Conquering Gravel and Sand: BMW’s Off-Road Rider Academy

(This piece also appeared on BMWBLOG on September 20th, 2024. You can check it out here.)

As I sat astride a BMW Motorrad F900GS in Spartanburg, South Carolina, instructor Terry Smith offered some sage advice: “Off-road riding makes you a better on-road rider, but it doesn’t really transfer the other way.” This would resonate over my next two days of training and challenges at the BMW Performance Center’s ADV Off-Road Rider Academy.

The Spartanburg Performance Center: A Fantasyland for BMW Enthusiasts

Located on the 137-acre grounds that house the manufacturing facility and the Zentrum Museum (itself somewhat a parallel to BMW’s Welt facility and Museum in Munich), the Spartanburg Performance Center is a fantasyland for BMW enthusiasts and motor-heads, a proverbial feast for the motoring senses. It’s what Willy Wonka would design if he were into cars and motorcycles rather than confections.

Inside the facility, lucky owners arrived to take delivery of new BMWs with all the excitement of Christmas morning, while outside, M-cars did power slides and donuts on the wet skid pad, engines wailing, and on the test track, all manner of BMWs turned hot laps, tires shrieking. Meanwhile, our class of student off-road riders ventured into the forest for instruction and to explore obstacle circuits, winding forest trails, gravel, and sand pits to learn and test our mettle.


A Brief History of the BMW Performance Academy

The history of BMW’s driving and riding academy dates back to 1999, when BMW set up a US-based delivery program for automobiles. The Performance Academy was a natural offshoot, and today owners and enthusiasts can attend classes ranging from basic defensive driving skills to semi-pro race training in BMW’s spicy M-cars.

On the Motorrad side, the list of available courses is comprehensive, ranging from Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) classes for beginning riders, to on-road Street Survival courses, to Adventure-bike off-road training. There are women-only classes, and a two-day “Authority School” featuring a curriculum tailored to the skills particular to law enforcement. Prerequisites are simple: “To participate in any class aside from the MSF Basic Rider Course, you must be comfortable operating a motorcycle.

Six months to a year of riding experience is recommended.” I’d suggest that last recommendation should be the absolute bare minimum, as being comfortable operating a bike, especially at slow (emphasis on slooooooow) speeds on challenging surfaces is essential for the ADV Off-Road courses in particular.

Choosing the Right Motorcycle for the Off-Road Course

Several weeks before the class, a coordinator reached out to inquire about my preference of motorcycle, a detail I didn’t expect, since I assumed we’d just be assigned some variety of BMW GS bike when we arrived. It was an unexpected bonus, as the class offers the full lineup of current GS machines, from the largest globe-gobbling R1300/1250GS bikes down to the more lithe, svelte G310GS bikes for those riders wanting something smaller.

I selected a F900GS, the one I’d ridden earlier in the year at the Las Vegas launch event, both for familiarity and because it offers just the right mix of maneuverability, power, and suspension compliance. (The Vegas event was where I’d become seriously enamored with off-road riding, and which sparked my desire to attend this course; in fact, I’ve been so impressed with the F900GS that I’ve actually ordered one for myself.)

The average class size for the one-and two-day course is twelve students, but our class only had eight. Given the three instructors, our 2.7:1 student-to-teacher ratio might as well have been 1:1, as all of us received an amazing amount of personal attention. Our student group was an eclectic one.

There were three pals from South Florida who had ridden their own bikes up to the class; an executive from Palm Beach (who had also ridden his own bike up); two friends who worked in IT from Maryland; and another IT guy from Kentucky, along with me. Each of us in the class had significant road riding experience, but off-road was fairly new to all of us, aside from one of the Maryland pals, who was taking the class for a second time just for fun and proficiency, and to encourage his buddy to embrace the discipline.

Day One: Learning the Basics of Off-Road Riding

Day one began at 8:00am for check-in and orientation, and also to meet our instructors: Ricardo Rodriguez (BMW Motorrad Chief Instructor), Wendy Naessens (our lead instructor and wearer of multiple hats at the Performance Center), and the abovementioned Terry Smith (who performed most of our demonstrations). Samantha “Sam” Lane also served in an essential support role throughout the class (and whose guidance ultimately saved my bacon more than once).

