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WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2009 kkk"achcfWmW`YbYkg"Wca
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BMW S1000R goes public! ► 6AK igYg bYk G%$$$FF Ug GUZYhm 6]_Y ]b Zfcbh cZ %&) $$$ >YfYn Achc;D ZUbg U kYY_ VYZcfY cZZ]W]U` `UibW\
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Andy Downes I 7\]YZ FYdcfhYf andy.downes@motorcyclenews.com
BMW’s S1000RR road bike was revealed at the Spanish MotoGP round last weekend in undisguised, finished form. The BMW, carrying just a vinyl cover over the front lights, was being used as a safety bike for the MotoGP race in a surprise public appearance before the official unveiling at Monza WSB on May 9. MCN got hold of masses of pictures of the bike showing off details not seen before including the double-skinned fairing which has inner and outer layers, a forked rear light, Showa suspension not seen before, a double air-intake, cut-out front screen, a dashboard showing a 14,000rpm redline and shift light along with an LCD screen. We can also see the bike has ABS and traction control along with a switchgear operated lap timer. The bike is putting out around 10bhp more than any other 1000cc rival – 182bhp was the peak power figure on a leaked dyno graph obtained by MCN. What we don’t know for certain are the full technical details of the engine which is thought to be one of the most compact four-cylinder motors ever built. Dealers have reported a surge of orders for the inline-four which is set to go on sale for between £11,000 and £12,000 in December.
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WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2009 kkk"achcfWmW`YbYkg"Wca
Road test Heavyweights
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Knockout fight for title of H\Y 6YYaYfÈg Y`YWhfcb]WU``m UX^ighUV`Y gigdYbg]cb ]g U aUghYfghfc_Y PETE BOAST
Rupert Paul I 9lYWih]jY 9X]hcf rupert.paul@motorcyclenews.com
With their relaxed riding positions, luxury equipment and oceans of torque, supertourers are supposed to be the bikes you move up to when you’re too creaky to wrap yourself around an R1. But are they really? When you’re used to light weight, flickable steering and hair-trigger brakes, surely an extra 100kg of metal and plastic feels like a sack of spuds? And if you’ve spent years gleefully wringing the neck of a sports 600, how are you supposed to restrain yourself when you get hold of a motor that could pull a ship backwards? After all, can an adjustable screen and ABS really make up for 20 years of adrenalin junkiedom? To discover the answers, we sent three lifelong sportsbike riders on a two-day tour of the Peak District. Their bikes: BMW’s new K1300GT SE, Yamaha’s oldschool FJR1300A and Kawasaki’s littleknown GTR1400. Their route took them through rain and sun, from the snarl of the rush hour M1, to the urban sprawl of Derby, to the camera-infested trunk routes of the National Park, and the neardeserted A and B-roads of Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire.
H\Y hYghYfg DANNY JOHNJULES, 49 Best known as the Cat in long-running sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf. Has owned R1s for eight years
PETER BOAST, 35 Experienced road tester, flat track racer and former TT rider. Instructs at MSV track days and Ron Haslam’s academy
RUPERT PAUL, 46 MCN executive editor and sports bike fan. Has been testing bikes since 1985. Owns a 1990 ZZR1100
BMW K1300GT A new GT BMW is quite an event: after all, the Bavarians invented Grand Tourers 30-plus years ago. This bike is the first big update since 2004, when the factory finally decided to run its fourcylinder engines across the frame like everyone else. While that first version was fast and refined under power, it was rough on the overrun. This year’s 1300cc update is stupendously powerful, but still quite unlike anything from Japan. The reason seems to be BMW’s clever ignition and fuelling doing backflips to keep the motor burning as little fuel as possible. It feels crisp, clean and efficient – but cold, robotic and soulless too. The other big difference is the K’s chassis, which uses the same Hossack front end as its 1300S and R stablemates.
By using a solid aluminium fork hooked up to a single, central shock, the bike manages to separate the job of absorbing bumps from the need to deal with weight transfer and direction changes. The resulting light steering, powerful braking and stability on absolutely any surface is, frankly, amazing. Pete: “It’s an unusual bike but it does give you control. The first thing you notice is it feels light and nimble.” Danny: “There’s some claws in them brakes too. Pull too hard at low speed and it’s like, Whooa!” Rupe: “The engine is incredibly flexible. You can leave it in sixth all day because it’s so low geared. Even loaded to the gunwhales it would be fast.” Danny: “It only felt comfy in the higher gears. In sixth you’re nice. In the low gears it doesn’t give time to dawdle.”
