RE: PH2 Ridden: BMW R1200GS Adventure
Discussion
I have had my GS adventure for nearly a year now and love it. It is by far the best bike I have ever owned. I have had all manor of bikes including a normal GS1200 and still think its fantastic.
I took it to the Isle of Man last week and after leaving a few sports bikes behind on the circuit turned a few heads. Okay straight line speed is never going to beat much but clipped the stand a few times...
Then when bored of the road you take it off road....
I took it to the Isle of Man last week and after leaving a few sports bikes behind on the circuit turned a few heads. Okay straight line speed is never going to beat much but clipped the stand a few times...
Then when bored of the road you take it off road....
Tuscan Rat said:
Then when bored of the road you take it off road....
Nice pictures and as I said, I do like the GS, but "off road", really? Some sand and a couple of puddles? 
That looks like a regular drive, the SLK wouldn't struggle, hell I'd even take a CBR there.Anyway, nice that you enjoy your bike, but the pictures you show are deffo not showing me that the bike can do anything that any other bike couldn't.
ZesPak said:
"off road", really? Some sand and a couple of puddles? That looks like a regular drive, the SLK wouldn't struggle, hell I'd even take a CBR there.
Sadly the pictures don't do the offroad bit much justice. It was not hardcore off road but is was enough to get the bike airbourne a few times. As for the beach shot would like to see the CBR get through the soft sand to ride out to the water !!! That looks like a regular drive, the SLK wouldn't struggle, hell I'd even take a CBR there.Tuscan Rat said:
As for the beach shot would like to see the CBR get through the soft sand to ride out to the water !!!
CBR would be lighter, given the GS is wearing road tyres I'd put money on the Honda following it anywhere that ground clearance isn't an issue...Until you put the side stand down, is that a Camel Toe I spy??
Tuscan Rat said:
Sadly the pictures don't do the offroad bit much justice. It was not hardcore off road but is was enough to get the bike airbourne a few times. As for the beach shot would like to see the CBR get through the soft sand to ride out to the water !!!
Your tyres are road tyres, your bike is heavy. Why would a CBR be any worse than your bike on soft sand? A CBR is also designed to jump.Kawasicki said:
Tuscan Rat said:
Sadly the pictures don't do the offroad bit much justice. It was not hardcore off road but is was enough to get the bike airbourne a few times. As for the beach shot would like to see the CBR get through the soft sand to ride out to the water !!!
Your tyres are road tyres, your bike is heavy. Why would a CBR be any worse than your bike on soft sand? A CBR is also designed to jump.Why would a CBR not get through the sand on similar tyres? If anything, it'll actually do better being lighter.
That said, it's good that you enjoy your bike, it's just disillusional to think that a CBR wouldn't follow you there. "real" off road bycicles have two big merits: light weight and high ground clearance (tyres can be put on any bike, switchable TC/ABS as well). The GS only has the ground clearance. If you don't use that "off road", any bike that is as heavy or lighter than yours will be able to follow you.
Presumably wider bars mean it's easier to ride on a rough surface as you've got more leverage to stop the steering moving about? Certainly the 848 I followed over some cobbles yesterday seemed to be wobbling about a bit while my TDM felt perfectly stable.
Trials/offroad riders spend a lot of time standing up to keep the weight on the pegs rather than the seat, does this make a big difference to ballance and how easy is it to ride a CBR600 standing up?
Trials/offroad riders spend a lot of time standing up to keep the weight on the pegs rather than the seat, does this make a big difference to ballance and how easy is it to ride a CBR600 standing up?
As above, I don't see anything a sports bike would do.
Bet the R1 I pictured above that had knobbly tyres would do a hell of a lot better, especially front end grip in the sand.
Snow is generally a fair bit worse than sand:
I took the KTM out later that evening and it certainly handled it better - but that I'd say was purely down to it having semi-trail tyres at 8psi or so (tubless system.)
It is a lot easier to stand up on a bike designed for dirt stuff, though I'll often find that even stock the bars are a bit too low.
Standing up can make a decent difference in control, as you're effectively giving the bike a second set of suspension - you can let the bike move under you, meaning the bike's suspension have a lot less work to do.
Wide bars do give you better control - but a lot of time it's not really an issue until you get to fast flowing single track in woods.
Bet the R1 I pictured above that had knobbly tyres would do a hell of a lot better, especially front end grip in the sand.
Snow is generally a fair bit worse than sand:
I took the KTM out later that evening and it certainly handled it better - but that I'd say was purely down to it having semi-trail tyres at 8psi or so (tubless system.)
It is a lot easier to stand up on a bike designed for dirt stuff, though I'll often find that even stock the bars are a bit too low.
Standing up can make a decent difference in control, as you're effectively giving the bike a second set of suspension - you can let the bike move under you, meaning the bike's suspension have a lot less work to do.
Wide bars do give you better control - but a lot of time it's not really an issue until you get to fast flowing single track in woods.
Well based on the above comments, im off to ride some green lanes this weekend, who's going to join me on their sports bike ?
The GSA is not a hard core off road trials bike, it's just a bike that will give you the option to safely go off road. Once you set the ESA up to its highest setting you can, and I have taken it over some fairly rough terrain including riding up to my knees in water.
