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What was the BMW R65GS?
When we think of the BMW GS series, we typically think of the 1200 cc monsters on the road today. The GS stands for either Gelande/Strabe (translation = off-road) or Gelande Sport. A forward slash was used in the early history of the motorcycle series(G/S), but dropped starting in 1987 (GS).
They are the some of the most amazing adventure bikes ever built. I know I want one and you probably do too. Even more than the current version though, I would like a version that is:
1. Lighter,
2. A little more nimble,
3. Still a twin-cylinder airhead,
4. And most importantly, vintage.
This is a lot of criteria, but brings me to the title of this post, “What Was the BMW R65GS?”
The BMW GS series launched in 1980 with the R80G/S, while the BMW R65 was a light-touring, street-style motorcycle introduced in 1978.
It wasn’t until 1987 that these two ideas “collided” with the release of the R65GS. Only 1,727 of this particular bike were ever produced, so good luck finding one (and if I can, I will beat you to it). The bike was essentially the street bike R65 engine fitted into the R80G/S chassis, including the monolever swingarm and single shock absorber.
Of course, I have never seen one in person and can’t seem to find one for sale anywhere on the internet, but I absolutely want one. If you find one, email me because I would definitely be interested in buying it. In the meantime, happy wrenching my friends.
Please forgive any typos as I wrote this blog post from my cell phone.
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Are you still after a R65GS…..?
The R65GS was originally built for the German, Dutch and Danish armies and the majority of them were painted khaki with black components, there were a few civilian models built as you correctly say in your article and these were nearly all sold in Germany, I have seen one here in the UK but even that one had a kilometer speedo so was an import. The ex-army ones do come up for sale in the UK occasionally but are more often found on the continent where they started life.