miles and still can make twisty roads fun.

But where it really excels is two up touring. This bike is incredible. It carries all our gear with ease, it’s comfortable as long as we have a short break every 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. It’s pretty good on fuel and coupled with the massive fuel tank one tankful is usually enough for a whole day.

It’s taken the Misses and me to the artic circle. Remained rock solid in some of the worst weather I’ve ever ridden in. My wife actually commented after riding for several hours in horrendous weather “ it feels so strong and planted, like it’s saying, it’s ok, we’ve got this” .

The new 1300 GSA is supposed to be brilliant but I struggle with the looks and though I’ve not enquired at the local dealer I can’t see it being much less than 13-14k to change. Is it that much better?

I don’t need more than the 1250 delivers.

But I said I wouldn’t own one out of warranty.

I stumped up the 400 quid today for the peace of mind of the extended warranty and assistance. The GSA is staying in the garage, well at least until its our next adventure.

 

[Gavla04GS]

MY 20-plate version just clicked through 17,000 miles today too, and I’ve done 10000 of those miles since Feb 23 when I bought it. Pathetic against your far flung travels.
I can’t bear to think of it going, 240 miles done these last three days whilst car out of action and it should be cleaned before being put away this weekend, ahead of a week of rain because I choose not to ride in the grim weather.
I love that it’s not highly strung and can be brought out used, then put away. I even marvelled how it swallowed £40 of Momentum unleaded this morning, magic

 

[Sneldog]

Get a Multistrada. Reyt good.

 

[Hartley]

Get a Multistrada. Reyt good.

Have to concede, best looking adventure bike.

 

[Hartley]

MY 20-plate version just clicked through 17,000 miles today too, and I’ve done 10000 of those miles since Feb 23 when I bought it. Pathetic against your far flung travels.
I can’t bear to think of it going, 240 miles done these last three days whilst car out of action and it should be cleaned before being put away this weekend, ahead of a week of rain because I choose not to ride in the grim weather.
I love that it’s not highly strung and can be brought out used, then put away. I even marvelled how it swallowed £40 of Momentum unleaded this morning, magic

Yep, us GSA riders are smug about our range until fill up time

 

[MartinK]

I had the same dilemma myself
A bit or hassle during Warranty - new camshafts and THREE throttle bodies!!! (Went onto limp mode in Portugal, Italy, and Transylvania and each time BMW diagnosed a throttle body!)
But
I did extend the BMW warranty for a while.
Now it's been ok. 12000 miles in the last year (one Romania trip, one Pyrenees trip).
Just had it's 48k service
I'll keep it until it becomes a problem. It's fully deprecated now and I still like riding it. A 1300 wouldn't increase my enjoyment (I ride a v100 Stelvio as well), if anything I'd go for a Tiger 1200.... But for now I'll just enjoy the one I have

 

[Emm]

I’m in a similar position with my 2024 1250 GSA but it has nearly 30.000 miles on it now and is used a lot for 2 up touring which it’s brilliant at. I’ve decided to keep it for the long run as I personally didn’t like the few spins I had on the 1300 so think peak 1200/50 suits my needs better especially for 2 up touring. I’m going to take a chance on no more warranty with BM and bought myself a GS 911 tool and will now service the bike myself. It’s been totally reliable up to now and usually with bmw bikes the last couple of years with a model are the most reliable and well sorted. The idea of paying for a new drive shaft on the 1300 doesn’t help either as it’s lifetime free on the 1200/50 models. I feel confident that my 1250 will give me many years of reliable service so why change, I read somewhere about a guy in Germany with over 300.000 miles on his 1250 and no major issues, he even stretched out the service intervals to 10.000 miles because of the distance and millage he was doing.

With a 1965 Triumph also in my garage I don’t stress over reliability

If something breaks you can get it fixed but these GS’s can do some serious miles

 

[Davey B]

However, it rides beautifully, swallows miles and still can make twisty roads fun.

The new 1300 GSA is supposed to be brilliant but I struggle with the looks and though I’ve not enquired at the local dealer I can’t see it being much less than 13-14k to change. Is it that much better?

I stumped up the 400 quid today for the peace of mind of the extended warranty and assistance. The GSA is staying in the garage, well at least until its our next adventure.

These seem to be a good enough reasons to hang on to it, year by year. It's done its big drop in value now.
An alt to the annual warranty renewal (and perhaps having to use Motorrad Main Dealer servicing?) is to stick the £400 a year in an acct, add maybe £100 a month for good measure and build a 'fix the bike' slush fund. You may not need it for several years.

 

[Hartley]

These seem to be a good enough reasons to hang on to it, year by year. It's done its big drop in value now.
An alt to the annual warranty renewal (and perhaps having to use Motorrad Main Dealer servicing?) is to stick the £400 a year in an acct, add maybe £100 a month for good measure and build a 'fix the bike' slush fund. You may not need it for several years.

I believe this approach relies on something called discipline?
Joking apart, I may well do that,

 

[G&T]

The 1250GS = same engine, pretty much same everything as the GSA. If you don’t need the 30ltr tank, think about it. Sally as a pillion also prefers the GS seat. I didn’t like the Vario panniers so swapped to the full OEM pannier rack and hangers bought from here.

 

[grantmac]

I have had 3 GS/A’s in the last 10 years. Tend to keep mine for 3-4 years and buy new. Thats just me.
The GS 1200 was fine, the 1250 Adventure was better in so many ways and now my 1300 Adventure is just the best of all.
I have done now 16000 km since May 25.
Maybe take the 1300 Adventure for a spin for a day and go 2 up and then decide
If you are looking at replacing your bikes within warranty then you must have a bob or two to spend on your bikes.
Then make up your mind. I love my Adventure 1300 and the looks for me also are fine. I spend my time riding it not looking at it

 

[Hairnet600]

touch it inappropriately/farkle it till it fits you

or how you want to use it

if its too heavy lighten it too tall shorten it

 

[Hartley]

The 1250GS = same engine, pretty much same everything as the GSA. If you don’t need the 30ltr tank, think about it. Sally as a pillion also prefers the GS seat. I didn’t like the Vario panniers so swapped to the full OEM pannier rack and hangers bought from here.

Fair play, for me, what you’ve done is perfect 1250. If I had my time again I’d have bought the “Ultimate” 1250 ( though it was expensive) and add GSA racks.
That said my misses prefers the seat on the GSA

 

[landmarkjohn]

I think the 1300 GSA looks great.

 

[siddo]

I'll be keeping my GSA until it's too heavy for me to handle. Hopefully my fitness and health hold out for a good few years.

 

[djgsa]

I'm slowly coming around to the looks of the 1300GSA, but I still think the 1250GSA is a much, much better looking bike. It has that 'look back' factor the 1300 doesn't. I've heard it quite a bit, that the 1300 just doesn't have enough over the 1250 to justify switching unless you really want to