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You don't have to be more than ankle-deep into motorcycling to recognize the significance of the BMW boxer-engine GS series motorcycles. They are beloved, to say the least, by many. Countless professional reviewers, including our own here at Common Tread, have praised their capability and versatility. They're undeniably significant in historical terms, as it was a G/S that essentially invented the adventure-touring segment that is now, decades later, the fastest-growing niche in motorcycling.
And now we can also say there's literally a million of them.
BMW announced that the millionth boxer-engine GS rolled off the production line yesterday in Germany. That one million figure doesn't include other GS models with other engines. BMW has been making boxer-engine GS models since 1980 and while it would be hard to prove it, I'd be willing to bet no other line of motorcycles is more well traveled around the world than the GSs that have been built over the past four decades.
BMW took advantage of the milestone to announce that the next iteration of the classic adventure-touring motorcycle, the R 1300 GS, will be unveiled on September 28 at the opening of BMW Motorrad Welt, an interactive attraction located next to the BMW Berlin-Spandau plant. BMW is also celebrating its 100th anniversary of motorcycle production this year.
GSs we have known
Milestones are a natural time to look back, and a model line as historically important and widely praised as the ADV boxers has naturally been a recurring topic in our coverage at Common Tread and on RevZilla's YouTube channel.
The line began in 1980 with the R80G/S, a motorcycle that melded on-road and off-road riding in a way that hadn't been done before and turned out to be well ahead of its time. In 1981, however, lots of people just looked at the G/S and decided it was too big for dirt use, two knobby of tire for street use, and too expensive for just about anyone and wondered what the heck BMW was thinking. Last year, Zack Courts pulled one of those original R80G/Ss out of his father's garage and took us along for a ride, giving us an idea of what it's like to ride the bike that launched the adventure-touring class before it was a thing.
Our former colleague Lemmy spent some time with a GS (noting that his wife was always pestering him to buy one) and wrote a piece that he openly acknowledged was an ode to the adventure-tourer, not a clear-eyed review. And another writer, Scott Bradley, even took on that tired old joke about GSs and other adventure-tourers being parked outside Starbucks. Maybe so, but the owners only rode them there because the ADV bikes are such incredibly good and versatile all-around motorcycles, he argued. No joke.
Spurgeon rode a GS the length of Baja California mostly for fun and evaluated new models for his day job.
"Some people say it's the best motorcycle in the world," Zack said before taking the R 1250 GS through his usual route for a "Daily Rider" episode. Maybe or maybe not the best in the world, but it did top the 2020 leader board on "Daily Rider."
Because the GS is everyone's benchmark in the adventure-touring category, Ari Henning and Zack used it as the reference point to see how the newcomer, the Harley-Davidson Pan America, stacked up, in a CTXP video, which spawned yet another Common Tread article.
That's not to mention the uncounted times the various GS boxers have been mentioned in passing in articles and videos, often as the standard against which other motorcycles are measured. So yeah, we've talked about the GS a lot. But given its significance, I think that's only appropriate.
It's a milestone bike that's been making motorcycle news for four decades. I mean, there must be a million of 'em out there.
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