Offroading the GS12 for the first time ....Any tips ?

Shep said:
Roll yer bars forward a bit, (helps if standing up)
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Sounds interesting. I find the bars a quite low when standing up and have been thinking that maybe some risers are needed to improve comfort and control.

Looks like this is worth trying first. So, how much is "a bit" and do you need to make other changes (i.e. to switchgear and guards etc.) to compensate for this?

Kai
 
VAL. H. said:
Err not quite.

First press and hold the ABS button.
Whilst still holding the ABS button, turn on the ignition.
Keep holding the ABS button untill the ABS Servo and Fule injection motors have finished priming I.E: the whineing noise you hear stops. Then you can releas the button and the ABS is now off. (until you switch off the ignition, then it will reset 'unless you do the button bit again')


Val.
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Is there any indication that the ABS is off?
 
Deano said:
Is there any indication that the ABS is off?
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Yes, the wee red light (not the triangle) keeps flashing at you in an annoying manner. But then again, you probably shouldn't be looking there anyway...

Kai
 
Best thing is get the ergos right for yourself.
For me this meant bar risers and Fastway footpegs (superb addition - much better standing platform) in the lower setting. I also added brake and gear lever exenders from nippy norman - they cost next to nothing but make both levers a lot easier to access when standing.
First thing I added to the bike were the H and B bars - they have earned their keep very well - nothing broken after the odd lie down...

The other thing to think about is suspension settings - set the rear preload and the rebound to very soft - you will soak up the bumps better and have less weight tipping forward onto the front wheel - you could let the front off a bit too depending on what you currently have it set on.

Overall the bike is very capable offroad. :thumb
 
Stays solid red on mine..
Few things to note about the servo ABS.
If you stall the bike and just restart (without turning off and on the key) the ABS will remain off... This is useful on the slow technical stuff...
To reset it (turn ABS back on) just turn off the bike at the key.

One other thing to note... Careful if you've just remembered to turn off the ABS on a decent.. The servos (sometimes!) take a half revolution of the wheel before they prime and you'll have f-all brakes for about a foot or two..

SpyInTheCamp said:
Yes, the wee red light (not the triangle) keeps flashing at you in an annoying manner. But then again, you probably shouldn't be looking there anyway...

Kai
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SpyInTheCamp said:
Sounds interesting. I find the bars a quite low when standing up and have been thinking that maybe some risers are needed to improve comfort and control.

Looks like this is worth trying first. So, how much is "a bit" and do you need to make other changes (i.e. to switchgear and guards etc.) to compensate for this?

Kai
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You can only roll them forward slightly but it helps you fingers locate the brake and clutch levers and for me the main benifit is comfort as it changes the angle of the sweep back of the bars :thumb

Just make sure the bars dont foul the screen or tank on full lock :nenau

Shep
 
Tyre pressure

Flying GS said:
What about tire pressure?
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Just what I was going to say!

Originally Posted by Deano:
"I went off road for the first time today. I have the Metzler Tourance tires. Boy was it tough keeping the front end from sliding around. Gotta turn really really slow. I gotta get a pair of knobies!"


Tourances, or any tyre, won't perform well offroad at road pressures. Did you make adjustments? I don't know what others think but I would have thought 12-15 psi was about right.

I did the first lap on the Cambrian recently with 20 psi in the tyres on my CRM due to a faulty gauge. It was like riding on marbles a lot of the time. When I adjusted to 12-15 for the second lap it was chalk and cheese.
 
Some tips I've gleaned from riding Big Duallies (Tigers, KTM's etc)

1. Bum off seat. Head above ignition key.

2. Use a higher gear than you would normally. All the big duallies have 90+ Nm of Torque, BM's even more so, so don't try and keep it up near the limiter. 2nd gear, or even third works well. I usually only use 1st when I'm really crawling. The gearing on these big buggers is an issue. Unless you're going for gold, don't bother going above 5000 rpm.

3. Corners- going around left corner, put weight on right peg.

4. The rear brake is your friend.

5. Ride as fast as you can see. (cryptic I know, but if you think about it for a week or two it makes sense... ;) )

6. If the track is getting slimey, get weight over rear tyre and give it gas. If you make it, you'll be a hero. If you don't yer mates will have a great laugh!!!

7. Tyre pressures- I don't have much BMW experience, but I used to drop the pressure on my Tiger's tyres down to 20 psi for softer stuff. Works well, and I was using Tourances. Beware for rocks and don't forget to pump them up again when you get back to civilisation.

8. Unless you need to, go out with less than half a tank of fuel. The less weight up high the better. As long as you don't go too far from a petrol station, but I imagine in the UK you'd never be more than 30 km from fuel. Not like here where signs like "LAST FUEL FOR 120KM" are common.
This also is a good reason to stop eating chips and pizza, but I'm yet to do this!!!! :D :D :D

This is not definitive, but it may help.
 
