Michaelwhy
Registered user
Hi All
A little bit of background to start, will get this out there first off and get ready for the flames and lightning bolts. I am not a fan of adventure bikes but I do get it and equally not a fan of Japanese sports bikes either.
So why do I own one - they are huge !. I am 6ft 3in and love the scrambler style bikes. I had a ducati scrambler for a while but it looked like I was giving birth to it rather than riding it , test rode a r9t scrambler and better but kind of the same problem.
I swapped the ducati scrambler for a multi strata and loved it until I met up with a mate who has a 1200gs and after following him on a 200 mile twisty trip noticed he didn't change gear - ever , he was relaxed and ready to go when we made a coffee stop and I was a knackered sweaty mess.
So while not the biggest fan of the look GSA's are the right size and shape for me and love the torque and effortless ride. So a few months ago started looking for a gs and after a bit of Googling ended up seeing conversions that had been done and was hooked from there. Something like an 1100 or 1150 seemed the best balance of cost, power and the least amount of electronics that would need to be sorted or stripped off. After a few weeks of searching a likely doner appeared, emailed the guy at 10.30 on a sat night and was on a 5 am train the next morning for the 300 mile trip to collect it.
It looks really clean from a distance but it had lived outside for a few years and was starting to corrode badly in the usual places , but had been well maintained and serviced so perfect doner for a scrambler build
I haven't figured out how to add photos so will pause here in case I loose everything I have just typed
A little bit of background to start, will get this out there first off and get ready for the flames and lightning bolts. I am not a fan of adventure bikes but I do get it and equally not a fan of Japanese sports bikes either.
So why do I own one - they are huge !. I am 6ft 3in and love the scrambler style bikes. I had a ducati scrambler for a while but it looked like I was giving birth to it rather than riding it , test rode a r9t scrambler and better but kind of the same problem.
I swapped the ducati scrambler for a multi strata and loved it until I met up with a mate who has a 1200gs and after following him on a 200 mile twisty trip noticed he didn't change gear - ever , he was relaxed and ready to go when we made a coffee stop and I was a knackered sweaty mess.
So while not the biggest fan of the look GSA's are the right size and shape for me and love the torque and effortless ride. So a few months ago started looking for a gs and after a bit of Googling ended up seeing conversions that had been done and was hooked from there. Something like an 1100 or 1150 seemed the best balance of cost, power and the least amount of electronics that would need to be sorted or stripped off. After a few weeks of searching a likely doner appeared, emailed the guy at 10.30 on a sat night and was on a 5 am train the next morning for the 300 mile trip to collect it.
It looks really clean from a distance but it had lived outside for a few years and was starting to corrode badly in the usual places , but had been well maintained and serviced so perfect doner for a scrambler build
I haven't figured out how to add photos so will pause here in case I loose everything I have just typed