Do NOT test ride a GS

Hello everyone.
I'm new to this forum and to the BMW, as well. At the moment I ride Honda VFR, however last half a year I have been dreaming about BMW R1200GS Adventure. Luckily, my mate has this bike and I was offered a little ride. I am very short person and firstly was very nervous, that I wouldn't be able to touch the ground with my both feet. However, we adjusted suspension of 2007 BMW, put the lowest seat level and the height was not so dramatic for me. At least, I could easily get used to it.
Today I visited local dealer shop in order to test 2010 r1200gsa. To my surprise, guys couldn't adjust suspension suitable for my height. There are only 3 levels of suspension adjustment set electronically: norm, comf, sport. And it turned to be too high for me.
The thing is, that next week I'm leaving my country and plan to stay in Oxford for half a year, at least. I have read, that some short people use lower custom seat =] I would greatly appreciate if someone could demonstrate it and allowed to check how much the seat height is going to be acceptable for me. If it is fine, than I will start examining UK's market. Perhaps new models are less expensive there. By the way, the price in Latvia is 13500 pounds. How much does adventure cost in the UK?
Hope to get any help from you.
Thank you in advance.
 
My point in starting this thread was to instil a note of caution in superbike riders particularly. Lets face it, if you are coming of a 180bhp/180mph semi-racing bike, and if you are even considering changing to a GS, something else has altered in your biking lifestyle.
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Indeed, my outlook has changed, as has my bike use, but I took the test ride, I knew I needed something that could be fun below 100mph, I don't think you need a BM to go places, my ZZR14 has taken me to the Pyrenees, Black Forest and more recently 2754 miles through the, two up with luggage as well.

Comfort is not great (or I am getting older) I need something that is OK cruising at 80 (getting older) and does not encourage me to go faster than the speed of light everywhere.

I was looking towards a Tiger for the 17" wheels and familiar engine characteristics, yet two sportsbike freaks (one with an almost identical much modded 14) told me to try a GS, the 14 owner bought one after his ride, so I thought I better just ride the horrible old pig around and rule it out.

The Triumph did what I expected, nice handling, decent engine, better comfort, good around town and reasuringly familiar - a motorcycle as I now them - perfect.

Yet the BM test ride is nagging me, I thought I would like the solid low down stomp and hate the handling, yet I found handling OK, but hated the engine - just flat and gutless feeling, by 5k it is all over, despite it painfully wailing for another 4k - awful...

Still the dealer said I need more time and offered another few hours to "get used to it", looking back we both enjoyed it, I picked it up solo and intended to go for a blat, however it was crap so I quickly went home, collected the woman and to humour her took a few lanes back to the dealer, by which time I was sort of enjoying it.

The Triumph does everything I need, but lacked pillion room and somehow seems a bit cheap and cheerful alongside the BM.

My reason for test rides was to assure myself the front end feedback would be OK, I have always had well setup bikes, all sportsbikes, most of which with front end work done so expected these bikes to feel awful.

Oddly they don't, a sportsbike without a great front end feel is horrible, yet with the riding position of both bikes I found them easy to roll around and did not really care about "feeling" the front tyre.

Anyway I know I will love the Triumph, but somehow I really want to love the GS, so got a 3 hour ride booked to go out on as many roads as possible and see if I can gel with it.

I certainly agree that an hour on one of these is not enough, maybe 3 hours won't be either, glad to know so many others have trodden this path and none have regretted it, Triumph or BMW? Win Win I guess
 
welcome to the site Rasher :thumb

In 2003 I was like you and needed to get away from the back pain and high speed of my Fireblade.... a trip to Assen sealed it for me, and I ended up with an 1150 GS... that opened up this place to me, and I'm still here :rob

Since then I've had an 1100 Anniversary, 2 1150 GSA's, 2 1200's inlcuding an SE last year, a 100PD, and a couple of 650's They were all great bikes , some greater than others ;)

I've now took a punt at a 1050 Tiger, and one month in love it ;) It's half way between a sportsbike and a GS IMHO.

