Bmw R100rs

BMW R100RS

AN OLD SPORT-TOURER THAT REFUSES TO FADE AWAY

THEY SAY THE AIR-COOLED BMW TWIN’S DAYS ARE numbered, its neck held firmly on the chopping block of ever more stringent noise and pollution controls. They say that without a thorough redesign to squelch its clattery engine, without fuel injection to clean up its emissions, the old Boxer is going down for the count.

Certainly, BMW’s engineering corps hasn’t wasted much of its mainframe computer time updating the old sport-tourer, what with all the hubbub over the new R1100RS Twin and improved K1100 Four. It doesn’t even get the Paralever shaft-drive set-up that works so well on the R100GS dual-purpose and R100R retroroadster Twins. In fact, aside from the single-sided swingarm and K75 fork added in 1988, the 1993 version looks really no different from the original 1977 RS. This year, it carries the same blue-and-silver paint scheme as the ’79 model, topped off by perfectly imperfect handdrawn pinstripes.

It’s those quaint pinstripes that give insight into the R100RS, though. This is a charming, eccentric motorcycle, part old, part new, definitely not for everyone. With no more than 50 rear-wheel horsepower at the ready, the RS will make its way to a top speed of about 115 mph, a full beat behind today’s front-line sport-touring stars. Handling, suspension and braking likewise are less than state of the art. For this, BMW charges a premium of $9340, a price that at least includes chrome case-guards, four-way emergency flashers and, most importantly, wellintegrated hard saddlebags and mounting brackets.

But your money also buys one of the best fairings ever attached to a motorcycle, an aerodynamic masterpiece that provides toe-to-shoulders protection and even keeps fingers dry in a rainstorm. Faceshield-rattling turbulence off the windscreen, especially for riders under 6 foot 2, and lack of storage compartments are the only things denying the Beemer’s fairing all-out sport-touring perfection.

Settle in behind that cozy bodywork, reach out for the narrow handlebar, and you’re ready to use the RS’s venerable flat-Twin for some serious sport-touring. It may not have an abundance of power, but the engine is torquey and feels stronger than its numbers suggest, helped by the bike’s sub-500-pound dry weight. Plug into a comfortable seventh-tenths backroad pace, remember that the bike appreciates smoothness in both throttle application and steering input, and it’s very easy to forget you’re atop a motorcycle that is essentially 15 years old.

In 1988, we called the R100RS a “sportbike for grownups.” That was a pretty good description then, and it works equally well in 1993. The old RS’s time may indeed be short, though this isn’t the first time pundits in the press and within the company itself have predicted the bike’s demise. They were wrong then, but it’s entirely likely they’re right today. All the same, we’re betting on the Boxer. -David Edwards