2010 BMW S1000RR – Finally!

In this age of smart phones comes a smart bike; the S1000RR won't actually allow a ham-fisted fool to crash it in the lower modes. Hold on-it's not crash proof (though there wasn't a single off-track excursion from any of the journalists, which is almost unheard of), but you'd really have to try pretty hard to bin it.

One welcome absence from this press intro was the journalists' embellished recaps of "huge power slides" and "drifting it through the corner" after each session because the BMW's electronics simply won't allow much of that stuff. In Race and Slick mode you can certainly get the bike moving around, but it still constantly drives forward without melting the rear tire. In fact, the Metzeler Racetec tires explained a lot about the ABS and DTC. After five sessions they looked nearly new. There wasn't any sidewall shredding or gummed up rubber despite 170-ish horses running through the wheel. That speaks volumes about the ABS's ability to keep the front gripping while the DTC did its job at the rear and contained the slipping. Nice teamwork. And combined they'll not only make you faster, but also safer.

After a few sessions experimenting with the lower modes it was time to let it fully loose, and Slick mode felt like somebody bolted on a 50-shot of nitrous while we weren't looking. Judging from the eye-watering midrange and top end hit this bike will be ideal for all things requiring quickness, and that includes drag racing. Bet you never thought you'd see the day that a BMW was cleaning up at a local test and tune night, did you?

There's even an optional quickshifter. Keep the throttle wide open and simply click the gears off as the shift assist grabs the next gear flawlessly. I found it to work equally well as, if not better than, any aftermarket quickshifter. The only thing missing was the telltale backfire that we're so used to hearing race bikes pop off during upshifts, but with a freer flowing aftermarket pipe you'd probably get it.

Though the stock exhaust actually sounds quite nice in this age of silent, stifled pipes, it looks rather gaudy. The shorty silencer is OK, but the bulbous underslung catalytic converter is hideous. Besides, we want to let this deranged motor scream anyways. And the idea of shedding more weight to increase the already ridiculous power to weight ratio is pretty enticing.

So BMW got the engine and accompanying electronics right. Killed it actually. The motor can be smooth and polite or as ferocious as you like, and all at the push of a button. But does it handle? Obviously that's a concern...

C'mon. Did you really think that a company renowned for building some of the best handling cars in the world would neglect the most important aspect of a sportbike? Absolutely not.

BMW went back to the basics with great success: upside down forks, chain drive and standard swingarm. The German firm prides itself in unique technologies like its Telelever forks and Paralever swingarm, but those are also components that probably wouldn't live up to the demands of a focused race machine.