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Building off of three decades of tradition and 170,000 units sold worldwide, the 2013 BMW R1200GS has some big shoes to fill. Officially debuting today at the INTERMOT show, the Bavarians have kept most of what makes a GS a “GS” intact, while of course adding a much speculated, hyped, and rumored water-cooled boxer-twin motor into the mix.

The big push with the new model is its ability to meet stricter noise and emission standards, hence the move to liquid-cooling. Though, BMW says it also aimed to improve the R1200GS’s on & off-road performance, increase the bike’s safety, and of course continue the GS heritage that has basically defined the segment.

Using “precision cooling” derived from Formula 1, the 2013 BMW R1200GS only uses liquid cooling on the parts of the motor that need the additional heat exchange, thus allowing the engine still to use a high-degree of air-cooling, which BMW says helps justify the continued use of the boxer-twin motor design. Other changes include a wet slipper clutch and left-hand side cardan shaft drive. As we reported earlier, power is 123hp and 92 lbs•ft of torque at 6,500 rpm, while the curb weight is 525 lbs (238 kg) without fuel.

Getting spotted a day ahead of schedule, the 2013 BMW R1200GS has broken cover with most of its water-cooled glory, sort of. The good folks at Oliepeil.nl managed to get onto the show floor at INTERMOT, and grabbed a few photos of the BMW kiosk displays for the new GS.

Visually similar to the current R1200GS, the new water-cooled 1,170cc BMW R1200GS makes 123hp and 92 lbs•ft of torque at 6,500 rpm. That makes for a noticeable bump over the current model’s 110hp and 88 lbs•ft of torque. That added power comes with some added weight though, as the the 2013 BMW R1200GS tips the scales at 525 lbs at the curb, roughly 20 lbs heavier than the outgoing model.

We will have to wait until tomorrow to get the full details and official photos of the 2013 BMW R1200GS, but this should whet your adventure-touring appetite until then. Has the king retained its crown? More photos after the jump.

Discussion as to whom will be teammate to Marco Melandri has now ceased, as Chaz Davies has been signed by zie Germans for the 2013 World Superbike Championship season. Currently riding for the ParkinGo Aprilia team in WSBK, Davies has been tapped to move into the now consolidated BMW Motorrad racing effort in WSBK.

Riding for the factory squad, which will be run by BMW Motorrad Italia, the 25-year-old Davies displaces his fellow countryman Leon Haslam, who is said to be moving to the factory Honda team that is run by Ten Kate. The news comes on the heels of Davies winning Race 2 at Nürburgring, in what has been an increasingly impressive season for the Welshman.

Whether your four-wheeled racing fetish comes in the form of NASCAR or Formula One (maybe you tick the box for “other”?), chances are that you are accustomed to the concept of a pitstop. The idea is a bit lost on motorcycle racing though, as most circuit-racing is done on a single-tank of gasoline, e.g. MotoGP, WorldSBK, AMA Pro Racing, BSB, etc. At road racing events, like the Isle of Man TT though, pitstops become again the status quo, but the nature of the TT fails to bring a certainly level of sophistication to the process — the same cannot be said for the World Endurance Championship.

We already showed you today the oddity of a motorcycle chasing down a headlight on a race track, and we’ll bring you another interesting video from the WEC: a bonafide well-choreographed motorcycle pitstop. Showing us here a nearly textbook refueling, tire change, and rider swap, BMW Motorrad France Team Thevent’s total time in the pitbox was 17 seconds (a few seconds lost to some trouble getting the refueling system hooked up to the bike). Not bad.

With riders Sébastien Gimbert, Damian Cudlin, Erwan Nigon, and Hugo Marchand finishing second in the FIM World Endurance Championship, and third at Le Mans (a crash by Gimbert two hours into the race took the team off its pole-setting pace, and dashed hopes for an outright Championship win), the upstart French team is representing its German brand well. Hopefully they will be back next year to give those boys at SERT another run for their money.

The international launch of the 2013 BMW HP4 is now over, and while we may not have been in Spain to bring you our thoughts on the pepped-up S1000RR, BMW was at least kind enough to provide A&R with some more photos of its winky-faced superbike. More than just an updated BMW S1000RR, the BMW HP4 features the German brand’s Dynamic Damping Control (DDC) system, a semi-active suspension system that fine-tunes the HP4’s suspension settings on the fly for the road and riding conditions.

