The All New LIQUID COOLED R1200GS threadfest

G'day.
Yes, in Arizona, it will be mainly north west. For US tour, first half of March, we'll start from LA, up to Sequoia park for snow fun, then Death Valley, Vegas, Fort Mojave, a private place in Arizona, then Josua tree, etc back to LA. That 's the main idea we build on so far... But it can change a bit; Will see.
Cheers

Just got a call from Bob at BMW Ducati Husqvarna of Atlanta. Got to select my color and package type.
Bikes appear to be going into production for the states very soon.

Woo hoo

Probably so...just strange to have two different models in the same model year. But there are US DOT restrictions about when you can call a model a new model year and it may be too early to label it a 2014.

How did Yamaha get away calling the Super Tenere a 2012 model in 2010 then?

No idea, wasn't aware of the Tenere model year...was just speculating...perhaps that rule I had heard about only applies to cars then?

No real idea, and I don't recall the exact dates with the Super Tenere, just that everybody was wondering how Yamaha came out with a 2012 model that early. Doesn't really matter though.

For the GS, this is not so good as they are both called "R1200GS" and therefore confusion is a given.

OK three more...

#1 A preview by Driving (Canada).
http://www.driving.ca/research-car/roadtest/Preview+2013+R1200GS/7931880/story.html

#2 Schwarz's "review" in English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oLXUS1qhy4c

#3 An on board video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glo_mcZC73w

Please stop, you're making the wait even worse

I dont think you really want to stop Maybe we should have a safeword... like... Flüggåenk∂€Čhiæβøl∫ên

The video might be slightly NSFW.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9-2dN9E8vPk" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="420"></iframe>

How did you even write this?

(and yes remember that movie)

BTW I want to copy here the ending paragraph of Driving review... totally objective...

I have a norwegian keyboard, so I have some funky characters like æøå + some options for dashes like üûùú (i dont have a clue who uses them but they are there ). The rest is from ASCII table.

I will defintely want to ride one but I do not believe I will trade my 08R1200GSA in on it

I agree, and I don't remember off hand what day and month is the cut-over for the following year label. I think it happens rather early.

I too find it strange. You just have to explain to those who find it funny when GS and GSA of 2013 are standing by and you say ... well mine is 2013, and person who owns GSA will say, mine is also 2013. That will be baffling.

Not sure if that is correct.

According to Wikipedia:
"In the United States, for regulation purposes, government authorities allow cars of a given model year to be sold starting on January 2 of the previous calendar year. For example, this means that a 2013 model year vehicle can legally go on sale on January 2, 2012."

Not exactly the answer I was looking for, but something is better than nothing.

I didn't do a lot of digging but found this:

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2010/09/yamaha-xt1200z-super-tenere-and-fz8-coming-to-usa/

Basically announcing that the ST would come to the US as a 2012 model, news came out in September 2010, bike were supposed to be delivered in May 2011, but I think that was delayed due to the nuclear disaster in Japan.

They didn't. The bike debuted around June 2010 in Europe and models were sold there as both 2010's and 2011's. The bike didn't ship in the US until Aug 2011 and these were 2012 models. (This was delayed about three months from what Yamaha originally announced.) They took deposits in the fall of 2010 for May 2011 delivery, but the time a deposit/order is taken doesn't matter - what matters is when a bike is delivered to the customer.

As others have posted, a mfg can advance a MY approximately a full year from when they first deliver a bike to a customer. In practice, the spring before the next year is when you start to commonly see the next MY bikes.

- Mark

I think this makes sense. They can announce how earlier they want, but based on my Wikipedia finding, they can sell/deliver following year (2012) model in the current year (2011) in this case.

Let's not get into whether any of that makes sense (vehicle model year, monthly issues of magazines, ...). Not worth the discussion. It's pretty much all BS marketing.

I don't understand why they complicate things.

There are two important dates for the life of a vehicle.
1) ITS PRODUCTION as also posted within its VIN. THIS is how the factory (and the normal world) knows what model it is, what spares it should use, what updates are needed in case of recalls etc. (recalls DO take place based on VIN ranges anyway)

2) ITS FIRST SALE to an end customer, when it gets its first (and usually only) license plates. This is when the warranty starts (whatever this means) - which also relates to if the model is current or at least close to current (because if someone managed to find a 1100GS UNUSED in a BMW shop, I doubt it would have a BMW official warranty, maybe I am wrong though because this is BMW after all ).

At least in Europe both those things (along with many other things) are printed on the vehicle ID papers.
"Model year" is an arbitrary thing of the New World, I don't understand why it even exists.

In BMW Motorrad, this is proven to be wrong, as aside from "major" updates (the oilhead had 2 major updates), within the years are continuous minor updates, which easily translate to different spares etc.
My own GS is such an example. I cannot specify "model year" as my exact model was only produced for a few months (less than one year). It is the last GS before the first face-lift (which also gave 5HP to the engine), but DID have an (bit) updated shaft, didn't have servo brakes and had ASC (things that are normally accredited to the model with the first face-lift). So... Doesn't make to much sense to talk about a model year.

Any more news on topic? :)

Edit: A minor news update that concerns my country. Seems it is available to see (and demo?) already in Greece. I haven't seen it yet, but people reported at least two BMW shops have them.
I wonder how many can purchase a new GS here... Even with trading their own (which sucks here anyway as there are HUGE numbers of second/third-hand GSes...). Stupid people (like myself) bought it new.