BMW R1200GS

BMW have found great success across Europe with their giant trail style machine, the GS. First appearing back in the 70s as the R80GS, it established a new category within biking, before growing to a 1000cc, then 1100cc and finally an 1150cc flat twin powered machine.

For 2004 the GS gets its most radical makeover yet, with more power, a huge reduction in weight and hi-tech features like a sealed-for-life final drive mechanism. Roland Brown reports from the launch in South Africa.

This is what big dual-purpose bikes are all about.

A couple of hours ago I was riding along a shallow stream, dodging submerged rocks in first gear, with the R1200 GS up to its cylinder heads in water. Now the new boxer is speeding through a series of smooth South African curves, cranked over so far that those same magnesium cylinder heads are taking turns to come close to the road.

Several other bikes could have taken the route I’ve followed today, up into the hills and then back down to our launch base in the town of George on South Africa’s southern coast. But as the BMW sweeps through another left-hander without a twitch, I’m convinced that no other bike would have been as fast, as comfortable or as much fun to ride. On these well-surfaced roads the big boxer feels every bit as capable and well designed for the job as it had back in that stream, and when tip-toeing down a steep gravel track in the rain earlier today.

Handling radically different riding situations is what big dual-purpose bikes are built for, of course, and BMW’s GS has been doing it better than most for a long time. The original, 1980-model R80G/S invented the big trail twin market, and proved itself with four Paris-Dakar Rally wins. Since then the ruff-tuff boxer has become the firm’s most successful model ever, selling 170,000 units of the various GS versions up to last year’s R1150 GS, itself the top selling bike in Germany for the last three years.

Given that level of success, it’s no surprise that BMW has thrown plenty of resources into creating a successor. The R1200 GS has a similar and even more distinctive look, with its bird-like beak and sticking-out cylinders, but this is a completely new bike - lighter, more powerful, smoother and more economical than the R1150 GS. Almost every component has been reworked to create a machine that is significantly better in almost every respect.

POWERFUL EQUATION

Apart from its leaner, more dramatic styling the most obvious change is the larger 1170cc capacity, which helps increase peak output by 15bhp to 100bhp at 7000rpm. Numerous other engine changes include the adoption of a contra-rotating balancer shaft for the first time on a BMW boxer. Despite that the new motor is 3kg lighter, and contributes to a substantial overall weight reduction.

The inspiration behind the GS’s development is an unlikely object: a big blue plastic water container that weighs 30kg and has the word Ziel - target, in German - on its side. "Our development team’s aim was to reduce weight by 30kg, so this water tank was placed where it was in view every day," said BMW’s bike boss Herbert Diess. "Reducing weight was the key to the new GS, because it affects performance, handling and economy."

They hit that 30kg target. At 199kg dry the GS matches KTM’s Adventure and Ducati’s racy 999, and is far lighter than most big trail bike rivals. Simply lifting that water container was enough to emphasise just how much weight the GS has lost. More to the point, the bike felt light from the moment I climbed aboard - a process that will be made considerably easier for many riders by its seat height. A choice of three seats, two of which are adjustable, gives a range from a rangy 890mm to an 810mm figure that should let most riders get both feet flat on the ground.

The GS also felt slim and generally manageable. Its fuel tank is narrower, and there’s less distance between the seat and the wide handlebar, which is made from tubular steel for strength and crash-resistance. One of BMW design chief David Robb’s main aims was to reflect the bike’s reduced weight in its look; hence the feeling of space at the rear of the bike. There are numerous neat details, too, notably the windscreen, which can be adjusted through five positions in seconds using a couple of hand-turnable screws.

Most bikes are so highly developed these days that few give a big leap forward in performance or feel, but the GS is one such motorcycle. Its motor fired up with slightly less of a traditional BMW rocking motion, due to its balancer shaft, and took only a few seconds to reveal its new-found liveliness. The extra engine response and reduced weight were clear even as I followed a group of bikes down the hotel drive and out onto the main road.

At every tweak of throttle the GS leapt forward enthusiastically, feeling responsive and eager to go - as you might expect of a bike whose power-to-weight ratio is improved by no less than 35 per cent. On the fast road heading north towards Oudtshoorn it was clear that the balancer-shaft does a good job, too. The BMW sat at a steady 100mph or so, feeling smooth and with speed in hand, when its predecessor would have been feeling distinctly less relaxed.

The big twin had enough midrange grunt that I rarely glanced at the tacho and didn’t need to change down for the sweeping curves. But the light and precise new six-speed gearbox meant I was happy to do so anyway, and to make use of the power near the 7750rpm redline. BMW says the 1200 GS is also eight per cent more fuel efficient than the old model, too, so its not particularly generous 20-litre tank should be good for well over 150 miles unless you head towards the bike’s 130mph top speed on a regular basis.

The rider should match that range and much more without discomfort. We didn’t ride far enough at one stretch to be sure, but the upright riding position, wide bars and fairly generous seat suggested big distances would be no problem. The fairly tall screen took away most of the wind pressure, and was very easy to adjust to a position that didn’t give too much noise. On a damp summer morning in South Africa I even found myself glad of the accessory hot grips. Other accessories include a clever hard luggage set of top-box and panniers, all of which can be adjusted to give extra capacity when it is needed.

MOTO 2 GO

Handling was very good, too. BMW’s Telelever front suspension system is well suited to a long-legged trail bike, due to its resistance to brake dive. When the pace hotted up the BMW could be braked hard while remaining superbly stable for a bike with 190mm of front-end travel. It also steered very well, with those wide bars meaning little effort was needed despite the 19-inch diameter front wheel, and tracked very precisely, requiring the lightest of nudges if the bend tightened unexpectedly. The only slight drawback was that the bike felt a bit lively in a blustery wind later on.

