Tall old guy gets his test ride

BigKev67

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County Durham
Me - age 67, six foot five, current bike, Africa Twin Adventure Sports 1000 manual, 920mm seat height
Test bike - 1250 GS Adventure TE, Rallye, with two piece seat, normal screen and Akraprovic

THE GOOD
Engine power and torgue
Low speed smoothness
Lack of vibration
Great brakes
Great handling
Exhaust not loud and looks good
TFT screen lovely
Gearbox slick

THE NOT SO GOOD
The two damping modes seemed to be either side of just right for me. Its ironic that electronic adjustment gives you just two settings and manual adjustment is fully variable. I am not sure how the 'Dynamic' part of the ESA works - ie how it responds to road shocks
The screen was just OK, flapped about a bit and the adjustment mech wasnt exactly luxury. A screen is so important - its always in your eyeline
The footrests felt setback and legs felt cramped. I felt my hips were being tilted forward. Its as though I needed to slide back on a flatter seat. The one piece seat would be the answer as others have said on another thread. It seems I would need to buy the bike with two piece seat then get a second one piece seat , either a tall one , or get it modified.
The AT is so tall and roomy that everything else is a compromise
 
Rallye high seat is the answer... (6’8” 36” leg) - the standard seat tilts you forward too much for my liking..... it also solves the hip issue...

I also ditched the screen for a sport screen, much lower and leaves your head in clean air....
 
PitaNaanRoti said:
Just buy the Rallye and you will have the seat you want with the low screen.
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My dealer dosnt do the rallye as it comes from BMW. He sells them in rallye colours but with 2 piece seat, normal screen, centre stand. The rallye seat would be too low anyway, I would need rallye high seat and I cant find one on the web . Only the touratech high which cost £500 and are not white/red/blue
 
BigKev67 said:
My dealer dosnt do the rallye as it comes from BMW. He sells them in rallye colours but with 2 piece seat, normal screen, centre stand. The rallye seat would be too low anyway, I would need rallye high seat and I cant find one on the web . Only the touratech high which cost £500 and are not white/red/blue
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BMW sell the high seat as an option do they not?
 
leadfarmer said:
You mean he’s got one in stock that he wants to sell, if he’s a bmw dealer he can get one with the rally seat and anything else available on the configurator for that matter :nod
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The black 2 piece seat is a £0 cost option...... tell him you want the Rallye high seat.. either buy as an option or sack him off

I’ve just been on the configurator it’s still available
 
leadfarmer said:
You mean he’s got one in stock that he wants to sell, if he’s a bmw dealer he can get one with the rally seat and anything else available on the configurator for that matter :nod
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This - he has them from distribution and needs to clear them for his figures.
He can also easily put the Rallye high seat and low screen on it from parts for bugger all but he’s choosing not to and try to bullshit you.
 
BigKev67 said:
The two damping modes seemed to be either side of just right for me. Its ironic that electronic adjustment gives you just two settings and manual adjustment is fully variable. I am not sure how the 'Dynamic' part of the ESA works - ie how it responds to road shocks
Click to expand...

The Dynamic mode means that the shocks adjust the damping to the road surface, and the shocks are adjusted on a bump to bump basis.

Dynamic mode offers the settting for more aggressive damping, while the Road mode makes the damping softer.

This is a totally different way of damping than the old style that treated all surfaces with equal damping.

BigKev67 said:
The screen was just OK, flapped about a bit and the adjustment mech wasnt exactly luxury. A screen is so important - its always in your eyeline
The footrests felt setback and legs felt cramped. I felt my hips were being tilted forward. Its as though I needed to slide back on a flatter seat. The one piece seat would be the answer as others have said on another thread. It seems I would need to buy the bike with two piece seat then get a second one piece seat , either a tall one , or get it modified.
The AT is so tall and roomy that everything else is a compromise
Click to expand...

You are aware that the seat may be set in high or low ?
The single bench rally seat offers a slightly taller seating position compared to the normal two-bench type.

When buying the bike, you may select a taler than normal two-bench seat, or a single bench Rally seat. And I belive there is no extra charge for these options.
 
Two piece seats just dont work for tall people. Being able to move your bum can solve reach and leg issues for tall guys. In my opinion bench seats also look better on an Adventure bike, the sofa like two piece stepped seat just looks wrong to me - OK on a Gold Wing. I also dont understand why seats are curved or slope upwards.
 
BigKev67 said:
Me - age 67, six foot five, current bike, Africa Twin Adventure Sports 1000 manual, 920mm seat height
Test bike - 1250 GS Adventure TE, Rallye, with two piece seat, normal screen and Akraprovic




THE NOT SO GOOD
The two damping modes seemed to be either side of just right for me. Its ironic that electronic adjustment gives you just two settings and manual adjustment is fully variable. I am not sure how the 'Dynamic' part of the ESA works - ie how it responds to road shocks


Completely with you on that.. Either too soft or too hard... It was the same on my GS and is the same on my RT....
Click to expand...
 
I honestly think that we are better off never changing throttle response or suspension settings as your brain and body adapts to whatever you have. Change just confuses and you have to re adapt. Choose what you like best and dont change it. Its electronic advances giving us stuff we didnt know we needed, cos we dont !
 
BigKev67 said:
I honestly think that we are better off never changing throttle response or suspension settings as your brain and body adapts to whatever you have. Change just confuses and you have to re adapt. Choose what you like best and dont change it. Its electronic advances giving us stuff we didnt know we needed, cos we dont !
Click to expand...

I respect your point of view, but my experience with the total opposite of this description.

When riding on a bumpy road with regular dampers set up to be firm, the bumpy road would be unbearable. With the dynamic setup, setting the suspension to the Dynamic (the most firm mode) will still make the bike riding firmly, but the bumpy road is no worse than a smooth surface. I think it is brilliant and ads to the comfort and ridability of the bike.
True, I did not miss it as long as I did not know of it's existence. However, now that I know how well it works, I would not get another GS with no less in the future.
 
knutk said:
I respect your point of view, but my experience with the total opposite of this description.

When riding on a bumpy road with regular dampers set up to be firm, the bumpy road would be unbearable. With the dynamic setup, setting the suspension to the Dynamic (the most firm mode) will still make the bike riding firmly, but the bumpy road is no worse than a smooth surface. I think it is brilliant and ads to the comfort and ridability of the bike.
True, I did not miss it as long as I did not know of it's existence. However, now that I know how well it works, I would not get another GS with no less in the future.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this, two quick presses of the left suspension and you're done, I love the ease with which you can alter the suspension on the fly.
 
CPJS said:
I'm with you on this, two quick presses of the left suspension and you're done, I love the ease with which you can alter the suspension on the fly.
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I would love to know the tech details of how the dynamic response works. I presume it looks at damper movement and speed of movement and feeds that into the damper setting. If anyone has a link to the techy stuff that would be good. Does the dynamic action work on front and rear , and when you switch from road to dynamic does that operate on front and rear dampers.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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