INDUSTRIAL AESTHETIC No question, the new design is striking, as much as the riding experience is impressive. It’ s a magnificent machine in most regards, but, also, one of the most annoying bikes I have ever tested. Firstly, and I’ m not sure this is a valid reason or not, but because it’ s a premium brand and expensive, it shouldn’ t have little irritations, should it? And secondly, because the basics of the bike are so bloody awesome. It seems to me like a decent rider designed the bike and then a young IT engineer got hold of it and did all the stuff that he thought was cool. One example is the screen, which is excellent in effect. It has a non-dedicated up / down button, which means if the selection page is on something else, like the heated grips, it doesn’ t work. The old system of having the heated grips on a side button next to the throttle was better( I know, I owned one). Then you could have the scroll / page system for all the less used stuff and the up / down button just for the screen. This would be easier in use, I think. I know this is nitpicking, but I alter screen height more often than anything else in
changeable conditions. Then there is the centre-stand with Electric Lift Assist that is still very heavy to use; the balance of it seems wrong to me. Then there’ s the Hill Start Assist, which is a total pain with a mind of its own that can, sometimes, lock you, immobile, in a parked position with no easily apparent way to move the bike at all. Supposedly, there is some sort of Voodoo dance that you can do with the controls to get the brakes off, but no one really seems to know how to do it. To me, frankly, if you need Hill Start Assist to ride the bike, then you probably should not be riding it. Okay, rant over. My advice is to get a very thorough explanation of ALL features when buying this machine or there will be frustrations. And part of this is down to the very nature of the way we’ re given test bikes compared to the buying process- we rarely get demonstrations of all the modes and controls, so have to try and work our way through everything.
THE SKINNY To sum up, I think the automatic version of the BMW R1300GSA is an excellent bit of kit that I’ d
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