Today I had a loan GS from my local BMW dealer whilst they serviced my F800. I have never owned a 1200 GS, but I have ridden a number of variants over the last six or seven years. In my opinion the latest is without doubt the best, however its has some nasty habits The fuelling was at best poor, I was unable to find a setting that allowed me to ride comfortably and smoothly at both 30 & 60 mph. Id be surprised if that couldn't be fixed. It makes an unpleasant wind noise above 35 mph, I could see how that could easily be rectified. It was however very comfortable and has a shaft drive. I wouldn't swap my MTS 1200 GT for it, but if I was planning RTW with off roading Id be hard pushed not to get one, mainly because of the dealer network.
ymfb, how'd you get on with the gearbox ? as you say found the fuelling poor especially pulling away but I was surprised at how quick it felt compared the air cooled 1200.
I hired 1 last month in Italy for 3 days, wasn't impressed but to be honest I think anyone who has owned a Ducati mts 1200 is truly spoilt yes it handled well and felt planted but sorry it had absolutely no character at all and if that's what a shaft drive is all about, clunk clunk every gear change then I'll happily clean and grease my chain for the rest of my life The brakes squealed every time I broke and I did find it quite uncomfortable even with my airhawk. I gave it a good go on some cracking roads and all I could think about was .... wish I was on my duke or even my fz1 which is also better lol
I found the LC GS a bit cramped in legs and I'm only 5'9" plus older GS's are agricultural compared to the MTS. Personally I have had 3 1200 GS's and wouldn't go back after owning a MTS, you might have seen my recent thread about my trip to Spain where I did over 700 miles in a day, well I have done several similar days on a GS and had a sore arse like I had been to one of Michael barrymores parties and felt completely drained. As for going around the world on one, I think that it's no better than the MTS, they are both too technical and heavy, there are lots of better bikes you could choose.
