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00:00Heyo everybody, Zach Kortz here with RevZilla, and welcome to another episode of Daily Rider,
00:06where we learn about bikes as we ride.
00:09Our guest today may be one of the most famous models in all of motorcycling, and this is
00:14the flagship.
00:15BMW's R1250GS, a horizontally opposed twin, some truly unique technology, all wrapped
00:23up in velvet luxury.
00:25Some people say it's the best motorcycle in the world, but is it a good daily rider?
00:29Time to find out, kids.
00:31Alright.
00:32Okie dokie everybody, here we are, R1250GS.
00:44There is a lot to unpack here.
00:46I think I said the same thing with the Multistrada, V4, Honda Africa 21100, this big luxurious
00:55adventure bikes, there's a whole lot to talk about.
00:59So focus up, Zach.
01:00Here we go.
01:02First things first, the engine, that is a 1254cc horizontally opposed twin, so the cylinders
01:11stick out from either side, very BMW, of course it made a lot more sense back in the days
01:15of air cooling, but BMW has stuck with it, and it sure is iconic, if nothing else.
01:23Single side swingarm, which looks kind of cool, sort of hidden behind the pipe there,
01:26but it's a single side swingarm, whether it's a Ducati or a BMW GS, whatever, I always think
01:31single side swingarm is pretty cool.
01:3319 inch front wheel, so not a 21 like on a Teneri 700 or an Africa 21100.
01:40Yeah, steel braided lines, good braking equipment in general, BMW brakes are usually quite good.
01:46One thing I do want to mention while we're here, because I'm going to talk about it if
01:49I'm halfway decent at my job, is this telelever system, I don't know how well you can see
01:54it, but there are two fork tubes, so sort of a standard fork, right side up fork, fairly
02:02thin stanchions, I think they're 37mm or something like that, but you can see it's braced with
02:08an A-arm that goes back to the frame here, here and at the top, a little bit difficult
02:14to see.
02:15What that is though is anti-dive essentially, so when you get on the brakes, the fork doesn't
02:18dive under braking, which means you have full suspension travel while you are on the
02:23brakes.
02:24Pretty nifty, and it's a shock that controls the damping and all that jazz, not the actual
02:33fork tubes.
02:34So, kind of nifty.
02:35You can see the radiator is mounted off to the side there, LED headlight, adjustable
02:40wind protection, we'll get to that later.
02:42So the base price of a 1250GS I think is like 18 grand, of course this one is almost 22,
02:48and that's because it has all the fixins, all the everything.
02:52It has center stand, heated grips, expanded ride modes, the tubeless wire spoke, cross
03:00spoke wheels, the dynamic electronically adjustable suspension might be part of that, I think
03:07the chrome headers are part of that, there's a whole gaggle of stuff that you get for upgrading
03:12to the premium package, which of course is what BMW provided to us.
03:17OK, it's a key fob, so push button start, and it fires up this big ol' TFT, which we'll
03:25dive into a little bit later, and then we'll make this sucker purr.
03:29Oh, we'll talk about the saddlebags a little later too, if we have time.
03:38Alright, let's make it happen, shall we?
03:42I think it's time.
03:45Oh, yeah, it came with a GPS, but I took the GPS off because, whatever, it was going to
03:52be distracting, I don't want to talk about the GPS, it's like 900 bucks for the GPS thing,
03:56it's a Garmin, it works pretty well, but I wanted to focus on the dash, and the sort
04:02of foundation of the bike today, so, no GPS, I think I know where we're going.
04:08Okie dokie, kids, we are off.
04:15So we can jump right into specs, luckily the spec panel that I usually present is pretty
04:20simple, because lord knows an R1250GS is not necessarily simple.
04:26Like I said, 1254cc engine, I believe the claimed horsepower is 136, claimed torque
04:35is 105, which has got to be brake horsepower, and yeah, it's got to be measured at the crank.
04:42The dyno numbers I've seen for this bike, just for reference, this is anecdotal, but
04:47about 115-120 horsepower at the wheel, and 90-92 foot pounds of torque at the rear wheel,
04:54which is nothing to sneeze at, especially the torque number, that's pretty good, that's
04:57like 1290 Super Duke numbers there for torque, which is always the gold standard in my mind.
