My Brief Ride: R1200GS

[Electrical_Tech]

Ok, so I know it's not a *sport* bike, but it's not a dirt bike or a cruiser either, so meh ..

Sunday June 12, I was supposed to get to ride the '11 K1300S, but due to organizational issues with the ride, I ended up missing my ride time.

When I booked for the ride it was the *last* ride of the day at 330pm. I got a call on friday confirming me for sunday at 230-300pm, so I query the fact and they say call back saturday. Couldn't get anyone saturday so I called sunday and inquired about the last ride. It's been rescheduled to 4pm. Groovey.

So I land there at 3:30 in plenty of time only to find out that WHOA I was on the 330 ride afterall and the K1300S wasn't available for the 4pm.

So I elected to go on the R1200GS instead, which turned out nicely as it was something completely different from my ZZR, not simply a more powerful version.

The first thing that struck me was the way that revving the engine tips the bike side to side. That freaked me out a little at first as it was totally unexpected. Once I knew what it did, no big deal.

Being a big twin I was expecting to be shaken to peices, but remarkably this thing was far smoother than my ZZR's 4. Next to zero vibration.

The brakes were super touchy and powerful. And we were warned about that, so light fingers all round.

Seating position was very comfortable and neutral. It felt like a bike you could hop on and ride all day without becoming tired.

Manouvering was very different and weaving wasn't nearly as fun as the ZZR and you could really feel the weight of the bike.

The application of power was kind of bland, but always present. Even in 6th lugging at low speed the bike had no issues picking up its speed. Lofting the front wheel in 2nd was as easy as rolling the throttle.

I'm not a fan of the turn signal arrangment though. The two paddles left and right plus another button for cancelling was counterintuitive for me being used to the all-in-one button and once ended up tweaking the throttle while making a turn trying to cancel the damn signal LOL .. next time I'm just using hand signals!!

The short of it:

Not a bike I want at present. It's not enough fun for the type of riding I like most. For all that I was glad for the opportunity to ride it. Next year I'm going the whole day and riding whatever I can.

[blurr]

The first thing that struck me was the way that revving the engine tips the bike side to side. That freaked me out a little at first as it was totally unexpected. Once I knew what it did, no big deal.

Wuss

[Electrical_Tech]

[PhilB]

Those mega-adventure bikes are way too tall and heavy for my comfort, but they are highly capable for those people who physically fit them.

Originally Posted by Electrical_Tech

... The first thing that struck me was the way that revving the engine tips the bike side to side. That freaked me out a little at first as it was totally unexpected. Once I knew what it did, no big deal.

Any bike with a longitudinal crankshaft does that. BMW R- and older K- series, MotoGuzzis, Gold Wings and Honda STs, etc.

Originally Posted by Electrical_Tech

... Being a big twin I was expecting to be shaken to peices, but remarkably this thing was far smoother than my ZZR's 4. Next to zero vibration.

The flat twin is inherently very well balanced, in exactly the same way that a 45º cruiser V-twin is NOT. That's exactly why BMW has always used that configuration.

Originally Posted by Electrical_Tech

... I'm not a fan of the turn signal arrangment though. The two paddles left and right plus another button for cancelling was counterintuitive for me being used to the all-in-one button and once ended up tweaking the throttle while making a turn trying to cancel the damn signal LOL .. next time I'm just using hand signals!!

I always find these sorts of comments a bit funny. Even the pro magazine reviews will talk about the difficulty of odd control setups. But this matters zero to an actual buyer, since if you buy a bike, you will get used to where the controls are pretty quickly and it won't be a problem. No one should worry about that for a bike they would own.

Originally Posted by Electrical_Tech

... Next year I'm going the whole day and riding whatever I can.

That's the way to do it. I usually block out the day for one of these and try out 3 or 4 bikes.

PhilB

[Electrical_Tech]

I think I will still just use hand signals LOL.

The bike I was on had the factory lowered seat, and even then I was barely balls of my feet sitting on it.

As I said, very comfy bike for riding, but also very vanila.

[Alawicious]

I wish they had test rides around here

Good write up Et

[Electrical_Tech]

It's the first ride days I knew of around here too. Primarily I think because it's a new dealership for BMW. Considering how smooth the R1200 was, I'm really looking forward to try the K1600GT/GTL next year .. 6cyl FTMFW!!!!

[Alawicious]

6 cylinder bikes??!!

[Electrical_Tech]

tr00f!!

Only 160hp, but I can just imagine to torque it makes

[Alawicious]

And how