Review Summary
- A superlative motorcycle that seemingly defies physics, eats continents whole and has more gadgets than NASA. If you’re in the market for a full-fat adventure bike and money’s no object, stop reading now and test ride this bike
- Tardis-like in its ability to be both big and beefy while also feeling like a featherweight through the corners. And did I mention the gadgets?
- We don’t want to bias things, but if this bike doesn’t take home a raft of “Best Bike of 2024” awards in December, then the world is truly doomed
Saying that the GS is an important motorcycle to BMW Motorrad is like saying that oxygen is important for life or that setting yourself on fire might hurt a little bit. Hell, in 2022 they sold almost 60,000 of the beefy little buggers alone. A quick back of the virtual napkin calculation that assumes each bike cost USD $20,000 will tell you that in showroom takings, that’s over ONE BILLION DOLLARS. Yes, you read that correctly. And with a total sales volume of just over 200,000 units, this big, expensive, accessory-ladened bad boy makes up around 30% of their output.
For a bike at the tippy top of BMW’s top-most shelf, that’s an astounding achievement. Brutal German logic would dictate that they’d sell a butt ton of G310s and then sales would fall off as the cost of the bike increased, but not in the wonderful, magical world of BMW’s calculator-wielding Buchhalters. It’s what allows the company to take risks like the R18 and the even more insane, recently announced R20, and flights of fancy like the CE 04 electric scooter. All paid for in full by their dust-covered, Dakar-loving older brother they affectionately call “Gelände/Straße,” or “Terrain/Street”.
This is the Trophy variant/colourway. We rode the blinged-out Trophy X upgrade with spotlights and dual-purpose tyres. Image via BMW Motorrad
The ironic twist here is that despite BMW’s ever-increasing range of “heritage” bikes, there’s a strong case to be made for the GS range of bikes being the brand’s real heritage offering. Ain’t nobody riding any R18s or R nineT Scramblers back in the early 80s. And that’s totally ignoring the fact that they also sell truckloads of S 1000 RRs with their very Japanese-esque inline fours.
So in some Berlin beer house in the late ’70s, the GS was born between mouthfuls of curried bratwurst and clinking steins, all because some executives fancied a trip to see a Paris Dakar race or three. Fast forward 40-ish years and the GS is the north star by which the Bayerische Motoren Werke universe rotates around. So when I tell you that this here bike is an all-new GS designed to carry the company bravely into the second half of this, the most insane decade since the 1960s, you better believe that the entire company sweated blood, cried like angry babies and wore their fingers down to their elbows to make sure that it was the absolute bloody best it could be.
Like a motorised optical illusion, the bike somehow manages to be both substantial and svelte. Image via BMW Motorrad
Features of the 2024 BMW R 1300 GS Trophy X Adventure
Whether by design or part of a bigger idea to make the new GS a world-beater, the bike has more bells and whistles than marching band full or brass hoarders. I’m honestly at a loss to think of a single thing that it doesn’t have. Quite the opposite, it has features that I’ve never seen before on a bike let alone had the pleasure to experience. And then I’d take a dive in the menu and find something new, or a variation on something I’d already figured out that made it seem even more cool. For instance, the ride height is electronically adjustable which is supremely cool in its own right, until I then discovered that the bike raises its freaking self to maximum height when you go to put it on the side stand to make things easier. I shit you not.
Engine
BMW have been refining their boxer engine design for over 100 years now and boy-oh-boy have they got it down pat. I’ve ridden bikes with this latest iteration before and I was supremely impressed with how the engine balances the quirky character baked into its boxer DNA while also managing to show up most other cylinder and configuration variations as either hopelessly dull or just plain old fashioned. And now it’s been upped to this completely new 1300cc for this, its ultimate incarnation. The number of refinements and improvements BMW would have made since it first appeared in the 1923 R 32 probably eclipse the stars in the sky, but the very latest one is the “ShiftCam” technology. To quote the Bavarians themselves, “The result is more power over the entire – particularly in the lower – engine speed range, increased energy efficiency, hence a very smooth-running engine. With the enhanced twin-cylinder boxer engine, the traditional design reaches a new level of performance and torque. The new powertrain thrills with power delivery and a particularly pleasant sound.” Ja Gut. Das sound ist pleasant.
