BMW R1200GS Adventure Well and Truly Tested in Arizona

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BMW R1200GS Adventure Well and Truly Tested in Arizona

SPEEDtv.com's Neale Bayly heads to the Arizona desert to test the BMW R1200 GS

Neale Bayly | Posted March 03, 2008 Charlotte, NC

The frame, forks and rear suspension are all standard GS1200 fare, with the major differences being many of the parts that are accessories on the GS now come standard on the Adventure. (Photo: Kevin Wing)

Having tested the original R1200 GS when it was launched in Las Vegas a couple of years ago, I had been getting lots of rest and eating my wheaties in preparation for the introduction of the new R1200 GS Adventure. As the motorcycle of choice for the hard-core world adventure-traveler, as well as a serious all-terrain tool for discovering America, BMW always picks a challenging route to prove the durability of their world traveling, two-wheeled SUVs. Choosing Sedona, Arizona for this year’s launch, with a couple of hundred miles of dirt road mixed with some pavement thrown in, we would ride to the Colorado River before heading back up to the top of the Grand Canyon for a flight home. BMW wanted to make good and sure we conducted a totally thorough test for this exiting new machine this year.

So what makes the new Adventure so special? For those familiar with BMWs unique line of off road motorcycles, to say it is basically a factory-accessorized 1200 GS would be a little meaningless, so I give a brief history. BMW buffs might want to skip this part, as it will be old news to you guys, but way back in 1980, BMW took the bold step of introducing the R80GS. A simply massive dirt bike at that time, it eclipsed any of the other on/off road offerings of the day, with the its Japanese competition coming in the form of various single cylinder machines like the Yamaha XT series, the Honda XL line and the Suzuki Drs. Before anyone writes in, Kawasaki did produce a very useful KLR 650 that is still available to day, but it didn’t appear until 1987.

In 1987, the R100 GS arrived, with a Paris/Dakar version available a year later for a handful of extra coin. It featured BMW’s new Paralever rear end, and was a significant improvement over the older 800cc versions. This eventually enlarged to the GS1150 in 1999, and in 2001 a top shelf version of this GS arrived in the shape of the R1150GS Adventure. An intimidating large machine, my fist experience was when Roy Oliemuler stuck me and a camera man on one through some of the most horrendous terrain you could find in Florida as we chased a group of 50 plus GS owners out for a ride. Ably led by Paris/Dakar nutter Jimmy Lewis, and world travel guru Helge Pederson, the nastier and dirtier it got, the happier they became. Strange lot.

This generation finally gave way to the GS1200 that debuted in ‘04, and after my futile attempts to break it over the punishing terrain I knew the weakest link in the chain during testing of the new Adventure would be yours truly. So in preparation, I had started walking to the mailbox instead of driving and cut out my ration of Twinkies for a whole three days before we got there.

SEE THE BMW PHOTOS HERE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Neale Bayly

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