Tough enough?

[critter]

I have just discovered the R1150GS and GS Adventure, and am truly blown away. While I am a new rider, this looks to me like an ideal bike to disappear off to South America on and go touring for a few months/years.

For those who know, I have a few questions (that I don't trust the dealer to answer) that would really help me understand what I can do with this bike:

Although I am confident in BMW's build quality, these bikes are fairly high tech, and I am concerned about their 'repairability' in the third world. What can I expect to go wrong (miles from anywhere and with no BMW support in the same country), and not being a mechanic, will I be able to fix it?

For long distance touring on tarmac and dirt, how comfortable is this bike loaded (big tank, panniers, and two up)?

Is there a lot of wind buffeting for the pillion/is my wife going to be comfortable as we cover serious miles, or will I have to leave her behind?

Any help with the above is greatly appreciated.

 

[(RIP) Geriatric Germ]

R100GS

To answer all your needs get a GS with the old 1000 cc

 

[Deleted Member]

ditto above

two week luxury break fine, you need bmw support just to pick the bike up.
Anything more serious I would agree with above and go for lighter, simpler, more fixable, lower profile, less gadget ridden air head (as I have)

 

[Paul G (BHT)]

The fastest circumnavigation by land of the globe… 1150GS
Simon & Monika's 3 year RWT 1150GS & F650GS
Simon & Lisa's 3 year RWT 1150GS & F650GS
Goose on the loose ride to Oz 1100GS
Etc….. etc

 

[judge]

The fastest circumnavigation by land of the globe… 1150GS
Simon & Monika's 3 year RWT 1150GS & F650GS
Simon & Lisa's 3 year RWT 1150GS & F650GS
Goose on the loose ride to Oz 1100GS
Etc….. etc

If you've dealer BMW support and sponsorship yeah I'd take an oilhead, whereas Simon & Georgie, Tiff, Karl and many thousands of others on self-funded trips are all on Airheads and if I were to do it I'd find a monolover GS put a 43L tank on it, learn how to maintain and fix it and do it on that.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Judge, I'm not so sure whether that's entirely correct.

In about 5 years time the 1100GS will be close to 15 years old and becoming rather cheap. Being the simplest one of the 1100/1150/Adv bikes it could turn out to be the mono levered 80 G/S of this current generation.

For instance, the shaft can be pulled out of the swinging arm just by removing the rear wheel and bevel drive. The other two require the removal of the entire swinging arm. Something that makes it a bit harder in the field for running repairs or lubrication of the shaft splines and/or checking the universal joints.

Two major problems that in the past I've worried about were firstly:- The black box for the ignition system, instead of points. My 1980 80 G/S resolved that problem, no more worrying about points and the ignition is always correct. I have carried a spare ignition system on a couple of my more wild trips and never needed it.

Secondly:- Fuel injection and the ability to solve problems occuring with this fuel delivery system in the field, compared to a carby set-up. Well, I've had the 1100GS for close to 5 years, in that time it has been through some pretty awful fuel and came up smiling, if not powerful.

The 259 series of GS machines, really are an evolution of the 1969-1994 flat twins that, with a bit of fiddling, were superb dirt bikes. At first I didn't understand that, but it's becoming clear to me that I think the factory design team did go in the right direction at first. In that assessment please remember I'm talking about the ability to travel almost anywhere on a relatively simple machine that can be maintained or kept in a running condition with rudimentary mechanical skills and tools in the field.

The current 1150 Adventure is now taking the bike to another stage of evolution that I think is heading in another direction, I think a comparison to the American military derived vehicle the Hummvee is getting close to the direction the factory appears to be striding to.

I believe that the next generation of GS bikes will more than likely be quite lighter and maybe more purposeful in that their dirt skills should be far better due to their weight reduction.

I myself firmly believe that the two best bikes to travel anywhere in the world are any mono lever 80 G/S-GS and the second generation 1100GS from 10/96 to 2000. Both of these bikes are simpler and lighter than their respective descendants.

Having owned both and ridden both, and, at the same time pushed both pretty close to their limits, in respect of their offroad touring ability, carrying whatever gear is required to keep one going, I would choose the 80 G/S-GS mono lever bike for a solo trip, whilst the 1100 fitted with the bevel drive from an 850GS, is superbly equipped to travel two-up and has a capacity to climb tracks, hills and mountains most bikes only dream of.

Mick.

 

[critter]

Sorry judge, can you explain airhead/oilhead please?

Is it air cooled vs. water cooled?

I'm new to this (obviously) and not up to speed on the lingo yet.

 

[DrAlf]

Great post Mick. One further point to possibly consider is that of cost. An R80G\S may initially appear to be a much cheaper option for overlanding but once you factor in the required work to bring an old airhead up to a reliable spec the price difference suddenly becomes marginal. I bought an old G\S monolever at the beginning of the year with the intention of building it up to a very high standard. However once I sat down and worked out the costs of adding what I considered to be necessary equipment I soon realised that the project was going to cost at least as much as an average 1100 and almost as much as an early 1150. I ended up selling the airhead and buying an 1150. If you check out horizons unlimited you’ll see that those who have ridden airheads overland recommend at least a gearbox rebuild, strengthened subframe, beefed up shock and possibly also an alternator upgrade – all expensive mods. On top of this and IMHO the oilhead GS is much more fun to ride and far more reliable – albeit a lot heavier. However having said all that the Carnet fee on an airhead should be well affordable, sadly the same isn’t true for a £5000+ oilhead.

 

[Pat Creagh]

This post could run and run but having owned bikes from 1990 onwards I reckon the later ones are more useful at distance travelling than the old pig dog.
When I hear folks talking about things being easy to fix it's probably because they've had plenty of practice...fine in your own driveway on a sunny afternoon but hardly in Outer Mongolia.
Pat.

 

[Vern]

Whatever

Whatever you've got or whatever you buy, just get on and ride it. If you have the best prepped 1100 in the world, and it goes tits up on day one, would you recommend it to other people? On the other hand, if you buy an old knacker (just like judge's) it might go on forever and carry you all around the world without a single hitch. Don't let age/price guide you, have a try on as many bikes as you can, and sooner or later, you'll find a bike YOUR happy with, no matter what it's got written on the tank. So there you go, any bike you like, as long as it's an 1100GS

 

[judge]

Judge, I'm not so sure whether that's entirely correct.

{snip}.....{/snip}

Having owned both and ridden both, and, at the same time pushed both pretty close to their limits, in respect of their offroad touring ability, carrying whatever gear is required to keep one going, I would choose the 80 G/S-GS mono lever bike for a solo trip, whilst the 1100 fitted with the bevel drive from an 850GS, is superbly equipped to travel two-up and has a capacity to climb tracks, hills and mountains most bikes only dream of.

Mick.

But Mick, didn't we say the same thing then? Your last paragraph/sentence and my last sentence both said we'd do it on an 80 g/s

 

[judge]

Sorry judge, can you explain airhead/oilhead please?

Is it air cooled vs. water cooled?

I'm new to this (obviously) and not up to speed on the lingo yet.

It's the commonly used (but tehnically not quite right) term to differentiate between the 2 valve boxer (employed in the R65/80/100 GS) and 4 valve boxer engine (of the 850/1100/1150 GS).

 

[judge]

Re: Whatever

On the other hand, if you buy an old knacker (just like judge's) it might go on forever and carry you all around the world without a single hitch.

I bloody wish!!!

 

[critter]

Thanks for the explanation Judge, and Vern, I reckon that's pretty damned good advice which I intend to follow (as long as its a some type of GS!).