A question of Sport(s)

The R1200GS Rallye comes in two flavours: regular and Sport. But don’t confuse this Sport model with the Rallye’s new Sports suspension – confusingly, the two are totally unrelated.

The Sports suspension is an option for the regular Rallye or the Rallye Sport. It’s a taller, longer-travel and more stiffly sprung version of the Dynamic ESA semi-active suspension, designed to allow experienced off-roaders to squeeze the absolute most out of the R1200GS on dirt. It boosts seat height to 890mm and costs £290 on top of the Dynamic ESA (a £755 option).

However, the Sports suspension is not designed to help average riders - it’s for proper dirt experts only. And it won’t help road riders at all - BMW even openly admit the Sports suspension causes a reduction in “comfort and directional stability on the road”. In short, if you wonder whether Sports suspension is for you or not, it’s not.