German god Herbert Schek then became
something of a legend by securing the boxer
two further gold medals in the ISDTs of ’71 and
’73. Five years later the boxer went off-road
again, in the German off-road championship,
placing runner-up in the 750cc class in ’78 and
champion in ’79. This bike and those of its
support crew (a small fleet of highly modified
80/7s) became the forefathers of the R80G/S.
So by the time of the Cologne Show in
September 1980 the R80G/S had become a
mass production reality. The brew of 800cc,
50hp and 200kg – in essence an 80/7 motor
in an R65 frame with mono-arm rear suspension
– was a fair bit shy of the spec of the racer
(which weighed a waspish 124kg), but at 30kg
less than the 80/7 it was punchy enough for
this all-new category.
PARIS-DAKAR RALLY SUCCESS
BMW had also, perhaps fortuitously, met the
market at the exact same time as the birth of
the Paris-Dakar Rally. It wasn’t slow in marrying
the bike to the race, and works-supported
BMWs would take wins in 1981, ’83, ’84 and ’85.
If a softly powered trail bike tourer had seemed
a marketing nightmare in 1979, the macho
association with the killer race suddenly gave
the G/S real appeal.
One thing BMW quickly learnt though: while
the rally-adventure look appealed, most owners
didn’t care to venture too far off the tar seal,
if at all. So when the time came for an update
in 1987 they wanted the new bike to be more
road-oriented.
56 KIWI RIDER