2012 BMW GS Eco, South Africa

Are BMW owners too good to be true? Not only do they believe they own the best bikes ever made but then they go on huge jollies so they can park alongside hundreds of the same bike and blitz the countryside by riding all over it. Not content with that, they then go on to offset their carbon emissions by planting hundreds of trees and donate thousands of Rands to the communities that host them.

Motorcycles and water.......and why not!

Like I said; too good to be true?

BMW bikes; you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. There seems to be no middle ground. But, one thing’s for sure, you’d be stupid to not try one if you were in the market for a big, capable adventure bike (the 1200GS), or even a smaller, just-as-capable adventure bike (the F800GS or G650GS).

There is no denying that the GS, in all its various forms, is a brilliant motorcycle. You just have to ride one to realise that so much work has been put into making it the best it can possibly be; the attention to detail is evident throughout the bikes. OK, so there are quirky elements to the design but they don’t detract from the experience; in fact they add to it by ensuring that the bike is not just one more bland, homogenous entry into the adventure bike category.

Motorcycles and Mountain Passes......and why not?

More than any other make I can think of, with the possible exception of Harley Davidson, BMW owners go to enormous lengths to do things together. In this, they know their efforts are matched and exceeded by both BMW Motorrad and BMW Clubs South Africa to organise events for their loyal customers to participate.
The latest such event to take place was the GS Eco. Formerly known as the GS Eco Challenge, the word ‘Challenge’ was removed as those terribly irresponsible BMW owners would take this as a red rag to a bull and treat it as such, whereas the whole point of the exercise was to give GS owners a forum in which to prove to themselves even further how brilliant their choice of motorcycle was without looking at it as a competition.

This year, as last, the event took place in Clocolan in the Free State, a sleepy farming town of no great distinction on the edge of Lesotho. Most dealers organised rides to the event and we went with the Lyndhurst, Melrose Arch crowd. That the dealers were committed to the event was proven immediately when one bike was knocked over by some tool in a Range Rover before we’d even left the dealership, the bike sustaining light but incapacitating damage. Of course, it was parts that weren’t carried in stock but a plan was made, bikes were cannibalised and the damaged bike was ready to roll with the rest of them.

Motorcycles and impassable obstacles
.........and why not?

The central Agricultural show grounds in Clocolan were taken over and a rough total of 630 GS’s flooded in to take over the town completely. Quite what the locals made of such an invasion is not recorded but it has to be admitted that it was a pretty impressive sight. Everywhere you looked – at every junction, in every driveway, in front of you or in your mirrors on the road and always in vast numbers at the petrol station – there were BMWs. For the BMW hierarchy present, it must have been a heart-warming (and job-security affirming) sight.

The format of BMW events is simple; ride there and then, when you are there, ride lots more and, at the end of it all, ride home. The GS Eco is no different; everything is geared around getting the most out of your GS. There are three grades of off-road routes to choose from, depending on your skill; green, orange and red. In green and orange there was a choice of three routes of ascending difficulty with everything being eclipsed by the one red route. As the man said the night before; ‘if you’re wondering if you are good enough to do red; you can’t; you’d know if you were!’ Not going to try that one then….

Helping out a friend in need........well, why not?

Now, here I have to admit that, over the course of a weekend where there were 7 off-road routes to ride, of varying difficulties from merely unbearable to completely suicidal, I opted for a tar road route. I know, I know, a poor showing. But, given that many so-called adventure bikes will never see a bit of dirt in their lives, the road performance is a very important factor in their appeal. That and the fact that I am terrible off-road!

And thank god there was that escape clause! Just to jump out of sequence a little for dramatic effect, on the Saturday our little party was busy filming riders on the Orange 3 off-road route and, not to put too fine a point on it, you’d have to be completely bonkers…!

Pulling a wheelie over rail tracks......why not (OK, enough of the
rhetorical questions, maybe?)

