Ahhh, a pig owner now. Head on over to hear:
https://www.advrider.com/forums/ your forum would be the Gspot. More information than a normal human can assimulate. Had one for awhile but got rid of it becuase of its off road mannerisms. I wanted something that could do a little more enduro and while you will see videos of people out there doing amazing things on those bikes my fear was always haveing the near 600 lb beast fall on me, which it did once and was for sale the next day. That 19 inch front wheel doesn't do well in the dirt. Highly recommend on these
https://www.adventurersworkshop.com/motorcycles/KAOKO_THROTTLE_CONTROLS.htm. Thing about the GS is that its smooth. Like the FJR you will catch yourself going well over the speed limit and if you look at the bike and cops thread on AVRIDER, you will see a large percentage of the bikes pulled over are GS's. For your pillion a backrest is a must.
https://pirateslair.net/R1200GS.htm This place had outstanding service and the fit was great. That bike will wheelie like nobody's business with a pillion on the back of it. My wife didn't like riding on the back. Her complaint was not enough room as compared to the FJR. She is small, size 4 so, that might let ya know what life could be like back there. Our trip to DV this thing was awesome. Great fireroad bike, IMO. Don't know if you have much dirt experience, The RAWHYDE school is supposed to be one of the best,
https://www.bmwoffroadacademy.com/home.htmlThe F650GS your wife is after is a good little bike. Wife has one. Keeps her out of a lot of trouble that is for sure. If you plan on doing off roading, look for a DAKAR, comes with a 21 inch front. Much better in the dirt than the 19. The new ones look sweet. Too bad you are not closer. More than sure my wife could be swayed to sell hers right now. She wants something a little more road friendly, we are looking at the NT 700.
Thanks for the information Mojave, we had very good service from South Sound BMW, he suggested a backrest for the wife which she fitted soon as we got home. It's funny you say about the passenger room on the GSA, my wife actually prefers the BMW because of more room, this was one of the main criteria for the bike. For me it seems that the passenger is further back than on the FJR, but that might be the combination of the Russell seat and the Givi topbox on the FJR causing this.
Fireroads are exactly what we had in mind for this bike, we have hundreds of miles of really cool roads around our cabin in Montana, so that was one of the main drivers behind purchasing the beast.I really don't see myself getting into the dirt riding side too much.
The problem with any bike my wife chooses for herself is that she is vertically challenged and the BMW is one of the only motorcycles to offer a low enough seating position to make her comfortable riding it, we even had to lower her FZ6R an inch and a half.
On the speed thing, yeah it's a very deceptive bike I found myself going through corners at or above my usual FJR speeds (I'm a slow git anyway), I am very pleased so far with the way it handles one or two up.
Congratulations on your new BMW R1200GSA Chris and Diane, you will love your new GS. I love my 2009 F650GS Twin and my 1996 R1100GS, whenever I rent bikes on my overseas trips I go with the R1200GS.
https://www.bmwmoa.org/rally11 Do consider the BMW International Rally in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania; from July 21-24.You had mentioned Alaska in 2012, I just wanted to let you know that Steve-jorstin of SoCal on our FJR Forum and Papa Chuy are both riding to Alaska in 2012 also.We both have 14 year old sons and our boys are riding with us. We are going to take three weeks, sometime between June 3 and July 31. That is when my Son Seth is out of school, Chandler, AZ is on the quarter system. Steve's Son gets all Summer off in Southern California. We will post the detailed ride itinerary here next January.
Thanks Don, Alaska is a one of our dream trips, we are not quite sure when, were, or how long we would take so Di and I will keep a lookout for details of your trip. On the rally, well my wife's vacation is all planned away this year with a couple of bike vacations. We also have to get down to Death Valley, and Monument Valley soon, we have friends who used to be in the film industry, I sort of promised myself we would send them pictures of us standing in the areas that John Ford chose for the John Wayne movies, I know they would get a kick out of that.
Congrats on a nice ride! I've always admired the GSA.
My experience so far is that it handles far better than it looks like it should, it's a great riding position you look down into most cars.
Yeah, it appears to be a TALL bike! But I've never actually sat on one. What are the tips for handling the 35" seat height?
It seems tall for me and I'm 6' 2in 33 inseam, the seat is in a low position and it enables me to touch toes when riding solo and flat foot when a passenger is aboard. Mind you getting aboard is like an Yoga exercise ! especially for an old guy like me, with the side cases and backrest it's even worse.
Touching the ground Just!
Gorgeous looking bike. Congrats!Joe
Thanks Joe. It's ugly but we love it.
Congrats on your new bike, bring it to tech day so can we test ride it in Brian's back yard
Marcus George would sulk if I did not ride it to Tech day,Brians back yard mmmm let me think about that one ..... see you at Tech day