The curriculum for the course is straightforward, with six key precepts: Learning proper technique, recognizing bad habits, thinking about the way you behave on the bike, managing traction, developing good instinctive reactions, and a focus on so-called “perfect practice.” But if there’s one overarching instructional mantra, it’s “Challenge by Choice.” No one is pushed into a challenge before he or she is ready or comfortable, and there’s zero shame in bailing. In fact, pretty much all of us would self-select the “bail” route once or twice, even if just for a momentarily breather.
The instructors provide a supportive and judgement-free environment, and the goal is for everyone to learn at their own pace and to their own comfort level. That said, instructors encouraged pushing that limit a bit more when they were confident in a student’s abilities, and trust me, they watched like hawks.

Out on the paddock, we learned the various ways to mount the motorcycle, proper use of the center stand (a technique which I’ll admit had previously eluded me), and the three primary methods to “recover” a dropped bike. Instructors Wendy and Terry took a 1300GS off its center stand and laid it down on the pavement, then demonstrated various methods to upright the bike. It’s a foundational skill in the world of off-road riding, as we all would learn.
Both mornings, we began with “Bike Yoga” to loosen us up and build some quick confidence. We rode gentle follow-the-leader loops, balancing on one peg while sitting side-saddle on the bike, progressing into more awkward positions. If you do actual yoga, imagine doing a “resting pigeon” pose balanced on a foot peg while controlling the motorcycle’s speed with only the clutch lever and you’ll have a reasonable idea. It’s challenging, fun, and one of the first “circus tricks” we learned, and a great exercise to get a feel for slow-speed body and bike balance.

Mastering Slow-Speed Maneuvering and Bike Control

When riding off-road, going fast is rarely the point (unless you’re training for the Dakar, of course), so slow-speed maneuverability occupied the bulk of exercises. Riding a motorcycle slow is almost ballet-like, and a heady rule of thumb is, the better the rider, the slower they can go. Day one began with a simple slalom course on a gravel pad with two lanes of bollards, one lane tighter than the other, where we worked on positioning and balance.

We learned to weight the inside peg of the turn while simultaneously twisting our hips around the turn’s axis and bracing our outside knee on some fixed hard point as the bike rotates, feathering the clutch bite-point all the way. It sounds more complicated than it is, as it’s really an extension of the basic low-speed handling and turning skills most of us were taught in an MSF Basic Rider Course. (With the notable exception being that it’s all done standing up on the pegs, in the off-road manner. The class was two solid days of standing up.) By the end of the class, all of us were rounding the tightest bollards (and trees and switchbacks on Enduro Laps) with relative ease.

Slow-speed maneuvering is an essential off-road skill, and pretty handy on-road as well. Instructor Terry, who also teaches the “Authority School” course, told of a group of motorcycle cops he knows who were involved in a triple-digit chase with a guy on a sport bike. The rider kept the cops at bay for a while, but at some point, he got himself into a pickle and had to do a U-turn…which he couldn’t do. He dropped the bike. Busted.

The exercises built logically, with new challenges and skills enhancing the previous ones. We practiced “Trial Stops,” basically bringing the bike to a stop while upright, then waiting a few beats before proceeding. We learned to ride over washboards, maneuvered through ruts, practiced riding up and down “camel humps” (“clutch in on the way up, front brake on the way down”), and learned the intricacies of emergency braking by exploring what ABS can and can’t do.

When road riding, a rear brake lockup can end in tears fast, whereas off-road, we learned the trick of locking up the rear brake in a panic stop and controlling the slide with directional control. Instructor Wendy provided some germane motivation when she suggested, “Imagine you come around a bend in the woods and there’s a bear on the trail.” How hard can I stomp that rear brake again?

A Newfound Confidence

After an evening to recuperate, day two began with a quick refresher and…more bike yoga! Though this time with even tighter concentric follow-the-leader circles and figure-eights, which we managed to pull-off without a single collision. (Of note is that the one- and two-day courses have exactly the same curriculum for the first day.)

Next up were “Cowboy Mounts.” In practice, this is when a rider stands next to the bike, puts their foot on a peg, rolls on the throttle and lets out the clutch, and throws the other leg over once the bike is rolling. It’s a skill built on the morning’s bike yoga practice, but it certainly feels unnatural at first, almost dangerous. “The ladies really like this one, fellas,” encouraged instructor Wendy, shooting straight for the lizard brain of her male students.

