40 Years of BMW GS

In 1980, even as I was planning a monster 3 600 km motorcycle roadtrip from Johannesburg to Rundu in Northern Namibia (via Cape Town), the first bikes in a series that would revolutionise adventure riding began to roll off BMWS assembly lines in Germany.

At the time, my Honda XL500S scrambler was described as “the closest yet to the perfect on-off road machine” but this paean was soon sung about the German bikes that sported an 800 cc air-cooled flat-twin boxer motor and the appellation G/S (Gelände/strabe = off road/street).

Production of the original R80G/S took place from 1980 to 1986, where after it was renamed R80GS with the S standing for Sport. This was after Hubert Auriol rode the bike to first place in the 1981 Paris-dakar Rally … the first of many victories for BMW in the gruelling event.

Two new engine sizes were introduced to the range in 1987, 650 cc and 1 000 cc in the R65GS and the R100GS respectively. These platforms entrenched BMWS position in the market segment dubbed “touring enduro”. Like the R80GS (and, in fact, all subsequent models up to the present), the new GS bikes were distinguishable from the rest of the BMW motorcycle range by their upright riding position, longer travel suspension, and larger front wheels.

“Oilhead” engines

Manufacturing of air-cooled standard GS bikes stopped in 1995 and production switched over to the next generation “oilhead” engines. BMW Motorrad says this signalled the company’s entry into modern adventure motorcycling with a succession of larger displacement models, including the R850GS, R1100GS, R1150GS, and R1200GS, with later

models featuring electronic engine management, ABS braking, twin spark plugs, and more power than their aircooled predecessors.

The first “cult” model in the range was, ironically, a complete departure from the boxer engine norm. In 1993, BMW launched the “off-road capable” F650 Funduro that featured the single cylinder four-valve 650 cc Rotax engine (my first flirtation with the GS range), and followed this up seven years later with a race-proven offering, the F650GS Dakar.

The bike, a de-tuned version of the machine on which Richard Sainct won the Dakar Rally the previous year, is light and regarded by its fans as better suited to gravel and off-road riding than its boxer-engined counterparts. According to the BMW GS Wikipedia page, “they offer significant capacity to carry gear and supplies over long distances. Their versatility is attractive to riders who intend to spend weeks, months, even years travelling on two wheels.”

The current iconic status of the GS series is largely due to the efforts of two actors, Ewan Mcgregor and Charley Boorman who conducted the Mother of All Roadtrips – popularised worldwide in print and on television as Long

Way Round – by travelling more than 30 000 km on R1150GSS from London to New York in 2004.

Three years later they repeated their documentary adventure with Long Way Down – from John O’groats in Scotland to Cape Town, traversing 18 European and African countries – riding the R1150GSS successor, the even larger R1200GS Adventure.

Until quite recently, ownership of an R1200GS with panniers and topbox was mandatory if you wanted to be regarded as a “serious” adventure biker. I joined the GS family eight years ago when I bought a second-hand Dakar (who I call

The Betsy) and several of my escapades in her saddle have been documented in this magazine. Untold stories include accompanying Boorman and his riding pal/producer Russ Malkin and British TV biker Henry Cole on a couple of soirees across the Western Cape.

The BMW GS series has expanded considerably over the past few years and there are now product offerings in almost every major engine capacity market segment, ranging from the G310GS through the F750GS and F850GS enduro models to the flagship R1250GS HP

(Roadtrip Feb/mar 2020).

Long may the two-wheel escapades of BMW Motorrad continue!