First ride: BMW R1200GS

MCN Editor Marc Potter is in South Africa testing BMW’s new giant trailie, the R1200GS, and we got his first impressions as he stepped off the bike.

“Losing 30kg on any bike is impressive. The R1150GS was a heavy bike but the R1200GS only weighs 199kg, that’s the same as a Ducati 999.”

Potter was really impressed with the new bike, which has been completely updated for 2004. Almost everything from the suspension to the engine has been reworked and the result is an exceptional road bike.

Potter continued: “It’s a fantastic road bike that you could seriously consider as an alternative to a sports bike. It’ll keep up with most supersports bikes on a twisty B-road but still get you where you’re going in complete comfort.”

Not only can it handle itself on the road but the R1200GS puts in a good show when it gets on the dirt.

Potter added: “You wouldn’t want to tackle anything serious off road unless you knew what you were doing but gravel tracks are not problem at all. At one point we were riding down an arrow straight dirt track. The back end was sliding around a bit but it was controlled and it felt great. It was only when I looked down that I realised we were doing over 200kph (124mph).

To read Marc Potter’s full world’s first test of the BMW R1200GS read next week’s MCN, out January 21.

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