The 1100GL has really impressed me.

[Longitudinal]

I had my first opportunity to stretch the 1100GL's legs a little this weekend. I still haven't fully explored top end power, but this engine has lived up to its reputation as a stump puller. You really have to TRY to lug this engine. Through winding roads and up hills, I found that it is perfectly happy to grunt up the hills and out of the turns in 5th gear, even down to 2000RPM and a tick below. On a casual or slightly spirited ride, downshifting isn't necessary in most cases.

I had read an old review of this bike (actually the 1100G) that said the same thing, but I was still impressed to experience it.

My motorcycle experience is limited, so maybe I am too easily impressed. My only other motorcycles were a 16V 650 Nighthawk and a GS750. Neither had grunt like this bike does. There are a thousand different ways to blow the 1100GL out of the water in 2020, but it has impressed and pleased me.

And I did not find shaft drive to be an annoyance like some say it is. My Nighthawk shaft jacked more than this bike with considerably less power.

[Grimly]

And I did not find shaft drive to be an annoyance like some say it is. My Nighthawk shaft jacked more than this bike with considerably less power.

Ditto on that. Never noticed any shaft jacking on either of mine, and when people mention it in regard to other bikes I'm kind of "Eh, what you talking about?"
Saying that, I never noticed it on my old Beemer either, and it had 100 barrels on an 80 rear end, so should have shown it, I think. I don't recall if the R-series Beemers were known for it.

[rphillips]

Barely noticeable on the GS's. Hammer on an old Yammy & it'll lift your feet off the ground. Congrats on the GS GL.

[Steve]

Of the few shaft-driven bikes I have ridden, I think the worst for shaft-jacking was Yamaha. Following that were Kawasaki, Honda and Suzuki.

I have watched a Yamaha XS1100 rider do rabbit hops by playing with the throttle. He got the bike bouncing on both ends, enough to lift both wheels off the ground at the same time.

.

[Rob S.]

Hammer on an old Yammy & it'll lift your feet off the ground.

Or a new V-Max.

[wymple]

My GS850 there is nothing noticeable. 77 Goldwing nothing I notice. 1982 Virago nothing I notice. 84 Moto Guzzi, same story. The only bike I've ever noticed it on was a Big Yamaha triple, and it wasn't bad. People must be really sensitive.

[Longitudinal]

My GS850 there is nothing noticeable. 77 Goldwing nothing I notice. 1982 Virago nothing I notice. 84 Moto Guzzi, same story. The only bike I've ever noticed it on was a Big Yamaha triple, and it wasn't bad. People must be really sensitive.

I think that people get so accustomed to the feeling of chain drive that anything different is interpreted as a problem or a phenomenon rather than normal behavior of a different kind. For my part, my first motorcycle was shaft drive ('83 Nighthawk 650.) I felt the shaft jacking, but I never thought a thing of it because I had no framework for a comparison. I owned a chain drive bike (GS750) between the Nighthawk and this GS1100GL, but could only note that the drivetrain behavior felt different from the Nighthawk rather than better or worse.

[bwringer]

Once long ago, I was GS850-less for over a year (long sad story about burned valves, a pothead, a cylinder head, a Cuban savior, and waaaay too much money) and when I finally got the thing back in one piece, I could detect just the slightest teensy weensy bit of difference vs. my chain drive KZ650 for maybe the first four corners.

I haven't really been able to tell a difference vs. my chain drive bikes since.

So yeah, the GS shaft drive system, where the front u-joint is exactly in line with the swingarm pivot, is simple and brilliant. No doofy parallelogram linkages or other foofraw. One nice side effect is that the swingarm bearings are beefy, bulletproof tapered bearings.

For that matter, the overall geometry of these bikes is brilliant; with some simple updates, they handle amazingly well.

And none of that BMW nonsense with badly undersized bearings, poor tolerances, and exploding rear ends. The final drives are (probably literally) bulletproof.

Definitely kinda heavy, though. I'll admit that.

[Longitudinal]

Definitely kinda heavy, though. I'll admit that.

I'm sure it is. But I will likely never push the bike hard enough to know the difference.