[Motormike]

I have a standard height 1200gs and have ordered a new 1250gs low. While I have a 32 inch inseam, at 145 lbs sopping wet, and 66 years of age, I sometimes struggle to get the fully loaded (bags and a duffle) bike off the side-stand if I park it on any slight downslope. Traveling with the top-box and a duffle on the rear seat, the bike is just too top heavy. I need a little more bend in my legs and hope the low will give me the leverage I need to continue to be able to ride the GS.

 

[Anton@39]

I have a standard height 1200gs and have ordered a new 1250gs low. While I have a 32 inch inseam, at 145 lbs sopping wet, and 66 years of age, I sometimes struggle to get the fully loaded (bags and a duffle) bike off the side-stand if I park it on any slight downslope. Traveling with the top-box and a duffle on the rear seat, the bike is just too top heavy. I need a little more bend in my legs and hope the low will give me the leverage I need to continue to be able to ride the GS.

I have a standard height 1200gs and have ordered a new 1250gs low. While I have a 32 inch inseam, at 145 lbs sopping wet, and 66 years of age, I sometimes struggle to get the fully loaded (bags and a duffle) bike off the side-stand if I park it on any slight downslope. Traveling with the top-box and a duffle on the rear seat, the bike is just too top heavy. I need a little more bend in my legs and hope the low will give me the leverage I need to continue to be able to ride the GS.

Yes it will. Had the same issue when the bike is fully loaded with camping gear etc. I generally ride the bike in auto mode but when I was really struggling to get it off the stand I temporarily selected min suspension whilst I lifted the bike off the side stand then reselected auto. Engine does need to be on for that to work.

 

[Motormike]

Man, I wish I would have thought of that on my trip! It got to the point that when I needed to stop for fuel, I'd start to put the side stand down, and if I could tell there was too much slope, I'd start the bike up again and ride it to another pump. Low can't get here soon enough.

 

[80305]

Is the handling the same for a factory a low suspension?

I’m not concerned with suspension travel as I’ll not be riding more than fire roads.

I’m 5’6” with about 29 inch inseam. I’ve been riding a standard height 2007 GS with a low Sergant seat. I’m relatively comfortable with the height, but it is a chore in town and when I get stuck in traffic that is stopping g frequently.

I don’t want to sacrifice handling for a lower bike.

I’m assuming by lowering the front and back the bike maintains the same rake and geometry, so it’ll handle the same?

Or will a bike with ESA on low do the trick of giving me a little more foot on the ground?

As an instructor of adv riding, I would recommend you stick with the standard suspension. For your height, I think it will affect your taller ergonomics/clearance if you decide to enjoy more off-road in the future. Also, it's not paramount that you become flat-footed with both feet while seated. I teach my students to go one foot flat and your other hamstring across the seat when you stop if inseam is an issue. It becomes second nature after 1 day of practice. I believe it's more of a psychological security issue and means nothing when you're riding 99.99% of the time. (Some of the best riders I've seen happened to have shorter inseams, and standard suspension wasn't an obstacle in the least.) Also, I believe you'll have more knee bend with lowered suspension, and for some, it makes your knees more sore when pounding slab.

 

[MFM]

Just took delivery of my 1250gs Low. Had a standard height R1200gs before this one. My inseam is 32" and I can flat foot the Low. I was on the balls of my feet on my earlier 1200. Unladen, I had no trouble with the standard suspension. But when traveling, the bike was loaded with gear. I'd set the preload for Rider + luggage, then the extra pre-load made some situations (like parking on a slight down-slope) more precarious than I was comfortable with. I think I'm going to be much more comfortable being able to flat-foot the bike, especially when faced with more challenging situations like gravel parking lots and off-camber roads, etc. No off-road riding beyond a little gravel.

 

[KGM]

I’m 5’8 with 30” inseam. I’m very happy with my r1250gs low suspension and low seat. I can comfortably flat foot the bike, and have no regrets. I‘ve had bikes that were too tall for me, and I hated it.

 

[Ryugo]

I would recommend the standard height. I'm 5'10" with a 31" inseam and the height is no problem on my standard GS. Plus, you will have a little more leg room from the seat to the pegs which is more comfortable on a long ride.

