Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Bmw Gs To Go Round The World : A Myth

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Quark (Post 131498)

This is only one more point on the graph of course, but I recently completed a 10,000 mile trip from London to Nepal on a R1200GS without problems. I thought it was an astonishingly capable bike. Very comfortable on the tarmac, and frankly amazing on gravel. No mechanical problems.

Just to add that we are now planning an Africa trip and have both decided to use the 12GS again. We just fell in love with that bike. It is possible that there are better choices at least from the point of view of ease of maintenance but ultimately the thought of popping your head of of the tent in the morning and knowing you're going to love every minute of the bike ride today is too much to give up.

steve

Is there a such a thing as a perfect bike to take on an around the world bike trip? If you think there is, you're kidding yourself.

When you go on such a trip, the most important thing in choosing the bike is to take one you're comfortable with and figure out the rest(parts, fuel, etc.)

Many have gone around the world on motos, before the GS or the V-strom or the Adventure came into being.

Pick your wheels and ride...

I have read some of the e-mails.

Lot of opinions. Some from experience, which is valuable.

I had XT, Transalp, now Vstrom1000.
All very different bikes IMHO. All great bikes to have.

I have seen people travelling the world with 15 year old bikes (Transalp, BMW, Ariel, Indian can you believe that?).

I know people who spend more time talkin than actually riding.... With made up and fabricated ideas, what do you call that?

Finaly, yes Vstrom is such a joke that keeps me smiling everytime I hit red start button since 2003.

It has been quite reliable for me. I had friends crashing same place with me on a dirt road covered with mud. They had their bikes towed. (You wanna guess which bike was that?) I just put it up and rode home.... Talk about reliability.

Have fun with your bike and let us know what was so great about it....
And please do not take the MC mag journalists to seriously.

Regards

Wow. This thread was tough to get through. I can't decide what to get now more than ever. I am not a seasoned RTW pro but I have done my share of riding. I have owned Suzuki's, BMW's and Kawasaki's. I admit the allure of these new beautiful bikes is tough to get around and I am trying to decide between the KTM 990 Adventure and the BMW 1200 GS. any opinions?

Hi Ross,
As you say Wow! if you want some reasoned argument about your question you will be best served by starting another thread with that title IMO!

This one has run "for ever" just for the original Beemer question - I feel as if I have been reading it that long anyway :rolleyes2:

Cheers,

Dave

160 000 km on my r11gs - at least 1/3 of this on dirt, filth corrugations and whatever else central australia has to offer, plus plenty of long days in the saddle at 170 - 190 km/h. lots of two up.

only one hassle to report: final drive bearing gave out at about 150 000. recent gearbox overhaul revealed nothing untoward.

yep, it's heavy, but the centre of gravity is low too. you just have to ride well - they don't feel as big as they look.

i must agree that it's a good idea to stick to giving opinions about the bikes one knows about. V-srtrom or CapoNord? i wouldn't have a clue, and never will to judge by the way the old BM does its job.

:thumbup1:

Quote:

Originally Posted by LordStig (Post 127207)

Just had a good read through this thread - all highly amusing. I have to say that I love these bikes, and although I would never buy an R1100-1200GS to travel where there might be quite a bit of off-road because of the weight and small front wheel, I would consider one for gravel roads with the odd pothole.

Going back to the point of this thread, for me the reputation of the big GSs is largely inflated, if not unfounded as such. There have been some great RTWs on GSs by some of the Heros that have become household names to most of us here (admitedly mostly on airheads). My problem comes in that here in England the bike press routinely come out with the line that the GSs are the only bikes that CAN go RTW. Most of this is since Charley and Ewan went the Wrong Way Round. Before this, the category of bikes now known as 'Adventure Tourers' (first appeared on the side of Honda Transalps) were thought of as irrelevant by the English bike magazines, since they were obviously too slow to be sports bikes and two heavy and fragile to be off-roaders. The R1100GS was well recieved as a road bike, but not as a potential backwater tourer.

Part of the problem here is that rough land touring by bike has been a bit of a fringe activity in the UK. This is mirrored by the fact that (since the demise of the short lived 'Motorcycle Voyager') we have no tourer-specific magazines like Tourenfahrer. More and more magazines are running articles on 'adventure touring', but it's easy enough to see that in most cases the people writing have very little knowledge on what this sort of thing is all about.

The long and the short of it is if the big GSs suit your style of riding and touring (as for Margus) then no other bike is as good. If you need something lighter and more offroad oriented look elsewhere. It was obvious from Ewan and Charley's escapades in Mongolia that they had chosen the wrong bikes (it was not even as if they needed the extra luggage capacity with four wheeled back up). Regardless of reliability issues, choice of the right horse (bike) for the right course (part of the world/route) is an important part of making the trip work. But where there is a will there is a way (or greedy relations....). I just wish people who know nothing of the subject would stop telling me that an R1150GS is the only bike that will make it up a gravel track. I know they are wrong.

Stig

bmw 1150gs is the best all rounder :scooter:which says it all

how you rid not what you ride

Quote:

Originally Posted by mollydog (Post 112511)

If you own all three bikes then its clear this thread would NOT be important
to you. You can obviously afford to do whatever repairs are needed, no questions asked. When the warranty runs out, buy another new bike.:innocent: Easy. "No Win"? No, for you, its "No lose". Sign here sir.