Somehow the Berlin boffins managed to hide a 1.3 litre boxer engine. The sneaky buggers. Image via BMW Motorrad
Electronics
Ok, so how long have you got? You better sit down for this one. The variant I rode as shown here had (deep breath) ABS Pro, Dynamic Brake Control, Tyre Pressure Control, Dynamic Brake Light, Matrix LED Headlights, TFT with phone Connectivity, Radar Cruise Control, Heated Grips, Riding Modes, Keyless Ride, Hill Start Control, Dynamic Engine Brake Control, Dual Seat Heating, LED Fog Lights, Electronically Adjustable Windscreen, Main Stand, Central Locking System, Hand Protectors, Headlight Pro, Riding Assistant, Dynamic Suspension Adjustment, Gear Shift Assistant Pro, Riding Modes Pro, Sports Brake, Front Collision Warning, Lane Change (or Blind Spot) Warning, Smartphone charging compartment with integrated USB socket and additional 12V on-board power socket, and Dynamic Traction Control. Is that the end of the list? Probably not; it’s just that it took me so long to type all that guff out that It’s bedtime now and I have to get some sleep.
It’s very much a bike you sit IN, not ON. Image via BMW Motorrad
Other Features
While strictly not a feature, the shaving of 12 kilos off the previous GS weight while making pretty much everything bigger, better and more fantastic than before is an uber impressive feat. For those not in the know, the GS platform has been riding on a fancy pants “telelever” front suspension system since forever. The system installed here is being called “Neo Telelever” in their brochures but marketing guff aside, the bike rides like it’s being held upright by ancient Norse gods. How this set-up isn’t on every bike – adventure or not – defies logic. It’s also covered with more charging sockets than a Tesla Showroom and although the brake callipers are proudly stamped with the BMW logo, a closer inspection reveals that they are in fact Brembo units. I’ll leave you to figure out how the manufacturer managed to convince the Italian giant to play second branding fiddle because it’s beyond me.
Ignore the beautiful scenery – it’s the bike you’ll be staring at. Image via BMW Motorrad
Specs
Here we have an air/liquid-cooled four-stroke flat twin engine with double overhead and chain driven camshafts (aka BMW ShiftCam) and balance gear wheels. Compression is an epic 13.3 : 1. Power is 107 kW (145 HP) at 7,750 rpm with a maximum torque figure of 149 Nm (105 lb ft) at 6,500 rpm. The GS’s top speed is around 236 km/h (147 mph). The tank has a rather conservative 19 ltr (5 gal) capacity, down a litre on the GS 1250. Fully fueled and oiled, this mountain marauder weighs in at an impressive 237 kg (522 lbs) and the seat height is 850 mm (33.5 in). My bike was shod with Metzeler Karoo 4 hoops, with a 120/70 R19 up front and a 170/60 R17 at the rear.
Initial Impressions of the 2024 BMW R 1300 GS Trophy X Adventure
I’m no GS expert, but my initial impressions of the bike are that it doesn’t look as big as I expected for a GS. I think the BMW media photos above and below go some way to showing that it’s definitely not the “this bike’s way too big for me to ride” vibes that previous models have exuded – especially ones pimped out with all the aluminium luggage and crash bars. Standout features at first glance is the very-un-BMW symmetrical X headlight and that lovely two-in-one Akropovic end can. And a whole bunch of power sockets. They are literally everywhere. If these bikes ever go into military service, they’ll be able to charge a whole platoon’s phones while on a special ops mission.
For my money, the red, white and blue colourway is the clear winner in the looks competition. Image via BMW Motorrad
Boxer in a Box
It’s trite to say, but the fit and finish on the bike is top class. Try as I may, I just couldn’t find any rough edges, weird paint or factory-applied electrical tape anywhere. And this is one of the very first production models, too. As a boxer engine fan, it’s a shame to see that the powerplant in the new GS is pretty much a non-entity as far as visual impact goes. Here’s a bike that could quite literally be running an ion drive to move it on down the road and most people wouldn’t know thanks to the bodywork and black-on-black colour scheme. BMW engineers have also dispensed with the boxer’s cooling fins, so the external metal of the bike’s two horizontal cylinders now appear to all intent and purposes to just be some anonymous metal pieces rather than making a thing of that fact that the bike’s donk is punching out to the sides.