This is completely false. People should really avoid giving advice when they don't know the facts, and opinions are not facts.

Just to help all other people in search for information on this topic.

1. GS is lower then GSA in regular suspension about 1" ground to seat (0.8" of ground clearance).
GS have option of sport suspension to get to the same ground clearance.

2. Low suspension GSA is little under 2" lower then regular and about 1" lower then regular GS.

3. If both, GS and GSA have been factory lowered, they have same ground clearance and suspension (and mandatory Dynamic ESA), seat height is almost the same.

4. Low suspension DO NOT alter peg to seat distance, riding triangle remains the same!
Lower seat does change that, makes triangle smaller and less comfortable.
So, if you're chasing maximum comfort for your legs, rather use low suspension and high seat to maximize seating triangle geometry.
Having regular suspension and low seat is directly opposite and will yield least leg room while seating.

5. Spring rate is same for regular and low suspension, but low suspension will have less travel, so it will firm up faster (actually a good thing for on road sporty ride). Also motorcycle center of mass of sprung weight is getting lowered. Those things are positive. Negative is that ground clearance is reduced if that is of concern (also maximum lean angle before pegs scrape).

Finally, most people can't even tell the difference, set suspension to automatic preload and same damper (road or dynamic) and they wouldn't manage to tell them apart.
Meaning, all those differences are only important when you ride it at motorcycle limits. If you are that good rider (on or off road), you probably don't even need to read this topic.

For the rest, you can't go wrong with either, but you can go wrong with ergonomic seating triangle and confidence to be able to flat foot.
Both are individual, but those are only two things that you will truly feel (if you don't trust me, just blind test low and regular suspension at same settings, and you will see for yourself).

 

[mickd]

100% agree and yes seat to pegs are the same in standard or the lower version thats why i got the low

 

[lamby66]

This is slightly off topic but I am looking at a new to me bike and I really like the larger tank of the gsa over the GS

I am comfortable on a standard GS or a lowered gsa.. my question for the masses, is how common are lowered GSAs on the used market..

My two reference bikes were a 2022 GS with seat in low position and a 2017 lowered GSA. My footing was pretty much the same at just shy of flat foot in tennis shoes. My boots should address that.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

 

[Gmachine]

New here, but I am getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on a new 1250 gsa with lowered suspension. I am 6'1 with a 32" inseam and I could probably handle the standard suspension okay. Would I regret getting the lowered suspension? I intend this mostly as a tourer, and daily driver bike. I love to explore the rural "paved goat tracks" and gravel roads nearby. But, no hard core off road stuff is in my future. I dont have any interest in that stuff!
Any advice would be appreciated!

I'm 5'10 with 30" inseam. I have a lowered 1250 GSA. It's lower than a standard GS. Salesman told me standard GS was same height as a lowered GSA, but lowered GSA is 10mm lower. (a bit less than ½ inch lower).

I would NOT buy the lowered bike. I'm comfortable with mine except for scraping boots in turns. It's a little annoying. If I were your size, I'd get a normal GSA. You'll be fine with that and won't have the boot-scraping problem.

A couple of tall friends (One about same size as you, other one is taller.) are getting GS HPs with the optional GSA suspension. They want the height without the extra weight of the GSA gas tank.

 

[Gmachine]

This is slightly off topic but I am looking at a new to me bike and I really like the larger tank of the gsa over the GS

I am comfortable on a standard GS or a lowered gsa.. my question for the masses, is how common are lowered GSAs on the used market..

My two reference bikes were a 2022 GS with seat in low position and a 2017 lowered GSA. My footing was pretty much the same at just shy of flat foot in tennis shoes. My boots should address that.

Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

Lamby: Doesn't matter if lowered GSAs are common or not. You only need to find ONE. My dealer is getting them in all the time. They are selling well in 2022.

 

[Gmachine]

I'm 5'10 with 30" inseam. I have a lowered 1250 GSA. It's lower than a standard GS. Salesman told me standard GS was same height as a lowered GSA, but lowered GSA is 10mm lower. (a bit less than ½ inch lower).

I would NOT buy the lowered bike. I'm comfortable with mine except for scraping boots in turns. It's a little annoying. If I were your size, I'd get a normal GSA. You'll be fine with that and won't have the boot-scraping problem.

