ROARING FORTIES
Nineteen eighty was the year of hairspray and perms worn by macho male rock bands who thought spandex was okay. The Jam were singing about going underground, ABBA was a Super Trouper, andThe Empire Strikes Backwas released, long beforeStarWarsgotconfusing with the arrival of Ewan McGregor.
In amongst this madness, BMW launched the very first shaft-driven R 80 G/S. Capable both off-road and on, as happy on motorways as it was on dirt roads, it catered to a whole new motorcycle market. And since creating this new sector, BMW has dominated it, evolving the GS over four decades.
The greatest compliment is to be copied, and other manufacturers soon followed in the footsteps of the GS, but only in the last decade has the GS’s crown been wobbled by a wave of new and powerful bikes from KTM and Ducati. The Japanese manufacturers have also jumped into this most profitable sector with attractive, cost-effective bikes.
In the face of growing competition, BMW has been forced to up its game, which leads us nicely onto the new R 1250 GS – 40 Years GS Edition model, celebrating four decades of the GS. This is the most advanced and luxurious GS to date, with new rider modes, updated tech, now a six-axis IMU instead of five, adaptive
