Ok, the facts are in on the new BMW S1000RR.....it's the real deal, even Brock Davidson is saying it's a game changer and it wasn't even designed as a drag racer. For years the ZX-10R ruled the roost of the literbikes as the horsepower king and it put out what......maybe 3 or 4 horsepower more than the rest? The BMW is a mind blowing 20+ Hp beyond the major players and that doesn't include the effects of the best dynamic traction control system in the business not to mention race ABS and shift assist. The Beemer is apparently not just about HP only as it has stellar performance in virtually every category.
My question is how the Big Four will respond and when? Let's face it, we are in a world financial crisis and bike sales worldwide are way off, not conducive to spending big bucks on R&D and product development. Suzuki did not even import 2010 motorcycles into the U.S. because of left over 2009 inventory and everyone else is pretty much stagnant. The 2 year development cycles for literbikes is apparently over, the ZX-10R for 2010 is almost identical to the '08 and '09 models except for "Bold New Graphics" dimpled exhaust can and polished shift internals. This is great timing for BMW as they are now the "cock of the walk" and no one seems to have the money or will power to challenge them. It's going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out. Will the Big Four try to play the numbers game with BMW and challenge them in outright horsepower or try to make what they have more useable through traction control and ABS. ONe thing is for sure, electronics are coming to a motorcycle near you and fast. The Japs are way behind BMW's lead in this department and will have to play catch up.
Personally, from what I've seen, the Honda CBR comes very close to matching the BMW's real world performance despite a 25+ hp deficit by virtue of light weight, nimble handling and mind blowing midrange hp that anyone can use anytime.
It's the Japanese A6M Zero of our time while the Beemer is more like a Messerschmidt 262 jet.
Rather than getting caught up in an endless top end battle where HP levels keep climbing to stratospheric levels along with the rpms, I'd like to see the Japs go to an ultra-light weight formula and useable power with real traction control, ABS and shift assistance like the Beemer.
* Last updated by: Kruz on 5/4/2010 @ 7:16 AM *