05:03Yeah, now that we're at a stoplight, the seat height, 33.5 inches in the low position,
05:11the seat is manually adjustable, you can pop it up to 34.3, I think.
05:17I experimented with both seating positions, I often like the low seating position as long
05:21as I can tolerate the seat-to-peg distance, which in this case I can, because it makes
05:26the wind protection a little bit better.
05:28And as you can see, 6'2", flat-footing pretty easily at this stoplight, so yeah, 33.5 inch
05:36seat height, it reads high to me, but it doesn't feel quite that high to me in actuality, as
05:44they say.
05:45And now, gotta wait for a train.
05:50It's a train-waiting day, apparently, to get through the rest of our specs, what else were
05:55we talking about?
05:56Oh yeah, fuel capacity, 5.2 gallons, and when that tank is full, the GS on the daily rider
06:04scales weighed in at 565 pounds.
06:11That is without the saddlebags.
06:15Saddlebags weighed in at an additional 15 pounds each, so 30 pounds.
06:20So the bike, as we're riding it right now, although the tank's not quite full, 590 pounds,
06:26something like that.
06:27Pretty big bike, realistically.
06:30Okay, the minivan's trying to get the jump on me, I'm gonna get it, gotcha, gotcha, yes!
06:40My quickshifter, of course, on this highfalutin model of GS, up and down, so clutchless upshifts
06:48and clutchless downshifts.
06:52The ergonomics on this bike, really, really good, really comfortable.
06:57The big downside to the bike is that it's tall, and big, and heavy.
07:03If those are things that are agreeable to you as a motorcyclist, then you will find
07:11this cockpit, and this place to sit, very comfortable, jeez louise and jeez people.
07:19Alright we're out onto the freeway on the R1250GS, it's not so free this way, right
07:25now, it's kind of slow, we're going 60 miles an hour, I am going to adjust the wind protection
07:30though.
07:31So that's windscreen all the way up, which is obviously a pretty nice system, just spin
07:37that little dial, not as slick as the Multistrada system, the little pinch and slide, I really
07:46really like that system a lot, it's quite good.
07:51As cars pull in front of me, and I'm in traffic here, I'm reminded that the GS will have the
07:59same radar system that the Multistrada V4 I tested had, but this one does not, this
08:06is a 2020 model that I'm riding, BMW North America has not told me as of the publishing
08:12of this video when the radar bikes will be on US shores, but that's technology that potential
08:19GS owners can look forward to I suppose, because as we learned on the Multistrada V4 it was
08:24pretty impressive, this is just a regular old $22,000 GS, no radar here, not yet anyway.
08:34One feature I don't want to forget to talk about is cruise control, which is this guy
08:37over here, slide this little tower over to the right, and then this little toggle switch,
08:43you push it forward, and it'll set cruise control, and it's not particularly cold, but
08:49you know what, I'm going to turn on the heated grips anyway, just because I can, got vintage
08:54gloves on, and it's 64 degrees, which is a perfectly reasonable temperature to be riding
09:00motorcycles, but I'm going to flick on the heated grips.
09:07As usual, fuel mileage will vary a lot based on how you're riding, as with most motorcycles,
09:13I don't understand why the GS isn't geared higher, 6th gear, 3000 RPM, it's got lots
09:19of roll on power right now, but we're only going 55-60 miles an hour, 5th and 6th gear
09:23are basically the same as far as I can tell, there's very little ratio change when you
09:27upshift from 5th to 6th for example, and I don't understand why 6th gear isn't just
09:31an overdrive gear, so you can go 75-80 miles an hour and still just crank along at a really
09:35low RPM.
09:37It's a shaft drive so there's no chain sprockets, so you can't just change the sprockets to
09:40change gear, you have to change the rear end, which is a lot more complicated, the price
09:43you pay of course for no chain maintenance, which is a plus, I think, in my book anyway,
09:50don't ever have to lube a chain, because everything is bathed in oil down there, but yeah, kind
09:55of a bummer if you want to change gearing, which I would, I don't know, I would want
10:01to do it, I just don't know how bad I would want to do it, or how much effort I'd want
10:04to put in to doing it.
