GS1300 - great bike, rubbish luggage
Discussion
I've just passed 10,000 miles on my GS1300, having owned it for 16 months now. I thought I'd share some experience for anyone that is interested (I know a lot of you hate them!!) or if you're thinking of buying one.
A lot of those miles have been clicked up during my commute in to central London from Kent but I've also managed a fair few longer trips to Germany, France and Scotland + day trips around the UK. I have two other (very different and more sporty) bikes so I'm by no means a blinkered GS lover but as for the bike itself, it's a big lump of two wheeled genius. It's been no bother in those 10k miles, the longest day of 550 miles was a schlep but the bike remained comfortable and it is so flexible - a great commuter (very planted, stable and easy to manoeuvre), a comfortable, effortless mile muncher and also a very capable scratcher. You can really hustle the bike on the twisties with great handling and brakes. And it's fast, in a way previous GS's weren't.
I'm no gadget man, in fact give me a button or a knob over a touch screen every day of the week, but the tech on the bike is just fantastic. Unlike my car it isn't at all intrusive with the occasional annoying interference from the collision avoidance system in heavy traffic. The auto chassis height adjustment is brilliant leaving me flat footed at a stand, radar cruise etc and also once you're used to it the little spinny wheel and all the functions it drives fall easy to hand. Everything is easy to adjust on the move. The heated seat and grips are awesome and I've even used the up and downy windscreen in the hot weather.
I love the GS. The other two bikes get ridden as I feel I should but the GS is just a pleasure to ride in any conditions and in any mood (fast or slow). But, and it's a big but, the luggage! Oh man, what a saga.
When I took delivery of the bike in April last year it was fitted with side cases but no top box. Apparently, the original design had a tendency to fall off the bike when on the move and so a recall was issued and new box supplied. Took 3 months for mine to arrive but it's been in daily use since with no issues. Can't say the same about the side cases.
My original side cases were faulty meaning you couldn't load one of them on the bike - the release latch had been put together incorrectly. In the struggle I dropped mine and scratched the Acropivic exhaust. BMW replaced the cases and my exhaust but that second set was also recalled about 6 or 7 months later as some had been prone to opening when on the move and dumping their contents in the road. They also had electrical faults and leaked (mine didn't). So, set 3 arrived in April this year, with a redesigned locking mechanism.
On a trip to Scotland my new cases decided that they would remain locked and not open either with the central locking or with the key. While fiddling with mine the lock barrel came out and spat all the little lock pins all over the floor. So I'm 600 miles from home and I can't get my kit out of my cases!! With much fiddling and swearing I did manage to open them, but the problem continued. Apparently the release cables were too long and couldn't be changed as the unit is sealed. So, set 4 of the side cases arrived this week and I must say I'm expecting them to fail, obviously. This issue has definitely taken the shine off owning the bike as I'm now always worried about the luggage - will I be able to open them etc.
I don't know who BMW have outsourced the luggage production to but man have they screwed up. If my experience is typical then this must be costing BMW a fortune and annoying a lot of customers. Fingers crossed this set works well and I can continue to enjoy what is otherwise a truly fantastic motorcyle.
A lot of those miles have been clicked up during my commute in to central London from Kent but I've also managed a fair few longer trips to Germany, France and Scotland + day trips around the UK. I have two other (very different and more sporty) bikes so I'm by no means a blinkered GS lover but as for the bike itself, it's a big lump of two wheeled genius. It's been no bother in those 10k miles, the longest day of 550 miles was a schlep but the bike remained comfortable and it is so flexible - a great commuter (very planted, stable and easy to manoeuvre), a comfortable, effortless mile muncher and also a very capable scratcher. You can really hustle the bike on the twisties with great handling and brakes. And it's fast, in a way previous GS's weren't.
I'm no gadget man, in fact give me a button or a knob over a touch screen every day of the week, but the tech on the bike is just fantastic. Unlike my car it isn't at all intrusive with the occasional annoying interference from the collision avoidance system in heavy traffic. The auto chassis height adjustment is brilliant leaving me flat footed at a stand, radar cruise etc and also once you're used to it the little spinny wheel and all the functions it drives fall easy to hand. Everything is easy to adjust on the move. The heated seat and grips are awesome and I've even used the up and downy windscreen in the hot weather.
I love the GS. The other two bikes get ridden as I feel I should but the GS is just a pleasure to ride in any conditions and in any mood (fast or slow). But, and it's a big but, the luggage! Oh man, what a saga.
When I took delivery of the bike in April last year it was fitted with side cases but no top box. Apparently, the original design had a tendency to fall off the bike when on the move and so a recall was issued and new box supplied. Took 3 months for mine to arrive but it's been in daily use since with no issues. Can't say the same about the side cases.
