BMW R 1300 GS Adventure

The World’s Benchmark Adventure Tourer

There’s a reason the GS series has dominated adventure riding for four decades — and the R 1300 GS Adventure takes everything that made its predecessors great and adds more of it. The 1,300 cc boxer-twin produces 145 hp with a torque curve so wide and forgiving that it makes long gravel passes feel effortless rather than exhausting.

The Adventure variant is the one built specifically for extended overlanding. Extra fuel capacity stretches your range to around 500 km between stops — critical when you’re crossing the Namib desert or running the back routes through the Northern Cape. The reinforced spoked wheels handle washboard gravel without complaint, and the semi-active suspension adjusts to road conditions automatically.

Our R 1300 GS units are equipped for self-sufficient travel: hard panniers give you 130 litres of lockable luggage space, heated grips handle cold Drakensberg mornings, and the GPS mount is wired to the accessory circuit. We fit a tyre repair kit as standard because self-reliance on remote routes is not optional.

This is the go-to bike for experienced riders planning multi-day routes through southern Africa. If you’ve ridden a GS before, you already know — if you haven’t, this is the one to start with.