10:07Theoretically you can go well north of 250 miles on a tank, but I think you're going
10:11to be filling up more around 200, and that's fine, I think 200 is a good benchmark for
10:18a long distance machine, so I don't have a problem with that fuel range.
10:26Because I procrastinated so much on the highway I forgot to talk about mirrors, I just don't
10:29want to forget to mention, the mirrors on the GS are a little small, but really nice
10:33shape and very very smooth.
10:37Also one of the benefits of the horizontally opposed twin, it's kind of BMW's thing.
10:44I fudged up the first footless stop, we're 0 for 1 on the GS, not a great start.
10:51Here we go, footless stop, we can do it, we can do it, nope, couldn't do it, interesting.
10:58I was just about to say that the balance of the GS is really really good at low speed,
11:01which I think is true, it's remarkably agile, the turning radius is good as we'll experiment
11:08with later, I'm always impressed at how light on its feet the GS feels, considering how
11:16big and tall it is, but I have to say the footless stops are not going particularly
11:19well right now, are they?
11:21Here we go, third one, nope, didn't do that one either, interesting, very interesting
11:29Zach.
11:31My perception of the GS being well balanced by the way has been born over years of experimentation
11:37I've done u-turns on single lane gravel roads without putting my foot down on a GS and it
11:43just works really well.
11:45My footless stop test though, not going so well, ha, okay, I pulled that one off but
11:50that was not graceful, geez, interesting.
11:54Alright, last stop sign coming up that we usually count in the stop sign challenge,
12:00my confidence is very shaky right now, very shaky, here we go, here we go, here we go,
12:05we can do this, first gear, come to a stop, okay, okay, I done did it, but man, a lot
12:16of focus, not terribly elegant, I just can't tell you how surprised I am about that.
12:25One of the things I love about BMWs is the traction control adjustment on the fly, so
12:29if I hold this button down here, TC off, boom, just like that, if I hold it down again, boom,
12:33TC on, if I hold it down for a little bit longer, TC off, and then ABS off, hold it
12:40down again, TC off, now they're both off, hold it down again, a little bit longer, now
12:49both are on again, so yeah, boom, while you ride, don't have to shut the throttle off,
12:53don't have to do anything, shut off ABS, shut off traction control, if that's what you want
12:57to do.
12:58I appreciate that they gave me that power.
13:02But holy smokes, we're almost through Lovers Lane, I didn't talk about passenger accommodations,
13:04oh my god, way behind the curve here.
13:08The GS is quite comfortable, so says my lady friend anyway, yeah, the only thing that makes
13:13a GS better from the standpoint of my regular passenger is the top box, because then she
13:18can lean back on it, but I've traveled all over California with her on the back, I've
13:24ridden in Europe, lots and lots and lots of miles on a GS with my lady friend on the back,
13:31and she loves it, which, again, you're gonna spend $22,000 on a motorcycle, good to have
13:40your roommate sign on, in my opinion.
13:45Right into the twisty road section here, looks like we've got a spot of rain, so I'm gonna
13:49be a little bit careful, especially on the tar snakes, they are unforgiving when wet,
13:57but what I can tell you is that the GS, if you haven't ridden one, will almost certainly
14:03surprise the hell out of you on a twisty road.
14:06Flick it left, right, lean way over, drag the toes of your boots, it's so low effort
14:14for such a huge, complex motorcycle.
14:18So I think a Multistrada or a KTM 1290 Superventure S, other 19 inch front wheel adventure bikes,
14:26I do think they feel a little sportier and a little more conventional in a way that's
14:30familiar and welcome when you're really on the edge of the tire.