Terry demonstrated this move from both the left and (harder) right side of the bike, with a deftness seen in Hopalong Cassidy Westerns. When it was our turn, it was pretty clear that, if we were the bandits, the Sheriff would have caught us before the edge of town. But with practice, it started to click. And it was certainly cool. It’s a useful skill to develop if there’s some obstruction or ground condition on one side of your bike that doesn’t allow a more traditional mount. But…did I mention that it’s cool?

Facing the Gravel Pit Challenge

Next up was the more intimidating challenge of the gravel pit, which simulates riding in deep loose rock and stones and, well, gravel. The pit was a rectangular mount of road gravel, roughly 100’ by 30’ and twelve- to sixteen-inches deep, looking like the sad aftermath of a dump truck accident. Instructor Wendy humorously backed this up. “The South Carolina DOT likes to just dump gravel here and there, then lets [motorcyclists] come along and spread it out.” I asked the veteran student if he liked the gravel exercise. His face turned rather gray, his voice somber. “No.” This didn’t instill confidence, and the gravel pit didn’t win a huge number of friends.

Instructor Terry demonstrated the Goldilocks zone of pace to traverse the rock pile (and also demonstrated what not to do, by once zooming through the pile at escape velocity, his big GS clattering all the way). But it was still nerve wracking, especially as one student after another bogged down or fell over or generally got all wonky. I decided speed was my friend, but it’s a careful calculation, as two slow and the bike will bog and sink into the gravel; too fast and directional control will be out the window.

“Don’t look down. There’s no answers in the gravel pit,” instructor Ricardo sagely advised. I might suggest that there are, actually, answers to be found staring into the gravel pit, but they’re the sort of answers in the same family as touching a hot stove or sticking a fork into a power outlet, so best to leave them right where they are. We did three runs, and I managed to make it across all three, my first successful run being attributable to dumb luck, but the next two more comfortable and controlled.

The Sand Pit: Testing Dynamic Control and Balance

Once we finished with the gravel pit, we took a leisurely route through the woods to our next challenge: The sand pit. We quickly realized that, solidity of materials aside, this was a progression from the frying pan into the fire of difficulty.

“As you get into looser surfaces, you just have to be really dynamic on the motorcycle,” advised instructor Wendy. In practice, this translated into kicking your backside backwards on the bike, moving your weight as far rearward as possible and lightening up the front end. The bike wants to squirm and shimmy like a greased eel, but with a right hand full of throttle and your weight back, the motorcycle almost surfs over the sand.

Just don’t slow down and do your best to not follow the inevitable ruts, and also try not to turn the bars much to avoid making the front tire into a plow. My one face plant in this exercise was when my bike’s front tire found a deep rut and I didn’t weight up the rear enough. POW!, down I went. (Pro tip: When riding in sand, remember to close your face shield.)

At one point, instructor Terry made what initially seemed a rare mistake. His GS bogged, his front tire tracked into a rut, and he went flying. He practically launched himself off the bike, doing a half-summersault in the air and completing the move when he hit the sand, immediately popping up. “Terry’s really into the martial arts,” explained instructor Wendy. “He does that all the time, for fun.” He bounced up laughing. We students all chuckled and glanced around nervously, but none of us made even half an effort to emulate the move. Fortunately, crashing dramatically in the sand pit wasn’t a required part of the curriculum, though some of us inadvertently gave it our best effort.

After we’d all made five passes through the sand, our sense of both relief and accomplishment was palpable. The sand is fun! I’d have taken runs at the sand pit all day if we could have, and jokingly suggested to one of my fellow students, a Floridian, that this would be so fun on the beaches near his house. “It certainly would!,” he answered, quickly adding, “Of course, I’d be immediately arrested.”

The connecting threads of the course are the Enduro Laps, which carefully and seamlessly tie together each cumulative skill of the curriculum in ways that build confidence, muscle memory, and capability. It’s one thing to carefully work on your skills traversing hillocks and mounds when the lesson is deliberately step-by-step, instructors giving patient feedback throughout; yet quite another when you round a tight bend on a wooded track to see a grooved camel hump in the middle of a damp path, while also getting whacked in the helmet with low-hanging branches and brambles.

Much of this comes down to reflex, when you string together a group of new skills in unfamiliar terrain (the instructors are great at looping through the same general route in a variety of ways), only to realize that the skills that seemed somewhat perplexing when taken solo actually made complete sense in the “real world” as you put them together.