TFT screen is big enough to land aircraft on. Image via Machines That Dream
But is it a good-looking bike? If you scroll back the first photo at the top of this piece, you’ll see a photo I took that I think shows the bike at its best angle. Twist my arm and I’ll tell you that to my eyes, the rear tyre looks too small for the rest of the bike and the bike’s overall rear seems a bit too small and plain in contrast to the large, complex and angular front section. With that said, my bike had a factory-installed additional tail piece to hold a top box that added length to the rear line that I feel went some way to a better visual balance. Still, you can’t see the bike when you’re riding it unless you pay a mirror delivery truck to drive alongside you, so there’s that.
The “Up/Down” button is assignable to a range of functions including screen adjustment, heating temp and suspension height adjustment. Image via Machines That Dream
Half a Ton of Off Road Fun
At this pre-ride stage of my relationship with the new GS, I’m still pretty much convinced that the bike will be just like its older relatives; a big tool for a big job. Shunning the less is more approach to offroading that the motocross genre lives and breathes, the GS has for decades lived and breathed this ethos. Fine on paper, but most riders of less than superhuman talent find that particular job so intimidating and wanting in Dakar-level skill sets that BMW offers training courses for GS owners to get their heads around the idea. But wandering around the bike in the forecourt of the dealer that loaned it to me, I’m noticing that it’s nearly a s tall or bulky as I expected. I’d love to see it side-by-side with a fully loaded GS Adventure of yore.
Rear top box mount included in this variant gives the bike’s tail an extra pointy look. Image via Machines That Dream
Riding the 2024 BMW R 1300 GS Trophy X Adventure
Riding in the City
My first sets of corners after leaving the Western Sydney BMW dealership provided a little entertainment. As I leant the bike over, I got the distinct impression that there were forces at play that I wasn’t expecting. I’d point the finger here towards the front telelever suspension, but I’ve had similar experiences after spending a month or two off of my regular ride, a 2017 BMW R nineT. Whether it’s a BMW thing or just a physical muscle memory telling me that the particular g-forces involved in the way this here bike likes to turn are noticeably different from the last bike I was riding remains unclear. Whatever the case, I’m soon very much expecting it as the bike takes the slow, 90 degree corners around my Inner Western Sydney home.
Note nifty indicators incorporated into the hand guards. Image via Machines That Dream
Then the gadget hypnosis started. With half my brian concentrating on the ride and the other half – the boyish half – got into Christmas present mode. Fun things! Awesome! So many modes, settings and flashing things. Then I hit the motherlode. Waiting at a set of lights, I discover the buttons that make the bike rise up and down like a magic carpet. I’d pay money to have seen the reaction of the total stranger in the car behind me as the motorcycle in front of them spookily gets taller and shorter. Without researching this fully, I’m guessing the main intention here is to increase off road clearance but right here and now it’s the absolutely best “freak out cagers” thing I think I’ve ever experienced outside of breaking off their side mirrors. Not that I’ve ever done that, mind you. Promise.
Most of the 12 kilos BMW managed to lose on the next bike was apparently achieved by drivetrain refinements. Image via Machines That Dream
And yet some of the gadgets make themselves noticed without the slightest intervention on the rider’s behalf. One of these is the blind spot warning system that the bike possesses. Just like on your garden-variety modern SUV, the new GS tells you if there’s a vehicle tracking you on your rear three quarter by displaying a little orange triangle that shines through the mirror’s reflective surface. Handy to the point of maybe saving your life one day, it also goes a long way to show that while the GS has all it’s fancy “world safari” intentions and racing colours, it still very much is a bike that is designed and intended to be ridden long distance on busy, first world roads.
Radar for the cruise control is located in the black plastic panel above the new X-shaped LED headlight. Image via Machines That Dream
Riding on the Freeway
Despite the wail of the Metzelers at speed, there’s precious little effect on the bike’s high speed tracking or stability and instead, I experience a bike that steals the phrase “all day comfortable” from an ad for orthopaedic shoes designed for senior citizens and really, truly owns it. Sure, the height of the seat is a little on the Everest side, but the beautiful tradeoff here is a riding position that is just so natural and uncramped. Alternatively, rising to a standing position – even at freeways speeds – also proves that there’s more than one way to ride/skin this exotic, Deutsche Katze.
