BMW GS E-Book

Phil West

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

A definitive guide to the iconic BMW GS, the model that revolutionized the dual-purpose adventure bike in 1980. Combining all-terrain capability, high performance and on-road ride comfort, the GS is the bestselling large-capacity motorcycle in the UK and is still evolving today. Including comprehensive specification details, owners' experiences and previously unseen pictures, BMW GS - The Complete Story covers the original R80G/S and its impact on the industry; design and development of all the updated models; radical engineering concepts and technology; worldwide racing success for the GS and finally, the all-new R1200GS of 2013 and the future of the GS. Superbly illustrated with 196 colour and 8 black & white illustrations, many previously unseen.

Leseprobe

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2015 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2015

© Phil West 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 84797 928 5

Picture Credits

Many thanks to BMW Motorrad for allowing the use of its press images.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Preface

CHAPTER 1

THE WORLD BEFORE THE GS (1975–1979)

CHAPTER 2

THE ORIGINAL: R80G/S (1980–1987)

CHAPTER 3

REPLACING AN ORIGINAL – THE SECOND-GENERATION R80/100GS (1987–1991)

CHAPTER 4

UPDATED AGAIN – THE NEW R80GS/R100GS (1991–1993)

CHAPTER 5

AN ALL-NEW GS – THE R1100GS (1993–1999)

CHAPTER 6

THE BEST GETS BETTER – R1150GS (1999–2004)

CHAPTER 7

IT’S ALL-NEW AGAIN – R1200GS (2004–2007)

CHAPTER 8

UPDATED, UPRATED R1200GS (2007–2012)

CHAPTER 9

AN ALL-NEW R1200GS (2013–)

CHAPTER 10

RACING – AND THE PARIS–DAKAR

CHAPTER 11

THE SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

Index

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The writing of any book is a journey and, appropriately enough (considering this is a book about one of the most-travelled motorcycles of all), this book’s journey has been longer than most.

I would first like to thank Hannah Shakespeare and the whole team at The Crowood Press for their patience and perserverence. Thanks too, to Scott Grimsdall, UK PR account director for BMW Motorrad, for all his help.

My own personal motorcycling journey began at Wests of Lincoln, the old family garage that my dad helped to run in the 1970s. Being wide-eyed at showrooms of glitterflaked ‘70s Suzuki TS100s, GT380s and the like was the inspiration for getting my own bike in my late teens. One day, a well-used black Honda CB125T appeared at home thanks to Dad. Ever since, two wheels have taken me geographically and emotionally to places I could only have dreamt of otherwise. Dad, Lawrence West, died in 2003. He was a great guy.

A special edition, grey-painted BMW R1200 GS.

Today I’m a dad, too and, although my boys, Thomas and Olly, have yet to get into bikes (and I’ve no idea if they ever will), if somehow they gain their own zest for adventure, not to mention a love and appreciation for books – and I know I’m more than halfway there on that – I’ll be proud. In fact, I already am. I know they’ve been aware of me toiling away on this book. Guys, I dedicate it to you.

Finally, I would like to say thank you to my gorgeous ‘Missus’, Sarah. Without her patience, support, good humour and downright resilience over all those months I doubt this book would ever have happened.

PREFACE

When a small, select group of dirt-mad BMW engineers rushed together the first prototype of what would eventually become the original GS, the R80G/S, in the late 1970s, no one had any idea how enormously successful and significant their ‘baby’ would become. In fact, BMW’s GS dynasty went on to comprise arguably the most influential, versatile, successful and popular motorcycles of all time.

Launched as the R80G/S in 1980, what is now known as the GS family lives on today as the R1200GS and accompanying Adventure variant. Their influence has been such that the ‘original large-capacity enduro’ (before the 800cc G/S, the biggest available off-roader was the Yamaha XT500 single) has now spawned a whole genre of ‘monster trailies’ or adventure bikes, with virtually every manufacturer represented. Their versatility knows no bounds. Enjoyed for everything from tarmac track days to off-road globetrotting – with everything in between – the GS has become renowned as the definitive, do-it-all machine. As world traveller Charley Boorman says, it is ‘the Land Rover of motorcycles’.

It was a success from the outset: the first model shifted over twice as many units as originally expected. Today the GS is, and has been for many years, the best-selling large-capacity motorcycle in the UK.

All the evidence points to the significance of the role played by the BMW GS in world motorcycling over the past thirty-odd years. It has converted cynics, won races, become the number one choice for the world traveller, all the while coping admirably with more conventional motorcycling duties, and inspired a glut of wannabes. This is the full story of how it achieved all that.

