I rode a BMW R1300GS over 1000 miles in under 23hrs and I'd do it again - here's why

It’s 4:39am. It’s chilly. Why am I hitting the BMW R1300GS’s starter button, flooding the driveway with an LED whiteness that hurts my eyes, instead of wrapping the duvet tighter and dreaming of summer’s return? But the piercing light amidst the utter blackness of the pre-dawn has already focused my brain.

Previous updates

• Update one: First impressions
• Update two: The GS fails to start after getting wet
• Update three: Building the miles and riding with a pillion
• Update four: The good, the bad and the fugly
• Update five: Is the R1300GS too heavy off-road?

It’s going to be a big day. A 1000-mile day. A day of bridges and castles and coast, and a slightly spurious excuse for all of it. 

I’m riding from the ancestral birthplace of the Harley dynasty, to the ancestral birthplace of the Davidson dynasty. On a BMW. It isn’t my trip, I’ve forced my way onto a ride that colleague Justin had planned on his Harley-Davidson Pan America simply because I love an excuse to get out riding. 

Plunging into the darkness I’m headed for Littleport – near Ely – to meet Justin, but 45 miles into the 60-mile schlep a flooded road from the recent bad weather forces a 30-minute detour. It’s a blip that bears no relation to the rest of the day. 

We leave Littleport’s Harley monument at 6:30am and push north. It’s 5°C and fog envelops us as we skirt the edge of Norfolk and arc around The Wash – destination Lincoln. The sun breaks through, and we stop to let Lincoln Cathedral photobomb a pic, where Justin’s Pan has a wobble, refusing to start.

But that’s a blip, too – and we’re soon in the shadow of the Humber Bridge, resplendent in the morning sunshine. More pics, and the schedule dictates movement again – with Holy Island in our sat navs. 

The GS feels sublime. Wonky rear disc changed for a straight one, and wearing fresh rubber (Dunlop Meridians replacing the Tourance Next II rubber that fended off 8300 miles), and a recent service complete – it feels fitter than I ever will.

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It was born for days like this, smacking out miles with relentless composure. Happy to dawdle through villages, capable of making miles feel like kilometres when you need the pace, it’s like sitting in an aggressively agile armchair.

As we roll across the causeway onto Lindisfarne in 19°C heat, my body offers no hint 400 miles have passed. Another 600+ miles feels daunting only because it’s a big number – I let my brain see it in percentage terms. We’ve done 40%, it’ll be 55% by the next stop. 

We roll up the steep gravel drive to the Davidson Legacy Cottage – 22 miles north of Dundee – with 554.7 miles showing on my trip. It’s 6:30pm, exactly 12 hours after we left the Harley monument. We’re as far north as we’re going, and the blackness is returning fast. The best bit is over, but the return leg is shorter, and it’s just about smashing out the miles. Justin’s achieved his mission, but I haven’t.

We arc towards Glasgow and down the west side of the country, soaking up the motorways with ease. It’s boring, but effective. There’s no rush. Sitting at the speed limit means better fuel economy, no fear of bright flashes and letters in the post, and fewer fuel stops.

At Kettering we pull over for a final top-up and to part ways. We both feel fresh, despite over 22 hours in motion already. As I near home it’s clear I’m going to be about 4 miles short of 1000, so I make a detour and soak up a lap of Rutland Water. 

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After 1012.2 miles in 22hrs 56mins I’m hitting the kill switch on my drive and am wrapped in darkness again. I don’t feel tired – and I don’t think the mind-numbing mental rest on the M6 when we suffered relentless 50mph average speed zones is the reason for my freshness. 

The reason is that the GS is superb at this game. My thigh muscles ache because the seat is marginally too close to the pegs, but if you’d told me to carry on to Kent, I’d have done it without hesitation. 

There aren’t many bikes that can do the miles, the hours, the slog and the sinuous stuff with equal aplomb like a GS can. I wouldn’t have swapped it for anything.