The rear shock was also very well-controlled, despite having 200mm of travel, and has a useful hydraulic remote preload adjuster. The revised and lightened Paralever system was so efficient that I never found myself conscious of the shaft final drive. Metzeler’s Tourance tyres gripped well on smooth and rough surfaces, too, their only drawback perhaps being rapid wear, judging by their look after just one day’s hard use. The GS comes as standard with new five-spoke cast wheels, but serious off-roaders can pay extra for the option of heavier but rebuildable wire-spoked rims, which accept the same tubeless rubber.

Braking was excellent, thanks to a version of BMW’s EVO system, which uses the front lever to work the two 305mm front discs plus the smaller rear, and leaves the foot pedal for just the rear disc. To simplify production all bikes will initially come with ABS, though a cheaper non-ABS model will follow before the end of the year. At £9275 this ABS-equipped bike is not cheap, but most previous GS buyers have specified ABS, with good reason. The system worked well and can be de-activated for off-road riding.

The launch route gave a perfect opportunity for that when, after one small warning sign, the wide and well-surfaced road suddenly changed into a narrow dirt-track that tested the opposite side of the BMW’s character. Plenty of big trail bikes would have been a real handful here, especially when the track began to wind up a steep hill through increasingly thick mist.

Here more even than on the road, the GS showed the advantage of its light weight. Smaller single-cylinder bikes would doubtless have been more agile still, but the GS was easy to manoeuvre even when negotiating rutted hairpins on the way back down the hill. And its big motor made life easy, too, by always delivering plenty of controllable torque via the revamped digital fuel-injection system.

Of the big trail bikes I’ve ridden before, only KTM’s Adventure 950 is as good off-road (and the tall Austrian V-twin is nowhere near as smooth or comfortable a roadster). When the sun reappeared and the route opened out into a wide, straight dirt track at the valley bottom, it was great fun to stand up on the pegs, wind back the throttle and kick up a high-speed dust cloud. For a brief, dreamy moment I was blasting across the desert in the heat of Paris-Dakar competition.

Fortunately the reality was the much less demanding destination of the area’s most luxurious hotel, via an all too brief final blast on the road. But next time, BMW, why not fly us to South Africa, hand over the keys, and let us ride back home? If ever there has been a bike perfect for the job, it’s the R1200 GS. For combining on- and off-road performance with comfort and style, nothing else even comes close.

TALKING TECHIE

The R1200 GS motor is a comprehensively revised version of BMW’s familiar air/oil-cooled, eight-valve boxer unit. A 2.5mm increase in stroke gives dimensions of 101 x 73mm, increasing capacity by 40cc to 1170cc. The high-cam valve operation via tappets and rocker arms is retained, but valve sizes are increased (inlets 34mm to 36.35mm; exhaust 29mm to 31mm), and the exhaust valves are filled with sodium to improve heat dissipation.

A larger, nine-litre airbox, reshaped ports and an uprated fuel-injection system also help boost performance, as does a new stainless steel exhaust system that is 33 per cent lighter than the old one. The dual spark plug ignition system places one plug centrally and the other at the edge of the cylinder, and is refined to adjust ignition timing of both plugs depending on the load on the engine, until at full load only the central plug is used.

The engine also has a system of "knock control", unique to motorcycles, which uses a sound sensor to detect knock and retard the ignition to prevent valve damage. This not only helps the GS more resistant to poor fuel (down to RON 91 from the normal RON 95) but also allows compression ratio to be increased to a high 11:1. This reduces fuel consumption as well as helping boost peak power output from the R1150 GS’s 85bhp to 100bhp at 7000rpm.

Vibration is reduced by the new balancer shaft, driven by a spur gear from the crankshaft. The crank itself is more compact, for additional stiffness, and is also lighter. Pistons and crankcases are also lighter, the latter due to more sophisticated casting techniques. The single-plate dry clutch is enlarged from 165 to 180mm in diameter to cope with the extra power.

In boxer tradition the new gearbox is separate from the engine. A revised shift mechanism and new, high-strength helical gears give improved selection. The shafts run on ball bearings whose sealed mounts keep out even the finest particles, increasing oil change intervals to 25,000 miles. The final drive system is also lighter and stiffer, featuring a forged instead of cast aluminium swing-arm, redesigned Paralever system, and a one-piece (instead of two-piece) drive shaft. The rear axle has a 50mm diameter hole through it, which helps dissipate heat; the final drive housing never needs its fluid changing.

The GS’s chassis is based on the load-bearing engine unit, as before, but has a front frame made from tubular steel rather than aluminium. The Telelever front suspension system uses a lighter forged instead of cast aluminium arm, and fork tubes increased from 35 to 41mm in diameter. Rake remains 27.1 degrees; trail is reduced by 5mm to 11mm. As well as its hydraulic remote preload adjuster, the vertical rear shock features the travel-related damping system introduced two years ago on the R1150 GS Adventure. This increases damping rates with spring travel, to cope better with everything from small bumps to very rough surfaces.

The lighter, 600W alternator is part of a new CAN-line electrical system that uses a single wire to link all electronic elements. This includes a digital instrument display that illuminates automatically in the dark. Twin oval headlights of differing size give a typically asymmetrical BMW look. The GS comes in three colour options: red, dark blue or yellow. Both the seat and the fuel tank side covers can be ordered in grey or black, giving a total of 12 styling combinations.

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