Motorcycle Review: 2021 BMW R1250 GS 40th Anniversary Edition

Article content

My how time flies. Forty years ago, when BMW launched its first GS, the R80 “Airhead” G/S, it had no clue of the success that lay ahead. There was no grand plan to spawn an entire new segment of motorcycles — adventure touring — that would become the dominant sector in over 750-cc motorcycling. Nor, of course, had they any idea that the flat-twin’ed GS — which stands for Gelände (off-road) and Strasse (street), named for the duality of its dual-sport purpose — would become the dominant motorcycle in that newfound segment. Considering its product mix way back in 1980 — heavy on touring bikes and a few sportsters that were just touring bikes in disguise — they also had no idea that it would become the best-selling Bimmer of all time. Nope, I suspect that all the Motorrad Division’s engineers were hoping to accomplish was putting out something — pretty much anything — that would justify the massive monies they had spent racing in the then fledgling Paris-Dakar.

Toggle full screen mode Previous Gallery Image

1. 

2. 

3. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

7. 

8. 

Next Gallery Image Toggle gallery captions

View All 8 Photos

1 of 8

All 8 Photos for Gallery

1. 
2. 
3. 
4. 
5. 
6. 
7. 
8. 

Function Not Available

Full Screen is not supported on this browser version.

You may use a different browser or device to view this in full screen.

OK

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Try refreshing your browser, or
tap here to see other videos from our team.

Motorcycle Review: 2021 BMW R1250 GS 40th Anniversary Edition Back to video

Article content

Nonetheless, its outsized success — expected or otherwise — is the reason we have a 40th anniversary edition of the big GS this year. Largely a cosmetic exercise, the paint scheme is a tribute — “homage” in official BMW terms — to the “bumblebee” yellow R100 GS of the late ‘80s with yellow hand-guards, yellow cylinder head covers and a set of absolutely gorgeous gold anodized spoked tubeless rims.

Whatever it’s reason for existing, this latest GS is a beautiful beast. BMW’s styling is amongst the best in motorcycling these days and along with the eye-catching colours, there are some really neat custom bits like a machined cylinder head cover and oil filler cap. Marry it all together and you have a motorcycle that looks both purposeful and graceful, despite having two honking great cylinders jutting out its sides.

Article content

Said cylinders house two equally honking 102-millimetre pistons which combine with a modern four-valve cylinder head and BMW’s ShiftCam variable valve timing to make this the best Boxer twin in BMW history. Just as torquey — if not more so — than all its predecessors, around 5,000 rpm the big Bimmer seems to gain a second set of cams, which, in effect, is what variable valve timing does. From five grand until its 9,000 rpm redline, the big GS revs almost as hard as a KTM 1290. BMW says it makes 136 horsepower, which means its 20 or so horses shy of the big Katoom’s peak, but then it’s neither as cranky nor as vibey as the Austrian V-twin. Indeed, until Harley’s Pan America 1250 — with its Revolution Max 60-degree V-twin — came along, BMW’s 180-degree “flat” twin was probably the best engine in the segment.

Article content

It’s also pretty amazing how smooth this big twin can be. Set the cruise control — my tester was not equipped with BMW’s latest adaptive cruise control system, darn it — at a steady buck-twenty and the big Boxer is so vibe free you’d swear it was a Gold Wing. If you gas it up, it still quakes — that’s the rocking motion caused by having two offset connecting rods on a 180-degree crankshaft — but it’s just enough to add a bit of personality. Indeed, the R1250 would have been the optimum combination of civility and grunt were it not for Harley’s recent Revolution.

Like so many topflight adventure touring sleds, the 40th anniversary GS is absolutely chock-a-block with electronic safety nannies and gizmos. There’s a 6.5-inch TFT display with enough submenus to do a 7-Series luxo-sedan proud. Keyless ignition is an option and, for once, proves useful, not so much because you don’t have to put a key in the ignition, but because the gas cap is also electronically connected and requires no physical keying when filling up. There’s a new six-axis Inertial Measurement Unit and damned if the headlights don’t swivel in corners for a better view of the road at night. Both handgrips and (optionally) the seat are heated and, of course — do you need to even ask! — there’s ABS and traction control to prevent wheel lockup and spinning. Ditto for having multiple ride modes — Dynamic, Road, Rain, Enduro and a new Eco setting — to control the performance of those traction control and ABS systems as well as throttle response.

