With the launch of the R 1200 GS, BMW really started to acknowledge its big adventure touring bikes had been growing too big and too heavy — the weight loss of the new model over the outgoing 1150 was significant, 30-odd kilos, with engine output up significantly.
An all-new bike only broadly similar to the outgoing model, the 1200 would last around 15 years before being replaced with the R 1250 GS in 2019,