A couple of tall friends (One about same size as you, other one is taller.) are getting GS HPs with the optional GSA suspension. They want the height without the extra weight of the GSA gas tank.

Oh...and the extra suspension travel is not needed for normal riding or even for moderate trail riding. To me, the only drawback with the lower suspension is the clearance in corners. I'm not a big dirt rider. I might have a different perspective if I was. I've had mine on about 100 miles of dirt/gravel so far and the roads went across 5 streams. All good. I used to ride my RTs in those conditions too. No problems. When you get to the heavy stuff, you need knobbies and it's really better to have a lighter bike with a LOT of ground clearance. GSA will never be a motocross bike or a dual-sport. If you're skilled, you can do a lot of tricks with them but not my desire...so far.

 

[dadamsinky]

My 2 cents: 5'10" and 32", I bought a standard GSA despite reservations about seat height, and adapted to it very quickly. No issues after a few weeks with OEM seat high in front, low in back. But one consideration I didn't see when quick scanning above is age & condition. Don't flame me, I know there's bunches of you in that category that are "doing triathlons", but had I been 70-75 instead of 60 I probably would have opted for lowered. Why? Always plan to keep my vehicles long term, and I simply think it would be easier to handle a slightly lower bike later on in life. I expect when I wear this one out I'll get another, probably lowered, GSA.

 

[Gmachine]

My 2 cents: 5'10" and 32", I bought a standard GSA despite reservations about seat height, and adapted to it very quickly. No issues after a few weeks with OEM seat high in front, low in back. But one consideration I didn't see when quick scanning above is age & condition. Don't flame me, I know there's bunches of you in that category that are "doing triathlons", but had I been 70-75 instead of 60 I probably would have opted for lowered. Why? Always plan to keep my vehicles long term, and I simply think it would be easier to handle a slightly lower bike later on in life. I expect when I wear this one out I'll get another, probably lowered, GSA.

dada:

Yeah...difference between 32 and 32 inseam is massive on these things. I could ride a standard GSA, but I've already had a couple of situations where I'm happy to have had the lowered suspension. ...mostly uneven parking lots and trails where I had to turn around on uneven ground. Being able to touch down is precious in those situations. I've set the bike down one time so far. I wouldn't call it a drop...more like a set-down. I was following an old Japanese sedan with oxidized paint. The road came to a 30 degree fork with green-arrow stoplight. Bear left and you're on one road, bear right and you're on another. Speed limit is 45 but people routinely go faster.

I'm behind this car, it goes left and I follow, then it slows down suddenly, no signal and pulls to the side of the road. I have to hit the brakes pretty hard. I go left, suddenly the car makes a U-turn in front of me with no signal...30 feet from this green-arrow intersection! I've never, ever seen anyone do anything like that before! Full brakes and I have to bear left more to avoid hitting the car. Now, I have full view of the driver...an Indian woman who is not seated correctly in the car...seat leaned back and she is not tall. I wonder if she even had a license. There is one of those buddhist temples about ¼ mile back. I think she missed the turn for it. Anyway, we know that turning the front wheel while stopping can pull you down. It pulled me down...I was able to hold the bike enough to just touch it to the ground. Seriously no marks or anything. I hit the kill switch and got off. To say I was not happy with this woman's driving performance would be an understatement. She took off not even opening her window, asking if I was OK...Did she speak English? I'll never know.

Luckily no traffic. Backing up against the bike as I was taught, I was able to pick it back up pretty easily. The camber of the road was on my side plus I had good grip with the ground. I've had other situations in the past where neither was the case....one time I was in the middle of Wayne National Forest in SE Ohio with no one around for hours...Didn't think I'd ever get that bike back up and thought the wolves would get me as it was getting dark...finally did it.

I'm 71 years old and had two serious surgeries on my right knee last year and 6 months of physical therapy. I feel very fortunate to be strong enough and able enough to ride this year...and I'm riding whenever I can and striving to stay in shape and active for the rest of my days on this earth.

