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1150 GS or GSA??

timpilcher

New member
I'm looking to upgrade from my current F650GS to an R1150GS, but I'm torn on whether to go for the standard 1150 GS or the Adventure. In general, I do mostly road riding, but in future hope to do more long distance adventure rides (Alaska, South America, etc.) My dilemma is that I like the idea of the standard GS tall 6th gear for more comfortable highway cruising at 80 to 85 mph, but I also like the idea of the shorter 1st gear on the GSA for the trickier offroad stuff.

Any advice on this topic would be appriciated.

Lastly, is it possible to modify a transmission to have the shorter 1st gear and the taller 6th gear. I've read that gears 2 through 5 are the same for both the GS and GSA (not sure if that is true), so it would seem plausible to interchange the 1st and sixth gears with the desired ratios. I'm not sure how they're put together though, as I've never actually seen one of the 1150 transmissions.

Happy Riding!

Tim
 
I see the big choice is what is your inseam ?

When I first shopped for my 2004GS, I rode the GS and the GSA, I have a 30" inseam and the GSA was way to tall for me. I would love the bigger tank, but I felt, I needed a bike I could throw a leg over easily, The GSA was just to tall, I have since added an Ohlins shock, that raised the seat an additional 1/2 inch or so.

Buy the bike that fits you best, you can always add gas tanks.

HTH
 
I faced a similar choice earlier this year.
I was looking for a 1150gs and had discounted the GSA due seat height.
By chance I came upon a 04 1150GSA and at the same time a set of barely used regular GS shocks were for sale at a local shop.
I bought the GSA and had the GS shocks installed, very inexpensive solution.
I can now easily flat foot the GSA.
The regular GS shocks are pretty easy to find as many replace them with Ohlins etc.
At some point i will no doubt put Ohlins on mine if I can find a set at the right price.

Very happy with my choice so far. Most of my riding is highway with occasional forestry roads etc. The low first gear works very well in the slow stuff and on the highway the GSA purrs along quite nice at 80 to 85.
Having said that I have never ridden any distance on a regular GS to really know how much different they are on the highway. I also love the look of the 1150GSA, they are a very trick bike and seem to hold their value very well.

IMHO I would go GSA.
 
Thank you all for the input. Luckily, inseam height is not an issue, so I'd probably be fine with the GSA height. I'm leaning towards the GSA just for the lower first gear, and as "manybikes" said, they are very trick bikes. Also, I'm sure highway cruising is just fine with the shorter 6th gear.
 
While going to Daytona last week for Biketoberfest, I came up on a GSA rider that was standing on the pegs. No big deal, I do that when the legs need to stretch. But I noticed he was riding like that ALL the time. I purposely slowed down and fell a few cars behind him just to see how long he would do that.
After about 30 miles I took a different route and turned off. He was still standing on his pegs as he went out of sight....
 
While going to Daytona last week for Biketoberfest, I came up on a GSA rider that was standing on the pegs. No big deal, I do that when the legs need to stretch. But I noticed he was riding like that ALL the time. I purposely slowed down and fell a few cars behind him just to see how long he would do that.
After about 30 miles I took a different route and turned off. He was still standing on his pegs as he went out of sight....

Hemroids can be a real bitch!
 
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