Both brakes have plenty
of feel for off-road finessing,
especially the rear, which I found
myself using a lot. We opted
for the Sport suspension, which
adds compression and rebound
adjustment to the forks. Howev-
er, the springs still bottomed out
when landing off small jumps,
and on a longer ride I would
have added a little more com-
pression. Optional handlebar
risers and the Rally seat helped,
but personally I would like the
'bars a fraction higher.
My overall impression is how
easy the 450 GS is to ride on
dirt. I always felt in charge of
proceedings (not always the
case for me when pushing off-
road), and after a tough morning
of riding in appalling weather, I
felt up for more. The GS boosts
its rider's confidence and keeps
everything fun, which is much of
what adventure riding is about.
THE F 450 GS
SWITCHES TO
THE TARMAC
Next up, the road-biased Sport
model, fitted with standard
Maxxis Maxxplore rubber (also
made in India), standard sus-
pension, and no ERC. Predict-
ably, I stalled it straight away by
selecting first gear without the
clutch, as I was so used to the
system on the ERC.
On the road, it feels very GS-
like, only smaller and less pow
-
erful. On one occasion, I tried
to pass in top gear, forgetting
I was on a small-capacity bike
with just 48 horsepower, not an
F 900 GS, but overall, its off-road
manageability translates well to
the road.
VOLUME ISSUE MAY , P121
The off-road-specific Trophy
edition looks the business.
