My Harley has gone, and I now have a BMW K25 R1200GS bike for enduro / adventure riding through South Africa. My reasons for switching were mainly the amount of cleaning that the Harley’s chrome enjoyed (… and I didn’t!) and also that we have so many wonderful dirt roads winding through stunning countryside in South Africa and the Harley really preferred winding tar roads… The new bike has ABS brakes, Electronic Suspension Adjustment, Automatic Traction Control, heated hand grips, onboard computer, sealed shaft drive, 6-speed gearbox, 1200cc twin engine. I bought this bike on 25th February 2011, and I’m really enjoying it (10 years later)!
I bought this bike from Rynier at Hamman Motorrad (branch since closed) and a piece of good advice I got from him was to go on a basic off-road riding course…. the ride on this bike is totally different to the lower and longer Harley, and it was really at the off-road course where the new bike and I became “one”. The off-road course steps up your confidence and handling skills and also includes lots of tips for enjoying a bike like this to the full… OK, not to the full, as there are intermediate and advanced courses as well.
See some useful tips for operating the R1200GS
Some GPS Tracks of my rides: Wuppertal GPS Data File
GPX file can be imported into Mapsource or Google Earth
Where to Ride in South Africa – See Trailrider’s Blog
Best Biking Roads in the Western Cape
