Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127368
eRIDING IMPRESSION 1 R WRH S 991 M IOG ~ nt eroa to a venture By Nate Rauba o n ' t even think of the BMW R IOOGS as a dual sport bike. Think of it as an adventur e touring ma ch ine. T ha t's th e message BMW put across at a special press ride of th e 1991 R I OOGS i n T ucso n , Arizona. BMW introduced th e GS lin e 10 yea rs ago with the release of th e RSOG S, and to celebra te th e 10th an n iversary th e R IOO ge ts severa l major im pro vemen ts. T he origi nal GS was designed as a road touring motorcycle, but its longtravel suspension, un iversal tires and min imum amo unt of street hardware all owed it to go beyond paved roads. That caused so me confusion am ong the America n pu blic as to whether the GS was supposed to be an off-road, dual-purpose or a street mach ine. After severa l years of success in the fam ous Par is-to-Dakar rall y, the GS ga ined a reputat ion as an off-roa d mach in e. Mod ified RSOGSs won the rall y in 19S1 and from 'S3-' S5, and BMW celebra ted by introducing a Paris-to-D akar model, complete with ex tra -large fuel tank and spec ia l comme mo ra tive , p aint. The victories boo sted sales in Europe, but th ey also hel ped reinforce what BMW event ually real ized was the wrong message. Now BMW is trying to change the general perception of the R IOOGS from an off-roa d machine to what the y call adventure touring. The GS is still D 14 int ended to be a long-distance touring mach in e wi th a certa in amount of offroad capability to allo w its owner to continu e when the paved highway ends. A few of the cha nge s made to the '9 1 model reflect its to uri ng heritage. It now has a low , tire-hugging front fender, recessed fuel cap on the 5.7ga llo n tank to provide easier use with a tank bag and a 240-watt alternator for better battery chargi ng. Getting to the back-country highways is a pure jo y. A spa cio us layout lets the rider ease ont o the bike. The wide handlebars are an easy reach away , alt ho ug h some of the cont ro ls co mmonly used on the street, whi ch are the same found o n BMW K-seri es street ma chines, can be diffi cult to operate for those un accu stomed to BMWs, especia lly when wearing thick glo ves. The turn indicat or switches, one at each end of the bar , are far underneath the switch hou sin gs and a little hard to reach wi th the thumb, but at least th e left -side cance llation button is wit hin easy reach . Forget abo ut finding the ho rn in a h urry; it's a short button buried o n the left-side swi tch housing. There is a considera ble amo unt of vibration from the 9SOcc, horizontallyo ppo sed Boxer twin engi ne at low rpm , bu t as the GS reach es hig hway speed the mo tor smooths o ut to a cons ta nt p u rr. Th e mo to r, made torq uier than the street-o nly RlOO by th e chro med upswept exhaust system, pulls smooth ly from a dead stop, and there is good po wer for overta ki ng slower vehicl es o n the road. When the road becomes twisty, the GS is a blast. The wide bars make it easy to toss the big machine from side to side, and its am p le suspension travel negates any pavement irregularities. In fact th e o nly thing that ma y prevent th e rider from dragging the cylinder gua rds is wh en knobs on the universal tread tires begin to flex. Those tires are mounted to wh eels with BMW's cross-spo ke design whi ch places the spo ke mounts o utside th e tire bead so tha t tub eless tires can be run. An allen