BMW R 1200 GS Rallye motorcycles on their way to Ulaanbaatar for GS Trophy 2018
Mongolia will play host to the sixth edition of BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy, which is set to commence on June 3 and end on June 10. BMW Motorrad had been prepping 114 R 1200 GS Rallye bikes for the past few weeks and now the motorcycles are on their way to Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia for the event.
The Indian flag will fly high in Mongolia, as this is the first time that three Indian riders – Sanket Shanbhag, a hotelier from Satara, Suprej Venkat, an entrepreneur from Coimbatore and Winston Lee, business man from Mumbai, will be participating in the international event, after they sailed through GS Trophy qualifiers for the 2018 edition which saw the event make its debut in Goa, India.
The inaugural edition of the GS Trophy saw just five teams and now, there are 19 teams taking part this year. The 2016 edition saw the first ever women team take part in the off-road event while the GS Trophy has taken participants to places like Tunisia, South Africa, Patagonia, Canada and Thailand since the event began a decade ago. This year’s edition will witness two international teams with six female riders taking part in the rally.
Participants will be riding the Rallye variant of the BMW R 1200 GS. The adventure motorcycle is powered by a 1170cc flat twin boxer engine that cranks out 123.4bhp and 125Nm of torque, which comes mated to a 6-speed gearbox. The Rallye motorcycles have a blue colour scheme with the frame painted with Cordoba blue. The Rallye variant will come equipped with heated grips, hand protectors, case holder, passenger package, dynamic package, a 6.5-inch TFT display with connectivity options and an on-board computer. A DIN-certified first aid kit also makes its way to the bike, which is waterproof. For protecting the bike in the harsh terrain, accessories include aluminium bash plate, headlight guard, stainless steel engine protection bar and engine cover guard while rider aids include adjustable foot pegs, foot brake lever and gear lever. The motorcycles get sports suspension, chrome exhaust and are shod with Metzeler Karoo 3 off-road tyres.
