EDITORS INTRODUCTION
What can I say about the BMW R1300GS that others haven’t already expressed? Yes of course its brilliant. This is BMW’s most lucrative genre and the ‘jewel in the crown’ of their entire motorcycle business. So, it damn well ought to be good. In this feature, I’ll take a different look at this bike and provide you with my own unique perspective.
- Introduction:
The BMW R1300GS was officially launched on 28th September 2023. Let’s be honest, BMW had to get this bike right for quite a number of reasons. They knew that if they messed too much with the GS formula it was likely to alienate GS customers - both new and existing.
It was immediately criticized for it’s looks. Looks that were viewed as a huge departure from the BMW norm. Chief amongst all the negative criticism, a common theme kept coming up. Apparently, the new bike had lost a great deal of its so-called ‘GS-ness.’ Whatever that’s supposed to mean.
BMW are a rather conservative lot and the GS is the perfect example of that. Each generation of the bike is really a subject of on-going refinements and incremental changes, rather than anything radical. This is probably why the GS is so appealing and has such a devoted following. From one generation to the next improvements are made - some minor and subtle, while others not so much. This is all done as a part of the on-going quest for unattainable perfection.
For the latest GS, there was a notable departure from this established evolutionary approach. It’s a complete overhaul of just about every aspect of the bike. The revised R1300GS is a ground-up redesign of the R1250GS. In a nutshell, the R1300GS sheds significant weight, tightens up dimensions, and adds a major technological leap forward.
So let’s have a little look at what’s been done ...