I agree that its a cheaper bike, and some bits are indeed better than others, but it has stonking engine, good ergonomics, even for her indoors when on the back... I'm a happy bunny.

The 1200 GS has the shaft drive, so no maintenance, decent luggage options and more bells and whistles, and the build quality is good despite reports of weaknesses on here ... I've personally had no problems with any of mine... some may have been a bit unlucky:augie

Horses for courses..... Sold my stripped down '09 1200 SE minus luggage etc 3 months ago for £8.5k ,then sold all the farkles I'd got on it for nearly £1.5k. Bought an 09 Tiger with luggage, heated grips and loads of other extras for £6K

Either way you'll be happy , whichever itch you decide to scratch :thumb

PS.. then there's this place... try and find another forum that even comes close ;)
 
My pre-conceptions were the Tiger would generally be faster, handle better, cost a lot less (to buy and maintain) and feel pretty familiar, but the BMW (if I could get to like it) would offer:

More Comfort (Especially Pillion - the Tigers biggest failing)
Much better luggage
Superior build quality
Better reliability
Shaft Drive

And I could keep it for 10 years piling on 5-6k a year without it falling apart, yet after arriving here...

I find a poll showing 387 Fuel Control Unit failures, and discover when BMW realised they fail every 2 minutes they increased the price 25%.

Final Drives seem little better, with owners who have blown four FD's in under 50k, with 15-20k being a typical miles to destruction figure and a whole host of other electrical failures.

I was liking the look of a shaft drive especially, but when they last no longer than a chain and cost ten times as much I cannot really see the point.

I had heard rumours of poor reliability, but hoping it was legend and not fact, but from what I have read here the GS is made up entirely of cheap Chinese components.

I am very dissapointed and I don't think I will bother with the extended test ride, as I doubt the thing will run for 3 hours without suffering an electrical failure or blowing the FD.

I do like the forum though, and it seems the other models are much better, just not what I am looking for.

I do appreciate the fact that owners report these things to forums, manufacturers have been trying to cut corners at our expense for years, hopefully sites like this will make them realise no amount of staged celebrity tours will create a reputation for reliability when real owners have a place to gather and spread the word.

It is about time word of mouth started making its presence felt again and hopefully put marketing departments out of business, if BMW sacked all the PR people, put the cash back into the quality perhaps the wonderful reputation (of old) they seem to rely on will return - and maybe I would be more inclined to buy the product.

Maybe next time:thumb
 
Rasher said:
I do like the forum though, and it seems the other models are much better, just not what I am looking for.


Maybe next time:thumb
Click to expand...

As I said in the last post... no problems with any of mine ;) but stick around in here no matter what you decide :thumb
 
MrVodka said:
Hello everyone.
I'm new to this forum and to the BMW, as well. At the moment I ride Honda VFR, however last half a year I have been dreaming about BMW R1200GS Adventure. Luckily, my mate has this bike and I was offered a little ride. I am very short person and firstly was very nervous, that I wouldn't be able to touch the ground with my both feet. However, we adjusted suspension of 2007 BMW, put the lowest seat level and the height was not so dramatic for me. At least, I could easily get used to it.
Today I visited local dealer shop in order to test 2010 r1200gsa. To my surprise, guys couldn't adjust suspension suitable for my height. There are only 3 levels of suspension adjustment set electronically: norm, comf, sport. And it turned to be too high for me.
The thing is, that next week I'm leaving my country and plan to stay in Oxford for half a year, at least. I have read, that some short people use lower custom seat =] I would greatly appreciate if someone could demonstrate it and allowed to check how much the seat height is going to be acceptable for me. If it is fine, than I will start examining UK's market. Perhaps new models are less expensive there. By the way, the price in Latvia is 13500 pounds. How much does adventure cost in the UK?
Hope to get any help from you.
Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...

