Is The 2026 BMW R1300GS Still The King Of Adventure Bikes?

Hello there, I hope you're doing well. This week I have the BMW R 1300 GS with me and the reason I wanted to ride it is because back in the 1980s the BMW GS basically invented the adventure bike segment and this is actually still the best sold bike over here in the Netherlands. Basically I want to find out if that's justified, if it's still the king of adventure bikes now that the segment is so crowded, it's so competitive. First let me turn this camera around because this GS has some very interesting features I want to tell you about. Alright so first very interesting thing about this GS is this little puppy up here, this little black square. So this generation of GS you can get radar adaptive cruise control as an option and this one has it. It can sense all the cars in front of you and it can manage the distance to the car in front of you automatically. You might notice there's something missing here and this bike has no clutch lever so what is that all about? Well this thing has BMW's automated shift assistant and basically what that means is you still get your shift lever over here so you can change gears using your foot like normal like with the quick shifter but the clutch is automated. Over here you have the switch so you can put it in drive and in manual so basically what that means is you can put it in drive and then it's in automatic you don't have to shift gears at all or you can put it in manual and then do all the shifting yourself. Another very interesting thing about this GS is that this has the adaptive ride height so basically what that means is at low speed it's gonna lower down so it's gonna be easier to get your foot down on the ground and once you start riding it raises up so you get the ground clearance and you get the normal ride height, you get the normal handling. I think that's a really nice feature for shorter riders. Another key thing to note about the GS is it's actually a lot lighter and quite a bit smaller and narrower than the previous generation and one of the things I love most about it I can tell you already is just how narrow it is so if you look at it like this, I mean the cylinders of course stick out quite a bit because it's a boxer engine, but just the narrowness around the tank works really well, it feels really small, it feels really nimble when you're riding and I think it also marks a big shift in philosophy between this normal GS and the GS Adventure because previously it was just like you have the normal GS which is a normal GS and then you have the Adventure which has a little bit of a bigger tank and just some more stuff but on this one they widened the gap a lot so this is the normal GS and it's like I said quite small, quite narrow, it's actually relatively light and then you have the new Adventure model which is like basically a square tank, it's like it looks massive and I think it's interesting that this is like the more lightweight, more smaller variant and then the Adventure is actually like it's own thing, like it's entirely different model, so yeah. Now let's hop on, go for a ride, we'll hit some of my favorite roads here, I think they will be perfect for this GS and I'll tell you what it's like to ride. All right so the R1300 GS on one of my favorite roads, I picked this bike up yesterday and I rode home from Rotterdam here to Amsterdam about one and a half hours on the highway, I did some short twisty road riding, some town riding, some riding through traffic so I think I have a pretty good general idea of what this thing is like. First thing I noticed when it got on is that adjustable suspension, it is very low when you get on for the first time, because it lowers down it feels like a small naked bike rather than a big Adventure bike, which again I think is really nice if you are a shorter rider, it makes a big Adventure bike like this a lot more accessible and I always think that's a good thing. Then pulling away of course I noticed the lack of clutch lever, I think the clutch engagement works really well, even riding around town and riding through some traffic jams, it's really smooth, it's predictable, it's pretty nice, it's still not quite as smooth as Honda's dual clutch system, but I think for what it is it works really well, and speaking of things that work really well, one of the things that I immediately noticed about this bike is just how refined it is, and it's also one of the things I kind of expected because BMW has been building this bike for so long, everything works as you would expect, and that might actually be one of it's biggest accomplishments or one of the things I like most about this motorcycle actually, it's just the fact that everything is so easy and so smooth and so refined, it works in the manner you would expect, so the fueling is just absolutely delightful, it's just so smooth, same for the handling, the handlebars are so upright, so close to you, it's almost like they're in your lap, even though this bike weighs 238 kilograms, it feels so remarkably light when you are steering, especially at lower speeds like this, you could honestly steer this bike with one finger and I think that's amazing considering the fact that it does weigh well over 230 kilograms, and the nice thing about that is when you do get it on a little bit more of a twisty road like this, it is actually quite a bit of fun, that's one of the things I'm really interested in exploring today a little bit more, is we are going to hit some very nice twisty roads, and just seeing if all of the weight saving and the change in philosophy BMW made, making this bike smaller and lighter and sportier, has actually paid off in the riding experience, now this bike does have the optional Akrapovic exhaust, I'm not sure how much volume it adds to be honest, I mean these are all homologated exhausts anyway, so they are all past the legal inspection, so I'm not sure it's terribly louder than a stock exhaust, but I do have to say for an adventure bike, it sounds quite nice, it has a nice amount of bass to it, the volume is quite decent, nice little twisty here, oh yeah, now we are heading into town, we're behind the car, so let me put this bike into road mode, and then let me go into the menu to change the suspension, so suspension and then it's in road mode now, so let's talk about how this thing rides around town, so this road is notoriously awful, but the BMW GS handles it amazingly, it might honestly be some of the best suspension, comfort wise at least, I've ever tried on a motorcycle, it just glides along the road and you see imperfections in the road, but you don't feel them through your bum, and over here you know I can feel the individual cobblestones on the street, but again this road is really bad, and it's still definitely probably one of the best bikes I've ever had on this road, but on the highway it just floats in such a beautiful way, especially if you put the suspension in road mode, I really really enjoy it, and I think that's one of the reasons why