BMW R80G/S

The tall adventure bikes in showrooms today owe a great deal to this one. In 1980 BMW put its 800cc boxer twin into a large-capacity off-road machine, and the name says the brief: Gelände and Straße, off-road and street. The design highlight is the Monolever, a single-sided rear swingarm that carried the drive shaft and simplified maintenance. Its reputation grew through long-distance tours and the Paris-Dakar Rally, and BMW still builds GS boxers today in the R 1300 GS. It looks plain beside an Italian sport bike, and that honesty is the point.