Staff bikes: BMW R1200GS - First few miles

The day most exciting day this year so far arrived when I took delivery of my shiny new BMW R1200 GS long termer.

After skipping to the lockup i finally got to see what I’d been waiting for and there it stood complete with panniers and satnav.

To make life easier this year when cleaning the beast I immediately sprayed the whole thing with Scottoiler’s F365 protective spray. It should stop the surface corrosion on nuts and bolts which is always first ruin a bikes look.

After that I headed out on a 100 mile blast taking in dual carriageways and twisty B roads to see how it goes and so far I have been pleasantly surprised. It may be likened to the Exxon Valdez on sheer size but thankfully it handles a lot better.

The ESP adjustable suspension is fantastic, cruising in a straight line on large roads saw me switching to comfort mode which really does what it says by softening everything up. Then Sport on the twisties to bring back a little more feel and sharpen it all up.

It has “Norm” mode but I can’t really tell the difference between that and sport.
Seems a real shame to get it dirty but with a trip to Chamonix in three weeks I guess I better get used to it.

Now back out for another blast, after all the sun has bothered to show up for the first time in 6 months and I’m going to pretend it’s summer already by cranking up the heated grips.

Further reading
Staff bike blogs | BMW R1200GS blog

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