1990 Bmw R100gs Paris-Dakar

1990 BMW R100GS PARIS-DAKAR

CYCLE WORLD TEST

Out of Africa and onto Main Street, USA, with the world's weirdest dual-purpose bike

WHEN A LUNAR LANDING MODULE TOUCHES DOWN in Central Park, people notice. When Alain Prost drives his Formula One Ferrari up to a McDonald's drive-through window, some burgers get burned. And when you ride a BMW R 100GS Paris-Dakar anywhere, bystanders trip over curbs and walk into lampposts trying to get a good look at the machine.

It isn't just motorcyclists who are intrigued, either. Any one with eyes knows that something different is happen ing here, something wild. wonderful and a little bit wicked. It's a rare individual who can resist looking hard and long: maybe tilting his head like the RCA Victor dog who just heard his master's voice speaking German.

Why they all stare is obvious. The BMW is outrageous. It looks like it's waiting for Field Marshall Rommel him self to mount up and track over the nearest sand dune. Make no mistake, this look is quite intentional. The 1)akar was designed as a visual exercise, a street-going clone of the factory Beemers that once dominated the grueling, 21day. 7000-mile Paris-to-Dakar Rally. BMW engineers started with the standard R I OOGS-al ready a very unstan dard bike-and then set about completely changing not only the look, but also the character of the machine, with a few cosmetic parts.

Off came the conventionally shaped fuel tank. Off with the weird seat and the weirder front headlight-number plate assembly. BMW then bolted on a solo seat, a frame mounted fairing and a gargantuan. brightly painted fuel tank made of high-impact plastic. On the less-cosmetically oriented side of the ledger, BMW gave the (iS heated handgrips and an aluminum skidplate. The end result is a motorcycle that couldn't be more visually striking.

Functionally, the Dakar isn't all that different from last year's standard R I OOGS. because it shares engine, frame and suspension with that bike. And that means the 1)akar is a fine motorcycle. Odd, perhaps. Different, definitely. But still, the GS makes a friend of anyone who rides it. NC) one, it seems, can resist the call of the smooth, big-bore opposed-Twin.

The engine is just about the same as the one that powers BMW's more-conventional RS and RT models. In the Da kar and GS, though, it is geared lower and tuned more for torque than for top-end horsepower. So, by no means does the air-cooled, two-valve-per-cylinder engine make a stag gering amount of horsepower. Its low-end torque is good. but even down there, the GS shows nothing that will threaten V-Max owners. The Beemer merely makes a sat isfying amount of power over a satisfying rpm range. The BMW's power delivery is so even, guessing the engine's displacement is difficult. It's big. certainly, hut a blind folded test pilot might guess the size to be anything from 800 to 1200cc.

Seasoned BMW riders. of course. will instantly identify the Dakar's RIOO engine, if by nothing other than the entire machine’s tendency to torque to the right when the throttle is blipped at a stoplight. Other classic BMW traits are absent in the GS, though. For example, the rear suspension does not extend excessively when power is applied. The Dakar’s shaft-drive rear end, like that of the standard R100GS, employs a floating gearcase-what BMW marketing bigwigs call the “Paralever” suspension system. The gearcase which houses the rear ring and pinion gears is mounted to the frame rather than the swingarm. so driveline torque is almost isolated from the rear suspension. The result: no more BMW pogo. When you open the throttle, the bike goes forward, not up. And when you roll out of the gas, the bike dosn’t drop to its knees like a desert camel about to disembark its passenger.

The Paralever system contributes to a delightful suspension package on the Dakar. Suspension travel is plentiful at each end, and that enables BMW to use soft spring rates on the bike without fear of its hitting bottom on big bumps like railroad crossings. The result is one of the cushiest rides of any bike made. Riding the Paris-Dakar BMW on a bumpy, straight road is kind of like watching Jason tear up Manhattan on the silver screen: You see frightful things coming your way, but you never feel any pain.

That soft suspension isn’t as comforting for aggressive sport riding, though. You don’t have a good, sharp feel for the road and the amount of traction available at any given time. Plus, the tires are narrow by modern sportbike standards, making radical lean angles feel rather chancy. The Metzeier semi-sort-of knobbies grip pavement fairly well, and the bike is capable of stellar backroad performance, but there’s no substitute for sticky, pizza-sized contact patches.

Narrow tires, of course, fit in better with the Dakar’s off-road image. But let's not confuse image with intent. Just for the record, the R 100GS Paris-Dakar isn’t an offroad bike. Wasn’t meant to be. You could, perhaps, go offroading if someone were chasing you with the intent of doing you bodily harm. But there are few other reasons to venture past “Pavement Ends” signs. The bike is large, heavy and clumsy, just like any other streetbike would be in off-road situations.

But in that gray area that falls between onand off-road riding, where pavement is intermittent and chuckholes get large enough to swallow cattle, that's where the Dakar shines. The long-travel suspension isa bonus, and the bike is almost crash-proof. Crashbars protect the cylinders, the fuel tank and the fairing, and the skidplate will save the engine cases from ill-placed rocks with bad intentions.

And when you're w r/r out in the sticks, the Dakar is good company. It's reassuring that the BMW is an uncomplicated motorcycle—there's not that much to break, and what’s there is stone-simple. Factor in the range provided by an 8.7-gallon fuel tank, and you’ve got an adventure on wheels, a bike just waiting for an expedition to nowhere.

But we haven’t run across the perfect bike yet, and the Dakar is no exception. We were disappointed in the Dakar’s fuel mileage, at 38 miles per gallon, down from the standard GS we tested last year. And performance, both in the quarter-mile and at top speed, also suffered. The only apparent reason for these declines is the Dakar model’s greater weight and larger frontal area.

Another target for nasty comments was the sidestand. a traditional BMW item which folds up when unweighted.

Its positioning under the left cylinder means the rider can’t easily extend it while seated on the bike. And no riders cared for the latch on the tank-top storage compartment, which is poorly constructed and requires the use of the ignition key to be opened. That's inconvenient if you want to keep the engine running at the side of the road while you dig for a map. One final gripe regards the passenger accommodations: There aren't any. Well, there are footpegs, but unless your co-rider is fond of sitting on the Dakar's luggage rack, you’ll have to mount the two-passenger seat from the standard GS.

The list of the Dakar's more-likable details is longer. The windshield and fairing offer just enough protection to make long trips a little easier. That's a big improvement

over the standard model’s functionless headlight cowling. The seat is comfortable, the handguards keep bugs, gravel and cold air off'your hands, and the use of heated handgrips is a exceptionally good idea that other manufacturers should think about. BMW also has seen fit to equip the Dakar with all the mounting bracketry for optional saddlebags. So for the $337.1 7 price tag on BMW’s hard saddlebags, you can have luggage that attaches to the bike quickly and easily.

All together, these factors add up to a very friendly motorcycle. It might not look friendly. It’s too easy to picture the Dakar under someone who looks like Arnold Schwarzenegger, sawed-off shotgun in one hand and a dagger in his teeth, and that image could frighten average men into a coma. But the BMW is a motorcycle that treats its rider with respect, that tries to make life on two wheels easy, especially when conditions aren’t. It’s almost a shame that the bike’s bizarre appearance overshadows all else about the machine. It just doesn’t look like the pleasant, unintimidating machine that it is. But then, we're not quite sure what the Dakar does look like. All we know is that the bike is wild, wonderful and a little bit wicked.

And we know that we like it.

BMW R100GS

$7860