Article content

For those familiar with Bimmers, you know that BMW’s ESA electronically adjustable suspension and load-leveling rear suspension is also onboard. I find the latter much more useful than the former. Once I am finished experimenting with the various damping options, I almost always land on a favourite and then, despite the presumption that there’s an optimal suspension choice for every road, just leave it there. In this case, I focused on Dynamic, the other options just too squidgy for my hyperactive right wrist.

I futzed with the load-leveling suspension — which offers Min, Max and Auto — a little more. The automatic load-leveling part of the equation, I think, is fairly self-explanatory; ride-height sensors built into the rear suspension determine the load — rider alone, two-up, etc. — and automatically set the preload to maintain a constant ride height. Your basic set-it-and-forget-it option.

Article content

But I ended up playing with the “Max” option quite a bit as well. For instance, if I was heading into a twisty section and I wanted to sharpen up the steering, full preload was just the touch of a button away. Another unexpected use of electronic ride height adjustment was parking on uneven pavement. If the big GS felt at all tippy on its sidestand, I’d just jack the preload up to Max and the big Bimmer instantly heeled over more safely. The only thing that could improve BMW’s ride height function would be to make it completely adjustable so that individual preload settings could be chosen at the rider’s discretion; sort of like using a hydraulic preload adjuster only without all the work. The hardware is all in place so it would just be a software upgrade.

Article content

The major downside to all these electronic doohickeys is weight. Simply put, over the years, the big GS has, like so many of us, put on a few pounds. In its basic GS guise, the darn thing weighs 249 kilograms, the upgrade to this, the new ShiftCam model, adding five kilos over the old 1200-cc version. In Adventure trim — that’s the all-singing, all-dancing long distance model with a huge 30-litre gas tank, bridge girder-sized engine protection bars and loads of suspension travel — it weighs in at 268 kilograms. That’s 590 pounds, a hefty load indeed.

On the road, it’s hardly noticeable, all the weight carried low thanks to the Boxer twin engine’s low centre of gravity. But off-road, it’s a bit of a chore. And you really don’t want to have to pick up a fallen Adventure with a full tank of gas. If you’re built like a football lineman or are a retired motocrosser, it’s manageable, but for we mere mortals, it’s more than a little intimidating.

Article content

The other price paid for all the high-techery is, well, the price. A basic 40th anniversary R1250 GS is going to cost $24,275. Load it up with options — the Touring and Dynamic packages, heated seats and adaptive headlight on my tester, for instance — and it’ll run you close to $30,000. You can buy a fairly nice Honda Civic for that money.

What you do get for all that moolah is one of, if not the most, versatile motorcycles in the biz. The seating position — once I had adjusted the handlebar a little — is excellent, the optional heated seat is one of the better saddles on stock motorcycles, and the windshield the most effective stock item in the segment (though a Givi screen would probably still be better). The on-road handling — especially, as I said, with the rear suspension jacked up — is sportbike precise, yet the ride, even in Dynamic mode, is fairly cossetting. Just as importantly, particularly for the typical BMW buyer, there’s an incredibly wide array of bespoke accessories that range from the merely decorative — like the Option 719 package that includes milled cylinder head cover, oil filler plug, and front engine cover — to a range of saddlebags that starts with the “soft” variety preferred by real adventure riders to some gargantuan aluminum affairs that can carry a (small) kitchen sink.

There are few motorcycles with the GS’ track record. It’s comfortable, durable and powerful enough for globe trotters, while still fast and quick-steering enough for backroad bandits. There’s a reason BMW is celebrating its 40th anniversary. Were it 40 or so pounds lighter, it would be nigh on perfect.