BMW S 1000 r Sport
this month i have mostly been… “Getting used to POWER!”
I n last month’s exciting instalment, the S 1000 R was just a few miles away in the back of a van, winging its way to FB Towers. I’d hoped that it was going to be the cheaper, traditionally suspended version as it weighed in under £10,000, and nobody here at FB had ridden that one yet. As it turns out, BMW has given us the all singing and dancing, electronically suspended naked nutter instead. Ah well, we’ll make sure we get our hands on one in an upcoming test, I’m sure.
We can’t actually complain too much really, as we’ve experienced BMW’s take on lecky suzzies before on the sublime HP4, and it really is the future. It was a bit of shock jumping onboard it though, mostly because I haven’t ridden much in the last three months. As for the reason why, all I’ll say is it shits itself a lot, and it isn’t an Italian bike! Anyway, my first real day back riding began sedately on Charlie’s Triumph Street Triple, a short jaunt of just a few miles. Then later on I got aboard the S 1000 R, and it twisted my melon, man!
It is hugely fast, as you’d expect from a naked bike laying down near 150bhp, and
So for the time being I have kept it on ‘Road’, and it’s been with mixed results. The suspension feels nice and it’s still bloody fast, but the traction-control is unbelievably intrusive. Apparently on ‘Road’ it’s completely different to the ‘Dynamic’ and ‘Dynamic Pro’ settings, which use another TC system entirely. It may be the first proddy bike with two separate TC controllers, unless I’ve got it completely wrong. To stop it from being
The array of buttons and options is bewildering at first...”
initially I was rather glad of all the electronic aids holding my hand and stopping me from doing anything overly stupid. Doesn’t take much, after all...
Speaking of which, the array of buttons and options on display is bewildering at first, literally not knowing anything about the bike at all. It’s even got cruise-control, which I’ve only experienced before on bikes that don’t belong within these pages. There is a lot you can do with the riding modes, and the suspension modes, together or used separately. It’s going to take a while to get it all down pat, and speaking with Fagan who did the launch only helps to a certain point. I’ll learn on the hoof. annoying one must be gentle on the throttle as you progress. If you try and pin it, especially in the lower gears, it suddenly feels as though you’ve hit the kill switch. But bizarrely, it keeps on revving though you feel like you’re slowing down. Huh?
As I said, you can get around it somewhat by being progressive, and the truth is the engine is so strong and volatile you’re seriously shifting even if you’re piling on the gas slowly. Hell, at 40mph in top gear if you yank the gasser it jumps forward and pulls like a train. It is massively impressive, BMW do keep getting things very right these days.
So, in the next few weeks I’ll be exploring its capabilities and finding which setting I prefer, although I’ll hazard an early guess it’ll be ‘Dynamic’ with a bit of targeted fiddling on individual settings. It is also as friendly and useful as I thought it’d be, so already I’m quite sure my prediction of it being the best everyday super naked will come to pass. My only bugbears are the clutch lever, which my fingers can barely reach, and being a grip-whore I’d like to try stickier tyres than the OE Contis. Apart from that, it’s all good, so roll on next month.