This year, 2026, marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of one of the most ground-breaking and instantly recognizable motorcycles of the modern era – BMW’s R100RS.
For the 1976 RS was not only the German marque’s new flagship, it was also BMW’s largest capacity and fastest machine in a superbike age where Japanese multi-cylinder machines such as Honda’s 1969 CB750 and Kawasaki’s 1973 Z1 900 had stolen the crown. It was also the first ‘sports-tourer’ with its new RS designation standing for ‘Reise Sport’ and translating as ‘Travel Sport’. For all of these reasons, the RS helped put BMW back on the map at a time when the then slightly struggling Motorrad division needed it most.
But most significantly and strikingly of all, the RS was also the world’s first mass production motorcycle fitted with a full fairing. Yes, fairings had been available, mostly as aftermarket accessories, from companies like Avon and Rickman, while Vincent had offered a fairing as an extra cost option on its exclusive Black Prince and Black Knight in the ‘50s. But the RS was the first litre class machine to come with one as standard.
And what a fairing it was: an utterly distinctive, wind tunnel developed, aerodynamic masterpiece which was not only fundamental in helping the futuristic looking RS to its Top Trumps competitive 125mph top speed but, with its specially-developed silver paint and optional ‘snowflake’ cast alloy wheels, it also made the RS, in age of TV’s Space 1999 and Buck Rogers, look like simply nothing else, quickly becoming a poster bike for a generation.
On top of that, the RS gained celebrity status via its use in the likes of TV’s The Saint. It also proved to be the last major development of BMW’s air-cooled boxer series, before the arrival of the all-new K-series in 1983 and the oil-cooled new boxer a decade later. The R100RS remains the ultimate ‘air-head’ boxer BMW to this day.
The RS’s creation owes much to its predecessor, the R90S, and the input of car designer Hans Muth.
The 90S had been launched as BMW’s then sporty flagship in 1973. Based on the R90/6, the S had higher compression and bigger carbs to boost peak power to 67bhp and a second front disc for improved braking, while new BMW stylist Muth gave it a distinct identity via a small handlebar fairing and radical smoked metalflake colourscheme. Launched to coincide with the 50th anniversary of BMW Motorrad, the R90S was a real sensation at the time.
But with the subsequent arrival of even bigger, touring targeted machines like Honda’s GL1000 Gold Wing and Kawasaki’s Z1000 it was clear the trend was for ever-larger displacements still, so, after a production run of just three years, BMW’s /6 series was replaced by the new /7 series. It was topped by the enlarged R100/7 (replacing the R90/6) but a new flagship model was also required.
Muth recalled how it came about in an interview on his own website recently.
“The R90S was such a big hit, even though this was the same time as the oil crisis, that the motorcycle department came to me and said ‘Mr Muth, the R90S is running so well, we want to do something on top’.
“They said ‘What we can do is put 100cc on top of it, so we have a R100.’ And I said ‘That’s very interesting but we are always doing machines for touring and sports touring, how about we do a real one, a kind of aero touring…’”
Thus, the idea for the R100RS was born.
In truth, mechanically, the RS wasn’t that different from the 90S. The shaft-drive, air-cooled boxer twin was enlarged by increasing the bore from 90 to 94mm; the crankcases were strengthened; the cooling fins were shorter and thicker and new heads housed rocker arms which were actuated by 20% lighter alloy pushrods. Instead, one of the biggest changes was the 90S’s Dell’Orto carbs being swapped for new 40mm Bing CV versions.
But the result was the biggest boxer twin yet, at 980cc from 898cc, and most powerful, at 70bhp from the 90S’s 67bhp.
Meantimes, Muth was busy with the fairing and bodywork…
“Because BMW also had a big clientele with the police – we usually supplied our bikes to them with aftermarket fairings – it was another reason for a full fairing bike,” the great man continued. “So, we went over to England to see the Avon company (a leading aftermarket fairing supplier at that time) but on the flight back I said, ‘We’re doing it ourselves’ and started doing sketches.
The result was then optimized aerodynamically in Pininfarina’s wind tunnel, given a striking metallic silver livery actually chosen to mask manufacturing imperfections, contrasting black side panels and matching three-quarters seat option. It was unveiled at the Cologne IFMA in September 1976, where it caused a sensation.
Then, following a rainy press launch in the French Alps where the fairing impressed mostly for its weather protection, the RS became the new benchmark sports-tourer, revered for its stability and speed.
Image-wise, due to its futuristic, premium looks and expensively exclusive price (in 1976 the RS was launched in the UK with a list price of £3300, more than twice the cost of Suzuki’s new GS750) it became the ultimate ‘gentleman’s express’ for those wanting the best in long range luxury. And in the first ever readers’ poll carried out by leading German motorcycle magazine ‘Motorrad’ the RS was voted ‘Motorcycle of the Year’. Indeed, when launched, BMW itself had claimed in its own advertising that the RS was ‘The best superbike in the world’. For a while at least, they were right…
The RS stayed in production for a full eight years, up to 1984, by which time over 33,000 had been sold. It was revived in 1986 in ‘Mono’ (single shock) form surviving right up to 1992. Today, the RS is considered one of the most collectable of all ‘70s boxers, while its legacy lives on today with the latest R 1300 RS remaining a cornerstone of the modern range.
Words: Phil West
Pictures: BMW Motorrad
