2018 BMW G310GS Review 

I've got a 2021 model 310GS as a beginner and am delighted with it so far. Mine has a taller screen, hand guards, crash bars, lower seat & lowered chassis (I'm 173cm tall with 79 inside leg). It's a lot better wearing earplugs as the motor is loud at mid-range revs and above. Bike is lightweight, not too fast, unintimidating, and very comfortable - not a single ache or pain as yet. Agree about the rear brake pedal being a bit close in to the chassis.

I have a little G310GS, it's a great bike. I changed the screen for a taller screen to improve wind protection. I also tried a deflector screen on the OEM and the taller screen. What did I learn? For me the taller screen and deflector screen both increased wind noise around the helmet. So I've gone back to the OEM screen which although windy at high speed, gives nice clean air, no noise and is far better than the other options I tried. So save your money; buy some hand guards and heated grips instead.

I really appreciate your realistic, real world comments and reviews. You’re not one of these reviewers who thinks every bike no matter the cost should perform like a Moto GP one. Thanks. Can’t wait for this little model to get to the American shores.

Thank you TMF for the test vlog, as grounded and informative as ever and nice to see local local roads used. I'm looking to replace my small bike, the G310 looks perfect, as I need something that doesn't struggle on the M-Ways etc.

Might get this as my first bike

Great review! My 310gs will be delivered to my house in 6 days and I CAN. NOT. WAIT.

Great review. I’ve just bought one for commuting. You were right it is so comfortable and plenty quick enough for work. I also have a BMW K1300s and as with the Gs the built quality is great. Keep up the good work mate.

I have watched a number of your reviews and enjoyed them all. Following my own test ride and watching this video twice I have placed an order for the G318GS. I will now be watching your clothing and equipment reviews. Many thanks.

Great review as always TMF. Like you, I have a 2014 1200GS and I am about to buy one as a commuter. I always enjoy your reviews, thanks.

I’m thinking of getting the 310 GS as my first bike. Video helped thank you.

I looked at the cb500x and wanted one. Then I looked at the 300x and wanted one. Then the mt07 and wanted that. Now I want the g310gs. How does a bloke make up his mind?!

Thanks, I very much enjoyed the ride. You are fast becoming one of my favourite reviewers. I particularly like your professional, unbiased assessment along with the unhurried commentary, and especially the chatty fact-filled content.

Another great vid, I've really been enjoying the thoughtful, mature content for a out a year. Keep up the good work!

Great video I enjoyed watching can’t wait for the next one.🏍

It is a great looking bike, in that colour especially. Needs spokes as you say.

I really enjoy your reviews , practical information and interesting. I've been watching since my knee surgery in January 17 ( KTM 690 get off ) and look forward to all your new stuff . Thank you very much .

Great review, thanks. Picking up mine next week as my first bike. Super excited, glad to hear your thoughts.

A handy little machine for heavy traffic or weekend fun rides ...

Another great review by TMF! Very cool bike, wish I had one. Thanks again for the high quality & informative review, much appreciated.

Great review as always. I’m only 5’1” so tall seats are a bit of a turn off, but I’m used to tip toeing a bike. I prefer the 310 R, even though I’m not likely to buy a small displacement bike like that. Have a great day!

I paid little attention to this bike when it was first launched in the UK simply because I'm a very tall bloke and figured that I'd swamp it. Then I saw one in the flesh at my local dealership and was amazed at how comfortable I felt sitting on it (and I'm 6'7" tall) . I currently have a '92 R100GS PD and have a growing urge to get something to keep it company in the garage and to use for local bendswinging and that sort of thing. It's price is very appealing and your very good roadtest has further piqued my interest, TMF. Thank you! I guess it's now down to me to fix my own road test. What a funky (not so) little bike. And a happy new year to you, TMF. Thanks for your interesting and entertaining channel. Long may it conitinue. Keith

Been thinking of getting one of these for a while, think you have helped me make up my mind 👍, another great review, thanks

Been away from riding for a number of years and looking to get back. The 310GS looks interesting but want to see your eventual reviews of the new 750 GS and 850 GS for 2018. Those look absolutely fabulous! Great review on the 310 GS as are ALL your videos. Excellent stuff...entertaining and very informative. Thanks for doing this.

I've been waiting for this review. Ordered one in the white/blue colours back in November, delivered last week. Only 50 miles or so in but so far I'm impressed with it, looks great and feels like a much bigger bike than its competitors. No complaints in build quality which people seem to be concerned about, it feels like a high quality product. Plenty of poke in traffic and will cruise at 65-70 with minimal vibration, haven't been off road yet but should be fun on the lanes.

