Five reasons to get accessories for your BMW GS
Anyone who half likes his bike is always looking around for ways to improve it or make it look better. BMW GS Accessories are the perfect way to achieve that. They can help you personalize your bike by making it look more according to your personal tastes. There are also tons of accessories on the market to make your BMW GS more comfortable or easier to ride to suit your personal preferences. When traveling with your bike, getting the right BMW GS Accessories for it is the key to having a fun and safe trip. Here are five reasons to go out and spend some moolah:
Personalizing your BMW GS
BMW GS Accessories are a great way to personalize your bike and to turn in to a machine that is right for “you” and you only. You might think the look of the bike could be improved somewhat. Examples of accessories you could get to satisfy this urge include hand protectors that match the colors on the bike to replace the standard black ones (if they were present to begin with), different footpegs, modified motorcycle fairing and aftermarket front mudguards.
Additionally, you can also get side panels for the R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure; their purpose is to reduce the amount of water hitting your legs and are available in several different colors, including various shades of silver, orange, blue and matte metallic colors. Some companies make carbon fiber insets that look cool & high tech and can be added to various points on the bike like the passenger footpegs or sidepanels.
Unlike with car accessories, most of these BMW GS Accessories also server some kind of functional purpose. So think twice before getting them as your bike may behave or feel differently than before and not necessarily in a way that pleases you.
On the more extreme end of the spectrum, companies like Touratech can completely overhaul your bike to make it look utterly different from a stock GS. For the F650GS Dakar, Touratech provides a “supermoto kit” which includes 17 inch front and rear supermoto wheels, and a few other accessories. This modifies the bike so it is oriented more for street use. The “TB 652 ORYX” modification completely revamps the bike to the point it’s almost unrecognizable.
The added BMW GS Accessories are made from high quality components and any non essential items are removed from the original F650GS. The front and rear suspension is modified, as are the tires. Other added accessories include a carbon brake cylinder cover, radiator guards, front sprocket covers, Magura bars and adapters, a kevlar carbon sumpguard, footpeg relocation, and a few other items. The dry weight of the bike is reduced to approximately 340 lb.
A Touratech Enduro kit makes your F650GS look truly spectacular, but makes it less suited for your daily commute. This kit includes the following accessories: additional polyamide petrol tanks, aluminum bracket plates, a tank cover, a new rear silencer, front mudguard, twin headlights + cover, an oil cooler, a rear sports subframe, side panels, modified fairing, flexible mini indicators and more.
There are different kits available (basic kit, enduro kit, “full blown” enduro kit, etc.) that can be added in “stages”. All these Touratech modifications are costly and may surpass the original cost of the bike: the cheapest kit is around 6,000$ and the most expensive is around 13,000$.
To further personalize your bike, stickers & decals are available and the bike can also be repainted in a color of your choice.
Making your BMW GS more comfortable or easier to ride
Aftermarket seats are the main BMW GS Accessories to consider for this purpose. Various companies manufacture seats for most BMW GS models. Some are better than others and all of them should be tested out personally, or at the very least you should get recommendations from friends or people on forums.
Aftermarket seats for the BMW GS bikes increases seating comfort because the are made from ultra elastic material which makes the padding inside the seat more efficient. An improved design of the side seams of these seats for the BMW GS removes the pressure on the thighs. The better seats redistribute the weight of the rider over the entire seat, thus reducing pressure on the coccyx (tailbone).
Different seat “heights” are available to make it easier to reach the floor with your feet if you’re having problems doing so. Or, they can put your butt a couple more inches higher off the ground should your legs feel cramped after riding long distances.
A company called Corbin has been making aftermarket motorcycle seats since the last 60’s and they have an excellent reputation among many BMW GS riders. Their seats for the BMW GS feature genuine leather inserts and color coordinated seams. Like the Touratech seats these also increase comfort, in this case by eliminating “hot spots” that make your rear end sore after long rides.
BMW themselves have aftermarket seats that convert the stock two person seat in to a one person seat plus a small storage compartment, useful for storing stuff like toolsets and personal belongings.
Taller windscreens are available from many manufacturers to reduce windblast. Anyone who’s riden on highways with the standard windscreens will agree that the wind blast is just too strong for these kinds of rides to be enjoyable. The cosmetic changes are questionable, but it will make rides more comfortable for sure. “Clip on” windscreen extensions are available - you lock these on the top of your existing windscreen, are less costly and thus pretty useful.
Handlebar risers are relatively cheap accessories for the BMW GS’s and make it more comfortable to ride when standing up on off road pistes and make long range touring more comfortable.