Phil West August 2014

[Note: BMW also today produces an entry-level G650GS and mid-range F800GS, but this book is concerned only with the larger, boxer twin-powered ‘R’ models.]

The 2013 BMW R1200 GS.

CHAPTER ONE

THE WORLD BEFORE THE GS (1975–1979)

It is easy to assume that the creation of the first BMW G/S was some kind of inspired work of genius – globe-changing events or creations do not ‘just happen’ after all. In the car world, the talents of a select group of designers are duly applauded: Ferdinand Porsche for the VW Beetle; Alec Issigonis for the mould-breaking Mini; Colin Chapman at Lotus. The motorcycling world reveres Edward Turner for the Triumph Bonneville, Tadao Baba for the Honda FireBlade and Massimo Tamburini for Ducati’s 916. But the BMW G/S had no true father figure; there was no genius creative force behind it. In fact, there was no clear act of inspiration at all. Instead, it was more a result of desperation, tinged, as BMW today will readily admit, with more than a little luck.

It is also natural to think that the eventual unveiling of that first ‘GS’, the R80G/S, in 1979 must have been some kind of epiphany. Surely the bike that was not only to spawn a whole BMW dynasty but also to inspire a completely new motorcycling genre – one that instantly proved a best-seller and over the next thirty years would go on to become not just BMW’s bread and butter but the whole embodiment of the brand – was welcomed to universal acclaim? It was not. Instead, the R80G/S was viewed as something of an oddball, launched in a somewhat sheepish fashion, with little fanfare. It was initially dismissed by many as a curiosity with minimal appeal, as is often the way with game-changing machines: it caught everyone by surprise.

THE RISE OF THE ‘TRAILIE’

In order to understand fully how the G/S came about, why it was such a surprise and how significantly it broke with prevailing motorcycling convention, it is important to understand both the motorcycling world in general in the mid-to-late 1970s and BMW’s place within it. Until the arrival of the G/S, the very idea of the ‘trail bike’ – that is, a road-legal machine that was capable both on and off road – was still very much in its infancy. Pure competition-bred dirt bikes such as motocross and trials machines, or even more specialist speedway, grass and flat trackers, had been around for decades, but the first real ‘dual-purpose’ four-stroke machine, Honda’s XL250, arrived only in 1972.

Honda’s XL250 of 1972 was the first large-capacity four-stroke put on to the mass market. It was a huge success.

The impact of the Honda had been instant, finding popularity, particularly in the US market, as a ‘leisure’ machine. It was enough to spark a whole breed of Japanese rivals, all following a similar template of small-capacity, single-cylinder engines, long-travel suspension, rugged ‘scrambler’ styling and basic road equipment.

The next big development came in 1975 with the arrival of Yamaha’s XT500, the first of the so-called ‘big’ four-stroke trailies and a machine which, at the time, seemed to set the limit for engine size in the class. After all, the XT seemed to have more than sufficient performance – if the engine had been any bigger, it would also have increased the bike’s weight and vibration, which would have been unacceptable in an off-roader or a roadster. Increasing the number of cylinders, meanwhile, seemed simply absurd.

So where was BMW in relation to all this? Quite simply, it was nowhere. Until the late 1970s the historic Bavarian marque had a fairly staid image, associated mostly with touring machines. A lightweight enduro seemed about as likely to come out of Munich as a rip-snorting sportster.

At the same time, BMW was also facing increasing commercial difficulties as it began to struggle in the face of the ever-increasing variety and technical sophistication of the Japanese ‘Big Four’. As the 1970s wore on, Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki grew to dominate not just the lightweight classes, as they had done since the 60s, but also, increasingly, BMW’s home ground of large-capacity motorcycling. The Japanese were offering four-cylinder superbikes such as the CB750, GS1000 and Z900, alongside something for every taste and pocket in every conceivable niche. BMW, with its premium prices, dowdy image and old-fashioned, air-cooled, shaft-drive boxer twins, was suddenly in big trouble. In short, it needed something attention-grabbing, affordable and new – and it needed it quick.

Yamaha raised the bar for the big-bore trail bike still further in 1975 with its XT500, which was even larger than the Honda.

THE ENDURO SCENE

Thankfully for BMW, its high prices and old-fashioned image did not tell the whole story. Although the German marque had never commercially produced an enduro or trail bike, nor was it renowned for any kind of dirt pedigree, it certainly was not new to off-roading – in fact, it had been involved in the sport for over fifty years. In the 1920s and 30s it had been particularly successful in six-day events, the endurance form of enduro, and in the 1950s and 60s it had won more than its fair share of silverware. This success continued into the early 70s, when the firm produced a series of ‘works’ machines to compete in both the 500cc+ class of the German off-road championship and the prestigious International Six Days’ Trial.

