40 years of discoveries. The history of the BMW GS, part one

R1200GS motorcycles have been produced by BMW since March 2004. The model became a successor to the R1150GS. When developing the new version, experts changed both the appearance of the motorcycle and its technical part. The R1200GS received: • a new engine with a balancer shaft, rated at 100 hp. With. and torque 115 Nm; • new injection system; • reduced curb weight (up to 225 kg); • technical options: electronically adjustable suspension, traction control system, stability control system, keyless entry, security system and LED headlights. The appearance of the motorcycle has also changed. The R1200GS gets new instrument panel, gas tank and plastics. In all other respects, the R1200GS features classic BMW R-series motorcycle features. These include: • branded pendants; • 2-cylinder boxer engine; • cardan drive; • ABS. This BMW model is distinguished by a number of touring options: hand protection and heated grips, cruise control, standard mounts for panniers, etc. The R1200GS model is characterized by versatility. The BMW R1200GS is ideal for both rough terrain and quality roads. This model is distinguished by comfort and amazing dynamics. These qualities are perfectly combined with legendary reliability. The R1200GS has practically no competitors. It is not surprising that the model has repeatedly won test tests and has a number of awards. The BMW R1200GS inspires you to travel and explore new things. In the modern version, the model is presented in 4 colors (styles): • Black Storm metallic – in this version it looks powerful, stylish and dynamic; • Light White – in this range the model looks quite light and elegant; • Exclusive – in dark brown tones, the model is stunningly elegant; • Rallye – This off-road equipped style opens up new possibilities for its owner.

Major Generations

First generation R1200GS This version has a 100 hp engine. With. Second generation R1200GS Maximum engine power increases to 105 hp. pp., new options also appear: traction control and electronic suspension adjustment. The shape of the plastic on the tank, the design of the wheel rims and a number of other elements change. Third generation R1200GS In this version, the BMW motorcycle was produced for only 2 years, from 2010 to 2012. The engine was equipped with a new cylinder head with two camshafts. This made it possible to increase engine power to 110 hp. With. Fourth generation BMW R1200GS This version of the motorcycle has a new 125 hp engine. With. The appearance of the model has changed. Also, the BMW R1200GS received new brakes, larger tires, a new clutch, a stock hydraulic steering damper, etc. The R1200 GS model from BMW received other innovations that changed its characteristics.

Sales[edit]

As of 2007, the R1200GS was BMW's best-selling motorcycle, with sales exceeding 100,000 units. [17] In 2006, the R1200GS was the best-selling motorcycle in the United Kingdom with total sales of 2,227 units. The next best selling motorcycle is the Honda Fireblade with 2,067 units sold. [18]

Almost a third of the 100,000 units sold by BMW Motorrad worldwide in 2006 were R1200GS. [18]

In 2008, the R1200GS was again BMW's best-selling motorcycle, with 22,845 standard models and 12,460 Adventure models delivered. [19]

In 2012 Cycle World

called the R1200GS "the most successful motorcycle of the last two and a half decades" and credited it with creating the adventure touring category. [20]

According to data released by the company, BMW Motorrad increased sales for the sixth year in a row in 2016, increasing its sales by almost 6% compared to 2015. As of December 2016, 145,032 motorcycles and maxi-scooters had been sold. Sales of BMW Motorrad vehicles increased by approximately 50% compared to the 98,047 vehicles sold in 2010. The R series accounted for more than half (53.6%) of all BMW motorcycles sold. in 2016. About 17% of BMW Motorrad motorcycles sold in 2016 were the BMW R1200GS, an increase of 7% compared to 2015. The R1200GS Adventure sold 21,391 units (up 18.8%) and the R1200RT sold 9,648 units. [21]

Specifications

Engine: 4-stroke, 2-cylinder boxer Boxer with a capacity of 1170 cc. see Cooling: air-liquid since 2013, before that air-oil. Ignition: electronic. R1200 GS motorcycle gearbox: 6-speed. Drive: cardan. Tires: 110/80 ZR19, from 2013 - 120/70 R 19 (rear), 150/70 R17, from 2013 - 170/60 R 17 (front). Brakes: 2 discs, 305 mm, 4-piston calipers, semi-integral ABS II (front), 1 disc, 265 mm, 2-piston calipers, semi-integral ABS II (rear). Suspension: BMW Telelever (preload adjustable), travel - 190 mm (Adventure - 210 mm) at the front and pendulum BMW Paralever (compression and rebound adjustment, optional ESA), travel - 200 mm (Adventure - 220 mm) at the rear. Gas tank: 20 liters in the standard version and 33 liters in the Adventure version. Maximum acceleration speed of motorcycles: 208 km/h. Acceleration to 100 km/h: 3.4 seconds. Curb weight of motorcycles: 225 kg for the standard version and 256 kg for the Adventure version.

