1200.. no thanks

[Cie]

I was at a BMW bike garage at the weekend, buying the autocom, and whilst waiting to be served I had a chance to have a good look over the 1150 and new 1200 Adventure.

I have to say, I'm not impressed. Give me the 1150 any day.

It just looks as if someone has taken what was a rugged(ish) Adventure bike (the 1150) and splashed BMW shineyness on it... which produced the 1200.

Anyone had a go on them both?

[Maverick]

Anyone had a go on them both?

The 1150 certainly feels big and have good road precence, torque is rugged and I like the ride personally.
The 1200 is a different beast altogether, very smooth and fast and the bike is balanced exceptionaly well. I was well impressed with the actual ride and performance but can't say the looks have convinced me yet.

If I had to choose out of the two would probably go for the 1200 as it is a better balanced bike for me than the 1150.

[Cie]

Thanks Mav,

I suppose if they've designed it to be a road bike that can go on the odd gravel track then it makes sense. But it seems to look a bit glitzy and plasticy. I'd love to know what range they claim to get from that silly little tank

[jvaughan]

1200 looks the bollox in the new Touratech catalogue ... lots of goodies for it.

I still like the 1150 though.

[Roy]

I got lent a 1200 by the BMW dealers...... was very impressed, it did 130 with ease........was a bit of a beast to stop...and you have to remeber not to blip the throttle hard on down changes as the whole bike rocks sideways...
the plastic also seemed to move a lot compared with the africa

but it is indeed a smooth fast and refined feeling bit of kit (for the price of a not bad car mind!)

Roy

[icenian]

1200 looks the bollox in the new Touratech catalogue ... lots of goodies for it.

I still like the 1150 though.

I like the look of the 1100/1150 with their "Revamp" kit. This makes no sense at all financially unless you could get a cheap bike that's straight but has horribly mangled tank, plastics, 'bars etc...

[Sharribee]

My dad has just part exed his 1150 for a new 1200. He misses the charactor of the 1150 although says the 12 is very smooth and handles really well.
I liked the 1150 when I rode it, plenty of poser and very responsive but didn't like the way the bike rocks when you rev it and thought is sounded like a bucket of bolts . I think the 12 does stills rocks on reving but not as much and is much smoother to ride but has lost its character.


This is why I bought the Transalp and not a GS.

[LaughingBob]

I still keep in touch with the chap who bought my 1200GS. It's now on it's third recall and the oil seal at the back of the gearbox is leaking. As I've posted previously, when I owned the bike the ignition developed a fault and the dealer, Wolastons in Northampton, had it for two weeks before they were able to trace it and the alternator was changed under warranty.

A friend nearly had a serious accident on her 1200 just before Christmas when the final drive on her bike locked up and had to replaced under warranty. She has also sold her GS and now has a Tiger. I still have a look over on ukgser and it seems that the newer production bikes aren't any better (ours were both 54 plated bikes)

[stoo]

1200 looks the bollox in the new Touratech catalogue ... lots of goodies for it.

I still like the 1150 though.

I like the look of the 1100/1150 with their "Revamp" kit. This makes no sense at all financially unless you could get a cheap bike that's straight but has horribly mangled tank, plastics, 'bars etc...

Or you had a tidy lookin standard bike that you planned to abuse the hell out of, but wanted to be able to put it back to standard after, so you could sell it as a minter.......

[Simon]

i haven't tried the 1100/1150 but i would like to. I had a 1200 out for about 4 hrs once and have mixed feelings. The engine was good and very quick and i thought the brakes were brill to. The angle of the seat was terrible as unless i was going fast i was sliding into the tank. At slow speeds in town the fuel injection was crap, it was either on or off. That was one of the things i instantly loved about the @ and my brother too when he tried mine for the first time, was how easy it is to ride slow. on the 1200 i didn't find the screen any better than the powerbronze screen i have on the @ at 70mph, in fact i think it was worse than the @. Oh and i kept hitting my shins of the cylinders when i stopped! The fact that if you blibbed the throttle when sitting at the lights the whole bike moved to the right. Reackon it could catch you off balance sometime.

If someone gave me one i wouldn't say no but there is no way i'll buy one. The cost is silly and i wouldn't be able to do any work to it myself.