Why get a 1200 GSA? you'll find the 1200 GS with a low seat will probably do the trick, the GSA is already almost 2" taller than the GS ;)
 
Rasher said:
I was looking towards a Tiger for the 17" wheels and familiar engine characteristics, yet two sportsbike freaks (one with an almost identical much modded 14) told me to try a GS, the 14 owner bought one after his ride, so I thought I better just ride the horrible old pig around and rule it out.

The Triumph did what I expected, nice handling, decent engine, better comfort, good around town and reasuringly familiar - a motorcycle as I now them - perfect.

Yet the BM test ride is nagging me, I thought I would like the solid low down stomp and hate the handling, yet I found handling OK, but hated the engine - just flat and gutless feeling, by 5k it is all over, despite it painfully wailing for another 4k - awful...

The Triumph does everything I need, but lacked pillion room and somehow seems a bit cheap and cheerful alongside the BM.
Click to expand...

I had a K1200S for three years before buying a GS to try to slow myself down and keep below instant ban speeds.

I nearly always ride two-up nowadays as my wife is a very enthusiastic pillion, so pillion comfort was very important.

We tried a Tiger 1050 but found the design/build quality to be shoddy, the handling very soggy (albeit we didn't get the opportunity to alter the preload or damping) and the pillion provision very poor - she was sat very high and exposed to the windblast and the heatshield dug into her ankle. Nice engine though and I'm sure it'd be fun solo.

We then tried a GS with standard suspension. This immediately felt much better built than the Tiger and had a feeling of solidity/quality the Tiger lacked. It handled better and was overall a much nicer bike to ride. The engine felt a little bit tame after the K1200S, but then it is lacking 50bhp.

I bought a pre-registered 2009 model with Dynamic & Premium packs with panniers for under £10k and the ESA makes it an even better bike - the sport mode works really well, with the tyres being the limiting factor at the moment. I'm fitting proper road tyres shortly which I'm sure will improve the grip and handling.

I've got to disagree about the engine being all over by 5k though - it only goes into the powerband at 5k with the 2010 model having another kick at 8k (although it only lasts for 500rpm). The 2010 does have more power in the 4-5k rpm range and is a nicer engine overall, generally making overtakes easier and pulling a gear higher everywhere.

At the end of the day though it doesn't have the awesome acceleration of a K1200/1300S, ZZR1400 or litre sportsbike etc. - the only bikes with an upright riding position which get close are the Fazer FZ1S and Ducati Multistrada :thumb
 
Bryn said:
Why get a 1200 GSA? you'll find the 1200 GS with a low seat will probably do the trick, the GSA is already almost 2" taller than the GS ;)
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The only reason going for GSA is a tank range. My VFR has the same and I would like to think about gas stations less frequently :rob
 
MrVodka said:
The only reason going for GSA is a tank range. My VFR has the same and I would like to think about gas stations less frequently :rob
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If you're coming from a VFR, the handling of a standard GS is better than the GSA due to the shorter travel suspension and lower centre of gravity.

The tank range of the standard GS is roughly the same as the VFR VTEC or VFR FiW/FiX, but slightly less than the more fuel efficient VFR FiY/Fi1 :thumb

The only other advantage of the GSA is the screen, but a £130 Givi Airflow is even better :)
 
MrVodka said:
The only reason going for GSA is a tank range. My VFR has the same and I would like to think about gas stations less frequently :rob
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The standard GS goes onto reserve around 150 miles, which is time for a stretch anyway... unless you're off somewhere where fuel is scarce there's no point in carrying that much extra weight and height ;)
 
sven, you want to say, that if I load GS fully, it will be able to run less than my VFR? :confused: 190 miles per tank is too disappointing :augie
But I liked the point regarding useless extra weight and height :comfort I will definitely consider this... Thank you!
 
MrVodka said:
sven, you want to say, that if I load GS fully, it will be able to run less than my VFR? :confused: 190 miles per tank is too disappointing :augie
But I liked the point regarding useless extra weight and height :comfort I will definitely consider this... Thank you!
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In touring mode (80-90 on A-roads), my VFR800FiY had a range of about 200 miles and my VTEC about 180 miles i.e. 50 and 45mpg respectively. However, they both had 21 litre tanks whereas the standard GS has a 19 litre tank.

