scottpa
Registered user
My GS has just had it's 2nd birthday and I thought that I would give a report on my experiences.
Good points:
18,000 miles covered mixture of weekend riding and assorted British/European trips.
Best bike I have had no question (all my bikes have been big trailes, Early Tiger, Africa Twin, Varadero, VStrom 1000 so can only compare in this genre).
Shaft drive - brilliant, no more oily muck on the back wheel/tyre (always used scotoilers), no chain/sprockets to replace.
Handling - front suspension is wierd looking but it works, no diving under braking (try riding another big trailie at night and breaking hard and the light dips to about 10 feet in front of you. That gets exciting). Road holding is so confidence ispiring in comparison to my previous bikes. Cornering is a dream, unruffled by bumps and other changes in the road surface.
Engine - Plenty of lazy torque, don't need to rev the guts out of it (all of the time!). Good fuel economy - I am a reasonably quick rider but still manage to average out 48+ to the gallon (Varadero was the worst at about 36 mpg).
Tank range – Fill up every 200 miles to be safe, squeezed 240 miles out of it once.
Ergonomics - Seat range - about 3 hrs. Fit engine bars, they make great forward foot pegs to let you stretch your legs on the move. It may have been my bike came out of the factory wrong but I had pull my handle bars back a little to give a more natural hand position. The screen once finally set up correctly is good. A recent thread has argued about the indicators and although I don't have a problem with them, I do think that the horn is a little hard to find in a panic.
Addictive – Where as on previous bikes, I might go out for a ride at the weekend and do 100-120 miles, now I come back having done 300 miles, stick the bike in the garage, have a cup of tea and think “it’s a nice evening, maybe I will go out for an hour”.
Bad points:
First let me point out that I have never been stranded so the faults have never been critical.
Fork seals replaced at 8,000 miles, Fuel gauge sender replaced at 11,000 miles, front break lines and ews ring antenna replaced under recalls at 12,000 mile service. Bike going in for warranty replacement of front engine cover, fuel tank opening and final drive due to corrosion.
The screen was the biggest problem, it took several attempts to get the screen right to avoid turbulence, I ended up with a Nippy Norman’s tall and wide screen with about2” cut off the top of it. I personally think the screen is too far forward. If the top of the screen was at the same height but was closer to the rider by about 4 or 5 inches, then the issue with turbulence may be resolved.
Those cylinder heads are a bit wide when you start trying to filter, especially compared to the VStrom.
Even after 18,000 miles it still uses a little oil but is manageble (my previous bikes didn't use a any )
Modifications/accessories:
HID- headlight conversion. Just do it, it makes an amazing difference to visibility, and illumination of the road at night.
Front Fender Extender – cut’s down, but doesn’t eliminate the crap thrown onto the front of the engine altogether.
Nippy’s fiber glass hugger, worked but split and started rattling around so was removed and replaced with a mudsling.
Mudsling, from Nippy - I am impressed with this for keeping you clean, but everything to the rear of it gets filthy, much more so than with the hugger.
Removed the spray guard from the final drive (this is where the corrosion on the final drive was hiding).
TT – Numberplate splash guard, sort of works but not 100%.
Full Remus exhaust system. I tried the headers with the stock and the Remus cans and has been reported, the headers do make a difference, the hesitation at about 5,000rpm is reduced but not eliminated. I didn’t notice much difference in performance between the stock and Remus cans but the Remus (with the baffle removed) sounds great, especially on the overrun when decelerating it sounds like a v1 pulse engine (although my mate swears it’s a Lancaster bomber).
Luggage - I already had a Givi top box so had the original top box mounting fitted from new (which goes on the BM luggage rack.) It snapped one of the mounting bolts (thank goodness for easy out's). This was replaced with the updated one which requires the removal of the BM luggage rack instead.
Conclusion:
There has been a lot of comment on this site regarding the issues that arise with this model, indeed if you read this forum before deciding to buy one, you would be scared off.
Indeed this bike has had more problems with it than any other bike I have owned but that has not detracted from my enjoyment of riding the bike.
I am especially disappointed by the finish. I know that they have had to switch to water based paint due to EU regulations, but can’t they do something about this, they are a European manufacturer so you would have thought that they would have an idea about the conditions in the UK/Europe and build a bike to suit.
However, BMW warranty backup is the best I have experienced, they are the Arai of bike manufacturers. The premium build quality product label may no longer be true but BMW is still a premium ownership experience.
I am completely addicted to my GS and that has left one huge problem. The only bike I can think of replacing it with is another GS (Even if Adolf doesn’t agree) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL1p....com/Site/Honda_VFR800_Motorcycle_Rental.html I know it’s an old one but a mate sent it through again today and it made me laugh again.
So all in all, a great two years and if anyone out there is wondering if a GS is the right idea, go for it, you won't regret it.
