When an R1200GS Adventure is just that bit too tall, and a standard R1200GS just won’t quite cut it off-road, try the new R1200GS Rallye. It’s the most off-road focussed GS yet, looks mesmerising in its BMW Motorsport/Dakar Rally-inspired blue frame and blue/grey and red paintwork, but tackles road riding as well as any GS before it.
“Watch the first few roundabouts in town, a million tourists every year here mean they’re slippery as ice, we’ve all had a moment.”
When a man like Dakar finisher and leader of the BMW Off Road Skills courses, Simon Pavey, tells you that, you take notice.
He’s here in Portugal to guide us around the hundreds of miles or trails near Vilamoura in Portugal, and prove this new GS Rallye is way more than just a fancy paint job it may first appear to be.
But most of all, we’re here to ride, and that’s what the R1200GS Rallye is built for. Anywhere and everywhere. It’s designed to take the GS even further.
It feels just at home doing both on or off-road, even on the optional off-road tyres.
We rode on Metzeler Karoo 3s, but Michelins are also available depending on supply when bikes are ordered. Or, you can spec the bike with road tyres when you order it. But after riding on the Metzelers for 120 miles today, I’m not sure why you’d want road tyres.
They enhance the riding off-road so much, letting you climb up rocky paths, use the ABS hard off-road on gravelly and rocky drops, yet allow you to drag your boots on some of the twistiest roads I’ve ever ridden. Sure, the tyres and that punchy 125bhp motor mean you can make the next generation traction control light start flashing when really having a go on the road, but then this tyre will take you to the top of a mountain, too. On road tyres, I doubt you’d notice the traction control working at all.
On the road, with traction-off, it leaves big black lines out of corners in a predictable, but this could really kind of hurt way, such is the smooth nature of the motor and its torque delivery.
Purists of GS heritage will notice this bike gets a new, restyled front-end (the same as all the 2017 1200GS range), a shorter screen, radiator guards, wide bear trap style off-road footrests, removable pillion pegs, an enduro seat at 860mm or 840 adjustable high with a sort of half a pillion pad, frame protectors, hand guards, those lush wire-spoked black rims, a black engine, plus left and right pannier fittings. It’s not a whole lot different to ride, but the changes are noticeable.
Pavey’s team run the 5-day holidays in Portugal, as well as the BMW Off Road Skills courses in Wales.
You’d be forgiven for thinking the bikes from the BMW school would be factory specials, but they’re far from it. They’re totally standard, except for engine crash bars, barkbuster hand guards, and the optional Metzelers. The guys from the school tell us that they’ve played around with tyre pressures but remarkably they work on or off-road at 32psi, not at lower pressures as you might expect in the dirt.
It’s true that almost all R1200GS’s bought in the UK have optional ESA (semi-active suspension), and as an option on this bike is the new generation ESA.
But the bike I spent most of the time riding today had good old-fashioned BMW Paralever front forks with zero adjustment, and a basic rear shock with adjustment for preload only. What they can cope with off-road is phenomenal. Bang them off some rocks, pile it into ruts and it gets on with it. ESA definitely improves the ride, and stops the bike pitching and diving at the rear, especially on the road, but the standard stuff never feels wrong. In fact, it feels more natural for road riders brought up on standard suspension. But the ESA definitely makes it quicker cross country.
Other than that, the bikes we tested has an LED front headlight, the new riding modes pro system which includes, road, rain, enduro and dynamic riding modes.
Then there’s the Enduro Pro plug (available as a free option when the bike is ordered), which gives modes for Enduro Pro and Dynamic Pro. That means you can dial in different power modes including Enduro Pro and Dynamic Pro then set ABS, traction and power levels within a separate menu. Turn the bike off and in the Pro modes it stays as you last rode it.
Dynamic gives the best throttle response, and a more aggressive fuel map, road setting calms it down, and rain dumbs down the power and winds up the traction and ABS to suit.
In Enduro Pro it allows the front wheel to use ABS, is linked to the rear brake, yet stamping on the rear brake lets it lock up.
The ABS Pro system also features cornering ABS and hill hold too. On the trails we did some brake tests from 40mph or so and it’s barely noticeable that the ABS is cutting in. It stops up so quickly. Pavey himself is a big fan and reckons he can only just out brake the bike’s own system. He’s an off-road legend, not a normal bloke like you and me.
I usually hate most ABS systems off-road, but I left it switched on pretty much all day. This being Portugal, more than one loose dog ran out of a farm and gave the Brembo calipers and Bosch ABS system a real-life test. The dogs all survived, so it must be good.