I've been riding motorbikes since 1964, British/Japanese/Italian (mainly Laverda) and now in my late 70's, and I bought a G310R not GS not as my 'first' bike but more like possibly my 'last' one but no certainty there and during the last 3 years of ownership what a pleasure this little bike has been. The only hiccup has been a coolant leak which apparently is not unknown but was corrected under the 3 year warranty by Rybrook in Wolverhampton by fitting a modified RH engine cover and seal. I don't regard this as a 'cheap' bike more like inexpensive, were it made in Spandau like the 'big' twins the quality would price it out of the market.

enjoyed the review ,told me exactly what i need to know as a biker looking for a commuter,moving from a full fat 1200 adventure, its great to see real world bikes making a come back.many thanks,

thank you for a great review, I'm thinking of changing my Royal Enfield Himalayan for the BMW G 310 GS for a winter bike

TMF, awesome review, safe travels!

Saw one of these on Sunday with a couple of extras, really nice! Nice enough for me to take a closer look.

Great video, riding going through Beacons field brought back some memories of when i lived in High Wycombe.

I must say "as some of us in the states would say" that little bike "boogies" down the motorway. Great review, Flyer! Cheers! Looked like fun!

Good review as usual , I’ve got a 310R and and test rode the GS when it first came out, both good little bikes, now saving up to buy one to put in the garage with the R for a little Greenlane fun.

I had not seen or heard anything of this bike until watching this vid. Not even sure if this bike is available in the US as I type this. But wow: blown away by the possibilities! With proper spoked wheels and an undertail exhaust this bike would be the modern-day version of my beloved dinosaurish KLR650- a bike that does absolutely everything you try and nothing that well except putting a smile on a face every day. This may be the bike I don't buy new but look forward to in the used market, expect them to be a solid machine for a great many smiles.

Great review! Thanks!!! Now I just want to view some reviews about it's "off-road" capabilities.

GREAT video and ty for the 390duke comparison, still waiting for you to get your hands on a Duke790. HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR to you and your family.

Awesome Video man. Always look forward to your reviews!!

Hi MissendenFyer, just to refer that we in Portugal like your reviews, great descriptions, with humor but very reliable... Keep it up! Have a great 2018

Good morning Tim thank you for the video and have a Happy New Year to you and your family 😎👍

As usual, excellent review. Very useful, real-world information.

I just purchased a 2021 model, with only 1071 miles-like new condition-and I have to say, this is the most fun bike I have owned, and I only go to my "Big GS-1200 Liquid cooled", when I'm on a road trip of some substantial distance. Everything a few hours or less, this the ride! At 67 years old-it has opened doors for a more sporty, and youthful style of riding! A friend rode with me yesterday,and said he couldn't believe how much faster I was on this bike than my big GS...so I'm not quitting anytime soon. Sometimes great things come in small packages!

Excellent review again, thanks. Your review has answered all the questions in my head. Now all I have to do is get a test ride and see if there is enough legroom for a longshanks.

Very nice review TMF !! I love my r 1200 gs adv. !!!! Happy New Year from Belgium !

Thanks. Like all your reviews. Very helpful. I have pinned your 310 r review vs this one. I am a gs fan and you answered all my questions. I am currently on a 94 tu 250 Volty and want to start climbing the cc ladder. I am in my 1st year of riding and don't have the need to jump up to far to fast. I am going to probably go get one. They are very affordable here in New Zealand. I going to commute, do medium range touring with gravel and dirt roads along the way. And the odd river crossing. Cheers for your review

Well done TMF great review, not a bike I would ever own but loved the review all the same. Looking forward to the VFR Cross Runner, keep up the good work sir and thank you.

Great review, thanks. I'm taking delivery of one next week:)))

Peppy little baby! I'll be glad when this bike comes to the states. I enjoy your videos.

if this was going to be my first new bike I would be grinning from ear to ear....BMW pedigree, fantastic price and not to shabby to look at. Have to agree re the wheels and screen, they could and may possibly do an adventure version with spokes and a larger screen but other than that it looks like a fab machine. Cheers TMF

Thanks TMF. Good review. I bought one of these a couple of months ago. Loving it. Agree with you about the windscreen. I see Rally Raid are already going to work on this bike. I've seen a photo they have posted that shows the bike with a larger windscreen and spoked wheels.

TMF obviously stands for Too Much Fun! Everyone seems to love this bike. Seems like a perfect little commuter for town. I had a little Kawasaki 305 back in the 80s when I lived on the Air Base in California. In 5th gear, the speedo matched the RPM, lol. Like if you were doing 50 mph, the tach was at 5,000. 60 mph, tach was 6,000, like that. But that little bike was so fun to just ride around the base and to the local areas. Not meant for interstate or highway riding due to the low speed, but it was an absolute blast to scamper around on. This bike kind of reminds me of bikes that size. Hope you have a wonderful New Year!

