Mastering the BMW GS Garage Motorcycle Agility Course 

If you’re an adventure bike enthusiast and are considering participating in the BMW GS Trophy challenge, mastering the BMW GS Garage needs to be high on your list of priorities. 

For those not familiar with the BMW GS Garage, it is a slow-speed agility exercise that consists of a series of u-turns, each one becoming progressively tighter as you navigate through the course.

This motorcycle agility course tests your fundamental skills and pushes you to become a better rider. 

Key Precision Riding Techniques Developed with the Garage Course: 

Even though the BMW GS Garage is a slow-speed exercise, the experience gained from practicing riding it will result in an increase in your confidence, control, and safety when you ride at any speed on any motorcycle on any terrain. 

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Building Confidence

The GS Garage’s progressively tighter series of u-turns require the rider to anticipate and make precise adjustments to their body position, throttle/friction zone, and brakes on each turn.

The repeated process of performing each u-turn results in riders becoming more proficient with these skills. This, in turn, develops a higher level of control and confidence riding the bike.

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Enhancing Cornering and Turning

The BMW GS Garage agility course is specifically designed to test a rider’s ability to navigate tight turns and transitions. Riders can improve their cornering and turning skills by working to master smooth transitions and body positioning to ride the course.

To achieve this, riders need to focus on the proper combination of body positioning, throttle control, and brake control.

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Improving Counterbalancing Skills

Due to the agility course being ridden off-road and the tight turns involved, standing up on the foot pegs is the preferred method to ride the course. Standing up on the foot pegs allows the rider to lean the bike over to sharpen the turning radius. This leaning requires the rider to have good body positioning skills to counterbalance the bike. 

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Improving Clutch Control

The BMW GS Garage agility course requires riders to develop smooth clutch control technique. This is a course designed to be ridden in first gear. This means developing friction zone skills.

Many riders are concerned with damaging their clutch with this exercise, but it is designed to handle this type of use. What damages a clutch is engaging the friction zone with high engine revs, like when doing elephant turns or wheelies.

Developing Smooth Acceleration and Braking

As a rider navigates through the course and the turns become tighter, there is less room for error. Acceleration and braking needs to be as smooth as possible to keep the bike’s suspension from excessive compressing and rebounding.

The smoother the rider is with their control inputs, the more likely they are to keep the bike upright and online.

Line Selection

Choosing the correct line is critical to successfully passing through the GS Garage. Any errors in line selection made in the initial u-turns become compounded further into the course you ride. As the turns become tighter, there is much less room for error. 

The key is to not just look at the next turn-in point but to physically turn your head. Turning your head makes your shoulders turn to face the same direction. As your upper body turns to look and you are counterbalancing the bike all at once it is important to stay light on the front end of the bike. This is done by squeezing the bike from your ankles to your knees. 

BONUS: Picking Up the Bike

An ancillary skill that is often developed in the quest to master the GS Garage is lifting the bike. Invariably, there are going to be drops as you push your skills to the test and begin to ride out of your comfort zone.

Be sure to familiarize yourself with the proper way to lift your bike.

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Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced rider, the BMW GS Garage agility course is a unique and challenging exercise to improve your skills and build confidence on the bike.

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