Motodisiac

So here’s a little story. I have a friend who’s a surfer. He’s never ridden a motorcycle in his entire life (although he claims he did it successfully once when he was 10, and it was a piece of cake for him). I am obviously a motorcycle rider. Never surfed. The other day he sucked me into this argument about what’s easier to learn - to surf or to ride a motorcycle. I personally think that it’d be easier to be a beginner in surfing than in motorcycling. He of course thinks otherwise.

My reasoning is that motorcycling involves more things to be taken into account as an activity than surfing. Also the situation could change way faster in riding than in surfing. At least beginner surfer has almost zero chance of hurting himself, so that makes it easier. Generally you should progress faster if there’s less fear of getting hurt.

What my friend and a few of his backers were saying that you could teach someone how to ride a bike during a weekend course. And the same could not be done for surfing. Therefore it’s easier to pick up motorcycling.

While we could not find a true measure of complicity or ease of either of the sports we decided on the following. He’ll post this question on a surfer forum he’s a member of to get the feedback from surfers who ride. I on the other hand will do the same on a motorcycle forum to see if there are riders on here that surf who could share their opinions and experience with both sports/hobbies.

Of course we are not talking about professional and/or competitive levels in either of the sports. We both agree that pretty much any sport has virtually the same level of difficulty the closer you get to the top.

So there you have it. Please feel free to voice your opinion. I am not opposed to be proven wrong. It’s just so far I am not too keen on admitting that only because a couple of my friends told me so. They also tell me I am a douche because I ride a motorcycle to begin with, i.e. they can’t be trusted.

On Sunday we did much longer ride and we switched bikes again. Now my impression on big GS somewhat changed.

I think what really affected my initial opinion is that the first time I rode GS I haven’t been riding all day. I just hopped on BMW straight away, and it surprised me.

This time I actually rode my Multistrada for good 50 miles in the twisties before switching to R1200GS right in the middle of out ride. If you ever switched the bikes like this, you know what a strange feeling it is to ride something different right away. You body and senses still remember your bike, and now you are on something different.

The second I got on GS I realized that it’s completely different animal from Ducati. Some people were referring to apples and oranges, I would say it’s more like oranges and potatoes - besides having two wheels these bikes have little in common.

Right away GS feels like a monster compared to Multistrada. It’s much wider and longer, and even taking it off the side stand revealed that it’s pretty porky. Once rolling, the sheer size of the BMW somewhat disappears, but you still get a feeling that you are on some sort of agricultural equipment. The bars feel very wide, and the second you click the bike into first gear you start wondering if this gearbox was designed in 18th century. The gears shift just fine, but it’s missing the sharpness of better gearboxes and the spacing between gears is huge.

Flicking the bike into corner reveals that while the bike itself inspires a lot of confidence, suspension is not up to task. In fact you have no idea what it’s doing, it provides zero feedback. It may be OK if you are just cruising around, but start pushing it and you always wonder when it’s going to give. I guess you will never know until you end up taking a sample of tarmac. The brakes are pretty good but you do not feel them much because of front end setup. I didn’t get too aggressive for above reasons so I do not know how they would do when being pushed.

If someone can point out more uninspiring engine, I would be surprised. If feels pretty much the same whether you are in 2, 3 or 4th gear no matter what RPM’s you are in. Most of BMW fans refer to this engine as a Boxer. Well, do not expect it to punch, and please call it FLAT because it is. It does it’s job of propelling you to desired speed just fine, but manages to do it with zero emotion.

R1200GS is a very comfortable cruiser. I absolutely loved how you do not feel any wind pressure on your chest. It has a bit more turbulence than Multistrada, but it’s easily solved with a set of earplugs. The seat is pretty good (the bike I rode was equipped with Touratech one piece seat) but the foot peg location is pretty awkward, the pegs are not where you expect them to be the first time you sit on the bike. BMW controls take a while to get used to them, but I actually like them, especially the turn signal buttons.

So it’s time to actually compare R1200GS to Multistrada. Even though these two are in similar segment of motorcycles, they couldn’t be more different.

Multistrada - quick, fun bike to ride that allows you to be aggressive of mellow depending on your mood. It will do pretty anything GS could do (short of single track trail) with a lot more flair and emotion. I think it’s twin in a car world would be BMW M3 (E36 body, 1995 - 1999) - fast, comfortable, stylish and sporty with enough comfort and refinement built into it to be your daily driver.

BMW GS - Some people refer to this bike as a tractor. Despite having some characteristics of the latter, it’s a little quicker than your average John Deer. This bike provides amazing versatility. You can commute on it, take it to the desert without the fear of causing big damage in case of a small drop, take it for multi day thousand mile trip or simply head for local canyons on the weekend. It will do everything with relative ease, while keeping you comfortable. It reminds me of Volvo station wagons - practical but not the driver’s cars.

