[Dano]

The gsa seat is adjustable and i am at the lowest setting. When i tired the lowered seat i did not feel cramped at all. I feel it will suit me fine. Have not tired the standard gs seat. When i look at your pictures i can see the diffence in height and the lowered is about .75 inches lower that what yours is. I may at some point get the gsa seat redone and with difference stuffing and leather i may be able to bring it down to level that suits me as well. It is in no way terrible for me but if it is possible to have it better then why not.

 

[cug]

Note that I use my seat in the high setting. []

I'm 6' even with 34" inseam. I have pretty long legs for my size and have no problems with a GSA with the seat in high position. Just didn't want to buy a GSA, I like the more nimble GS better and can easily live with the tank range.

At the dealer I tried the GSA seat on my bike and it's pretty much perfect for me, but due to the forward slope less so for my wife.

 

[cug]

Second Farkle

Slowly but surely I'm making progress with adding exactly the pieces I want to the bike. I don't want to add too much, don't want to make it heavy or ugly, but I do like to make some changes for protection (bike and rider) and for comfort (rider) and add luggage.

First things first, bike protection this time around:

This is the OEM aluminum cylinder head guard. I got it free as part of the deal when I got the bike and today I installed it.

Installation is very simple, you remove three screws on each side, hold the guard in place, use three slightly longer screws and some special washers for distance, torque it to 10NM and done. Took about 10 minutes overall. And I was slow as I lost one of the washers which fell into the plastic part under the cylinder head. Unscrewed that, got it out, installed the screws for the guard in different order to make it easier and good it was.

The guards have thick rubber pieces underneath which sit tightly between cylinder and guard. They should protect the cylinders during a tip over or a very slow speed get off quite well. I'm not sure I want to add engine protection bars as I think those are kind of ugly and they are definitely heavy. They also add about 2cm width on each side, which isn't a problem at all as the handle bars are still wider.

 

[Doc Robert]

Hi Cug

i too am thinking of the GS in about a year from now, so I'll be reading your posts with interest and gratitude. Keep them coming!

 

[cug]

I'm not sure how long I'll keep it up with posting here and on my blog. I normally write on my blog and I now added a blog purely meant for the R1200GS:

http://r1200gs.event-s.net

Right now, I'm not sure where I'll keep on writing, whether it will be here or on the blog.

 

[cug]

So, I've made some additions and details can be found in my blog:

- added Adventure Winglets - very happy with them so far
- added Fastway foot pegs with rubbers
- reviewed the MC Products low mount rear rack

And wrote a bit about engine vibrations.

Overall I'm very happy so far and I'm slowly but surely making the bike "mine". I have some stuff on order, like a Givi top case rack, Hammerhead Shifter and some small items. Still looking for luggage.

 

[Old'n'Slow]

...

And wrote a bit about engine vibrations.

...

I am interested in what you said about the vibration coming and going but I am more concerned about the effect of the vibration on your feet and hands. A lot of people seem to poo-poo it and write it off as 'it's a twin, what did you expect?'. I expected some vibration but what I didn't expect was to want to throw my bike in the nearest ditch because I was in so much pain on my first decent long ride immediately after the 600 mile service.

As I am considering going to a boxer next year, I will be following your ongoing exploits with great interest. I don't relish having to go through that particular pain barrier again.

 

[cug]

I am interested in what you said about the vibration coming and going but I am more concerned about the effect of the vibration on your feet and hands. A lot of people seem to poo-poo it and write it off as 'it's a twin, what did you expect?'. I expected some vibration but what I didn't expect was to want to throw my bike in the nearest ditch because I was in so much pain on my first decent long ride immediately after the 600 mile service.

To describe the feeling: did you ever have cold feet for a longer period and have that result in some kind of pain even after warming up again? Very similar. It's not really problematic, but more than just annoying. But it's slowly going away again and if it goes to the point where it had it before, I have no issues at all with it.

It's probably also different from bike to bike. I see some differences depending on which kind of fuel I use, at least that's my latest state of guessing. I don't know for sure as it takes quite a while to test the theory and I'm not on a long trip where I would pile up miles fast enough to find out.

The boxer is not even close to being as smooth and vibration free below 5k rpm as the inline twin Rotax engine. If I could get an F800GS with a very similar chassis, fairing, seat, and features as the R1200GS, I would very much prefer it over the R. It's all a matter of balance and at the moment it tipped over to the R side for me, even given the vibrations.

As I am considering going to a boxer next year, I will be following your ongoing exploits with great interest. I don't relish having to go through that particular pain barrier again.

If you don't like vibrations in a motorcycle, get an F bike and stay below 5k rpm or get a Triumph Triple or one of the smooth 4 cylinder engines. But those can be at least as bad as any other engine as it is normally the high frequency vibrations that cause real trouble, not the low frequency. I was on the edge of getting a Triumph Tiger, but I deliberately chose the R and so far haven't regretted that.

 

[cug]

And again: more and longer updates will always be on my blog. But I will give a status update from time to time here.

 

[Dano]

Sounds like your getting nto the groove of you bike. I have about 2000k on mine now and love it. Done about 3-400 of that on loose surface and it handled it very well. Posted a bit of a trip report of my last venture. Had a riot.

 

[cug]

I'm at 1240 or so right now and it runs pretty good. The vibrations are going away again since I switched back to premium fuel. Weird thing. Can only guess what this might be and my only guess so far is that the knock sensor is playing tricks so that ignition timing and fuel injection aren't perfectly matched anymore which results in vibrations. I'm going to stay on premium for a while, then try a different fuel again. We'll see what comes out of that. As I'm keeping track what fuel I use when and where it should be an indicator if the vibrations come back again.

