45 years on, BMW is harking back to the bike that started a revolution.

The letters ‘GS’ have become a signature for the globe’s most successful adventure bikes over the last few decades but they started life separated by a slash back in 1980 with the BMW R80 G/S. Now that bike has gained a spiritual successor in the form of the retro R12 G/S that’s been added to BMW’s 2025 lineup.

Why G/S? It stands for Gelände/Straße – that means ‘offroad/street’ and is a pretty straightforward explanation for the role that the original R80 G/S played in BMW’s range. The G/S and its successors spent the first two decades of their existence as niche machines, often praised by journalists and largely ignored by customers, until the 2004 R1200 GS broke through into the wider consciousness – thanks largely to Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman’s exploits (on the older R1150 GS) in that year’s Long Way Round TV hit – and BMW’s boxer GS machines have topped sales charts around the world ever since.

Today’s R1300 GS is a vast, hugely powerful, tech-laden adventure tourer, and while it’s once again at the top of its class, the development means there’s an opening for a simpler model that’s closer in spirit to the original. That’s where the R12 G/S comes in.

Based on the same platform as the R12 cruiser and R12 nineT roadster, the R12 G/S gets the 80kW, 1170cc, air/oil cooled boxer engine that’s been a BMW stalwart for years, packed into a tubular chassis that’s slightly tweaked compared to its siblings to suit the bike’s adventure role. The steering head is moved forwards and upwards, gaining long, 45mm USD forks with 210mm of travel, paired to the familiar Paralever rear end with 200mm of movement. A 21-inch front wire wheel wrapped in a 90/90 tyre is matched to a 17-inch rear with 150/70 rubber, although an optional ‘Enduro Package Pro’ swaps that out for an 18-inch rim to add another 15mm of ground clearance, taking it to 255mm (240mm for the standard model), increasing the wheelbase by 5mm to 1385mm and slightly tweaking the rake and caster.

The suspension is fully adjustable at both ends, and unlike the R nineT Urban G/S that previously harked back to the styling of the 1980 R80 G/S, the R12 G/S has some genuine off-road ability rather like its clearest rival, Triumph’s Scrambler 1200 X.

Perhaps in a nod to the original, and to the bike’s offroad intentions, BMW has opted not to follow the herd and add radial four-pot brakes, instead using axial-mount two-piston sliding calipers at the front on a pair of 310mm discs, with a similar caliper grabbing a 265mm rotor at the rear.

The retro look is at odds with modern technology including cornering ABS and traction control, a trio of riding modes that’s extended to four settings with the Enduro Package Pro, adding a dedicated ‘Enduro Pro’ function to the standard Road, Rain and Enduro modes, and keyless ignition as standard. The stock bike has a conventional analogue speedo with a small digital display for other functions, but it can also be swapped for a fully digital TFT unit as an option.