This weekend I had the opportunity to compare a 2007 R1200GS to my 2006 Triumph Tiger. First let me thank my dealer, European Motorcycles of Pittsburgh for loaning me the GS while my Tiger was being serviced. I was able to put a little over 300 miles on the GS. My first impression was that the GS seemed bigger. The second thing that struck me was the sound of the engine. It was a bit "flat" sounding when compared to the triple with the Triumph Off road exhaust.
The first few miles I had to "relearn" where the turn signals were and how the operated. BMW has a unique set up to say the least. The GS tracked smooth and both turned in better and felt more stable than the Tiger. I found that I could very quickly navigate a twisty road with much more precision and "feel". This isn't to say the Tiger wasn't able to hustle through the twisty...it just that the GS was more precise and felt much more stable.
On the highway the GS didn't feel near as fast or as powerful as the Tiger Triple. Power delivery seemed to be smooth and progressive with the GS. The Triumph accelerated much harder and got up to speed very quickly. Again...the GS wasn't slow by any means; it just lacked the explosive acceleration of the Triple. The ride on the GS was just phenomenal. Smooth and rock steady. Much better wind protection and in short what I felt to be a better design for the rider.
Two up my wife seemed to prefer the seating position and seat of the GS over my Tiger. Her feet were lower due to the peg position and she seemed to think the rear seat was more comfortable. I didn't much care for the side cases on the BMW. They were a plastic box shaped to mimic the aluminum panniers available from the aftermarket.
I've ridden both the 1150 and 1200 GS's. The 12 felt a lot better than the 1150, but neither were bad at all.
My main reason for passing over the GS at purchase time was the longevity of the bike itself and myriad impending reliability issues...
Final drive failures, CanBus problems and electrical failures, right cylinder oiling problems, having to disassemble the entire rear half of the bike to periodically lube the clutch splines...
No thanks.
A shame, really. They are nice bikes. Not worth 17 grand, but they are nice.
Nice review. The Boxer engine is quite different from the triple and really needs to be "learned" in order to get the most out of it. It wants to be driven hard unlike the Tiger that pulls and pulls no matter what rpm. The Boxer likes to be above 5K and below that is akin to lugging it. Ride the bike where the engine prefers and it's quite snappy. The suspension on a GS can not be compared to the Tiger's. They are in a completely different league and is the only thing that would make me consider the much higher price tag. I miss the Telelever front suspension.....
I'll buy another Beemer but it will be used as I don't believe the high price is worth it. All that being said, I love my Tiger and it's a far better bike for me than my RT was and I was not looking for the heavier or larger feeling that the GS offered. I'll be looking for the 800GS if it's ever available in the U.S. and I suspect that it won't be replacing my Tiger but my Suzuki. I think my Tiger will be replaced with another Trump. I love my Tigger!!!!
I'd consider an F800GS IF they price it accordingly. Basically, cut a grand off the selling price to account for shock replacement and perhaps another $500 to account for the necessary fork mods. And them go ahead and knock off another $300 for a GS911 code reader, so I don't need to ever speak to the dealer again.
Until they price that bike competitively, I'll hang on to my coin.
Agreed. I was putting my money down on one when I decided on the Tiger instead. I made the decision to purchase an 800GS after they hit the market used. Now that I have my Tiger I doubt it would be a replacement for it but my Zook instead. It's a great bike but I won't pay the premium. Fortunately the re-sale on a Beemer has been good. I sold my 12 year old RT for not much less than I purchased my Tiger for and I bought it used for around 9K with about 10K miles on it. It held it's value so while I paid a higher price for it I did recover. My Tiger cost me less and I'll get less for it. The trade off is the same except for the up front cost.
Quote from: "JetdocX"Until they price that bike competitively, I'll hang on to my coin.
That'd be the coin you blew on the Steamer? :lol:
No, the coin I KEEP blowing on the Tiger. :x
Anyone wanna buy a slightly used Steamer? :lol:
Sure. How much do you want to give me for it?
For antoher rack-o-ribs, you might could have it. :D
Quote from: "JetdocX"For antoher rack-o-ribs, you might could have it. :D
Deal. :lol:
I must be getting old. I can't find a bike to replace the Tigger with. My list of wants is small. It's got to have an engine like the Tiger, similar styling, and above all a shaft drive. Easy you would think, shame it ain't so.
I can't even find two out of the three!
Well.....I pulled the trigger on a new GS tonight. I'm taking my last ride on the Tiger tomorrow. It seemed to suit me a bit better for what I want/need in a bike. The tiger community is wonderful and I still hope to attend some of the ride-in's (as long as I'm not excommunicated from the group :D ).
Congrats!!! Ride that Boxer hard and she'll speak to you and go to bmwsporttouring.com and you'll learn quite a bit about your bike. The Beemer has character and needs to be learned in order to get the most out of them. Have fun and good luck gearing that shaft drive down for off road..... :roll:
We have a lot of GS folks up here, i haven't had the opportunity to test ride the GS but I have wondered about the performance comparison. I probably don't have the time on my tiger that a lot of you have so I have question. I read a lot about the tiger suspension being a weak point. Will a fork spring and rear shock upgrade get the Tiger closer to the GS in stability and handling ?
Quote from: "John Stenhouse"I must be getting old. I can't find a bike to replace the Tigger with. My list of wants is small. It's got to have an engine like the Tiger, similar styling, and above all a shaft drive. Easy you would think, shame it ain't so.
I can't even find two out of the three!
Have you seen this ?
http://www.webbikeworld.com/Moto-Guzzi- ... s/stelvio/ (http://www.webbikeworld.com/Moto-Guzzi-motorcycles/stelvio/)
Seen it Fishbone and ridden it. It's not quite there yet. Suspension is too hard, even on it's softest setting and the fuelling is awful!
Give it a year when they get the aftermarket exhausts and fiddle with the suspension settings and it will be lovely. They haven't sorted out the buffeting from the screen though :roll:
With the Gs having the Tele-lever front end you will never get something with the same feeling from a standard fork set up.
Gs, also suffer from rear shock problems.
fitting harder progressive springs and slighly thicker oil in the front forks could well improve things on the Tiger.
Congrats on the GS. You're going to love it.
+1 on www.bmwsporttouring.com (http://www.bmwsporttouring.com) (or www.bmwst.com (http://www.bmwst.com)). There are lots (thousands) of great folks there.
Remember to keep the RPMs up. http://bmwsporttouring.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Board=9&Number=177321&Searchpage=1&Main=17646&Words=%26quot%3Bkeep+the+revs+up%26quot%3B&topic=0&Search=true#Post177321
I found a local shop the did the fork and spring up grade aon my tiger. Now she is rock solid in the turns. I notice another 10 miles per hour in the curves and that is riding two up.
Kiger