The All New LIQUID COOLED R1200GS threadfest

G'day !

I don't know how to translate words or impression of some journalists, but having done few thousands km on the new GS, I would say that she flies well and loves bumps. Give me couple more months and I will give you realistic feeling about her handling on real tough and enduring international bad roads. The ones we love most !.. :)

Thanks man. So all promo talk and a couple of (very) good words about the bike.

OK you realize you need to give MORE info about... everything. (like who are you?)

(which is hinted by your photo source...)
http://www.t3.fr/

Yes, and fwiw, a good friend an race companion of me was at the journo days in SA as well. Asked him specific about any head shakes with the new gs, and he never felt any problems whatsoever. I need to mention that he is a really trackday enthusiast and no off road rider at all.
He rode the wheels off the new baby on the paved roads, and the bike performed flawless .
Mine will be delivered on the last week of march, and the first trip is planned on the second week of April. The trip will include the German autobahn (top speed ), and the Sauerland hills

I don't have links to the pics right now. But this particular piece is what is installed and it is supposedly gives the GS much better handling. True that this piece is also used for the 21' wheel, but this billet CNC machined part is said to give more rigidity than the cast unit.

I'll have a go on one - but the new KTM makes me smile more just looking at it. Still can't see either taking the place of my MTS. 3rd gear inadvertent wheelies are good for the soul..

Hahahahaha right?
Good. Get into any conversation any time and start with your . hahahahaha

Well we here are trying to have a conversation and Mr. JVB refused to acknowledge the stanchion tubes as forks hence I used that explanation.

Now can we ?

Good.

I believe it to be entirely possible. And here's why: I believe that those miles were all ridden by professional BMW test riders. Coming from a software development background, I can tell you that it is quite possible to have a whole bunch of professional testers beating the hell out of some code as thoroughly as is humanly imaginable, finding problems and seeing them fixed and then re-testing, only to find that once the software gets out into the hands of users, that new and unexpected problems crop up. We scratch our heads and ask "how in the hell did they manage to make it do that?" etc., but it happens. If nothing else, perhaps the final drives benefited from the extensive testing.

Hi NLS.

More info ?.. Well, my name is Eric, from France. Or “Frog“ if you prefer.... I ride GS since 1988 and organise GS world tours for french GS riders since 2008 and we have made together a total of over 2.000.000 km since October 2008 across 5 continents and 18 countries. Mainly with 2 people per GS and with as much dirt road as we can, since we love it. We don't race and we don't look for trouble. So I'm probably not the best expert to tell you if GS is strong or not. I can only witness of what I feel and on what we break or not. I ride my 2008 R1200 GSA which has today 140.000 km or rallies on the clock.

With previous GS models we never broke any engine, gearbox, shaft or main organ during those rallies; Only breakdown we had is when us the rider got out of countrol by our own enthusiasm.

So regarding the new GS I am in charge of organising the One World One GS world tour with 2 new GS stock from factory and with no special preparation. Some spare parts in case, few spare tires and one back up 4x4, rented locally for our image prod team, . 5 tours to go in 5 continents with 5 different GS riders, inlcuding some with no offorad experience. They share sucessfully one of the 2 new GS and I ride the second one for the world tour.

I 'm not really interested about the motorbike itself in general but mainly about what I can do and where I can do with it.

That's why I say if you allow me couple months to finish our world tour (Laos is done, we starting second journey next week), I'll be able to witness on what went good or bad. So far so good.

Cheers

Re: Smaller/thinner
I think unsprung weight comes into it as well, less weight = faster reaction = more prone to tank slap

Over at Scotts Performance the decision's already been made,
new sailcloth for the boat is assured for this season.

996DL

LOOKING the new KTM makes you smile?
Why? It is ugly.

That said, it is probably again the ONLY real competition to GS.

MTS is a siting-up street bike (whatever else Ducati wants to say to people). Much more limited than real dual (or multi)-purpose, but very good at what it does (not at what it advertises to do),

3rd gear wheelies are possible even with the current GS, not simple power-wheelies but still, easy to do.

Very well put (and very true).

There is a reason much software has open betas. Also a reason why there are always V x.1, x.2 etc.

You are talking about a replacement of the lower attachment point for the telelever, bothing like a fork brace, and certainly not on very many bikes. As far as I know there is very little difference in rigidity. It is designed for moving the fender up. The stock one has never been identified as a weak part.

Jim

Tough crowd over here. It seems that the only thing that chafes more than a fat bird's thighs are potential GS owners.

Nice intro, and what a picture

>Over at Scotts Performance the decision's already been made,
new sailcloth for the boat is assured for this season.

996DL<

Are you saying that Scotts is going to have a stabilizer for the new R1200GS and, if so, how do you know this? They do not make a kit for the pre 2013 R12GS bikes as far as I know.

I can't believe they don't make a kit for the current-gen GS/A. I pestered them several times about one and each time they said it was "in development". How $%&* hard is it to "develop" a bar clamp and mount for the post? :huh

I finally bought the GorillaZilla mount for my GSA and couldn't be happier. I think "transformed" is too strong a word, as the bike already handled pretty damn good, but the Scotts damper took out whatever uneasiness the bike may have had when fully loaded and/or in strong cross winds or bad road conditions.

I was having problems with my '11 F650GS -- headshake on pavement with TKC-80s when bike loaded up, at 70mph and above. I upgraded the suspension with intiminator valves in the forks and a Ricor shock in the rear and that vastly improved the bike's handling all the way around. But I still thought the front wheel was too light and twitchy off pavement. Added a Scotts stabilizer recently and it did "transform" the bike. And lets the suspension shine. Riding off pavement now compared to before is positively like cheating (and I need all the help I can get).

I have an '09 R12GS that I dearly love and I have a 2013 R12GS on order. Given my recent experience with the Scotts on the F650GS, I'd like to add them to both the R12's too. But I did not think that was an option. I am encouraged to hear that Scotts may be getting ready to release their stabilzer and appropriate mounts for the R12 bikes.