BMW S 1000 RR
Is this trickest BMW S 1000 RR outside of the British Superbike paddock? We think so, and of course we couldn’t miss out on finding out all there is to know about it.
his is not your everyday BMW. It may look like the latest M 1000 RR but it is, in fact, a 2020 S 1000 RR that’s had the all-singing and all-dancing parts thrown at it by Crowe Performance in Lincolnshire. As if the standard road bikes weren’t already fast enough, this machine has gone from being a £20,000 road model to a £50,000 fire-breathing racing missile in a relatively short space of time – and here’s exactly what £30,000 worth of upgrades looks like.
Carl started trackday riding on a Triumph 675, and after that first taste of circuit riding he was absolutely hooked on the sport… I know many of us can relate to that! With a year on the Triumph under his belt, he was ready to sample 1000cc power, and naturally it had to be the most powerful machine on the market. It wasn’t long before he’d bought the BMW, but his initial intention was to ride it only on the road. After 350 miles, the bike had Carl convinced that it needed to be on the track... and within the first lap of Oulton Park, on the exit of Shell Oils, he was blown away with the handling. “The feedback was unbelievable and the bike was on rails,” he said. “This bike has honestly brought me on tenfold to where I was before, and I even moved up into the fast group.”
When he first started riding the BMW it was a completely standard road bike, but it didn’t take long for Carl to decide to take it racing. Phil Crowe, from Crowe Performance, knows these bikes inside out and could probably build one with his eyes closed, and so it was a nobrainer when it came to choosing who should do the road-to-race conversion.
For Phil, it was straightforward; Carl knew exactly what he wanted to start with on the bike, so Phil could crack on with stripping the bike down, removing the road-going parts and bolting on the new race components.
The rear brake was the first upgrade that came to mind when Carl rode the Beemer. The rear brake doesn’t get much consideration on the smaller capacity bikes, but with big bike step up, for Carl the wheelie was something he just could not ignore. The best way of controlling a power wheelie is to use the back brake – so why not have the best on the market? An underslung Brembo LS4 caliper has been fitted, which is operated by a scooter-style brake lever on the left handlebar. This lever (or thumb brake) seems to be the most popular choice when it comes to using the back brake in this modern day and age, and I can totally understand why – the footbrake can be a nightmare to operate, especially through righthand corners.
It was then onto the suspension. The standard electronic suspension has been removed, and Ktech DDS fork internals and a rear shock fitted. We all know that racing suspension is much better on the track anyway, but Carl never really gave the electronic suspension a chance, even in his early days while riding in the ‘inter’ level on track days. “I wasn’t really keyed into the tyre pressures, and I was setting the temperature too high on the warmers and was unable to keep the temperature in the tyres while out on track,” he said. “Consequently the pressures were dropping, and I was having all sorts of weird feelings with the bike.
“I initially blamed this on the electronic suspension so decided I’d best upgrade to KTech as that’s a popular choice. I’ve since learned it was probably me messing things
T
up… but racing suspension is the way to go anyway.”
With the front brake calipers, Carl wanted are the best on the market; Brembo GP4 MS the kiddies, and they work brilliantly with Carl: the Alpha racing discs. It was simple for “When I began looking, I just started from way the top (most expensive) and worked my I down… I couldn’t help myself with these. wanted the best brakes in the business.” To start with, Carl used the standard ECU Crowe which he had flashed and mapped by Performance, but he soon realised he was brake limited with the anti-wheelie and engine Ellison control. He was being coached by Dean to at the time and figured he might be able data get more out of the coaching with full he analysis on the bike, and so Carl decided and would benefit from the Alpha ECU, loom dash – a £5000 package upgrade that allowed how him to fine-tune the bike and get it just which he likes it. It allows for the split throttle, even has transformed the bike and made him more comfortable using the power, especially at the lower end of the rev range and driving hard out of corners. If you think everything is included in that package, you’re wrong. For the full works there’s another £5000 to spend on components, such as the quick action throttle, quickshifter, GPS lap timer, potentiometers, brake pressure for sensors, rain light… the list goes on. But Carl, it’s really helped with understanding what he’s doing while he’s working with Dean. It seems the standard 197 BHP weapon the wasn’t quite enough for Carl, and while BMW was over at the Crowe Performance workshop it went in for some ‘minor’ was mechanical surgery. The cylinder head adjusted skimmed, gas flowed, the cam timing and the motor blueprinted. This, combined with the Akrapovic titanium exhaust system to a and Alpha mapping, has lifted the bike whopping 213hp with 92 ft.lb of torque. This is a seriously impressive bike build been with no expense spared. But it hasn’t just cracking on. a case of bolting it together and required a few days of patience, and It has Phil Crowe has been on hand at the trackside in. It to help get everything set up and dialled but like has been by no means straightforward, easy… anything, if it’s worth having, it’s never so they say. Carl’s plan is to finish his rookie racing class season in the No Limits Newcomer 1000 class and move up into the No Limits Cup 1000 podium, next year. He’s already been on the (and expensive) and also learned the hard is part of the game. When way that crashing it’s not your bike is spec’d as high as this one, off. something you want to be doing too much crash at the start of the year on a freezing A saw Carl barrel-roll his pride cold track day to Mansfield at Cadwell and joy down the hill Park... £7000 later and the bike was back together. Rather him than us.