• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

How you use your GS

How do you use your GS and what about tires?

  • Street tires only, love new pavement and hate rough roads

    Votes: 4 4.9%
  • Dual sport tires but avoid dirt roads when possible

    Votes: 13 16.0%
  • Dual sport tires and ride wherever the GPS says. Seeks out forest and dirt roads.

    Votes: 50 61.7%
  • Switch between dual sport tires and knobbies. Some trail Ridingods

    Votes: 8 9.9%
  • Knobbies all the time, let's get dirty!

    Votes: 8 9.9%

  • Total voters
    81
Eric,
you missed a good day out a couple of weeks ago .We went down the Shelf road and through the park north of Canon, over to High Park ,then over LaSalle pass ,through the Haymen burn ,and finally down Rampart . I brought home a good sized dent in the skid plate as a trophy .
 
LIKE mine, BS;

My BS Battle Wings work great, everywhere:). Of course not knobbies and what the extra knobs do, but as DS tires, they are very good. Letting AIR OUT, is a must do if you wish for anything "resembling handling good" on gravel. I ride it all the time on soft stuff at 20lbs in front/rears(fully loaded touring rig), no issues at all:). Gets real soft, I even go less air:). Standing the pegs is another no brainer tip, one MUST manage well. You SIT, you will wiggle all over the place, out of control "much" of the time:(...Randy
 
I picked up a second rear wheel so I could leave an Anakee/Tourance-type tire on one and a knobby on the other....then Irene hit, and I didn't bother putting the street wheel back on before I put the bike away for the winter last week.

I've also found that the Mitas E-09 Dakar wears much better than the TKC80 I tried previously...or I'm managing to spend more time on gravel and dirt.

I'd also distinguish between maintained gravel roads (i.e. passable in any normal passenger car, at least outside of mud season) and dirt (i.e. high-clearance or 4x4 strongly recommended...unless it's a rental and you got the damage waiver :brow).

I like the former as a way to get from place to place and the latter (and the occasional trail) when I'm looking to play...but I also have a strong preference to avoid them when riding alone. 500 pounds tipped over the wrong way and be a serious physics problem.

Oh, and I'm in Vermont....so what the GPS says is a road may or may not be. There's a reason or two my girlfriend has threatened to toss it in the nearest body of water on more than one occasion (oh, she has Tourances on her F650GS....for some reason, she doesn't want to put knobbies on it.)
 
I picked up a second rear wheel so I could leave an Anakee/Tourance-type tire on one and a knobby on the other....then Irene hit, and I didn't bother putting the street wheel back on before I put the bike away for the winter last week.

I've also found that the Mitas E-09 Dakar wears much better than the TKC80 I tried previously...or I'm managing to spend more time on gravel and dirt.

I'd also distinguish between maintained gravel roads (i.e. passable in any normal passenger car, at least outside of mud season) and dirt (i.e. high-clearance or 4x4 strongly recommended...unless it's a rental and you got the damage waiver :brow).

I like the former as a way to get from place to place and the latter (and the occasional trail) when I'm looking to play...but I also have a strong preference to avoid them when riding alone. 500 pounds tipped over the wrong way and be a serious physics problem.

Oh, and I'm in Vermont....so what the GPS says is a road may or may not be. There's a reason or two my girlfriend has threatened to toss it in the nearest body of water on more than one occasion (oh, she has Tourances on her F650GS....for some reason, she doesn't want to put knobbies on it.)

Too funny!!

I couldn't agree with your post more. My father lives in Ludlow so I get up to Vermont often and do the same kind of riding. I love the class IV's!

What is it with SO's and knobbies? Mine rides an R12GS with tourances. She finally let me throw a set of TKC's on it but wouldn't take off the luggage so it was no net gain and she still had a cranky day. Oh well.

New England is great GS country. I've lived here all my life and there's nothing better than following the GPS without worrying about road surface. It's like tripling your riding area as opposed to a sport bike.
 
Leave GPS:)

Leave it behind, have even more fun. Maybe NE, it makes more sense, but West it can stay OFF, as we or I just follow dirt and my nose:). Randy
 
Leave it behind, have even more fun. Maybe NE, it makes more sense, but West it can stay OFF, as we or I just follow dirt and my nose:). Randy

I did that the other day in central TX ( wasn't using it,had it)...met a really unhappy young rancher :nonoasking where I was headed as the 4X4 needed gravel road became almost singletrack and had a locked gate in the middle of it. I had scoped this route out on a map and was sure I was a few miles from a paved road. I smiled and told him I was "lost" :whistle

He eased up his stern look and sent me back the other way...I said OK and zoomed back thru the loose stuff:wave Scratch that road from the list..or send one of my least fav buddies to try it out again:fight
 
I bought the GSA because it has the over the road capabilities of my (former) RT and a good percentage of the dirt road capabilities of my (former) KLR. I am thrilled with the purchase! In two and a half years, I've found that most of my riding is on pavement, but I no longer feel inhibitions about taking the road that's turned to gravel or dirt.

