Pagosa Springs - Durango - First Notch Ride

[Scott Brady]

First: A huge thanks to Mike for letting me ride the 1200GSA.

We are having a little Mongol Rally party this weekend in Pagosa, so it was a perfect time to get in a ride on a few BMWs. We had Mike on his brand new (and super sweet) F800, Steve on his 1200GS, Andy on his 1150GS and me on Mike's 1200GSA

Andy's 1150GS

Steven's 1200GS

Mike's F800GS

 

[Scott Brady]

Just south of Pagosa was an old mining town and rail. This is what was left of the old water tower.

Another old cabin along the route, which was mostly graded forest roads at this point. Still wonderful riding.

Mike, in action

 

[Scott Brady]

Then we left the graded road for some secondary Jeep roads. The surface degraded to loose rock and larger embedded rock. Overall, pretty mellow trail, but challenging enough to keep your attention.

All of the bikes had street biased tires. On the 1200GSA, I was surprised how much traction the Metzler tires had.

I genuinely enjoyed the 1200GSA for all of the riding we did. The bike has variable ESA, so you can set the suspension for trail mode, which gains several inches in clearance and greatly improves suspension performance. The low first gear and low COG really allows this bike to work through technical lines. At slow speeds, it is better than the KTM. On the same trail, I would be riding 5-10 mph faster on the 950- that is not always a good thing.
On the road, the 1200GSA is pure magic, and so much better/smoother/more comfortable than my 950.

A few shots of Steven in action on the 1200GS

 

[stolenheron]

sweet pics

 

[Trail Monkey]

Nice report. This makes me happy about my latest purchase. 2010 R1200GSA anniversary ed. Its for my anniversary. Im telling the wife that the SMB was for her anniversary, so far i think she's accepting it..!!!

Mike, get those TKC 80's on that 800, were heading to CO..

jr..

 

[jcbrandon]

... Its for my anniversary. I'm telling the wife that the SMB was for her anniversary, so far i think she's accepting it...

James, she humors you. It means she likes you. It doesn't mean she believes you

 

[trailsurfer]

Nice report. This makes me happy about my latest purchase. 2010 R1200GSA anniversary ed. Its for my anniversary. Im telling the wife that the SMB was for her anniversary, so far i think she's accepting it..!!!

Mike, get those TKC 80's on that 800, were heading to CO..

jr..

So which bike are you bringing to Colorado?

 

[RunninRubicon]

Backroads runnin

I got to do some Kaibab National forest roads (Marble point and Dog point) last year on a friends KTM 950 Adventure. This is just great fun. I'd almost give up my 08' Rubicon 4door, if the kids and wife weren't still in the picture. That BMW 800 looks great. Aspects about these kinds of rides are just irreplacable after experiencing them first hand. You never forget them.

Great pictures.....way jealous.

 

[Scott Brady]

Here is the map of our ride. The paved roads in Colorado are as fun as the dirt ones!

 

[Trail Monkey]

So which bike are you bringing to Colorado?

M

gonna bring the 990 out. this way it can stay in AZ. Ill use the 1200 here in NY and the NE. Scotts comments about the low speed ability on the 1200 are very accurate, in the BMW class i took i found the GSA to be very stable and easy to hadle with just a bit of practice. the 990 is just so ready to go! im putting in the g2 throttle cam into the 990 to make it a bit more controlable at lower speed riding. seems like others have had great success with that..