super... wudnt miss it for anything...

10000 kms service interval? you mean like oil change and other regular stuff??

Yeah Rossiter, was on holiday and after the site-crash its taken a while to get oriented back. Plus have been working hard to save up for a GS

Yeah Trigger, the oil/filter etc need to be changed only at 10,000km intervals. Ofcourse, a lot of other stuff needs to be checked/tightened for clearance, tolerance etc during the 10,000 service just to ensure everything is within limits. But these bikes are made to be ridden hard so they can take a lot of abuse. I have done more than 35000kms on my 1100RT and except the engine valve adjustments and a front fork seal change nothing else has been done on the bike.

The only known major problem with very few 1200GS Adventure bikes is the 'EWS immobilizer' getting activated and the bike refusing to start. Although fixing it is a minor job, this needs to be reset only at a BMW service center.

Mine & my buddies GS bikes here.

^^ Perfect Pic! Can you tell us something more about your RT Haroon. I dont know much about the RT. Just the kind of Genre it belongs to, performance, and probably your odyssey's with your Beemer.

Yeah Silver_falcon 46. I hope it wont be too off-topic, but since Beemers are not discussed too much here, maybe I will take a little liberty as the RT is also a R-Series bike similar to the GS.



BMW started with the R100RT in the late eighties and then moved onto the R1100RT in mid nineties, R1150RT in early 2001 and the present R1200RT in late 2004. The engine is the same boxer opposed twin, but the R100 was called an Airhead (air-cooled), while the R1100 and R1150s were called oil-head boxers as they are air-oil cooled. The R1200RT is called the hex-head boxer and is the lightest of them so far. In all the RT bikes starting from 1100, features such as ABS, Fuel-injection, electrically adjustable windshield, saddlebags atc are standard. The BMW RT bikes are the most preferred bikes for Police use in Europe, US and many other countries.

Thanks Haroon. Yup,European bikes/models are hardly discussed. (well of course lets not include the exotic Ducati for the statement I made) And its really great to know about the RT. Personally, it is the GS range that brought me to the BMW world. Since then I have gained ken to know much more. The technology BMW uses for their suspension systems, shaft driven tech are state of the art. I suppose the RT is shaft driven too? Does it use the Paralever technology or do you experience the jacking up feeling during acceleration? And the suspension system, is it similar to the GS?

It is so expensive to bring a GS into India. I was told , it amounts to around 20 lakhs after all the formalities down here. The service has to be done by skilled BMW engineers. I'm not sure who told me this but the guy with the yellow GS had flown down an engineer from Dubai to service his Beemer! I can only say,to own this bike you need to think a lot more than you would have to if you owned an R1 or any similar superbike in India. Probably once KTM comes down, BMW may just look at India as a potential market. And things maybe smoother then.

There is one thing I want to know about the ABS system used. What if your in a extremely slippery condition? Really wet slush or lot of sand and tarmac below it, would the ABS work as effectively.There wont be any lock up at all??

so haroon bhai finally planning to let go the RT huh well i hope u buy that new GS very soon.

that blue whale is really huge guys!!!!

Yes Silver_falcon_46, the 'R' Range of bikes in BMW uses the opposed-twin boxer engine and the other things like ABS, shaft drive, Tele & Para lever suspensions are standard across the range. The bikes in the R range end with the suffix R for Roadster (R1200R the roadster or the naked bike). The RT (R1200RT as explained before), the The GS (R1200GS - the man of the moment!), the ST (R1200ST- the sportier version). Basically they all have the same engine, gearbox, frame, shaft drive, suspension configuration, but minor differences could be there in the horsepower for the ST or suspension travel for the GS or some other small nitty-grittys.

Yes, there is no front dive under heavy braking due to the Tele-lever suspension (where the spring is located almost under the fuel tank and that acts like a pivot), so your seat and handle dont really move much unlike other bikes. I really feel this difference when I ride my Z1000.

As for service, ofcourse the EWS problem that I mentioned earlier needs to be done at a BMW service center, but otherwise, any smart mechanic can use his logic & brains to service BMW bikes with a good repair manual. (Actually the new Kawasakis with the red 'immobilizer' ring around the ignition key, also need to be taken to a Kawi service center to reset the system electronically, if you accidentally put a wrong key into it or if somebody tries to tamper with your ignition key- So its not just BMWs).

I was among the first regular BMW bikers in Saudi Arabia as I imported the bike from Dubai in 1998, whereas the BMW bike dealer opened here only 2 years back. I have had my bike serviced by an Indian mechanic who previously worked on Enfields and now works at Kawasaki (I have the Clymer service manual which is fairly exhaustive). Its just that the electronics are complicated and with the BMW diagnostic laptop (MoDiTec), its easier to identify the problem, whereas a street smart mechanic with good mechanical logic can identify the problem with a little more effort. Ofcourse, if it breaks down in a remote village, you will have to tow it back to the city for 'treatment'. Even the ABS can be disabled if need be.

The ABS can be switched on or off on my RT as well as the GS. Yes, in offroad and full-slush conditions the ABS wont be of much use, whereas in rain and slightly slippery gravel surfaces is where the ABS works. Pls see the link below:
YouTube - r1200gs ABS on Dirt

YouTube - ABS vs. No ABS

Actually the 20 lac price in India is puzzling as a Busa or R1 that costs 10 lacs (grey market), costs about 5 lakhs here. Whereas the GS costs about 7 lakhs here & must be about 14 laks in India. Anyway, I dont know how it was imported. The BMW dealer here also has KTM, but I have not seen a single KTM sold here so far!

