BMW Motorrad has been working on a new GS for several years now, and in fact, the spy shots shown here are not recent. Now, BMW Motorrad chief Markus Flasch has confirmed in an interview that a new GS (likely to be the BMW R 12 GS), will make its debut soon. The bike will be based on the BMW R 12 nineT unveiled in 2023, but will be better equipped with more suspension travel, and off-road ready wheels and tyres to give it the GS flavour. The spy shots confirm that BMW’s new GS (or will it be called G/S as a homage to the original?), is already in the making.
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The R 12 GS will come with a 1,170 cc boxer twin, mounted on a tubular steel frame, with a 21-inch front wheel with long-travel suspension.
The bike has a new tubular steel frame and stands tall with an upside down fork with a 21-inch front wheel, with 90/90-21 tyres clearly underscoring its off-road intent. At the rear is expected to be a 170/60-17 wheel-tyre combination at the rear, and the cross-spoked wheels are likely to get tubeless rubber. Suspension travel is expected to be substantial, with around 200-250 mm up front and the rear wheel is also quite high, so expect massive ground clearance of around 250 mm.
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The instrument console is expected to be a circular TFT screen, and the bike is expected to come with a comprehensive electronics package.
The heart of the matter is the familiar 1,170 cc, air-cooled boxer twin housed in the new chassis. On the BMW R 12 nineT, the engine produces 108 bhp and 115 Nm. Those numbers could be retained on the R 12 GS, or the boxer twin could be presented with a slightly different state of tune for a wider torque curve and more low-end grunt.
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Production model expected to be unveiled later in 2024, around November.
So far, what is not clear is when the R 12 GS will make its debut. In fact, BMW Motorrad has announced its return to the EICMA show in 2024, and that’s when it’s likely to showcase the R 12 GS, or even at the Intermot show in Germany. Either way, late 2024 is when we expect to get some concrete information, and possibly a look at a production model.