The little BMW that Could !!! Great bike for high school or college kids or old guys like Me !!! As you get older, you don’t want to muscle a heavy bike and this one is light ! Besides, who rides all day, this is all you need !!! 😎

Thanks for another great review. I'm in the market for a small dual-sport bike, and this just might fit the bill... (The scenes of you queue jumping made me nervous. Over here, Bubba would pull his behemoth pickup truck right in front of you then laugh when you crashed.)

Great stuff tmf fantastic review as always - the lightweight adventure bikes are really taking off - subb 7/800cc I’ve been looking at the husky 701 rally conversion or a used KTM 690 enduro r and doing a rally conversion. Would be great to see a review on either of them (I know the ktm has been discontinued with no replacement forecast which is bizzar! )

Great review Andy, I think this will be a game changer, can imagine KTM will be doing something similar with their small motor before long. Agree with you on the spoked wheels. It’s really a super wee bike by the looks off, also wondering if when new 1300 gs comes out it has a similar design language ie front light. bet it would have been something that would have suited me better for 90% of the time than my big bertha which is such a chunk of a bike and I am always worried about dropping it. Pricing seems attractive as well. All the best mate.

Great review. Glad to see manufacturers producing smaller bikes, it's better for the environment, easier maintenance and probably less likely to injure oneself.

Yes you can call it a baby gs or the r also because of the lil baby bmw logo staring up at you from the handle bar mounts lol .ps. cindy my wife just bought the g310r in cosmic black march 2nd ..loves it. Keep us smiling cheers

Super review, I always enjoy your Great White Van encounters. Fab little bike too but these A2 prices are getting too close to the bigger bikes for the general market to be interested. IMHO! Happy New Year TMF!

Nice review again TMF. i like the look of this bike as a commuter. I have the tiger 800 which I love, but I could be tempted if I were to have a second bike just for work. Keep up the good work.

Great review Happy new year! Cheers Tom

Nice vid as always, thank you! And thanks to your black helmet visor the notch on iPhone X isn’t disturbing on fullscreen mode. Thanks for that extra feature! 😉

I've been waiting for this review for ages! Really quality reviews TMF. Good work!

Thx for review! Not many reviews of g310gs in the internet yet.

I'm glad you did a review. Seems like a great little bike.

Nice looking practical bike, with the rear rack and what looks like braided brake lines included. I would actually prefer the ally wheels. It would be nice to see Honda bring out a bike like this with the same size engine.

Quality review for a quality machine. Wish I’d seen this 6 months ago....

Nice complete review!

great vid mate have a safe new year

Thanks for another great review

Brilliant review, thank you!

I like this paint scheme. Looks much better than the red or the dark grey one. They could have this same scheme on a R 1200 GS Adventure I guess. Would look fabulous!

Aloha TMF - greetings from Hawaii. Just ordered a t-shirt and sticker from your tee spring website. Your videos are excellent and I wish you a successful and happy 2018! Mahalo for all your great work - The Hawaii Kai Flyer. :-)

Another informative and thorough review, nice work. I've heard you and others mention a 'tail tidy' several times but I'm not sure what that means, perhaps you can explain in one of your Q&A videos. Thanks.

This bike is my buy list! I am going through the web regarding mods, aux lighting, etc! Cheers Mate! -- a new Sub from India.

Having had a test ride on one of these I was looking forward to the review. I agree on your assessment in general. I found the front brake OK, but nothing more. Very slight vibes at 70mph. (test bike had around 50 miles on it). Stand out points for me riding position and seat comfort. At the end of my test the mpg shown was 74. Pretty good. Yes a very nice bike, and worthy of consideration.

Hey, TMF. Great video again! :) Though i would really love to see if this baby GS could do some light off roading. Not really on rocks and sand but on light trails. I would love to watch if you ever get a chance.

Another great review mate. Just read where Rally Raid Products in Australia have produced spoked (gold coloured) wheel and larger screen options for the 310GS, amongst other items. I’ll inbox you some images. Cheers. Jim

Thank you for reviewing this bike!

Excellent video as usual. Well done

Nice review. Hope you will review the GS 850 soon, your review would be appreciative. Keep up your great reviews.

a nice set of Barkbusters and all is well to start

Hi there! Thanks for this review, I came across a 310 GS by accident the other day and liked it. Can you get a bigger screen? I am 6'2"

You are correct with the rear brake. Because I could not find an aftermarket option, I added a pad from my old FZ1 on top of the rear brake pedal and it works wonders. Great review.