14:34I think that the GS does have better balance and better stability, for example, you come
14:40into a corner like this, so let's go into this corner a little bit too fast, I'm on
14:43the brakes, I'm on the brakes, I gotta stay on the brakes as I lean over, again, when
14:47I get off the brakes, the front end doesn't come back up because it never dove in the
14:51first place, that kind of stuff is pretty cool and I think that for a sport touring
14:58machine like the GS really is, it's a remarkable technology, it's unique and worth talking
15:02about.
15:04Right, out of the twisty road section, actually I'm going to turn off TC right here because
15:11as we know sometimes, oop, yellow light, hard on the brakes, you can take off here and experiment
15:20with some of the power a little bit here, second gear, it's a weird way that this thing
15:29makes horsepower, it's sort of like, it's very Teutonic, very German, almost emotionless,
15:36whatever you ask for, it just sort of like salutes and says, okay, das ist von tausend
15:40kilo, and if you ask it to do a wheelie, it says, okay, and it does it, but I don't know,
15:48maybe it's all the marketing and all the mumbo-jumbo around the company permeating my skull, but
15:55it always just feels like it, you hear that little pop it gave when it shifted from first
16:03to second?
16:04Little MotoGP pop, and it went up a gear, I'm going to need to talk about this dash
16:14at some point, but I just don't know if I'm going to have time, it is such a big situation,
16:22I do appreciate the sort of the matte bezel, and the matte finish, it makes it seem kind
16:27of clean, there's very, very little glare, which is excellent, air temp over here, it's
16:33telling me what ride mode I'm in up here, so with this button over here, I can tell
16:37it I want to be in road, dynamic pro, enduro pro, or rain, and it's a green light, so we're
16:43going with road, those people are bitching at each other via their horns, but yeah, it's
16:50a clean setup, the tach is, I've never been a huge fan of the sort of bar tach thing,
16:54but that's the way the gun these days, so many, many motorcycle companies go with the
16:59bar tach, sort of a space saver, speed, gear position indicator, it's all very just large
17:05and crisp and clear and clean, and yet, colorful, it has a sort of, there's some flair, it's
17:13got a luxury feel to it, which, you know, you come to expect for 20 grand or so.
17:20One thing I don't like about the gear position indicator is that little hat it always puts
17:23on the numbers, see the little hat, it's telling me to upshift from 5th to 6th, like, I'm only
17:29going 50 miles an hour, get off my back about it.
17:32Okay, so the top of the dash, yep here, that's fuel gauge, if I tap this top menu button
17:39I can toggle through what I see at the top, so I can see total, trip 1, tire pressure
17:45monitoring system, TPMS, that also comes in the full suit package that came on this bike,
17:51range to empty, and then fuel capacity, fuel gauge in general.
17:58So if I hold down on the, or sorry, tap down on the menu button, then I enter all this
18:03mumbo-jumbo, I can go to navigation, media, telephone, settings, all this stuff down here.
18:09If I tap down again, I go to information page about the vehicle, so coolant temperature,
18:17battery voltage, more TPMS info, onboard trip computer, this is where you come to reset
18:22trip 1 or trip 2.
18:25If you hold down on the upside of the button it brings you back to the main screen, which
18:29I believe is all I'm going to have time to talk about right now, yeah, green light.
18:34It is a vast and fairly complex dash system.
18:40All things considered, I think this dash on the GS is very much like the GS itself.
18:46It's unique, it's quirky, it takes some getting used to, it is nicely built, well put together,
18:54understandable once you know the secret handshake, plan to spend some time getting to know it.
18:58Don't necessarily judge it from your first experience is what I'd say.
19:04While we're at this red light here, I know there's a very bumpy section road coming up
19:07so I'm going to hold down the suspension button and I'm going to put it in minimum preload.
19:18If I tap this suspension button again, I can toggle between road and dynamic damping modes.
19:23Road is the softer of the two, for some reason, so now I'm in the softest suspension mode
19:29and when you do this, this thing rides like a Cadillac, man.
19:32It is so soft, so this bumpy section road, I don't know if you can see the fork dancing
19:36around down there, but it's just really plush and I think it's great.
19:46Some people think it's too squishy and soft, but I think the way the bike rides like this,
19:53especially on the freeway, you're riding all day, like riding along on the cloud.
