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No more hype—we find that BMW has built a rocketship OK, we know what you’re thinking: “Yeah yeah, the same old thing. ‘This bike rips’—they say that about all the bikes when they ride them the first time.’” Well, I’ll just say this: ignore the hype this time at your own peril, because this bike lives up to it all. With its maiden entry into a very competitive class, BMW is about to put its stamp on the literbike category in a very big way. It was difficult not to be have even the slightest bit of skepticism when we arrived at the fabulous Autódromo Internacional do Algarve racing circuit located in the hills near Portimau, Portugal for the international press launch of BMW’s new S 1000 RR literbike. BMW has built a long-standing reputation for bikes that—while solid performers in their own right—weren’t quite as aggressive as the latest supersport tackle from the Japanese (and some Italian) manufacturers. Much of this was due to BMW’s penchant for incorporating different and often unusual ideas in some portion of the motorcycle’s design, a hallmark of the Bavarian manufacturer. The S 1000 RR is cut from a completely different cloth. As we covered in our tech piece here, the new RR is probably the most “conventional” sportbike ever produced by BMW. No Telelever or Duolever alternative front suspension, no left-field take on the inline-four engine design, no shaft drive, etc. BMW engineers were quick to point out that all ideas past and present were considered during the RR’s design, but were eventually dropped because they would have impinged in one way or another on the bike’s ultimate goal: to go head-to-head with the best supersport machinery and be the best performing literbike on the planet, period.  So let’s cut to the chase, shall we? The Dynamic Traction Control/Race ABS-equipped S 1000 RR (considering the added performance, we can’t see why you wouldn’t spend the extra $1480 over the standard model) has four riding modes to choose from: Rain, Sport, Race, and Slick. Rain mode cuts top-end power to “only” 150 horsepower, and its TC and ABS settings intervene at milder lean angles and braking situations, but don’t get the wrong idea here; this is not just some heavily neutered power map like on some other bikes. You can feel the power increase as you pick the bike up from lean angle, and you can have plenty of fun with the power in this setting if you’re so inclined. The Sport mode bumps the power back up to its full 193 claimed crankshaft horsepower (probably about 180 at the rear wheel, and believe us when we say that power felt close to that mark; we'd been riding a modified Japanese literbike with 165 rear wheel horsepower before the trip, and the Beemer was MUCH faster), with less intervention from both TC and ABS systems. This setting seems well-suited for the street; very smooth throttle response, with monster power available in the right situations, and ABS that doesn’t intrude until very aggressive braking is asked. I’m sure a lot of you out there are thinking, “I’m a good rider, I don’t need those dumb lower power modes, give me Race or Slick.” Don’t be so sure of that bravado; the RR’s throttle response in Race mode is very aggressive, with an ultra-crisp off-idle response that requires a skilled throttle hand to keep it from upsetting the chassis. Slick mode is even more aggressive, with an almost belligerent throttle response and upper-midrange hit that demands you have everything planned well in advance. This is especially important because both Race and Slick mode allow a surprising amount of wheelspin before the TC intrudes on the proceedings; the amount of speed that can be generated in Race and Slick mode in the hands of a skilled rider truly put them in the realm of exclusive racetrack use. Of course, both the Dynamic Traction Control and Race ABS can be turned off if so desired, but they both perform so well that we only saw the need to try turning off the ABS at the end of the day when riding extremely aggressively—the DTC works well enough in those modes that we saw no need to disable it.  So was there anything to gripe about with the S 1000 RR? Yeah, there were a few little things that we’ll cover in the full story in the upcoming March issue. But for the most part, we can confidently say this: the scattered griping by some about the assymetrical headlights is incredibly trivial in the face of the BMW S 1000 RR’s astounding performance.
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