The key to this thread has to do with BMW reliability over the long term and BMW mythology concerning same. I don't reject the reasons why your BMW speaks to you...its all good. But how does it treat you a long way down the road?....after the warranty runs out?....far from the dealers electronic gadgets you speak of? Funny, my bike needs NONE of these things for me to work on it!

Yes, "some more than others" is for sure the case....But don't you really mean: NO BMW can be worked on by the owner because it requires proprietary computer diagnostic software and unobtanium special tools?

After all, just how does one "fix" a CANbus error code or ABS problem on the side of the road? My Vstrom has no ABS and has conventional, easy to diagnose wiring. And besides that, it never fails.
True, if my ECU fails I'm screwed, same as you. But ALL modern bikes, fuel injected or carbs, have an ECU. On Japanese bikes, failure is NOT an option.
Also, I can re-program my ECU in three different ways that I know of.
1. YOSH box, from Yoshimura. The size of a pack of cigarettes.
2. Dynojet Power Commander
3. Teka box

All three allow the owner to mess with the F. I. especially the Teka box.
Most owners set and forget. Never needs attention and failure are about
one in 30,000.

I think a lot of BMW owners really like the feeling of belonging you get owning a BMW. For such a small company, BMW has several very strong owner/rider organizations. Only Honda trumps BMW here. BMW also produces the best ad campaigns in the business with clever ad guys coming over from the very well financed car side to dream up these award winning marketing oscar winners.
(I work on commercials so I know a bit about this) And its this Hollywood
magic, in all its forms, that perpetuates the BMW myth. And it works.

The cache and illusion of "Ultimate" and myths like "German Percision" all play
prominently in the the BMW ad patter. And you know what....? It works!
In fact, its worked on you!

No, just a sore loser, in the "lost argument" :lol2:
http://patricksphotos.smugmug.com/photos/72069626-M.jpg
As far as riding goes, let me know when you get in this situation (4000 miles from Canada) and see if you can get the BMW dealer to come pick your GS
Adventure up off you......and don't forget the
Cappucino...and make it snappy! :eek3: (and bring a crane please and an
Orthopedic surgeon, like the guy in the picture who really is a surgeon!

Patrick
:scooter:

If you can't pick it up you should not buy it.
I have done 40000 miles on my 05 1200 GS only had brake pads and tyers and 50 miles to the gallon, also met a bloke who knocked his all to pieces in 7000 miles and got 40 to the gallon. Seams to me it's all more about the riders than the bikes!!
Tom osment

So you've never taken your bike in to the dealer for service, is that it? :cool4:

Yes, rider is very important but even David Knight would struggle on a GS.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mollydog (Post 153821)

So you've never taken your bike in to the dealer for service, is that it? :cool4:
I'd love to have a look in your dealers computer to see all the things they've done on your bike....besides brake pads and tires.

Are saying that if your gentle with your GS and take care of it nothing will ever go wrong....like on your bike? :eek3: Man, you need to meet some of the GS owners I ride with!

Rider not bike? Are you suggesting if you were where the guy in the pic was, you could have made it through without falling off? :rofl: Now that's funny! Unless your name is David Knight...I'd shut your cake hole ...cause you have NO idea what your on about. :thumbup1:

Shouldn't buy a bike you can't pick up? Really? Do you work out with Arnold?
I've love to see you get out from under a fully loaded GS.....say 750 lbs. worth?...which is typical of a set up RTW GS.

Yes, rider is very important but even David Knight would struggle on a GS.

I hope the next 40K are as trouble free as the last....when does your warranty run out? :censored:

Patrick:scooter:

So do I as I am riding to india next year, figured if I could do 12000 miles through Africa befor mobiles and lap tops should be a piece of cake to ride inda. Glad you were impresed with the gs's reliability. we gs riders don't use the word cake hole Patrick, you got to laugh. Sorry mate I have had no probs with my 1200.
Regards TOM

I think this thread is making two blatant mistakes in generalizations...

1. Grouping BMW's and considering them similar...they is a tremendous amount of diversity/differences in their product line, not just across models but over time on the same model.

2. The perfect bike for an RTW exists and arguing on a forum will discover it...the Holy Grail might be easier to find. In choosing a bike for an RTW trip, the rider's route, riding and mechanical skill level, etc. are big factors in giving him flexibility in bike choice.

BUT I do agree with a prior poster that we should not propagate the marketing, forum hearsay, etc. of bikes we've never ridden or owned for a significant period.

DISCLAIMER:
I own and rode a 93K75s with 50k miles before the trip, around the world...putting 33k miles on it in the process in 2007.

That bike crossed the Sahara twice(Western Route and via Niger, Algeria), the Stans, Mongolia, and to Vlad(via the Zilov gap)....in one singular trip. It is not considered by many to be worthy of off-road worth but it handled its business with no real issues.
So I am partial to defending the BMW brand on that specific model. BUT since nobody considers it an Enduro, I won't have much defending to do;)