20:00One thing I did want to address about the GS that I thought was interesting is among
20:04the many Instagram questions that were thoughtful and creative, there were a lot of very, very
20:11snarky comments and sarcasm about how like, oh, are you going to ride that GS to Starbucks?
20:17Or, oh, don't forget to take it in for the brake recall.
20:20What a piece of crap.
20:21I can't believe, this thing's way too heavy to ride off-road.
20:23Why would you need 135 horsepower to ride off-road?
20:29And I thought that was kind of surprising, but I think I deciphered what the deal is
20:36with all the sort of venom being spit at the GS, which is that it's the standard bearer.
20:46It's known as a luxury brand, first of all.
20:49It's known as the luxury model.
20:51It's famous.
20:52People have for a long time expected it to be one of the best motorcycles in the world.
20:58And it's fun to take pot shots at that particular machine.
21:02And it's easy also to expect a lot from the bike.
21:07So if a $4,500 Dual Sport has a front brake recall, people are sort of like, oh, well,
21:14I guess that happens.
21:15It's too bad for that company, but that's the thing that happens.
21:18Whereas if there's a brake recall for a $20,000 luxury bike, everyone gets up in arms and
21:24like, oh, what the heck, man?
21:26Like, kidding me?
21:27Bull crap?
21:28Like, what kind of cheap crap are they trying to sell me on this bike with a brake recall?
21:33So you can have your own opinions about whether or not I've cracked the code and why all the
21:39GS hate gets sprayed around, but that's something that occurred to me.
21:43And I would say that I'm a victim of it, too.
21:47I expect a lot of this bike because of what it is.
21:51So maybe it's not all wrong.
21:54All right, everybody, dirt shortcut.
21:58Let's do Enduro Pro.
22:00So I've got the pro dongle here, which means I get Dynamic Pro and Enduro Pro ride modes.
22:04So this is auto preload, which means it's going to feel how much weight is on the bike
22:08and adjust the preload.
22:09Other machines do this as well.
22:11It's kind of a nifty feature.
22:12And then I'm going to put the, oh, in Enduro riding mode, damping not adjustable.
22:19Okay, so it goes into its own riding mode, which feels pretty soft, but we'll see how
22:25it takes on the rest of the rest of the dirt here.
22:29And I got TC off for very obvious reasons, I hope.
22:32We're whippin' through the dirt here, kids.
22:39Oh, boy.
22:41And this wagon, it's back end around.
22:45It's got linked brakes, so when you get on the front brakes, the rear brakes apply as
22:51well.
22:54And we don't have a small jump anymore, but we do have a big one that we can hit.
22:59Here we go, everybody.
23:01Second gear, GS jump.
23:05Center stand flopped down and hit the ground.
23:07Suspension did not bottom out, though.
23:11It's a very impressive bike off-road.
23:13Someone commented on Instagram, oh, why even bother, why don't you just get a Goldwing?
23:19They're literally just touring bikes, so what's the difference?
23:21Well, I'd like to see you hit that jump on a Goldwing, frankly.
23:25The GS always impresses me with its poise off-road.
23:29It's a pretty nifty, it's a pretty nifty machine.
23:33Actually you know what?
23:34Instead of going on the pavement, I'm going to go over here on the dirt.
23:39I'm going to do some more dirt.
23:46I'll do a little U-turn around this box.
23:51Spin the tire up to pivot the bike.
23:54Amazingly easy to do.
24:00What a machine.
24:03Pretty, nifty, machine.
24:07Alright, we're going to flick it over to Dynamic Pro.
24:12And we already know that the little mamma jamma can do wheelies.
24:16But why not one more, right?
24:27Oh my gosh.
24:30So exciting.
24:33It's a really exciting bike.
24:36We're going to have to find out if we can back it in, so I've got to hold this down.
24:40And there we go, ABS off.
24:49Backing it in.
24:51570 pound adventure touring bike.
24:56Again, my overall feeling on balance was not reflected necessarily
25:05in the, oop, almost hit the guy with the picket there.
25:08Excuse me, fellas.