Pete: “Yeah, if you’re thrashing it you soon run out of revs. The adjustable suspension is a masterstroke though. You can have the Comfort setting in a village, then Normal or Sport outside. Then there’s different settings again for two-up. All bikes should have it.” Danny: “The screen is big and wide. It buffets your head more than the others.” Pete: “I’d say the screen’s second best behind the Yamaha, because the top edge of the screen ends up in my eyeline. Apart from that it’s really good.” Danny: “But it’s a clinical ride. And as soon as you get on it you’ll be cloned as an off-duty copper.” Pete: “It’s hard to get a lot of fun out of the BMW. Pop the clutch to do a wheelie and it says ‘No, you’re not doing that’. It’s serious and German, and you’re here to go touring.”
Good points: adjustable suspension, riding position, steering/stability, overtaking power, creature comforts Irritating points: clutch lever reach and action, occasional bob from back end, fumbly indicator switch.
Kawasaki GTR A new model just over a year ago, Kawasaki’s 1400 supertourer is still relatively unknown. The motor is based on the ZZR1400 rocketship, but with a variable inlet timing system which is impossible to detect in use. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a more good-natured engine. Grumbly, characterful and very eager, it does exactly what you expect from tickover to the redline (if you can ever get to the redline, that is). But it’s also got the tallest seat, and
WEDNESDAY 6 MAY 2009 kkk"achcfWmW`YbYkg"Wca
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Pedrosa is second but fuming at Honda parts capable of improving performance is testing Pedrosa’s patience to breaking point. And the latest Repsol Honda offering has struggled to work in tandem with the new harder construction Bridgestone tyres. His bike is virtually the same spec that he finished the 2008 campaign on, and he told MCN that he wanted major improvements rather than just shallow promises. “I need Honda to sort out the
bike,” he said. “The direction Honda took in the winter was completely wrong. They have had a clear direction from me from a long, long time ago but we’ve had nothing to make the bike better.” Pedrosa, who has had technical talks with HRC Vice President Shuhei Nakamoto added: “I need to see some things coming, not always just hearing, talking or meeting. I’d like to have something where I can say, ‘This is good’.”
GOLD & GOOSE
Dani Pedrosa urged Honda to overhaul radically the performance of its factory RC212V, despite a second successive podium rekindling his MotoGP title hopes. Pedrosa, who led the Spanish GP for 17 laps before succumbing to a stunning charge by Valentino Rossi, believes his dazzling form is merely masking a myriad of problems on the 2009 factory V4. Honda’s failure to develop new
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Stoner suffers bad wind Casey Stoner sur vived a double hammering to claim a first-ever podium at his bogey circuit in Jerez. He took a trouncing from rivals Valentino Rossi and Dani Pedrosa and a pummelling from the elements to emerge with his early title aspirations intact. The biggest issue for the 23-year-old was the blustery conditions in Spain, making riding his factory Ducati GP9 a physically draining exercise. Stoner, who was coming under severe pressure from Jorge Lorenzo before the Spaniard’s late blunder, said: “We wanted to put some holes in the side of the fairing because the wind is the biggest area we struggle in. But unfortunately, with fuel consumption and how much that is affected, plus engine cooling, we couldn’t go punching holes in the side of the fairing.” Ducati has always struggled to perform in excessively windy conditions
corners is a little different and I don’t know why, maybe because I’m braking on the right hand and I need that hand exactly where it is. The way you are pushing on the handlebars, the left foot seems almost useless on the peg and you are just bringing it down to be able to tip the bike into the corner. “We haven’t really got an understanding why I do it, it’s just something that is happening, not something I’m forcing.” Does the incredible G-force under braking contribute? “Not so much the G forces but because everything is tense,” he said. “With these bikes we’ve got a high corner speed with a high gyroscopic effect, so it’s a little bit difficult to get them into the corner and maybe it’s a way getting them in there faster. Nobody realises they’re doing it.”
and engineers have experimented with several fairings in the past. “We used to have a much bigger fairing and I was pushing a lot for a smaller one and this is what we came up with. Normally, we don’t have an issue anywhere else but it was really pushing me wide, so Ducati are going to try to come up with something if conditions get that bad. They just want to test it and check the fuel consumption.” Stoner also had front-end grip issues that were exaggerated by the gusting winds. He said: “Normally I wear my right kneeslider flat but I’m wearing it further to the front because I’m trying get more weight there. “The wind kept pushing and my riding position changed. It started to hurt my ribs and kidneys. It was a physically demanding race and challenging to keep the pace up.”
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Casey Stoner is the rider Valentino Rossi fears the most in 2009. Jorge Lorenzo’s costly blunder and Dani Pedrosa’s poor Qatar race have left the Spanish duo cut adrift of Rossi by 24-points already. Rossi said: “ The hardest and toughest rival is Casey, more than Jorge and Dani. It is not what we see in the tests – like me and Casey and then one second to the other guys. “Now it’s closer and this is a great fight. The world championship is long, so I don’t want to forget Jorge and Dani, but Casey is the most difficult.”
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