Considering moving back to a GS, but which one and should I do it?

snerkler

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I've had a couple of GS's in the past, a 2005 R1200GS and a 2010 R1200GSA and loved them both, however I had to give up biking for 7 years following a nerve injury and begrudgingly sold my GSA. 18 months ago I got back into biking and was going to buy another GSA, however my wife persuaded me to buy a Harley Road King as she thought she might start coming out on the bike with me. One trip out and she realised she hated it so it's always been in the back of my mind that I could have just bought the BMW that I wanted.

All this being said, to say I was never a Harley rider I really love the Road King, it's comfortable with a great riding position, and obviously sounds amazing (I have the Vance and Hines Twin Slash slip ons). The reason for considering moving back to the GS is two fold. Firstly I only go out on the Harley if the weather is 'prefect' as all that chrome is high maintenance. Secondly I do sometimes commute on my bike and whilst I do commute on the Harley it's clearly no the best bike for it.

First of all I need to make sure I'm going to be doing the right thing, I would REALLY miss the sound of the Harley. If I decide that I do want to change then it's a question of which bike?

I would definitely want a 1250 model, and really like the Rallye (especially the HP, or is that the same thing?) colours so it would probably be one of these, but would the GS or GSA be better (how many times has that been asked :blast). Being honest I prefer the look of the GSA, I like that it looks like a tank that could bash anything out of it's way (always felt like that when I rode me GSA too) but the truth is I have no intention of doing any off road greater than a farm track or flat field, and that would be extremely rare. I don't need the extra tank range and I remember a fully fuelled GSA feels a little top heavy, especially picking it up off the side stand (is it still like this). Apart from the extra fuel there wouldn't be much difference in weight as I'd add the engine crash bars and upper fairing crash bars too.

Based on this the obvious choice buying with my head would be the GS, however how good is the GS at soaking up potholes and uneven road surfaces compared to the GSA? Living in Derbyshire and travelling to Sheffield twice/week I think we must have the worst condition roads in the UK :eek: Size isn't an issue as I'm 6'4" and used to have the high seat on my GSA.

Talking of height, I always found the screens on the GS's a nightmare. Turbulence didn't bother me, but the noise was insane. The GSA was better, but still bad but adding the Touratech screen spoiler did at least make it bearable. I see the screens have changed a bit, but have they made them better? I've seen some youtube clips with a really small screen, I would imagine these would cause less noise turbulence?

Last thing, when I had the Vario luggage on my 2005 GS I couldn't fit my full face helmet into the top box, can you do this with the new vario luggage or do you still need the big aluminium case/top box to be able to fit a helmet in?

Any help and/or thoughts would be appreciated.
 
I am in Sheffield and know what you mean about our roads.

I am on my second R1250GS and agree with you about the standard being better than the adventure as a road bike. I am a tall bloke too and have the Wonderlich Marathon Smoke screen and this provides excellent wind protection.

In terms of Vario luggage, the top box easily takes a full face helmet.

Hope this helps.
 
I am in Sheffield and know what you mean about our roads.

I am on my second R1250GS and agree with you about the standard being better than the adventure as a road bike. I am a tall bloke too and have the Wonderlich Marathon Smoke screen and this provides excellent wind protection.

In terms of Vario luggage, the top box easily takes a full face helmet.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, very helpful. With regards to the screen, I'm not bothered about wind protection and I actually ride my Harley without a screen. It's the noise generated by the screens that bothers me :thumb2
 
I have always ridden all of my GSA's screen-less - looks a little weird until you ride the bike and realise what quiet and buffet-free perfection feels like and all of a sudden the bike is beautiful :D
There are tiny cover screens you can get to tidy the front up, but I'd never ride a GS/GSA with the fukcing awful barn door attached.
 
I have always ridden all of my GSA's screen-less - looks a little weird until you ride the bike and realise what quiet and buffet-free perfection feels like and all of a sudden the bike is beautiful :D
There are tiny cover screens you can get to tidy the front up, but I'd never ride a GS/GSA with the fukcing awful barn door attached.

I bet that does look weird at first, never seen one without some kind of screen.
 
I'd suggest you go and test ride them both back to back. Plan a route with a good mixture of roads and by the end you should have a good idea which will suit you best. I did this in 2015 when I was looking to buy either a GS or Triumph Explorer 1200. I'd ridden both on seperate days over different routes and couldn't make my mind up. Riding them back to back it was soon clear which suited me best.
 
Only you know.

I didn’t like the std GS, loved the GSA, really only changed to the RT for my wife/pillion, I’d be back on a GSA for the riding position. One lid fits inside the BMW aluminium top case, if that’s not good enough get the Givi look a like.

The only thing I didn’t like about my 2019 1250GSA was SOS thing was a PITA
 
I'd suggest you go and test ride them both back to back. Plan a route with a good mixture of roads and by the end you should have a good idea which will suit you best. I did this in 2015 when I was looking to buy either a GS or Triumph Explorer 1200. I'd ridden both on seperate days over different routes and couldn't make my mind up. Riding them back to back it was soon clear which suited me best.
Thanks. Yeah I plan on doing that, but it's nice to get opinions/advice in the meantime :thumb2 The Triumphs sure are nice, but the GS has more appeal for me. I had the Tiger 1050 in the past though, great bike.
Only you know.

I didn’t like the std GS, loved the GSA, really only changed to the RT for my wife/pillion, I’d be back on a GSA for the riding position. One lid fits inside the BMW aluminium top case, if that’s not good enough get the Givi look a like.

