Second test – on the trail
A few weeks later, it was back on the bike, and was sharing my distress to a fellow long-time Bimmer fan over the touring dynamics of the GS despite its potent, charismatic and particularly guttural-sounding engine. He asked me which setting of the ESA electronic suspension I’d used. “… Well, there was a choice between Comfort, Normal and Sport…” I’d quickly skimmed through the owner’s manual. Had I paid closer attention, I would have discovered the five (5) preload settings at my disposal! And to rub salt on my psychological wound, a second Bimmer lover showed me how to select the right preload setting from the five, from “Solo smooth” to “Ugly Trans-Siberia.”

(Photo: BMW)

Armed with this new information, I purposefully headed toward my favourite dirt road testing ground, the Whisky trail. I then set the pre-load to “Moderate Trail” and the damping to “Hard”, disengaged the traction control and left the ABS on duty.

The road starts out with a long, curved climb on a mixed surface ranging from sand on pavement, clean pavement to full-on dirt. The engine was really pulling hard, and the new settings felt much stiffer and well planted. At the top of the hill, I slowly cruised by a holiday camp and a few houses before entering the Whisky trail proper, where a sign reminded me that I was using this trail “At your own risk.”

The trail then becomes a wide, single-lane and hilly dirt path that snakes under a canopy of trees, where forward visibility never exceeds 100 metres. The rain has carved gullies in the path, which is peppered with crater-sized potholes and half-buried stones the size of watermelons. Like in enduro racing, you really have to choose and stick to a trajectory from one metre to the next. I carefully proceeded in second or third gear, between 2,500 and 3,000 rpm, to assess the conditions level of traffic, as I am definitely not interested in eating truck bumper for lunch. I easily got round a carload of berry pickers who’d stopped along the way, with the new suspension settings proving to be highly suited to this type of riding.

The third section widens out and offers better visibility, so I up the pace a bit. Woops, soft spot here… and here, and here… Someone apparently decided to “fix” the trail with crushed rock! Mental note for the return journey: “Three loose gravel sections.” A speed bump allows me to unload the suspension completely, almost a jump from which the bike lands oh-so smoothly.

The new double overhead cam heads, for added torque and driveability - they actually make the GS a better bike, on the road and especially on dirt. (Photo: BMW)