After two years of deciphering spy shots, the countdown to the official unveiling of BMW’s R1300GS is on. The next generation of the legendary adventure bike line will be revealed in its finished form in Berlin on September 28, 2023, 100 years to the day after BMW unveiled its first-ever motorcycle, the R32, at the Berlin Motor Show.

What we’ve been able to learn so far about the new GS has come from several sightings as well as leaked regulatory documents. There was also the case early on when premature listings on BMW’s own service request website named not only the forthcoming R1300GS, but also still mysterious M1300GS and R1400GS models. 

Thanks to yet another premature digital inclusion, this time on the U.S. website’s digital payment estimator, we’ve learned the base model’s price will start at $19,590 — a $900 increase over the equivalent R1250GS’s list price of $18,690. Luckily, Germany’s Motorrad grabbed a screenshot before the R1300GS entry within the online payment calculator was deleted.

In another pre-launch revelation, Motorrad reports the new bike will be the first BMW to feature a freshly evolved electronically controlled chassis called SAF Next, which will replace Dynamic ESA found on current bikes. This new system will provide riders with even more control over suspension, including the likelihood seat height will be adjustable on the fly, as seen with the Adaptive Ride Height (ARH) system on Harley-Davidson’s Pan America. This is sure to be of interest for shorter riders and those newer to adventure riding, and it is  speculated the adjustment range will be around 30 millimeters (1.18 inches). 

The German magazine also posted a new video of the R1300GS being ridden out in public with very little camouflage. The new-gen model is certainly recognizable as a GS, despite having an extensive nose job to accommodate front radar. You can also see space for a rear radar to complete a system used for automatic spacing while in cruise control, as well as blind spot detection.

What else will buyers of the new R1300GS get for their patience and extra $900? Quite a lot. As we’ve previously reported and photos back up, there seems to be an all-new aluminum frame with a bolt-on subframe replacing the current tubular steel design, as well as a completely new paralever swingarm.

Windscreen adjustments will be electric on the new bike – no more dialing those hand screws, and as you can see in the video, one bike is equipped with brush guards that feature embedded turn signals. The other bike has the standard guards we’re used to seeing on the stock GS, a far less expensive option in the case of off-road misadventures. 

But the big news of course is a new 1300cc boxer engine that’s fully liquid cooled for the first time and said to be running with a semi-dry sump.  

We know the bike will produce 143.5 hp at 7,750 and offer 109.9 lb-ft of torque at 6,500 thanks to import documents filed in Switzerland back in May. That’s nearly 10 more ponies than the current bike’s 136 hp, and a 4.4 lb-ft increase in grunt. Top speed of the new bike is listed in the homologation data as 140 mph, whereas the current 1250 tops out at 136 mph.

Thanks to those same homologation documents we also know the new model’s wheelbase will be slightly longer at 59.8 inches, while the current GS measures 59.6 inches and its Adventure variant, 59.2 inches. The overall length of the bike is slightly longer as well, measuring 87.1 inches compared to the current GS’s 86.9 inches. Wheel sizes on this base model are an unchanged 19-inch front and 17-inch rear. 

Weight is projected to be slightly lighter according to Motorrad, a change that will be welcome at any measurement, and hopefully a move that marks a tipping point where these flagship bikes start losing weight as they evolve, rather than gaining.

If all goes as planned, the next time you read about the new generation 1300GS the long wait for details will be over. From there we can reset the clock as we await news of the Adventure edition, likely to follow a year later, and that mysterious M version, a bike we’re hoping is a lighter, more dirt-focused HP2 incarnate.

Photos courtesy Motorrad

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.