Trip
Guest
I've just got back from nine weeks riding to Nepal with a friend on two R12GSs. This isnt the forum for the full story but you might like to know how the 12 performed.
We modified the bikes only with seats (sargent), pipes (remus), screens, risers (nippy normans), tyres (TKC80s from Paskistan onwards) and panniers (metal mule). The bikes performed magnificently across some astonishing terrain and 10,000 miles. Aside from damage caused by crashes the only technical fault was bulbs and the gear problem described by Jaygee in this thread which happened on both bikes.
I don't think there is another bike in the world that will cope so well with motorway, gravel, and everything in between. It really is an astonishing bit of engineering. On the other hand it's very expensive and if something does go wrong it might be impossible to effect a safe roadside repair which would be quite straightforward on a simpler bike. I would take the R12GS on a similar trip again only if I had quite a lot of money and time - enough time that if I needed parts and expertise flown out to me, or the bike flown back to be repaired, it would not put a dent in my schedule. In practice this is asking rather a lot. Having said that, it was a hell of a lot more fun on the 12 than it would have been pop-popping to nepal on a single
Trip
We modified the bikes only with seats (sargent), pipes (remus), screens, risers (nippy normans), tyres (TKC80s from Paskistan onwards) and panniers (metal mule). The bikes performed magnificently across some astonishing terrain and 10,000 miles. Aside from damage caused by crashes the only technical fault was bulbs and the gear problem described by Jaygee in this thread which happened on both bikes.
I don't think there is another bike in the world that will cope so well with motorway, gravel, and everything in between. It really is an astonishing bit of engineering. On the other hand it's very expensive and if something does go wrong it might be impossible to effect a safe roadside repair which would be quite straightforward on a simpler bike. I would take the R12GS on a similar trip again only if I had quite a lot of money and time - enough time that if I needed parts and expertise flown out to me, or the bike flown back to be repaired, it would not put a dent in my schedule. In practice this is asking rather a lot. Having said that, it was a hell of a lot more fun on the 12 than it would have been pop-popping to nepal on a single
Trip