The aero on the bike and the lovely hand-guards-come-indicators-come-wind-breaks are talented across a wider spectrum of situations and the electronically adjustable screen is just magic once things get a little jet streamy. The rub with most bike’s screens at higher speeds is that they’ll need to be up so high that they get into your field of vision to the point where they distract you or more frustratingly, you have to look through the very tippy top of them to see where you are going. But not here. Even for my average height frame, the screen was blocking 90% of the blast while never coming close to skating it in my face. God bless wind tunnels, yeah?
This variant comes direct from the factory with the top box base, but no actual box. Image via Machines That Dream
Riding in the Curves
I guess you could probably see this coming a mile off, but this bike’s abilities in the curves handed to it by a fast and paved section of Royal National Park bendies far exceed what it’d need in pretty much any situation that would fall comfortable under its “Adventure Bike” nametag. Add to that thought the fact that the rubber it’s been shod with is 50% dirt-biased, too. Yet through the GS goes with a poise and agility that it has no right to possess on God’s green – or dirty brown – earth. No, it’s not going to outturn or an S 1000 RR, but boy oh boy does it feel all figured out and totally in control. Part of my brain begins to wonder how it does that same on a fast dirt corner but I’m snapped back to reality by the fact that a) my offroad skills haven’t been improved up since illegally riding dirt bikes on friend’s farms in the early 1980s and b) you don’t learn those skills on a quarter tonne, AUD $35,000 motorcycle. Not unless off road training wheels are a thing I missed in the 2024 BMW GS accessories catalogue.
TFT is huge and easy to navigate but direct sun at dusk or dawn can overwhelm it. Image via Machines That Dream
It was about now that the full impact of riding the GS started to make itself known. All bragging aside, I get to ride more than a few bikes in the average year. It’s got to the point now where my own bike is a dusty, unloved thing that hides at the back of my garage and can’t be ridden on a Sunday without spending a good 48 hours on a battery charger. Review bikes come and go. Some impress. Some are just tasks for me to write about and return. But once or twice a year a bike will get under my skin in a way that leaves me thinking about them long after I’ve returned them. Needless to say, but the new GS was one of those bikes. Last year’s BMW M 1000 RR was also one, but at no point did I consider owning it. Not unless I suddenly found out that I was heir to a previously unknown fortune from a distant relative who’s also a British Lord. But here’s me fantasising about what colour GS I would choose and what accessories I would tick off on the dealer’s order form. Yes, the bike is that good.
Akro twin end can option looks like a million bucks and sounds beefy if not a little restrained. Image via Machines That Dream
All Radar, No Missiles
In stark opposition to the prospect of trying to stay in control and upright on a GS while offroad, most rider’s on-road experiences will be pretty much bang on. Here’s a bike that is so good at mile munching that it just might be possible to arrive at a distant location at the end of an epic day’s highway or freeway riding without silently sobbing and praying to the god for relief from the pain in your butt cheeks. For myself, I’m unable to think of a more comfortable bike to ride. Yes, the RT I rode earlier in the year was similarly accommodating, but with my better half on the back, your mind tends to focus more on not injuring the mother of your three children and less on chilling out. The radar cruise control goes a long way to help with this comfort; if and when you aren’t in the mood to be completely hands on, you just flick a switch and suddenly the bike’s talking car of both throttle and brake. All you need to do is steer the thing and revel in the eminently enjoyable experience of gliding through the landscape on a bike that’s more sorted, adept and functional than most of us could have dreamed of a mere decade ago.
Seat material continues up the tank all the way to the filler cap. Blind spot warning system can be seen in the mirror at top left. Image via Machines That Dream
As is now par for the course, I park the bike up at the cafe at the southern end of Sydney’s Royal National Park and grab myself a cappuccino to keep me company while I write down some notes. The bike gets no love at all until I have my helmet on, ready to leave and head back home. Just like clockwork, three different riders suddenly notice that I’m on the “new GS” and simultaneously strike up frothy, enthusiastic conversations about just how light it is and how excited they are to ride one. Five minutes later, and they are taking turns sitting on the bike, now gushing about how amazingly low the seat is and how comfortable it feels to sit on. I’m not a betting man, but I’d sure like some shares in BMW’s GS division. Something tells me that they are all due rather large bonuses at the end of the year.
