BMW R1150 GS Adventure

Let's wind back the clock. It's 1980. You're wearing bad flares, Malcolm Fraser is still peering out of the window of the lodge, Britney Spears is yet to supply her dad with a few moments' pleasure and the Suzuki GSX1100E is considered the duck's guts. Yep, it is a long time ago...

In Germany, the good folk at BMW AG Munich are burning the midnight oil on "a very special project" (say this in your best Colonel Klink voice for the desired effect).

The result of all this Aryan toil sees the birth of a bike that is to change motorcycling forever. Make no mistake, while the R 80 GS of 1981 may seem pretty tame when you look at pics on the internet or have it described to you on your WAP mobile phone, that bike created a new category and our friends at BMW dubbed it the "large capacity travel Enduro bike". Pretty literal terminology there, but on the money - as we'd expect from Boxerland.

We've come to know and love the category as "Dual Sports". And you just watch that market segment become the premier class. It's happening already.

THAT WAS THEN...
Alright, back to the future. Hopefully you've ditched the dud duds and Britney is giving you more pleasure than her old man ever got. Sorry, I went a little off the subject there...

It's 2002. The R 80 GS has become the R 1150 GS and the bike is almost unanimously considered the king of the Dual Sports. Launched in September 1999, it has gone on to sell around 200,000 units around the world. Pretty impressive stuff.

Loved for its fantastic road manners and more than a modicum of off-road ability, the bike has become the steed of choice for serious round-the-world expeditioners and hotted-up versions have enjoyed a good deal of Paris-Dakar acclaim.

While the cornerstone on which the bike's success is built is that fabulous all-round capability, there are those that like to take things a step further - to use the bike seriously in the wilds. Enter the R 1150 GS Adventure.

The bike was unveiled first in September 2001 at the IAA (International Automobile Exhibition) in Frankfurt and at the Milan Salon. It hit the Aussie market in May 2002.

LET'S GET TECHO
Based on the brilliant oil/air cooled 1130cc R 1150 GS engine and chassis platform, the bike gets a host of features to allow it to take "adventure travel" to a deeper level. How so? Well, let's have a look then shall we? The spring travel has been increased by 20mm to 210mm at the front and 220mm at the rear. This is a big help with very little bottoming evident on our test.

In a first for BMW, a strut is used at the rear which has "distance-related damping". What this means is that damping varies according to spring travel. It all adds up to a rear shock that better soaks up rough surfaces.

Adjustment at the front is by C spanner, the rear hydraulically via a screwknob and rear rebound damping can be adjusted by means of a small screw.

The bike can be fitted with the optional ABS II, which can be switched off for off-road use. I found leaving ABS activated while off-road fine. Others (especially the full-on dirt-heads) on the launch preferred to leave it off, giving them more "feel", but it only activated four or five times over 900km for me. That's why it's switchable I guess.

The bike now takes regular unleaded petrol. This is made possible by a coding plug for the engine management system, available as an optional accessory. When this plug is inserted into the so-called electro-box, an ignition grid is activated which means the engine can be safely operated with regular fuel (RON 91) without risk of damage. ULP fuel is the go for normal operation.

Unlike the R 1150 GS, sixth is not an overdrive and Aussie units get a shorter first gear.

There's a new seat and larger windshield - the screen has been extended in width at the base by 12cm and at the top by 5cm and the length has been extended by 13cm. The front mudguard has been extended and widened. There is handlebar impact protection and hand protectors are standard. The underbody protection panel below the engine is solid aluminium and is larger in size and positioned further to the rear than in the R 1150 GS; this is to provide protection from possible stone damage.

The cylinder head covers are finished in blue and the aluminium rims in anodised blue. Two different paintwork finishes are available, White Aluminium Metallic and Night Black. There's a black seat or optional grey and red number.

There's a really funky luggage set-up available for the bike. (See breakout yarn for the full details on this one).

