Review on SMH

I was surprised to see this review on the front page of smh.com.au:

http://smh.drive.com.au/bike-reviews/bmw-r-1200-gs-triple-black-20110921-1kkmd.html

I bought the right bike

(and this:
http://smh.drive.com.au/bike-reviews/review-modified-suzuki-bandit-1250-20110921-1kkin.html
)

(who is this Trevor Hedge bloke, and how do I get steal his job? Look
at this:
http://smh.drive.com.au/photogallery/bmw-r-1200-gs-triple-black-20110921-1kkmr.html?selectedImage=1
how beautiful is that!?)

 

It does look nice, but...

I'm not big enough to use one as intended. I thought my 1992 R100GS
was too big, and it was a minibike in comparison to current models.
Getting bogged in deep sand in Goulburn River NP made me wonder if I
was ever going to get out again! Add panniers, top box and various
accessories, and they're big muthas.

Mind you, a claimed wet weight of 229kg isn't much more than the
R100GS' wet weight, (around 220 kg, IIRC - googles at 210kg) so what
would I know? ;^)

Even the 800s are heavier than they should be, IMHO. Sub-200 kg might
get me seriously interested.

That said, I'm sure you'll love it, I loved mine, even though it was
purple, and only sold it because it was getting old, and then I
snapped the driveshaft (just riding along, apparently quite common on
high mileage (130k kms) GSs of that vintage).

....and I'm not at all jealous. ;^)

Tony F

 

I rode a '97 R100GS PD around Europe, and it was so much less refined
than my '10 R1200GS. The whole 60km/h front end wobble if I took a
hand off the handlebars was kinda worrying. Take 3kg out of the
topbox, and the wobble at least stayed in check when I had both hands
on the bars, but changing the reserve taps at 160km/h on an autobahn
was an excercise in fun and causing 3 lanes of traffic jam. Stick a
80kg rider on the bike instead of my puny 64kg, and no sign of wobble
at all, regardless of what was in the topbox. I needed a 16kg
weissbeer belly.

But yeah, I wouldn't consider taking the '97 on dirt, given my build.
But I have no problem taking the '10 on dirt. Well, apart from the
times I have come off it. That reminds me, I should book the offroad
course...

Sand should be good! Dig deep enough down into it, and your feet can
reach the ground! Same goes for excess weight in the panniers

Still watching long-way-round. Charlie eventually discovers the hard
way that he should dump a few kg from the panniers...

It's no prob on the go. It's barely a prob in the city.

The 650-cum-800 I also rode around Europe was roughly the same weight,
but it was almost as fun to ride on the tarmac. It's seat is made of
marble though. Glad I brought along the airhawk.

The real 650 from a few years ago also didn't have a brilliant seat,
and the single pot makes your nuts go numb after a while. But still a
fun bike! Still just as heavy.

The '97 PD was a borrowed-friend-of-a-friend's bike that had joined
the 100kk club (his main bike had joined the 200kk club). 2 days into
the 8000km on it, I turned up at our mutual friend's place, and he had
a good look over it. Turned out the throttle cables were about to
snap. It drank a lot of oil, which I wasn't used to, so forgot to
check it for a bit of a while (oops!). It was thirsty on the dinosaur
juice. And then the clutch cable half snapped at the top of Alpe
d'Huez. And the battery flattened which exhibited itself in a
horrible mechanical sound when the starter didn't engage properly (a
new battery was a lot cheaper than my expectation of needing to pay
for a new ringgear or gearbox!). So it was definitely showing signs of
age. But fortunately, the shaft was still good.

Next time I go with a hire bike for the entire duration with 3000k on
the clock

Good!

 

Trevor Hedge . . see MCNEWS.com.au

 

Trevor used to be an Ausmotian too.
That was then.... (sadly) this is now.