BMW GS1200 Adventurer

[Shep]

I am bound to be flamed to death, but i am going to say it anyway.

I had a go on a brand new BMW GS1200 Adventurer yesterday, i had the bike for 3 hours and i can honestly say that i have never been so happy in my life to hand the keys back !!!! i thought it was a total piece of S*$T

It is way to high much higher than the Africa Twin, i could only just touch the ground on absolute tip toes. When revved it sounds like a knackered tractor very loud and crude, horrible. The suspension is completely out to lunch which gives it a very choppy and uncomfortable ride. I noticed that becuase it has very long travel suspension the shaft drive is flailing around all over the place and totally overcoming the capability of the rear shock.

When i picked the bike up somebody had softened the rear preload right off it was virtually undrivable really terrible. I put it back to standard settings which was much better but not a patch on my Africa Twin or Varadero. If you hardened the preload things became more under control but the ride was then too hard.

The seat was marginally better than the Africa but not in the same class as the Varadero.

Specified up one of these is about £12,000 !!!! a new Varadero is now £6999 and is frankly a much, much better bike. I left my "old" 2000 Varadero at the BMW dealers jumping on it to come home i was really shocked as to how much better it was.

I just do not see the roll for this bike too big for serious offroad the Africa Twin is like a full factory NXR dessert racer in comparison. As a road bike it is very compromised and nowhere near as good as a Varadero.

Added to the fact that it costs a fortune, you are stuck with BMW servicing and therefore costs as nearly impossible to work on yourself. So in my humble opinion you have the potential for a severe waste of money with this bike.

[Taz]

Beemer Alert! Beemer Alert! B*W's a dirty word here!

[robelst]

I only know the 1100/1150 GS (adv) and old 2 valved R80/100 GS's and quite like them. Suspension setup on the higher Adventure version is more crucial than on the standard ones due to the long suspension travel and I guess shaft-drive and "in-line" crankshaft may need a bit of getting used to especially if the setup isn't correct. High seat and ground clearance is sort of "part of the game" imho, actually, the RD07 is a bit of a joke at this point because it offers little more than many normal road-bikes. If you like the Adventure but think it's too high you probably forget it's meant to be a bit more than an allround tourer like the Varadero, although only few heroes will be foolish enough to ever use that potential .

I mainly use my bike for on-road transport, so the Adventure version is bit too much "Chelsea tractor" to me. I could be interested for the normal version if it wasn't for the desasterous problems I had on my last two R1100 Beemers, as well as the disappoiting build-quality (almost as poor as the RD07). I do enjoy the ride though, for example the Telelever front makes spectaculair cornering easy and safe. I remember returning to primitive telescopic forks was a real pain.

[Shep]

I rode the standard GS1200 about 6 months ago and i thought that was far superior but on the same day as i rode the BMW, i also rode a DL650 Vstrom which was a far better bike, really good fun a better on road and apparently a better off road bike than the BMW for half the price.

I have nothing against BMW, it is just that i judge a product by what it doesand what it is, and not by all the "marketing hype".

What dissapointed me so much about the Adventure is that the hype is running along way ahead of the reality !

[robelst]

What dissapointed me so much about the Adventure is that the hype is running along way ahead of the reality !

A certain television series may have contributed creating that hype

Again, V-Stroms, Varaderos and standard GSs have a strong road-use focus. It seems BMW went a bit further than just adding looks to its Adventure version (unlike Aprilia did for example with their Capo "Rallye" version) which not necessarily makes it a better road bike. Not convinced it is a fantastic off-roader either but they will no doubt sell like cupcakes because image is everything these days in bike-land

[Maverick]

I had a test ride on the standard 1200 and it was very much my type of bike even though I could not see myself taking it offroad as it costs a fair bit of money.

Have not had a ride on the 1200 Adventurer but see one outside my work every day. It must be the biggest bike I have ever seen on two wheels, can't see how anyone will take that offroad unless they around 6'8" and weigh around 20 stone Must take it for a ride but fear myself will just be able to get one foot on the ground and my budget won't manage to move the tyres from the BMW forecourt unfortantely

[Shep]

What dissapointed me so much about the Adventure is that the hype is running along way ahead of the reality !

A certain television series may have contributed creating that hype

Again, V-Stroms, Varaderos and standard GSs have a strong road-use focus. It seems BMW went a bit further than just adding looks to its Adventure version (unlike Aprilia did for example with their Capo "Rallye" version) which not necessarily makes it a better road bike. Not convinced it is a fantastic off-roader either but they will no doubt sell like cupcakes because image is everything these days in bike-land

I would honestly think that it would be bloody terrifying off road. I have far more respect now for Ewan and Charley. I would say it must have very, very limited off road ability as Claudio proved with his little chinese two stroke road bike !!!!

[Chad]

I had a test ride on the standard 1200 and it was very much my type of bike even though I could not see myself taking it offroad as it costs a fair bit of money.

Have not had a ride on the 1200 Adventurer but see one outside my work every day. It must be the biggest bike I have ever seen on two wheels, can't see how anyone will take that offroad unless they around 6'8" and weigh around 20 stone Must take it for a ride but fear myself will just be able to get one foot on the ground and my budget won't manage to move the tyres from the BMW forecourt unfortantely

thats funny it looks quite small to me

the BMW way is totally different to any other way and like marmite you either love it or hate it . and i think if you go in wanting to hate it you will

also i think that if you talk to most BM owners they would say that the 1150 is better and then the 1100 guys would say theirs is better then the air head boys would come along and all they toys would be thrown out the pram but the 1200 guys think that they have the holy grail and every thing else is **** !!! ,. LOL

it think if you want to try somthing by all means try it but remember that ok its not for you but other people like them a lot be it what ever model you ride . be it honda ,suzuki ,kwacka,bmw,or one of those bloody chinese things

i still think there is no such thing as a **** bike just big differences

but then again opinions are like arsholes every ones got one and some of them stink

[Maverick]

thats funny it looks quite small to me

the BMW way is totally different to any other way and like marmite you either love it or hate it . and i think if you go in wanting to hate it you will

also i think that if you talk to most BM owners they would say that the 1150 is better and then the 1100 guys would say theirs is better then the air head boys would come along and all they toys would be thrown out the pram but the 1200 guys think that they have the holy grail and every thing else is sh*t !!! ,. LOL

it think if you want to try somthing by all means try it but remember that ok its not for you but other people like them a lot be it what ever model you ride . be it honda ,suzuki ,kwacka,bmw,or one of those bloody chinese things

i still think there is no such thing as a sh*t bike just big differences

but then again opinions are like arsholes every ones got one and some of them stink

I think you think to much about thinking

[Chad]

thats funny it looks quite small to me

the BMW way is totally different to any other way and like marmite you either love it or hate it . and i think if you go in wanting to hate it you will

also i think that if you talk to most BM owners they would say that the 1150 is better and then the 1100 guys would say theirs is better then the air head boys would come along and all they toys would be thrown out the pram but the 1200 guys think that they have the holy grail and every thing else is sh*t !!! ,. LOL

it think if you want to try somthing by all means try it but remember that ok its not for you but other people like them a lot be it what ever model you ride . be it honda ,suzuki ,kwacka,bmw,or one of those bloody chinese things

i still think there is no such thing as a sh*t bike just big differences

but then again opinions are like arsholes every ones got one and some of them stink

I think you think to much about thinking