GS Curious

[Stoneman]

I'm lucky in that I dress however I feel for work while keeping it somewhat civilized. But I typically wear leather jacket & gloves, motorcycle boots. I typically just wear my jeans, but also use Joe Rocket overpants if/when needed. Anything else I may want to change into at work just goes in my saddlebags.

I'm also lucky in that most of my commute is done on local roads. Even Route 28 between Barnstead & Manch is pretty tame and I'm not burdened with equipment necessary for work.

[TheIglu]

I wear my Tourmaster jacket/pants over whatever I normally wear and just keep a pair of shoes/sneakers at work when I take off my Sidi Canyon GoreTex boots.

Done it this way for years, but the Aerostitch looks even easier, and gives me a second layer of birth control protection.

[TheIglu]

Reposted from elsewhere since NESR would crash every time I posted it:

Thoughts on the new SS Land Whale: CSmutty, This is the first bike I've ever ridden that will flywheel wheelie on a quick shift, and then power wheelie later in the revs. Lol

SO much suspension.

Seat height turned out not to be an issue at all. Put the stock seat on, in the high settings, and it's perfect. Sargent seat is super hard. BMW Tall comfort seat is just too tall. I'll sell them.

Went out for a few hours Sunday. Hit some twisties (at a somewhat leisurely pace), some dirt roads, highway, backroads. It does everything without braking a sweat. It will hustle, but doesn't feel rushed or frantic at all. Just smooth tractable tractor-like power from 2500rpm and up. Builds some urgency/thrust up past 5k, but you really don't ever need to go up there unless you want to go license losing speeds.

[SteveM]

When I was moto-commuting into Boston, leaving 3 shirts and 2 pants and a pair of shoes hanging in the office worked perfectly.

[Crconnor18]

I’m a one piece over-suit with some adv boots each day. Dress shoes in the office and a set of rain gear & gloves in one of the panniers.

[TheIglu]

Now that I can finally post the full review (posted snips of it, this is the whole thing)

Thoughts on the new SS Land Whale: This is the first bike I've ever ridden that will flywheel wheelie on a quick shift, and then power wheelie later in the revs. Might be the nannies doing it, but it's hilarious when the front suspension unloads and the massive girth of this bike lofts. Lol

SO much suspension.

Seat height turned out not to be an issue at all. Put the stock seat on, in the high settings, and it's perfect. Sargent seat is super hard. BMW Tall comfort seat is just too tall. I'll sell them.

Went out for a few hours Sunday and 4 hours of commuting yesterday. Hit some twisties (at a somewhat leisurely pace), some dirt roads, highway, backroads. It does everything without braking a sweat. It will hustle, but doesn't feel rushed or frantic at all. Just smooth tractable tractor-like power from 2500rpm and up. Builds some urgency/thrust up past 5k, but you really don't ever need to go up there unless you want to go license losing speeds. Can just let the clutch out smoothly from a stop without touching the throttle and she'll happily lug along smoothly at idle in bumper to bumper stop and go traffic. REALLY nice on the MA pike yesterday on the commute.

Cruises at 3-4krpm SO smooth.

Never in my life had I ridden a bike that has this tall for gearing in 5th/6th stock. It's remarkable.

Stock Anakee's have some vibe when leaned over due to the wear only down the middle. Aside from that, she's butter.

Brakes are great. Shifting is a little clunky in 1st/2nd with the quickshifter, but smooths out nicely in higher gears.

Suspension is a little confusing for a telescoping fork luddite like myself. I want to feel the forks compress heading into a corner on the brake. It doesn't do that. The weight is still transferred to the front however, so you still get your contact patch, but there is NO dive. It's not a sportbike, and I don't need it to be, so no big deal. It doesn't get upset with changing lines mid corner, or anywhere really, other than 80+ on the highway on these tires is a little "wandery". Plus at that speeds the windscreen gets a bit floppy. There are some stiffening mounts out there, but they reduce convenience of one handed height adjustment while riding.

Speaking of, it's downright spooky how quiet this thing is with the windscreen in the high position. I'm 5'6" of pure sex appeal, and this thing just gives me the nicest bubble of air. Drop the screen to low for clean air on the helmet, raise it up for quieter highway time. No buffetting in the tall setting, or low. I'm looking over the stock windscreen easily even in the highest setting. And GS owners complain the stock windscreen is terrible. Lol.

Vibes are there, but small. Footpegs you feel a little, but just enough to know it's running. It's a smooth rhythmic sewing machine motor in it's sweet spot, and still remarkably smooth outside of it with just a little bit of buzz in the higher rpms. PO put grip puppies on it, so I have a thin layer of foam between me and the stock grips.

Gas tank is EPIC. 8 gallons. I filled it up on it's first ride just to get a baseline. I've ridden for 3 hours. It's not even at half a tank. Range said 399 miles on fill up. I'm getting 51.x MPG according to the onboard computer so far, including multiple rips through the gears.

Changing the ESA settings from Road to Dynamic is a single button push away, and makes a noticeable different in how soft the suspension is. Been riding in Auto ride height currently, will try Max for some sporting duties at some point. Min will def be reserved for when I need more foot contact on the ground, as will the "low" seat setting, which can be adjusted in about 15 seconds.

Mounted up the GlobeScout XPAN+ panniers/top case. They are some really well designed hard bags. I'll probably sell the BMW Motorrad soft bags/mounts. Tail bag can swallow the helmet, and one side bag can hold my jacket/airbag. This def scratches my "I should get another Goldwing" itch. I'm happy.

[SRTie4k]

95% of what you just said perfectly described my 1290 Super Adventure "T" as well, save for the fuel mileage and a few other odds and ends.

I don't know how BMW does it, but in the 1290, when you put the suspension into Sport or Comfort mode, on the application of brakes the electronically actuated valves in the forks close up progressively with brake application. What you get is "anti-dive", and it works phenomenally well. It took a lot of getting used to going back to a standard fork on my 890R after getting so used to zero dive on hard braking, the first couple of stops I felt like I was about to be thrown off.

As much as I love my KTM's, someday I'll probably own a GS or GSA myself. There's just something unique about the behemoth that lends itself well to doing anything and everything pretty damn well without being too boring or too porky like a Goldwing or Harley.

[TheIglu]

I'd actually love to try out your 890 at some point. I LOVE mine on track, but yours is a whole different animal.

If you ever want to ride the GSA, let me know and we'll meet up.

I did take it on a freshly graded road last night on my way home, after just filling up the 8 gallon tank. Dirt was soft/aerated/loamy/deep in a couple spots. Front end can't hide all that weight with street tires in the loose stuff, had a good 5 seconds of front end swaps before I managed to keep it straight. A dirtbike she is not.

The front end of the BMW's uses a telelever suspension setup vs traditional fork. The anti-dive is built into the geometry, so it's a passive system vs the KTM's active system.

And speaking of fuel mileage, I'm seeing 49-51mpg on this thing, no matter where/how I'm riding it. Including 70-80mph highway for an hour and half.