Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Hi guys

Last week I got my new 1200GSA, and I've done about 500km all tar by now just to start getting used to everything.  I'd like to move over to gravel touring soon that will require the standing up position, but since I'm completely new to this I'm not sure how the standing up position is supposed to feel, and would therefor like to know if I'll need handle bar risers or not.  I'm 1.86m tall, and ride with the seat in the lower position (890mm?).  It's a 2012 GSA (not sure if the standard handlebar height varies between year models)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Hi Jan

What you need is good advice to get your bike properly setup for both on and off-road riding. The best place to start, especially when you're ready to venture off-road, is one of the club's frequent Training Sessions or one of the commercial Introductory courses, both of which are frequently advertised on this forum.

As for what it should feel like standing up, your body will tell you soon enough, for example painful wrists, struggling to get to gear / brake levers etc. Given that you're a tad over 6' tall, my guess is that you'll certainly benefit from a set of risers.

Good luck, and enjoy your bike - as I'm sure you do already!!

Hi Cecil

Thanks for your reply, I'd like to attend a training course in the near future, and as you suggest I'll gain some sound advice there.  I guess I thought that it's as simple as "if you're taller than such or such a height you need risers, shorter than that and the standard setup is fine".  I've done some short sections standing up, and I've noticed that riding on a flat/horizontal stretch of road you get to a point where you're neither leaning forward on the handlebars nor pulling back on them - just in ballance.  This feels very natural and comfortable to me, but my arms are fairly straight and I do get the feeling that I might topple over the handlebars at any moment.

I'll ask around some more, but I guess I'll need the risers in the end.

Thanks again

After my previous post I noticed the following in the owner's manual:

Handle bar settings

Mine is currently in the "short reach" position, surely swapping this will put my hands slightly forward and away from my body, and perhaps improve that "toppling over" feeling I get?  Maybe turning the handlebar slightly upwards as Neil suggested in the first post will improve even further?

At one stage handlebar risers were being advised for everything.  Nowadays, even in the Enduro world, the advice is that the standard bike setup is like that for a reason and you mess with the geometry at your own peril.

Although I am a bit shorter than you, Jan Staal himself set my handlebars to the optimum position by tilting them up a bit.  No risers.  Also, the clutch and brake levers should be no more than 20 degrees off horizontal (some club members have theirs pointing almost down to the ground (90 degrees), but they are not Chris Birch or Toni Bou so choose whose advice you will follow).

In the end it needs to be comfortable for you when standing and when sitting.  And when I say standing - this is at speeds up to 80km/hr.  Faster than that and off course you will be hanging on and feeling like you are about to be blown off the back of the bike.  A slight leaning forward is OK also - it's called the 'attack position' apparently

Don' forget the wider foot pegs, makes quite a difference.

Congratulations on the new machine, may your mirrors never touch the ground.

Thanks all, I had a word with Lynn Schroeder BMW as well, at the 1000km service they'll turn the brackets around for the "long reach" setting and I'm sure that'll solve it.  I'm also hesitant to add risers and make the bike feel like a cruiser when riding seated.

Something else:  I'd like to have the gearlever adjusted upwards as well, currently can't get my boot underneath it to shift upwards, it kind of gets hooked onto the side/sole of the boot.  I can't imagine that changing gears in the standing position can be an easy affair?  I guess practice will make perfect!

Jan, you may not need to adjust your gear lever by much. What you described as hooking the lever with the side of the sole of the boot is (I think) how most of us do it. It may feel a bit odd or uncertain at first, as it certainly did for me, but like a lot of the new stuff we learn when we venture off-tar, one grows accustomed to and it becomes second nature eventually. The idea is to be able to change gears comfortably up and down while standing without having to adjust your sense of balance on the bike. As Charles mentioned regarding the 80 km/hr thing, you wont always be doing a huge amount of gear changing between pull-away and 80, especially with all the torque you'll be commanding with your beast.

Thanks Stan

I think my perception of the gear lever position might be influenced from riding superbikes for too long!  I'm used to having the lever on top of my boot and just clicking upwards, with down shifting by lifting you foot slightly off the footrest and stepping down onto the lever.

I get what you're saying regarding changing whilst standing up: should the lever be comfortable for shifting upwards, it'll be too high to shift down without lifting your foot off the footrest, which in turn will disturb you balance if you're standing. 

I guess for riding gravel roads at 50 - 80 km/h one can select ±3rd gear and just keep it there, as you mention I've also noted that the GSA has a very wide torque range and pulls strongly even from very low revs.

Thanks

Mostly the bikes are just fine coming from the factory. I have not needed to change a single thing with the set-up of any of my bikes. There are guys on this forum who like to tinker with set-ups, but unless you are going to go seriously off-road , in which case you are on the wrong bike, then see if you cannot just work with it as it is. 

Thanks TBK

I agree that one shouldn't adjust and fiddle with everything unneccesarily, however I believe that these bikes (as with most other things) are factory set for riders of average height/weight etc, and therefor almost everything on it can be adjusted if (really) needed.  Being slightly taller than some, I'd like to be sure that it's comfortable and safe for me to ride on, even if I don't go out and do serious off-roading riding (which I don't intend on doing).

I guess being new to this I'd like to focus on the terrain and my tecnique and not worry about the bike!

Thanks!