Yes Adil, still saving up for the GS.

Haroon, that was very informative.
Some doubts. Isnt the purpose of ABS to stop the bike without the tyre skidding? then why do you say to switch it off during off roading? cos thats where you are most likely to slip when braking.
(If my bike had ABS, I would have had one less broken bone.)

@ Trigger. Thanks.
The ABS works best on hard surface that has slippery conditions (asphalt with water or small gravel particles etc), whereas on dirt with very loose mud or other stuff or even an oil patch, it is not so very effective although it may avoid locking up the wheels, you still can skid (laws of physics rule there). This is where Traction control comes in, which is available on the 2009 GS bikes as an additional feature and its called ASC- Automatic Stability Control, where the system cuts the engine when the rear wheel starts spinning faster than the front. Isn't that a lot of technology to digest!! So I guess if you are pulling wheelies, you will need to first switch off the ASC orelse it will cut off the engine as the front wheel lifts and slows down!

The other option on the 2009 GS also include ESA- Electronic Suspension Adjustment, where the press of a button while on the move itself adjusts your suspension to 3 different modes of your choice, plus there is an additional off-road package for Medium or Maximum suspension adjustment.

WOW, now that was some ken I gained The tele lever suspension sounds good. You dont even feel the handle bar move when you go in and out of a pothole. I say, Superb! According to what I understand, ABS is basically your brakes being applied every millisecond repeatedly, instead of one single jam on the discs. Hence it prevents immediate lock up. The ABS not working effectively in slushy conditions is pretty much justifiable. Yeah and about the price factor. I'm not too sure why it is so highly priced out here. Apparently Anand Reddy's bike costed him 20lakhs!

What are the differences in the Adventure model compared to the normal version?

Anand Reddy paying 20 lacs would have been similar to my friend in Blr who ended up paying almost 21 lacs for a Busa that I shipped to him 2 years back. I guess the grey market dealers have a 'setting' with customs and hence their bikes get out with minimal customs and a little bit of...... Whereas when individuals bring the bikes, its all about rules and penalties and demurrages etc.

The main differences in the GS Adventure model is that it comes stock with a much larger petrol tank, full body & engine crash guard, fog lamps, knobby tires, spoke wheels (which can mount tubeless tires), bigger windshield, bigger footpegs, higher seat-height and provision for brackets to hold the large aluminum side-cases. I guess also a little longer suspension travel (not sure). Me at almost 6 ft was just barely touching the full sole of my feet on the ground, so I guess shorter riders would have some difficulties. But the bike has terrific road presence as the only GS Adventure rider in our group looks like he is astride a well-bred race horse when he rides with us.

A well bred horse huh! That sounds pretty interesting! So these machines are super serious tourers by the sound of it. They also have a more open overdrive compared to the normal version for stress free cruising for miles. Its a lot more expensive too I guess?

But I see these adventure extras as a big boon and not an over kill don't you think? A big fuel tank - always useful, brim it up and ride for month without pain, or go for a inter state trip and be back without re filling. Fog lamps - always useful, why, i needed it on our 60km local ride from bangalore to nandhi hills. Struggled to see anything more than my headlight diffused in the fog in the wee hours of dawn. Bigger foot pegs - more comfortable for our 350km+ rides. Full body engine crash guard - a boon. I'm surprised the normal version does not come with this?? Bigger windshield - probably unnecessary but not a complete waste for sure. Probably the provision for brackets is unnecessary. What do you have to say about it?

Having ridden the standard 1200GS I can tell you that the accommodations on this bike are more than adequate. The footpegs and other stuff are not actually small, but its just that the Adventure model has larger stuff primarily for those globe trotters who will be riding in parts of Africa or Russia or South America etc, where they dont see tarmac or even hard gravel for days together, so then a larger footpeg (for riding in standing position), larger tank (obviously), crash guards & aluminum side cases (dropping this heavy bike is very easy in those conditions), spoke wheels (to take the beating), knobby tires (for whatever grip you can get) etc are not just useful, but NECESSARY. Thats why our men Charlie & McGregor used GS Adventure bikes for both their trips (they mention in LWR that the whole country of Mongolia has only 80kms of paved Tarmac roads!). The Adventure is really huge & tall. With the aluminum sidecases etc, it will take up almost the footprint of a maruti 800. So the parking attendant on MG road is going to ask you the charge for 2 bikes!

Standard GS with BMW sidecases



GS Adventure with BMW adv sidecases




Whereas, for the kind of touring 90% of people do, the standard GS is more than adequate if you add 2 side cases (like Givi, Hepco & Becker, Krauser etc as most BMW riders dont like soft saddle bags!), a topcase & a crashguard. The headlight anyway is really powerful and the standard GS can see you thru about 400 kms of highway riding for a full tank of petrol (I think its about 600 kms on the Adventure). Heated hand grips are now standard (for cold weather riding). Forgot to mention here that BMWs are the only bikes which can run on any grade of petrol (the EFI system automatically adjusts to the grade of fuel you put in- 90 or 91 or 95 or more octane)- So no worry to get your extra premium gas many kms deep into Mandya district!