On the Enduro Lap, you come upon a challenge, react, then quickly think, hey, I did that, cool!, then the next little challenge is right on top of you. Lather, rinse, repeat. As the Laps got progressively longer and more challenging, individual skills started to flow together reflexively, and with them the confidence of pretty much every student built and swelled.

All of this was under the watchful gaze of the instructors, who encourage students to freelance as much as they’re comfortable, always offering gentle guidance and correction throughout. (Or more pointed guidance, when appropriate. “We just need to get you out of your own head” was a common refrain, or maybe that was just to me.)

Day two ended with several additional essential skills, including emergency stopping on steeper slopes and recovering a bike if it falls on a hill. By that point, we were generally comfortable at least trying spooky new things, and the overall tapestry of two days of work was coming together. And finally, it was time to apply it all on the longest, most challenging Enduro Lap of the class, which ended way too soon. And then: It’s a wrap.

Our student group, to a person, had nothing but positives about the course, the instructors, and the overall experience. And in what may be one of the underlying motives for putting on the school, I’m pretty confident BMW Motorrad sold two or three bikes out of the class (one of the Maryland guys had moonbeams in his eyes about the F900GS he’d ridden for the two days and was already googling insurance rates).

Without question, we all left more confident and capable riding off-road than when we’d arrived, and we were all angling for more opportunities to ride in the dirt, rocks, and woods. I know I’m certainly looking forward to the arrival of my own F900GS, and I’ve been searching for quality off-road routes around Tucson, Arizona, where I’ll keep the bike. (For the record, there are many.)

Conclusion: Becoming a Better Rider On and Off the Road

I finished the course vastly more comfortable riding off-road than before, and while I may not be quite ready to apply for the next BMW International GS Trophy team, I certainly have the newfound confidence to explore formerly intimidating off-road trails, and do so with a fresh set of skills.

And did the course, as instructor Terry hinted at the beginning of day one, make me a better, more confident road rider? Absolutely. The day after I got home from South Carolina, I went for a ride on a road bike over a country road route I know well, feeling a newfound effortlessness in bike handling and control, along with a heightened awareness of my surroundings. I also found myself frequently glancing into the woods, thinking, man, I wish I could explore there. Thanks to the instructors at the BMW Rider Academy, I’ve now got the confidence to do just that.

BMW F 900 GS: Making a worthwhile candidate for a one-bike garage

(This piece also appeared on BMWBLOG on May 9th, 2024. You can check it out here.)

Ask most enthusiasts to name a BMW motorcycle and the answer you’ll likely receive is, “The GS.”  And by GS, they’ll likely mean the big-bruiser, dual-sport, world-conquering Boxer-twin (the latest example of which tips the engine scales with 1300-cc displacement), which can cross continents and ford streams and sand dunes with the same formidable ease with which it navigates urban jungles and highways.  But in the BMW Motorrad line-up, the GS F-models offer a less bulky, more nimble option as well.

BMW has taken the wraps off their latest updated middleweights, the F 800 GS, F 900 GS, and F 900 GS Adventure, which replace the F 750 GS, F 850 GS, and F 850 GS Adventure respectively.  Each bike benefits from a revised and updated engine, significant weight savings, new suspension, and a fully upgraded electronic suite.

Testing The F 900 GS Off-Road

Recently, BMW Motorrad invited BMWBLOG and other media members to Las Vegas, Nevada, to test out the new smaller GS (specifically, the F 900 GS), as well as spend a day of urban play with the new CE 02.  (Talk about a study in contrasts!)  While the new GS bikes are certainly smaller and more to tossable than their big brother, they are far from diminutive.   BMW refers to the trio as fitting into the “upper midsized segment,” and this seems correct for such capable, substantial machines.

“Stick out your candy on the outside of the turn and rock your weight down on the outside peg. Easy as that.”  Ride leader Gina, an instructor at the RawHyde Adventures riding academy in California, gave out this basic advice like she was talking to an MSF Basic RiderCourse student, but I latched onto her words and repeated them like a mantra.  (And for the record, when Gina said “candy,” she was referring to a certain body part that rhymes with “mutt.”)

