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To help celebrate 50 years of the “M” brand in BMW, your favorite German manufacturer is releasing today the heavily worded BMW M1000RR 50 Years M Edition superbike.

Based on the already spicy BMW M1000RR, in all its carbon fiber glory, the 50 Years M Edition model brings extensive use aluminum and carbon parts, featuring a light-silver anodized aluminum swingarm, M GPS lap trigger, a M endurance chain, and passenger seat and seat cover.

You can get it in any color you want, so long as its “Sao Paulo Yellow” – which is pretty striking, if you ask us.

The debut of the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 was the headline event from 2021 – with the Bar & Shield brand offering its first motorcycle that truly deviated from the company’s cruiser lineup.

An integral part of Harley-Davidson’s “Hardwire” plan to restructure the company for the future, the Pan America 1250 is a conquest bike for the American bike-maker, with an eye on scooping up some sales from rival European brands.

Was it a success? That depends on whom you ask. American publications certainly seemed to think so, with the Pan America 1250 taking top honors in several of their shootouts last year. Meanwhile, the European press was less-enthused.

We will let you decide if home-team bias, on both sides of the pond, are at play there. For our money, we’d put the Ducati Multistrada V4 S in our garage before the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250, but reasonable minds can easily disagree on this thought.

Shootouts don’t balance the account’s books however, and for the bean-counters, the true measure of a motorcycle’s success is on the showroom floor.

To that end, Harley-Davidson sold just over 2,500 units of its Pan America lineup in the USA last year, according to our Bothan spies.

We have seen a few recalls from BMW Motorrad North America lately, and now we can add another to the tally. In this latest recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), we see 447 units from BMW’s R series of bikes involved in a recall.

As such, BMW is recalling the BMW R1250 RT, R1250R, R1250RS, R1250GS, and R1250 GS Adventure motorcycles from the 2021 model year for issues with its tire pressure labels.

The second of BMW Motorrad USA’s recalls to hit in the past few days, this one concerns the fuel pump flange on the following motorcycles: BMW K1300S (2009-2011), BMW K1300GT (2009-2011), BMW S1000 RR (2010-2011), BMW R1200GS (2005-2011), BMW R1200GS Adventure (2005-2011), BMW R1200R (2005-2011), BMW R1200RT (2005-2011), BMW R1200S (2005-2011), BMW R1200 ST (2005-2011), BMW HP2 Enduro (2006-2010), BMW HP2 Megamoto (2006-2010), BMW HP2 Sport (2006-2010), BMW K1200R  (2005-2008), BMW K1200R Sport (2005-2008), BMW K1200B (2005-2008), BMW K1200S (2005-2008),  BMW K1200GT (2005-2008), BMW K1600GT (2012), and the BMW K1600GTL (2012).

As you can tell from the extensive list, there is a plethora of machines in the United States affected by this recall, 16,926 motorcycles to be precise, and it is a continuation of a previous recall for the same issue.

Greetings from a very warm Birmingham, Alabama where we are about to swing a leg over the new BMW S1000RRagain.

After a disappointing and inadequate international launch in Portugal, where the rain got in the way of our two-wheeled fun, BMW Motorrad USA has invited us out to the famous Barber Motorsports Park to ride their new superbike for a second time.

That is just fine by us, because yours truly has been keen to swing a leg over the 2020 BMW S1000RR, and see how it compares to the offerings from the other top brands, not to mention I have always wanted to ride this popular American track.

BMW Motorrad USA is recalling a few of its maxi-scooters, with a safety campaign touching the BMW C600 Sport and C650 Sport (2013-2018), as well as the BMW C650 GT (2013-2019 scooters).

In total, the recall affects 2,707 scooters, and it centers around the fact that repeated turnings of the handlebar to the left can cause the front brake hose to crack and leak over time. 

This of course can lead to the brake’s hydraulic system losing pressure, which can lead to the brakes no longer working. This safety issue has lead to the recall announcement by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

BMW Motorrad has finally revealed its pricing for the BMW S1000RR in the US market (read our ride review here), and the price tag should excite superbike riders. First, the good news: the 2020 BMW S1000RR comes with a $16,999 MSRP.

The bad news is of course that it is almost impossible to ever get a BMW model at the base price listed, as they are virtually never imported into the US, with instead the motorcycles coming decked-out in their optional packages.

But even then, BMW Motorrad USA has surprised us with this machine’s offering in the Land of the Free.

BMW Motorrad has released its yearly figures for 2018, and the report is mostly positive. Sales worldwide were up a very modest 0.9% for the year (165,566 in total unit sales), and this does mean that 2018 was the German company’s eighth year in row of growth.

The news was good for BMW Motorrad USA as well, with the American subsidiary showing a 2.2% bump in sales (13,842 units) compared to 2017, thanks primarily to the company’s introduction of the K1600 Grand America.

It is an odd passion in life, but I find the international pricing schemes by various motorcycle manufacturers to be simply fascinating.

While this will surely mean that I will die alone (so very, very alone), this odd curiosity is bringing up some interesting thoughts about the new BMW S1000RR superbike.

And the signs point to the Bavarian brand’s newest liter bike costing quite the pretty penny in the US market. Let me explain.

Just picture it. You are BMW, and you made the S1000RR superbike, the machine that completely changed the game in the liter-bike market.  And now, you are about to crank things to 11, with an all carbon fiber version of this wickedly popular motorcycle.

Perhaps the best track bike ever created, the BMW HP4 Race makes an honest 212hp at the crank, weighs 378 lbs…fully fueled at the curb, and it has all the top-shelf components you can dream of, all of which are bolted onto the carbon fiber frame, carbon fiber swingarm, and carbon fiber fairings.

A thoroughbred. A true race bike, by DNA. The astounding thing about the BMW HP4 Race is that it is more than the sum of its parts, which is saying something because the parts are simply the best that the motorcycle industry has to offer.

I know this because I got to spend a lucky five laps on the BMW HP4 Race at Laguna Seca, courtesy of BMW Motorrad USA, and while that duration is far too short to give any sort of meaningful feedback about this track-only superbike, the BMW HP4 Race is exactly what you think it is:  an S1000RR taken to the next level.

So then, why has the BMW HP4 Race been a colossal failure in the United States? Because it most certainly is.