 

[Gmachine]

dada:

Yeah...difference between 32 and 32 inseam is massive on these things. I could ride a standard GSA, but I've already had a couple of situations where I'm happy to have had the lowered suspension. ...mostly uneven parking lots and trails where I had to turn around on uneven ground. Being able to touch down is precious in those situations. I've set the bike down one time so far. I wouldn't call it a drop...more like a set-down. I was following an old Japanese sedan with oxidized paint. The road came to a 30 degree fork with green-arrow stoplight. Bear left and you're on one road, bear right and you're on another. Speed limit is 45 but people routinely go faster.

I'm behind this car, it goes left and I follow, then it slows down suddenly, no signal and pulls to the side of the road. I have to hit the brakes pretty hard. I go left, suddenly the car makes a U-turn in front of me with no signal...30 feet from this green-arrow intersection! I've never, ever seen anyone do anything like that before! Full brakes and I have to bear left more to avoid hitting the car. Now, I have full view of the driver...an Indian woman who is not seated correctly in the car...seat leaned back and she is not tall. I wonder if she even had a license. There is one of those buddhist temples about ¼ mile back. I think she missed the turn for it. Anyway, we know that turning the front wheel while stopping can pull you down. It pulled me down...I was able to hold the bike enough to just touch it to the ground. Seriously no marks or anything. I hit the kill switch and got off. To say I was not happy with this woman's driving performance would be an understatement. She took off not even opening her window, asking if I was OK...Did she speak English? I'll never know.

Luckily no traffic. Backing up against the bike as I was taught, I was able to pick it back up pretty easily. The camber of the road was on my side plus I had good grip with the ground. I've had other situations in the past where neither was the case....one time I was in the middle of Wayne National Forest in SE Ohio with no one around for hours...Didn't think I'd ever get that bike back up and thought the wolves would get me as it was getting dark...finally did it.

I'm 71 years old and had two serious surgeries on my right knee last year and 6 months of physical therapy. I feel very fortunate to be strong enough and able enough to ride this year...and I'm riding whenever I can and striving to stay in shape and active for the rest of my days on this earth.

Wish this forum had an edit feature!!! The first sentence should read "Yeah, difference between 32" and 30"...." Doh!

 

[italia]

31" inseam with lowered '22 GSA. Very happy with the choice. Sat on a regular GSA at dealership and was considerably more tippy toes / balls of feet to get 2 feet down. I have a 940mm (37") seat height supermoto and am accustomed to scooting to one butt cheek to get a single foot down, but it's a 275 lb bike. Wouldn't want to have to do that scooting on a 590 lb GSA. YMMV

 

[Gmachine]

31" inseam with lowered '22 GSA. Very happy with the choice. Sat on a regular GSA at dealership and was considerably more tippy toes / balls of feet to get 2 feet down. I have a 940mm (37") seat height supermoto and am accustomed to scooting to one butt cheek to get a single foot down, but it's a 275 lb bike. Wouldn't want to have to do that scooting on a 590 lb GSA. YMMV

The plus side of the GSA height is that you get that extra suspension travel...cushy ride over rough surfaces...which is really fun in the city as well as on trails, but I don't live in the city and I spent 100 miles of 6,000 on trails, so for me, at 30", I'm happy with my choice as well.

BTW, the long of leg who want the tall suspension without the big Adventure tank can buy the HP and get the optional GSA height suspension. I'm told you can only order that with the HP. I've got a tall friend who's doing that..and a taller friend who did it last year. They're both taller than me.

 

[ADV Wanderer]

Wish this forum had an edit feature!!!

You can edit your posts by clicking on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the post and selecting "edit" from the drop down menu.

 

[Gmachine]

Wow!!!! I did NOT know that.

Thanks, Wanderer!

 

[mikeabrown132]

New here, but I am getting pretty close to pulling the trigger on a new 1250 gsa with lowered suspension. I am 6'1 with a 32" inseam and I could probably handle the standard suspension okay. Would I regret getting the lowered suspension? I intend this mostly as a tourer, and daily driver bike. I love to explore the rural "paved goat tracks" and gravel roads nearby. But, no hard core off road stuff is in my future. I dont have any interest in that stuff! Any advice would be appreciated!

I have a low suspension…brilliant decision!…I’m 5ft 11 but love the grounded feel. Guess it’s no surprise on the GS adverts, all the pro riders are on low suspension models. People need to stop kidding themselves they’re taller than they are 😂