A 12-V socket has been added to connect accessories such as the optional GPS (which will be available from September). This is a new generation of satellite navigation system and early reports suggest it is phenomenal in both operation and detail. I'll be riding an R 1150 GS through the Austrian Alps in September and the bike will be fitted with the new GPS. I'll give you a full report then.

GET BUSHED
The launch timetable BMW laid out for us took in 900km from Sydney to Taree via mostly dirt roads. I recommend the route to anyone looking to take a dual sports bike to its limits. in fact, it's fair to say that some of what we did would find out a lesser bike.

Here's the rough route for those that may be interested in trying it for themselves: Sydney/Hornsby/Wisemans Ferry/St Albans/Wollombi/Bandon Grove/Dungog/Craven and then up into the Barrington Tops. A loop to the west and then out at Cobark and up to the Nowendoc River (crossing). Then it was Knorrit Flat, back up into the Dingo Tops, Elands then Comboyne/Landsdowne/ Coopernook, up into Crowdy Bay Nat Pk and back to Taree. Got all that? Good, you'll be tested on this later...

The going consisted of a mix of good B roads, rough potholed country roads and farm-feeder roads with some single-lane, tight trails and full-on second-gear downhills thrown in.

First impressions? Well, 'jeez, this thing is tall' comes to mind. Like 900mm (seat height) tall. You need to be at least the average height to ride an Adventure. It's a long way off the ground.

While this makes for a cumbersome feel at rest, all that disappears on the move. Its plush suspension (aided by all that travel) and general size make it a very comfy ride. You could sit on this thing all day (as we did) and pull up pretty fresh.

I expected those Continental Twinduro chunky hoops to be noisy and lumpy on the road and was pleasantly surprised when they were neither. I've always loved the sort of lean angles possible on the standard GS and these tyres seem to allow just about as much attitude on the bitumen. Common sense suggests that they can't have as much blacktop grip as those road-oriented Metzeler Tourances however and this has to be borne in mind when pushing on. I have to say that things were decidedly "spirited" on the road and no-one reported any problems with grip.

The knobby tyres will not last long when pushed hard. Best case scenario is to get two sets of tyres - one for the road and one for the dirt. It costs bugger-all to get them changed, BMW dealers are happy to do it and you'll keep your costs down over time.

HAPPY TRAILS
First forays on to the dirt saw most of the crew opting for a "softly-softly" approach. Common thinking was, '257kg (wet), mmm, I'm on the dirt, ummm...' and why wouldn't you?

Fact is it takes a teetering half-day or so in the dirt to realise that you have to ride this thing like a dirt bike. Y'know, sit weight-forward and upright, push the bike down into corners and squirt out on the gas. Yes, I know it sounds spooky, but believe me, this is the go. It's a technique we all employed and we got seriously faster once we discovered it. It takes a leap of psychological faith, but the bike rewards aggression on the loose stuff. Go for it.

As the going got rougher I backed off the rear preload and rebound damping. This made the bike more compliant when climbing, over large bumps and stopped any "packing-up" of the shock. Oh, and I may be getting a little sooky in my old age, but I just love those heated grips. Somehow, no matter how cold it gets, warm hands will see you through.

Back to the rubber. Those tyres on the dirt are simply incredible. There is a load of grip on hand, from rocky hillclimbs to skatey fine gravel. Point and squirt, get the thing sideways and gas the clacker out of it. If there is a more fun way of riding a bike, I'll go 'he' for tiggy...

WHAT'S THE WASH-UP THEN?
The appeal of the Adventure is multi-faceted for mine. You get a degree of exotica - let's face it, there won't be 15 of 'em in your suburb. Toss in the fact that you get BMW reliability and back-up, a very competent road missile and a fair-dinkum dirt weapon.

If I sound like I'm going off, well, I am. I loved the thing. It has to be said that it's not cheap at $19,700 and there are other duallies out there for decidedly less of your hard-earned. But, none of them, repeat NONE are as good as this thing.

Dual sport. Finally there's a bike that truly deserves that moniker. Yep, BMW has lifted the bar again...