Page 28 - Riding On Autumn 2022
P. 28

BMW R1250GS






                                                              The following Thursday morning they were delivered back.
        May 2021, after the first                             Excellent service.
        NSW Covid lockdown, I
        tested the BMW R18 for                                I did a night ride to test the magic self-levelling headlights. At
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        Riding On.                                            the curve of the bend but good enough. When full darkness
                                                              arrived, I was out near Bungonia and cursed the factory head-
        I had taken my 2013 Triumph Tiger Explorer to the dealership   lights, they weren’t bright enough for country riding with no
        and left it there while I had the R18. While waiting on the R18,   background street-lights, and, given it was pretty hairy, I risked
        I had a wander around the showroom and had a close look
        DW WKH VWRFN RI 7ULXPSK DQG %0: ELNHV RQ WKH ÀRRU  *LYHQ ,   the Hume to get me back to Moss Vale. Mistake! almost side
        had a black SUV and Yellow Boom Trike, the 40th anniversary   swiped twice when overtaking, as the trucks didn’t see me.
                                                              Not happy. So, I did some research and ordered the Denali
        R1250GS caught my eye, gloss black with yellow decals, it   .LW  ' ¶V  0RXQWLQJ EUDFNHW  &RPSDFW 6RXQGERPE %  UHDU OLJKW
        made me smile.
                                                              and the Cansmart. I had them sent to me and I did it myself
        A week later, my mate Sam came over, proudly showing me   successfully. YouTube was fully supportive with relevant videos
        his Rallye GSA. My wife came and had a look and given I was   and I took my time. Fully plug and play. Lesson learnt, don’t
        VLWWLQJ RQ LW  ¿UPO\ VWDWHG WKDW LW ZDV WRR ELJ IRU PH  :HOO  , FDQ   buy through a dealer as I had duplicate items left over where
        give her credit for starting me thinking about that GS which had   parts of the kit overlapped things like harnesses and controllers.
        caught my eye a week earlier.                         Buy from a specialist supplier. Which is what my mate Sam did.
        6R  D IHZ GD\V EHIRUH , GURSSHG R໤ WKH 5    , UDQJ WKH GHDOHU   I then repeated the night ride and am now very happy. The
        and traded in my Tiger, for the 40th Anniversary GS. I hadn’t   integration with the bike and the ability to make changes via
        even ridden it. The big day came and I returned the R18 and   the BMW Wonderwheel impresses me.
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        again banned me from ever going to a dealership on my own!  I then bought a kickstand enlarger and a cheap set of risers. I
                                                              bought the risers to see if they improved the ‘riding triangle’.
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        I had added a few ‘farkles’ to the order, Vario cases, a wrap to
        hide the silver panel on the luggage cases (making the luggage   a set of Rox Risers. Job done; they improved the triangle by
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        all black with matching yellow decals) a SatNav and a headlight
        protector. Of course, only the SatNav was there when I picked   I have since added a bash-plate under the centre-stand, and
        up the bike.
                                                              extenders to the front and rear mud guards plus extenders to
        , WKHQ  ZLWK P\ PDWH 6DP  NQRFNHG R໤ WKH ¿UVW WKRXVDQG   the hand guards. I had the wrap put on the Vario Cases, added
        kilometres in double quick time. A ride to the Araluen Pub for   another rack on top of the Vario cases with textile bags that
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        lunch covered a lot of those. The day after, our Gladys put us
        LQWR D VHFRQG ORFNGRZQ  , ZDV XQDEOH WR JHW WKDW ¿UVW VHUYLFH   wouldn’t buy the BMW version.
        done as I live rural and the dealers were in the lockdown areas.
                                                              The bike has now had a few thousand kilometres put on it,
        The weeks dragged by. I then, spoke with another BMW dealer   sealed and unsealed roads (we have plenty of trails around
        ZKR VHQW D YDQ  IUHH RI FKDUJH  GRZQ WR .DQJDURR 9DOOH\ DQG   .DQJDURR 9DOOH\  SUREDEO\ WKH EHVW DOO URXQGHU ELNH , KDYH HYHU
        picked up both mine and Sams bikes, on the Monday morning.   ridden. The ride modes are amazing, I use Road and Enduro
                                                              the most, Dynamic is pointless when I am pack riding and



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