Last year whilst travelling through Germany on the great bucket list adventure tour of ’11 with some of the other Ridearound team I discovered one of those things that new BMW 1200 GS riders find out at some point – the boxer engines, particularly when running in, can go through oil faster than my fellow travellers went through their first pints at the Ocktoberfest! In my last minute rush to get ready to leave for the trip I completely forgot to pack a spare litre of oil for the bike or even check what oil the bike needed. Consequently this led to several concerned stops at service stations looking for something suitable to fill the bike back up with, particularly as the day after I first noticed this we would be heading up to the Nurburgring for a flying lap on the GS.
Fortunately I managed to get some suitable oil to keep the bike filled for the next 1000 miles or so of the trip but after getting back I was determined not to make the same mistake next time. This is where I came across the Ultimate Oil Bottle sold by the Ridearound.net favourite for BMW bits Nippy Normans.
The Ultimate oil bottle is a custom designed bottle that can hold up to 0.8L of oil and can fit into a space under the right hand side fuel tank on the GS Adventure.
Installation of the oil bottle is simple – just screw the elastic retaining band into the two existing screw holes to hold the bottle in place. I did find that getting the bottle out can be a bit tricky unless you have the relevant allen key with you to undo the retaining band so best to make sure that you have one of these in the bike toolkit.
The photos below show the bottle fitted . It’s unobtrusive, does not interfere with the bikes steering at all and ensures that you have a backup supply of oil at all times on longer trips. It also means that there is one less item in your panniers and reduces the risks associated with leaving an oil bottle in your panniers – no one really appreciates the smell of eau de thirty weight on their entire change of clothes for the next two weeks!
For £9 including VAT this is an absolute must purchase for any GS Adventure owner planning on taking the bike away on longer trips. Note – this only fits on the GS Aventure models unfortunately.
For those wondering what to fill it with I can recommend Castrol Act Evo 4T 10W-40 from Opieoils.co.uk
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