Good points:
18,000 miles covered mixture of weekend riding and assorted British/European trips.
Best bike I have had no question (all my bikes have been big trailes, Early Tiger, Africa Twin, Varadero, VStrom 1000 so can only compare in this genre).
Shaft drive - brilliant, no more oily muck on the back wheel/tyre (always used scotoilers), no chain/sprockets to replace.
Handling - front suspension is wierd looking but it works, no diving under braking (try riding another big trailie at night and breaking hard and the light dips to about 10 feet in front of you. That gets exciting). Road holding is so confidence ispiring in comparison to my previous bikes. Cornering is a dream, unruffled by bumps and other changes in the road surface.
Engine - Plenty of lazy torque, don't need to rev the guts out of it (all of the time!). Good fuel economy - I am a reasonably quick rider but still manage to average out 48+ to the gallon (Varadero was the worst at about 36 mpg).
Tank range – Fill up every 200 miles to be safe, squeezed 240 miles out of it once.
Ergonomics - Seat range - about 3 hrs. Fit engine bars, they make great forward foot pegs to let you stretch your legs on the move. It may have been my bike came out of the factory wrong but I had pull my handle bars back a little to give a more natural hand position. The screen once finally set up correctly is good. A recent thread has argued about the indicators and although I don't have a problem with them, I do think that the horn is a little hard to find in a panic.
Addictive – Where as on previous bikes, I might go out for a ride at the weekend and do 100-120 miles, now I come back having done 300 miles, stick the bike in the garage, have a cup of tea and think “it’s a nice evening, maybe I will go out for an hour”.
Bad points:
First let me point out that I have never been stranded so the faults have never been critical.
Fork seals replaced at 8,000 miles, Fuel gauge sender replaced at 11,000 miles, front break lines and ews ring antenna replaced under recalls at 12,000 mile service. Bike going in for warranty replacement of front engine cover, fuel tank opening and final drive due to corrosion.
The screen was the biggest problem, it took several attempts to get the screen right to avoid turbulence, I ended up with a Nippy Norman’s tall and wide screen with about2” cut off the top of it. I personally think the screen is too far forward. If the top of the screen was at the same height but was closer to the rider by about 4 or 5 inches, then the issue with turbulence may be resolved.
Those cylinder heads are a bit wide when you start trying to filter, especially compared to the VStrom.
Even after 18,000 miles it still uses a little oil but is manageble (my previous bikes didn't use a any )
Modifications/accessories:
HID- headlight conversion. Just do it, it makes an amazing difference to visibility, and illumination of the road at night.
Front Fender Extender – cut’s down, but doesn’t eliminate the crap thrown onto the front of the engine altogether.
Nippy’s fiber glass hugger, worked but split and started rattling around so was removed and replaced with a mudsling.
Mudsling, from Nippy - I am impressed with this for keeping you clean, but everything to the rear of it gets filthy, much more so than with the hugger.
Removed the spray guard from the final drive (this is where the corrosion on the final drive was hiding).
TT – Numberplate splash guard, sort of works but not 100%.
Full Remus exhaust system. I tried the headers with the stock and the Remus cans and has been reported, the headers do make a difference, the hesitation at about 5,000rpm is reduced but not eliminated. I didn’t notice much difference in performance between the stock and Remus cans but the Remus (with the baffle removed) sounds great, especially on the overrun when decelerating it sounds like a v1 pulse engine (although my mate swears it’s a Lancaster bomber).
Luggage - I already had a Givi top box so had the original top box mounting fitted from new (which goes on the BM luggage rack.) It snapped one of the mounting bolts (thank goodness for easy out's). This was replaced with the updated one which requires the removal of the BM luggage rack instead.
Conclusion:
There has been a lot of comment on this site regarding the issues that arise with this model, indeed if you read this forum before deciding to buy one, you would be scared off.
Indeed this bike has had more problems with it than any other bike I have owned but that has not detracted from my enjoyment of riding the bike.
I am especially disappointed by the finish. I know that they have had to switch to water based paint due to EU regulations, but can’t they do something about this, they are a European manufacturer so you would have thought that they would have an idea about the conditions in the UK/Europe and build a bike to suit.
However, BMW warranty backup is the best I have experienced, they are the Arai of bike manufacturers. The premium build quality product label may no longer be true but BMW is still a premium ownership experience.
I am completely addicted to my GS and that has left one huge problem. The only bike I can think of replacing it with is another GS (Even if Adolf doesn’t agree) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL1p....com/Site/Honda_VFR800_Motorcycle_Rental.html I know it’s an old one but a mate sent it through again today and it made me laugh again.
So all in all, a great two years and if anyone out there is wondering if a GS is the right idea, go for it, you won't regret it.
. On paper, it just shouldn’t be as good as it is, but it’s just a unique and incredibly addictive experience.