Engine is gobsmacking but BMW have designed all the visual impact out of the flat twin. Image via Machines That Dream
What Could Be Better on the 2024 BMW R 1300 GS Trophy X Adventure
Now that’s a tough question. A tough question indeed. My only real complaint after my first ride was the way my left heel felt a little cramped and didn’t seem to fall naturally into a comfortable position. Then I realised that the bike’s centre stand has a fold out lever that’s designed to aid you in getting the beast onto said stand, and that had been extended by the previous rider and not returned to its “home” position. Once I managed to do that, this niggle was solved, leaving me with pretty much nothing to get all judg-y about. This forces me to rely on the old motorcycle journalist staples in a situation like this where a bike is just so good at what it does. And that’s to remind you all that it’s not a cheap bike. Yes, the dual purpose tyres did make a hell of a noise above suburban speeds, but they were quickly drowned out by wind noise and if you are tired of hearing the noise, I’d politely suggest that you have the wrong rubber on your steed.
Then there’s the whole idea of taking such a big, expensive bike off road in the first place. I guess it’s the two-wheeled equivalent of the never ending 4WD discussion about vehicles like the new Land Rover Defender and Toyota Landcruiser being more about their owner’s ego and aspirations than actually being useful or usable off road. I also have the scene from Ewan McGreggor and Charlie Boorman’s Long Way ‘Round TV series burnt into my psyche where the two men are physically destroyed by having to lift their R1150GSs up off the ground a handful of times. So there’s that.
Screen is one of the best that I’ve ever had the pleasure to use; it somehow manages to block all the wind without obstructing your vision. Image via Machines That Dream
Final Thoughts on the 2024 BMW R 1300 GS Trophy X Adventure
BMW GS owners are a peculiar type of rider and there’s little doubt in my mind that this new version will stir up some controversy amongst their ranks. It’s smaller, lighter and lacks a certain je ne sais quoi that the bigger, older GSs owned. They were “proper” adventure bikes that took a huge amount of skill to ride safely off road. This latest incarnation makes that skillset more accessible to us mere mortals but – as always with many things in life – those who have put in the hard yards to master a skill will bemoan the fact that now every Smith and Jones can jump on the bandwagon. But I’d counter with the fact that the new GS is an incredible bike in its own right and anyone citing older, less usable variants of the GS as somehow being “better” really should get their heads checked by professionals. This bike is awesome.
Chunky Metzelers are noisy and largely pointless unless you are off road regularly. Image via Machines That Dream
But let’s be clear here. I’m no adventure bike champion. I’m coming to the new GS as an exclusively road-riding motorcyclist and reviewer. If you do plan to get a new adventure bike and you aren’t just pissing in the wind about taking the thing off road, I’d strongly suggest that you search up a review from a rider that has ridden the GS off road and has the experience to let you know what’s what. As already mentioned, the vast majority of these bikes – just like its ancestors – will never really see any serious sand, mud or snow and instead they will be ridden around European, American and Australian bitumen as bikes that are basically tourers that don’t totally lose their poop if they have to ride an hour or two on an unsealed road or rutted dirt track.
And around the world you go! Image via Machines That Dream
Wiping the whiteboard clean and starting from scratch for this, my closing gambit, I was utterly blown away by the new GS. Riding around the world? Struggling to survive a zombie apocalypse? Planning on defending your homeland from an aggressive foreign army? Look no further than the 1300 GS. And if your use case only consists of revelling in long distance riding and witnessing jaw dropping sunsets in strange new lands while the bike that has carried you there quietly ticks and tocks as it cools down just behind you, then you’ll be able to sleep safe too. You’ll sleep safe knowing that your new GS is a bike that is just so spot on, so eminently capable and most importantly of all, so incredibly pleasant to ride that all its competitors are, as we speak, madly scrambling to come up with a response. It’s really that good.
The 2024 BMW R 1300 GS Trophy X Adventure at a Glance
General Info
Key Features (as tested):
|
Main Specs
|
Competitors |
See Also: 2024 BMW Model Lineup
Pros
- Jaw-droppingly impressive to ride, and it only gets better from there
- Supremely refined and superbly thought out with all the latest tech
- Makes you feel like circumnavigating the globe
- Uncanny ability to ride and handle like a much smaller bike
Cons
- Expensive, especially when you get jiggy with the accessories
- Most riders won’t have the skills or the cojones to do any proper off road riding on a bike this big or costly