Imagine for a second that you wanted to ride motorcycles in a variety of different places but you didn’t want to go off-road.That great BMW all-rounder that isn’t a GS is perhaps the BMW S1000XR.
We grabbed this one from BMW Motorrad East Rand
By Donovan Fourie
To the vast legions of South Africans in their adventure pants and Leatt braces, this is a step too far! Why on earth would anyone not want to play in the sandy goodness that is South Africa’s network of dirt roads?
Do the right thing, buy a GS and practice meerkatting down Rivonia Road…
Except there are people to whom inhaling dust carries no fancy. In Europe, these people manifest as the majority which is why European GSs come standard with mag wheels and not spokes, in fact, South Africa is the only country in the world where the GS is sold with spoke wheels as standard. We are that hardcore.
Despite not wanting to ride off-road, many still buy the GS bargaining on its reputation of luxury and ease of use. But there is another way. Perhaps even – a better way. May we present the 2025 S1000XR?
What we essentially have here is the motorcycle equivalent of the BMW X6 car. You’ve seen them, growling down Sandton Drive looking menacing. They boast four-wheel drive and yet those tyres look suspiciously too low-profile to tackle the unexplored wilderness and that fancy paint job will be easily defeated by the first thorn bush.
It’s even a source of mockery – these people with big, fast off-roaders that couldn’t handle a sandy driveway just want the look.
And yet…
The XR is supplied with mag wheels both with a 17-inch diameter. The suspension travel is just 137mm which could be worse but it’s a figurative mile away from the 220mm of a GS Adventure. And yet the seat height is an aloof 850mm with handlebars even higher. And it feels brilliant.
Your legs have leagues of stretch room and the very high bars mean you sit dead upright with your entire body weight supported by your spine, much like it was intended.
And yet, it’s not overly towering that even average-height people have to tiptoe, but tall enough to get a good look at the traffic in front of you.
Now we get to the highlights – the GS motor, particularly the new 1300, is a laudable success story with torque, easy usage and fun. The XR motor stems from the bike Toprak Razgatlioglu put sideways for the entirety of 2024 on his way to winning the World Superbike title – and the one that AJ Venter is currently racing around on at the Isle Of Man TT. It’s a 999cc in-line four with a screamer firing order. And boy, does it scream.
At peak revs, it wails out a face-contorting 170hp. That’s a fair old chunk of power for what is essentially a road-going all-rounder. But why not? If you have it, use it. Unlike the race machines, BMW has programmed the ride-by-wire throttle and other gizmos to also cough up sufficient power pretty much throughout the rev range rather than just near the redline.
Four-cylinder motors like this normally pull properly only once they get to the higher octaves, which is why it is strange to feel the XR tugging your shoulder ligaments from as low as 4000rpm.
Handling is like a slightly heavier superbike because that’s what this largely is. It has a wet weight of 227kg which is excellent in adventure circles but a bit tubby in the sport bike classes. Then again, it tips into the turn without considerable muscle strain and feels happy to stay there. Pro-racers breaking lap records might point out a plethora of handling flaws on the XR but you and me gooi-ing through Hekpoort Pass really have everything we need.
Naturally, as is the way with top-shelf BMW models, it has every gadget and gizmo computer Boffins can supply. The two-way quick-shifter is particularly good – one of the smoothest anywhere – as is the way with BMW four-cylinder bikes, which is odd because BMW twin models of all kinds tend to have some of the clunkiest quick-shifters imaginable.
Maybe BMW is going for an acceptable average.
The dash and controls are the usual BMW setup that, once you learn how it all works, is terribly easy. There’s even a special sports dash for if you want to spoil some superbike’s day.
And so, if you want an all-rounder but have no intention of going off-road, I’m a little stuck in suggesting a better motorcycle than the XR. This is a very good motorcycle indeed.
This slightly used model is on the floor at East Rand Motorrad.
Give them a call and they will hook you up!
