So I know this is not a question specific to my Ninja but you guys are some of the only professionals I have access to so :cool:
I'll always hold on to my Ninja to ride around town and satisfy the "speed demon" in me but I have a chance to buy a 2006 BMW R1200GS for sports touring...panniers and all. It's a great price but the only thing is that it's a flat twin and one of the reasons I'm getting a sport touring bike, other than the ergonomics, is the smooth ride. Since it's a 2 cylinder, will it not have the vibration that most 2 cylinders have? Do I need to wait for an inline 4 to be able to ride long distances smooth and absent of vibration?

Aren't you going to test ride it before you buy? I think you'll find that the R1200GS is one of the smoothest running motorcycles on the road. Other modern 2 cylinder engines can also run with very little vibration now that it's common to have one or more balance shafts in the engine.

Welcome to the board Captain!

BMW has long been known for building great cars and motorcycles. They have some of the best engineers. Ride it and see how it feels.

Google this....Tibor Sarossy, NY to LA, 45 hours, 41 minutes on a BMW R69S....done in 1968!

My 1956 R69 in the forefront of mid 90's stable. Great old sport/tourer.

Vibration? Bleh.....my '72 Triumph a relative buzzbox.

Thanks for everybody's replies. This is new ground for me so I don't know much about the "new generation" touring bikes. I know I don't wanna get a huge "traditional" touring bike and I've never been the Harley type so that leaves me with sport/touring bikes. I love the look of these bikes, but, again, I just don't know much about them. If I stick with the Big 4, I may not have to spend as much money but I still wanna look into maybe a GS or a Tiger if I can afford it.

The GS is a great bike but it’s big and heavy. Athletic heavy and carries it’s weight well. But! I’s still knocking on 700# loaded down with gear. The flat twin isn’t in my opinion “sporty” it’s a low rev monster tractor motor.

Now the Tiger.....has it’s roots in the racing pedigree of the Daytona 675. I may be biased.
Go do some research on ADV.

The GS is nowhere near that heavy. The 2006 was 440 lbs dry, with full fluids and a full tank it's still going to barely touch 500 lbs. But while that generation GS is much smoother than the earlier 1100s/1150s, it's still the early days of the 1200 motor - and it is not anything like the newer generation watercooled BMW twins. I've had many versions of each (in the GS's mechanical twin, the RT), from each of these generations except for the very current, and it gets faster and smoother by large increments each time.

I agree with Pat - compared to what you may be used to, it may feel like a tractor. But the lower-frequency vibes of a twin tend to grow on you much more than the high-frequency vibes of a 4. It feels more like confirmation that it's running, rather than something that makes riding long-distances tiring. I've done countless 1000+ mile days on BMW twins, and they are essentially made for it.

Something that I never got used to in all the GS's I've ridden, is a very different front end feel from a more traditional bike. Part of it is due to the suspension setup and geometry, part of it is due to the 19" front wheel instead of the 17", and part of it is due to the height. It always feels to me that there is a dead spot when tipping the bike over into a turn, that you need to just trust and get past until it's fully leaned over, when it feels OK again. Other BMWs with the standard 17" fronts don't give me that feeling - if you're riding a bunch to figure out what you like - try them all! This vagueness of feeling is clearly not a limit of the bike's capability, I've been all-out at my limits on much more capable bikes following even older GS's through the corners, and a skilled pilot will still be able to go incredibly swiftly (for street speeds) in any conditions, and do it comfortably on a GS, or most other BMW twins.

/moved to General

Google this....Tibor Sarossy, NY to LA, 45 hours, 41 minutes on a BMW R69S....done in 1968!

My 1956 R69 in the forefront of mid 90's stable. Great old sport/tourer.

Vibration? Bleh.....my '72 Triumph a relative buzzbox.

Note to photographer, never take a picture with a puddle under the bike. It just doesn't look good.

Note to photographer, never take a picture with a puddle under the bike. It just doesn't look good.

Ahahahh!!! :rotflmao: I had roommate at university that almost died of heart-attack because of that! I changed car's oil in driveway and spilled lots. Took car for drive and she pulled into same driveway spot. She came out 30-minutes later and oil had dripped all way down driveway. She thought her car was gonner!!! hahahah!!!! :eek:

The one 1200 GS I rode was very smooth, it was a more recent one, but still air cooled.

From talking to my friends that own BMW's one other thing to look at is the mileage and what scheduled service has been done. BMW has some pretty expensive services that need to be done. If it is due or over due for a major service and you aren't mechanically inclined (and have the proper tools) you may end up spending more than the bike is worth on a service. Or at least that great deal isn't as good as you thought.