Having asked for some technical advise I have been called a Typical 12XX Twat. Does that mean I have passed the test and am now accepted in to the elevated legions of the forum.....
I wish I was a real 12xx man. Perhaps in another 40 years or so I will be up there with the real bikers.........
In the meantime I will just step back in awe
To give you a reasonably serious answer .....
In my opinion - and it is just that ... I could be way off the mark .... The GS world is possibly very very heavily divided - quite possibly more so than any other make or model of bike.
In one camp, you've probably got blokes that have been bikers for thirty + years, have done sports bikes, maybe trials as a youngster, they've ridden dirt, they've all nearly killed themselves on the road at one time or another and they've all sort of genuinely been there and done that.
They're now looking (or probably more to the point, have found, or indeed found many years ago) a new dimension in their biking.
Now it's about the journey, the friends they forge on the way, the destination, it's a holistic thing now - it's not just about riding a bike. It's maybe part of a life style now. And that holistic thang? that lifestyle choice thang? that is
very relevant to the 11**'s. It's sort of what that bike is all about.
(not that dreaded LC 1200 ... WITCHCRAFT!!!!
)
In the other camp, you've got a lot of middle aged, middle classed, reasonably affluent, newish riders, who buy into the GS thing, the Ewan and Charlie thing, the BM branding, the BM lifestyle. They haven't got a feckin' clue, they don't know their canbus fluid from their brake fluid, they hand their bike to their dealer like Mama gives her baby back to Nanny, and rarely venture out of the inner circle of the M25. They complain about noisy gears, buffeting from the screen, the switch gear is too far away from their hand, the prong on the side stand interferes with their boot (because like plums they ride on their insteps and not their balls ..
) .... They're not ..... mneh ... their just ... sigh ... they're not bikers!! It's not in their blood. They're ...
Outsiders ?? New fourth form boys ??
The 30+ lot should be tolerant
They have quickly forgotten that once upon a time, they didn't have a feckin' clue about tyres, oil, suspension, pillions ... but to be fair to them, they did work it out themselves. Nobody held their hand and mollycoddled their daft questions. They got their hands dirty, they crashed and learned, they took their tents and they built their own adventures, and moulded themselves into the cantankerous grumpy old men that they've now grown into
The newish affluent chaps have the wonderful world of the internet at their disposal - 'how do I do this?' 'What oil do I use?' 'Wow - feet up u-turns are so easy on this bike!' 'How do I get the water out of the cooling fins after I've washed the bike?' 'I have some new boots - but now I can't change gear very well ... what shall I do..?? '
They are two camps .... worlds apart.
C'est la vie GS Wizz ....... C'est la Vie ....
Welcome aboard ...
you May eventually graduate and one day be allowed a real g/s 
