2006 BMW R 1200 GS Adventure


The word "adventure" evokes a variety of different emotions depending on who you are.


For the motorcyclist, that word can't be used without self-aggrandizing images of successfully circumnavigating the globe coming to mind. Perhaps in your mind's eye you narrowly escaped a swollen river crossing in some remote, South American jungle. Or maybe you triumphantly conquered the unforgiving heat and sands of the Egyptian deserts while en route to Cairo. You might be the competitive, Type-A motorcyclist who cerebrates of competing in the Paris-Dakar or Baja 1000.

Any cyclist who is honest with themselves has to admit that those images have tickled their imagination at least once. No manufacturer has been able to capitalize on such mental wanderings of the motorcycle enthusiast quite like BMW. It has only been recently that other makers have entered and attempted to topple BMW's strangle hold on a very small segment of the motorcycle world, informally known as adventure touring. Beginning with the R80 G/S, BMW created a whole new breed of motorbike specifically suited for on and off road riding(hence the S for street or strasseand the G for off road or gelände);the G/S (or GS line as it became known) has become an icon for two-wheeled exploits the world over.

In 2001 BMW created a model variation of the R 1150 GS that added the word Adventure to its moniker. Along with the lengthened name came a lengthened list of features. For 2006, BMW continues their assault of the new and/or improved with the R 1200 GS Adventure. Boasting a list of goodies not normally found on the standard R 1200 GS, the Adventure certainly is alluring to the dormant gypsy spirit in many motorcyclists, but is it all just window dressing or does the this latest GS live up to the venerable history of its predecessors?

To let the motorcycle press realize the potential (or at least a fraction thereof) that this latest GS is capable of, BMW invited a handful of us to Sedona, Arizona; a perfect backdrop for a bike like the GS. But before we were unleashed upon the dusty red desert, the BMW staff let us in on the differences between this bike and its-lesser adorned brother.