25:11Yeah, it was not reflected in the stop sign challenge, but
25:17it's a pretty fun bike.
25:19U-turn test.
25:22Alright, we should be good here. Steering sweep on GS is usually quite good.
25:26So we're going to come to basically a complete stop.
25:30Less than two parking spaces. I think that was tighter than the MT-07.
25:34So, pretty good.
25:37Yeah, that's one of the things I really appreciate about the GS.
25:41Is that good turning radius.
25:44Just think about sport bikes and some sport nakeds and stuff.
25:47Man, they've got such crappy turning radius.
25:50GS. Oh, you know what we'll do? Throw it up on the center stand
25:53because that's a thing that it's got.
25:56Nice feature for any bike like this, in my opinion.
26:00We'll take a listen to that snarl as best we can hear it past the saddle bag.
26:09Yeah, I don't know. Not everybody loves it.
26:12I think it's a pretty cool sounding bike, though.
26:15There we have it. R1250GS.
26:18We romped it around.
26:21I hope you guys had fun with that. I had fun. That was great.
26:24Instagram questions.
26:27First question is from StrikerEDV who asks
26:30Is the GS still the benchmark bike that all larger adventure bikes are measured against?
26:35So, the short answer is yes. I think that it is.
26:38Because it has so much pedigree and so much history.
26:41It's easy to track along a timeline how the GS has improved
26:44and how everyone else has matched up to it.
26:47However, I think that the competition has gotten good enough
26:50that the GS isn't necessarily the best bike.
26:53I mean, in my opinion, five years ago,
26:56the KTM 1190, bikes like that
26:59were taking a stab at certain sections
27:02of the GS market share.
27:05And you could ride a KTM 1190 and you could say
27:08well, yeah, it's better off-road. It's better balanced.
27:11It's got better suspension for off-road, that kind of thing.
27:14You could ride a Multistrada and you could say it's just a better sport bike.
27:17As a sport bike in the ADV world, it's better than a GS.
27:21But overall, to me, the GS was just
27:24it was quite a bit better. It did everything in a way
27:27that another bike didn't.
27:30But now, I think it's getting to the point, a Multistrada V4
27:33is its own animal. It's not better than a GS
27:36in my opinion. But it's not worse.
27:39It does some things that a GS just doesn't do and it doesn't give up a lot.
27:42And the same thing with a KTM 1290.
27:45So, yeah, I think we're getting to a point
27:48where if the GS wants to be
27:51the clear king of the mountain, they're going to have to make a big step forward.
27:54Next question is from Rover43 who says
27:57GS or GSA?
28:00Yeah, so GSA has a slightly taller suspension, a little bit more suspension travel
28:03and of course a big gas tank, 7.9 or 8 gallon
28:06gas tank.
28:09And it has a little bit more wind protection. It's a bigger, heavier
28:12piece of equipment. I like the GSA.
28:15That's probably what I would get because I like the fuel range
28:18and I don't care that it's huge because this is huge anyway.
28:21If you're going to ride it off-road, if you're going to ride
28:24single track a lot on your GS, you'd probably prefer to have this than the GSA.
28:27But the GSA is the one that I would get
28:30because I don't mind that it's tall and I like the big gas tank.
28:33Reyes underscore FZ
28:36asks, compared to the new Multistrada V4, what is the interval for oil change
28:39and valve check for this machine?
28:42Yeah, so I believe it's 12,000 miles for
28:45valve checks on this 1250 GS
28:48which, yeah, is three times as often as the Multistrada V4.
28:51So, something to keep in mind.
28:54The fact that that Multistrada V4
28:57is 36,000, 37,000 miles
29:00for valve checks. The new Harley Panamerica
29:03is never check your valves ever.
29:06So again, I think if BMW wants to
29:09if they want to be the standard bearer, they've got to move in a direction where they really don't leave
29:12any chinks in the armor.
29:15So, yeah, hopefully that helps.
29:18Next question. Mike Luddy asks, is it a noticeable improvement
29:21over the R1200 GS?
