BMW R 1150 GS Adventure

Until present day. The GS acronym has had several different meanings over the years. The motorcycle division of BMW was struggling financially and in early 1979 the new director of BMW Motorrad Karl-Heinz Gerlinger was tasked with either making the motorcycle business profitable or shutting it down entirely. Initially some reviewers of the new R80G/S model were unimpressed with the…

The G/S name was changed to GS (see above) and the Monolever was replaced with the "Paralever" swingarm. This system included a torque arm intended to lessen shaft effect and strengthen the swingarm to final-drive connection.

The next generation (Type 259) of BMW GS was introduced with the R1100GS. This generation is commonly referred to as the "oilhead" due to the engine relying more on oil-cooling than the previous version.

It was followed by a smaller R850GS model, which was largely identical besides a less powerful engine. The R1100GS model signified a significant jump in technology introducing features like a four-valve engine, electronic fuel injection, a catalytic converter and ABS-brakes.

The model was updated to the R1150GS (Type R21). This model received a slight increase in engine power and displacement, a change in design of the front fairing and headlight - now sporting two round asymmetrical headlight lenses.

The R1200GS model introduced the third generation (Type K25) of GS models. Commonly referred to as the "hexhead" simply due to the hexagonal shape of the cylinder heads.

The R1200GS received an update, that made the steering geometry steeper and added 5hp. The biggest innovation was probably the implementation of Electronic Suspension Adjustment ESA, which enabled the rider to change the characteristics of both damping and preload of the shock absorbers via the swit…

Another update was made to the model, this time with the engine receiving the biggest changes. The valvetrain was changed from employing pushrods and rocker arms to a double overhead camshaft design.

The new R1200GS model introduced the fourth generation (Types K50 and K51) of GS models. Although the model name and engine capacity remained the same, the fourth generation represented a big change in engine layout and design language.

The R1200GS received an update that slightly changed the design of the fairings, the workings of the Dynamic ESA suspension and the engine calibration was updated to comply with the EURO4 emissions standards. Although BMW claimed the same 125hp as previous years German magazine Motorrad tested this…

BMW introduced the R1250GS models. Just like the 2010 update to the previous model, the most significant change was updates to the engine which grew from 1170cm³ to 1254cm³ and the valvetrain was redesigned to incorporate BMWs system for variable valve timing called "ShiftCam".