Forget the all the tech for a moment, because from the comfort of its skyscraper-tall cockpit, all the ride-by-wire controlled ‘Shift Cam’ does is give you a GS with more low-down grunt than ever, with the softest throttle pick-up this side of a factory race bike.
As a result, it’s a joy to ride at normal speeds and the BMW has so much grunt, sixth is all you need, even powering out of slow, uphill hairpins. Yoga teachers struggle to be as flexible as the 1250’s motor. Ride like an angel and you’ll get an extra 4% better mpg, too.
Perfect power delivery
We spend hours in the saddle desperately trying to feel the Shift Cam working, but we can’t. There’s no step, jolt or hesitation when the inlet cam slides along the top of the engine (in just five milliseconds) to increase valve lift. All you feel is a flood of perfectly delivered power.
The BMW R1250GS engine in all its glory
That clever cam, featuring partial and high-lift cam lobes (operated by an electronic shift gate), staggered inlet valve opening (which creates swirl in the combustion chamber for a better burn) and a 3mm longer stroke, all add up to a motor with 14ftlb more torque, at 250rpm less than the 1200’s.
Power whenever you need it
There’s no fixed point in the revs where the inlet cam shifts. At anything below 5000rpm in top gear (around 80mph), for example, the motor can be running semi-skimmed or full fat cams - it all depends on how hard you open the throttle. But with the engine spinning faster you’ve got 136 shouty horses to play with (up from the 1200’s 123bhp) and enough poke to clutch-up easy third gear wheelies.
The bigger-bored motor (up from 101 to 102.5mm) may still not rival a 160bhp KTM 1290 Super Adventure in a Top Trumps shoot-out, but the BMW never leaves you feeling short-changed.