BMW S1000R SPORT
Anything that shares an engine with the BWW S1000RR is going to get a thumbs up from us here at Fast Bikes. Okay, so the R only pushes out 165bhp (rather than the 199bhp of the RR), but that hardly makes it a slouch. At £12,965 the Beemer is the cheapest of the four European bikes, even in its ‘Sport’ version which comes with sexy extras like LED indicators, heated grips, cruise control, a quickshifter and blipper – interestingly though the sexy Akrapovic titanium end can comes as standard on the £11,190 base model, too.
I like the look of the S1000R. It’s got the look of something that really knows how to have a good time but can also behave too, like an 80s rock star who hasn’t forgotten how to trash hotel rooms and bite chickens’ heads off, but doesn’t do it very often these days. And when you throw a leg over the Beemer all is well. The dashboard isn’t going to give any sci-fi fans a stiffy but it’s got everything on there that you need and it’s quite clear. Despite the wide bars, the front of the BM’ does feel fairly minimalistic, with the dash poking up out of a small nose cone, but it fits the bill of a naked bike, I suppose.
Sparked into life, the S thou’ hummed away with clinical perfection and sung into life with every blip of the throttle, with a subtle intake whistle audible behind the barrage of revs emitting from the Akrapovic end can. It sounded great, but by no means aggressive.
On the road the S1000 engine was beautifully smooth wherever the needle (it has an actual needle, how quaint) was. The light clutch and the smooth as butterscotch power made town riding quite delectable and the shifter obliged happily when little blasts of speed were called for. One thing that did seem more difficult than it ought to be was finding neutral – there was quite a bit of upping and downing to get the little green N to light up on the dash, and I soon discovered that the BM’ was happier to slot into neutral via second gear, rather than first.
When you get out of town and can concentrate on riding the bike, rather than wondering whether that car is going to pull out of that junction, them kids are going to boot that football across the road, or those ladies jogging ought to have worn a more supportive bra, you soon get a real feel for what the BM’ is like. And in all honestly it’s a slightly strange bike to ride.
The fly-by-wire throttle is really light and never misses a beat, but gives you a slightly detached feel from the engine, and the shifter and blipper systems work so well that it’s almost like you are using your foot to actuate a micro-switch, rather than pushing a lever to mechanically slot a selector fork round a gearbox. It doesn’t take that long to get used to it and I actually think it’s pretty cool. But it’s strange at first.
The heated grips were nice on our early morning ride and give the BM’ an air of luxury, as did the very straightforward
to operate cruise control system. Less luxurious were the buzzy handlebars when the engine was spinning fast, it wasn’t awful and one of the upgrades for 2017 was to mount the ’bars on rubber, which might have helped a bit but you still feel plenty of vibes through them.
The brakes are strong and with the (also new for last year) IMU linked cornering ABS system the brakes can be left to do their job more effectively. The ABS can be turned off too, which is nice, using a big fat button on the left switchgear. This can also be used to turn the traction control off if you are in the mood for some wheelies or wheel spins.
The right hand switches are used to toggle between rider modes. Rain and Road modes are the standard options which adapt the throttle response, ABS and traction systems for wet or dry tarmac, respectively, and as optional extras, you can have Dynamic and Dynamic Pro modes. Dynamic Pro is the sharpest mode with full power and ABS disengaged to the rear wheel, and is the mode we used mainly on our road test.
On the road the Beemer felt light and agile and didn’t have any problems flying round any of the bends we threw at it. Bumps were soaked up adequately by the electronic suspension and everything felt pretty cushy, apart from the seat. After a long stint on the BM I did develop a pretty numb rear end – but it was after a really long stint so I can probably forgive it for that.
The BMW has plenty of smooth power that builds into something pleasantly nippy. And it’s got just the right amount of tech that works perfectly; but that dash does make it seem a little bit cheap and old fashioned – then again, it is the cheapest of the lot from the European contingent. We loved it, but did we love it as much as the rest?