BMW S 1000 RR (2010) – £7000

If the R1 was one of the last of a generation, the BMW S 1000 RR is THE bike that reset the whole sector and forced us to think again about what a modern motorbike is. Where the R1 needs an explanation to accompany it as to why it’s so good, the BMW only needs this phrase: ‘There are bikes before the S 1000 RR, and there are bikes after the S 1000 RR – that’s all you need to know.’

I’ll always consider myself one of the very lucky ones to have been riding and writing about bikes before, during and after the phenomenon that was the 2010 BMW S 1000 RR. I had a front row seat for the changing of the guard and there was so much to take in about this bike that was presented to the world, starting with the fact that it was a BMW.

BMW just didn’t do exciting – or even fast. It did plodding round the world with Obi-Wan Kenobi and his mate, and anything with even a slight inkling to a sporty nature just wasn’t its bag, let alone something so outrageously extreme that it not only redefined the whole sector, but also the whole BMW brand in one single moment.

Usually something that takes years and millions for marketing departments to do, BMW’s engineers did with just one bike that they based on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 K5.

I find it hard to believe that today if you can find one, a first generation S 1000 RR can be had for well under £10,000. For such an iconic (as well as capable) bike that’s surely a future classic, this must make it one of the best second-hand purchases money can buy.

Just like the R1, it’s been a while since I rode a Gen1 S 1000 RR, but unlike the R1, when I rode the BMW, it felt like it hasn’t aged as well. I guess that’s the problem with the first of a new breed of bike that has electronics at its heart. As we know with everyday things like phones or laptops, they become outdated and obsolete really fast. Comparing an 07 R1 to a modern one is basically impossible because they’re from different eras, so we can make allowances and concessions.

However, the BMW feels crude and a lot less refined than the current S 1000 RR, and I consider them to be fundamentally of the same generation. That’s not to say it isn’t any good – far from it. All the same things apply today as they did then; it simply obliterates everything that went before it in every measurable way in terms of performance and spec, and it does the same to virtually everything that came along since... until BMW upgraded the S 1000 RR in 2012 to the Gen2, which carried on the dominance until – guess what? – BMW upgraded it again in 2015 to the Gen3. Each upgrade mostly focused on the electronics, smoothing out the throttle maps and refining the rider aids, along with the usual tweaks to the engine and chassis, so that now, going back to the Gen1 bike, the throttle feels heavy and long, the anti-wheelie is abrupt and more of a hindrance than a help, and the power delivery is savage.

Everything about the S 1000 RR has way more urgency and directness about it than the R1 on this test, and while I did say this isn’t a comparison due to the ranging price points, it was impossible to not make them during the day.

Of course, it is understood that the BMW has the beating of the Yamaha on any comparison you would like to choose: it’s way faster, stops better and turns better, it’s got rider modes, ABS, a quickshifter and blipper, and its chassis is a lot more focused.

I’m only referring it back to the Yamaha because of the difference in the level of refinement between a bike that is at the end of its development cycle (the R1) and one that’s at the start (the S 1000 RR). It’s night and day, and highlights just how, over the past decade, the sum of all the tweaks and upgrades to the electronics, algorithms and maps that BMW has introduced to the S 1000 RR now make the Gen1 version feel unrefined and very raw.

Again, not a criticism, just an observation on how a bike develops and changes from its first version, and how, these days, a lot of that is through software.

The bike we had on test uniquely didn’t have the electronic suspension fitted to it, which must make it a rare find. I’ve never come across one that didn’t have the optional extra DDC semi-active suspension option added, so riding an S 1000 RR with normal suspension was a first. If I’m honest, apart from the forks being set so soft that even mild braking forces caused them to dive quite dramatically and understeer quite a bit on faster corners, I didn’t really have any complaints – except that, of course, if it did have the electronic suspension fitted, it wouldn’t have done either of those things, regardless of what a previous owner had done.

I’ll never forget the first time I rode an S 1000 RR. I had to pick it up from the office late at night and ride it home for an early start the next day to go to Wales. The photoshoot had already begun there the day before due to the late arrival/newness of my S 1000 RR press bike. I just plodded home in the dark and the next morning decided to ride crosscountry to pick up the motorway to Wales, which, by pure chance, took me on the same roads I spent the day on with Bruce and Tim for this test nearly 12 years later.

Then, just as it does today, the BMW quite simply blew my mind with how puny it made me feel and consequently how that made me feel like I needed to spend more time with it to try and master it. And here I am today on the same bike (well, not the exact same bike) on the same road, with the exact same feelings of total inadequacy, yet still feeling drawn to it. I’m completely in awe of the bike and for the life of me I can’t think why its previous owner would ever want to let go of it. It is simply magnificent.

It’s impossible to overstate just how big an impact the S 1000 RR made to the motorcycling landscape. Since this first one there have been others and, as I’ve realised by riding this Gen1 version again for the first time in a long time, the other S 1000 RRs that followed are much better.

But no matter how much better the subsequent versions are, they will never be the bike that rewrote the rulebook. The first bike to have the best part of 200bhp and electronically controlled semi-active suspension, rider modes, ABS, a quickshifter, a blipper, cruise control, launch control and even heated grips as standard. Not only did it have traction control, but it was also adjustable. Any one of those features would have been a first on a production sportsbike and would have made our jaws hit the floor, but BMW gave them all to us at once, rocking up to the sportsbike party uninvited and making everyone else look, frankly, a bit stupid.

Now, thanks to the unstoppable onslaught of time and never-ending cycle of development, the bike that started the revolution has become yesterday’s bike and as such, can be picked up for daft money.