Yeah, we get it. It’s not like you can’t just go over to ADVRider and drink from the real GS rider fountain till you barf up your $8 toast and $10 latte. But Editor Surj, following in the footsteps of the original, legendary World’s Oldest Paperboy, decided that an R1200GS would make a right proper city bike, so now we’ve got one, and since it doesn’t have to go back to the manufacturer, we can do whatever we want to it, which has already included throwing it down a trail or two, a bit of damage from a prematurely closing parking garage gate, and jump testing it on one of our top secret test tracks (AKA San Francisco).
Since ADV bikes are often treated to a bevy of bolt-ons at a level that would make a Screamin’ Eagle blush, we’re doing just that in our quest to create the ultimate tall-rounder, starting with some seriously classy metal from Rizoma, and a fittingly dual-purpose luggage setup featuring secure, sturdy boxes by Bumot for the road and soft bags made by Mosko for when the going gets really dirty. We’re working on things like lighting improvements and crash protection too, since we’re probably gonna need it. The crash protection that is, in case it wasn’t totally obvious.
Anyway, stay tuned for stories and sexy photos as we get our R1200GS project “build” dialed in. Hell, maybe we’ll even ride it on Bungee Brent’s Backroad Bash in 2017.
This story originally appeared in our December 2016 issue, which you can read in all its high-res glory here.
