Never say "never" but is the 1250 my last proper bike?

The process of age that we all face.I just got the new 1250 gs te a few weeks ago and stuck around 1500 miles on it with ease,however tinged with much sadness and joy.I got rid of my "Yamaha fjr 1300" after my wife got off and said that was her last ride!! a knee replacement and an other one likely in the other is taking it's toll.She says that "walking" is more important now rather than struggling on a "ride out" with pain,discomfort and the struggle to get on and off.We have ridden 1000's of miles together all over Europe and even "ran off" over 20 years ago to marry at "Gretna Green" on our PAN EURO ST 1100...........magical honeymoon (a month riding round Spain/France). I know i can't ride forever!! so i also have a "ROYAL ENFIELD 500 PEGASUS EDITION" which is a great bike for a sunny /blue sky day.Today is such a day,so i'm off for a a spin...........like going for a walk but a little faster. Stay safe.
 
I was thinking my GS would be my last big bike. My previous K1200RS has (and still does) given me 20 years of service. In 20 years its doubtful bikes like this will exist anyways...they'll probably be electric or hydrogen powered!
 
MartinK said:
I was thinking my GS would be my last big bike. My previous K1200RS has (and still does) given me 20 years of service. In 20 years its doubtful bikes like this will exist anyways...they'll probably be electric or hydrogen powered!
Click to expand...

... and self balancing and auto-driven
 
firemanphil said:
The process of age that we all face.I just got the new 1250 gs te a few weeks ago and stuck around 1500 miles on it with ease,however tinged with much sadness and joy.I got rid of my "Yamaha fjr 1300" after my wife got off and said that was her last ride!! a knee replacement and an other one likely in the other is taking it's toll.She says that "walking" is more important now rather than struggling on a "ride out" with pain,discomfort and the struggle to get on and off.We have ridden 1000's of miles together all over Europe and even "ran off" over 20 years ago to marry at "Gretna Green" on our PAN EURO ST 1100...........magical honeymoon (a month riding round Spain/France). I know i can't ride forever!! so i also have a "ROYAL ENFIELD 500 PEGASUS EDITION" which is a great bike for a sunny /blue sky day.Today is such a day,so i'm off for a a spin...........like going for a walk but a little faster. Stay safe.
Click to expand...

Gulp... thats sad.. my wife also goes a lot of places with me... cant think of the day we have to give up!
:thumb2
 
I'm having almost the same thoughts. Just gone 70 in March and had a couple of thousand miles over to Austria and Italy in June on the RT. That's now going up for sale and I've just got a Rallye TE which fits me better and is a little bit lighter.
I'm going to keep going as long as I can with as many trips to Europe as possible even though I'll now be going solo.
Never let the bastard's get you down, keep calm and keep riding!

Sent from my ONEPLUS 6 using Tapatalk
 
It I bought a 1250 Rallye with the same thoughts. It will be my last, what I would call, big bike. As a result it was built as a keeper with a lot of mods before I collected it.

I’ve turned it into a GS Supermoto with 17” RT wheels and top spec sports tyres. Had a lot of the bike painted to make the bike look like it should have when it left the factory.

The Rallye seat is getting rescultured and an air pad fitted inside. It’s now got a full decatted exhaust system and has just been Hilltopped. However the icing on the cake is manual suspension via Ohlins TTX. The handling is superb and now, due to the exhaust & remap, so is the performance.

I’ve had loads of lovely new, fast, sports, comfy, touring, supermoto and adventure bikes but nothing better than my new 1250. Dread the day it becomes too much for me to handle!!
 
It will probably be my last bike but probably due to me not being able to afford one when I take early retirement in a few years.I have a good pension but it's not enough to keep this hobby going.I hate to say it but having a car will become more of a priority.Now that will be a sad day!
 
just love that ... just needs some little white stars sticking down the tank (as tank protectors of course)
 
I think I'm on my last big bike because I cannot find how to zero the Trips on this new 1250 TE.

Two fill-ups and would love to zero the trips! Help me please. :confused:
 
Tyzer said:
It will probably be my last bike but probably due to me not being able to afford one when I take early retirement in a few years.I have a good pension but it's not enough to keep this hobby going.I hate to say it but having a car will become more of a priority.Now that will be a sad day!
Click to expand...

get an old air head RT... will last you for ever and cost nowt :)
 
My 1250 GSA is the best of all the Gs/GSA’s I’ve owned . I know I’m bound to say that but it is, the next one I buy will probably be Electric so I will most likely keep it until I am too old to manhandle it around the garage . Love it
 
Oh dear,Sounds as though we are all mostly getting old but I'm only 52.I went for the low gs1250a Exclusive but its still a big bike loaded up with luggage and the mrs.Hope I can manage with it for a few good years before I think of changing to something smaller.
 
