INHERENT FAULTS OF THE BMW R1200 gs

OK, now that you can see I am totally unbiased, I have extolled the virtues of my travelling buddies choice of motorcycle, the Triumph 800 XC, even given their ego a wee bit of a leg up, I am now going to go a step further and bag the crap out of the BMW R1200GS, outline some of its inherent faults, faults I might add that Mark and I will have to put up with for all 22,000 kms of this trip and at the same time suffer the daily ridicule of our Triumph riding comrades because of these faults. BMW even had the audacity NOT to issue recall notices on the faults I am about to outline. OK here we go, and I apologise in advance to all BMW gs riders that are following this blog for bringing these faults to the attention of all our followers. I feel for you guys.

OK, pic one actually shows two common faults, namely the light front end and the super powerful engine, meaning it is uncommonly easy to lift the front wheel as can be seen in the picture, causing the riders sphincter muscle to contract momentarily, (a split second of discomfort therefore must be endured as a result) before the front wheel drops and the bike roars off toward the horizon.

Picture two shows yet another common fault, overly awesome brakes…… meaning the bike can stop on a dime in a split second. The rider has to be vigilant not to throw her indoors over the handlebars from the pillion position when conducting this braking manoeuvre. The triumphs ( opps I forgot to use a capital T) are not afflicted with these faults so the other boys are very lucky they are not on BMW’s.

Pic number 3 shows another common fault, again not the subject of a recall, but in the area of the hand guards on the front left of the handlebars. They are positioned in such a way that when a rider accelerates, the bike does so with such venom, the riders arm is forced up into that sort of victory position which can of course affect his control of the bike. Again, not a fault the Triumph boys have to worry themselves with…..they are soooooo lucky.

I refuse to outline more than four inherent faults, but picture four shows one of the worst. The bike is such a big handsome beast that if one stops of an evening, say on the Texas pan handle or the Desert in Arizona to admire the sunset, and the bike is not parked accordingly, its sheer bulk and presence can block out some of the picturesque view of the setting sun, so again, a fault we will be stuck with for the duration of our trip.

There ya go, that about does it, I could not have been fairer to kick off the blog and support my riding buddies. Not only have I extolled the virtues of their Triumph’s, but I have humbled myself and bagged the crap out of the BMW steed that both myself and Mark will have to put up with, for the duration of the trip.

Horse and Red are going to be all over me with praise for this blog and will probably want to shout me copious beers……..oh well, the things we do.

Keep an eye on the blog for more unbiased commentary during our upcoming travels, but just thought I would throw a few bikes specs up to tickle your taste buds before we kick off.

Wheels up on the big aeroplane tommorrow 26 June.

Over and out for today