During this period one rider rose to prominence on the German scene above all others. Herbert Schek was not just a giant physically, at around seven feet tall, he also towered above everyone else on the domestic off-road sport scene. He won the German championship in 1970 and 1971 aboard a BMW ‘factory’ machine based on an R75 tourer, then in 1972, after the factory pulled out, completely undaunted he built his own BMW-based bike and promptly won again.

It could not last, of course. A fearsome new 500cc two-stroke from compatriot manufacturer Maico soon gained the upper hand and dominated the category for the next few years. However, even during the era of Maico’s dominance, BMW did not stay idle: In 1975 BMW factory suspension engineer Rudiger Gutsche also built himself an enduro based on an R75/5 and was a regular on the German enduro scene both as competitor and marshal. There were many others, too.

This passion for enduro within BMW grew in parallel with the growing commercial popularity of road-going trail bikes such as the XL250 and XT500. The problem was that BMW did not have anything to sell. If only it could come up with something to compete with the Japanese, its commercial problems might be solved. The will was certainly there; they just had to find the way.

Another factor then came into play. While BMW had been outclassed by the two-stroke Maicos in the up to 750cc class of the German series, this was about to change: a reorganization of the categories occurred and a new class for 750cc+ machines was introduced. It was a class that was tailor-made for BMW. While this development did not in itself spark the creation of the road-going G/S, it was a significant step in the right direction: The factory decided to once again develop an off-road competition boxer twin.

Although BMW did not produce enduro machines, modified versions of its road machines were popular in off-road sport. Kurt Disler rode his version in the 1968 International Six Days’ Trial (ISDT).

One of the leading competitors in German enduro throughout the 1960s was Herbert Schek, usually aboard a modified BMW boxer twin.

The first factory foray into a boxer enduro was not actually a BMW at all. Italian marque Laverda were commissioned by BMW to produce two enduro prototypes using the boxer powertrain. This was the result.

Despite the expertise of the likes of Gutsche and Schek, this bike was not developed in-house. Oddly, the first official moves were made in Italy. In the mid-1970s BMW had developed a good, but largely unreported, working relationship with Italian manufacturer Laverda. Hans-Gunter von der Marwitz, BMW Motorrad’s technical director at the time, had become firm friends with his opposite number at the Italian marque, Massimo Laverda. The two men would regularly seek each other’s views on their latest machines, even to the point of swapping test bikes for evaluation. After all, although they both produced ‘superbikes’, the two firms’ products barely overlapped.

Following the change in the enduro championship’s rules, von der Marwitz decided to create a prototype off-roader based on a boxer twin powertrain. In his opinion, its creation in Munich would take too long and he also believed that BMW’s development team of the time lacked the necessary off-road contacts or expertise. Instead, he turned to Laverda who, apart from superbikes, had a track record of manufacturing 125 and 250 enduros and enjoyed useful connections in the largely Italian dirt-bike component industry. As an enticement, von der Marwitz reportedly offered Laverda the possibility of a small production run of machines if the project was successful.

R60 engines were supplied (ultimately to be bored out to 800cc) and, in 1977, two prototypes were commissioned. (There were reports of a third that was also built, which mysteriously remained in Italy.) Laverda’s Alessandro Todeschini led the project and designed the frame, which was built by frame-makers Nino Verlicchi. The forks came from compatriots Marzocchi, the wheel hubs and rims from Grimeca and Akront respectively, the controls from Magura, and the tank and seat from Bernardi Mozzi and Giuliari. The bikes were finished in just five weeks.Even though the two machines were in no way considered prototypes for any future road machine – indeed, Massimo’s brother Piero Laverda refers to the hybrids as ‘the grandfather, not the father, of the G/S’ – there is little doubt that they would have some influence on what was to come. Surely it is no coincidence that these Laverda-BMWs had a number of features which, ultimately, were echoed in the production G/S: Marzocchi forks, a special frame and an 800cc configuration. Instead, the bike that came closest to earning the mantle of ‘father of the G/S’ was another home-brewed machine: a 800cc boxer endure, this time created in his spare time by BMW’s own head of testing, Laszlo Peres.

In 1978, as the new rule change came into operation, a whole new generation of official and ‘home-brewed’ enduro BMWs came into the public eye. In May of that year, at the Benesov round, the three leading different ‘GS concepts’ lined up side by side for the first time: Herbert Schek’s self-built 800cc machine based on an R65; the ‘Laverda-BMW’, piloted by factory rider Helmut Pohl; and Peres’ self-built 800, which weighed only 142kg (313lb).

