BMW R80 G/S

If anyone talks about the ultimate all-rounder bike today, they mean the GS. Where this bike really comes from is told by Fred Jakobs in 1000PS's big video and the story is so down-to-earth that it's almost brilliant all over again. Because at the start there was no master plan, just a prototype in a basement.

By the late '70s, BMW Motorrad was in a tight spot. The air-cooled two-valve boxer, displacing 1000cc, still made 70 hp, but the regulators were closing in: noise, emissions. The engine had reached its limit there wasn't much more performance to be had. The new K-series was in the planning stages, but a complete redevelopment takes years. The question was: how do you bridge the gap?

BMW had a new, relatively unencumbered motorcycle team. The sales guy actually had nothing to do with motorcycles but was a good salesman; the head of Motorrad was the HR board member for the entire AG. These people were trusted, and they were listened to. This very principle of "listening to good people" becomes the common thread running through the video because nobody had a clue what this crew would pull out of the drawer next.

Then came the legendary line that Fred Jakobs quotes in the video: "We've got something down in the basement, want to take a look?" It was a G/S prototype that the mechanics had built themselves. The background: BMW competed in off-road sport, the International Six Days Trial. The mechanics had to ride over unpaved roads and rooty forest terrain to accompany the riders carrying tools, a tire, and a tube. That's exactly what they'd built this handy machine for.

The advantage: it could be realized quickly, because basically all the parts were already there. Essentially, only the layout was reworked. Marketing chose the name GS for "Geländestraße" [off-road street] not "Geländesport" [off-road sport]. That's why the GS was initially misunderstood, because it simply wasn't a hard enduro. The magazine MOTORRAD summed it up with a bit of a jab: leaned over on a country road, it was the best road bike BMW had ever built. That's exactly the core of the ultimate all-rounder: others might have better wool and better milk but this overall package can do everything. A mountain pass, followed by a dirt track. Or at least you know that you could.

Then came the question of all questions: can it really do off-road? The answer came from an idea by BMW France. They wanted to know whether an 800cc boxer, weighing 200 kilos fully fueled, could fly at the Paris-Dakar Rally. It could. BMW won four times between 1981 and 1985 a massive popularity boost and a return to motorsport with a near-production machine: a basic series model, a different tank, and a bit of work on the chassis.

This Dakar victory had a broad impact that can't be overstated. Winning a desert race is proof that everyone understands. The crucial question of doubt was answered once and for all, and the GS turned from a practical tool into an icon of long-distance touring. What matters here is how BMW approached its return to racing: close to series production. They took a basic model from the lineup, added a different tank and a bit of chassis work but at its core, exactly what the customer could buy. As Fred Jakobs emphasizes, this very principle runs through BMW's entire history.

How much it became a round-the-world machine is shown by Helge Pedersen: around 400,000 kilometers around the globe, about eight years, all documented; in the end he handed his motorcycle over to BMW and traded it in for a new GS. Add to that promotional shots, for which BMW employees sometimes stood in the desert with a tent. A nice detail: the folding fender for quick wheel removal comes straight from competition practice at the Six Days trials, there were timed tire changes.

Technically, the G/S was in truth a conservative motorcycle but it worked. For the media, there was the single-sided swingarm, the Monolever, which saved a bit of weight and got people's attention. Otherwise, what had already mattered with the /5 held true: the overall package counts. Not every single component had to be the technically most extreme it had to work together as a whole. One practical detail that Fred Jakobs highlights in the video is the folding fender: it lets you swap the rear wheel in a flash, just like on a car. This, too, comes straight from the competition practice of the Six Days trials, where there were timed tire changes.

And it's exactly this combination that holds the trick: a nimble, near-production, reliable motorcycle that suddenly opens up a completely new use case. Anyone riding a mountain pass and then bouncing along a dirt track afterward previously needed two different machines. The G/S did both and in doing so, awakened a need that many people didn't even know they had.

Most important is what the GS meant for BMW. In the beginning, sales figures weren't as exorbitant as they are today but they were enough to secure the survival of the motorcycle business. Fred Jakobs says it bluntly: the new team held the last trump card in their hand. They could just as easily have shut the whole shop down.

Throughout its model history, BMW had a few saviors the /5, which arrived at just the right moment after the great crisis, and the GS, which bridged the gap until the K-models arrived with more cylinders, more power, and more electronics. With the GS, they didn't just save one model they opened up an entire segment. Today it's been around for so long that it no longer exists only as a boxer, but also as a single-cylinder alongside it.

Anyone who looks at the numbers the letters GS stand for today understands the full scale of this decision. What started as a stopgap solution from a new team became the backbone of an entire brand. The core of the story remains remarkably simple: the overall package counts. A prototype that a few mechanics screwed together for their own purposes became the most successful concept in the history of BMW Motorrad. If that's not a story the whole video is worth watching.

This extensive video was made possible by the passion and commitment of ZONKO, the BMW Motorrad team, and our partners:

• Fine BMW Motorrad accessories from Hornig
• High-quality luggage systems and accessories from Hepco & Becker
• Customization of BMW motorcycles by Wunderlich