SuperBike Magazine

May 8, 2009 - Alan Dowds

BMW's finally shown off all the details on its new S1000RR superbike. Al's on the spot in Monza, Italy, and he's got all the specs. ... Scroll down for the full story

We've been waiting a long time to see under the skin on the new BMW S1000RR, but the Bavarian firm has finally put us out of our misery this weekend. At the historic venue of Monza in Italy, we've been given the full low-down on the new machine, and it's a pretty tasty-looking treat.

With a tech spec that outstrips even the most advanced Japanese machinery, and an extremely radical performance-oriented design, the new S1000 really does look like a superbike turned up to 11.

Starting with the engine, we have an inline-four 16-valve unit – so far so normal. But the bore of the 999cc lump is a super-wide 80mm: 2mm more than a Yamaha R1, meaning a teeny stroke of just 49.7mm. That allows a stratospheric redline of 14,200rpm – 600cc territory up until now. The compression is also huge – 13:1 rather than the 12.7:1 of the R1, and the superior combustion chamber design is testified to by the use of normal 95 RON unleaded fuel, rather than super unleaded used on the firm's K1300 range. Although we hear that with super unleaded, the power output will be even higher than that claimed.

The engine is rounded off with a very compact cylinder head that uses clever packaging to cut size and improve combustion chamber and port design. The cam chain runs from a secondary shaft that's mounted above, and gear-driven from, the crank, allowing a more compact drive setup. The huge (33.5mm inlet, 27.2mm exhaust) titanium valves are operated by finger followers, one per valve (supposedly borrowed from BMW's Formula 1 engine). This means the designers have been able to move the shafts closer together, saving space and improving port design.

The engine ancillaries are as advanced as the basic design. The firm's latest BMS-K engine management boasts ride-by-wire throttle control, individual cylinder knock control and also incorporates variable intake trumpets, and a clever exhaust pipe valve system that opens and closes link pipes in the headers. The engine management also has a traction control system with four settings: Rain, Sport (road), Track and Race (track with slick tyres).

And the result of all this? A heady claim of 193bhp@13,000rpm: 11bhp more than the claimed figure for Yamaha's R1.

More on the S1000RR as we get it…