Achtung!

So today I rode a mate’s GS800 and his mate’s Adventure.

I didn’t exactly expect it to convert me but more of a “ride all the bikes” experiment.

As even he’ll admit the engine itself is boring as all hell on the road. I rode the F800ST previously back to back with my Buell and it was the same story. It’s essentially too linear in it’s torque delivery and therefore doesn’t have a powerband of any kind at all. You also can’t hear it AT ALL above say 100km/h. It really is a train motor, essentially like a non-turbo diesel. Which is great for off-road I believe, so it’s just a bit too biased in that regard for my needs.

Suspension though is a charm, even on the road and you can definitely feel the different between comfort, normal and sport. Even sport though is nowhere near properly sport compared to my bike which is essentially track bike in comparison. Definitely easier on the body than mine.

Ergonomically it’s also miles more comfortable than mine and you could do 500km on it without even getting stiff I imagine.

Oddly I found the indicators a pain as you can’t feel them click on properly.

He has some aftermarket foot pegs one which made it very tricky for me to stop even with a lower seat on.

I did enjoy the “Meerkat” and can see why the off road okes love doing it.

As a shorter guy his aftermarket windscreen was a bit in my face vs the Adventure I rode later but even so it actually has wind protection.

Which also means I noticed the crazy heat on both bikes. Especially coming up through the seat under your ass. At one point though it maybe has a heated seat and I accidentally put it on but then the other GS did it too later.

Semi knobbly off-road tyres are a non issue with traction control it seems, unlike my bare bones experience on a KTM recently.

Overall its a great bike and I can see why people go nuts for them. It’s just not the right bike for me, which makes me wonder about the 1200.

The Adventure version was more to my liking largely because it had a Remus pipe on which in this case changes the engine quite dramatically as compared to most bikes.

You can now hear it at speed and it revs up a bit differently and has a stronger sense of powerband.

Being taller with a standard seat it was actually easier to stop as the pegs didn’t get in my way.

Both are hell to lift off the stand though and I found myself cramping when first picking up each bike. Getting on it like a horse and leaving it on the stand is awesome though.

Wind screen worked better for me on this one as well.

Having spent a bit of time on the other bike first I was full of confidence now so laid chase to my own Street Triple…forgetting the warning about the front tyre being at it’s end.

Kept up well enough in the straights until I over committed on a downhill left hander and the front washed out. Don’t know if traction control saved my ass or I did it myself but needless to say I took the straight lines through corners after that instead of the max lean ones.

I’m definitely awakened to BMW, just not GS’s.

The R1200RS might still deliver.