Question I get asked a lot: Why the S10 vs a GS. Whats your answer?

[frez]

Having had a BMW before and experienced some reliability issues and shit service from 3 of 4 dealers I used whilst owning it I didn't even consider a BMW as an option. The S10 was a bargain at a reduced price with the new model just around the corner.

 

[barkingllizard]

 

[talcon]

I think you nailed it. The GS is a very fine motorcycle but the S10 costs less, is about 3 times as reliable (Consumer reports survey), and cost less to repair. And the S10 is very close to the overall performance of the GS. IMHO Another big factor for those of us that do LONG trips, is the dealer network. Far more Yamaha dealers out there.
When I am 2000 miles from home, I care WAY more about reliability and support if needed than anything else.

+1

 

[kgfire]

Ha ha exactly!

 

[talcon]

Obviously its a good bike, but still think it was that Sci-fi comedy The Short Way Round with Charlie Mcgregor thats to blame for the wannabe masses buying em. Then with a great headstart on the competion there was no looking back. One decisive marketing hammer blow. N peeple being people, tend to want a slice of this success pie.. so rightly or wrongly, part with shed loads of their spondoolies £$, All media supported n promoted of course. :

Man they had those GS's loaded down! They kept breaking their frames after drops and tipovers too, if I remember correctly.

And we should all have support vehicles following us....

 

[Defekticon]

Obviously its a good bike, but still think it was that Sci-fi comedy The Short Way Round with Charlie Mcgregor thats to blame for the wannabe masses buying em. Then with a great headstart on the competion there was no looking back. One decisive marketing hammer blow. N peeple being people, tend to want a slice of this success pie.. so rightly or wrongly, part with shed loads of their spondoolies £$, All media supported n promoted of course. :

The BMW wasn't the first choice. It was KTM... But KTM didn't think Charlie and Ewan could make it through Asia and the road of bones during the time frame provided to them. As a big "FU" to KTM, they picked the BMW. Some say KTM really dropped the ball here. That's probably true. But the BMWs failed structurally. Alot. In many horrific ways, that without a factory support team, and support vehicles would have left them in very very bad situations. This fact conveniently gets skipped over whenever talking about those GS bikes. I do love the show anyway, I've watched both down and round 3+ times.

I'd imagine if KTM hadn't backed out, the Super adventure would be the official bike of Starbucks over the GS. ::025::

 

[Karl]

For cost and reliability and now increasingly the rarity of the S10. So many places I go, have 5 GS's parked with 5 accountants/lawyers sipping chai tea's.

Its just so BLAH,blah, blah, boring..

BTW, I loved my R1150GSA and still think the suspension (double wilbers) was better than the S10 ES, probably mainly due to the lack of dive.

K

 

[adventurelounger]

All the GS, without the BS.TM

 

[patrickg450]

when are the admins of this site going to pull down the truth about how much better a ST is compared to a BMW. They waited to long IMO, usually it is done before this many pages of how awesome the ST is.

 

[Cycledude]

couple Big reasons I chose Tenere , the closest BMW dealer is over 150 miles , very few BMW dealers in Wisconsin , Quite a few Yamaha dealers within 100 miles and very many nationwide. To early for me to say but I'm starting to wonder if maybe I should have bought a BMW Instead.

 

[RideDualSport.com]

People who ask me a question about my Super Canary do not even know what kind of bike it is. I get asked about once a year. I keep my tinted visor closed and don't acknowledge them and ride away, adventure style.

 

[Checkswrecks]

when are the admins of this site going to pull down the truth about how much better a ST is compared to a BMW. They waited to long IMO, usually it is done before this many pages of how awesome the ST is.

We've deleted a few trolling posts in this thread. Somewhere in the subjective gray murk is a fine trip wire between under-moderating and over-doing it. We mods have trampled the daisies on both sides pretty badly at times before getting to where we now are. What seems to be working in general is to let people post whatever they want as long as it's not personal attacks on other members or trolling. It's a subjective call, so I'll just add that for nearly all forums, decisions of the moderators stand even if we get something wrong in either direction.


The only places lately we keep having these issues are in the BMW-related threads. As stated before, this is a Yamaha forum so no surprise that folks here defend the brand and think the bike is the greatest ever, while the BMW forums and threads think we just bought on price.

