What’s in a Name?
Hello everyone and welcome to the second installment of my blog on BMW motorcycles.
One of the most frequent questions I get asked about BMW motorcycles is “What does the G stand for?” Like most question about BMW motorcycles the answer is not exactly straight forward. So I thought I would answer with a short course on the (simple?) BMW naming system.
There are three parts to the BMW motorcycle name.
First part of the name is a letter that tells you what kind of motor is in the machine.
- C - Parallel twin cylinder attached to a constantly variable clutch (scooters)
- F - Parallel twin cylinder
- G - Single cylinder
- K - Three or more cylinders
- R - Opposed twin cylinder (boxer motor, what most people associate with BMW)
- S - Four cylinder sport motor.
Second part of the name is a number designating what cc size class the bike belongs in. This number may or may not be the actual cc size. 310, 650, 700, 800, 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300, and 1600.
Finally, the Third part of the name is a letter or combination of letters that indicate the designed purpose of the bike. These have changed over the years. New ones are introduced while old ones are put on hold when the unit ceases to be produced.
- A - Adventure
- L - Luxury
- R - When used alone this means Road
- S - Street (from the German word Strasse) and in some instances it means Sport.
- T - Touring
- X - Extreme. Usually for off road bikes.
- G - Here it is, the “G” that I mentioned at the beginning. It comes from the German word Gelande. Translating to “terrain” in English. However, the type of terrain is indicated by the letter or letters it is paired with.
- GS - Off or on road. Terrain (off road) and Street.
- GSA - Extreme off road. Adventure and street
- GT - Sport Touring. Terrain (road i.e. curvy highways through hills) Touring.
- GTL - Luxury Sport Touring. Terrain (road i.e. curvy highways through hills) Touring. Luxury.
- RR - Road Racing.
- RS - Road Sport.
- RT - Road Touring.
- XR - Extreme Roads use. Not off road use.
Armed with this information you should have no problem figuring out any of the BMW motorcycles that we have for you in our showroom. Stop on in and see them for yourself!
The model year end sales event is going on until Sep. 30th.
Until next time, ride safe and keep the shiny side up.
