Expect To See BMW’s Semi-Automatic Gearbox In Many More Motorbikes

Like many motorcycle manufacturers, BMW has decided that now is the time to launch a semi-automatic gearbox. As per similar systems on the way from Yamaha and KTM, it’ll be possible to either let the ‘box shift for you or change cogs manually, and although initially reserved for the R1300 GS Adventure, it will make its way further in time.

Already, BMW has confirmed that the R1300 GS will have the Automated Shift Assistant option from 2025. At BMW Motorrad Days we spoke to Reiner Fings, product manager for the two GS models, and it seems likely it’ll go beyond these two bikes. 

This won’t be straight away, as “you have to have to design an engine to be prepared for ASA,” Fings explained. However, the current 1250 boxer models will inevitably make way for 1300 replacements, making an ASA option perfectly feasible. “There is a family, 1250, and it’s not a big secret that one day [there will be] coming different models, and you can be sure they will own the system like that,” Fings said. 

But how about the rest of the range? It’s certainly not out of the question, judging by Fings’ comments. “You can think about having it [in] other two-cylinder [models] and four cylinders one day,” Fings said, adding, “The new family we start with…it’s not easy to adapt. On the standard gearbox, you have to do something more, but that’s very interesting for the future.”

Fings also explained why BMW didn’t go down the dual-clutch gearbox route, as Honda has done. “The motorcycle rider is usually very conservative,” he said, adding, “Going automatic,...some say it is helpful to have it and others say I’m able to operate my motorbike by myself.”

ASA, he says, is all about choice, and actually being able to experience the shift, whether it’s done automatically or manually. “We said our way to automation…is you want to feel it. It is not something that happened somewhere, like, seamless or whatever. And we offer shifting gear manual with the shift lever or you can let it be done automatic.”

Honda’s DCT setup does allow for manual shifting, but using a little tab on the switchgear isn’t quite the same thing as pulling in the lever with your hand and hooking the gear with your foot. Plus, it’s also a heavy system that takes up quite a lot of space, Fings said.

BMW expects the system will prove popular. Fings had been expecting that around 50 per cent may pick the option, but “from the feedback we got and also here [at Motorrad Days], I think it will be more.”