BMW R80G/S, 1980 – 1994: A BRIEF HISTORY
In 1977 the German Supreme Motorcycle Sport Commission announced a new 750cc class in German off-road competition for the following year. BMW Motorrad, having had success winning the German Off-road Championship in 1960 and 1961, wanted to get back into off-road sport and so gave a development engineer called Laszlo Peres three months to build a bike to take part. The result was called the GS800 – G for Gelände (off-road), S for Sport. The engine was a based on a modified R 80/7, with long-travel suspension and lots of weight saved. The bike worked — Laszlo himself took it to second place in the inaugural championship.
Encouraged, the bike was developed further for 1979. Now called the GS80, it won the German title and two golds at the International Six Days Trial. A team was also entered in the first Paris-dakar rally.
In 1980 the team had more racing success, which coincided with the debut of a road ‘version’, the R80G/S, at the Cologne Show in September 1980. With the ‘G/S’ now switched to mean Gelände/straße (off-road/road), the bike may have been anticipated, but it was still a surprise to see an 800cc flat-twin road legal four-stroke dressed up as an enduro in the flesh.
Right from the off, it was clear the
G/S was skewed towards on-road performance as much as BMW’S marketing sold it on the dream of off-road expertise. BMW described it as a “two-wheeled Range Rover”.
At the press launch, the G/S was admired for its road-holding, nippy acceleration, good ride quality, braking and riding comfort. But off-road, the flat twin’s cylinders got in the way of feet taking a dab, and the bike’s weight, soft suspension and ground clearance made life difficult on anything harder than a fire trail. BMW wasn’t just inventing a new breed of bike; it was also inventing a whole new category of design compromises that continue to test engineers to this day.
The R80G/S was in production for almost 15 years, evolving through several iterations including a 1984 Paris-dakar ‘replica’, to celebrate BMW’S victory at the third time of asking in 1981. The bike also became famous with global adventure riding.
In 1987 the R80GS (losing the slash, and the ‘S’ reverting to ‘Sport’) was updated and joined by the R100GS.
The R80G/S is now a prized collector’s item, with prices to match. The bike is so iconic, none other than BMW Motorrad’s Head of Development, Professor Dr Karl Viktor Schaller, still has (and still rides) the R100/7powered, R80g/s-framed Dakar rep he built himself back in the 80s.