travellingbennetts

Gelände Straße (Country Road) Experience; to observe and undergo, to gain practical knowledge, and to have a spiritual conversion. All of these were available options at the GS Experience hosted by BMW Motorrad at Canungra in August.

For a modest fee of $49, BMW were offering a two hour opportunity to test two of the GS range on a farm road, and a winding bitumen road. Opportunity accepted, it was off to the 11am Thursday event via our standard M1, Waterford and Tamborine route, with the heavy downpour at Waterford allowing me to appear a little more hard-core upon arrival at the Metz Café in Canungra. Parking the Triumph well up the road and out of sight of the BMW Motorad gathering at the café, I was soon registered and waiting with the others for the return of the 9am group.

 A line-up of the 2017 bikes was checked out first, and most helpfully Chris Urquhart gave a full demonstration of the upgraded electronics packages on the 700GS and the 800GS, which now approach the 1200GS package. Although the ride-by-wire and rider mode selections are available on my Triumph Tiger 800XCx, the BMW GS range offer two very big advantages. Firstly, when you choose a rider mode, it stays in that mode, which means that during long periods on the dirt you don’t have to keep resetting the mode back from Road to Enduro every time you crash and it stalls. Secondly, the BMW GS allows setting of suspension modes on the run, so the suspension mode can be changed from the stiff Sport to the soft Comfort during the transition from smooth bitumen to a bumpy paddock because you over-cooked a corner, allowing you to feel nice and comfortable while you crash again.

Finally the 9am group returned and were pried off and sent packing, with Miles Davis giving an introduction of the BMW Motorad team and a briefing of how the two hour GS Experience would pan out for the 11am group. Hour one would be the Gelände part, followed by a return to the Café Metz and a swap over to another GS for the Straße part. Names and corresponding GS models were read out, and we were soon mounted up and off.

First selection for my experience was a standard 2017 R1200GS. Miles had insisted that we push and poke at the buttons while out on the road to get a feel for the differences the modes would make. Once out into the clear road heading north to Wonglepong, a quick and easy change to Dynamic mode and some near front wheel-lift moments showed the increase in throttle response, although the stiffer suspension from the automatic suspension control (ACS) wasn’t really noticeable on the long sweeping corners. Having becoming dangerously fascinated by what was on the dash, only the almost un-felt response of the ABS prevented me from accidentally piling up another Experiencer’s backside like a blind hip-thrusting Elvis on the dance floor as I grabbed at the brakes.

We turned off the highway along the Biddaddaba Road and stopped at the Beaudesert-Nerang road intersection. This has a neat short section of bitumen heading onto a gravel road; perfect for Gelände demonstrations. Miles Davis explained what was about to happen and what the test was designed to demonstrate, before Shane Booth fired up his 1200GSA. Initially there was a bit of free-styling by Shane who hadn’t been part of Miles’ briefings, while we tried to figure out what on earth he was doing, but eventually there was dove-tailing of test intent and outcome. The most impressive was the ABS transition demonstration, with a full-noise Shane applying the brakes on the gravel with the delicacy of a psychotic toddler and rolling onto the bitumen, the dotted line of skid marks and the incredibly short stopping distance a tribute to the BMW electronics.

Then it was our turn, and Enduro and Enduro Pro modes received a work-out on the gravel with some nervous drifties undertaken as appropriate for riders who had only just signed up for a hefty insurance excess payment in the event of a crash. The Enduro mode was fairly idiot-proof, the traction control seemed to kick in well before the machismo limit was reached, keeping the sideways movement to a safe yet ego boosting range. Enduro Pro wasn’t attempted, because even though huge drifties seemed to be well within the new machismo limits, a few riders following quite close behind may have been annoyed to be sprayed with he-man gravel.

Once back on the bitumen, a few more muck-abouts with different modes were tested apart from Rain, which should not be able to be engaged on a dry day to protect a rider’s hard-earned reputation. We were quickly back into Canungra and the Metz Café, where a perfectly executed turn-around in the rear car-park inspired the gathering 1pm to 3pm crowd. The bike swap was completed, with an F800GS Trophy the inappropriate and unwitting victim for the Straße test. The Trophy certainly looks better set up for Gelände, but is basically the same as the normal F800GS with a few cosmetic options to make it look more enduro.

So off we went, up the goat track to Mount Tamborine with 1200GS riders leading the charge around the hair-pins with their fabulous electronics packages. Once up on top, we turned right and went down the escarpment via the tortuous Henri Roberts Drive which challenged the BMW brigade’s cornering abilities. The Trophy was theoretically not ideal especially on Continental TKC80 tyres, but even when pushing it as hard around corners as I felt comfortable doing, it didn’t miss a beat. A turn around and then a trip back up the Henri Roberts was faster due to more familiarity, and the Trophy took the higher speed in its stride. Even the challenging descent of the goat track with the ugliness of the steep 180° switchbacks with high risk of over-cooking them didn’t upset it. As Miles Davis said about the electronics – it is all about the ABS coming into the corners, and all about the traction control coming out, but you are on your own whilst in the corner.

Some regret was felt pulling back into the Metz Café at 1pm, a Trophy trial on the Gelände would have really been fun, but it likely wouldn’t prove much as it would undoubtedly be fabulous with the low centre of gravity and 21” front wheel. The 1pm to 3pm group were waiting for us as we parked, I was tempted to take the keys with me as none of them looked like they deserved a test ride as much as we deserved a second go. Howard was the only BMWMCQ member in the group, who were then completely smashed in a violent storm going up the goat track. The gods also thought they didn’t deserve a test ride as much as we did.

It was a great fun day, very well organised and the explanations and practical demonstrations of how the electronics work across the range of GS bikes was excellent. Walking back up to the darkened alley well out of sight of the Metz Café to get back on the Precious, there was perhaps a moment of regret that the 800XCx doesn’t have the same electronics package, but that disappeared once the cruise control was set on the highway. Small hint there to BMW for their next F800GS release.