r1200gs tft display review for sale

The TFT display connects your smartphone and bike together and, together with the BMW Connected App, enables you to find your route, listen to music and make phone calls while on the move. Thanks to the new USB socket, your smartphone never runs out of power when you’re on the road.

The TFT display connects your smartphone and bike together and, together with the BMW Connected App, enables you to find your route, listen to music and make phone calls while on the move. Thanks to the new USB socket, your smartphone never runs out of power when you’re on the road.

The TFT display connects your smartphone and bike together and, together with the BMW Connected App, enables you to find your route, listen to music and make phone calls while on the move. Thanks to the new USB socket, your smartphone never runs out of power when you’re on the road.

The TFT display connects your smartphone and bike together and, together with the BMW Connected App, enables you to find your route, listen to music and make phone calls while on the move. Thanks to the new USB socket, your smartphone never runs out of power when you’re on the road.

That said with the issues that guys seem to be having, although a software update is supposed to be helping that issue, it does not interest me in the least Just as I could do without keyless start, I can do without the TFT.

There was a point on my ride of the 2018 BMW R1200GS Adventure when the thought struck me that retro motorcycles will soon be those that don’t come with an inbuilt subscription to Netflix. Maybe the future definition of ‘retro’ will be a motorcycle that doesn’t allow you to call up season three of House of Cards from an onboard speech recognition system whilst (in the case of adventure bikes) sipping Latte with your hologram pillion in a Starbucks car park.

On a similar note, I’ve resisted helmet based comms for philosophical arguments that were never really convincing, and have now totally fallen apart having tested a system at the launch of the 2018 BMW R1200GS Adventure.

Essentially, the 2018 BMW R1200GS Adventure is the same as the old GSA with a few colour and styling enhancements. The big story concerns the ever-growing rack of optional upgrades which are now available to threaten the thickness of your wallet. The undoubted highlight of which is a new TFT full-colour multimedia dash which includes phone and helmet Bluetooth connections (Netflix will be a 2019 option), all operated by the bar-mounted buttons and the control wheel.

More about the upgrades later, let’s just stay with the BMW R1200GS Adventure for a second. Whatever your views are on BMW and the GS range, there can be no argument about their continued popularity.

In a year where every sector, with the notable exception of adventure bikes, has seen a drop in sales, the two best-selling bikes in the UK, the R1200GS at number one and the R1200GS Adventure at number two, have experienced increased sales. A phenomenal achievement by any measure.

With an all-new GSA surely under development in a hidden chamber deep in the Bavarian Alps, the current GSA is in what I suppose we could call the mid-model upgrade phase. For 2018 the prospective buyer will have the choice of an immense range of optional extras, which include dynamic suspension, an ‘Emergency Call’ feature, hill start control, quick shift gear change, keyless ignition and the new integrated TFT colour screen.

Our test ride was aboard the top-spec TE model which came with just about anything and everything you can integrate and bolt on to a BMW R1200GS Adventure. It included all the above and then some.

One of the main things I’m forever raving about when it comes to the BMW R1200GS Adventure is the quality of the electronically adjustable suspension (ESA) which provides an almost magic carpet-like smoothness.

The new ‘Emergency Call’ feature is essentially an intelligent, integrated communication tool connected to sensors programmed to detect a crash and then alert the emergency services with your location. It’s not quite that simple, as there is a system and a protocol to follow to eliminate non-emergencies, but I’m sure you get the drift. Perhaps the most useful advancement has been in the previously mentioned connectivity and the new multi-media TFT screen.

Thankfully, it now appears that the days of motorcycle manufacturers scouring bins for discarded Nintendo Game Boy LCD’s to fashion into motorcycle dashboards are over. The new screens, such as that found on the 2018 GSA, are light years ahead of what has been the norm up until this year. The look, clarity and colours are now more reminiscent of a modern tablet rather than a pixilated, monochrome relic of the past. Press the key-less ignition and the screen goes through a short boot-up sequence of graphics, before displaying the stuff you need to know to ride a motorcycle. From there it’s a full-on mission control unit which contains a whole raft of useful features, including a nifty adaptive red-line indicator based on engine temperature during the warm up phase.

The app also provides for a fairly basic navigation system, which is sure to improve as time goes by and undoubtedly replace the need for a separate GPS. Right now, it is not as user-friendly or functional as the GPS system already fitted on the BMW R1200GS Adventure.

The information available on the TFT is legion, and scrolling through the various screens and settings is simple and intuitive. I’ve little doubt that even the most resolute of anchor throwers will be converts by the time they’ve left the showroom. The new TFT costs £595 but in my opinion, is one of those features you’ll regret not buying, especially so when it comes to re-sale value of the GSA.

It’s been at least a couple of years since I’ve spent any meaningful time aboard a BMW R1200GS Adventure, and in some ways, I’d forgotten what a superb all round package the bike is. Given the addition of the new features, it’s an even more tempting proposition and I can’t think of a reason why it’ll not be pushing at the top of the sales charts once again in 2018.

The second segment is the premiere of our new series of ‘Owner Reviews’. These are real-world opinions of machines owned by everyman riders. For this first one, I chat with my friend Dale Wagler. Dale is a former Marine and hard-core street- and dirt-bike rider. Dale recently acquired a new BMW 1250 GS Adventure, and he gives us his thoughts on the bike’s positives—and a few negatives too.

If you’d like to be considered for a future Owner Reviews segment on an episode of Motos & Friends, please email us at producer@ultimatemotorcycling.com and tell us briefly about your bike. We’d love to hear from you!

Today’s newest motorcycles are more likely to have flat-panel instrument displays than conventional mechanical gauges. And like your cell phone it’s worth the effort to protect the often fragile and scratch-prone screen face with the new R&G Second Skin Dashboard Protection kit. Made from high quality anti-scratch material the R&G screen protector kit has been designed to preserve the clarity of your motorcycle’s dashboard screen.

Not what I expected on this engine at 4000 miles… A small amount of corrosion on the main stand after just 4000 miles..not good for a bike costing this much. As another reviewer has said, the switchgear seems very cheap.”