[No longer]Stuck between deciding on a Africa Twin or 1200GS.

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Joined
Mar 29, 2017
Messages
268
Reaction score
165
Location
Orania, Northern Cape
Bike
BMW R1200GS
No, this is not a "which should I buy" thread.
I am just looking for advice on the things that keeps me from going with the AT.
I test rode both yesterday,both off and on road, and I was impressed with both.

For the record, I am not planning any off-road adventures(at least for now). I am actually looking for a good road going machine, but I need to ride it out to my house on the farm where it will be stored.
SWAMBO is riding a Z650, as she wanted a bike with more performance than her old CRF250L but she cannot reach the ground on the bigger DS bikes, so our adventures are confined to tarred roads. Her bike is stored at her mother's house in town.

The thing that sways me more to the GS, is that amazing braking performance! The telelever front suspension really does a good job here. The AT nose dives heavily, which affects braking performance, which brings me to my first issue, suspension upgrades! (I am about 110KG)
Now, SWAMBO was pretty set on me going for the AT, mainly because the price is better, but she also made it clear that I should not buy a bike and need to do lots of stuff to it making it more of a money pit. After I told her that for my weight I would really need to do a suspension upgrade, she was less than thrilled about it then.
So, maybe I don't need to do it, but I know the longer I own it, the more it will nag me. And as I am far from any major place with the suspension specialists, it is going to be a schlep to get it done...

Tubed tyres. I love the tubeless tyres on the GS, but I have found a 4x4 fitment centre that does successful tubeless conversions on the AT, and the cost is ok.

The only thing that keeps me from pulling the trigger on a new GS (was given a decent discount on a quote as, you know, soon 1250) is the price. Some quarter north of R200K is 'n pretty big sum for a bike. I looked at a 2016 Trophy  with 17'000KM on the floor for R75K less than a new one. Honestly, one should not ride the newer one and then the older one. After experiencing the Enduro Pro modes offroad and the Dynamic Pro mode on-road, the normal Road and Rain modes does not cut it and the only way to ride off-road is to switch both TC and ABS off.
And then, ofcourse, that pre-2017 gearbox! OMW! How did people buy these things before it was smoothed out only last year?? I know that I am shifting gears, as I am there while it is happening, but I don't think the people in the next town needs to hear that I am doing it.

My "local" Honda dealer is out on the DCT Africa Twin stock they had for a while on special, but they were punting me the Adventure Sports that will be released here very soon, but at a price of R200K for the Manual, the GS is again looking attractive and the pricing department. I have seen some dealers in Gauteng advertising the outgoing DCT models at R160K which is pretty good deal...

Oh, and just to confuse me more, the Honda dealer had a 2017 GS trophy model with 10'000km on the floor for R55K less I can get a new one. Just not sure if it has the newer Gearbox in it.


So I went with a GS. It was a hard choice for me because to me the AT is also a great bike.
Thanks for all the input. The thing about threads like these, is obviously some people may throw in biased opinions and others objective opinions, but I still find it useful as someone may mention something that I did not notice or consider.

 
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