Rumors out of Germany say that BMW Motorrad is working on a new variations of its “S” platform, which would see the S1000RR used as a base for a Multistrada-esque four-bikes-in-one type of machine.
According to the well-informed folks at Motorrad magazine, the new BMW model could be seen at this year’s trade shows (we would expect an INTERMOT debut, over an EICMA premiere), and would feature dynamic damping control, ride-by-wire throttle maps, ABS, and traction control.
Officially official now, and despite his previous denial of the news, Michael Dunlop will be riding in the 2014 Isle of Man TT, and on a factory-backed BMW, no less.
A seven-time TT race winner, Dunlop’s star rose considerably higher in last year’s Isle of Man TT, and his absence from the 2014 gathering seemed unconscionable.
Thankfully TT fans will get to watch the nephew of Joey race again around the Mountain Course, as well as at other road racing events this year after all.
After an announcement in late 2013 that Michael Dunlop would be forced to sit out the 2014 road racing season, rumors are flying that he has pitched a tent in the BMW paddock.
Although no official statement has been made yet, MCN and Bennetts are both reporting the seven-time TT winner will be signing a deal to ride an BMW S1000RR for BMW Motorrad in the Superbike TT classes, along with a BMW HP4 that he will be riding for his own team, Michael Dunlop Racing, in Superstock TT race.
Just two months shy of the start of the 2014 FIM Endurance World Championship, and BMW Motorrad has announced that it will not be continuing support of Team Thevent, the Belgian racing outfit that has in the past run BMW’s EWC effort.
Despite finishing a disappointing 12th in the 2013 season, Team Prinicipal Michael Bartholemy said the decision from BMW came as a shock given they had been involved in ongoing negotiations with BMW Motorrad for the 2014 season.
“We were asked by BMW Motorrad at Le Mans if we would continue in 2014, to which our answer was a definite yes,” he said. “Since then we have been negotiating in good faith, with BMW, with riders and with Pirelli, while BMW clarified internally some technical issues with the bike we would race in 2014.”
“Finally the budget was agreed with BMW, but just 24 hours later we got a call from them saying that they were sorry, but there was no budget and they weren’t going racing.”
The “BMW rider” is almost its own class of rider in the United States. You know the type: usually white, male, greying or white hair, maybe a pair of glasses and a sweet $1,000 Schuberth flip-up helmet to top it off. Ah, and don’t forget the well-worn-in Roadcrafter in blue with fluorescent yellow accents. As for the bike, it has got to the venerable GS.
Of course we are speaking generalities here, but as it turns out, that stereotypical demographic is also BMW’s most lucrative. The latest sales statistics from BMW Motorrad USA show the BMW R1200GS to be the company’s best selling motorbike in the states with over 2,000 sold.
With BMW Motorrad USA selling 14,100 motorcycles in total for 2013), the R1200GS has thus unseated the S1000RR as the best selling BMW motorcycle in the USA.
Just days after issuing a North American recall for 50,000+ of their motorcycles, BMW Motorrad issued a press release to talk about its successful sales sales volumes. For 2013, BMW achieved its third all-time sales high of 115,215 vehicles, an 8.3% increase over the previous year. Of that total, 14,100 were sold in the United States.
Today marks a formal new beginning for Bimota, as the boutique Italian firm has recently been acquired by Daniele Longoni and Marco Chiancianesi. Helping to commemortate that event, Bimota debuted at the 2013 EICMA show its new S1000RR-powered Bimota BB3 sport bike.
Using the 999cc four-cylinder superbike motor found on the BMW, the Italians quote 190hp for the Bimota BB3, the same as what the Germans have been able to coax from the S1000RR. Weight is 394 lbs dry, also the same as the BMW S1000RR, so on paper the two bikes appear to be quite similar. In person though, they are anything but.
Our friends at Oliepeil.nl have some serious “lef” going on, because through some “enhanced journalism” those crazy Dutch moto-enthusiasts have managed to grab a couple photos of the BMW S1000R as it waits in the BMW Motorrad exhibit, ahead of its official EICMA debut tomorrow.
A streetfighter version of the venerable BMW S1000RR, the BMW S1000R drops an “R” from its predecessors name, but still features the same inline-four engine as it superbike counterpart –though the motor has likely been detuned to a more sane level.
Unfortunately, we don’t have word on specs or features for the 2014 BMW S1000R, but we do have an idea now of what its finished form looks like. Photos after the jump, but be sure to see more photos and watch the the walk-around video on Oliepeil.nl…just don’t eat the mayo while you’re there.
Last year we were wowed by the Bimota BB2, and not necessarily in a good way. The boutique Italian brand has a reputation for making rolling pieces of art that feature production motors with Bimota’s own chassis genius. While the BB2 was powered by the venerable BMW S1000RR’s inline-four engine, Bimota failed to live up to its end of the bargain, which made the Bimota BB2 an interesting, although rather unappealing, effort.
From what our sources have told us, that project has since been taken out behind the woodshed, and to help make up for things, a clean-slate Bimota BB3 will debut at this year’s EICMA show. The first machine to debut under Bimota’s new owners, Marco Chiancianesi and Daniele Longoni, the BB3 again features an S1000RR power plant, and from what our sources have been telling us, the BB3 swaps the BB2’s throwback retro look for a 21st century racing aesthetic.
Is this an image of the much anticipated BMW S1000R – the streetfightered version of BMW’s popular S1000RR superbike? Nope, it’s not…but, it is a spot-on approximation of what we expect to see from BMW Motorrad early next month at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, Italy. Italian site DueRuote commissioned this render from the folks at MotoRendering.com, and we have to say it is some damn fine work.
That BMW is making a streetfighter version of its venerable S1000RR superbike is no secret, as we have seen the “BMW S1000R” naked bike already before from the lenses of Europe’s plethora of spy photographers. Today we get another glimpse of what zie Germans have been up to in their workshops, and what we expect them to debut at the EICMA show in Milan later this fall.
Caught head-on and from the side (see after the jump), we get a good look at what appears to be a final, or near final, headlight assembly, and true to BMW form, it is winking at us. From the side, we can see that the naked bike retains many of the S1000RR’s components, including its exhaust design. Of course, the real question will be what’s inside the cylinder casings.