Another leading figure in the German enduro scene was BMW engineer Laszlo Peres who competed successfully aboard his own ‘home-brewed’ BMW enduro.

Laszlo Peres instigated the construction of the first prototype of what would eventually become the original R80G/S, a machine dubbed internally ‘The Red Devil’.

By the end of that year two crucial events had taken place, which together sparked and fuelled the creation of the factory G/S. First, Peres’ machine won the ‘battle of the BMW enduros’ by placing second in the German series. Second, the factory itself, its business still faltering due to a combination of a staid model range, increasing competition and a weak dollar that particularly affected sales in the crucial US market, decided something had to be done. One solution was already in the works – the all-new K-series, a high tech, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected family of longitudinal fours and triples – but this project was still years away from hitting the showrooms.

At the same time, spurred on by his success in the enduro racing series, Peres saw an opportunity to follow up with a production model. He teamed up with some fellow engineers to build a forerunner of what would ultimately become the G/S, a prototype that was dubbed the ‘red devil’. He later recalled how it came about: ‘It was just a prototype. Something we made to test. I had many years’ experience of enduro riding so thought we should develop something new.’

NEW MANAGEMENT AND NEW PROTOTYPES

By the late 1970s, the financial situation at BMW was so dire that the legendary boss of the BMW Group Eberhard von Kuenheim, father of recent Motorrad chief Hendrik, was even considering closing the motorcycle division. A decisive development came about in early 1979, when a new senior management team, headed by Dr Eberhard C. Sarfert and Karl Heinz Gerlinger, took over at BMW Motorrad. More than three decades later, Gerlinger recalled, ‘When [von Kuenheim] asked us to take over this business he said, “Decide whether you make it or you close it.” But when you’re a young guy, how can you think of selling off BMW Motorrad? I couldn’t do it, and nor could my colleagues.’

Instead, the new management team were spirited into action: Gerlinger promptly gave the green light, not only to the new K machines, but also to Peres’ enduro project. And that was not all. Prompted by Peres’ race success and recognizing the positive publicity that further success could bring to the new production enduro, the factory also commissioned a formal works team for the 1979 season and fielded six riders in both the German and European championships and the ISDT.

For the road-bike project, the reins were handed to suspension engineer Gutsche, who had first built his own enduro based on an R75/5 back in 1975. He was charged with turning the best of BMW’s home-built off-road competition machines into something that could be mass-produced. There was no specific brief, but he was tasked with using BMW’s modular approach and restricted by an extremely tight time schedule. The R80 ‘G/S’, as it was to be called, evolved quickly. A second, silver, almost production-ready prototype, complete with upswept exhaust but still lacking the radical Monolever single-sided rear suspension, followed soon after.

Karl Heinz Gerlinger, then head of sales and marketing at BMW Motorrad GmbH, remembered the mood on the thirtieth anniversary of the G/S at BMW World Days in Garmisch in 2010:

You have to take yourself back to the situation at the time. The competition from the Far East was overwhelming. The Japanese manufacturers were the dominant force in world markets, both where motorcycles provided purely a mode of transport and where they were already being used for leisure purposes.

The development of our K-series with three and four-cylinder engines had only just begun. However, we needed a product pretty quickly that would enable us to win back customers. That’s why, thankfully, we made a move when the developers presented the off-road prototype to us. We saw the bike’s potential. Thanks to the use of tried-and-tested components, a rapid series launch was a realistic prospect. We also received the support we needed from the Board of Directors. Dr Sarfert not only headed up BMW Motorrad GmbH, but he was also HR Director of BMW AG. He really fought hard for us and the GS.

Karl-Heinz Gerlinger joined BMW Motorrad’s senior management team in early 1979 and played a crucial role in getting the go-ahead for the G/S. He gave the green light not only to the all-new K-series (pictured here), but also to Peres’ enduro project.

A second, more refined G/S prototype was produced later in 1979. Dubbed ‘V173’, it is seen here being unwrapped by BMW R&D engineer Lorenz Hintermayer.

BMW’s take on the enduro, however, was clearly going to be very different. Although the Japanese manufacturers had proven that trail bikes appealed to road riders, a BMW ‘trail bike’ would have to look and be different, and retain traditional BM virtues such as comfort, long-distance ability and durability. In the mean time, a specially commissioned market study of trail-bike owners revealed that a mere two per cent of their riding was across really difficult terrain; the remaining 98 per cent was on normal roads. From all this a concept gradually emerged of a motorcycle with all-terrain capability,combined with high performance and on-road ride comfort. It was a concept that was to be reflected in the bike’s model designation: G for Gelände (‘terrain’) and S for Strasse (‘road’).