Protecting your BMW GS
Personal protection should always come before protecting your bike. Once you’ve got that covered you can get some accessories that will prevent your bike from getting damaged. In my opinion these kind of accessories should be higher on your list than farkles that are just “nice to have”.
At the top of this list of BMW GS Accessories are motorcycle crash bars or protection bars: even a small spill at low speed can put scratches or dents your bike (or worse). Getting rid of those can be costly to the point that it’s probably not worth while. But every time you’re looking at your bike you’ll feel like an idiot for dropping it and wishing it was in the same pristine condition it was when you got it. It can really sap your morale.
To avoid being in this sh*ttty situation, there are several kind of protection bars available. BMW GS engine protection bars prevent the bike’s engine from getting damaged. For the R1200GS and R1200GS Adventure, crash bars are available to protect the cilinders and the engine housing. These crash bars should be made from strong stainless steel that does not rust. Touratech makes a set that can withstand serious stress.
Since these BMW GS bikes are made to be ridden hard it might pay to add protection to the most vulnerable points of the bike. Many, many parts are available for all GS bikes:
- Chain guards to stop the chain getting damaged.
- Oil filter guards.
- Radiator guards.
- Brake reservoir guards.
- Protection bars to protect your headlights from flying rocks and other debris.
- Alternator guards.
- Front sprocket guards.
- and more ...
Accessories for traveling on your BMW GS
BMW GS bikes are made to be ridden over long distances, be it on-road, off-road or both. When they come rolling out of the showroom they’re good to go for daytrips or maybe 2 day trips, but not more. If you’ve tried carrying alot of stuff in a backpack, that may work fine but how nice would it not be to offload all that weight from your shoulders, to luggage carriers on the bike? Also for safety reasons its better to not have too many hard items hanging around your spinal chord. I’ve covered BMW GS tank bags and BMW R1200 GS and R1200GS Adventure panniers in previous articles, but I’ll go over the basics here again.
For short trips or when carrying small amounts of luggage, BMW GS Accessories to consider are big tank bags combined with a soft luggage pack or a topcase; these probably provide enough space for your belongings. The standard BMW topcases have volumes of 30L of more and tankbags can store a similar amount of stuff. This already amounts to the same volume of a largish backpack and can easily include a couple sets of clothes, personal belongings like paperwork and camera’s, snacks and a basic toolset with some spares. Topboxes are more costly than tankbags, so if the crisis is hitting you hard, shop around for a good tankbag from companies like Givi or Touratech. These are reputable companies that don’t really manufacture bad goods at all. Givi’s definitely cheaper than Touratech.
For longer trips, or if you want to look like you’re heading for the road of bones on your way to the office, you can get a set of motorcycle panniers for the BMW GS bikes. Companies like Metal Mule, Touratech and Jesse make them. You can fit a ton of stuff in these cases, which are usually made from aluminum sheeting and are pretty robust. You’ll need these kind of panniers if you are carrying alot of heavy spares and big tool kits, extra water or fuel or clothing for all kinds of climates. If you don’t have a car, you can fit several shopping bags with groceries in here. Who said a motorbike isn’t functional?
Finally, when traveling on a BMW GS few items will make your life easier and stress free than a GPS. Garmin and TomTom are just two companies that make decent GPS / motorbike SatNav systems for the BMW GS bikes. They require special mounting brackets which may be supplied by the same company and are also available from Touratech (make sure it fits your specific model of GPS!). Once you’ve got all the hardware you can mount them on one or more places on your handle bars. I personally find it easiest to place them as forward as possible so you don’t have to look down (away from the road ahead) too much when consulting the map. Of course you can also get an earpiece to listen to the voice instructions output by the gadget; personally I find these voices annoying and always put them on silent.
Further benefits of GPS systems may include the ability to play MP3 music off them and to interface with your phone via bluetooth, so you can actually take calls while riding or at least know some one’s calling you. Garmin has software available to allow you to plan your route using online mapping tools so you can visualise your route beforehand and modify it to being exactly what you want. This can let you avoid possibly boring, ugly or dangerous routes.
Retail therapy
Something we’ve all heard the ladies go on about and let’s face it - buying stuff is fun, especially if it makes your beloved BMW GS look or feel even better. Go on and give yourself a little present for christmas or spend your work bonus on some much needed farkles. For many riders it can become a real addiction or obession. There’s always something in the back of your mind that you think can make your BMW GS look better than the next guy’s.
Next: Official Motorrad BMW F650GS accessories
