All Tests – 2013 R1200GS Test: BMW has no shortage of air! – BMW expected at the turn!

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2013 R1200GS test: BMW does not lack air !

All Tests - 2013 R1200GS Test: BMW has no shortage of air! - BMW expected at the turn!

Monster of balance and efficiency, the BMW R 1200 GS ruthlessly dominates the category of maxi-trail type motorcycles … And it is likely to last in 2013, because the very first air-cooled GS is more efficient and versatile than ever ! Test.

BMW expected at the turn !

Of the 106,360 BMW motorcycles sold worldwide in 2012, almost 30,000 were R 1200 GS (17,250 "Standard" and 10,200 "Adventure"). In all, since its, the German maxi-trail has sold more than 170,000 copies: this shows the importance of this bike for the Bavarian manufacturer. !

Both initiator and ambassador of the category, the R1200GS has even become a sort of "brand within the BMW brand": on the strength of its worldwide success and the three decades of the Gelande Strasse saga ("all-terrain / road "), the bike is world famous, even among non-bikers.

But this triumph has a downside: as a "locomotive" of its segment, it is doomed to evolve perpetually to maintain its advantage over envious competition for its sales volumes (read in particular our). All without denying its fundamentals (flat twin, cardan transmission, high travel suspensions, etc.), under penalty of hitting the many guardians of the GS temple !

In short, if the descendant of the R 80 G / S is undoubtedly a windfall for BMW, keeping it at the top represents a colossal challenge. Because the bar is set very high … and failure completely ruled out! Especially in this new 2013 vintage which marks an important, if not decisive, step in the history of the Bavarian manufacturer: for the first time in 90 years, a BMW flat twin adopts air and water cooling !

Although in appearance very close to the previous one, this unique Boxer has been thoroughly revised. To gain in compactness, the gearbox has been redesigned and is coupled to a multi-plate clutch with anti-dribble, the intake and exhaust switch a quarter of a turn around the cylinders, the new silencer and the revised transmission switch their position, the accelerator is now a ride-by-wire type: the list of changes is as long as a day without a pretzel (all the details in the "Engine" part of our Technical Update)…

The chassis is also undergoing its share of major developments (modifications to the architecture and geometry of the trellis frame, use of monobloc radial calipers, wider tires, etc.), while the electronics are invited in mass on this fifth generation of R1200GS (read the "Chassis" and "Electronics" parts of our Technical Report).

Finally, "invites itself", so to speak: if the partially coupled and disconnectable ABS is now fitted as standard (so much the better!), ASC traction control, ESA electronically controlled suspensions, on-board computer, the very practical "multi-controller" handlebar control or the new regulator and the five new driving modes – which intervene at the same time on the injection, the ABS, the ASC and the ESA – appear on the shelf "Options". Pity…

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