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
P120
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
