A century ago, an English motorcycle newspaper editor, H.D. Teague, dubbed the Brough Superior SS 100 “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles”. The tag was quickly adopted by George Brough to advertise that his bikes were worth paying the price of a proper car for.
It’s a bit of motorcycle marketing history that begs to be updated and placed in a 21st Century context. So, is this BMW R1300 RT luxury sports-tourer a worthy bearer of the title in 2025? Along with the Honda Gold Wing and BMW’s own K 1600 range, it’s definitely a contender.
I’d be a lot more confirmative of the historic blessing if the R1300 RT wasn’t so frisky and sporty to ride. This bike makes the few Rolls-Royces that I drove during my time as a car mag editor feel dull by comparison. Point it at a tight n’ twisty road-scape like that of the Coromandel peninsular and you’ll find that it’s more the “BMW M3 of motorcycles” than R-R Spectre.
The RT as tested does share something with the Brough Superior SS 100 that preceded it all those years ago: it costs as much as a decent car to buy. For this is the Style Impulse ASA version, the $61,990 flagship of a four-model range.
For $3300 less, you get to drop the ASA suffix and the incredible Automated Gear Shift Assistant that the acronym stands for, along with losing the Marshall Gold Series audio system and the lower fog lights.
This bike makes the few Rolls-Royces that I drove during my time as a car mag editor feel dull by comparison.
That $58,690 non-ASA Style Impulse version does retain some good stuff, notably the Racing Blue metallic livery, the dark chrome exhaust headers and muffler, the Design Option wheels and the forged handlebar.
Trade the paint for Black Storm metallic and swap the touring windscreen for a sportier, less protective version and you’ve pruned the price to $56,990. The Alpine White entry model costs $43,990 but still comes with the power-adjustable screen, panniers, electronic suspension adjustment and a decent suite of riding aids minus active cruise control, lane change assist, and forward collision warning.
Top of the techno pops is the ASA; it’s a $1600 option on any new BMW bike equipped with the latest 1300cc boxer twin engine.
The above paragraph is just a small snapshot of the equipment and options available when purchasing an R1300 RT. The riding impressions that follow are based on a test bike that took advantage of every opportunity to add technical prowess, performance, comfort and safety.
For some, a Style Impulse ASA version will represent techno-overkill, while others will fully grok its electronic sophistication.
It’s the delivery of 149Nm of refined riding force at 6500rpm that helps the ASA seem so impressive.
Top of the techno pops is the ASA and it’s a $1600 option on any new BMW bike equipped with the latest 1300cc boxer twin engine. With the ASA, you no longer operate the powertrain as per lesser motorcycles. There’s no clutch lever and the remnant gear lever near your left foot no longer pushes or pulls a mechanical linkage.
Consider it a switch that changes ratios as quick as a machine gun swaps bullets. You can hold the throttle open at any position and the ASA will serve up a smooth instantaneous gear shift whether it’s going up or down a gear. Downshifts get appropriate throttle blips as accompaniment and any tricky take-offs sans a clutch lever are easy to manage. It’s the future.
At the push of a button, the ASA goes into fully automated mode – handy for mooching around town or when the end of a long ride is nigh and you’ve already had enough fun. The party is over however, for the automatic mode shifts are as slow and deliberate as one of those robotised manual gearboxes that Italian auto-makers used to favour a decade ago.
BMW has been making horizontally-opposed “boxer” twin-cylinder motorcycle engines for more than a century now, and it shows. It’s the delivery of 149Nm of refined riding force at 6500rpm that helps the ASA be so impressive. You simply lock the 107kW engine into that rev zone, and, wham-wham-wham, a quick salute of upshifts will whizz this 281kg bike and its attendant load past slower traffic in a couple of heartbeats. BMW claims 4.9l/100km fuel use and the trip computer recorded a 4.6l during a tour of the Coromandel.
The chassis of the RT made that ride memorable. The absorbent electronic suspension raises the rear of the bike in the most dynamic of its four riding modes, aiding cornering clearance and sharpening the steering response.
Never has an RT model felt so eager, so engaging and so encouraging before. R-R of motorcycles? Nope, it’s better than that.
