One of the things I loved about the Devil Stone Run rally I did last year was getting intimately familiar with the 2025 BMW R 1300 GS, the brand's flagship adventure model.
It was, as you'd expect, a plush, comfortable, and extremely capable machine. I ate mile after mile after mile, just relaxed, cruising, and enjoying the beautiful sights of Wyoming's landscape. It's easy to see why everyone and their mother loves the machine. But I also found that the motorcycle had a far more devlish side.
Pretty early on, I found that whenever I'd get onto the throttle—in almost every mode apart from Rain—it'd want to lift the front end to the sky. At a light? Twist, braap. Heading onto an on-ramp? Twist, BRAAAAAAP! Everywhere and anytime I wanted to, I could twist the BMW's throttle, crank that big boxer engine, and let loose the dogs of war. There's even a dope shot of me doing a wheelie with the backdrop of the Devil's Tower as the hero photo for that story.
But I always found it odd that such a bike would have that sort of Jekyll/Hyde personality. Why give a tourer/adventure motorcycle that much torque? Why not have that power in something more along the lines of a naked machine? Maybe BMW was listening to my thoughts, as the brand's just debuted the all-new 2026 BMW R 1300 R, a naked sportbike version of that big boi cruiser.
Get ready for all the wheelies. And get ready to do so for relatively not a lot of money.
Let's get the big stuff out of the way at the jump. The new R 1300 R is powered by an air/liquid cooled 1,300cc boxer engine and produces a whopping 145 horsepower and 110 lb-ft of torque. That's more than the bike's predecessor and the same as its GS sibling. Torque is sent to the rear wheel via BMW's proven unbreakable shaft drive, and 17-inch aluminum cast wheels with "a hollow-spoke design" end the package wrapped in sport tires.
BMW will also offer its Automatic Shift Assistant, which is like a quickshifter made a baby with an automatic.
There's a 4.5-gallon fuel tank, which is absurd, a new upside-down telescopic fork, new EVO Paralever II rear suspension, as well as the brand's optional Dynamic Suspension Adjustment or Sports suspension setup in the Style Performance package, and a stiffer chassis. The R 1300 R is also likely smarter than you or I.
Here's a list of all the fancy pants electronics this bike has, because it's easier to do that. You've got; a 6.5-inch full-color TFT screen, BMW Motorrad Fully Integral ABS Pro, Dynamic Brake Control (DBC), Riding Assistant featuring Active Cruise Control (ACC), Frontal Collision Warning (FCW), optional Headlight Pro, GPS Prep, standard 12v power and USB-C sockets, Intelligent Emergency Call, Dynamic Traction Control and optional DTC-Shift, and five different riding modes, including Rain, Eco, Road, Dynamic, and Dynamic Pro. It's a veritable soup of letters that are all designed to make you safer and/or more of a hooligan.
It's a staggering amount of things, to be honest. And while you'd expect some to get in the way, these are all the things I had on the R 1300 GS, and it all felt super intuitive.
But here's the biggest kicker of this whole press release, and it really doesn't get enough love: Price.
For the last few months, we've been covering all the mayhem within the industry. From KTM to Harley, Polaris to Can-Am, and everyone in between that put an emphasis on manufacturing premium products over things folks can actually afford. KTM has $20,000 middleweights. Harley can't for the life of them see the benefit of small-displacement machines. And the UTV folks were banging the drum on $50,000 go-fast models. In the end, that emphasis has bit them in the ass, while those looking at the market and seeing what folks want have been able to capitalize on those folks' defeat. See Royal Enfield.
Now, BMW is known as a premium brand. And its motorcycles are, from my experience, premium machines. But nearly every motorcycle I've ever written about with the Roundel has been relatively affordable. And the new R 1300 R absolutely follows that trend.
Whereas other makes within this premium, high-displacement segment want over $22,000 for their machines—in Ducati's case, a Streetfighter V4 will cost you $25,000 to start—the 2026 BMW R 1300 R starts at $16,595. That undercuts the entire industry, and you're still getting so much at that base level, it's frankly a steal.
I wanted to highlight that aspect of it, as I've heard a lot of scuttlebutt from industry veterans about how no one wants a motorcycle anymore. But that's just plain wrong. People do, they just don't have the money. Manufacturers like BMW know that, which is why they've continued having excellent sales even when the rest of the market has taken a dive. It's why we're getting more new motorcycles this year from the brand. And why I'm still excited to be in this business. Hopefully, more will follow BMW's suit. Maybe just not using AI to retouch its photos, which it did again to these.
And, hopefully, BMW will toss me the keys to this hellion so I can get arrested.
