By Ben Purvis
Type-approval filings in the USA have revealed four new BMW models that are expected to be launched in mid-2025. Several of the new bikes are based around the R1300 platform that radically reinvented the firm's boxer GS for the 2024 model year.
That bike, with its 145 hp (107 kW), 1300 cc twin-cylinder engine and a pressed steel frame instead of the prior tubular design, marked a step change for the company's most popular model and has since spawned the R1300GS Adventure. It was inevitable that the same platform would eventually spread to the 'R' roadster, 'RS' sports tourer and 'RT' tourer three of the new models are confirmed in the US approval filings.
There's no change to the engine's performance or emissions levels (compared to the GS), and all the bikes are expected to get the same redesigned chassis platform that debuted on the adventure bike, as well as completely new styling and improved levels of technology. The use of the new 1300 engine also means BMW will be able to offer them all with its 'ASA' semi-automatic transmission as an option or as standard, and the system should be particularly well suited to the R1300RT tourer.
Other equipment including radar-based adaptive cruise control and crash mitigation technology is also expected to be offered on the new bikes, which are rumoured to be making their official debuts in the first half of 2025.
The same new approval filing in the USA also reveals the existence of another model, the R12 G/S, which is based on the same platform as the R12 cruiser and R12 nineT retro roadster. It is expected to feature styling inspired by the original R80 G/S. It's a route BMW has taken before, with the old R nineT Urban GS, but the new model is expected to have more substantial off-road ability, to rival Triumph's similarly retro but surprisingly capable Scrambler 1200.
