I used to hang out a fair bit on this forum, adv-rider and horizons unLtd and I still occasionally pop in for a quick browse, mainly at the airhead section having had a 1200 that was such a disappointment it put me off GS's for years.
I've been lucky enough to have done quite a few big bike trips on KTMs and a fantastic 1150 (still miss that one), Alaska to Ushuaia, lots of desert raids across north Africa, and just before the kids came along Amsterdam to HK. But I've been track obsessed with various sports bikes for the last few years...
Until I pulled up at the lights on the Old Kent Road about a year and a half ago and saw the bike that first inspired me on my motorcycle adventures when I was still at Uni... A great looking white and blue GS Basic.
Poor fella thought I was nuts as I attempted to tell him I loved his bike but he pulled over anyway and we ended up having a good old chat. Now I remember listening in awe to some of riders that used to hang out at Brackens, with their tales of the Paris-Dakar race and other RTW and off-road adventures and I've always had a massive hankering for a Basic since seeing the imports there, but could never afford one at the time, they came with big price tags even then!!
( a side note anyone remember that boxer racer they had? Know what happened to it? The figures I seem to recall were on a par with what Gary Moorespeed crafts from his motors...)
It turns out the fella had bought Bracken's last one and he's been riding it ever since, having had all sorts of other bikes but never part ex-ing the Basic... nicest bike hes ever had he reckoned...
Well I'd been keeping half an eye open for one for a number of years, but seeing one in the flesh again got me lusting in that awful way some bikes do... they gnaw away at you... OK OK I know that some of the grumpier old folks on here ( I see not much has changed since I used to come to ukgser
) will point out that on paper the basic isn't much different from a standard 80 but that's not the point and it seems the crazy prices reflect that.
Any way after a lot of research I found a very interesting chap in Berlin who had 3! and after a bit of negotiation I struck a very good deal!. I bought a cheap flight out to the Motherland, got picked up at the airport and then headed straight to the BMW Spandau Motorwerks. The guy had worked there since the late 80's and had been one of the managers on the final GS Basic production line... I learned they were highly rated by the engineers that assembled them, with a large percentage being bought by BMW employees, who viewed them as the finest air-cooled gs they had produced... I mentioned the oft repeated idea that they were just using up the last of the airhead bits but was surprised when he said actually the opposite was true and that a lot of the stock of parts were too depleted. This meant that new and improved tooling was required in an already busy factory that was now geared to the newer injection models.
Many of the designers/engineers had not welcomed the loss of simplicity moving away from carbs to injection... although I must admit I find balancing the carbs a bit of a pain to be honest...
It seems that the Germans and most other european GS fans view this bike with a huge amount of reverence and the prices you see on sites like mobile.de are an indication of that romanticism...
I know they were never officially available here in the UK so I guess we missed the hype, but it turns out it wasn't all a cynical marketing ploy as there was a very strong demand for a final air-cooled GS.
I learned that only the most experienced mechanics worked on the Basic production line, indeed many of them wanted to be a part of the final limited run... I met few of them later over a couple of beers and it was great to hear them still talk with a very real fondness about that last air-cooled motor, the simple elegance of the steel frame and the racing heritage that final basic represents.
I asked why the decision had been made to make it an 800 and not a 1000 motor and the unanimous answer I got was its the smoothest air-cooled boxer they ever made - any power advantage was negligible - I've ridden a couple of GS 1000's over the years and would have to personally agree. Anyone who's ridden one knows it would be hard to accuse even a 1000cc air-head of being a quick bike by todays standards. The only regret that they agreed upon was the front brake (or lack of), apparently there had been talk of upgrading it but for whatever reason they stuck with the single sided caliper... Perhaps I'll upgrade or I might just have to get used to it... It really is the bikes single bad point I think.
To cut a long story sideways - I feel I got very lucky, I struck up a friendship with a very interesting chap that had a hand in building the very fine motorcycle that I'm now proud to own. I caught him at a time when he was downsizing... his kids having left home and he had several bikes that needed to go. He has been involved in the development of the s1000rr, two of them in the garage had quite unusual braking and exhaust setups as well as the most interesting data-logging gear I've ever seen??
His son loves cars apparently and wasn't interested in the gs... so hes keeping his other TWO minters... hell of an investment at current prices and he was more interested in someone with a genuine appreciation of the bike than making money from it. The fact I flew out from London helped I think.
I had a fantastic blast back home and felt glad I'd made the effort. I have finally scratched that particular bike itch and couldn't be happier!
While I wont be selling the current sports bikes anytime soon I reckon they'll be traded up to quicker models before the GS basic is... even my two girls love it! I'd like to think that in a few years I'll take them on some little camping adventures on this lovely bike.
Forgive my long winded post but its been a while... and I "basically" wanted to say that now Ive got a GS again I hope to bump into some of you on a ukgser trip soon...
Now if only I can remember just what it takes to get images uploaded round here