After less than a year, two pre-production prototypes were ready and were put to the ultimate test: in January 1980 BMW press spokesman Kalli Hufstadt and journalist Hans Peter Leicht rode the two bikes 2200km (1635 miles) through South America, from the heat of the Amazon rainforest to an altitude of 5000m (16,400ft) in the high glaciers of the Andes. The bikes did not miss a beat. The first seeds of ‘adventure’ had been sown. Could BMW be on to something?

In the autumn of 1980, after a development period of just 21 months, the R80G/S was ready for the world. But was the world ready for the R80G/S?

In July 2010, thirty years after the launch of the original R80G/S, Gerlinger (seated right) along with (right to left) Peres, Paris–Dakar racers Hubert Auriol and Jutta Kleinschmidt, plus global traveller Charley Boorman, share GS memories at BMW’s Motorrad Days event at Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

THE WORKS BMW GS800 RACER, 1979/80

Following Laszlo Peres’ success in placing second in the 1978 German championship, and fuelled by a desire to gain some positive publicity to boost the launch of the forthcoming R80G/S, BMW decided to field a formal works team. Six riders were entered into both the 1979 German and European Championship and that year’s International Six Days’ Trial.

Even before the production R80G/S was launched, a works racer, the GS800, was built by BMW for both development and publicity purposes, with a six-man team entering both the German and European championships.

At the time, the ISDT was still a ‘reliability’ trial – it was considered a significant achievement actually to get a bike to the finish. BMW’s marketing men were quick to seize on that reputation for the R80G/S.

The bikes BMW built for the task were, rather prophetically, dubbed GS800s, with ‘GS’ this time standing for Gelande Sport. In truth, however, they shared little with the eventual R80G/S – one difference was the conventional, twin shock swinging-arm rear suspension. Nevertheless, BMW was rewarded with the German Championship, won by Richard Schalber.

In 1980, the year the road G/S debuted, the GS800 was developed further and gained even more success, with Werner Schütz winning the German championship and Rolf Witthöft the European crown. Once again, however, the machines had little to do with the R80G/S, being based more closely on the bikes developed by Peres and Schek. Their engines were R65-based but bored out to produce 57bhp, sloped back in the frame by 14 degrees to give necessary ground clearance, and featuring a 2:1 exhaust but no single-sided swing arm.

By 1980, even though the road-going G/S story was only just beginning, the end was nigh for the GS racers – in conventional enduro at least. By that time, ISDT events had become increasingly closer to motocross races, leaving the big boxer twins at a disadvantage, particularly since the big-bore, two-stroke opposition was becoming more manageable and more competitive every year.

As it turned out, it mattered little. The ISDT bikes had served their purpose. Besides, a new kind of ‘enduro rally’ was beginning to grab the headlines and would ultimately prove the perfect arena for the G/S: the Paris–Dakar Rally. From the introduction of the Paris–Dakar, the GS800s would form the ideal basis of BMW’s entry into the biggest race of them all.

The works GS800 racer shared little with the eventual R80G/S. Its engine was developed from the R65 and canted back in the frame. In 1980 it was good enough to win both the German and European enduro championships.

BMW development engineer Laszlo Peres was one of the key players in the development of the GS800 competition machine upon which the first production G/S was based.

LASZLO PERES – THE CATALYST

Of all the enthusiasts, individuals and riders who experimented with, and competed upon, BMW boxer-based enduro machines in the 1970s, it is widely agreed that BMW development engineer Laszlo Peres was the most significant and inspirational when it came to producing the factory R80G/S in 1980.

Peres’ home-brewed ‘GS800’, which emerged from the BMW testing department in late 1977 and went on to claim second in the German Championship in 1978, may not have been the most-developed or even the best of the G/S precursors, but it was the most successful, timely and influential. Furthermore, because of Peres’ position at the heart of BMW Motorrad, he was ideally placed to influence Munich’s power brokers.

Of all the key figures involved in the G/S, Laszlo Peres was probably the most important. The BMW development engineer is pictured here, in 1978, with his own boxer-powered enduro.

Many years later, BMW Motorrad’s boss at the time, Karl Heinz Gerlinger, recalled what happened:

Laszlo first came into my office and tried to convince me we needed to do motorsport. I said, ‘No, first we need a bike to sell.’ But he insisted, and later the engineers said, ‘We have something in the basement – come down and look at what we have to show you.’ When I tested it I said, ‘Jesus Christ, this thing is going to make us or break us!’

Luckily, it was not the latter…