29:24This is a good question because
29:27yeah, the R1200 GS has a lot of the same features.
29:30I mean, I rode an R1200 GS Adventure
29:33from Fairbanks, Alaska to Prudhoe Bay, the top of Alaska
29:36and I spent, whatever it was,
29:40and it's the same heated grips, it's the same TFT dash,
29:43it's the same wheel set, it's the same suspension technology,
29:46it's the same stuff in large part, you know.
29:49The bike, yeah, and I mean I set the cruise
29:52control at 95 miles an hour and cruised along on a gravel
29:55road for hours. It was a super impressive
29:58machine and the 1250 is an evolution of that
30:01but it is not a huge
30:04evolution. So is it a noticeable
30:07improvement? Only just,
30:10in my opinion. I think if someone was going to say, if someone said
30:13to me, oh, I think I'm going to get an R1200 GS instead of
30:16the 1250, I would say, yeah, sure, do that. I don't think
30:19you'll be disappointed. There's a lot of the same technology
30:22available and even though it doesn't have some
30:25of the new whiz-bangs and doodads, it's
30:28still a great bike and arguably
30:31close enough to the top of the evolutionary
30:34chain of GSs that it'll keep you satisfied.
30:37Next question is from CJ underscore J15
30:40who asks, does it have that variable valve timing razzmatazz?
30:43Is it noticeable? Right, so
30:46I have not talked about this the whole time. As you can see
30:49it says shift cam here on the
30:52valve cover and
30:55there's a little system, a little servo that moves
30:58the camshaft
31:01over and it changes the
31:04cam profile, lift
31:07duration, that kind of stuff.
31:10I would say it is just noticeable if you're really reaching for it.
31:13If I got on this bike and no one told me that that was
31:16a thing that happened, I don't think I would have said, oh man, it just feels
31:19so crazy and different and you feel these two surges of power
31:22and you hear it click and clack and rattle like you do on a Honda VTEC
31:25one, like a Honda VFR800
31:28which sounds like there's a wrench in the top end sometimes.
31:31I don't think I would have really put it together.
31:34It just feels like a strong engine to me. Maybe I'm
31:37numb, dullered, who doesn't
31:40pick up on things, but to me
31:43it's not a sea change.
31:46It's cool technology
31:49that makes an already complex bike even more complex, which
31:52it depends on your opinion on whether or not that's good or not.
31:56But yeah, it does have the technology.
31:59I do think that it's cool, but it doesn't
32:02keep me from recommending a 1200GS, as you
32:05just heard. Next question is from Barnacle
32:08Hart who asks, is there any reason to buy this over an
32:11F850GS or a Tiger 900? I can just picture all the middleweight
32:14ADV bikes singing, anything you can do, I can do better.
32:17So, what you get with a full-size
32:20bike, whether it's a full-size ADV I should say, whether it's a
32:23F550GS or a 1290KTM
32:26or an adventure bike or
32:29a Multistrada V4, you get luxury. I don't think that I would
32:32get an 850 or 900
32:35mid-sized ADV because if you're going to do that
32:38then just go full zoot if you can afford it.
32:41I don't think that the amount of big
32:44that this bike is, is discernibly worse than
32:47one of those bikes. I don't know.
32:50I like the shaft drive, I like the boxer twin, I like the stuff
32:53the tail lever suspension, an F850 doesn't have any of that.
32:56And yeah, it's cheaper. But, if I'm going to go small ADV
32:59I'm going to go T7 or I'm going to go
33:02I don't know, even
33:05a KLR650 or something, you know, like go
33:08small and simple for real if you're going to do it.
33:11Alright, next question is from AndreasGTech
33:14not Andreas' first question that I've answered I don't think
33:17The question is, is the GS quote
33:20too heavy for off-road use or is this entirely dependent
33:23on the individual's grit and budget for potential repairs?
33:26I really like the way this question is phrased because there are a lot of people
33:29that said like, you can't take a GS off-road, it's too big.
