A motley selection of car and motorcycle media were invited to Mpumalanga to sample BMW’s GS range. It was a two day affair with a day on the tar and then a second on the forest roads and trails that this part of Mpumalanga has to offer.
05h30 am and that pesky alarm goes off. The clouds of sleep quickly abate as thoughts of riding BMW’s range in one of SA’s most glorious motorcycling areas loom. Gear is thrown on and we all head out to the parking lot of Angels view hotel for clutches out at 6am. It’s a glorious day. JHB chills are left far behind as the 1300’s LED headlight pierces the Graskop predawn darkness as we head for the World View lookout point.
After yesterday’s 200 odd kilometre road ride through all the mountain passes, the early morning shift was an optional extra and the few who went along smiled all the way. The sun was just beginning to make its appearance with orange and red hues tinting the skyline…. ‘twas glorious I tell you. The only sounds are the birds starting to awaken in the trees and the tick, tick from the now silent bikes cooling in the fresh dawn light. It’s quite simply, fantastic. We do live in a beautiful country.
And it improved as the Motorrad photographer Rob Till made an appearance with steaming cups of coffee again. That golden hour or two was spent shooting pics that are quite simply impossible to get during a launch with heaps of bikes, people and so much going on. Back to the hotel for breakfast and we rejoin the later risers. “It was really not great” was the standard tongue in cheek line, “You didn’t miss much!”.
We split into our previous days groups, today it was our group’s turn to explore the gravel roads and trails from Graskop all the way back to the airport outside White River.
Two GS 1300’s and two new GS900’s were present for duty as we rumbled our way down the pass to Pilgrims Rest. (You can read our road impressions on the bikes in RideFast Magazine). Just outside Graskop, we took a ‘sho’t left’ as we exited town and started wandering up a rocky hill into the forests…
The R1300GS
Enduro Pro mode selected, the 1300 was simply singing away as it effortlessly climbed and turned, climbed and turned, first, second and third gears as we ascended. This BMW might be a big 1300, but it feels smaller than the 1250 predecessor…. and despite the fact that it is significantly more powerful, it feels smooth and easily manageable.
Standing is comfortable and natural, the tank is narrow between your legs, and even when you slow right down on the tight bends, she never stalled. She carries her weight low down, especially since they moved the gearbox back and down a bit. The suspension feels good, no bottoming out or wallowing, pretty cool cruising. That shiftcam 1300 is a real peach, smooth when you ride sensibly and a beast when you open her up.
What goes up must come down and we soon wound our way down the hill and across a little stream, along some fast,open gravel roads, where we probably went a lot faster than what is sensible, into the forest where we all regrouped, had a chat and started to swap bikes…
In spite of the fact that the 1300 is smaller than its predecessor, she is still a big girl. Taking on more technical terrain requires a bit of caution and common sense, the bike is probably better than most riders. Gravel roads are smoothed out, a great explorer for sure. It’s quite amazing to see what BMW has done with their GS1300.
Swapping out:
The middleweight ADV category is properly competitive right now and BMW is paying attention. Bikes like the Yamaha Ténéré 700 and KTM’s various 790/890 Adventure models, Honda’s XL750 Transalp, Suzuki’s V-Strom 800, and Triumphs Tiger 900 have changed the game. BMW’s old 800/850 simply does not cut the mustard, so BMW has set out on a mission to win some of this lucrative market share.
“Right. Chaps, I’d like to please ride a 900 now please?”
Said riders ignore the request completely. “Cmon oakes, be lekker, I’ll give you the 1300, just let me have a go!…
“Please! Ag Cmon!” Eventually, they relinquish their grip on the F900 GS and we take off before minds can be changed. What was quite interesting was the fact that on yesterday’s tar ride, only the 900 Adventure was present. The Base model and the Enduro were reserved for the predominantly dirt ride.
These bikes are not simply re-hashed 850’s.
BMW has gone and built something that’s quite special. The bike not only looks smaller, its design looks fresh. The F 900 GS is well-equipped in its base form. Standard equipment includes a six-axis IMU and two riding modes (Rain and Road), plus ABS Pro and Dynamic Traction Control. A 6.5-inch TFT display with smartphone connectivity is part of the package, as are hand guards, heated grips, an adjustable aluminium shift lever, and self-cancelling indicators.
The 900’s suspension has been upgraded, now with an adjustable 43mm fork holding a 21-inch front wheel. The rear damper includes adjustable preload and rebound damping to control bumps acting on a slightly lighter aluminium swingarm. Suspension travel is a generous 231 mm in front and 216 mm at the rear, resulting in a 871 mm seat height. An aftermarket low seat brings height down to 835 mm.
BMW have used their 895cc liquid cooled parallel twin motor straight from their F900R/XR. That engine is up from 853cc thanks to 2mm bigger bores, new cylinder heads and forged pistons 2mm and gains an additional 10 bhp. The new motor offers greater grunt than the F850GS it replaces. Plus, the bike is 14 kg lighter than its predecessor.
If you’d like a more aggressive off-roader, BMW offers an Enduro Pro package which includes bars, stronger brush guards, risers, Showa suspension up front and fully adjustable Sachs unit out back. Guys, these 900’s are very different to the 900 Adventure that we rode the day before. These ones are like dirt bikes on steroids, and before long the bikes were blasting through berms and aiming at the roughest terrain. We were pinching ourselves to remind us that we were on a 900 and not a Tonka Toy.
It’s still a 219kg, 104bhp machine and you need to keep that in mind. The slender bodywork, long travel suspension, 21 inch front 17 inch rear and a slender 900cc parallel twin just work together to make a bike that’s seriously fun to ride off the beaten trails.
It’s not as aggressive or exciting as some of the other 900cc odd bikes in this class, and that might appeal to more conservative riders. But it’s no slouch by any means. There’s a nice rumble from the standard-issue Akrapovic exhaust and power delivery is smooth, manageable and controllable, especially in the off-road riding modes. The standard (Green ish) one in the pics is stock and for most applications, it’s just great, but harder riders or riders with a dirtbike background will absolutely opt for the Showa setup. It just feels stiffer and a lot more racey.
On the road (The bikes had Metzeler Karoo tyres fitted), we saw speeds well in excess of the national speed limit, so for touring, you still have speed and torque for everything you need. Where you might want to have a look is at the passenger seating. The Adventure is for your best buddy to sit out back, the 900 seat design is happier with a solo rider.
It was only a short spin on these bikes, so hopefully we can get them again sometime and maybe pit them against some opposition machines. But the improvement over the old 850 is substantial and we really had a lot of fun…
To catch up on our road impressions, please check out RideFast Magazine.
At your dealer.
