For the past two years or so, BMW has been working on upgrading its ADV lineup. In 2017, it unveiled the all-new F 850 GS at EICMA with, like the 1250 in 2018, a sized-up new engine. Then, in 2018, in the shadow of the all-new R, the F 850 GS Adventure was introduced. Now, in its 2019 brochure, BMW has either spilled the beans or made a frustrating typo hinting at an F 850 RS.

While it might as well be an error, it isn’t completely farfetched to believe that BMW is working on a mid-range sport tourer using its newly developed 853cc mill. After all, that’s more or less what it did with it’s 1,170cc mill that it used in the R 1200 GS, the R 1200 RS, R 1200 RT, and R 1200 R. It takes a lot of work and money to come up with a new engine, so you might as well milk it!

Beyond simple logic, there’s also the fact that in the Spring of 2018, BMW introduced the 9Cento concept, that was later spied being tested in the UK in the form of the “F 850 RX/GT”. Since BMW uses “RS” (Reisesport) to identify its sport tourers—or tourer, as there is currently only one model using the nomenclature.

BMW 2019 Brochure

The hint (or typo) was noticed by a reader of More Bikes in BMW’s 2019 models brochure. “Alternatively, the F 850 RS mid-range tourer is both popular and versatile and a fantastic choice for those wishing to enter the BMW touring range of motorbikes.” Just the fact that the booklet clearly identifies the F 850 RS as a tourer is an additional clue pointing to the fact that “RS” might not be a mistake—the F 850 GS is very clearly identified as an adventure model and not a tourer. We’ll let you do this simple math.

Because it the brochure suggests that the F 850 RS would be a 2019 model, we could most likely expect an official launch, or at least an announcement sooner rather than later.

Update: According to the source cited, BMW reached out to them to insist that the "F 850 RS" was simply a typo and that the sentence was meant to refer to the F 800 GT (not a model sold this side of the border but available in Canada). That's a massive typo to miss (not only the "RS" versus "GT" nomenclature, but also the 850 instead of the 800.) The F 800 GT is a sport tourer, which is consistent with the rest of the description, but come on. The numbers and the letters that spell out "F800GT" aren't even close to the ones for "F850RS". Either BMW is clumsily trying to save its butt from this Bavarian debacle, or there's an editor and a writer somehwere who are about to lose their job. 

Source: More Bikes

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