BDN has plenty of readers of very long-standing, but we don’t think we have any who were around at the launch of the first BMW motorcycle, the R32, in 1923. But the German firm has been celebrating a century of bikes – mostly Boxers like that R32 – by launching the latest incarnation of its most successful model ever, the Boxer-powered GS model.
The new R1300 GS replaces the old R1250 GS with an all-new engine design that relocates the transmission to the bottom of the crankcases, a new frame, new styling, and even more high-tech adventure touring equipment. You could see competitor brands turning pale at the news as they looked forward to seeing the ubiquitous Bavarian battle cruiser topping sales charts even more emphatically for the next few years.
At BMW UK headquarters, the head of BMW Motorrad, Paulo Alves, cut a special centennial birthday cake, along with Elanor Milne, who is the newest member of the Motorrad UK marketing team to have gone through the firm’s rider training scheme and is en route to become a fully-fledged biker. Old BMW hands Howard Godolphin and Si Pavey were also on hand to relate the tale of how the GS found even more fame when Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman chose it for their Long Way Round TV epic.
R1300 GS TECH HIGHLIGHTS
- A newly designed 1300cc boxer engine with a bottom-mounted gearbox and BMW ShiftCam technology.
- More power and torque: 107kW (145hp) at 7750rpm, and a maximum torque of 149Nm at 6500rpm – this makes it the most powerful BMW boxer engine ever to be produced in series.
- New matrix LED headlamp as standard.
- Weight saving of 12kg compared to the previous model.
- Four riding modes as standard: engine drag torque control (MSR), dynamic brake assist (DBC) and ride-off assistant (HSC) as standard.
- Prices from £15,990.