I know BMW boxers because I used to ride loads of them when I lived in Pommie-land for a few years. Nice, if you like that kinda thing. And if you forgave twin cylinders that fell over from the vertical to the horizontal during the design process and never quite got up again.
Riding over the course of a couple of weeks on the water-cooled R1200RS that is destined to be an AMCN long-termer, from city streets to mountain passes and freeways, showed that it’s possible to keep your basic DNA but manipulate the engineering to get more sophisticated and hard-hitting.
This still ain’t no sportsbike, and it ain’t no tourer, it’s a sports-tourer. Remember them?
Just firing up the Beemer (to go and get some missing panniers, kindly fitted at the Melbourne BMW HQ) and heading out of the AMCN carpark brought back latent memories of the old boxers. But 100 metres later it is obvious we are talking generations of improvement on the basic idea.
Conventional forks, a slicker gearbox than I remember, and a lack of megaphoning and pinging if you are a gear out in the rev range are all revelations compared to any boxer I rode before.
And the electronics suite on the bike takes its cultured manners to the top table of sophistication and nullifies most of the ‘quirks’ that older boxers used to show with every ride.
Torque reaction for the weird engine/clutch/shaft-drive layout? In there somewhere but greyed out. Remote feel from the once-sacrosanct Telelever front suspension? Gone altogether, with this bike’s conventional fork tubes, especially as they come in shipyard sizes. Shaft drive? Hardly noticed it, and only in extremis.
The basic mechanics, the 1200c engine and the chassis itself will let you go much faster across almost every possible field of asphalt battle than you would have first imagined. Even with a two-up-sized Scotsman and all his work and clothing kit for nearly two weeks away, each day was a dance, not a drag.
This big Bavarian thing goes, stops and steers if not sharply then relatively crisply. And stick the electronics in dynamic mode and it goes eagerly if you lash the throttle.
A carburettor kid like me, brought up on two-strokes and simplicity, always distrusts electronic ‘riding-aids’. But Rain, Sport and Dynamic suspension settings and engine maps – even a ‘User’ setting that lets you customise – really do make life easier in changing conditions, just with the touch of a button.
I rode the RS from suburban Melbourne to Lakes Entrance. Then up and over the Great Alpine Road, past Mount Hotham in tricky rain, and then high-grip heat. Plus most of a day of middle-aged semi-hooning with Steve Martin, along his favourite mountain roads. And commuted to work at Phillip Island every other day. The Beemer dusted all of them like the pro it is.
BMW’s mechanical and electronic improvements make this 2017 boxer a viable 365 choice. If you remember it is a sports-tourer, not a Fireblade.
by GORDON RITCHIE
Photos: Russell Colvin