The only thing I didn’t like about my 2019 1250GSA was SOS thing was a PITA

Thanks, what was it that you didn't like about the std GS? Does it feel noticeably more agile or is there not much in it? As above, I will test ride them but it's probably going to be a few weeks before I get the chance.

My old ali top box for my GSA fitted my helmet, but if I get the std GS I'd prefer to have the vario luggage.
 
Thanks, very helpful. With regards to the screen, I'm not bothered about wind protection and I actually ride my Harley without a screen. It's the noise generated by the screens that bothers me :thumb2

I find my bike is noticeably quieter with the aftermarket screen. The only other point I would make is that at motorway speed, the wind wraps around the screen and my torso to create pressure around my back and it is a little odd but doesn't bother me.
 
I find my bike is noticeably quieter with the aftermarket screen. The only other point I would make is that at motorway speed, the wind wraps around the screen and my torso to create pressure around my back and it is a little odd but doesn't bother me.

Thanks, which screen do you have? I rarely travel on motorways these days but do a lot of dual carriageways so I’ll bear this in mind.

As and when I do go for a test ride I think I am leaning towards trying the small Rallye screen, in an ideal world I’d like to keep the wind off my Torso but have smooth air flow towards my face as I like the ventilation. On my Road king if I use the screen there’s little to know air hits the vents on the front of my helmet and it soon gets warm.
 
I've been looking at used GS's over the past couple of days and not a single one I've seen on the BMW Motorrad site has any luggage. Do dealerships take the luggage off and sell if separately, surely it can't be coincidence none have luggage?

Also, have bike dealerships had to succumb to the same regulations set by by the financial regulators that car dealerships have and had to have set APR's that can't be negotiated? If so what dealerships have the best APR rates, and if not what sort of APR can you get them down to?
 
Why not also try the R1250R, that is a proper cracking bike and much better than any of the Gs's imo.
 
I've been looking at used GS's over the past couple of days and not a single one I've seen on the BMW Motorrad site has any luggage. Do dealerships take the luggage off and sell if separately, surely it can't be coincidence none have luggage?

It might be because approved used bikes have a 2 year warranty as each time I've traded a GS in the dealer wanted me to take all the accessories off and restore the bike to factory plus there are a fair few repeat offenders so they like me probably keep hold of the luggage when they swap. It could also be the case that if they do take them in part ex they offer so little it makes more sense for the owner to sell them privately if they're getting a different model.

Good news on the test rides, let us know how you get on.
 
It might be because approved used bikes have a 2 year warranty as each time I've traded a GS in the dealer wanted me to take all the accessories off and restore the bike to factory plus there are a fair few repeat offenders so they like me probably keep hold of the luggage when they swap. It could also be the case that if they do take them in part ex they offer so little it makes more sense for the owner to sell them privately if they're getting a different model.

Good news on the test rides, let us know how you get on.

That would make sense. I'm looking forward to the test ride, my only concern I have is the handlebars. I suffer from fibromyalgia and I remember my old GSA used to put a bit of strain on my arms due to the width and slight forward riding position. My Harley is great in this regard as there's no weight on the arms, but then you're sat bolt upright and your low back takes a hammering, especially considering the suspension doesn't work on Derbyshire roads. You just can't win :blast :yelrotflm I've seen wunderlich do some narrower bars though (not sure how that'd affect handling) and you can obviously get risers :thumb2
 
One thing I will miss about the Harley IF I do make the swap is the noise, there's no disputing it in my mind they do make the best sound, especially with my V&H twin slash exhausts. It's not only got a great tone but is loud, without being obnoxious like some of the Harleys you hear.

Looking around on youtube there doesn't seem to be an awful lot of difference between a lot of the main ones, but in terms of tone I like the Remus 8 (sounds a bit like a Messerschmitt) and the Jekill and Hyde, the Yoshy also doesn't sound too bad, however what you can't gauge from YT is how loud they are. It also appears that the Euro versions have non removable baffles.

Has anyone got any recommendations, and are there any that you can remove the baffles without having to break welds etc?
 
Apologies for chipping in as a 1 time GS owner for 6 years who now rides a wee RS12, can I add that my cut down screen has proved to be a real eye opener with regard to Screen Noise.

I tried a taller screen that wasn’t perfect, then went the other way and simply ripped a couple of inches off the top of my screen.

All is well. Noise reduced. Weight taken off my wrists (important for me) completely at highway speed. Wind hits my torso and doesn’t reach my helmet.

Haven’t tried riding without a screen. Could be interesting.
 

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Apologies for chipping in as a 1 time GS owner for 6 years who now rides a wee RS12, can I add that my cut down screen has proved to be a real eye opener with regard to Screen Noise.

I tried a taller screen that wasn’t perfect, then went the other way and simply ripped a couple of inches off the top of my screen.

All is well. Noise reduced. Weight taken off my wrists (important for me) completely at highway speed. Wind hits my torso and doesn’t reach my helmet.

Haven’t tried riding without a screen. Could be interesting.
Thanks, I’ve seen this a lot where a smaller screen actually reduces noise due to the turbulence hitting your torso instead. Of course the only trouble with this is that you get full wind blast on the helmet which can take it’s toll on long motorway journeys, but at least this keeps your speed down ;)
 
Thanks, I’ve seen this a lot where a smaller screen actually reduces noise due to the turbulence hitting your torso instead. Of course the only trouble with this is that you get full wind blast on the helmet which can take it’s toll on long motorway journeys, but at least this keeps your speed down ;)

I tried a Puig sports screen after reading about lower screens being quieter - lasted about 50 miles and took it off, far too loud.
 

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