Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1467308
HARLEY-DAVIDSON PAN AMERICA VS. BMW R 1250 GS ADVENTURE VS. KTM 1290 SUPER ADVENTURE R VS. DUCATI MULTISTRADA V4 S the road is velvety smooth, with every tester agree- ing if this were plainly a touring test, the BMW would win, hands down. Off-road, the BMW lost points for having some excessive driveshaft lash, which made small throt- tle applications on slippery surfaces a game of trial and error. This is offset somewhat by the stability of the chassis, but it's still quite evident in practice. BMW can lay claim to being the initial proponents of electronic suspension, but the platform, indeed the whole electrical suite, feels a bit dated now com- pared to the KTM and Ducati. The Dynamic ESA COMPARISON TESTI P108 BMW R 1250 GS ADVENTURE (price as tested $24,540) The grandfather of the adven- ture segment, the GSA is the bike everyone thinks of when talking big capacity adventure riding. It's the biggest of this four-bike gang, weighing in at a measured 620 pounds with a topped-off 7.9 gallons of gas, which was boosted to 647 pounds when we put the alloy side bags on. It's also the only bike that comes with a telelever front sus- pension setup, which helps the mammoth machine glide over silty dirt roads without letting the front-end get washed out. The GSA comes with the trademark BMW flat-twin, mea- suring 1254cc with a claimed 134 hp and 105 lb-ft on tap. The seat height is a claimed 35 inches, with a tall seat option available of 35.8 inches. Our test bike was a 2020 model and thus had been fitted with a bunch of extras over the last two years. BMW is well known for rarely having a standard model on the show- room floor, as almost every GS that arrives has some form of aftermarket package fitted. Our GSA came with the Premium and Touring Package