33:32Well, you can. I've done it. I've
33:35participated in the GS Trophy in Thailand in 2016
33:38I watched GS's roll
33:41end over end down a gravel hill and then stood upright and started
33:45You can do it. It doesn't make sense. If you want a dirt bike
33:48get a dirt bike. Don't expect it to be an XR650
33:51or a KTM350XC. It's not a real dirt bike
33:54and I get it. But also, it is remarkably
33:57rugged and capable of
34:00trundling down a gravel road or even doing a little bit of single trail
34:03single track, excuse me, as long as it's wide enough
34:06So I like this question because yes, it is dependent
34:09on the individual's grit and budget for potential repairs
34:12OK, that is it for Instagram questions
34:15I just have one more thing I wanted to show you guys because I did get one question
34:18about this. These are the BMW Vario saddlebags
34:21They're like $1100 which is expensive for saddlebags. No two ways
34:24about it. And this right saddlebag is
34:27my least favorite part is that it has
34:30all this space from the muffler is taken up so you can't put
34:33a whole lot in there. One nice thing about these bags that's really cool
34:36is this is the BMW Vario bags which means they
34:39vary in size. So if you take this lever and you push it down
34:42you get a bunch more space in there
34:45and then you can close it the same as before
34:48or you can make it smaller and a little bit narrower
34:51It is a really nifty system
34:54and it's something I got a couple questions about so I wanted to address it
34:57and yeah, OK
35:00that's it. Let's get on to the leaderboard already, son of a gun
35:03Bear with me, OK
35:06Alright, here we are in
35:09RevZilla West. A little bit hectic
35:12as usual. Daily Rider
35:15leaderboard, orderly as usual, I think you'll find
35:18We've got the BMW R1250GS
35:21ready to go on the leaderboard and a quick reminder
35:24of where we stand here
35:27You know the podium, that's Ducati Multistrada V4
35:30with radar versus 650LT
35:33Just a very good overall bike as we know
35:36Triumph Tiger 850 Sport which nobody ever talks about
35:39or even cares about as far as I can tell but it is actually
35:42a fantastic functional
35:45machine. So we're messing with the podium here
35:48with the 1250GS
35:51So where do we think?
35:54Versus 650LT. Is it better than a versus 650?
35:57Man is it close
36:00I mean especially if you talk price
36:03you could have 2 maybe 3
36:06versus 650s. I mean brand new you could have 2
36:09let's be fair. But man
36:12that's something to consider certainly
36:15If they're sitting side by side in the garage
36:18most days I'm going to take that GS. It's just that good
36:21So Multistrada V4 S
36:24The valve interval thing is amazing. As a sport touring bike
36:27it's fantastic. Wind protection is good
36:30The range is pathetic. Maybe not pathetic but bad
36:33on the Multistrada V4
36:36So that's a nod to the GS. It's got radar
36:39This GS does not. So that's a nod to the Ducati
36:42I really like the dash system
36:45on the Ducati. The suspension adjustability is good
36:48I don't know
36:51I think though if it comes down to it
36:54Which bike would I rather
36:57take down a dirt road? Which bike would I be least sad
37:00to see tip over on a gravel road
37:03or a piece of trail or something like that
37:06GS
37:09I know some people will say oh I saw it coming all along
37:12I knew it was going to be the GS. The GS was bound to be at the top
37:15So predictable. Ridiculous
37:18But there it is. I think
37:21I think it's that good as
37:24a piece of engineering. I think though
37:27the Multistrada V4 S
37:30KTM 1290 Super Adventure S which deserves to be on this board at some point
37:33Those bikes are so close now. They're so close
37:36A GS is not better outright
37:39than a Multistrada V4 S
37:42But it's my leader board
37:45and I think I would lean toward the GS
37:48The fit and finish, the polish on it
37:51Especially from an engineering standpoint
37:54It's a tour de force still
37:57But BMW, word of warning. They're coming for you
38:00You better step it up
38:03If the next evolution is only as much as this one, you're in real trouble
38:06So there you have it. BMW R 1250 GS on the Daily Rider leader board
38:09Thanks as always for watching. I hope you enjoyed yourself
38:12and I hope to see you next time on Daily Rider. See ya everybody
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