Yes a sports bike could do the same as a GSA, the question is would you take it off road ? Also would you do it without thinking about it ? I do on the GSA...
The GSA is not a hard core off road trials bike, it's just a bike that will give you the option to safely go off road. Once you set the ESA up to its highest setting you can, and I have taken it over some fairly rough terrain including riding up to my knees in water.
Yes a sports bike could do the same as a GSA, the question is would you take it off road ? Also would you do it without thinking about it ? I do on the GSA...
I've always imagined that you can ride many bikes off-road to a surprising extent with the tyres often being the limiting factor?? But isn't the point of the off road bike also the fact that it likes it more? I hate riding either of my BMW r's even up dirt tracks cos I'm always wandering what the bashing about might do but I'd expect the Adventure to do it for years on end cos it's designed for it!
Touch of the "don't ever get in a wrestle with a hog, you'll both get covered in sh*t but the hog likes it"?
Mind you I always thought land rover stuff would be unbreakable yet I've had a couple of long walks!!
Touch of the "don't ever get in a wrestle with a hog, you'll both get covered in sh*t but the hog likes it"?
Mind you I always thought land rover stuff would be unbreakable yet I've had a couple of long walks!!
[quote]
Yes a sports bike could do the same as a GSA, the question is would you take it off road ? Also would you do it without thinking about it ? I do on the GSA...
[/quote]
If we're talking my old zx9, yes, definitely.
A bike that I know would lose a load of value getting scratched up in mud, I'd certainly think about it more so.
If I still had my ratty zx9 (which did have Harris rearsets, so even more 'extreme'), would love to take you up on the offer of a ride, but as I'm looking to sell my GSXR, will have to pass thanks to the way buyers perceive such things.
I still hope one day to justify myself getting another K6 GSXR1000 or similar and sticking some wide bars and more off-road tyres on, then going playing on the lanes and maybe.
On and (not sure if you know) but trials bikes go up this sort of thing:
We're comparing them to trail bikes, which is rather a different thing.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a big BMW to be any where near as hardy as my KTM for the sort of off-road riding I'd want to do on it.
Yes a sports bike could do the same as a GSA, the question is would you take it off road ? Also would you do it without thinking about it ? I do on the GSA...
[/quote]
If we're talking my old zx9, yes, definitely.
A bike that I know would lose a load of value getting scratched up in mud, I'd certainly think about it more so.
If I still had my ratty zx9 (which did have Harris rearsets, so even more 'extreme'), would love to take you up on the offer of a ride, but as I'm looking to sell my GSXR, will have to pass thanks to the way buyers perceive such things.
I still hope one day to justify myself getting another K6 GSXR1000 or similar and sticking some wide bars and more off-road tyres on, then going playing on the lanes and maybe.
On and (not sure if you know) but trials bikes go up this sort of thing:
We're comparing them to trail bikes, which is rather a different thing.
Personally, I wouldn't trust a big BMW to be any where near as hardy as my KTM for the sort of off-road riding I'd want to do on it.
Dr Jekyll said:
_g_ said:
The standard GS especially is pretty road-biased in it's setup - but then begs the question, why not just get a standard 'tourer' bike?
+1I can never understand why the R1200R isn't more popular.
Just found this; not sure I'd be wanting to do it much faster on a R1200GS with road-sports tyres.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Mcz9cttW4&fea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Mcz9cttW4&fea...
BlackPrince said:
And, original round-the-world rider Ted Simon used a BMW R80GS which weighed about 200kg stock. The BMW R1200GS weighs the same and the Adv is about 230kg dry. Yes you can adapt an R1 to go around the world but you can also ride a motorbike when its -25C but most people wouldn't want to for obvious reasons.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Simon
You are right he rode the BMW 80GS on his second around the world trip from 2001-2003, but His FIRST trip around the world was on a (road bike) Triumph T100 the trip started in 1973 and was completed in 1977.
I Have been a fan of Ted's since the 80's (yep was reading his books while at school) when my father gave me a copy of Jupiter's Travels.
I finally got to meet Ted, when I went to his latest talk and book signing. top bloke
He is a very quietly spoken chap, very charming and has a captivating personality...we could have listened to him all evening.
I Have been a fan of Ted's since the 80's (yep was reading his books while at school) when my father gave me a copy of Jupiter's Travels.
I finally got to meet Ted, when I went to his latest talk and book signing. top bloke
He is a very quietly spoken chap, very charming and has a captivating personality...we could have listened to him all evening.
y2blade said:
You are right he rode the BMW 80GS on his second around the world trip from 2001-2003, but His FIRST trip around the world was on a (road bike) Triumph T100 the trip started in 1973 and was completed in 1977.
I Have been a fan of Ted's since the 80's (yep was reading his books while at school) when my father gave me a copy of Jupiter's Travels.
I finally got to meet Ted, when I went to his latest talk and book signing. top bloke
He is a very quietly spoken chap, very charming and has a captivating personality...we could have listened to him all evening.
I've read Jupiter's Travels, shame it didn't have more about the trip in it tbh.I Have been a fan of Ted's since the 80's (yep was reading his books while at school) when my father gave me a copy of Jupiter's Travels.
I finally got to meet Ted, when I went to his latest talk and book signing. top bloke
He is a very quietly spoken chap, very charming and has a captivating personality...we could have listened to him all evening.
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