Initial reports on the HP4 appear to be very favorable, though expect the pricing here in the United States to be as extreme as the Bavarian motorcycle’s tech specs. BMW hopes that with the DDC and bevy of aftermarket parts, the HP4 will more than justify its expected $20k+ price tag. Will it be enough to persuade riders away from the Aprilia/Ducati/KTM of their choosing? Check out the 126 photos and two videos after the jump and let us know.

We have known for some time now that BMW was working on a successor to its wildly popular BMW R1200GS motorcycle. Expected to be a water-cooled boxer-twin, the new GS is an incredibly important machine for the German brand, and BMW is wasting no time hyping its unveiling. Set to break cover in just over a month at the INTERMOT show in Cologne, our wait to see the next iteration of the GS line is now almost at an end.

We teased you with the BMW HP4 last week, and now the Bavarians have made their tuned-S1000RR officially official. Starting with the top-selling superbike from the German company, BMW has taken the S1000RR and made it the track weapon of choice. The lightest four-cylinder superstock bike on the market at 373 lbs dry (with ABS), the BMW HP4 is also the first motorcycle to get BMW’s Dynamic Damping Control (DDC), a computer controlled semi-active suspension system.

Getting a number of improvements over the S1000RR, the BMW HP4 maintains the same 193hp peak horsepower figure, but gets a boost from more mid-range torque. As we said, the BMW HP4 is also more svelte than its predecessor, as it sits at 439 lbs / 199 kg at the curb with the fuel tank 90% full — a full 13 lbs lighter when wet, and 26 lbs lighter when dry. Other changes include a revised traction control system, launch control, quick-shifter, and a 200/55 ZR 17 rear-tire size.

We don’t usually do the whole “girl on a motorcycle” pin-up thing here at A&R, but we’ll make an exception for Manuela Raffaeta. Thanks to a certain Italian TV director’s not-so-secret love affair, Manuela rivals Marco Melandri, her boyfriend, for airtime on the WSBK live feed on just about any WSBK weekend. We can understand World Superbike’s obsession with this boxum beauty, as Manuela is not only quite the looker, but she is also a total sweetheart when you talk to her in person.

With her man on a tear in the WSBK Championship with the BMW S1000RR, along with her newfound TV fame, Manuela has also picked up some modeling work with BMW Motorrad, posing this week at the BMW Museum. Classic BMW bikes, modern Italian beauty — what’s not to like? Photos of Manuela standing next Steve McLaughlin’s BMW R90S, after the jump.

World Superbike’s next stop is Silverstone, and BMW Motorrad’s resident Brit was willing enough to bear all to help promote WSBK’s stop at his home round. Stripping his leathers down to his waist, Leon Haslam got his torso and arms painted by by double World Body Painting Champion Carolyn Roper. Taking three hours to complete the effect, Roper’s work is pretty phenomenal, as was Leon’s patience.

“It was frustrating having to stand in one place for three hours and not see what was going on, but I couldn’t believe it when Carolyn had finished applying the paint and I was finally allowed to look in the mirror,” said Haslam. “The body paint was unbelievably realistic and the attention to detail, right down to the sponsors’ badges, was incredible. Carolyn is amazingly talented.”

Check after the jump for the superb photos by the UK’s renowned photographer Gary Prior, along with a time-lapse video of the whole process. Don’t worry ladies, we have embedded the full-resolution photos in the post, while the “smaller” 2000px photos are in the gallery.

In an effort to reduce costs and focus resources, BMW Motorrad announced today that it would be consolidating its World Superbike racing program for the 2013 Championship. Folding the factory BMW Motorrad team into the current BMW Italia squad, the Italain arm of the German company will run the WSBK program, developing the chassis, finding sponsors, and handling all race-related items, while Munich will develop the WSBK-spec BMW S1000RR’s powertrain and electronics package.

In addition to debuting the Husqvarna TR 650 Strada, our favorite German-owned Italian-based Scandinavian-branded motorcycle company has released a 21-inch-wheeled version of the Strada that is destined for more off-road use. They call it the Husqvarna TR 650 Terra. Using the same 652cc water-cooled single-cylinder DOHC motor, the Husqvarna Terra also makes 58hp and 44.25 lbs•ft of torque, just like the Husqvarna Strada.

Tipping the scales a bit lighter than its road-going sibling, the Terra has a dry weight here in the United States of 368 lbs (410 lbs wet). Available with ABS as an option in other markets, it appears our more feature-reluctant American riders will only be given the non-ABS variant of the pseudo off-road machine (apparently Husky isn’t a part of BMW’s pledge for universal ABS). While the Terra shares many components with the Strada, BMW Husqvarna hopes that the minor changes between the two bikes will help facilitate the Husqvarna Terra’s more off-road oriented purpose in life.