Fast Spin: BMW R1300GS | MoreBikes

f you want ’em massive, daring and packed stuffed with poke, BMW’s newest R 1300 GS may very well be simply the trip for you. Bruce Wilson stories…

Regardless of my predilection for sportsbikes and trackdays, I do know the GS very effectively. 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 performed lots on them, however may the revolutionary 1300 float my boat in the identical approach as its forefathers? From an aesthetic level I preferred the extra angular, enduro-esque guise of the Beemer, which seemed and is bodily smaller than the 1250, whereas weighing in 12kg lighter, too. From the mud caps upwards, this was an entirely 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 had been of a brand new era, with the salient figures being as tantalising as they had been spectacular. It’s not on daily basis you hop on a motorbike 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 greatest twists to the opposed cylinder engine was the packaging that now sees the gearbox positioned beneath the barrels. As for the body, gone are the tubes of previous, 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 have been a staple a part of the GS story since day dot. Add into that blend a brand new TFT sprint; collision avoidance expertise; entrance and rear radar; plus an optionally available 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 may bang on for hours about this bike, as they did through the mannequin’s presentation, however you’re in all probability able to know extra about what it’s truly prefer to trip, so let’s get to it.

For an enormous woman, topping the scales at 237kg, the Beemer was no slouch. As is so widespread in life, appears may be deceiving, and the identical is true of the GS. It doesn’t seem like a motorbike that would disconnect your arms from their sockets, however I reckon it may, or at the least it felt that approach as I toyed with the abundance of torque from the dual. We had been using 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 had been respectable, however harsh calls for, particularly going up the field in decrease revs, had been typically met by a punctuated efficiency. Out of nothing greater than curiosity, I switched the bike to ‘Highway’ mode and the aggressiveness of the GS toned down massively, with out leaving me feeling robbed of any enjoyable.

Because the trip went on, my mind started to wander to different elements of the machine. The opposite massive consideration was how the bike dealt with. On paper, a great deal of mass, a protracted wheelbase and an upright using stance aren’t suggestive of a motorbike that may activate a tuppence, so it wasn’t that stunning to notice that the GS wanted a little bit of persuasion to get it into bends. That stated, it was impressively lithe for one thing of this dimension.

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 like a GS of previous, solely extra polished, with higher tech, extra responsiveness and a sharper guise. For all of the options that had 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 using expertise, which was spectacular contemplating simply how drastically totally different each single module on the bike was.