On our trip to the Alps this summer my GS had a range of about 200-210 miles at 70-80mph, fully loaded with 'er indoors and expanded panniers, but dropped rapidly if cruising at 90 - probably by around 30-40 miles to a tank.

On the plus side the GS is less affected by the weight of a pillion and luggage, particularly if the ESA is set to sport mode. On the downside, it's nowhere near as quick as a VFR at higher speeds despite a similar power output due to the aerodynamics e.g. quick overtakes.
 
Just ridden one again and have to admit I wanted to carry on riding, just like a few of you guys have told me, even on roads the ZZR is "better" suited to I really enjoyed the GS

When I left dealers I had no desire to go anywhere on current steed as the roads were too damp, covered in leaves, too congested, no decent fast bends around etc. etc. etc.

I went for good run on all sorts of roads and found the bike good fun, not as sophisticated as what I am used to, but it is fun everywhere and I still think the front end is OK and coming from a well modded sportsbike I really thought that would be the thing that would put me off.

Engine is OK when you get used to its 4k-6k sweet spot, but if you open the throttle wide enough it zooms towards the redline well enough, I actually like the way it is hard work to get past 100mph, the biggest issue with current bike is the fact it always wants to go faster and even 120 feels slow.

It felt to me the GS was happiest cruising at about 70-80, in fact on open roads I reckon on average I travelled about 20-30mph slower everywhere, and was content, on the ZZR I would be doing 30mph more and frustrated because I would still want to go quicker, yet at the same time already fearing for my licence.

I am glad I took the test ride(s) but you definately need to spend time on the bike, even then it will still feel a bit odd, but I know over time it will become more familiar and be even better.
 
sven said:
In touring mode (80-90 on A-roads), my VFR800FiY had a range of about 200 miles and my VTEC about 180 miles i.e. 50 and 45mpg respectively. However, they both had 21 litre tanks whereas the standard GS has a 19 litre tank.

On our trip to the Alps this summer my GS had a range of about 200-210 miles at 70-80mph, fully loaded with 'er indoors and expanded panniers, but dropped rapidly if cruising at 90 - probably by around 30-40 miles to a tank.

On the plus side the GS is less affected by the weight of a pillion and luggage, particularly if the ESA is set to sport mode. On the downside, it's nowhere near as quick as a VFR at higher speeds despite a similar power output due to the aerodynamics e.g. quick overtakes.
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Very useful information, thanks a lot! GS proves to be extremely efficient according to your records. But how depressing do you find acceleration on GS after VFR? How does your passenger feel at the back - enough comfort? What about wind flow comparing with VFR?
Sorry for so many silly questions :angel
 
MrVodka said:
Very useful information, thanks a lot! GS proves to be extremely efficient according to your records. But how depressing do you find acceleration on GS after VFR? How does your passenger feel at the back - enough comfort? What about wind flow comparing with VFR?
Sorry for so many silly questions :angel
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Having previously owned a '99 VFR from new for a good number of years -

1) I wouldn't describe the GS' acceleration as "depressing" in any sense.

2) Passengering on a GS is a much more pleasurable experience than on a VFR

3) The options for managing the wind protection on the GS are many and varied . The riding position is very different from a VFR so it's difficult to make direct comparisons.

I've only recently found the GS lacking in comparison with a VFR on one occasion. I was following a VTec riding friend along a fine piece of fast, sweeping Scottish tarmac at a steady 110 mph and I could have done with a bit more in the way of top-end acceleration and even with the ESA set on 1+ luggage / Sport, the bike would begin to heave up on its suspension on the transition from right to left lean at 100 mph+

On the other hand, I've much preferred all three of my recent GSes to the VFR for the kind of twisty, bumpy B roads and unclassifieds that I prefer to ride. So much so that although I kept the VFR which I'd modified and in which I had quite a lot of money invested well into ownership of my second GS, it rarely moved out of the garage after I'd acquired my first GS.
 
