A bike that we knew we would see at the 2019 EICMA show, it didn’t surprise us when the BMW S1000XR rolled onto the stage in Milan, but we are certainly glad that we saw it.
Based off the new BMW S1000RR platform, the 2020 BMW S1000XR takes that superbike DNA, and puts it into an adventure-sport format.
This means long-travel suspension, plenty of wind protection, all the damn farkles, and the horsepower to get it all there with a smile on your face.
The new bike season is starting to heat up, and the zenith is only a few weeks away. I am of course talking about the EICMA show in Milan.
As such, the Germans are gearing up for a big show in Italy this year, with an all-new booth design, and more importantly, four new motorcycles to showcase.
We know this, because BMW Motorrad told us so in a press release, but the real information we are craving is which bikes we will see in Milan, and for that, we have some strong guesses.
Here is an interesting find from our colleagues across the pond at Visordown, as it looks like BMW Motorrad is going to become more in line with the mothership on its naming conventions.
As such, the news is that we could see some motorcycles with the Bavarian brand’s unique “M” logo, which has graced iconic automobiles like the M3 coupe and M5 sedan.
Now that we have the arrival of the new BMW S1000RR superbike in 2019, our gaze looks deeper into BMW Motorrad’s lineup for the 2020 model year.
Specifically, our attention is on the company’s inline-four sport bike lineup, which always takes its cues from the Bavarian brand’s superbike offering.
As such, a new S1000RR superbike necessitates a new S1000R streetfighter and S1000XR adventure-sport – at least, this is how it has worked in the past.
If you listened to the rumors coming ahead of this year’s new bike season, then we surely are about to see a new BMW S1000XR debuting at the EICMA show in Milan this November. But, what about an updated BMW S1000R? Not so much, it seems.
BMW Motorrad continues to have recall trouble during the 2017 riding season, this time the German brand is recalling 29,281 units from various models, for an issue with the optional aluminum luggage cases, which may block the view of the bikes’ rear reflectors.
The recall affects seven models in total: 2013-2017 BMW R1200GS, F800R, and F800GT motorcycles; 2014-2017 R1200GS Adventure motorcycles; 2016-2017 S1000XR motorcycles; and 2015-2017 R1200R and R1200RS motorcycles.
With the luggage pieces installed, the bikes fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 108, “Lamps, Reflective Devices, and Associated Equipment,” hence today’s news.
BMW Motorrad has tallied the sales results for the first half of 2016, and the German manufacturer is on track for another record sales year. BMW says that over 80,000 motorcycles have been sold in the first six months of this year, which is itself a record for the marque.
To be precise, 80,754 BMW motorcycles were sold so far in 2016, a 3% increase over this time last year. Unsurprisingly, Germany remains the strongest market for BMW Motorrad, with 13,792 units sold thus far this year (17% of BMW’s total production).
However, BMW Motorrad saw strong results as well in Spain (+22.6%), Italy (+6.9%) and France (+5.6%). BMW Motorrad also leads the 500cc+ market in Spain, Austria, Belgium, The Netherlands, Russia, Brazil, and South Africa.
BMW Motorrad says that its first-quarter 2016 motorcycles sales are the best start to its motorcycle season, ever for the German manufacturer. To this point, in the first three months of the year, BMW sold 33,788 bikes to customers, up from last year’s mark of 31,370 units.
That 2,418 unit increase comes to a 7.7% growth in Q1 for BMW Motorrad, over the equivalent period from last year. The bulk of those sales came in March, with 16,465 units delivered to customers.
The news is a continuation of BMW’s sales growth, and the German brand has been a testament to what motorcycle OEMs can achieve purely with large-displacement machines, though that will begin to change for the marque.
BMW Motorrad set another record year of sales in 2015, seemingly along with all the European motorcycle manufacturers (Husqvarna, Ducati, & KTM). BMW quotes that 136,963 motorcycles and maxi-scooters were sold last year, and thankfully the Bavarian brand is fairly forthright with its sales data.
This allows us to make some interesting points of observation about BMW Motorrad, the most potent of which is the brand’s success in the sport bike market, which accounts for 16% of all BMW motorcycles sold last year.
Equally interesting is the fact that BMW’s boxer-engine machines, the R-Series, accounts for over half of BMW Motorrad’s sales (see the chart above) – a strong signal to the power of BMW’s iconic past.
After hearing of the sales growth from BMW Motorrad USA for 2015, we speculated that we would soon here from the German marque on its yearly results internationally, and it seems we were right.
As such, BMW Motorrad is happy to report its fifth consecutive all-time best sales year, with 2015 seeing 136,963 motorcycles and maxi-scooters sold by the German brand. That figure is an impressive 10.9% gain over the sales from 2014, and BMW shows no signs of slowing down.
News from BMW Motorrad shows that the Germans did quite well in the United States last year, selling 16,330 units in 2015. That figure is up 9.3% from the 14,945 units that BMW Motorrad sold in 2014, in the USA.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, BMW Motorrad USA’s best model was its liter-bike offering, the BMW S1000RR, which accounted for 13.3% of BMW’s total sales in the USA – roughly 2,170 units.
The S1000RR has often rivaled the BMW R1200GS for the top-billing in the US market, with the R1200GS Adventure taking 12.2% of BMW sales and the R1200GS with 11.5%, (roughly 2,000 units and 1,900 units, respectively).
Last year, BMW made the Bosch MSC “cornering ABS” system available as a retrofit for the BMW HP4, branding the advanced safety feature as ABS Pro. Now BMW is making the ABS Pro safety package available as a retrofit to a number of BMW model that came with an ABS unit.
Most excitably, the upgrade kit can be used on the 2012-2014 BMW S1000RR, with the 2015-2016 BMW S1000RR kit in development as well. The addition of the ABS Pro on the 2015 S1000RR will include the “Race” riding mode, as well. The slip threshold and brake pressure gradient have been set at a higher level for use on roads with high friction coefficients compared to the “Rain” and “Sport” modes.