Dirt_Dad
Well-Known Member
Founding Member
2011 Site Supporter
2013 Site Supporter
2014 Site Supporter
Thanks, we have the Madstad on order. Long lead time right now. Hoping it makes it on time for the trip.Congratulations to Dirt Mom for her new bike. That's a beauty. My wife has a 2017 F700GS and the Madstad adjustable windscreen made a huge improvement in the wind noise and helmet buffeting she experienced with the stock windshield.
On the topic of BMW reliability. I just finished a 17 day, 2900+ mile ride in Alaska with Compass Expeditions. Our route included the Dalton Highway to Prudhoe and a number of other dirt routes. There were 13 BMW GS bikes (a mix of R1200, F700 and F800 bikes) and three V-Stroms in our group. Other than five flat tires on the Dalton Highway, none of the bikes missed a beat. After doing the Dalton Highway and the 70 miles of dirt into Kennecott from Chitina, I can tell you that those rental bikes take a beating. My rental bike ended the trip with over 30,000 miles on the clock so it definitely has had a hard life. The bikes were procured from Motoquest in Anchorage. At the end of the trip, I asked the shop manager at Motoquest which bikes in their rental fleet were the most reliable. The answer was, "hands down, the R1200GS and the 650 V-Strom." Obviously not a huge sample set but if a BMW is what I had my heart set on, I be less concerned about buying one than I might have been before.
That's a lot of flat tires. When we did the Dalton back in 2017 it was the nicest dirt road we've ever ridden. Good feedback from the fleet manager. I can say after installing the crashbars yesterday the fit and finish on this bike is the best I've ever seen.