Thanks a lot for such a detailed answer.
Firstly, I am very curious to try GSA with aftermarket lower seat (if I am able to find anyone with such seat) and then go for GS for comparison.
Would appreciate if someone with custom seat could help me :aidan
Thanks everyone! :thumb2
 
MrVodka said:
Thanks a lot for such a detailed answer.
Firstly, I am very curious to try GSA with aftermarket lower seat (if I am able to find anyone with such seat) and then go for GS for comparison.
Would appreciate if someone with custom seat could help me :aidan
Thanks everyone! :thumb2
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Got a Sargent low seat on my 2008 GSA and now consider it to be near a perfect bike for a medium size fart "5.10 1/2" like me.
I just love the rhythmic mechanical noises that emanate from the boxer: Is it about to fall apart? No. that's the way they all sound. Plus it goes a bit when you twist the warp control ..............................
 
casperfelix said:
Got a Sargent low seat on my 2008 GSA and now consider it to be near a perfect bike for a medium size fart "5.10 1/2" like me.
I just love the rhythmic mechanical noises that emanate from the boxer: Is it about to fall apart? No. that's the way they all sound. Plus it goes a bit when you twist the warp control ..............................
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If I do not find anyone nearer, I will ride to you, casperfelix, if you don't mind, of course :augie:aidan
 
oldrascal said:
Yup, that's right, if you have never ridden a GS before, whatever happens, do NOT test ride a GS.

Now I know that this advice goes totally contrary to what fellow Tossers advise and, for that matter, goes against common sense as well. I mean what sort of blithering idiot buys a bloody expensive bit of kit like a GS without first reassuring themselves that they like and enjoy the experience.

Well this blithering idiot for one. Here is why.

I have ridden motorbikes for over 30 years, each one getting faster, lairier and more manic than the last...........actually, the last was a 2008 GTX1300Hayabusa..........more manic than that wee beastie is hard to find, I am sure you all agree.

But creeping senility, arthritis and general can't-be-fagged to scream around the national road system made me consider changing. :rob

Now like everyone, I saw and enjoyed Euan and Charlie's escapades and it got me a thinkin' and a wonderin'.

So I sloped off to have a look around a new GSA at the dealership and liked what I saw. I also have to admit to being well suited to the GSA in particular because I am 6ft 3in and have a 34in inside leg. But there is no question that anyone can ride a GS if not the GSA, even if your femur is on the stunted side. :augie

Of course the dealer offered me a test ride and I turned it down. You see I knew that I was not going to enjoy the experience comong from the sports bike world. The two worlds are just totally different, so much so that you have to use other criteria when judging whether or not to buy.

There was no way that I could appreciate the subtleties the GS experience without days of hands-on riding, and there was no way that was on offer from the dealer.

So it became an intellectual excercise and the choice was made.

And I am just so delighted that I took my own advice because when I picked up the GSA and rode it the 40 miles back home, I just disliked it and the whole experience left me cold. How could I compare this strange sit-up-and-beg riding experience and the asthmatic engine with the Hayabuse and still say that I had made the right choice.

Well one month later and I am besotted with the bloody thing. I consistently ride on routes that used to take me longer on the Suzuki and I am relaxed, comfortable and HAVING FUN. I don't need to dress like a power-ranger and nobody cares if I just bimble along enjoying the MP3 tunes being piped to my helmet.

Yup, as I said, whatever you do, DON'T TEST RIDE A GS. Just go for it.......you will never regret it for one minute and will revel in its versatility and sheer fun. :JB
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done 40.000 km on my gs but it never had the bicke feeling more a goldwing thing but allways brought a smile to my face just not erotik to look at then when the hp2 come aut with supermoto wheels I new I had found heaven I try to keep my miles down on her only on the winedydest roandes and trailer her on hollidays but still had to macke some magure modes my self ie! Brackes
done 30.000 km and wouldent sell her only if I could buy 2 more for the money :Motomartin:thumb
 
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