 

[Big Blu]

When I owned my '12 ST I was asked a few times "is that a BMW"? My response was .... "sadly it is not, BMW has not yet released the redesigned GSA with the new LC motor that I really really want".

Generally their follow up questions was why I wanted the BMW LC-GSA? I'll not bore the inmates here with my detail answer to that question, except to say I feel the GSA is a much better bike for me and I'm a long time fan of the BMW flat twin motor... nuff said!

Paul

 

[Dogdaze]

I have never been asked that about the S10, probably because no-one around these parts could give a rats. However, I did get asked if it was a Hardly, when I had my customised VZ1600, my stock reply was always, "it most certainly is not!"... And yes, after having owed many BM's over the years, I did buy on price and ergonomics. Would I want another BMW? my heart says yes, my head says, not yet! I do like the BMW's, but the cheap, easily corroded metal they started to use puts me right off.

 

[rem]

We've deleted a few trolling posts in this thread. Somewhere in the subjective gray murk is a fine trip wire between under-moderating and over-doing it. We mods have trampled the daisies on both sides pretty badly at times before getting to where we now are. What seems to be working in general is to let people post whatever they want as long as it's not personal attacks on other members or trolling. It's a subjective call, so I'll just add that for nearly all forums, decisions of the moderators stand even if we get something wrong in either direction.

::008:: ::003:: Let's keep some kind thoughts and "feel-goods" for the moderators. They are just trying to do a job that, sadly, is needed from time to time. If you really want to get rid of them, then conduct yourselves like reasonable, rational adults all of the time. That'll fix 'em. What we really need is a nice discussion about Hilary Clinton vs. Donald Trump .... that would take our minds off the Tenere / BMW debate. ::025:: I'M KIDDING ..... I'M KIDDING ...... ::015:: ::020:: Let's be careful ... and polite .... out there. R

 

[Defekticon]

When I owned my '12 ST I was asked a few times "is that a BMW"? My response was .... "sadly it is not, BMW has not yet released the redesigned GSA with the new LC motor that I really really want".

Generally their follow up questions was why I wanted the BMW LC-GSA? I'll not bore the inmates here with my detail answer to that question, except to say I feel the GSA is a much better bike for me and I'm a long time fan of the BMW flat twin motor... nuff said!

Paul

I live in redneck-ville. If it's not a Harley, no one knows what it is. I doubt most of them even know BMW makes motorcycles. I was once stopped at the gas station near my house, the guy was just staring at it. Couldn't figure out what it was. Said it looked cool, but didn't understand why. I tried to explain it, but I just got a funny look, followed by cruiser face, followed by a wide open throttle Harley slowly moving away from me. ::013::

 

[fredz43]

I have never been asked that question in almost 5 years of riding S10's. Personally, I had one boxer engine BMW and didn't care for the character of that engine at all, so was thrilled that Yamaha brought out a bike that works for me.

I also have been asked if that is a BMW and just tell them, no, it is a Yamaha, then I get their
reply that they didn't know that Yamaha made a bike like that.

I had a funny experience Saturday, when I was in St Louis for an Aerostich pop up event. When I came out of the store, I saw 2 local gentlemen about 50 or 60 years old looking at my 14 ES. One of them said he at first thought it was a BMW, but it is not. The other explained, "No, that's a motocross bike. yep, it's a motocross bike!" ;D

 

[stomp347]

All the GS, without the BS.TM

Yupper!!

 

[Big Blu]

I have never been asked that question in almost 5 years of riding S10's. Personally, I had one boxer engine BMW and didn't care for the character of that engine at all, so was thrilled that Yamaha brought out a bike that works for me.
............
........
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Fred, the LC motor is sooooo much more lively and way smother the all the earlier iterations of that motor...... but it does make some strange noise. Bring new meaning to "the sound of a bucket of bolts". ::025::

Paul

 

[Ramseybella]

Fred, the LC motor is sooooo much more lively and way smother the all the earlier iterations of that motor...... but it does make some strange noise. Bring new meaning to "the sound of a bucket of bolts". ::025::

Paul

Better to sound like a bucket of bolts than becoming one Big Boo!