But it doesn't matter, for what you've still ended up with is a 318-pound, 34.0 hp/25.8 foot-pounds dirt bike that feels as slim between the knees as a backyard fence rail. Once perched on the DR's way-high 36.8-inch seat height and long travel (11.0 inches up front/11.6 inches out back) suspension, one can thumb the electric start and immediately launch into the morning commute (our unit rarely needed to be choked), towering above the surrounding tin boxes, a featherweight Gulliver hurrying among the four-wheel Lilliputians. How ironic that we might rate the dirt-worthy DR as a top urban blaster, but there you are, Korsakov's "The Flight of the Bumblebee" buzzing inside your helmet as you ride the power that lives up in the rafters of the DR's rev range, dispensing with traffic at will. It's great fun, and allows for various dirt-bike eccentricities-a shift lever that's positioned too far away for normal street boots, the inability to affix much in the way of soft luggage-to be easily forgiven.
The more-functional Beemer, however, is no less suited for urban warfare, and is certainly less frenetic. What you give up in superior slimness and ultralight weight is made up for by such amenities as heated grips, optional ABS, and the ability to slap on a tailpack or saddlebags as the need arises. Climb aboard the 30.7-inch-high seat and you find yourself feeling very much "inside" the motorcycle, with the plastic "fuel tank" rising before you as you reach out/up to the handlebar. BMW's engine-management system eliminates the need for any sort of manual choke or fast idle lever, although our test bike required repeated crankings of the starter before it would fire, even when we gave it no throttle as per BMW's instruction.
Clunk the tranny into first (overall not as smooth as the six-speeder fitted to the big brother R1150GS) and the GS rasps its way into traffic with a mellower note than the busy DR. Not unlike the Suzuki, the BMW makes short work of your city commute thanks to its wide bar and peppy (above 4000 revs) engine. You feel nice and safe aboard the GS, what with its manageable height, low-placed weight, sharp steel-braided brake setup, big mirrors, etc. Longish-travel suspension (6.7 inches front/6.5 inches rear) soaks up ruts nicely but feels a touch firm, even with the handy remote-adjustable rear preload (rear rebound damping is also adjustable, the 41mm fork is not) set toward "soft."
But firm turns out to be fine for weekend blasts up in the hills, which is where the GS can really strut its stuff. Ignore the blocky tread on the Metzelers-the GS will lean a long way before the footpegs touch down, and if you keep the tach spinning you can chuck the light and low GS from canyon corner to corner just as fast you'd like. Surely you've left your buddy on the DR-Z about six corners back, wallowing about in your exhaust fumes.
Except here comes the DR right on the GS's tail, and if the road gets really tight, the Suzuki can nip the GS right on its Germanic butt. A scant 107mm of trail-compared with the GS's 113mm-means the DR steers quickly enough to (you'd think) make a 90-degree corner at full-throttle. Where the GS might want to brake, the DR flicks over and stays on the gas-almost a shame, really, given the nice feel of Suzuki's RM250-derived brake setup. Don't let the DR's revs drop and the GS-mounted rider will have to work hard until the road opens up, wherein the bigger-motored BMW sucks in the DR like so much spaetzle at dinnertime.
And once out of the twisties you'll find the GS continues to hold its own at freeway velocities-only a lack of high-speed wind protection and a desperate need for a sixth gear (at 85 mph, it's buzzing its single-cylinder heart out) keep the Beemer package from feeling utterly stable. Still, ponying up for BMW's aftermarket windscreen and luggage would make the comfortable GS a fairly competent (if slightly subsonic) tourer.