My original side cases were faulty meaning you couldn't load one of them on the bike - the release latch had been put together incorrectly. In the struggle I dropped mine and scratched the Acropivic exhaust. BMW replaced the cases and my exhaust but that second set was also recalled about 6 or 7 months later as some had been prone to opening when on the move and dumping their contents in the road. They also had electrical faults and leaked (mine didn't). So, set 3 arrived in April this year, with a redesigned locking mechanism.
On a trip to Scotland my new cases decided that they would remain locked and not open either with the central locking or with the key. While fiddling with mine the lock barrel came out and spat all the little lock pins all over the floor. So I'm 600 miles from home and I can't get my kit out of my cases!! With much fiddling and swearing I did manage to open them, but the problem continued. Apparently the release cables were too long and couldn't be changed as the unit is sealed. So, set 4 of the side cases arrived this week and I must say I'm expecting them to fail, obviously. This issue has definitely taken the shine off owning the bike as I'm now always worried about the luggage - will I be able to open them etc.
I don't know who BMW have outsourced the luggage production to but man have they screwed up. If my experience is typical then this must be costing BMW a fortune and annoying a lot of customers. Fingers crossed this set works well and I can continue to enjoy what is otherwise a truly fantastic motorcyle.
Edited by Gixer968CS on Monday 8th September 10:27
Edited by Gixer968CS on Monday 8th September 10:29
Edited by Gixer968CS on Monday 8th September 10:31
I have a triple black 1300 GS that I bought with bugger all mileage last year after the first owner decided he wanted to take a big depreciation hit and go with an ASA bike.
Totally echo the OPs comments, I just love the thing, to the stage that I've cleared my garage out and this is my one and only bike. For now, with my beige trousers on, it's all the bike I need. Yes it's got an image to it, but I've never cared about that, it's fun to scratch about on but an utter companion for commutes on a wet miserable cold day. Radar cruise is a pleasure, and I've just bought one of those chinesium CarPlay nav screens for it as I have the connected ride nav and it's erm 'clunky'.
I've got a top case, and will probably get the panniers in time, but my needs don't dictate that. Plan to get my daughter on the back of it when she's a little older and do some tours.
Totally echo the OPs comments, I just love the thing, to the stage that I've cleared my garage out and this is my one and only bike. For now, with my beige trousers on, it's all the bike I need. Yes it's got an image to it, but I've never cared about that, it's fun to scratch about on but an utter companion for commutes on a wet miserable cold day. Radar cruise is a pleasure, and I've just bought one of those chinesium CarPlay nav screens for it as I have the connected ride nav and it's erm 'clunky'.
I've got a top case, and will probably get the panniers in time, but my needs don't dictate that. Plan to get my daughter on the back of it when she's a little older and do some tours.
bgunn said:
I have a triple black 1300 GS that I bought with bugger all mileage last year after the first owner decided he wanted to take a big depreciation hit and go with an ASA bike.
Totally echo the OPs comments, I just love the thing, to the stage that I've cleared my garage out and this is my one and only bike. For now, with my beige trousers on, it's all the bike I need. Yes it's got an image to it, but I've never cared about that, it's fun to scratch about on but an utter companion for commutes on a wet miserable cold day. Radar cruise is a pleasure, and I've just bought one of those chinesium CarPlay nav screens for it as I have the connected ride nav and it's erm 'clunky'.
I've got a top case, and will probably get the panniers in time, but my needs don't dictate that. Plan to get my daughter on the back of it when she's a little older and do some tours.
Which carplay did you get. I'm planning on getting one and can't really see the difference between the 3 main ones. Mainly I don't want something that will interfere or make more difficult the Bluetooth link to my crash helmet (Shoei with Sena) as I listed to music and use the intercom all the time. Any experiences would be useful??Totally echo the OPs comments, I just love the thing, to the stage that I've cleared my garage out and this is my one and only bike. For now, with my beige trousers on, it's all the bike I need. Yes it's got an image to it, but I've never cared about that, it's fun to scratch about on but an utter companion for commutes on a wet miserable cold day. Radar cruise is a pleasure, and I've just bought one of those chinesium CarPlay nav screens for it as I have the connected ride nav and it's erm 'clunky'.
I've got a top case, and will probably get the panniers in time, but my needs don't dictate that. Plan to get my daughter on the back of it when she's a little older and do some tours.
This: https://carplaymotorcycle.com/products/b6-b7-bmw-m...
B6, without TPMS as the bike already has it, with one of the 22% discount codes doing the rounds, so it works out at £170. It's built down to a price in the sense that the case is quite basic plastic and it hasn't got the hewn from solid feeling of the CRN, but it works really well, the screen is very bright and clear and the capacitive touch is tuned to work with gloved hands perfectly well.