As a relatively novice off-road rider surrounded by seasoned gravel pros, this simple but specific advice from an experienced instructor was a welcome lifeline. “Stick out your candy” I repeated silently to myself with every sharp turn and rutted washout. My focus was entirely on avoiding “doll’s heads” (slang for child-head sized loose rocks scattered across the trail) and tire-destroying rock shards; as one fellow rider dryly offered, “when you see the pointy rocks sticking up, try not to hit them.” Great advice, though pointy rocks and doll’s heads seemed to make up thirty percent of the trail.

Fortunately, the newly svelte and capable F 900 GS had my back.

2-Cylinder Engine, Up to 105 HP

The mid-sized Adventure segment is perhaps the most exciting and innovative in the motorcycle industry, where all the cool kids want to be, with KTM being the 800-pound gorilla with their capable and appealing 890 Adventure R.  Triumph slots into the #2 position in terms of market share (with the Tiger 900 being the stand-out), with BMW Motorrad trailing close behind.  The new trio of F-bikes aims to close that gap considerably, with the KTM the clear benchmark (though I think it likely we’ll be seeing more head-to-head with the new Ducati DesertX as well).

To power the new bikes, the Motorrad started with the 2-cylinder in-line engine already used in the BMW F 900 R and F 900 XR, tossed it in the engineering shaker, and poured out two subtly different variations on the theme.  Somewhat confusingly, each new variation displaces 895-cc capacity (the engines in both the 800 and 900 have the same part number), so the difference is largely down to tune. The 900-series bikes generate 105 hp at 8,500 rpm (up from the previous 95 hp) and have a maximum torque of 68.6 lb-ft at 6,750 rpm (up from the previously 67.8 lb-ft), while the 800-series model has an output of 87 hp available at 6,750 rpm (up from the previous 77 hp), as well as 67 lb-ft of torque at 6,750 rpm (up from the previous 61 lb-ft).  With four valves per cylinder and twin overhead cams, the liquid-cooled engines have two counterrotating balance shafts to moderate undue vibrations. With a 90-degree offset crankshaft with 270/450-degree firing order, the engine sounds nothing so much like a V-Twin, throaty, raspy, and deep.  A light clutch pull and up-and-down quick-shifter are standard.

Significant Weight Savings

An emphasis with the new bikes is weight savings, and BMW has pared down the F 900 GS by ~30-lbs alone.  Most of that savings comes from a new fuel tank design; the new plastic tank shaves nearly 10-lbs off the outgoing bike’s steel tank, with further weight reduction from the redesigned tail section and new standard Akropovic exhaust (which also accentuates the in-line twin’s native burble).

At the launch, my bike for the day was a F 900 GS with the Off-Road Package, a group of options designed to make the bike significantly more biased towards off-pavement performance.  The package comes with additional shift and ride modes, a more compliant suspension (with gorgeous gold Showa forks in front and a ZF Sachs rear shock, adjustable for preload, compression, and rebound), handlebar risers, better engine protection and enduro hand protectors, and more aggressive off-road tires.  This package targets the KTM 890 Adventure R specifically, and while the specs of the two machines don’t line up perfectly, the differences are really in the margins and will come down to personal preference.  The GS Trophy paint scheme on the new model is especially fetching and I imagine will have a high take-rate, though the Sao Paulo Yellow is also striking.

Designed For The Off-Road

Ergonomics have also been redesigned to accentuate the off-road bias of the new bikes.  The handlebar is 15mm higher than before, with 24mm more extension available on bikes equipped with the Enduro Pro package.  Foot pegs are 20mm lower than before, and have a new more rounded, self-cleaning design.  I’m 5’11” tall, with a normal inseam and arm length, and I found the geometry of the new smaller GS to be squarely in the Goldilocks zone, especially when riding off-road.  All hand and foot controls are easy and natural to use on the fly, and the design of the new foot pegs and slimness of the new tank design made transferring weight and gripping the sides of the bike with my knees natural and comfortable, especially when riding while standing.

A 6.5-inch TFT display is standard, which is bright and legible and controlled by BMW’s ubiquitous multi-controller on the left handlebar.  If you’ve ridden any BMW motorcycle in the past few years, you’ll quickly master how to navigate the menus and sub-menus, which flex depending on which options are configured on a given bike.  And the BMW Motorrad Connected app is fully integrated, as you’d imagine.

