The time was right for a manufacturer to shake things up and force the Big Four to rethink their sportbike strategies. Japanese sportbikes went a bit stagnant in recent years and have relied on gizmos and gadgets over pure power for new model introductions. The second generation Hayabusa is living proof; the new engine makes only a few more horsepower than the older bike, but now it has selectable fuel mapping. Meanwhile, the latest R1 is down on power from the previous model but the engine's firing order has been redesigned-with debatable results.
Honda's revised CBR1000RR found a lot of success after its introduction in 2008, and aside from its questionable styling it performs incredibly well. Its only shortcoming is that perhaps it does everything too well-meaning it's a little bit too vanilla for enthusiasts seeking a bike with major character. Kawasaki has made strides forward since introducing the ZX-10R in 2004, but for a company that's always had a reputation for powerful motors we really expected something that would light the road afire and shred rear tires.
Then along comes BMW with its quirky, asymmetrically designed S1000RR. After a year-long blitzkrieg of press releases, the bike finally made it to showroom floors. And that's when things got interesting. Rumors quickly permeated throughout various media outlets with loose talk of a 25 horsepower advantage over every other bike on the market. And it was also said to be loaded with state-of-the-art electronics. Both turned out to be true and the BMW S1000RR is everything it's been pumped up to be. Fast, light and agile; the BMW's performance numbers are simply astonishing.
Lap times don't apply in the real world so we didn't bother with them here. The sickest bike on the street is the fastest one from point A to point B, so we went with a heads up race approach instead. Each bike was wired with datalogging equipment to compile 0-60 MPH, quarter-mile and 0-150 MPH times. After the BMW kicked every bike's butt up and down the track we modded it for even more power with a full exhaust system and fuel mapping. Here's how it went down...