With a new, bigger, and arguably better GS on the way, the price of the current BMW R 1200 GS and R 1200 GS Adventure could soon come down for crafty buyers. So which do you want to spend your hard earned dollar on? We grabbed the keys to a GS and a GSA to find out.
Now the BMW R 1200 GS shouldn’t need any introduction – it is one of the most revered and loved bikes around the world – but with the range moving to new larger capacity engines with variable valve timing in 2019, it does pose an interesting question. Do you buy the new model, or save your money and go for the horse of the family – the sensibly sized R 1200 GS – or the elephant – the R 1200 GS Adventure?
Putting aside the macho global traveller image that comes with the GS Adventure for a moment, the bigger bike does offer a lot more of just about everything over the standard R 1200 GS.
Starting at the front, the wheels are 19-inch spoked items over the 19-inch cast alloy of the GS, while the fuel tank grows to a massive 30-litres!
Not only that, the GS Adventure comes out of the box with auxiliary LED fog lights, taller suspension, meatier footpegs, luggage racks all ready to help you conquer your next continental adventure and crash bars, should everything come tumbling down.
It sounds like a hell of a proposition, especially when all the extras on the GS Adventure only cost $2000 over the price of the base bike. But the R 1200 GS isn’t a bad option either, and in some ways, is the far more sensible option to spend your money on.
The GS may ‘only’ have a cast alloy 19-inch front wheel, but if sharing the adventure is more in your wheelhouse, it is much more pillion friendly with a sumptuous seat for both the rider and passenger. The GS Adventure is rather lacking in this department when compared to its lower-priced sibling, with our test bike featuring the Rally seat – which while cool, and importantly, very useful on off-road terrain – does leave little room for a pillion to perch themselves on.
Then we get to the approachability factor. No surprises here, the GS Adventure is a monster to walk up to and swing a leg over, so much so, that I found myself using the meaty off-road style footpegs as a step ladder to swing up and onto the giant Beemer.
That sense of size doesn’t leave you for some time either. At a standstill, the GS Adventure feels simply massive – the two-wheeled equivalent of BMW’s X5, which itself feels like your piloting a small moon around the streets – and while all that weight essentially vanishes once you are underway, I felt myself dreading coming to a stop and having to put a foot down.
The taller seat height that the GS Adventure brings to the table doesn’t help this either, with the bike a further 40mm taller than the base GS at 870mm. Not quite the difference between riding an elephant and a horse, but combined with the big tank, it was more than noticeable for my 176cm frame.
The GS, by comparison, is a downright lightweight at 244kg – a full 19 kilograms lighter than the Adventure – but it does show its more road-oriented hand early on in the experience.
Not only does it make getting on a breeze by comparison with the Adventure, but you also don’t have the meaty bear claw footpegs down below and a seat that cossets your butt like all good touring seats should.
The biggest difference when it came to our two test bikes was in the electronics suite, however, with the tested GS Adventure actually missing out on BMW’s fantastic TFT Connectivity system. The TFT would normally be an optional extra in other markets, but here in NZ BMW Motorrad like to deck their bikes out to the nines and as such, all R 1200 GS’ sold to the public – irrespective of trim – will roll out dealership doors with the TFT dash.
To say the TFT is a step ahead of the more traditional clocks as seen on our test GS Adventure is almost an understatement. In nearly every way, the TFT is the superior system to the analogue clocks with LCD inserts, as seen on older R 1200 GS models.
Since it has been quite some time since I rode an R 1200 GS, I was again quite surprised at just how different it is to ride a BMW with Telelever suspension.
The first thing I noticed when I hit the road was a sense of utter comfort. The Telelever does wonders for rider comfort. The system seemed to float over everything and it took substantial abuse to upset the bike’s tracking, but it does come at a cost, and that is a lack of front end feel.
That said, I never actually had any suggestion that the factory-fitted Michelin Anakee tyre was struggling to grip the road, which is probably helped by those incredible electronic rider aids BMW is so good at equipping its bikes with.
After a couple of weeks with the horse and the elephant, would I go the extra $2000 deeper into my bank account and opt for the R 1200 GS Adventure?
Well, for my money – or lack thereof – I think the GS Adventure for all its bells and whistles, just offers a bit too much for real practical motorcycling in most New Zealand conditions. The huge 30-litre fuel tank is just obscene and is really way more than you actually need in our tiny country unless you're allergic to service stations, plus the added height and weight really take a noticeable amount of added effort to live with over the regular GS.
The ‘regular’ GS makes a far more sensible buying choice I feel, but then again, is buying a motorcycle ever a sensible choice?
BMW R 1200 GS
Price: $33,990 (with Connectivity)
Engine: 1170cc Air & liquid-cooled DOHC flat twin
Pros: Sensible size, good pillion accommodation, will do most of what the Adventure can
Cons: It doesn’t have Adventure in its name
BMW R 1200 GS Adventure (Rally)
Price: $35,990 (with Connectivity)
Engine: 1170cc Air & liquid-cooled DOHC flat twin
Pros: Capable, tough, macho image
Cons: It’s HUGE
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