It may not be perfect but the BMW R1300GS is so superbly effective that I would buy one! Here's why

‘Would you buy one?’ It’s a question I get asked a lot, especially from bikers who have never spent any considerable time on a BMW R1300GS. And the answer has to be ‘yes’ – because for all that the latest creeping evolution of the GS dynasty isn’t perfect, it still delivers a class-shaping level of performance that makes it one of the very best road bikes you can buy.

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• Update one: First impressions
• Update two: The GS fails to start after getting wet
• Update three: Building the miles and riding with a pillion
• Update four: The good, the bad and the fugly
• Update five: Is the R1300GS too heavy off-road?
• Update six: Covering over 1000 miles in under 24hrs
• Update seven: The luggage I live with
• Update eight: Why you should consider buying a GS

Having now returned the GS to BMW and picked up one of its close rivals as my 2025 longterm test bike – the Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Explorer – the qualities of the GS have been brought into even sharper clarity. The big things I’m missing about the BMW have surprised me, too.

The most prominent feeling of loss is the 1300’s cheeky playfulness. You might look at this 237kg behemoth of an adventure bike and think it couldn’t be anything other than glacial in its agility – but you’d be wrong.

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It’ll lift its nose with the mildest provocation, and dances beneath you with a sense of irreverence that contradicts its design intent. Yes, it’ll plod on a motorway for hours on end, or provide solid and stable dependability on any A or B road, but treat it like a big supermoto and it comes alive in a heartbeat.

It’s a side that the big Tiger hasn’t yet been able to reveal to me. Even when deliberately provoked, there’s none of the GS’s playfulness lurking in its armoury. The Tiger’s contrasting benefit is a top-end rush to its delivery as the inline-triple howls gloriously through the last arc of the rev counter – something that the GS can’t match as its big opposed pistons run out of energy.

Keeping the ‘big supermoto’ theme going, the GS was never quite as comfortable as I hoped it would be – the culprit being a seat that’s just ever so slightly too close to the footpegs for my 5ft 11in frame. The Tiger bests it here by a fair margin – and with a choice of seat height settings, it’ll benefit a wider range of riders, too.

But if we’re trading blows – here’s a really significant one: the GS absolutely destroys the Tiger on airflow management. The big Bavarian is astoundingly devoid of wind noise and turbulence on the move – while the Tiger delivers a smooth but noisy tirade of wind abuse that you can’t even duck out the way of. As a big-mile rider, that would push me firmly towards the GS.

So, would I buy a GS? Yes – absolutely. I’d raise the seat 20mm, and wouldn’t regret spending more than a competitor would cost for a single moment.