#Bmw

The BMW GS line basically owned the Adventure-Touring category before such a term even existed. But that doesn’t mean competition didn’t exist. Such a competitor came from Aprilia, as it tried its hand at something resembling a GS competitor. The year was 2001 and the bike was the 2002 Aprilia ETV 1000 Caponord; the precursor, of course, to the Caponords that would come more than a decade later. History clearly doesn’t look too fondly at the old Capo being any bit of a threat to BMW, but what did the MO gang of 2001 think of the bike? Read on to find out.

You know what’s funny? Calvin Kim posits, in his 2003 First Ride review of the BMW R1200CL, that people would end up buying this bike. Nevermind the, uh, ugly aesthetics, the R1200 backbone of BMW’s cruiser would be sure to persuade unorthodox cruiser riders that it was the way forward. Well, as history has taught us, there aren’t as many unorthodox cruiser riders as BMW hoped, and the R1200CL is remembered as a flop. Ugliness aside, read on to find out Kim’s overall positive view of the CL. And if you’re looking for a few more pictures, you can check out the photo gallery. 

This week’s Top 10 comes to us courtesy of Miguel Galluzzi. Mr. G is best known for designing Ducati’s original Monster and starting the modern naked-bike movement, but before that he also penned Ducati’s early ’90s 900 Supersports. He’s been a busy man ever since, and is currently director for PADC (Piaggio Advanced Design Center), in Pasadena, CA, where he – together with another design team in Noale, Italy – cooks up new Moto Guzzis, Aprilias and other Italian delicacies. —John Burns

If you’re wondering how important the small-displacement segment is to BMW, here’s a figure to chew on: Edgar Heinrich, BMW Motorrad’s Head of Design, estimates, on a global scale, its current model lineup, excluding the G310R, appeals to approximately one million motorcycle shoppers. This means motorcycle consumers are buying bikes in segments BMW currently is present in. That includes everything from the G650GS on the low end, all the way to the K1600GTL at the other extreme.

Ducati raised the bar when it comes to lightweight materials, introducing its carbon fiber 1299 Superleggera at EICMA. It didn’t take long for other manufacturers to follow, with BMW announcing plans for a HP4 RACE model featuring a carbon fiber frame and wheels.

The R nineT has been a nice hit for BMW since it was introduced a little more than two years ago, appealing to both BMW traditionalists as well as those in younger demographics. And then came the R-nineT Scrambler we rode last month, which will surely carry the nineT’s momentum into the future. Oh, and there’s also the Pure and Racer concepts shown just weeks ago.

BMW added yet another model to its R nineT lineup with the Urban G/S joining the previously revealed Scrambler, Pure and Racer models. The slash in the name is significant as the Urban G/S is designed as a throwback to the BMW R80 G/S which helped kickstart the adventure segment. Although it sports adventure-style longer-travel suspension and larger wheels, the Urban part of the name reminds us it is still designed primarily for use on city streets.

Last year at EICMA we got our first glimpse of BMW’s smallest bike, the G310R. This year in Italy we see the roadster G310R get GS-ified, replete with mandatory beak nose, angular side panels and two-tone colorways that make it unmistakable as anything but a BMW adventure bike.

Every new model product launch is chock full of information about the presenting company – most of which is not germane to the motorcycle itself. This information is oft ignored, or left on the editing room floor to make room for riding impressions and technical information regarding the motorcycle. With the First Ride Review of BMW’s new R NineT Scrambler in the books, we take a look at a few items of interest from BMW you may not know about the company and the the motorcycles it produces. With BMW celebrating its 100th Birthday, there’s a lot to choose from, but here’s five past and present factoids.

The year 2016 marks BMW’s 100th year of existence, and part of its centenary celebrations is unveiling what it believes the future will hold for its library of brands. We’ve previously seen concepts from BMW and its automotive relatives Rolls Royce and Mini as part of what the German company terms its Vision vehicles.

Developed for the U.S. market, and available midway through 2017, BMW’s K1600B  made its official debut today at the Peterson Museum in Los Angeles. The new bagger model is based on the Concept 101 Bagger we reported on in May 2015. Expect the base price to be around $20k, while a fully loaded unit will retail around $25k.

If you’re wanting to spend some quality time with your millennial hipster kid and think some shared motorcycle experiences are the way to do it, but you don’t want to relive your ownership of a Honda CB400, and have the means to afford a shiny new two-wheeler even the youthful bearded crowd will have a hard time pooh poohing, BMW’s new R NineT Scrambler might be for you.

BMW hasn’t slated a ton of changes for the 2017 K1600GT, but then it didn’t need to. The K16’s inline Six engine delivers power, sound, and smoothness that other touring bikes can only dream of. In 2015, the GT and the GTL gained traction control for the claimed 160 hp and 129 lb-ft cranked out by the six cylinders. For 2017, the engine stays functionally the same as last year with the exception of meeting Euro 4 emission requirements. If that were the only change for the GT, it’d still be on the short list of bikes we’d want to take on a cross-country tour. Fortunately, BMW added a few changes that make the GT even more desirable.

BMW revealed an updated four-cylinder lineup at Intermot, announcing minor changes for the S1000RR sportbike and adventure-styled S1000XR and some more substantial changes to the S1000R streetfighter. For the most part, the changes were made to comply with Euro 4 regulations but we are glad to see a power increase to the S1000R and S1000XR and some formerly optional equipment become standard issue for 2017.

Confirming what we were first to report, BMW is adding two new variants to its R nineT line, introducing the R nineT Pure and R nineT Racer. They join the original R nineT and the previously-announced R nineT Scrambler. The four models form the basis of what BMW calls its Heritage line of classically-styled modern motorcycles.