I think the next additions will be a higher windshield (for longer touring) and a top case. I got the Givi base plate mounted already and I'm just deciding which top case it should be. Anybody have any recommendations? I'm looking at Givi E55 and V46. I normally need to fit one helmet plus some smaller stuff. Two helmets would be nice sometimes but it's not a hard requirement anymore.

 

[cug]

Some updates

Since the last post I have done quite some updates to the bike:

• Added a Hammerhead Shift Lever (Blog Post), got the +15mm first but it was too long, now have the +5mm and that's perfect.
• Installed a Givi Airflow Windshield. Good Results so far. But still optimizing. (Blog Post)
• Bought a virtually unused Givi V46 from a co-worker - got a really good price and decided that's better than getting an E55 for standard price. (Blog Post)

Those are the changes I did.

No news on the vibrations front - it seems to be an on / off thing. Sometimes more, sometimes less. Have done a 600 mile weekend trip to Lake Tahoe and it worked out fine. Still love the bike.

Planned:

• Lights - some kind of driving lights. Undecided on the specifics.
• HID conversion of low / high beam.
• Unplug the canister (don't take it out just yet) - mainly for finding out whether it's the cause for some problems I'm experiencing when the bike was parked in the sun.
• Optimize shift lever position. Needs to go down a tiny little bit.

And ride it more ... lot's of work at the moment.

 

[cug]

New photo with the farkles installed:

 

[EJ_92606]

Any updates? I'm thinking of switching from f800ST to a 1200GS. Is that the Givi windshield? is it an add on to the stock windshield...it almost looks like a laminar lip type thing? How is the wind with it? Any buffeting? I'll check your blog too. Thanks.

 

[cug]

Oh my - yeah. I haven't been updating this thread for quite a while. Here's a very quick and brief update:

1) Switched rear rack to a GSA rack and got a Givi E250 plate to mount the V46. I will not use that most of the time but mount it if I need it. My normal case will be a Pelican Storm 2100 mounted to the rear seat area. More info coming on my blog.

2) Switched from Givi Airflow to GSA screen with optional Touratech Spoiler. Give Airflow was ugly, the GSA screen gives me 90% of the functionality, with the Spoiler it's actually better for me. Also removed the Tobinators.

3) Installed BestRest bash plate and removed it again - not going offroad, no need for a large bashplate. That's just useless weight for me.

4) Installed Micatech V-Pilot panniers. More info on my blog. Might post something about them later here.

5) Installed and removed PivotPegz. The Fastways are better for me.

6) Have some Hella lights in the garage, no time to install them yet.

I still love the bike and plan on keeping it for quite some time.

 

[EJ_92606]

Thanks...you've done a great job with it. I like the white! How about the vibes in the engine as it has broken in? How's the shifting? How about power compared to the 800. Sometimes I wonder if I"m crazy to get ride of the 800ST...I dunno.

 

[cug]

Vibrations:

It doesn't bother me much anymore. The vibrations are there and are real, but it got a little bit better over time. I use rubber inserts in the Fastway pegs and Grip Puppies on the grips, that helps a little bit. Overall, I don't think it's an issue, but I'd love to have a 1050 Triple in that frame ... []

Shifting

Everything is great there. No issues at all. I use Fastway pegs and a Hammerhead shift lever (slightly longer than stock) to accommodate the different position of the pegs.

Power

The 1200 has more, but that's fairly irrelevant for me. I'm a fairly calm rider. There is absolutely no shortage of power on the 800 and it has a nicer to use power band - the boxer likes to be between ~2800 and 4200 rpm, while the F is nice between 2500 and 4500. I like the smooth area of the band as you can see.

Comfort

There is no comparison between the two in stock form. The F800GS was a torture device in the comfort area. Windshield and seat were the shittiest I have ever experienced on a motorcycle. The big GS has a usable seat and a bad windshield, but it's not as bad as the F. On the F I found the windshield issue not fixable for me. I tried everything from really small to really big, from F650GS shield to XL Aeroflow - all was shit. With the R1200GS even the OEM shield was better than everything before. I might get a sheepskin one day, but that's it until I sat through the seat foam.

I'll try to be better about updating the info here ...

 

[EJ_92606]

Great info. thanks.

 

[cug]

And some more info:

Protection

The OEM valve cover guards are not much help in a tip over. I had to forcefully remove the left one last weekend after the bike tipped over (stupid me was 20m away helping my wife ... []). The cover guard bent, damaged the plastic that protects the assembly under the cylinder and could only be removed by bending it all the way to a point that it's unusable now. Next time I'd rather get these.

Right now, I'm uncertain whether I want the X-Heads or some real engine bars. I prefer the looks of the valve cover protectors, but the bars are probably much better protection. I have heard that the bars might add to engine vibration - so I'm not sure I like them. Nevertheless, I'll probably get some. I don't go much off-road (not at all at the moment) and don't need all too much protection. At least, that's what I thought so far.

Luggage

The Micatech V-Pilot are awesome. The width is just 32.5 inches for 74L volume. With the Micatech liners, it works absolutely great. We had no trouble getting our stuff for a weekend rafting trip in just the panniers. No boat, though. []

More to come ...

 

[EJ_92606]

Did the cover protect the cylinder head from cosmetic damage? If so, then I'd say it did it's job. Is the reason for the guards to simply protect against cosmetic damage or is it possible that in a tip over the cylinder head/valves could actually be mechanically damaged?