In the world of Cars, BMW is undoubtedly one of the most well-known brands, even in India when it comes to luxury cars, the first company that usually comes to everyone’s mind is BMW and rightfully so, they have been making great cars for almost a century.
This might as come as a shock but before BMW entered the world of cars, they were making motorcycles, I didn’t know about this as well until I was researching about the brand and came to find that they initially started with motorcycles.
And the funny thing is that they aren’t that famous for their motorcycles as they are for their cars and I found it strange because they make some of the best motorcycles in the world in whichever segment they get into.
This time we are going to be talking about one of those best motorcycles that BMW has made, the S1000 RR. One of the most underrated bikes in the liter-class category.
Been a fan of that bike since I saw it for the first time in Dhoom 3, the one thing that immediately caught my attention was the asymmetrical headlights, I had always seen manufacturers emphasizing the importance of symmetry in their vehicles, and here was a motorcycle that had no symmetry in its headlights but still looked gorgeous af!
Over the years the design evolved, and BMW eventually got rid of the asymmetrical design, first I was thinking whether it was a good decision or not but when I saw the new design, I knew that the design changed for the better.
Now the liter-class segment is probably one of the most competitive segments in the world of motorcycles, the reason is simple, they are the closest you can get to racing bikes and they offer the best performance on the planet per dollar.
So, starting with the design of the S1000 RR, it gives a different vibe, the front end has been made as aggressive as possible while keeping the design of the bike minimalistic and elegant.
Another interesting fact that you might not know about the S1000 RR is its contribution towards the technology in liter-class bikes, for example when it first came out in 2009, it was the first production motorcycle in the world to offer an optional quick shifter, and all those bikers out there know how fun and thrilling experience it has become after liter-class bikes start coming in with quick shifters, milliseconds upshifts and downshifts give a different kind of feeling.
When BMW moved ahead with the 1st generation, they didn’t think of adding more power to the bike, cause everyone was doing that, BMW thought of reducing the weight of the bike to whatever extent possible, cause BMW knows that adding power will make the bike faster only in the straight lines, but reducing weight will make the bike faster everywhere.
In 2019, After making the engine of the s1000 RR lighter by 4 kgs, BMW thought of entering the 200 bhp mark with the S1000 RR, so they did some changes with the engine and the power was updated to 203 Bhp at 13.5K rpm and 113 nm of torque at 11k rpm. If this wasn’t crazy enough, BMW went ahead, applied some clever engineering, and cut 7 kgs of weight by using lighter components bringing down the weight of the bike to just 197 kgs.
Basically, BMW wants the S1000 RR to be the bike that people look up to when they think of buying a bike that’s close to giving that moto GP experience.
The S1000 RR is so good that it has been used as a race bike in various races and it didn’t just survive, it thrived!
The tech inside the instrument cluster of litre class motorcycles can get pretty complex to understand but BMW has tried to keep it as simple as they can. There is a simple screen in the middle that has been well placed in the driver’s vision and has functions that can be easily toggled through the switches on the handlebar.
This is a thing which I have heard from many superbike riders, they all say that they love when Supercars accelerate so quickly and go on till 300 kmph, but most of the superbike’s lag in the mid-range, nobody seems to care about the mid-range, but BMW does and that’s why with the BMW Shift cam technology, more power and torque is available in the mid-range as compared to the previous-gen of S1000 RR.
Litre class bikes like S1000 RR always seem to be outright track monsters that aren’t very good as daily riders, but the s1000 rr has got its seats and footpegs angled in a way that the rider will be able to daily the bike without any issues, BMW has given special attention to the ergonomics of the S1000 RR rather than just focusing on the power and the torque.
If the S1000 RR wasn’t wild enough, BMW in 2013 decided to take things to the next level and introduced the HP4 variant, which was more track focused and had features that influenced the way the bike was ridden on the track, the HP4 variant continued till 2017 but BMW finally introduced a track-only variant by the name of the HP4 Race. The HP4 race was one of the first non-street legal motorcycles that were brought to india, it cost a whooping 85 lakhs, it might sound insane for a track legal focused bike but for riders who can afford it and are thorough enthusiasts it’s totally worth it!
If the Japanese have got the H2r, the Europeans have got the Hp4 race.
To prove how good of a track machine the S1000 RR is, BMW once tested the S1000 RR against one of their star cars the BMW M3, which we all know is one of the most desired performance cars among enthusiasts. After 15 laps it was the S1000 RR that emerged victoriously and the funny thing is that it was one of the first-gen S1000 RR, in later years the S1000 RR has got even faster.
If you want to go absolutely bonkers with the S1000 RR, BMW has got the M 1000 RR for you, just like they have got the M performance package in their cars, for the first time ever they have introduced the m performance package on one of their motorcycles, it’s accelerating faster than a Pagani Huayra and goes to speeds beyond the range of some supercars, it’s as attractive as a superbike can be.
Even tho the S1000 RR is one of the best bikes in the liter-class segment, there are a few other great bikes, that might offer the S1000 RR some good competition, for example, the Italian beauty, Ducati Panigale V4 is yet another superbike that folks in the biking community absolutely love, but the price difference between the standard version of these bikes is around 4.5 lakhs, thus to me, the S1000 RR seems to be more value for money.
Superbikes like the S1000 RR are dream machines and for folks who can’t buy Supercars, Superbikes offer them the same amount of performance for a fraction of a supercar’s cost and the BMW S1000 RR happens to be one, so if you have the ability to buy one then do give it a consideration.
So, everyone, that will be all for this time, I trust you liked this one, if you did then do share it with your friends and do consider subscribing to Motordrift for more such content in the future.
Till then
Ciao
