2014 BMW R1200GS Adventure review | A legend in its own time and still a great buy

Version: TE

Year: 2016

Annual servicing cost: £600

A good all-round bike with fantastic punch, surprising capability and generally a cracking bit of kit. It has good power with reasonable electronics, only let down by the agricultural gearbox and some weird design choices by BMW. On the whole, my 4.5 years of ownership covering 55,000 miles were brilliant.

Buying experience: From a dealer with approved used warranty in 2019. Buying was okay, dealer used to be very good. Unfortunately not so much anymore which has resulted in a change of manufacturer.

Version: TE

Year: 2016

Annual servicing cost: £270

Incredible ride quality, monster torque,300 miles on a tank of fuel

Buying experience: £11000, got a part ex on my airhead GS

Version: TE

Year: 2014

Annual servicing cost: £180

Reliability is dreadful mainly caused by electrical issues and a really bad finish on parts

Buying experience: Dealer from new

Year: 2016

Annual servicing cost: £300

Only 2 dislikes, Mirrors are small and speed indicator not that clear, I have had to put red tape on, indicating 30,50 & 70 mph.Likes - Handles great, loads of torque, good mpg, very good range with a 30 Ltr tank, no range anxiety.It is a very heavy and large bike, I am 5'8'' with a 30 leg, bike is on its lowest setting, need to lean bike slightly to have full foot down or just balls of the feet when upright. You can feel weight of bike when stationary but when moving feels light.

Buying experience: Bought off a Dealership. no problems, paid £9,500

Version: Triple Black TE

Year: 2017

I wondered what the attraction was for some time. I had sold my Honda Blackbird and bought a Versys 1000 GT. But after riding the adventure style bike for a while, I looked again at the GS and traded my Versys in for a Triple Black GS. So impressed so far, the build quality is very good and the comfortable riding style is great for distance. I should have gone straight for the GS on reflection.

Buying experience: I bought my GS from a non BMW dealer and got a fair trade in price and put some money towards the price. I paid £13,000, which was right when compared to the same bikes on sale. I received great service from the dealer, they were very good.

Version: Triple Blzck

Year: 2017

Finish is poor, rust despite applying protection, paint blistering and peeling away from front engine cover, cylinders, centre stand and final drive

Version: Triple Black

Year: 2017

The best bike I’ve ever owned

Buying experience: Bought from Alan Jefferies South Yorkshire. Absolutely brilliant dealership

Version: Triple Black

Year: 2017

It just does everything very well and always puts a smile on my face. Can’t imagine not owning a GS best bike I’ve ever had.

Buying experience: Bought the bike from Alan Jefferies South Yorkshire

Year: 2014

Annual servicing cost: £80

With over 550,000 miles on BMW motorcycles, this is the finest BMW I have owned. The motor is simply amazing and much easier to maintain. With over 67,000 miles, I required only 1 shim change that cost me $8. The new dynamic ride setting and ABS are the best of any bike on the market.

Buying experience: Purchased from a dealer

Version: adventure

Year: 2014

I bought a motorcycle. we are a portugal company. it was the second bike we bought him. they sent the invoice, we paid and send the proof off payment we had the transport carried, when they arrived they had sold the other person. they gave us less money than we did. I have the invoice and the transfers to demonstrate ...

Buying experience: 10250£ and i paid 9800£

Version: TE

Year: 2014

Annual servicing cost: £97

Ronseal

Buying experience: Ocean Plymouth, such good people.

Year: 2016

Annual servicing cost: £1,500

Overall the bike was noisy at low speed, the riding experience was very good but there was always a niggling feeling of don't push the bike incase it fails, it did. I have no faith in BMW bike products it will take a lot to change mine and many others opinions.

Buying experience: Very poor the bike I ordered was built wrong and recalled, the replacement from a UK dealership has been a suspect bike from the start. The dealer was not at fault, BMW customer service is appalling.

