The BMW R1200GS is one HELLUVA TOUGH BEAST!

Yup! My first road accident with the BMW R1200GS. I was travelling along the a dual-lane, single-carriageway (a single lane for each direction of travel) road when a car dashed out from a minor road without checking if it was clear of traffic. He was making a right-turn, and presumably started moving off after only checking for traffic coming from his left.

I was on a straight-going road, and the car was emerging from the minor road, presumably ready to make a right turn.

I tried to avoid him by evasively swerving slightly to my right (not too much – there was oncoming traffic from the other direction!), sounded my horn to warn him, but to my complete surprise, he still came dashing out! [FACEPALM!]

Yes, I was T-boned from my left…

The car came at me with such force that it ripped his entire bumper off – along with the headlight assembly and some other bits – leaving it in quite a mess.

The mangled mess after the accident.

So, what happened to me? Well, here’s the interesting bit.

Upon impact, I momentarily lost my rear wheel – almost as if I was riding in dirt or very loose gravel. It happened for a split second, and the bike very quickly regained directional control and stability. I managed to upright it and safely pulled to the side.

NO BIKE DROP!

Yes! The BMW R1200GS remained rock solid stable!

The left vario pannier was ripped off – possibly taking the brunt of the impact.
The left side of the bike was damaged. The left pannier, along with the boxer engine guard probably saved my left leg from major injury.

While I was still very much in a state of shock, Rosli, a fellow biker on FBA8765U, came up to me and asked if I was okay. He informed me that he was a short distance behind, saw how the entire accident happened and offered to be an independent witness.

THANK YOU SO MUCH, Rosli! You are such an angel!

Arranging for tow.
Damage assessment at PML – BMW Motorrad Service.
The beaten-up aluminium cover of the plastic vario pannier.
Turns out that a couple more areas were damaged from the accident too.

Thank God that I got out of this accident somewhat unhurt!

All-in, considering the force of the impact, the damage on the car vs the damage to the bike, and most importantly, that the bike maintained stability and didn’t go down – I am super impressed with the BMW R1200GS construction! No wonder it’s the bike of choice for many adventures around the world!

9 thoughts on “The BMW R1200GS is one HELLUVA TOUGH BEAST!”

  1. Such a sad thing to happen but on the bright side no major injuries and now know how tough the RS is and why it cost so much. That’s why it is always advisable to install the crash bar.

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