I was out in the dunes a couple of days ago and I was running 10psi in the front and rear with the Tourance tires. It was fantastic!! Looking forward to picking up a set of Conti TKC80's though. Definetly, need a set of thicker foot pegs. My feet were aching after a couple of hours!!!

I also found it easier to ride around in 2nd gear. There is NO shortage of torque in any gear...what a fantastic machine!!!

I'll post some picks and show you links to a few video clips we made. I cant even remember how many times I fell over and dropped the bike... and no damage what so ever!!!
 
I ventured out on my stock 1200 on Tourances on the Ridgeway prior to its closure and my first point is...dont go where you havn't been before. At least until you are super confident and have a buddy with you.

I've walked the Ridgeway many times - know its contours and changes in surface - so I only had to worry about me and the bike. So walk the route or MTB it. It's good exercise for Gods sake!

My second point - build up your experience on the same route - revisit on different days in different weather conditions and get to know how the bike behaves with you in control.

When you've become proficient extend the route - an hour of familiar stuff and 15 mins of adrenalin pumping surprises at one end of it.

Eventually you will only want the surprises...which are plentiful on a stock 1200 with road tyres. You don't want to make it easy now do you? :beerjug:
 
Oh yeah and make sure you have someone with you. We figured we need at least 3 people on a ride. Sometimes you just cant lift the bike yourself and if the same two people are lifting bikes, it's VERY tiring!!
 
I would suggest that tyre pressures have a lot to do with both terrain and temperature. I'd not want to run 10psi in my TKCs on rocky terrain for fear of wrecking a rim.

Also remember that at low pressures you run the risk of spinning the wheel inside the tyre and destroying the bead. I did see someone suggesting that you could tie wrap the tyres through the spokes. The knobbles and the spokes then stop any spinning.

I am no expert though and others may have more experience.
 
Tyre pressures

I would not think that lowering tyre pressures by any signifigant amount is good practice. In 'the old days' do I remember some form of security bolts to prevent the tyre spinning on the rim? IF I were to do off-roading on a regular basis I would have two sets of wheels, spoked with knobblies + alloy rims & standard tyres. Off road the tyres are as important to performance as they are on a track.
 
I would say:

:rob get up, stand up (stand-up for your rights :-)


:beer: keep it loose (you know how on road, if your shoulders and arms 'lock' up, everything goes naff in the corners, you need to tuck your elbows in a bit and keep mobile - well, more so off-road. Relax your arms and shoulders, don't be rigid)


:cool: don't be too cautious - it's harder to balance a bike at crawling pace on the road, more so if the surface is bumpy. Keep the wheels turning fast enough to give you some gyroscopic effect and keep the bike balanced.


:thumb if in doubt, gas it. (When I started, if things started going a bit pear-shaped, I slowed down and panicked a bit. Effect - bike wobbles, you hit bumps, need to put feet down, fall over. Now if it is going a bit woolly, nine times out of ten, I open the throttle. Effect - gyroscopes kick in, bike straightens up, and gets over whatever it is that was the problem.


:rob don't pay any attention to me (I bashed my bash plate off on monday).
 
power2learn said:
:cool: don't be too cautious - it's harder to balance a bike at crawling pace on the road, more so if the surface is bumpy. Keep the wheels turning fast enough to give you some gyroscopic effect and keep the bike balanced.

Effect - gyroscopes kick in, bike straightens up, and gets over whatever it is that was the problem.
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interesting you say this.

There has been quite a bit of research done on this, including bicycles with unspun wheels (no gyroscopic inertia) and they still keep themselves upright. No-one appears to know why this is, but many hypotheses put it down to the steering geometry. Gyroscopic effects do not affect stability of bikes.
 
"...........bicycles with unspun wheels (no gyroscopic inertia)......" I assume that you do know what you are talking about? Could you please explain; thank you.
 
Sorry, Bonox - I didn't realise that you were writing from Australia; Of course gravity, or is it gyroscopes, operate the other way round there, don't they? (Must be why those All Blacks never seem to drop the ball - even when it was raining here in Lyon last Saturday.)
 
gyroscopic forces come from a sum of angular momentum. Having two wheels of equivalent rotational inertia on the same axle but spun in opposite directions result in an angular momentum sum of zero. You can try this yourself:

1 wheel on the axle spinning makes it hard to change orientation of the axle (ie gyroscopic precession inhibits the movement)

2 wheels on the axle (spinning opposite directions) shows no inhibition to movement of the axle.

The tests on bicycles used a pair of geared masses (but only one wheel of the pair touches the ground). Result? Bicycle is still stable without precession effects.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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