I'm the same age as you Doc and after going out 2-up yesterday on the GSA (first time my wife has ridden pillion on the GSA) I am definitely going to go for a tailored low seat. Fine one up, but when the suspension is set for two people, it's no fun on tippy toes trying to balance the darned thing with only a 31 inch inside leg measurement!
 
Morety said:
I'm the same age as you Doc and after going out 2-up yesterday on the GSA (first time my wife has ridden pillion on the GSA) I am definitely going to go for a tailored low seat. Fine one up, but when the suspension is set for two people, it's no fun on tippy toes trying to balance the darned thing with only a 31 inch inside leg measurement!
Click to expand...
Try it with 28" inside leg,:eek::augie:green gri:D
 
harry said:
I think I'm on my last big bike because I cannot find how to zero the Trips on this new 1250 TE.

Two fill-ups and would love to zero the trips! Help me please. :confused:
Click to expand...

you need to go into the menu and scroll "sideways" until you hit the trip page.it's after the bike picture info. a pain the a**e...............there must be another way or is there?
 
Morety said:
I'm the same age as you Doc and after going out 2-up yesterday on the GSA (first time my wife has ridden pillion on the GSA) I am definitely going to go for a tailored low seat. Fine one up, but when the suspension is set for two people, it's no fun on tippy toes trying to balance the darned thing with only a 31 inch inside leg measurement!
Click to expand...

Does your bike have the latest ESA with auto preload adjustment? If so, there is an issue if you are riding with a pillion because it puts on more preload to keep the bike level with the extra load, which is fine while riding, but if you stop and the pillion gets off, the bike rises due to the reduced load and this makes moving it about to park or whatever a bit difficult.

The reason for this is that when the load on the bike changes it does not adjust the preload immediately, but only when you have ridden a certain distance with the new load. You could of course set it to MIN once stopped which will drop the bike down, and then change to AUTO again when setting off, though as mentioned the adjustment won't happen immediately. This can be a problem when setting off again, due to the preload for the pillion only being applied once underway, giving excessive sag initially.

This can be a problem even when staying in AUTO mode if you last rode the bike solo, as I have found that if I then go out next time with a pillion the bike initially sags with the extra load to the extent that the side stand can be trapped and impossible to retract with the pillion on board, with the reason being that the extra preload for the pillion weight only gets applied after you start riding.
 
I don't honestly know Fred but suspect not. My bike is a 2016 (not later Euro4 "2017" model) GSA with dynamic ESA. Adjustments are fixed I think rather than adaptive, controlled by pushing and holding the suspension setting button on the left cluster (single rider, single plus luggage, rider plus pillion, ride plus pillion plus luggage). I weigh 14 stone, my wife about 8.5 stones. When riding solo, I find it fine with just the solo setting even with some load aboard such as top box crammed with stuff. I find with the pillion setting, you get increased ride height but it feels under-damped in "normal" mode and I have to use the hard setting for best control in the twisties.
 
Morety said:
I don't honestly know Fred but suspect not. My bike is a 2016 (not later Euro4 "2017" model) GSA with dynamic ESA. Adjustments are fixed I think rather than adaptive, controlled by pushing and holding the suspension setting button on the left cluster (single rider, single plus luggage, rider plus pillion, ride plus pillion plus luggage). I weigh 14 stone, my wife about 8.5 stones. When riding solo, I find it fine with just the solo setting even with some load aboard such as top box crammed with stuff. I find with the pillion setting, you get increased ride height but it feels under-damped in "normal" mode and I have to use the hard setting for best control in the twisties.
Click to expand...

From what you say you definitely don't have auto preload adjustment, so please ignore what I said before!

I can see how you may find the bike rides a bit too high on the rider + pillion setting as your wife is fairly light, so may not meet BMW's average pillion weight assumption. That's the problem with the old system, the three settings are based on BMW's idea of what the average rider, pillion and luggage weights are, so the amount of preload applied is not going to be exactly right in many cases. This is where the new system is an improvement because it effectively measures the load on the bike and sets the preload to exactly the right amount for that actual load, and also uses this information to fine tune the damping for the load too.
 
So, what we've learnt here is if you're an old fart, buy a GS? :p:D:JB
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

After a testride I think the 1250 is still better than the 1300GS
Replies
8
Views
554
Boxerlust
batman1
1250 Hella Socket.
Replies
8
Views
548
batman1
batman1
New 1250 GSA
2
Replies
29
Views
1,805
Ash700
Ash700
Buying a new 1250 TE
2 3 4
Replies
77
Views
4,627
GSMarky
1250 Rear Shock Refurb?
Replies
4
Views
285
phantomrider


Back
Top Bottom