THE liTTlE BiKE THAT CAN

By Bob Coleman, Member #4406 The 2121 G310GS

The ‘baby’ GS doesn’t feel like a small bike. At 188 cm and 100 kilos, for me it provides a comfortable upright riding position and the feel of having enough bike around me. The standard windscreen is tiny but well positioned and angled, providing clear air to the lower edge of my helmet visor. I’m not going to dwell on power comparisons. It’s a 310-cc bike. But once you get used to using its power you can make much larger bikes work hard for the pleasure of overtaking you. My biggest day on her has been 930 kms, from Goulburn to Ballina, on the way home from the Alpine Rally. Having left the rally site the afternoon before, my pre-dawn start from Goulburn in June was everything you’d expect it to be – miserable. And I was still feeling the effects of Stones Green Ginger ‘Wine’ gifted to me by someone I thought a friend when I ran out of red.

The LED running light on this bike looks really cool and is a great safety feature. Toggling to low beam I was pleasantly surprised by the width and length of throw of the headlight, as well as the whiteness of the light. High beam seemed to add another 50 metres to the throw. I felt confident I was able to scan the road surface sufficiently to be able to respond to any threat and maintain a reasonable speed. The standard Metzeler Tourance tyres feel quite hard to me, so I like them warm before I put any energy into cornering. As dawn arrived, I was in a comfortable groove at between 110 and 120 kilometres per hour and wasn’t feeling any need to reduce speed for the sweepers.

Revs at 100-105 kmph are a very comfortable 6,000, increasing to between 7,000 and say 7,250 when traveling along at 120 and occasionally overtaking slow cars and trucks. Redline is at 10,000 revs. Top speed is just shy of 140 km/h at around 8,000 revs. 130 is not hard to achieve for overtaking on the flat. The instrument panel is digital monochrome with the essentials easy to see in sunlight and welllit at night. Speed, fuel, revs, and gear position are prominent. You can also toggle between fuel range, odometer, trip meters and such. The exhaust note is a lovely single-cylinder flutter at lower speeds, becoming a busy hum above 100 kmph. Earplugs ensured it wasn’t unpleasant. Some have complained that this model is buzzy but I don’t feel it. I did put soft grips over the top of the originals because I found the diameter of them too small. Maybe that makes a difference.

The 11-litre tank provides a range of around 275 kms or 4 litres per hundred kms. On a full tank the range shows as 330 kms but you soon notice the range countdown is quicker than the actual distance covered. Approaching Sydney, expecting to leave the Hume Highway and arrive on Pennant Hills Road where there are lots of servos, I let the tank run low and ran out of fuel toward the end of the new (to me) NorConnex tunnel. I pushed the bike the last 200 metres out of the tunnel and then a further 2 kilometres to a servo. Try that on your 1250! The bike has excellent luggage capacity. The luggage rack is identical to the rack on my 1250RS, although moulded in one piece for cost reduction. I can use my 1250 top case on the little GS. Not that I would, it would be an overcapitalisation and hard to explain to an insurance company. The BMW soft luggage kit for the 310, comprising tank and tail-bag is excellent and the tail-bag has a waterproof bladder insert. The LED tail-light and blinkers are sturdy, compact and bright. The rear shock, set to 9 out of 10, never bottoms out. The front forks feel superb, and steering doesn’t require a lot of input. In tighter corners the bike responds well to the rider shifting weight off the side of the seat. The single-disc front brake has good stopping power (and ABS), but I suggest newer riders leave themselves plenty of room to react at anything over 100 kmph. There’s a delay, even though it’s in microseconds, before the front suspension settles sufficiently for full application. The rear brake is just fine for lowspeed manoeuvring. The ‘baby’ GS is made in India for the Indian market. I understand it’s considered a luxury, high performance bike over there! An upside is the availability of a heap of cheap Chinese bling through outlets such as Ali Express. A smoke grey touring windscreen cost $40 and my sweet-looking model-customised engine oil plug and front brake reservoir cover were a stunning bargain at less than $20 in total. The bright red mudsling at $15 would have been absolutely fantastic I’m sure but it never arrived. I didn’t skimp on the important stuff. A better belly pan, lower engine protection bars, a radiator guard and pivot pegs were a necessity for off-road use in my opinion. Speaking of which, I also completed the MotoTrekkin Ridge Rider event on this bike, in fact that’s what I purchased it for. My bucket list had a ‘guided motorcycle adventure’ entry which would have been overseas if not for COVID. The bike handled the five days of dirt-riding between the Hunter Valley and the Gold Coast exceptionally well and was often commented upon favourably by other riders in terms of its appearance and capability. The ride was mostly well-groomed forest roads but did include a ’19 river crossings’ break-out route which put me way out of my confidence zone but was thankfully handled beautifully by the bike. In summary the 2021 G310GS is capable, comfortable, light and a whole lot of fun. BMW obviously supervises the assembly line well as the build quality is perfectly acceptable. Stunning value I think given the Australian RRP of $8,400.