Lonesome .... as an ex-Beemer rider I had laugh over your last para! :D

KalahariGeorge... you can read more about my travels on my BMW at
Gone Riding eBook: Dom Giles: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Exactly! These people never stop to think that BMW bikes are sold to and ridden here by people on a daily basis. Do they ever think about what fuel we run? Or better yet that we actually ride all over the place here in spite of the US government issuing travel warnings about where we live?

The US government doesn't know jacksht about motorcycle touring, nor do any of the US media outlets. Not everyone gives a damn what they have to say.

My daily ride is a GSA, it's a great bike and I love it. However I've chosen something smaller and more basic for my forth coming tour of the America's. Something even I can fix!
Single cylinder, carburated DR650.
I have 20,000 trouble free kilometers touring in Australia on it. The DR reminds me of a donkey....DRonky. In 18mths or so when I'm back home I'll let you know what I think.

And BMW of all motorcycles,will throw you out of warranty if you use BP gas due to the high ethanol content...at least here in Chicago....and the USA has some of the worst gasoline on the planet, when it comes to motorcycles.

Just always use Super in CA.

There are plenty of BMW's in Costa Rica. 800 & 1200, the other big bike now for locals is the KTM.

There is so much to see and do in CA,you can easily spend 2 weeks alone in Guatemala,Nicaragua, Costa Rica for each, and not see everything. The mountain riding in the highlands of Guatemala, northern Nicaragua,and all over Costa Rica, is fantastic.

:funmeteryes:

For sure get the shaft drive checked, that would be an issue in many of the countries to repair.

AS for taking a 125, that seems very small to me, especially with gear, not that you need much in the tropics, but its mainly mountains in Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama. I would want a more comfortable bike, and a larger CC for power, at least a 250, but I prefer adventure bikes, and ride a Triumph Tiger 800, as I can still go off surface with it when I want, as most the coastal roads are gravel...

I was programming a new 1200GS the other day.

I noticed in the programming options that I can set the bike to run on 91 gasoline.. It's an actual option but not something you can do yourself. You'd have to get it done at a dealer. I guess it retards the timing to prevent knocking.

BMW recommend 95 MINIMUM..

Interesting.

In Illinois, there are actually special blends of both Diesel and Gas, we had a 1200RT in on a trade and it kept stalling on me, was not good downtown in rush hour, so I called over the Bimmer and the SA said clean out tank, put in Mobile, and some Fuel Injector cleaner for 2 tanks, it worked, I had put in BP after the trade on a ride, dealer said it void the fuel injection warranty...what BS..

Diesel here is also a major problem, Mercedes Blue Tech's are hardly sold anymore in Chicago, and the BMW Diesels are having fits too, stalling etc...not so much for domestic or trucks though....odd.

I love a good manual diesel....:thumbup1:

Nevermind all the tank expansion issues and recalls the last 5 years, thanks to Ethanol...major problem for motorcycles makers...