Version: TE

Year: 2014

I bought this bike brand spanking new in June 2014 and believed that I was buying a quality motorcycle from a premium manufacturer. As we all know, they are not cheap and all the press reviews raved about how well they ride. The motorcycle journalists are not equipped with a crystal ball and can't tell you what it's really like owning the big GS in the real world. The corrosion (rust) issues started to manifest themselves on my bike when it was around 8 months old. The bike had been treated professionally with ACF50 within the first few weeks of my ownership and was washed twice a week using SDOC100 gel cleaner. I would then top up the ACF50 with a hand spray about once a month. I started to notice that the front and rear wheels were stained and that this staining seemed to be coming from the spoke apetures. The frame started to show tiny specks of rust and I noticed that the coating of the shaft drive housing was beginning to oxidise. A thorough inspection of the bike revealed that the engine was also starting to corrode and the coating was peeling off due to the oxidisation. The main stand was also suffering and was more red than black due to the rust. I alerted the franchised dealer (Chester Motorrad) and it was agreed that they would look at the issues when the bike came back in for the big service. By the time the big service was due the bike had a number of other issues such as the rear brake pedal sticking on causing the rear disc and pads to wear out and the left hand Adventure lamp flashing and then packing in. The dealer at first decided that the majority of these issues were my fault and that I had neglected the bike, stating that I wasnt using the bike properly (How do you not use a bike properly?) After getting a bit shirty with them they eventually caved in and agreed to raise these issues with BMW Motorrad using the internal PuMA system. I'm going to cut a very long story short by saying that after a fair bit of tooing and frowing, the bike went into the dealers in October 2016 and was rebuilt using the following new parts. Wheels front and rear. Engine and complete frame. Rear drive unit external and internal (it had rusted inside) Main stand. Rear disc and pads. I went to collect the bike after about 5 weeks and was told that all of the warranty work had been completed and that the bike had been properly tested and was now good to go. After about 3 miles I realised that the bike was not quite right and returned to the dealers. The front tyre was only partially inflated and the rear shock absorber had thrown its hand in. So much for the thorough testing? I little more discussion took place with the dealer and they consulted BMW UK and eventually agreed to replace the defective unit as part of the warranty claim. I was then told by Chester Motorrad to bring the bike back for the first oil change and that they would deal with any further issues that had resulted from the rebuild of the bike. I contacted the dealer last week to book the bike in and told them that the rear brake pedal has siezed solid again, the front tyre would not hold pressure for more than a few days, the adventure fog lamp had done the flickering thing and then had thrown its hand in and finally one of the LED's in the rear indicator had decided to stop working. All of these things had manifested themselves in the space of a few weeks. They sealed the front tyre, did the oil and filter change,but have insisted that the other issues are again down to me neglecting the bike and that they would require me to pay for any subsequent parts and labour.I flatly refused this and rode the bike home. I'm going to give BMW one final chance to sort this out and if they don't then my only option is to put the matter in front of a court. The bike is fantastic and it rides really well but the quality issues are appalling. I wouldnt recommend this model of bike to anyone.

Buying experience: List price from a franchised dealer.

Version: TE

Year: 2016

Annual servicing cost: £250

After having numerous bikes over the years a friend introduced me into the GS world. I had never even considered one thinking there not for me. But one ride on my first GS adventure changed everything. They truly are a bike for all seasons. They forgive, inspire confidence, eat the miles and are great fun on the twistys!!! Get one and you will not be sorry.

Buying experience: Williams BMW Motorad Manchester. Top dealership end of!

Version: te

Year: 2015

Annual servicing cost: £220

Long legs, but too ungainly and very uncomfortable for a long distance tourer.

Buying experience: Agreed a price with the bmw dealer. For the bike but on the day of collection the price went up by £139. Not not a pleasant experience.

Version: Adventure

Year: 2014

I have ridden this bike from Germany to Sri Lanka across twelve countries and it performed unbelievably great in all areas.

Year: 2015

Year: 2015

Annual servicing cost: £200

Great bike. Does everything really well.

Buying experience: Long delivery time, but good support from my dealer.