Test Ride / BMW R1200GS

I've always been a little scared of this one... It just looks ominous (my homie James calls it the Apocalypse bike), not to mention its enormous. I think the main reason why this bike scares me is that I've really only ever ridden 80, 125 and 250cc motocross bikes, so the idea of wielding a 1200cc, 500 pound motorcycle on the road is just a little terrifying. It changes things slightly. 

This 1200 I tested was a 2009 with over 24k on the odometer. One of the pannier latches was broken so it rattled, and the clutch was poppy, but otherwise I don't think I would have been able to tell mechanically that it was used (I say that of course having never ridden a brand new one, but it felt solid).  I did like the torque of the V-twin, with every rev you could feel the bike twist to one side like one of those funny cars on the drag strip. Powerful.

After riding it though, the term that comes to mind is "cake walk".  This thing is very well balanced and easy to manage on the road. I'm not sure how rider size effects bike physics, but at 6'3" and 200lbs, I can comfortably manipulate this little cupcake. It was a blast to ride and I am beginning to understand why people get these for riding thousands of miles.