My notes and impressions on the BMW R1200 LC (aka water goose). I believe that a car or motorcycle can only be fully understood after driving for 1000 km. Therefore, I was not interested in taking a water goose for an hour test drive around Moscow. Instead, I flew to Spain for the New Year, rented a BMW R1200GS LC and rode along a 3,000 km route. I wanted to understand how comfortable and interesting this motorcycle is for me. And does it make sense for me to exchange the 2012 BMW R1200GS for the new BMW R1200GS LC.

I don’t drive very fast, the driving speed is no more than 130 km/h, on empty highways maybe 150-160. My height is 172 cm, weight is about 84 kg. All notes were taken along the way, so by the end of the route I got used to or resigned myself to some new items. I highlighted in italics the moments that I rethought after 10 days of running.

In general, the water goose left me with mixed feelings.

It's more dynamic. He got into a wheelie in second gear with a passenger and cargo. In fact, I have not yet had time to get used to the new clutch, electronic gas and more power. This never happened again; understanding and control of engine power comes after about 1,500 km in different modes.

The power reserve is felt even at 160. You feel that if you want it, in a second it will be 200 without any strain at all. This is not entirely true. There is enough power, overtaking on the highway is very easy. But the engine is not “bottomless”. Just for fun, I tried to accelerate to 170 and understand what’s what. There is a reserve, but up to 200 the speed gain will be slower.

The brakes are better, but the brakes were enough for me even on the air goose. In general, there were no questions for them. Convenient and transparent.

Water cooling. At first I didn't understand it. The on-board computer has the ability to view the engine temperature. On the road it was 80-83 degrees. Further in the city, while I was standing near the hotel, I heard the fans turn on. The engine temperature rose to 100 degrees. Then I took a quick ride around the hotel - still the temperature rose to 100 degrees. I left the motorcycle to cool down, then I came and just started it on the center stand. In 5-7 minutes the engine temperature rose to 100 degrees. At the same time, the coolant splashed at the bottom of the tank. I called the rental office and described the situation. The manager couldn't answer anything concrete. The next day the temperature on the road was around 82 degrees. I contacted the rental manager and the BMW service center confirmed that this was normal engine operation. On the air goose I got the high engine temperature icon twice. Both times it was a stagnant traffic jam in the heat of 35 degrees. I turned off the engine, stood on the side of the road for 5 minutes and drove on.

The gearbox is weird . That's just weird. Neutral is difficult to catch. Vibrations start at 5 thousand revolutions, at 6 thousand revolutions they are already unpleasant. At 7-8 he screams like a slaughtered pig. Big question for the box. On serpentine roads you drive mainly in 2-3 gears. A choice arises: either drive 200 meters between turns with vibrations in second gear with revs around 6 thousand, or shift much more often. It seems like on models from 2014 onwards the box will be slightly corrected. As a result of the trip, I accepted the vibrations at 6 thousand rpm and drove at them. The passenger didn't like the vibrations either.

The side stand is different. It is not possible to recline it automatically; you have to look down and control every movement. Easier to fold. In 10 days I still haven’t brought these movements to the point of automaticity. But it's just a matter of sustainable skill.

If the motorcycle stalls, it is difficult to start it in gear. Possible, but not easy. Regarding starting in gear. When there are two fingers under the clutch handle, you squeeze the clutch and try to start the motorcycle - nothing will work. You need to remove all your fingers from under the clutch lever and fully depress the clutch - then the motorcycle will start. It's inconvenient in the city. I didn’t figure it out right away.

The heating of the handles was made much worse. And he is not enough at all. You feel the heat at 13-15 degrees. On my air goose, at this temperature, the heating of the handles fry. Even at +19 degrees, the heated handles on the second level only warmed the hands a little. At temperatures below 10 degrees, there is no heating. What prevented us from making 3-5 degrees of heating is unclear. Moreover, GTL has this, that is, the technology and engineering solutions are available. It is puzzling why, when turning on the heated handles, the second heating stage (more powerful) is turned on first, then the first. The heating button is not very conveniently located, but you rarely use it, so this is not critical.

The turn signal switch was made like on regular motorcycles. And they did it disgustingly. No not like this. It turned out to be complete crap. I had a motorcycle with a navigation wheel. If it is present, you need to reach for the lever. If you can still poke the side of the lever to turn the pointer to the right, then you can’t reach the left at all. If you hold the clutch and your gear is engaged, you will not be able to reach the turn signal switch. If you are at a downward angle, you will not be able to reach the turn signal switch. In a roundabout on a tilt, you most likely won’t be able to reach the turn signal switch either. In fact, you will do some maneuvers without direction indicators. Get used to them after 3000 km. I could not get.

The horn button is located inconveniently. In a really dangerous situation, I was never able to signal. But it regularly beeped when trying to turn on the turn signal. I couldn't get used to it.