I believe it takes certain personality to ride big GS. You are chill and relaxed. You never rush things. Everything you own it built to last. You do not get goose bumps hearing F1 car screaming at 17000 rpm’s. You want to experience adventure, but it’s mostly related to things you see and smell, and not the things you feel.

Multistrada owners are all kids at heart. We demand emotion from the bike - whether it’s good or bad, we want to feel that we are alive.

Both bikes are great at some things and not so good at others. It’s all about what you want from your ride. I wasn’t trying to slam GS or Multi, I love them all.

If I learned anything from this test ride, it’s that my Multistrada needs to be improved for more comfort. Everything else is just what the doctor ordered. Wind management project is in the works…….

OK, I’m deeply touched by BMW GS test ride (see another thread) Here is my idea of what Multi should be like: Ducati soul with BMW wind protection.

My Photoshop skills are poor, but here is the idea:

BMW GS Windshield (located in exactly the same position as on GS)
Hypermotard front fender (stock fender will be mostly eliminated but my Photoshop knowledge is exhausted)
Buell Ulysses Headlight

I know this could be done with minimal amount of fabrication. Well, minimal is pretty relative.

Bottom line is if I could achieve this, I do not have to buy 1200 Multistrada. What do you think?

A friend of mine just picked up 05 R1200GS and we switched bikes yesterday for about 15 - 20 minutes. I came away VERY impressed by the bike, it’s everything I expected it NOT to be. It was really hard to get back to riding Multi again, such a strange feeling when you ride two bikes side by side.

First thing that really surprised me is how light BMW feels once you are on it. It’s sheer size looks very intimidating when you are standing next to the bike, but throw your leg over and you forget about it right away. Start rolling, and it becomes even lighter. Unlike some other bikes that take a while to get used to them, big Beemer inspires confidence straight away. I felt very comfortable if not outright aggressive is slow corners, and that is telling something because I usually struggle with this category of riding.

Seating position is very relaxed and comfortable. The bike feels very long, and you are sitting right in the middle of it. Handlebars are pulled back and much wider than Multi handlebars. I think this is one of the reasons this bike is so easy to handle.

The bike is not particularly fast or responsive. It is certainly slower than my 1100 Multistrada. However that didn’t bother me a bit, it still has plenty of power to keep things exciting. There is virtually no vibration at any RPM’s once you get out of lumpy idle, it almost feels like the motor is attached to the bike miles away from you. You know it’s there because it makes the noise (quite pleasant by the way, but the note doesn’t really change with RPM increase) but you do not FEEL it under you. This is 180 degree difference from Multistrada where you know that engine is alive as it sends it’s vibes to you.

Brakes are OK but nothing to rave about, with the rear brake being non responsive to me pushing on the pedal. Yes, the bike doesn’t dive as you brake, but it doesn’t make it better. ABS, on the other hand, is something I wish my Multistrada had. Not that I got a chance to use it, but it’s nice knowing that it’s always there guarding you from your poor braking.

My favorite thing about this bike (besides it’s easy handling) was how comfortable of a cruiser it was. Despite the fact that the windscreen didn’t feel much taller than the one on my Multistrada, I felt absolutely no wind pressure on my chest. In stark contrast, on Ducati you really have to hold on to the handlebars as the wind is blasting you fiercely. This makes the latter bike questionable long range cruiser. BMW gives you a feeling that you can ride it all day long without any wind associated fatigue.

Things I didn’t like about GS: well, I really had to think about it pretty had to come up with something negative.

Gear box didn’t have the best feeling, which is from my experience is very typical for boxer BMW’s. It was shifting fine, but the shifts were missing the refinement and sharpness of some other bikes (Ducati is not a benchmark here either, to me it’s Honda with it’s perfect gearboxes)

Instrument panel wasn’t very readable, but this could be attributed to the fact that I wan’t used to the bike.

Engine could be a bit more lively, and it probably is on 2010 model with it’s HP2 4 valve heads.

So overall I could really see why R1200GS is such a popular bike and why it has such a following. While I’m not hurrying to sell my Multistrada to buy GS, I could see myself owning one sometime in the future.

Meanwhile I will concentrate on making my Multi more freeway friendly. Ugly barn door aftermarket fairing or Laminar lip is out of question, but since I know exactly what works (and have donor GS that I could use for parts ) I will try to design something similar. I think it’s mostly windshield angle that needs dramatic change. I wouldn’t mind getting rid of that poor headlight and robot looking fairing either. Stay tuned….