The Brawniest Bavarian Is Set To Get Even Brawnier!

BMW Motorrad’s biggest, brawniest adventure bike, the R 1250 GS, is all set to get an even bigger, meaner successor as the BMW R 1300 GS has been spotted testing in the UK. Expect BMW Motorrad to unveil the production version by the end of this year or early next year.

The BMW R 1300 GS gets the same distinctive silhouette that the GS family has always been associated with. The new slanted LED headlamp is a little reminiscent of the KTM 1290 Super Duke R. While it does flow coherently into the beak-like front fender, the headlamp does look a tad odd if you ask us. We miss the asymmetrical trademark headlamp that the GS was always known for.

The bike also gets a taller windscreen and a massive metal bracing supports the instrument cluster along with the GPS unit. Having said that, the secondary display might just be a part of the testing equipment on this particular motorcycle. It also features auxiliary LED lights mounted to the fuel tank extensions, but expect this to be offered as an accessory in the production version.

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You can also see the radiators just behind the tank shrouds, facing sideways as opposed to the forward-facing ones in the R 1250 GS. They appear larger and this coupled with the covered engine heads could mean the powerplant is a fully liquid-cooled unit unlike the part air, part liquid-cooled engine in the current-generation bike. The R 1250 GS produces 136PS and 143Nm, so expect the R 1300 GS to touch the 150-160PS mark, thanks to the bigger displacement and liquid cooling. This should help the bike compete better with the 170PS Ducati Multistrada V4. Of course, as usual, the engine is mated to a shaft drive with a single-sided swingarm in the new bike. The stubby exhaust doesn’t look well finished, and we hope BMW Motorrad comes up with a more cohesive unit in the production iteration.

The two-section frame with the bolt-on rear subframe is likely to have been tweaked to accommodate the new powerplant. BMW Motorrad has cleverly covered the frame sections with blacked-out panels with faux frame outlines to throw us off. The front Telelever fork and the rear Paralever monoshock are likely to be the same as before. The spoke wheels appear to be the same 19-inch front and 17-inch rear wrapped with tubeless block-pattern tyres. It uses a twin disc setup with radial calipers up front and a disc at the rear.

After the production version is unveiled, BMW Motorrad is likely to launch this motorcycle in India in mid-2022. Apart from the soon-to-be-launched Ducati Multistrada V4, it will also go up against the new Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 here.

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