2024 BMW R 1300 GS First Ride Review | Ultimate Motorcycling

Hey it's Jess McKinley with Ultimate Motorcycling. We're here in the beautiful south of Spain riding the all-new BMW R1300 GS. We just got off the trail and the tarmac. 300 plus miles over two days and I just have to say full disclosure, full disclosure, this is the absolute best GS I've ever ridden. And as a personal GS owner over the past 15 years and putting more than 50,000 miles of adventure on a GS, I'm really really excited for this new model. If you look at it, it's 26 pounds lighter. It's smaller as far as the dimensions, the width dimensions. It's more compact than it has been in the past and it's just slimmer all around and it has a new kind of integrated look which is really really obvious. There's a ton of electronic componentry and gadgetry in here. There's adaptive ride height. There is radar. There's adaptive cruise control. There's so many things I don't have time to talk about them now, but the three big impressions that I got after the 300 miles on the trail and on the road. First off, the biggest impression is the new frame. The new chassis, gone is the tubular steel. Now it's more of a sheet metal fuselage, if you will, an integrated bike which makes it stiffer and more precise. So I think of the GS as a multi-tool. Now I think of it as a precision multi-tool. So at this point, the small inputs equal outputs on the bike. So it doesn't, you don't have to use as much body English to move the bike as I have to on previous generations. So the frame is the biggest game-changer with the new model. Secondly, the telelever suspension. So this front suspension for off-road, typically it feels a little vague. Not anymore. They've reduced the friction. They've got rid of the the ball joints and put a very ingenious flex plate in there. So now off-road riding, the front tire, the front feel is spot-on. So before when I would feel like I'd have to kind of tiptoe through some of off-road terrain, now I can charge through the terrain. In the grip, even the side grip, it's just the response and the feel is there, which hasn't been there in the past. And for a large adventure bike, this is really rarefied air. Third big impression is the motor. There's more motor and the Boxer engine is iconic for a lot of reasons. Now it's even been changed more. The transmission is now under the engine, so it's lighter, it's more compact, it's additional displacement now from 1250 cc to 1,300 cc exact, with more horsepower. So 145 horsepower, almost a 110 foot-pounds of torque, and the torque spread is really really wide. So with the shift cam technology, which is adjusting the intake cam from, you can stay in the same gear from 20 miles an hour to 80 miles an hour if you like, and just have that real toothy grin feeling of pulling out of the corners. So the torque and the motor just absolutely have made the riding impression just fantastic. So in hindsight, those three, the frame, the new suspension, and the motor, have just made the the new GS just leaps and bounds ahead of the previous models. As you can see, these bikes are completely new from the ground up. There are actually zero parts that transfer from the old 1250 version to the new ones, other than a few nuts and bolts. It is all new from the ground up. There you have it, the top three takeaways for my first riding impression on the all-new BMW R1300 GS. Click over to UltimateMotorcycling.com for the full review and to see where this adventure takes us.