My particular GS had four available ride modes available: Road, Dynamic, Enduro, and Enduro Pro (which disables ABS at the rear and retards traction control even further than in Enduro).   (The Rain mode was disabled for some reason, though not of concern around bone-dry Las Vegas).  After playing with each setting, I settled on Dynamic and Enduro as the go-to modes for the day’s ride, with Dynamic mode adjusting everything from throttle response to suspension compliance on the fly, and Enduro mode slowing everything down to a manageable level, while allowing the bike to be significantly more tail (trail?) happy in the dirt and rock.

A High Level Of Customizations

As expected from a member of the GS family, BMW Motorrad came out of the gate with a bevy of available accessories. From a full line-up of aluminum side cases and canvas top bags to various Enduro enhancements and engine protection bars, to different seats to accommodate riders of all sizes, customization is almost expected with the GS.  And the after-market will inevitably add to the possibilities significantly.  An F 900 GS Adventure outfitted with a full complement of bags really does look like a full-sized GS washed in hot water (sans the bulbous cylinder heads, of course).

Carving Up The Canyons

On the road, the F 900 GS is a nimble, playful barnstormer, somewhat surprising for a bike with such an off-road bias.  With the understandable limitation of the off-road tires notwithstanding (a sticker on the dash admonishes to keep it below 100-mph vMax), the bike handles neutrally and predicably.  On the sublime and twisty roads through the Spring Mountains to the northwest of Las Vegas, up to and down from Mt. Charleston, then twisting around Red Rock Canyon, the GS leapt from corner to corner with eagerness, and responded quickly and predictably to quick mid-corner steering adjustments to avoid the ubiquitous mid-apex rock falls.

I expected the front end to wash out more readily than it did, particularly with the compromised tires, and was initially tentative with my lines and velocity, but as confidence grew with the grip and general suspension compliance, speeds picked up accordingly.  The bikes in our group equipped with more road-biased rubber had a distinct advantage, but I think most of that just came down to psychology; the GS I was on handled everything asked of it on the mountain road switchbacks with barely a squeal, and both throttle response and traction control were predictable and largely unobtrusive.

Comfort on longer, flatter runs of pavement was also a surprising strong suit.  A small irritation was the non-adjustable windscreen, which generally directed wind squarely at the middle of my head.  A taller “Dakar”-style windscreen is available as an accessory and is one for which I’d likely opt if I was going to ride the bike mainly on the road.  (The larger windscreen also looks cool.)   But overall, that’s a small nit, and our ~220-mile ride (with 70% on various paved roads) was comfortable and relatively relaxing.  While the new smaller GS is no mileage-eater quite like its big brother bike, it’s also not purely an off-road plaything.  Versatility was clearly high on the design and engineering brief.

Feels Lighter Than It Is

When the pavement runs out, the new F 900 GS really shines.  The new ergonomics, coupled with the weight savings and playful suspension, combine for an amazing level of confidence when trail conditions get messy.  The bike responds immediately to even the slightest weight transfer (“stick out your candy, stick out your candy!”), and the upgraded suspension soaks up shocks that frankly seem like they should bring the machine to its knees (or the dirt, as the case may be).  The bike’s overall diet pays added dividends with agility offroad, and the sophistication of the overall tune makes the bike feel even lighter than it is.  It’s quite a magic trick.

I mentioned I’m not an experienced off-road rider by any stretch, as the bulk of my riding years have been on roads or tracks.  But the F 900 GS was a worthy and patient tutor, smoothing over my initially ham-fisted inputs and tendency to ride more slowly than advised.  As my confidence level grew and my speeds increased, the bike lightened up and responded even more intuitively to throttle inputs and weight transfer, and I found myself riding harder and faster over what the more experienced riders described as “intermediate to advanced-intermediate” terrain.  The GS was unflappable, with Enduro mode allowing just enough playful room to explore my own limits without fear of disaster.  When pavement finally showed back up, my only thought was, hey, can we turn back around and do that again?

Candidate For One-Bike Garage?

My experience demonstrates the beauty of bikes in this category and Adventure bikes in general: That of flexibility.  As an all-rounder, the F 900 GS is playful in the twisties, comfortable on the open road (especially in GS Adventure guise), and confidently planted and nimble in the dirt and rock.  It’s a bike with immense personality, significantly more so than its immediate predecessor.  With the versatility to explore multiple limits, the F 900 GS makes a worthwhile candidate for a one-bike garage.  The “baby” GS has certainly grown up.