Engine stop button. Previously, there was a left-right flag, which, if the motorcycle fell, I switched in flight and the motorcycle lay on its side, already turned off. Now it won't work like that.

Dynamic ESA. I didn’t try the RAIN and Enduro modes, and I didn’t really feel the difference between Dynamic and Road. It exists, but I wasn’t particularly keen on the comparison. In general, ESA management has been made more convenient and understandable.

The center of gravity is higher than that of an air goose. Therefore, it is harder to roll it with your hands and lift it. Very often I can’t lift it off the side stand on uneven surfaces (and in Spain there are inclines and uneven surfaces everywhere). I don't have enough height to back up on uneven surfaces. It’s very difficult; you often have to ask a passenger. I can’t even imagine how a water adventure will be controlled, because its center of gravity will be even higher.

Tires Metzeler Turance Next. At first I didn't like it. Everything seems to be fine, but there is no confidence in the slopes and serpentines. The feeling that it’s about to break. I rode further and it got better. But he still wasn't sure about her. There is no feeling that the rubber “sticks” to the asphalt and the motorcycle turns into turns “as if on rails.” Although in fact the drift of the rear wheel immediately stuck, and the motorcycle entered the turn exactly as planned. The tires are purely road tires. I tried to drive 300 meters on a slightly damp dirt road and immediately realized that it was better not to do that. There were no complaints in the rain. The impression of rubber is purely subjective. There are no real arguments against it, but I won’t buy it for myself.

The motorcycle is more playful, with noticeably sharper handling. At first, I regularly didn’t get the trajectory right precisely because of the sharper controls. It corners and leans noticeably better. Very stable on the road. With an air goose, if you try to gently shake the steering wheel at a speed of 100-120 km/h, you will feel small vibrations in the front wheel. The water goose does not have this. In fact, I drove 10-15 km faster along the serpentines than on my airborne GS. You can no longer put your feet on the potty during a long run on the autobahn.

The mirrors are disgusting. This is the very case when functionality was brought in favor of design. Change is vital. I had a situation on a serpentine road when a car started to overtake me in the oncoming lane, I couldn’t see it in my mirrors. No matter how I twisted or bent over.

The seats are not very comfortable. I had a low saddle. I also ride low on my air goose. Over 550 km along serpentine roads (8-9 hours in the saddle), everything went numb, both for me and for the passenger. It’s hard to even carry one tank of gas (about 250 km) at a time. Unlike the air goose, this one has the ability to put the lowered saddle in a high position. I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity; it was already inconvenient for me.

Telescopic plastic panniers from BMW are rare crap. As a result of laying the motorcycle on the left side, one part cracked. It wasn’t even a fall, I just laid him on his side. But the most important thing is that they are inconvenient to load; very few things fit into them, despite a fairly large volume. Plastic locks stick. Buying them with your own money is a very strange decision.

What happens when a motorcycle falls. Due to the high center of gravity and my height, I dropped it twice while standing. Moreover, I am 100% sure that I would not have dropped the air goose in such a situation. The mirrors do not rest on the asphalt, the hand protection does not scratch, which really surprised me. The motorcycle rests on the cylinder covers (I didn’t have arches) and on the case. The fashionable plastic cover for the tank breaks off when dropped and its mounting legs break off. If you decide to drive off-road, you must remove the cover. It's harder to lift because of the high center of gravity. An air goose is much easier to lift.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have a fashionable LED headlight. So I can’t appreciate the light in the dark. From the passenger’s point of view, the convenience of boarding and traveling on an air goose or on a water goose is the same.

General impression. I will say what has already been written more than once. BMW has made a good touring motorcycle. It has nothing in common with previous GS series motorcycles. It drives well on serpentines and European roads. There are shortcomings, some of which will be corrected in the new model years, and some will be corrected by Turtech and Wunderlicht. There are shortcomings that you can only come to terms with. I just think that for driving on European roads it is better to take RT or GTL. It's more comfortable for the passenger. There is music again. I admit that even off-road, the water goose rides well with the right tires. I haven't tried it myself, but most likely it is.

Something like that.

The Air Goose is a diesel 100 Kruzak. He's just driving. It rumbles and drives like a tractor. If he fell, what would happen to him, he was made of iron. Water goose is more refined. And the most important thing is that it doesn’t catch on. It feels kind of plastic. I can’t say it any other way. I won’t buy one for myself, but will continue to ride the air goose. The manager from the rental office has exactly the same opinion.

All sensations are subjective, all the criteria by which I assessed them are important only to me. I'll take the water GSA for a test drive. I think that to understand it, I will only need a couple of hundred kilometers around Moscow and the Moscow region.

