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Well, after struggling to keep up with Thumper and Ol on their big Beemers at the IoM and recent Ludlow ride-outs, I blagged a full day test ride on the newish R1200GS from those nice folk at Motorrad Gloucester.
It was the lowered version, though not with the low seat (no gap between rider & pillion seats), so it felt good when stationary: not quite heels on the ground but much better than the tiptoeing of the F800GS. Pulled off quite smoothly into the Saturday traffic then blatted back home to collect my co-tester, Debs, from the Forest.
Made it down the drive with no problem
We took the A-road route to Ludlow, via Hereford and Leominster, browsed the shops and enjoyed a salad before taking the scenic B-roads back to Gloucester via Tenbury Wells, Bromyard and Ledbury. I try to keep off motorways nowadays and the M5 was closed anyway, so didn’t do any v. high speed stuff.
Impressions?
Well, it doesn’t seem big when on the move – it corners as if on rails and has enough power to nearly lose Debs off the back during one overtaking move. The wind protection is excellent and has good adjustment; the gusty wind didn’t move the big BM at all, giving a really secure feeling whatever the road type.
The mode & suspension settings were default: Road & Normal. I could have experimented more, but was trying to get to grips with the transmission so left them out of the equation.That takes me to my major gripe was with this GS: the transmission.
The gear shift is tucked away so tidily that I kept missing the gear change – even occasionally on the last leg of the ride: so the ergonomics are not perfect.
And I found the gear selection to be the clunkiest I’ve ever used – including my old 3TA and A10. At low speed it was really noticeable and although I thought I’d got it sorted at speed, matching revs perfectly, Debs still said she still registered every gear change.The riding position is a bit feet-backwards – neither of us felt comfortable after an hour: I found it a bit gonad-centric to be honest and Debs requested rest-breaks for the first time since we got back into riding. The suspension soaked up the big holes really well but conversely felt too hard for the surface pitting: where the top layer of tarmac had bobbled every tiny lump could be felt. At one point we rode over a 10p coin and I could tell it was ‘heads’….
The instruments are full of good information, though the speedo and rev counter numbers are very small. The brakes were adequate, though the rear had quite a long travel before biting.
Debs found the bike underwhelming, describing it as ‘ugly and anodyne’. When quizzed, she agreed that she had enjoyed riding pillion on Thumpers GS so we thought that his suspension was probably set up better and as he rides faster than me there would have been more ‘thrill factor’ under cornering. But I think that riding pillion on Jed’s Trumpet cruiser has turned her head and made her a Triumph girl.
Getting back on the TDM reinforced some of our impressions of the Beemer: the Yam is much lighter in traffic (obviously), sounds better (thanks to Beowulf) and although not perfect, the transmission felt much, much smoother. Debs said she preferred the cornering on the Yam but I worked out that the BMW corners so easily that I had to make absolutely no effort: just point it and round it goes. With the TDM I have to move around, hanging legs and bum off the side to drag it round the bends: much harder work but more exercise for me and much more involving for my thrill-hungry pillion! And I missed the extra horses when cracking open the throttle…. those extra 300cc do make a difference.
Conclusion:
Great handling, excellent macro-suspension, full range of electronic rider modes with a punchy engine allied to superb wind protection and stability – I can see why the 1200GS is so popular.There’s no way they all have such a clunky gear-box: they couldn’t be so liked with that amount of mechanical tomb-stoning. So I think the bike I rode was particularly bad – though I’m possibly not the smoothest operator it made my Yam feel silky by comparison.
And I’m sure the suspension could have been set up much better to cope with the micro-surface of our flaky rural lanes.
Disclaimer: this is just my personal impression of the most popular bike ever (bar the C90!) and should not be taken seriously by Beemer defenders!
I look forward to trying the Explorer in due course….. Got some Triumph-lovers to wind up!
Interesting stuff. In fairness I have found the comfort levels good on the couple of GS1200s that I have ridden. Maybe you needed to play with that adjustable suspension a bit more. However that gearbox doesn’t sound great at all
Weird you mention the footrests being a bit too far back, I noticed one recently where the rider looked like he had fitted rearsets. Thought it was just a one-off.
Shame about the gearchange and suspension too.
At one point we rode over a 10p coin and I could tell it was ‘heads’….
Hilarious!
At one point we rode over a 10p coin and I could tell it was ‘heads’….
Hilarious!
But what year was it issued??
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