sport-touring
A sport touring motorcycle (sometime a "sports-tourer") is a type of motorcycle that combines the performance of a sport bike with the long-distance capabilities and comfort of a touring motorcycle.
The first sport-tourer is said to be the ful ...
motorcycle
A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: Long-distance ...
that was manufactured by
BMW Motorrad
BMW Motorrad is the motorcycle brand of BMW, part of its Corporate and Brand Development division. It has produced motorcycles since 1923, and achieved record sales for the fifth year in succession in 2015. With a total of 136,963 vehicles sold i ...
between 1993 and 2001, and was the first BMW motorcycle to use the R259 "
Oilhead
BMW's motorcycle history began in 1921 when the company commenced manufacturing engines for other companies. BMW's own motorcycles—sold under the BMW Motorrad brand—began in 1923 with the BMW R 32, which was powered by a flat-twin engine ( ...
The R259 1,085 cc flat-twin engine has a maximum output of . The engine was named "Oilhead" as it had
air-cooled
Air-cooled engines rely on the circulation of air directly over heat dissipation fins or hot areas of the engine to cool them in order to keep the engine within operating temperatures. In all combustion engines, a great percentage of the heat ge ...
cylinders but oil-cooled heads.
The BMW R1100RS used a frameless design, using the engine as a stressed member, an approach used by BMW for all subsequent oilheads (except the R1100S). Instead of having conventional
telescopic fork
A telescopic fork is a form of motorcycle front suspension whose use is so common that it is virtually universal. The telescopic fork uses fork tubes and sliders which contain the springs and dampers.
The main advantages of the telescopic for ...
s, the R1100RS used BMW's own Telelever suspension which bolted directly to the engine. The Telelever design has a superficially similar appearance to telescopic forks, but braking forces are taken back horizontally, minimising "fork dive". A rear
subframe
A subframe is a structural component of a vehicle, such as an automobile or an aircraft, that uses a discrete, separate structure within a larger body-on-frame or unit body to carry certain components, such as the engine, drivetrain, or suspen ...
supported the rider, passenger and luggage. Both fully faired and half-faired variants were available.
In 1993 the engine was adopted for the R1100GS. In 1999, a more powerful six-speed version of the R259 engine was fitted in the
BMW R1100S
The BMW R1100S is a sports motorcycle that was manufactured by BMW Motorrad between 1998 and 2005. Introduced some 25 years after the R90S, the company's first sports bike, the R1100S was the first BMW bike having clip-on handlebars, rearset foot ...
. In 2013 BMW introduced liquid-cooling for their flat-twin motorcycle engines, but the company still fit oilhead boxer engines to roadsters such as the R nineT and the R1100R.
Awards
The R1100RS was marketed in the United States from 1994, when it was chosen as ''
Cycle World
''Cycle World'' is a motorcycling magazine in the United States. It was founded in 1962 by Joe Parkhurst, who was inducted to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame as "the person responsible for bringing a new era of objective journalism" to the US. ''Cyc ...
's'' best
standard motorcycle
The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as ''standard'', ''cruiser'', ''touring'', ''sports'', ''off-road'', and ''dual-purpose''. ''Sport touring'' is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the ''touring' ...