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New Water Cooled GS Launch
at Cannon and Lind
on Saturday
2nd March 2013
Cannon Report by Mike Davies
A cloudy but cold and dry day dawned on Saturday 2nd March when all BMW Dealers though out the UK were holding special launch days for the new water cooled R 1200 GS.
I drove over to my local dealer, Cannon BMW, Braintree, arriving at 09.00am. On the forecourt was one of the new water cooled R1200 GS so I took several photographs as it was in a clear area. I then proceeded to set up a small table and display sign well in to the showroom. Several Journals, Calendars and Membership Forms were spread out on the table.
Members of the public started to appear straight away, which from past experiences at attending these launch days was unusual.
This continued through out the morning with a steady stream of potential customers walking around the showroom looking at the various bikes on display, in addition to the R1200 GS, which was receiving high interest.
I availed myself of some light snacks and cup of hot chocolate kindly supplied by Cannon Motorcycles.
I was having a good day with potential club members approaching me for information on the Club – all were given a Journal and Membership form.
Several old friends appeared too which made the morning pass quickly.
Around mid afternoon things tailed off so I packed up the display equipment and after saying my goodbyes, drove home. It will remain to see how many people return their completed membership forms and cheque!
My own impression of the new water cooled R1200 GS is very favourable. It looks neater and well thought out. With extra horsepower (125hp) it should be quicker than the old GS and I am told as economical or better. Apart from the totally new engine, it now has the gearbox and clutch mounted at the front of the engine – the clutch I understand is similar to the K1600 GT – being an 8 plate oil bath unit. It still retains air cooling for a larger part of the engine.
Looking at the new injection system entering the engine from the top (exhaust at bottom) it struck me that this may attract road grime as it is directly in line of the passing air over the cylinder. Generally it appears an excellent bike and I look forward to a test ride in the near future.
Lind Report by Dik Langan
Lind
had quite a different approach to launching the bike in that they
held a premier night on the Friday night which had attracted an
estimated 150 people. Unfortunately I was unable to make the
evening and had planned on spending the actual launch day with them
instead which in hind sight was not the right plan given the aim was
to attract people to join the Club, but was really
all I could do. More about that later, let me get on to the
bikes:At first glance the bike is more angular than its predecessor but if you look closely at this fully loaded example you can just see the edges of the radiators though you may have to click on the picture and look at the full sized version to really spot them.
Lind had at least 5 examples of the bike on display so I picked this fully
loaded "TE" version as the first one to take some snaps of. I
know I said I had not gone at night time – the ground floor showroom
was intentionally blacked out so that they could light the bikes as
they wanted. This bike was actually in silver and white but
was being lit with a colour changing bulb hence appearing pink one
moment and green the next.
At this stage these are just general pictures of the bike as I was thinking "better get some pictures now before the rush arrives" which it turns out was a little optimistic of me as by 10am it started to become clear that there wasn’t going to be a rush, indeed the Norfolk Advanced Motorcyclists (with whom we share a table at these events) only had a single person there at 9:30 although by 10:30 they outnumbered the punters in the shop. The lack of general public in the showroom did mean I had time to take a few more pictures of the bikes so let me just quickly say that I believe I handed out maybe 3 packs to potential new members and having got that disappointing news out of the way let me move back to some of the details about the bikes that I photographed:
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| This one shows a little more detail of the rear end, note that the swinging arm has been mounted on the opposite side to the previous incarnation (and therefore the exhaust has switched sides too). | I am sure there is a good technical reason for it as well, but one of my NAM colleagues did point out that this allows for the "floating" appearance of the single sided swing arm to be much more obvious when the bike is on its side stand. |
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| Being an RT rider myself I was both fascinated and yet slightly disappointed to find that that have at last made the fly screen adjustable from the riding position yet have made it manual, so by turning the knob in this picture you rise and lower the screen (much as you would adjust the headlamps on the 10 year old RT’s). | And of course this picture holds again (for me) pleasure and pain: they have incorporated the rider’s thumb-wheel (first appeared on the 1600) for scrolling through the computer setings etc but have also fitted the bike with the skinny, cramp-inducing grips. |
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| Here is a little better picture of the radiators, we determined that they were interconnected using hoses and so one could be replaced individually when the inevitable stone strike happens (unavoidable when you put a radiator on an off-road bike). | This is just a little closer look at that new exhaust configuration – it looks slightly slimmer than the old round cans so presumably allows for better luggage space. |
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| And behold, they return to the molded and more sturdily mounted fluid pots on the handlebars – I am not sure that any of the jam jars that appeared on the later BMW models have ever fallen off but as a rider I just don’t want to be distracted by the thought that they wobble around. | A quick diversion away from the actual bike and back to the event: Everyone in this picture is a NAM member, in the foreground is the table we were sharing. |
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| Whilst off-topic, here’s the new F800GT – a NAM member owns the ST and basically made many of the modifications that BMW have done to produce this one: bigger screen, raised bars, but the one thing he did like is the fact that they have mounted the mirrors on longer stalks meaning you no longer have to pull your elbows in every time you try to see what’s behind you. | Back to the GS and this example is one of the basic models (all the previous pictures have been of the TE version). In fact the only notable difference can be seen more clearly in the next two pictures: |
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| This is the basic lighting configuration | and this is the "LED" lighting fitted as standard to the TE version. Both versions got LED indicators and tail lights |
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| And the side view of the basic version shows there really isn’t much if any difference in the bodywork so I really got the impression that it boils down to what extras you want on the bike and, if the TE has all those extras, you would save money to have them put on by the factory by buying the TE version | Just a couple more general shots of the downstairs showroom |
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| showing not many more viewers | but one last detail shot showing the fan behind the right-hand radiator, the left hand one not having a fan. |
A little later on in the day I was joined by Rob Bensley (National Sporting Register secretary – organiser of the Club track days) and we whiled away the afternoon drumming up some interest in the track days. He has started to get some good interest now and places are going fast which was great to hear. I had to leave at 3pm but Rob kindly offered to stay on and man the table for us until 5pm.
If you would like a little more technical info from a journalist’s poinbt of view then I can thoroughly recommend the write up in the Motor Cycle Monthly issue #82 which you can pick up for free at most dealers or you can read it online using ths link:
http://www.mpldigital.com/mortons-media/motorcycle-monthly/82