Filed under: Motorsports, BMW, Motorcycles
BMW reveals race-ready S 1000 RR
Click above for more shots of the BMW S 1000 RR in its race colors
BMW took the wraps off its upcoming S 1000 RR World Superbike contender as the Motorrad division showed the new bike in its official race colors at the Intermot show in Cologne, Germany. Taking a good look at the photos, we can see that the bike is indeed very compact. Look through the numerous cutouts and vents in the fairing and you'll see how neat and tidy the new literbike is. Next year, new BMW factory riders Ruben Xaus and past Superbike champion Troy Corser will ride the 190-horsepower S 1000 RR in competition against the Big Four Japanese superbikes, the Ducati 1098 R and the new RSV4 from Aprilia. It should all be very exciting to watch.
Expect a street-going version shortly, with 1,000 units of the new model due for 2009. Unlike past Beamers, the S 1000 RR uses an inline four-cylinder engine mounted transversely in the frame with a standard chain drive. Suspension bits also follow the normal telescopic formula up front with a traditional coil-over out back, eschewing BMW's past Telelever, Duolever and Paralever designs. Take a look in our gallery below.
Gallery: BMW S 1000 RR race livery
Gallery: BMW S 1000 RR
[Source: BMW]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2007RC46SP2 4:07PM (10/11/2008)
to an untrained eye.
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3seriesisking 8:18PM (10/11/2008)
Nice dude...nice...
Tim666 6:02PM (10/11/2008)
The best looking bike right there
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MikeInNC 6:15PM (10/11/2008)
Should make next season a bit more interesting...
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nick 8:15PM (10/11/2008)
I'm not a bike person but that is a seriously stylish design and very elegant. The colour scheme plus the matt black looks stunning. I like the classic and modern mix, but the only bit I don't like is the gold front bits - looks very after market, although they probably arn't - why could'nt they also be matt black o silver! However i'm very impressed by the way the windscreen integrates - it dosent look 'stuck on' or an after thought.
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Moreno53 3:02PM (10/12/2008)
The "gold bits" you are referring to are the Ohlins forks. They are aftermarket race forks at about $10K a piece I believe.
synapse46 9:28PM (10/11/2008)
Does not look modern to me, looks like they are 10yrs behind. Sounds like corser and Xaus are prolly going to be retiring writing off years of developement.
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BoxerFanatic 11:43PM (10/11/2008)
I am sure it is a very well built, and solidly engineered machine...
But philosophically, I am kind of sorry to see it come out of BMW Motorrad.
The engine isn't canted forward like the K-bikes. It most certainly isn't a boxer like the HP2 Sport.
And the suspension seems like a step backward, not forward.
Hossack's suspension was designed from the kinematics of race cars, adapted to motorcycles, and it effectively separates braking from suspension action. It is a good system, and Duolever seems like a nice implementation of it.
The Paralever Evo is a nice rear suspension system, also, with a parallelogram geometry between the shaft drive, and the torque link above it.
Shaft drive has less of the problems with chain stretching, lash, and the difference in placement of the transmission output sprocket and the swing arm pivot, which creates geometry changes, which affect chain tension through the suspension travel. Paralever doesn't have that issue, because the swingarm pivot point is coincided with a universal joint, and a telescoping splined driveshaft
Even if the Duolever and the Paralever needed a bit of updating to handle the power from this bike's engine, I am not sure why they didn't do that, rather than just building a clone of the Japanese superbikes.
BMW is the company that seems to march to it's own beat, and do things that are different. It is sad to see that they are copying so much, rather than keeping their technological distinctiveness.
Not enthused about the S1000-RR, not even the name, which also seems like a cop-out copy cat.
I think I'll sticking to my interest in R1200S, and HP2 Sport, and K1200R-Sport.
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Chris 8:31AM (10/12/2008)
Concerning the Hossack's suspension; I own a 07 K1200R Sport. It is not suitable for racing how BWM uses it. First off it makes the bike too long, second it has tire wear issues, and yes it has handling issues which leads to lots of nice wrecks as exampled by BMW's sponsored racing.
Yeah, this new bike looks like a step backward but its not. It is simply a "mini-maxed" motorcycle. BMW's legendary engineering (good or bad) is there. The fact is that racing at this level isn't about looking technically better, it is totally about exploiting every little trick you can.
I can't wait to see the pricing on the street version.
BMW specializes in street bikes, this is anything but one. So who cares it doesn't follow along with street bike development?
MONTE 2:11AM (10/12/2008)
Some German engineering for the Jap bikes to munch on, yummy. Why is BMW even bothering?
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Dave 8:19AM (10/12/2008)
Exactly. BMW is known for touring and ugly dual sport bikes. That has been its success. Why go into sport bikes when in reality this bike won't be competitive.
Nizal 5:48AM (10/12/2008)
Very nice dude...
http://grazycar.blogspot.com
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Nick 8:20AM (10/12/2008)
190 I guess isn't too bad for your first public attempt but it isn't going to cut it in WSB.
This is a strange move for BMW getting into the inline 4 game. Hopefully the can design an engine that doesn't need frequent overpriced tuneups.
@boxer
You missed the point of this bike. It's supposed to be a race bike so why would you want the weight or extra loss of power through a shaft. Xaus and Corser would probably be pissed if they had to wait on the techs to change gear ratios while at the track.
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alexc 8:44AM (10/12/2008)
Jeremy, from a Bimmerphile, thanks for the correct use of "Beamer" :-)
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john 2:39AM (10/13/2008)
look awfully a lot like Yamaha R's
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OrangeDog 2:56PM (10/13/2008)
They built this bike for no other reason than to compete in the World Superbike championship. That's why it's chain driven, inline four, etc. It should make the racing more interesting though along with Aprilia's new bike.
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