Model Designation
BMW motorcycle models are named according to a three-part code. The first part indicates the engine type, the second the approximate engine volume (with one notable exception - the F 650 GS, which has an engine displacement of 798cc), and the third the class of motorcycle (e.g., sport, sport touring, dual-sport, etc.). The three parts are separated by blanks.
Engine type
- R - boxer engine, horizontally opposed flat twin-cylinder
- K - in-line 3, 4 or 6-cylinder water-cooled engine
- F - up to 2006 - a single vertical cylinder water cooled engine, after 2006 - a twin vertical cylinder water-cooled engine
- G - a single vertical cylinder water cooled engine
- S - 4 cylinder in-line vertical superbike engine
Engine displacement in cc
- Current models: 1600, 1300, 1200, 900, 800, 650 and 450. Previous models included 850, 1100, and 1150.
- Older model BMWs divide the approximate engine displacement by ten for the model number. For example, K75 = approx 750 cc.
Styling suffix designations:
- C - Cruiser
- CS - Classic Sport
- G/S - Gelände/Strasse Off-road/Street
- GS - Gelände Sport Off-road Sport (Enduro)
- GT - Gran Turismo or Grand Touring
- LT - Luxus Tourer (Luxury Tourer)
- R - Road or Roadster - typically naked
- RR - Superbike/Racing
- RS - Originally stood for Rennsport, but since 1976 has stood for Reisesport
- RT - Reise Tourer (Travel Tourer)
- S - Sport
- ST - Strasse (Street) or Sport Tourer
- T - Touring
Additionally, a bike may have the following modifiers in its name:
- A - ABS
- L - luxury
- P - police
- C - custom
- PD - Paris Dakar
Examples: K1200S, R1200RT, F650GS, R1150RSL, K1200LT, K1200LT-C, R1200RT-P, R1200RSA.
Prior to the introduction of the K100 series and the R1100 series motorcycles, the letter prefix was always the same, and the numbers were either based on displacement, as mentioned above, or were just model numbers.
Read more about this topic: History Of BMW Motorcycles
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