That said, the environmentalist whacko in me :) prompts me to get off the bike and hike across the meadow to the trout stream or to the top of that nearby view point. Partly this is because I don't like picking the big boy up once it has fallen down, but mainly it is because I don't feel that every place the bike could go is a place the bike should go. Just my little hang up.
 
I don't feel that every place the bike could go is a place the bike should go. Just my little hang up.

:clap

I share that perspective and wish more people did. We'd see less backlash against motorized backcountry access if so, I think.
 
We'd see less backlash against motorized backcountry access if so, I think.

have you ever gone to a BLM or other governmental agency's public hearing meetings? i don't think that many of the "evironmentalist" people would change their minds no matter what we did.

the interesting thing is that *most* people in these meetings actually do have legitimate concerns for "wilderness" access and none of them have much of an issue with motorized recreation. the ones that do are usually people who live in urban areas and have a rather unrealistic picture in their minds.

that said, there are sure no shortage of idiot ATV and motorcycle riders who disrespect the land.
 
Ditto Visian;

I doesn't matter to many indeed. People don't belong! Makes me sick to hear'em speak. Too many do indeed wreck the woods too, so hope we are the majority and respect our lands, but USE them:). I am SO tired of one bad apple, equals ALL must be thrown out! Even my horses are subject to some of this stupid idealism, dogs too:(. Their isn't a place for me to get far enough away from stupid at times! Randy
 
how u use it

Always had a street bike visiting the GP races, Assen,Hockenheim and Brno, but that of course made more sense in Europe twisties and a regular on the Autobahn:german, but in the US and Canada riding the interstates and HWY no fun, speed limits no use for your HP and besides that passing on the right is common practise in North America doesn't make it safer, so I decided to go with a GS. Well never looked back again.

We (my buddy which is riding the Globebuster tour Willem the flying Dutch man) are riding a lot of old log roads (Canada) and yes drop the bike regular, just got my Woody's front 80/90/21 TL that will be fun more dirt to hit, preparing the bike for next season 2012, 21 inch wheel, shorten the signal lights add an rotopax on the back of the rack and add a rear fender (Maier usa) do most of the fab and maintenance stuff my self save some $$$$.

The plan ride the TAT start at Guymon OK and on the way back the rally in Sedallia,
probably no time for the GS Giant but can't have it all.
 
Always had a street bike visiting the GP races, Assen,Hockenheim and Brno, but that of course made more sense in Europe twisties and a regular on the Autobahn:german, but in the US and Canada riding the interstates and HWY no fun, speed limits no use for your HP and besides that passing on the right is common practise in North America doesn't make it safer, so I decided to go with a GS. Well never looked back again.

We (my buddy which is riding the Globebuster tour Willem the flying Dutch man) are riding a lot of old log roads (Canada) and yes drop the bike regular, just got my Woody's front 80/90/21 TL that will be fun more dirt to hit, preparing the bike for next season 2012, 21 inch wheel, shorten the signal lights add an rotopax on the back of the rack and add a rear fender (Maier usa) do most of the fab and maintenance stuff my self save some $$$$.

The plan ride the TAT start at Guymon OK and on the way back the rally in Sedallia,
probably no time for the GS Giant but can't have it all.

:clap :buds
 
I would guess I'm 75% pavement. Tourances are doing just fine on forest roads and roads with 'Notch' in the name.
6159371317_24ff1456ac_b.jpg
 
I would guess I'm 75% pavement. Tourances are doing just fine on forest roads and roads with 'Notch' in the name.
6159371317_24ff1456ac_b.jpg

Next year, Damn Yankees Rally.

Put on some TKC's, ditch all the luggage and come do the dual-sport ride with us.

I know you can do it.
 
F800gs

I ride my GS all over the Place... Dirt Roads.. Fire Roads... ATV Trails. Places I probably should not but due anyway :D

I Have been running TKC-80's front and back, getting about 10-12k miles out of the front... and about 5k miles out of the back. But the Tires are great, even when I ride though Mud Water Rocks...Etc...Grip well at High Angles, slide predictably (After some wear) and confidently come back inline.
 
How Far Off The Pavement?

So I had this great F800GS with full farkles and Knobies. The Missouri River flooded and I had to take the bike for a swim. Got a bit deep.
 

Attachments

  • BMW+fording+3.jpg
    BMW+fording+3.jpg
    48.7 KB · Views: 130
F650GS - Chile/Argentina 2009

I still have the bike named El Pinguino. Ran on Dunlop dual sports and Metzler Sahara II - when we could find tires! This was a good road, just trecherous because it was windy, sandy, rutted, and a long way to anywhere. Taken outside of Torres Del Paine National Park in Chile.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2707.jpg
    IMG_2707.jpg
    53.5 KB · Views: 131
No awesome backgrounds today...but instead of a boring 40 mile trip in the Dodge to pick up some electrical supplies, I turned it into a 100 mile early morning all Smiles errand and got to ride with Helen as she was headed to work.

I know someone will chime in again with..."just because you can doesn't mean you should" :violin
 

Attachments

  • P1220322.jpg
    P1220322.jpg
    157.8 KB · Views: 113
Back
Top