BMW R 12 S Review | Motorcycle Test

BMW R 12 S Review

I am still regularly surprised at the difference a few little tweaks can make to not only how you feel about a bike, but how a bike feels on the road. Case in point: Ostensibly, what we have here is based on the R 12 NineT that I rode last year.

However in this variant, it comes to us dripping in a shiny, retro, bright orange suit. Same driveline and chassis. Same exhaust. Same suspension and brakes. Essentially, from a mechanical viewpoint, it’s the same bike. And yet… the feel is different.

You could simplify the differences between the two models by saying ‘front headlight cowl, solo seat and spoked wheels’, but that would be doing a disservice to a bunch of other small items that distinguish this bike as something a little special. The billet trim here and there, the tasty seat stitching, the stylish mirrors, the black forks and bars. The little details all come together.

And that paint work. Ermagawd… haven’t they done a nice job. That ‘Lava Orange Metallic’ positively glows in the right light. And with the pinstriping and silver offsets, there is no denying the retro vibes.

This colour scheme really nails it on that front. It’s very BMW. From certain angles that tank screams old school R 80 to me in this colour for some reason. Much more than the more subdued colours on the NineT.

On the optics front – you can even double down there and go for the matching Grand Racer Daytona helmet (along with plenty of other gear and garment options) for the total look. Very distinguished gentlemen…

I can confirm that the 12 S got a lot of looks and attention if that’s what you’re after. Bright orange will probably do that for you, with the pinstripes and brushed alloy being the icing on the cake.

But back to the ‘differences’ between the two sibling bikes. On the road, the 12 S felt a little heavier than I remember the NineT feeling, particularly in the front. Requiring a slighty more input to change direction and the transition from upright to on its side didn’t seem as immediately natural as the NineT.

Indeed, the bike felt heavier than the 220 kg kerb weight suggests, as if the weight was concentrated around the fuel tank area…

While slower steering will generally convert to a bike feeling a little sluggish, I didn’t find it so in this case which is a positive. You do get used to it very quickly.

I can only put it down to the spoked wheels being slightly heavier than the cast alloys and me perhaps not gelling with the Metzeler rubber that had been fitted to the 12 S as much as the Conti’s on the NineT. So, I’d personally look to swap the tyres out for something with a slightly sharper profile.

One callout here though, is that BMW state the ergonomics are based on the NineT and to my eyes and what I felt, the rider triangle seems close enough to being identical. I admit I’m a little puzzled by the direction they took there.

I’d have thought there was an opportunity to ease the bars down and forward a smidgen and the pegs up and back just a tad. To increase the differentiation between the two models. A relatively inexpensive change that would have dialled up the dynamics even further than the nineT.

I’m not talking about it needing sportsbike handling – but just a bee’s-todger sharper over the sister bike would make sense to me. I do wonder if that’s something potential owners would be looking to tweak. No doubt there are plenty of options, both genuine and aftermarket, but again – I’d have assumed that would have been included in the spec.

While I’m at it – It’s probably worth going back and reading my thoughts on the NineT and HL (another sibling bike) as I have obviously similar feelings about the driveline here.

Mostly – it’s great. Deceptively grunty. While it might ‘only’ have 110 hp, that 115 Nm of torque is more than willing – and certainly very able – to provide ample thrust from low revs. The rev-limiter arrives quicker than you think it will, but the engine really works best in the midrange.

Unfortunately, there are times when it felt a little disconnected from what I was doing with my right hand. Roll off the throttle just a whisker and you’ll get a little deceleration. Then a lot. As in quite heavy engine braking. So much so that I found myself subconsciously using the clutch a lot more than normal when in slow-moving traffic rather than just relying on the throttle.

Speaking of the clutch and slow-moving traffic. Picking the R 12 S up in the city and working my way through stop-start drudgery highlighted a fairly serious clunk from the driveshaft on clutch release as the slack was taken up.

Noticeably more than I recall on the other sister bikes. Not every time, but probably one out of every three. As a non-shaft drive rider I can tell you that it was super distracting to the point that I actually thought there might have been something wrong with the bike.

I found the Gear Shift Pro quick-shifter setup to be a little inconsistent as well. Sometimes it’d slot in like Teflon and other times there’d be a noticeable lurch in proceedings – much moreso in the first two gears.

Now I’m not sure if this bike had copped some abuse at the hands of a mechanically unsympathetic journo before me or if there was a build issue there, but like the tailshaft clunk – I didn’t notice it being as bad on the other two variants tested. But hey, the big part of the BMW Boxer allure is that mechanical connection that you feel from the cockpit, and I am sure you would just get used to it.

The dash cluster is also not without idiosyncrasies. As I mentioned in the NineT review – it doesn’t have a distance to empty readout, or a fuel gauge which shits me to no end… And man does it shake about when you start the bike up! But that settles down when on the go. Character 😉

That seat is worth calling out. I found it quite comfortable. The reach to the bars for me was the most natural when my butt was just touching the back pad of the seat. I’m 181 cm or just a under six foot and didn’t feel cramped. Lovely stitching highlights. Very nicely executed.

The front cowl too is worth mentioning just because it’s finished so nicely. It offers some wind protection, but you wouldn’t exactly want to be belting through a storm expecting too much help. No buffeting however, just a nice flow of air to the rider’s chest.

So there are some quirks with this bike that potential owners will either find endearing character traits, or annoying shortcomings. Paradoxically I’m somewhere in the middle.

I’d enjoy getting the handling fettled to my liking, probably throw a different bar bend on and a set of mild rear-sets. I’d probably learn to find the sweet spot with the gear-shift. But suspect the overzealous engine braking and driveline clunk might wear thin for me.

So is it worth the $8000 premium over the ‘regular’ NineT? Well, there’s no denying that the S is a bit special. It certainly has a presence. And it does come with a whole lot of options ticked that you’d pay more for on the standard NineT.

Heated grips, cornering lights, all the electronic assists, Dynamic Pro mode, a simple one touch TC off button (praise the lord!), and tyre pressure monitoring to name a few.

Dynamically, the R 1250 R still has them both comfortably covered in pretty much every way, but there is a charm there that’s hard to ignore. Every time I walked past it in the shed I’d stop and find a new angle or detail that I liked.

So in the end it’s probably a matter of figuring out how badly you want the look. And at sunset? Damn… does that look step up a notch or four.

BMW R 12 S Hits:

• Wonderful BMW retro styling.
• Surprisingly comfortable.
• Terrific midrange from that 1170 cc Boxer.

BMW R 12 S Misses:

• Doesn’t feel quite as agile in the handling department as the NineT which is odd. Couldn’t they have thrown a different bar bend and rear-set on there?
• Throttle connection and overzealous engine braking.
• Noticeable driveline clunk on easing out clutch.

BMW R 12 S Specifications

BMW R 12 S Images

Images by RbMotoLens