Why I love the GS, a photo essay

My first GS was an F650 Dakar. What a great bike, I really liked the rotax single. We used to joke that the way to get the most out of it was to "ride it like you hate it", i.e. on the gas hard all the time.

I liked it so much that last month I bought a 03 F650 GSD which my son will ride to Bloomsburg and Camp Gears.



In 2003 I pretty much rode my K11LT into the ground on the Iron Butt Rally.

It's a long story but I met Max Stratton of Max BMW Motorcycles when he got to his new shop and I was sleeping on the lawn while the techs and a friend of mine were trying to get the formerly mighty K11 into shape to finish the rally.

After the rally I needed a new bike and I figured I'd give Max a shot at being my dealer. I wanted to try a GS so I got a R1150 Adventure thinking this would be the perfect all around bike and a good platform for a LD rally bike.

I loved that GS, it had me jumping for joy!



I had a great time with that bike in 2004, met the love of my life too!
Yup, she rides a GS!



Wide open spaces out west, I love it!



Got really high in Colorado with the AdvRiders!



Into the woods of New England...



Then I "tarted it all up" for the 2005 Iron Butt Rally.



Along the way I found a sweet 84 I can call my own.



Like the K bike before it the IBR was pretty hard on the bike. I suppose the day in the desert at wfo might have had something to do with my having to adjust the valves in a hotel parking lot in Virgina two days later.

That fall I bought a new 06. The leap from the 1150 to the 1200 was huge, I loved that bike!



Last year I put a Ural sidecar on a 02 1150GSA and took my son from Bristol, RI to Portland Oregon for his freshman year of college.





We even worked in some Forest Service roads from Colorado to Moab!



Oregon!



This August in a moment of stupid human tricks I pranged up my 06 enough to total it; it really doesn't take much when you pooch a landing and lowside into a wall....

The bike was replaced with a 2010 Adventure from the press pool. FWIW, if you can find such a bike the deal is phenominal, big discount, first service done for taking a bike with 500 miles and a couple of scratches on the engine guard.

I haven't stopped long enough to take any photos of that one but it does make a really good wood hauler!



Viva the GS!

Rob - great pictorial down memory lane - love the wood hauler capability!!

Great story

Some guys have all the luck. Your wife rides a GS too! I really enjoyed the story as well as the pictures.

It's nice to see the pictures over the years, I have trouble keeping count of all the bikes you have ridden. It's nice to have choices.

I had the chain saw strapped to the back of my 1150GS this weekend, took all back roads up to Lancaster, NH. Stayed at my camp and cut some firewood. Nice ride home on Sunday.

Lots of funny looks, I told one fellow at a gas station, that if I can't find a trail, I'll make my own.

Great pictures, thanks for posting!!!

THX Rob;

Nice pics. My Son in Law also rides a F650Dakar,03, Daughter, a F650ST oldie. Me, the '07GSA1200. Good luck with all your do'ins. Wish I had the funds to do a sidecar rig and an extra bike! Randy

AWesome. Just jumping on a sidecar isnt all that easy, but I think the 1150 is a very solid platform to hang one off of?

Havn't I seen you on that show Swamp Loggers?

103450 said:

AWesome. Just jumping on a sidecar isnt all that easy, but I think the 1150 is a very solid platform to hang one off of?

Click to expand...

No it isn't easy to just "jump in." I built the rig over the winter, took the MSF sidecar course and rode from New England to the National in Johnson City with ballast before taking my son cross country.

For many the 1150 has proven to be a great tug. I bought a 50k Adv with what I thought was good maintenance but the motor went bad at the end of my trip. I then bought a motor off a wreck which now has a bottom end issue. I'm paying the price for trying to save money and it's not working. I'm going to sort it out over the winter.