Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Cars
  3. Car News

BMW bumps up the tech on its largest dual-sport motorcycle

By

When something is advertised as being dual-purpose, it usually comes with compromises, but that rule doesn’t apply to BMW’s largest dual-sport bike, the R2017 BMW R 1200 GS. BMW has been tweaking the R 1200 GS since its introduction in 2004 and that model and its slightly more off-road-focused brand mate, the R 1200 GS Adventure (GSA), have been the Bavarian company’s best-selling models each year since and including 2012.

Some people buy dual-sport bikes thinking they might venture off road once in a while, but mostly stick to the pavement. You could just stick to streets with the R 1200 GS, but you’d miss out on its capable off-road performance.

Recommended Videos

Big, comfortable, heavy, and powerful, the R 1200 GS can take you anywhere you want to go, but you will need good off-road skills. And that’s no joke. Learning only the basic off-road riding skills necessary to stay upright on a tall bike that weighs 538 pounds fully fueled and is powered by a 125 horsepower motor is a bad idea. If you have the off-road skills and the confidence that comes with them, however, the R 1200 GS’s fans and sales numbers show that you won’t be disappointed when you hit the trail.

The R 1200 GS’s twin-cylinder boxer 1,170 cc engine delivers 92 pound-feet of torque at 6,500 rpm and 125hp at 7,500 rpm. The bike’s six-speed transmission and shaft drive have proven their reliability over the years. BMW uses a combination of liquid and air cooling, electronic fuel injection, and ride-by-wire throttle control. Top speed is 125 mph.

New for this year is a button-controlled Electronic Suspension Adjustment (ESA) atht lets the rider choose the ride characteristics. The standard ride modes are Rain and Road. If you go for the Optional Ride Mode Pro, you can add Enduro and Dynamic modes for more granular control. Automatic stability control is standard, as are Hill Start Control, and Dynamic Traction Control. That last mode is impressive in that it automatically adjusts the bike’s traction based on its lean angle and other suspension dynamics.

ABS (automatic braking system) is standard and controls the braking pressure so neither the 19-inch front tire or 17-inch rear wheel will break loose. You can turn off the ABS if you wish for a little more adventure off road — but that’s not recommended if you’re not experienced in the dirt.

The R 1200 GS comes standard with cruise control, heated hand grips, a small fairing and windshield, and saddle bag mounts, but no bags. The seat height is adjustable from 33.5-inches to 34.3-inches. That’s pretty high with a lot of bike to get your legs around so you can place both feet flat on the ground. With factory options and suspension adjustments, you can get the seat height as low as 31.5-inches and as high as 35.1-inches.

The 2017 BMW R 1200 GS starts at $16,695. The R 1200 GS Adventure adds a larger gas tank (7.9 gallons compared to a 5.3-gallon tank for the GS), a greater front rake angle, longer front suspension travel, and rims and knobby tires that favor off-road more than the tires of the GS, which are more suitable for the street. The GS Adventure’s starting price is $18,695.

Topics
Bruce Brown
Bruce Brown
Contributing Editor
Bruce Brown Contributing Editor   As a Contributing Editor to the Auto teams at Digital Trends and TheManual.com, Bruce…
Audi halts vehicle deliveries to the U.S. as it mulls impact of tariffs
2021 Audi Q5

If you’d been thinking of buying an Audi, now might be the time.  The German brand, owned by the Volkswagen Group, has announced it would halt shipments to the U.S. in the wake of President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles.
Audi is currently holding cars that arrived after the tariffs took effect, on April 3, in U.S. ports. But it still has around 37,000 vehicles in its U.S. inventory, which should be able to meet demand for about two months, according to Reuters.
Automakers on average hold enough cars to meet U.S. demand for about three months, according to Cox Automotive.
Audi should be particularly affected by the tariffs: The Q5, its best-selling model in the U.S., is produced in Mexico, while other models, such as the A3, A4, and A6 are produced in Germany.
Holding shipments is obviously a temporary measure to buy time for Audi and parent company Volkswagen. If tariffs stay in place, vehicle prices would likely have to go up accordingly, unless some production is shifted to the U.S. Volkswagen already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. That latter plant, however, isn’t expected to be operational until 2027 and is currently dedicated to building electric vehicles for VW’s Scout Motors brand.
Other global automakers have also taken drastic measures in response to Trump’s tariffs. Jaguar Land Rover on April 5 said it is pausing shipments of its its UK-made cars to the United States this month. The British sports-luxury vehicle maker noted that the U.S. market accounts for nearly a quarter of its global sales, led by the likes of Range Rover Sports, Defenders, and Jaguar F-PACE.
And on April 3, Nissan, the biggest Japanese vehicle exporter to the United States, announced it will stop taking new U.S. orders for two Mexican-built Infiniti SUVs, the QX50 and QX55.

Read more
Waymo faces questions about its use of onboard cameras for AI training, ads targeting
Two people exit a Waymo taxi.

In an iconic scene from the 2002 sci-fi film Minority Report, on-the-run Agent John Anderton, played by Tom Cruise, struggles to walk through a mall as he’s targeted by a multitude of personalized ads from the likes of Lexus, Guinness and American Express, everytime hidden detectors identify his eyes.
It was clearly meant as a warning about a not-so-desirable dystopian future.
Yet, 23 years later that future is at least partlially here in the online world and threatens to spread to other areas of daily life which are increasingly ‘connected’, such as the inside of cars. And the new testing grounds, according to online security researcher Jane Manchun Wong, might very well be automated-driving vehicles, such as Waymo’s robotaxis.
On X, Wong unveiled an unreleased version of Waymo’s privacy policy that suggests the California-based company is preparing to use data from its robotaxis, including interior cameras, to train generative AI models and to offer targetted ads.
“Waymo may share data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests,” the Waymo’s unreleased privacy statement reads. “You can opt out of sharing your information with third parties, unless it’s necessary to the functioning of the service.”
Asked for comments about the unreleased app update, Waymo told The Verge that it contained “placeholder text that doesn’t accurately reflect the feature’s purpose”.
Waymo’s AI-models “are not designed to use this data to identify individual people, and there are no plans to use this data for targeted ads,” spokesperson Julia Ilina said.
Waymo’s robotaxis, which are operating on the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, do contain onboard cameras that monitor riders. But Ilina says these are mainly used to train AI models for safety, finding lost items, check that in-car rules are followed, and to improve the service.
The new feature is still under development and offers riders an opportunity to opt out of data collection, Ilina says.
But as we all get used to ads targeting based on everything that’s somehow connected to the web, it seems a once-distant vision of the future may be just around the corner.

Read more
Waymo’s driverless cars are about to begin an overseas adventure
Waymo Jaguar I-Pace

Waymo’s autonomous cars are about to appear on streets outside of the U.S. for the first time.

The company on Wednesday announced on social media that its autonomous cars will be driving onto the streets of Tokyo, Japan, “soon,” with some reports suggesting the rollout will begin as early as next week.

Read more