advice needed.

[Wilson]

Hello everyone my name is Graeme ( better known as Grog ) and I have ridden vespa's since I was 16 with a couple of big bikes thrown in along the way!
I have ridden the length and breadth of the country for the last 26 years to sccooter rallies on heavily modified cutdown/chopper styled scooters and more recently a couple of trips up to Applecross/isle of Skye/isle of Raasay on my Honda Blackbird to visit my daughter who was working up there.
I have bought ABR since issue 1 ( however I missed issue 4 somehow? ) and although I am never going to ride through Africa etc I do enjoy reading it and I have had a hankering to buy a big BMW GS for some time now after I had a very brief test run on one my Uncle purchased about 2 years ago so can anybody give me some advice on which models are the best/worst/have obvious faults etc?
I should point out that I dont have a huge budget and Im not bothered about cosmetics as the bike will be getting a new paint scheme of Matt Black but it needs to be reliable and more importantly due to all those silly chops I used to ride it needs to be comfy as the old bones cant take it no more lol.
Cheers for now
Grog.

[Bonniebird]

Welcome to ABR Grog,
The R1200GS is an amazingly comfy mile muncher, they do hold their price fairly well tho.

[redbikejohn]

hi there. i think the gs forum would be a good place to start. but from what i understand there was a few years when they were struggeling to keep up with production and the quality & reliability of the bikes suffered. no doubt someone will be along soon to let you know.

[Beam me up]

Those that know say that the R1100GS and R1150GS are the best models. The 1200 is probably a better all round bike but supposedly riddled with reliability issues and the build quality has dropped off. The hardcore types also think BMW have sold out to the mass market after the McGregor and Boorman events.

You can get a nice 1100GS at a reasonable price these days.

[mikeyboy]

my 2p worth,unless your budget is around £5000,you wont be owning a gs1200 in the near future,a gs1100,would be around the £2k area,and an 1150 will be somewhere in between the other two,or more, dependant on condition,a browse on ukgser will tell you everthing you need to know about all of them,there are some very good alternatives, again depending on budget,my choices would be,early triumph tigers,good tourer,starting to increase in value(imo),650 transalp ,comfy and reliable,funduro f650,comfy ,reliable,good bike if you like big singles and your not doing huge motorway mileage

[tiger800xc]

hi buddy and welcome to the forum

As spme have said the 1200gs are really nice but exspensive
the 1150would be a cheaper and some say better bike
its all down to budget and a bike that feels right to you

all the best with your search

[Fried Egg Sandwich]

Hi Grog, welcome to the forum B)

I'd be tempted to say 1150GS, but I'm biased. :whistle:

Whatever you choose have a fabulous time with it (are you really gonna matt black it?!?)

[Wilson]

Thanks for the warm welcome and yes I am going to Matt Black it! B)

[Alun]

Hello and welcome to ABR Grog.

I've yet to meet an owner of a 1150 who'll say anything other than they own the best GS though I probably will some time soon, maybe even on this thread.

[hotbulb]

Whatever you choose have a fabulous time with it (are you really gonna matt black it?!?)

But don't BMW now do a "triple black" 1200?...
Grog's very much "on trend"!(albeit not so shiny)