2017 BMW G 310 GS
FIRST TEST
P84
ing through the rolling Catalan hills. The non-
adjustable 41mm upside down fork is set at a
26.7° rake with 3.8 inches of trail, and offers a
rangy 7.0 inches of front-wheel travel. This would
be welcome for off-road use as well as in coping
with rough road surfaces, coupled with the same
7.0-inch wheel travel from the direct-action KYB
cantilever rear monoshock, also non-adjustable.
However, the chosen suspension settings front
and rear are quite mismatched. The rear end is
beautifully set up, with a good sense of control—
you can feel the shock doing its job beneath you,
and it's especially well damped in ironing out the
rough road surfaces you get in the mountains,
after a winter freeze corrupts the smoothness of
the road.
Not so up front, though, where the longer-
travel fork is woefully under-damped—it's okay on
smooth surfaces, but show it a dip in the road, or
worst of all squeeze hard on the front brake lever
to get it to stop, and it dives like a soccer player
looking for a penalty. If you then run across some
road chatter with the fork compressed that makes
it worse, because you've used up all your damp-
With those alloy
wheels, you're not
going to be doing
major off-roading
but this kind of
caper is fine.