I have a Cardo Packtalk Edge headset, and I have it paired to the bike/TFT, and have paired the phone to the bike too. This means the functionality on the dash all works properly too, the speed limit warnings show rather than a blank box etc. The only disadvantage is that the Cardo app doesn't work because it's not paired to the phone, I _can_ do that via the 'phone 2' bluetooth channel on the Cardo, but it just causes confusion in terms of which channel to play audio over and I found massive lag, so keep it simple and attached to the bike. If I need to do any configuration or updates on the device (rarely), I can do it all when the bike is off, then remove the phone>Packtalk pairing.
It's SO much better than the CRN, which is an exercise in frustration management to use, clunky as hell and hijacks a number of the functions from the TFT, which does things much better. It's almost as if the devs of the CRN and the devs of the TFT (Bosch) didn't talk at all!
B6, without TPMS as the bike already has it, with one of the 22% discount codes doing the rounds, so it works out at £170. It's built down to a price in the sense that the case is quite basic plastic and it hasn't got the hewn from solid feeling of the CRN, but it works really well, the screen is very bright and clear and the capacitive touch is tuned to work with gloved hands perfectly well.
I have a Cardo Packtalk Edge headset, and I have it paired to the bike/TFT, and have paired the phone to the bike too. This means the functionality on the dash all works properly too, the speed limit warnings show rather than a blank box etc. The only disadvantage is that the Cardo app doesn't work because it's not paired to the phone, I _can_ do that via the 'phone 2' bluetooth channel on the Cardo, but it just causes confusion in terms of which channel to play audio over and I found massive lag, so keep it simple and attached to the bike. If I need to do any configuration or updates on the device (rarely), I can do it all when the bike is off, then remove the phone>Packtalk pairing.
It's SO much better than the CRN, which is an exercise in frustration management to use, clunky as hell and hijacks a number of the functions from the TFT, which does things much better. It's almost as if the devs of the CRN and the devs of the TFT (Bosch) didn't talk at all!
bgunn said:
This: https://carplaymotorcycle.com/products/b6-b7-bmw-m...
B6, without TPMS as the bike already has it, with one of the 22% discount codes doing the rounds, so it works out at £170. It's built down to a price in the sense that the case is quite basic plastic and it hasn't got the hewn from solid feeling of the CRN, but it works really well, the screen is very bright and clear and the capacitive touch is tuned to work with gloved hands perfectly well.
I have a Cardo Packtalk Edge headset, and I have it paired to the bike/TFT, and have paired the phone to the bike too. This means the functionality on the dash all works properly too, the speed limit warnings show rather than a blank box etc. The only disadvantage is that the Cardo app doesn't work because it's not paired to the phone, I _can_ do that via the 'phone 2' bluetooth channel on the Cardo, but it just causes confusion in terms of which channel to play audio over and I found massive lag, so keep it simple and attached to the bike. If I need to do any configuration or updates on the device (rarely), I can do it all when the bike is off, then remove the phone>Packtalk pairing.
It's SO much better than the CRN, which is an exercise in frustration management to use, clunky as hell and hijacks a number of the functions from the TFT, which does things much better. It's almost as if the devs of the CRN and the devs of the TFT (Bosch) didn't talk at all!
I stopped pairing my phone with the bike after a few weeks of ownership. I ride to work 3 days a week for an hour each way and always have the radio on in my helmet and the bike/phone arrangement would keep droping the signal and I'd lose the radio so gave up on it. I think I'll give one of these carplay things a go, I just don't know which one to choose!B6, without TPMS as the bike already has it, with one of the 22% discount codes doing the rounds, so it works out at £170. It's built down to a price in the sense that the case is quite basic plastic and it hasn't got the hewn from solid feeling of the CRN, but it works really well, the screen is very bright and clear and the capacitive touch is tuned to work with gloved hands perfectly well.
I have a Cardo Packtalk Edge headset, and I have it paired to the bike/TFT, and have paired the phone to the bike too. This means the functionality on the dash all works properly too, the speed limit warnings show rather than a blank box etc. The only disadvantage is that the Cardo app doesn't work because it's not paired to the phone, I _can_ do that via the 'phone 2' bluetooth channel on the Cardo, but it just causes confusion in terms of which channel to play audio over and I found massive lag, so keep it simple and attached to the bike. If I need to do any configuration or updates on the device (rarely), I can do it all when the bike is off, then remove the phone>Packtalk pairing.
It's SO much better than the CRN, which is an exercise in frustration management to use, clunky as hell and hijacks a number of the functions from the TFT, which does things much better. It's almost as if the devs of the CRN and the devs of the TFT (Bosch) didn't talk at all!
bgunn said:
I've found the bike to phone pairing really reliable - what age is your bike, and do you know if it's had any ilevel updates? (There's been several just this year) and some of which are software updates for the dash.
April '24. I haven't tried again since it's been updated. But, tbh, other than keeping the clock accurate I don't really see the point of pairing the phone with the bike as I don't use BMW Connected Ride. Withe Car Play thing I don't quite understand how you still use helmet to helmet intercom, or does that simply work using Mesh totally independently of the Car Play thingy??Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff