BMW introduced the R 1100 RT in 1995 as a new long-distance touring motorcycle aimed at riders who wanted BMW’s traditional boxer character in a more modern, fully faired sport-touring package. It arrived as the RT flagship of the period, borrowing its engine architecture from the R 1100 RS and pairing it with BMW’s Telelever front suspension and Paralever rear drive setup, which became closely associated with the company’s touring and highway-focused motorcycles. The model was positioned as a refined, weather-protected machine for comfort and stability rather than a pure sport bike, and it quickly became one of BMW Motorrad’s key touring nameplates.
The R 1100 RT represented an important step in BMW’s transition from the earlier air-cooled touring boxers to the newer oil/air-cooled generation that defined much of the brand’s lineup in the 1990s. Its integrated bodywork, large touring fairing, and factory luggage helped establish the RT formula that BMW would continue refining in later generations. In BMW’s own historical material, the R 1100 RT is described as the model that fulfilled RT fans’ wishes when it launched in 1995, and it remained in the range through the end of its continuous run.
For model year 2001, BMW was already preparing the successor R 1150 RT, and the R 1100 RT was effectively being phased out after more than five years in production. That makes the R 1100 RT a single-generation nameplate with a clearly defined original run from 1995 through 2001, remembered as one of the foundational modern BMW touring motorcycles and a key bridge between the company’s classic boxer era and its later RT models.