f you want ’em huge, daring and packed filled with poke, BMW’s newest R 1300 GS might be simply the journey for you. Bruce Wilson experiences…
Regardless of my predilection for sportsbikes and trackdays, I do know the GS very properly. I had an R 1200 GS (air-/oil-cooled) in 2009 and clocked 9000 miles on it; at a time after I was additionally racing in Nationwide Superstock 1000. On paper, it and I weren’t proper for one another – however I had an absolute blast on that bike. Quick-forward to 2014 and I discovered myself in Canada competing on the water-cooled R 1200 GS within the GS Trophy. After which simply final 12 months I used to be at it once more on the R 1250 GS, competing in Albania within the GS Trophy once more.
The purpose is, I really like GSs; I’ve carried out quite a bit on them, however might the revolutionary 1300 float my boat in the identical manner as its forefathers? From an aesthetic level I appreciated the extra angular, enduro-esque guise of the Beemer, which appeared and is bodily smaller than the 1250, whereas weighing in 12kg lighter, too. From the mud caps upwards, this was a completely totally different breed of motorcycle, constructed across the identical principals of what’d come earlier than, however that was about it. The body, the motor, the wheels and the tech have been of a brand new era, with the salient figures being as tantalising as they have been spectacular. It’s not on daily basis you hop on a motorcycle with a stonking 149Nm of torque, however that’s what BMW was claiming from its oversquare motor, that now peaked at 9000rpm with a most output of 145bhp. Smaller, 4kg lighter and packaged fully in another way, one of many largest twists to the opposed cylinder engine was the packaging that now sees the gearbox situated beneath the barrels. As for the body, gone are the tubes of outdated, changed by a two-part design that sees solid metal up entrance and solid aluminum on the again. Then there’s a totally new Telelever entrance finish, that reduces flex, the necessity for ball joints and a lot more undesirable traits which were a staple a part of the GS story since day dot. Add into that blend a brand new TFT sprint; collision avoidance know-how; entrance and rear radar; plus an non-obligatory adaptive seat that alters by 30mm (820mm to 850mm) as soon as the GS achieves over 30mph, and also you’ll start to know the magnitude of the enhancements made. I might bang on for hours about this bike, as they did throughout the mannequin’s presentation, however you’re in all probability able to know extra about what it’s really prefer to journey, so let’s get to it.
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For a giant lady, topping the scales at 237kg, the Beemer was no slouch. As is so widespread in life, appears to be like could be deceiving, and the identical is true of the GS. It doesn’t appear like a motorcycle that might disconnect your arms from their sockets, however I reckon it might, or no less than it felt that manner as I toyed with the abundance of torque from the dual. We have been driving TE (Journey Version) spec GSs, which meant that they had a great deal of goodies, together with dynamic suspension, built-in handguard indicators and 4 tiers of rider modes.
The shifter and blipper on the bike have been first rate, however harsh calls for, particularly going up the field in decrease revs, have been usually met by a punctuated efficiency. Out of nothing greater than curiosity, I switched the bike to ‘Street’ mode and the aggressiveness of the GS toned down massively, with out leaving me feeling robbed of any enjoyable.
Because the journey went on, my mind started to wander to different components of the machine. The opposite huge consideration was how the bike dealt with. On paper, a great deal of mass, an extended wheelbase and an upright driving stance aren’t suggestive of a motorcycle that may activate a tuppence, so it wasn’t that shocking to notice that the GS wanted a little bit of persuasion to get it into bends. That mentioned, it was impressively lithe for one thing of this measurement.
The factor is, after a day within the saddle I quickly got here to the purpose of realising that regardless of the mannequin’s many, many adjustments over what had come earlier than it, the 1300 nonetheless felt very very similar to a GS of outdated, solely extra polished, with higher tech, extra responsiveness and a sharper guise. For all of the options that have been totally different, together with our bike’s electronically adjustable display screen, that rose and fell with the contact of a button, there was nonetheless the identical underlying DNA to the driving expertise, which was spectacular contemplating simply how drastically totally different each single module on the bike was.
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