I did a thorough 250 km test of the G310gs today on varied terrain covering everything anyone is likely to do with this bike, from town to national roads, dirt roads and technical terrain. Herewith my observations considering I’m 6’1” and way a hefty 220 pounds. The flywheel must by tiny, it’s easy to stall especially considering it had a dead zone below 3,000 rpms. Once you get going you’ll find the mirrors to be ok. The handlebars are narrower than a larger adventure bike, thus impact on your ability to clearly see behind you. General thing with bikes this size though. The rider triangle is however excellent and I felt instantly comfortable on the little gs. However, after about 130kms your breaks become longer and more frequent since the seat turns to rock and your ass begs for a break. Standing while riding is a little awkward due to the small foot pegs, soft suspension that feels like a water bed when I shifted my weight and the tank design, coupled to the relative short wheel base. The suspension is very soft, but this provided an amazing ride over rough terrain. The little gs easily provided the most comfortable ride on a dirt road of any motorcycle I’ve ever taken off road. The light weight meant not having the added leverage of a standing position was never really an issue, and it allowed the bike’s tires to grip uneven washouts without hesitation. Handling slow technical terrain was more difficult mostly due to the soft suspension reacting slowly to direction change commands, bottoming out frequently, and the seat not allowing sufficient movement and the transfer of required weight given that standing was awkward as mentioned. In town this little gs was very maneuverable and splitting lanes was a cinch. Fuel consumption dropped from 4 liters per 100kms on the open road to 3.1 in town. The perfect in-town commuter as long as your lane splitting does not land you next to a Golf gti at the light. On the open road, as expected, it wasn’t very good. Cruising up to 90km/h is comfortable, but anything more and those heavy bar end weights just don’t cut it any longer. The vibrations are tiring and causes the rear view mirrors to vibrate so much you can barely distinguish between earth and sky. The real world top speed of 145km/h is rather theoretical considering overtaking a vehicle traveling at 110km/h takes time, space and patience. Don’t try this without good ear protection though, since long term exposure to these noise levels will damage your hearing. On more than a few occasions I chose to take long dirt roads instead of the open road simply because riding dirt roads with this bike is far more comfortable, and easy to do, than cruising at a constant 110km/h or more (less than this and trucks tried to overtake me on single roads). If you live in a larger city and commute without needing to take the highway and you lane split for long stints, or you stay on a farm with long dirt roads between you and your sexy neighbor, this bike is made for you. You can do national roads in Africa, or highways in Europe for up to 100kms long I’d say, but get yourself ear protection, a sheepskin or airhawk, grip puppies and plenty of nicotine delivery devices. My lasting impression of this gs: I handles a dirt road like a boss, comfortably and easily, and it lane splits like a daydream.

Great review as always.

thanks for the review. looking to get back into riding soon BMW need to make 650cc class. like a smaller S1000RR

Just a note, When you are thanking the garage that you borrowed the bike from if you could include their postcode that would be a nice touch, i know people can google the garage but it just adds that nice touch feeling. Excellent video.

Been out and bought one today after watching your video and the bike social video. A 2019 model, thoroughly enjoyed the ride home 😁 thanks!

I noticed there is a MRA Vario screen available for this model; I have one on my F900XR and find it is very good.

I have one, and love it! A Hug from Portugal!

I like that they have a little protection on the rear shock. The blinkers are also protected in a way if the bike fall on the side.

Be handy to know how the Gs is different from the R version, especially with respect to suspension travel which I don’t think you mentioned at all. Good to know this seat height and tank capacity, but how’s that compare to the R?

Great review as always I will be looking forward to some better weather and having a go on one of these myself. Have you considered changing your name from The Missenden Flyer to The White Van Magnet.

Really helpful review cheers 👍

Previous reviews have said it's a very good bike But have criticised it's bars as being too low for off-road standing up on and cheapish rear shock.

Great video ..can you please suggest a good wax product for tank and fairing

I note that it also has braided brake lines (as do all other BMWs) as opposed to the rubber hoses used on the majority of bikes. The comment about the rear suspension means that it has no linkage; the lower mount is directly on the swingarm and the upper mount is on the frame.

Great review Andy, thanks. It's funny you mentioned the 390 Duke towards the end of the video as I was going to ask which you prefer? The two on my list (after I pass my A2 of course) are this baby GS and the 390 Adventure which I'd assume is similar to the Duke in a lot of ways.

Great review 👍

Thx for review!!! Greetings from Spain!!!

such a sharp looking little bike. I think i heard that windscreen does not have to be that high to offer comfort. Not small like that one. maybe there is a fuller version. But I love it

Thank you, G8 review. Appreciated.