First Ride: BMW S 1000 RR

BMW’s flagship sport bike, the S 1000 RR, has pretty much ruled the roost since its inception at the back end of 2009. It took the motorcycling world by storm and immediately went to the top of the class with a package that combined great power with the best electronic riding aids.

Since then, only Kawasaki has come close to matching the BMW with its ZX-10R. The other Japanese manufacturers seem to have responded to the European challenge to their domination of the four-cylinder 1 000cc superbike class with, er, a whole load of nothing. Honda gave us a SP version of its venerable Fire- blade this year, but this tepid makeover didn’t add anything significant to the bike other than some uprated suspension and brakes. Suzuki seems to have abandoned its GSX-R1000, at least for the moment, but Yamaha is promising us a new R1 for 2015, though details are still sketchy.

A couple of weeks ago, at the Intermot motorcycle expo in Cologne, Germany, the unveiling of this heavily updated S1000 RR caused something of a stir. And now I’ve just returned from Seville, in the deep south of Spain, where I spent a day thrashing this new model around a circuit. If the S 1000’s competition was worried after the Intermot unveiling, it’s going to be positively shaking at the knees as the first tests of the bike are published. My first impressions mirror those of the other journalists there that day; the best has just got better. A lot better.

The engine is more powerful, the handling more accessible and although the looks have only been tweaked, I reckon these subtle changes have significantly beautified what was never a particularly attractive sport bike. Improvements everywhere you look, all worthy and valid, but all pale into relative insignificance next to the improved suite of electronic rider aids. Before I get sucked into the complex world of the S 1000’s electronics, let’s first take a look at what BMW’s mechanical engineers have been busy with. Most effort was concentrated around the head of the engine, with a new air intake system, a new camshaft and lighter intake valves.

Factor in a completely redesigned exhaust system that has shed 3kg in the process, and you have a wider spread of torque and a 4kW hike in power to 146kW. All that power is contained within a new, lighter chassis that features a slightly steeper steering setup and a longer wheelbase. The test bikes we sampled were kitted out with every possible extra, including the electronically controlled Dynamic Damping Control suspension featured on the more expensive HP4 version of the S 1000 RR. The Circuito Monteblanco is a demanding track, with some fiddly low-speed chicanes, a couple of fast kinks and a substantial straight that allows you to exit the 80km/h final turn and pile on 200km/h before you need to throw out the anchor for a slow, awkward hairpin.

The S 1000 RR absolutely devours anything that resembles a straight, often rearing up on its back wheel as you try to balance acceleration with fun: doing wheelies everywhere isn’t good for lap times, but it is good for the width of your grin. Trying to go even remotely quickly on the S 1000 RR requires total commitment and a love of exercise. Hanging on as the bike hurls itself out of a corner, bracing yourself against the massive braking forces, flicking the bike from side-to-side as it wriggles through a chicane; everything happens so quickly that you find yourself clambering around the bike like a gym addict with a bellyful of energy drink.

That’s not to say this barely tamed race bike is any- thing other than civil and polite when not grabbing lap records and throttling the life out of them. The engine is smooth, the controls light and the throttle response so perfectly measured that riding the S 1000 RR can be no more demanding than on a humdrum commuter bike. And despite the almost unbelievable performance, the S 1000 RR is now probably the safest bike on the market today. The extended menu of electronic rider aids not only helps you access more of the bike’s performance, it’s capable of providing a safety net in tricky road conditions.

Rain, sport and race modes come as standard, but slick and user modes can be added. Across the range of modes, everything from the power and throttle response to the dynamic traction control and ABS is managed to provide you with a set of parameters designed to keep you upright. As you venture up through each mode, so the bike will adjust and react accordingly, giving you more power at increased lean angles while reducing the intrusion of the simply magnificent traction-control system.

User allows you to pick and choose your preferred settings from each mode, and it is here that you can manually adjust the riding aids for further personalisation. The full electronics package also manages to pack in launch control, a pit-lane speed limiter (pointless for the road, but so, so cool), cruise control and heated grips. But the real cherry on the top is BMW’s gear shift assist pro. What used to be a glorified quick-shifter (keep the throttle pinned, don’t use the clutch and hook the next gear) now does the same thing in reverse.

No frantic coordination of clutch and throttle as you blip down through the gears, just mash the brakes and tap down the gearbox while the S 1000 RR considerately organises the clutch and blips the throttle for you. I had thought this might be something of a gimmick, but was staggered by the effect it had on my riding and, ultimately, on my enjoyment of the track. It’s only when the responsibility is taken away from you that you realise how much of your grey matter had been occupied with this fiddly operation.

That brain space is now free to concentrate on the road ahead, which can never be a bad thing. A 20-minute track session involves using the clutch just twice — as you pull away and when you slip it back into neutral as you come to a stop. Everything in-between is handled by the bike, and in such an agreeably easy way that I can soon see clutch levers becoming a thing of the past. And that’s what this new S1000 RR has done to its rivals: it has consigned them to the past, at least until they wake up and realise that electronics are what is giving BMW the edge, now more than ever.

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-Mat Durrans