I don’t think I have ever been happier that I am not an off-road adventurer when I saw the road we had chosen to ride that day; through the Lesotho border near Ficksburg and off into the hills, heading for the Katse Dam. Holy Alpine Pass, Batman! On F800GS and 1200GS respectively, we proceeded to ride what must be the most amazing 100kms of road in southern Africa as it snaked its way up and up into the heavens. This was exactly the type of road that any hot-blooded motorcyclist dreams of and to find it, on a perfect blue-skied day on a bike that was perfect for the job, was a dream come true.

Hang on. Did I just say that a GS BMW was the perfect bike for such a ride? Actually, yes. You don’t need a thousand brake horsepower or race-bred chassis to get the best of a road like this. Believe me, you will only get yourself into a whole heap of trouble. The GS was perfect because it only has a certain amount of power, but what there is, is low down, stump-pulling power so you don’t have to stir the gearbox endlessly to get anywhere; you can almost keep it in third (on the F800) and use it like that.

Magnificent countryside, friends and bikes. Why not?

The suspension is long-travel and supple (the road was in great condition but a rock-hard ride would be murderous), the seating position is upright with a good view of the road ahead and the handlebars are wide for plenty of leverage when counter steering. They all added up to a perfect, but long, day’s riding over some brilliant roads.

Back at the show grounds at the end of that first day and GS riders in varying states of euphoria told tall tales of the day’s exploits and the brave few tried their hands at the skills test. Mere mortals would struggle to complete the tests on light and nimble trials bikes but here were enormous GS’s making light work of the obstacles – no mean feat after a hard day’s riding and it was clear to see exhaustion taking its toll on some of the riders.

Lesotho and only half way through the most amazing ride

Day two was more of the same but some of us decided there was more fun to be had in driving to some of the trickier sections of the off-road routes and offering ‘advice’ to those who had chosen to ride. One particular section, which again most of us would hesitate to tackle on a trials bike, demonstrated not only the capabilities of the GS in the right hands, but also the skills of those right hands! Photographs don’t do justice to the route but they were difficult enough to walk down; let alone ride!

The amazing thing, though, was that it was never a case of ‘you’re on your own, son’. Many hands were always waiting to help others and these weren’t course marshals who had been placed there. So many riders interrupted their rides to take an hour or more to help on the really tricky sections, before getting back on their bikes to complete the routes themselves. A real atmosphere of comradeship pervaded the whole event and there was never any question of forcing someone to do anything they didn’t feel comfortable with; there would be plenty of volunteers to take your bike down for you.

By the end of day two, the tales were growing taller as drinks lubricated parched throats and a good dinner filled empty stomachs. The skills competition got more diabolical and there was a general feeling of relief coupled with elation to have reached the end in one piece (although there would be a few ‘victims’ the next morning…)

Lesotho

How do you sum up an event like the GS Eco? Like I said, if you’re not into BMWs you might wonder what all the fuss is about. Some of you might even see the opportunity of 600+ GS’s in one place as too good to miss if you wanted to get rid of a few in one easy explosion. But it has to be said that the BMW rider’s community is one based on respect (dare I say, love?) for the marque and, in that light, such an event can only build on that respect. Everyone who participated got something out of the event, no matter to what extent they pushed themselves or their machines.

Is the GS the ultimate adventure bike? No idea, frankly, but what is undeniable is the popularity of these bikes and the amazing lengths that BMW go to, in order to involve their customers in something that will challenge them and their machines and which can only strengthen the brand loyalty. The fact that the customers respond in enormous numbers is testament to that loyalty and the trust that owners place in their machines to do whatever is set up for them to do.

Near Katse Dam; about as far off-road as we got all weekend,
but did it matter? 

What is even more apparent is the unbelievable ability of these bikes, whether on- or off-road. There are many pretenders to the GS’s throne, some of which are snapping very closely at their heels. But, although this is a dangerous thing to say and I am not sure that I even want to believe it myself, it seems that the GS’s position at the top is assured for a long time to come.