The night before last was a company party whilst I was in Linkoping, Sweden. It finished at 03:00am, but I had good reason to stay sober as good friend Magnus had offered me a ride on his new GS1200R; as we're of similar stature - and in the event his riding kit fitted pretty well perfectly - I took him up on the offer yesterday morning.
What a bonkers good fun bike for such an ugly brute!
With a shortish inside leg similar to my 28" he's had the seat lowered, but even so I was on absolute tiptoes when stationary with both feet down. Start up, and the characteristinc BMW flat twin wobble mildly oscillates the bike. Tweak in the brake lever and the servo pump spins up to speed; yes servo assisted brakes, and I loved them though thankfully didn't have reason to sample the ABS. Light (one finger) but with stacks of feedback and feel. Pull in clutch, depress gear lever, and first gear engages with a ker-lunk. Arms reached out to wide, wide, bars, clutch engaging at tickover, and the bike trundles off without revs dropping a jot. Immediately (and I mean immediately!) the huge bulk and considerable weight is shed like a cloak. Just incredible; the whole bike is instantly fleet of foot and oh-so composed.
A couple of hundred yard later, trundle up to a T-junction, brain remembering to stay on the right side of the road post-junction. Down to first gear, roll to an aaaaaaalmost complete halt, wobble-free with feet up and sitting upright feeling like a copper, check all is clear from the lofty perch, then roll on. Remember I only have that couple of hundred yards worth of machine familiarity at this point and yet it felt so natural; so damned easy, so damned stable, and yet the same bike was to eat up the curves with abandon just a few minutes later. I enjoy exactly the same paradoxical benefits with my Hornet (superb low speed stability and fantastic curve carving agility), but impressive to find them so quickly on such a physically large machine. I also soon learned that twist the throttle a decent amount and the pickup from tickover is like being hit from behind; pup-pup-pup-pup-brrrr-AAAAAAAAH! Wheelies would be an on-demand affair devoid of inducement by clutch trickery if so required.
Friend Magnus had mapped out a route for me that took in main roads largely devoid of traffic and sweeping minor roads that cut through the Linkoping Kommun countryside. On one hand the riding position and engine torque made zap zap overtaking a no nonsense doddle; gear changes were rarely required and squeeze-release gave a great glob of acceleration followed by strong engine braking. On the other hand, this engine torque together with the wide bars made tipping the bike on it's ear, surfing through a corner, and lunging out the other side a breeze. The bars are so wide that as well as giving great leverage, with my 5'10 frame, counter steering naturally helped twist half a cheek off the inside of the seat, aiding the fantastic manner with which the bike ate up the sweepies. With corner after corner unfolding in front to learn on, perfect visibility, and good Swedish blacktop, never has a bike been so easy to master. I was actually laughing I was enjoying it so much.
The Telelever front suspension felt odd when braking hardish for the first time as the bike was devoid of pitch, but soon felt natural, and ended up feeling "why don't all bikes have such effective anti-dive?". The rear suspension on my Hornet is however more compliant over choppy bumps especially under power; the GS felt a little over-stiff and with excessive rebound control but then I only weigh 76Kg and the bike wasn't carrying any heavy luggage such as it would on a touring holiday.
The only thing I found lacking was a nice top-end rush, instead getting a flat delivery that didn't reward revs. If the bike could banish the occasional flat twin vibes and combine its unreal bottom and mid range torque with the higher rev poke of something like a Duke 999 (let alone the unfair comparison with the horizon grabbing rush I enjoy from a sports four) it would be pretty well the perfect bike.
As documented in the TTFN thread, I had a cracking four days holiday in Scotland on the Hornet last week (mostly rain but what a blast) in the company of six friends; I would love to repeat it on a GS.
Links to two photos, one of which is a library shot to give an idea of the imposing height of the machine for those unfamiliar with what it is:
tinyurl.com/preview.php?num=nrlw4
The grin is post-ride.
Sorry for the large size; I chose "standard" which normally resizes, but it didn't in this case.
www.bmwmotos.com/galeria/bmw/albums/gali/brh.sized...g
To sum up:
PU - I can see why you love yours! :-)
Look past the ugliness of the front end and one of the world's best road going motorcycles is to be found.
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Nice test, articulated my thoughts about my GS. Brilliant bike, moves the game along.
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Always wanted one, never been able to afford one. Excellent review and photos. Thx
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Thanks for the kind compliments, guys.
I'm still grinning more than 24 hours later, and if the twins weren't about to drop any week soon I'd now be on my way to the local BMW bike dealer.
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>>The only thing I found lacking was a nice top-end rush, instead getting a flat delivery that didn't reward revs. If the bike could banish the occasional flat twin vibes and combine its unreal bottom and mid range torque with the higher rev poke of something like a Duke 999 (let alone the unfair comparison with the horizon grabbing rush I enjoy from a sports four) it would be pretty well the perfect bike.>>
You should try a larger capacity and perhaps less highly strung four, my ZRX1100 has stonking torque from as low as 2000 rpm as well as a nice rush at the top end, however I am a great fan of the 600's, and the Hornet inparticular, because they are exciting to ride and because they have less inherrant torque they always seem to build to nice rush at the top end.
In fact I was after a Hornet 600 when I was looking at selling my ZX7R-P7 however I took the ZRX in part-ex and have kept it, great fun!
I rode a 3 year old R1150GS recently, albeit briefly, and did not like the vibes or the servo brakes lack of feel however it was very stable. Interestingly BMW have dropped the servo brakes on the R1150R replacement the R1200R.
Great review!
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>>> similar to my 28" >>>
Heavens above SjB, puts my 11" to shame.
Wear baggy trousers when we meet for that beer won't you.
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thats 51/2 inches per chick then dave
------------------------------
TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Like regular blokes then
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I had a shick when I read the title of this thread, I've driven a Lexus GS430 and thought that they couldn't possibly need a 1200 varient.
--
I read often, only post occasionally
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If you had any idea how much I'm resisting joining in this thread, you'd either be very impressed or deeply disgusted with me.
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To get the thread back onto bikes again - LOL - I also had a test ride on the GS1200 a few weeks ago at the local BMW dealer.
I have a 1994 GS1100 at present, it is a totally competent bike but with only 80bhp is a bit lacking in excitement compared with my 120bhp TL1000 Suzuki.
The GS1200 was a good improvement with 100bhp on tap, together with the great torque of the flat twin.
I didn't find any problem with the brakes and with the massive engine braking available they were rarely needed. With ABS to back them up there's no chance of a lock-up to set the heart fluttering.
I also tried the relatively new K1200R on the same day - well I have to say that is an awsome machine.
162 bhp & as smooth as a babys bum. The power delivery is just unbelivable, & when the rev counter passes the 8k mark it kickes you in the pants again up past 11k.
The front end is based on the same principle as the GS but probably better designed to reduce unsprung weight & of course just as reassuringly stable.
As SjB says, why other bike manufacturers havn't taken up on the BM's front end design I just can't understand.
Although i'd very much like one, i'm not sure my currently clean licence would stay that way for long.
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>>> Wear baggy trousers when we meet for that beer won't you.
LOL! ;-)
Yeah!
I promise!
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