Felt in love with a strong and athletic German girl.

I had the opportunity to test ride an BMW R1200GS Adventure 2011 and I absolutely loved it! I understand why Ewan McGregor choose that bike for his big adventures.

She's so pretty and have a lot of characters. I love that Boxer twin sound very german. My next bike for sure. I think she will be nice beside my R6 in my driveway. She's pricey though... Oh well, give me a year or 2. She's tall too. I had to get use to her long leg. I forgot that the seat could been bring down an inch which would had me be more stable once stop. Once you are moving, she behave so nicely. She fell in the turn so quickly that it seems that she will fall on the turn but once you stop pushing the handle bar she just keep that lean angle with stability. The engine being mounted the way it is; rotation axle parallel with the length of the bike, when you stopped and you blip the throttle, the bike toggle on the right side just like an old muscle car. It's cool

-Dave







The Boxer engine is very nice. A lot of torque, nice sound. Transmission is a bit clunky but work nice. I could ride that thing all day long.

I actually like it!

It looks very practical for what it's meant for. What do they run anyways?

Only thing I don't like is that large piece of plastic jetting out the front. is that?

Originally Posted by trix

It looks very practical for what it's meant for. What do they run anyways?

Only thing I don't like is that large piece of plastic jetting out the front. is that?

They run at $20,000 brand new.

The second piece of plastic in front is a kind of second mud guard. but it is mostly look and air intake.

My buddy is obsessed with these. He found one with over 60,000 miles, traveled all over the world and it was still listed at like $10k

talk to NocR6 on here. he knows a shitload about these bikes and has one himself. good guy.

^ Just checking in now. I actually was away most of last week. I took 5 days to ride around Canada and maine on my GSA. Ended up doing about 1500 miles in 4 days or so as a break in run for the new GSA. I traded in my older GS for a new GSA about 5 weeks ago.

The beak is just a mud guard and it directs air to the oil cooler.

They cost a ton of money though, brand new. MSRP on mine was 22k but it had about 3,800 worth of stuff on it. Sticker was 24,500 i think. I ended up working the deal for 22,800 i think. Times are slow for these kinda of bikes. My dealer still has about 8 GSA's sitting in the showroom. They're not budging on price for S1KRR's that much yet, or the new K16 tourers. But GS's they're willing to negotiate on. Mostly because i think they've been the same since 2004 except the slight facelift in 2008 and the new engines in 2010.

Shit....late for work.... Ask away and ill post when i get home later on.

Between the Hexhead and Camhead, there are really only two differnces. The camhead in now a DOHC engine where the old hexhead was a SOHC. The newer design doesn't require as frequent ( yet VERY easy) valve adjustments. However, they rely on a shim like design with these semi-spheres as a rolling surface for the rocker arms. Where as the older hexhead, had adjustable valve with boss nuts. Overall mechanically its about the same otherwise.

The biggest difference in feel though is the new 10+ camhead has alot more torque available down low. My older hexhead had torque too, but the camhead really puts out some power down low. But that really relies on how stock you keep the bike. The 10+s, have a exhaust flap (aka EXUP) before the can. So it changes to the situation, but it helps a ton with back pressure and torque. Its loud though. Id would say when the valve is open, its about as loud as my 07 with a slip on was.

Those are the only 2 differences really. Its nothing major like a 08 R1 vs a 09 R1.

The big tank is a must if you're planning anything ride in the middle of no where. A plain GS can see 200 miles to it's 5.3gallon tank on average. When I rode it like an asshole, maybe 170. The GSA's 8.7gal tank does 320 at least. Last week one tank did nearly 400 miles.

The only negative about the 1200 is the weight. Especially a loaded up GSA. They want to fall like rotten redwoods at slow speeds. Most of the time this is not an issue on the street. But when offroad it get dicey. You really have to maintain confidence in the bike and keep the speed up to keep it upright. If you get too cautious and ride to slow it wants to tip over at the slightest miscalculation. I did some offorad riding in the middle of no where quebec last week in the pouring rain. The key was to find a line, get up on the pegs, light on the bars and not slow down unless the surface allowed it.

The only 2 weak points R12GS's have are, 1) fuel strips and 2) final drive issues. In 2005 when they went to the 1200's. BMW went to a fuel sensing strip in the tank to measure the fuel over the 1150's float type. A good number of these strips crap out over time. Some earlier than others, some later than others. But its a non issue as long as you keep track of your odo. The second is final drive seals. But thats mostly due to poor maintenance or freak incidents. The rest of the bike is otherwise bullet proof.

Supposedly, 2013 might be the year for the new water cooled 1250GS too. But the jury is out on that yet. 2013 maybe. 2014, possibly. Not 2012 though.

I know im missing a ton but ask away. I take it someone's seen LWR/LWD since you mentioned Ewan and Charlie.