it feels so refined, and why it would be a great mile muncher, why someone would love to do a lot of kilometers on the bike like this, now the low speed balance as we are coming to a stop like this, is pretty fantastic for a big adventure bike like this, and that is due to the BMW GS of course having a boxer two-cylinder engine, and basically what it means is the cylinders are really low, they're almost on the floor actually, and the nice thing about that is that keeps the center of gravity low, which makes it really easy to throw around, really easy to maneuver, really unintimidating, so flipping fantastic, so as a motorcyclist I think it's fair to say that our motorcycles are very precious to us, and that's why it's important to you know keep it safe, keep it clean, keep it looking immaculate, and I think the best way to make sure that your pride and joy stays protected, is to use a motorcycle cover, which is why I'm very happy to say that DS covers has sponsored this video, I've personally been using DS covers for almost 10 years now, and during that time I've only bought two because they're that high quality, this outdoor cover features great waterproofness, handy features like a pass-through for your lock, insulation so it doesn't get damaged by your exhaust, and tie-down points so it doesn't get blown away during heavy winds, DS covers offer fast global shipping, a wide array of sizes suitable for every motorcycle, and truly the highest quality I could ever imagine for a motorcycle cover, check out the link in the description and use code RIK10 to get 10% off, the best way to protect your motorcycle, all right heading on to my favorite piece of road here my secret little test track, and this is tight and narrow and bumpy, and it has gravel, and it has bad visibility, and I think that is the perfect environment to test the GS, because you know it should be able to handle all of that stuff, and I've put the riding mode back in dynamic, and I and that suspension that was soaking up the bumps beautifully before, it's actually now hauling its own in the corners really well, a little gravel here, yeah it firms up so much when you put it in dynamic mode, it's so surprising, and that agility through town carries over here like big handlebar makes it easy to throw around, low center of gravity is helping you give confidence, big bump over here, oh no problem, no problem for the GS I'm not the biggest fan of the boxer engine, I don't think it's the most special engine in the world, but on an adventure bike that doesn't matter as much, and what I really like about this engine is just the amount of torque it has, and even though you know it's a big bike with you know quite a decent horsepower number, this should have more gravel, around 140 horsepower, you don't have to bring it out, you can just ride the wave of torque, short shift it, play with the gearbox, play with that excellent quick shift there ah come on, yeah boy so bunny bump, oh look at this oh why is this bike so much fun, there's so much more fun in it than it has any right to be, being a big adventure bike, nice s-curve over here, oh yeah, okay so I just very quickly wanted to stop for a snack and talk to you about something I've been thinking about, so one of the things I used to do quite a bit here on the channel, which I haven't been doing a lot recently, is talk about how I'm doing you know, share a bit more about my personal life, so one of the things I've been thinking about lately, is the concept of being good enough, that's one of the things that's been a big part of my life personally, I was bullied quite a bit when I was in high school I suppose, and yeah throughout my entire life, you know it kind of changes the way you see yourself, you know you always put the bar so high for yourself, and it's kind of a shame because you can achieve quite a lot, and then still feel like you're not doing good enough, it's really quite weird, yeah just the idea of being good enough as you are, no matter what you do, no matter what you look like, no matter how many times you went to the gym that week, that's all separate from who you really are you know, I think everyone deserves to be loved like who they are you know, I'm gonna eat my little snack now, I hope you might find this valuable, let me know if this is something you can relate to, or if this is just all bullcrap and you want to see just the bikes, that's also totally fair, but I'm gonna eat this now, and then we're gonna keep riding. After having lived with this bike for the last week now, and being really positive about it, because I am really positive about it, I also wanted to give you some downsides, so what are the downsides on the 1300GS? Well first of all, and this is a really weird complaint, but you see this hole in the front, there's a lot of road noise that comes through that hole, it's especially noticeable when you have the windscreen up, because you have less wind noise to cover it up, so yeah not a huge deal, but there you go, I also think the button layout, while it is very good, I think there could be a little bit more shortcuts, a little bit more physical buttons, I'm pretty sure that on the old generation GS's they had just a button for the adaptive suspension, again not a huge deal, but a little bit fiddly, and now that I'm facing some bends, I'll talk about the third thing I'm not exactly the biggest fan of, it's with, I think it's called the telelever front end, so the suspension on the big GS's, I think one thing I do miss is front end feedback, and although this thing does have oodles of grip, and it is very confidence inspiring, I think once you do reach the limits of the tyre, or the edge of the tyre, it can be a little bit hard to tell how much grip you have, other than that, honestly there's not a lot of major things to complain about, this bike is pretty flipping fantastic, and I suppose you would expect that for the price, but there is one amazingly surprising thing about this bike I haven't told you about yet, so let me pull over and I'll tell you about it, okay so what is this big surprise then, well when I started this video off of course the question was, is this still the king, is this still the best biggest adventure bike you can buy, and I think it is, but the most surprising part to me is just how much I like it, how much joy it brings me, and like I said I expected it to be one of the best bikes you can buy, because it is the best selling bike here in the country, here in the Netherlands, but what I didn't necessarily expect is to actually like it this much, and for it to get under my skin as much as it did, I mean I've had a lot of fun this week with it, and this is actually one of the first bikes in a while, I actually don't want to give back, because you know it is just so nice to live with, so yeah, that being said I think I'll leave it there, I want to thank you very much for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video, I hope you're kind to yourself, and I'll see you in the next one, ciao ciao!