Links[edit]

1. ^ abc "Performance Index Winter '12/'13 Edition" (PDF), Motorcycle Consumer News
   , Bowtie Magazines, January 2013, archived from the original (PDF) on December 29, 2016.
2. ^ ab "R1200GS Technical Data" (PDF). BMW Motorrad. Retrieved February 18, 2010. [ permanent dead link
   ]
3. ^ ab "R1200GS Technical Data". BMW Motorrad. Archived from the original on May 5, 2022. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
4. "High on the BMW R1200GS Triple Black". Telegraph. July 19, 2012. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
5. ↑
   Ash, Kevin (February 14, 2007). "The light boxer throws the heavy punch". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
6. "BMW Adventure Special". Motorcycle News. May 20, 2005, archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
7. "NEW BMW R1200 GS ADVENTURE". October 29, 2005 Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2009.
8. "Traction control comes to the street from an unlikely source: BMW". American Motorcycle Association
   . July 13, 2006 archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved August 31, 2007.
9. ↑
   Kevin Ash, BMW ASC traction control, archived from the original on 2010-01-17, retrieved 2010-01-03.
10. "2010 BMW R 1200 GS: now with double overhead cams!" . webBikeWorld. November 5, 2009. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
11. Dirck Edge (October 2, 2012). "BMW unveils water-cooled R 1200 GS in Cologne". Motorcycle Daily. Retrieved January 24, 2013.
12. • "Recall RM/2008/019". VOSA. 12 June 2008. Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.

    "Recall RM/2006/020". VOSA. 14 March 2006 Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.

13. "Recall RM/2006/021". VOSA. 14 March 2006 Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
14. "Recall RM/2005/015". VOSA. March 18, 2005 Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
15. "Recall RM/2005/016". VOSA. February 4, 2005 Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
16. "Recall RM/2006/023". VOSA. 14 March 2006 Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
17. "Recall RM/2006/037". VOSA. September 12, 2006 Archived from the original on 2011-06-14. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
18. "Recall RM/2008/048". VOSA. November 17, 2008 Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
19. "Recall RM/2008/050". VOSA. March 28, 2008. Archived from the original on June 14, 2011. Retrieved May 22, 2009.
20. ^ ab "First ride on the 2013 BMW R1200GS". Motorcycle-usa.com, Bart Madson, January 30, 2013
21. "2013 BMW R1200GS Review". Motorcycle.com, Kevin Duke, January 29, 2013
22. "Possible delivery delay for 2013 BMW R1200GS". Canada Moto Guide, ZAK KURYLYK, MARCH 5, 2013
23. "2013 BMW R1200GS Deliveries Delayed Due to Suspension Problems". Motorcycle.com, 04/03/2013, Dennis Chang.
24. "100,000th BMW R 1200 GS". webBikeWorld (from BMW press release)
    . August 3, 2007. Retrieved February 3, 2009.
25. ^ ab Ash, Kevin (2 February 2007). "Egos go off-road". Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on February 10, 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2009.
26. "BMW positive on sales figures". Motorcycle.com. January 22, 2009. Archived from the original on January 25, 2009. Retrieved February 2, 2009.
27. ↑
    Steve Anderson (May 2012), "Triumph Tiger Explorer is a British motorcycle with a German accent",
    Cycle World
    , [T]he BMW R1200GS... the most successful motorcycle of the last two and a half decades, selling so well that it represents a very A significant part of BMW's product line is the machine that created and continues to define the adventure touring category.
28. “BMW Motorrad breaks sales record for sixth year in a row | BMW Motorcycle Dealers in Southern California". www.socalbmwmc.com
    . Retrieved October 8, 2022.
29. ↑
    Rayner, Tom (4 May 2007). "Long Way Down". Motorcycle News. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008. Retrieved December 28, 2008.
30. "Two hairy bikers and one lucky winner". BMW World. May 31, 2006 Archived from the original on February 11, 2009. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
31. ↑
    Welch, Andy (August 18, 2008). "Babies - more hairy moments". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved January 9, 2009.
32. Coroner's inquest

In popular culture[edit]

In 2004, the R1150GS Adventure model of BMW's previous series of twin-engined Boxer bikes was used by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman on an epic motorcycle ride from London to New York via

Europe, Asia and Alaska;
The adventure was in the book and TV series Long Walk. In 2007, the same couple used a BMW R1200GS Adventure to continue the ride from John o'Groats in Scotland to Cape Agulhas in South Africa [22], a project documented in Long Way Down
.

The R1200GS appeared in several episodes of the BBC Two television program The Hairy Biker's Cookbook

, hosted by chefs Dave Myers and Si King. [23] [24]

Renowned motorcycle journalist Kevin Ash has died from injuries sustained in a crash while test riding the R1200GS during his press release in 2013. The inquest found a case of accidental death, but the UK coroner was unable to provide all the causes "due to insufficient evidence". [13] [25]