It’s time for another LEGO Set Review here at The Lego Car Blog! It’s big, it’s blue, and it’s an officially-licensed replica of an awesome real-world vehicle. OK, it isn’t that big blue officially-licensed Technic set, but it is quite an exciting product nonetheless.
BMW’s Motorrad division has made some mighty products over the years, from the ridiculous 200bhp S1000RR (until recently the fastest production motorbike in the world) to some of the finest long-distance adventure bikes ever made. It’s the latter LEGO have chosen for the 42063 set (although we hope an S1000RR will follow!), and since our Set Preview back in 2016 we’ve been itching to get our hands on it.
The R 1200 GS Adventure is BMW’s best-selling bike, and in TLCB’s home nation it’s the best selling bike, which seeing as we have no deserts or tundras to cross is somewhat of a surprise. LEGO must be hoping for a similar success, but does the 42063 set deserve it? Let’s find out…
Containing 600 pieces 42063 joins LEGO’s ever expanding line-up of officially-licensed replica vehicles, a range that we think is the best decision LEGO have ever made. The instructions feature exactly 200 steps to turn a pile of blue, black and grey into an authentic replica of BMW’s desert-crossing motorbike.
Well, not just blue, black and grey, as like some of LEGO’s other recent Technic sets 42063 contains pins, connectors and axles in almost every possible colour. There’s even a brown one! This is to make finding said parts easier (with the side benefit that the instructions are clearer to read too), and it doesn’t impact too much on the finished aesthetic, but this TLCB Writer is from a time when every single Technic part was either black or grey, and he managed OK. What’s wrong with teaching kids perseverance?
Anyway, upon emptying all that lot on to the floor it seemed that around a third of the parts were black Technic connection pins, which may help to explain the decision above. In fact there are 123(!) of them, which we suspect might be the greatest ratio of pins to bricks of any Technic set ever.
As always the instructions are masterfully designed, combining single-part steps with more complicated sub-assemblies, and they make the building of 42063 both pretty fun and reasonably challenging too. There’s a 3-hole Technic beam printed with the 40th Anniversary of Technic decal (which is pretty pointless but a nice easter egg) and a cool-looking sticker sheet with a raft of BMW/GS/R1200 decals so there can be no mistaking what you’ve built.
The build flows nicely and begins to look quite bikey fairly early on. As it progresses though that huge pile of black pins seems to hardly diminish at all, leading you to wonder what the hell they’re all for. Continue reading →
