Supersports: the Germans are coming

Munich, 16 April 2008. Today sales in the 1,000-cc class are around 100,000 units worldwide. BMW has none of it. Zip. And Hendrik von Kuenheim, the new General Director of BMW Motorrad is not happy. That is, up until now.

Today he confirmed their entry into the Superbike World Championship by announcing that in compliance with the rules of the Series, the new S1000RR will be available to customers in 2009 with 1,000 production models being produced. "We are confident that we will be able to start the Superbike World Championship next year with a convincing all-round package, and that our series motorcycle will be just as convincing. In both terms of both its technology and price, our Supersports will be absolutely competitive."

While refusing to reveal technical specifications, von Kuenheim confirmed that their objective was "...to offer the customer a high-performance motorcycle with absolutely outstanding qualities and features on both the road and race track in terms of rideability, performance, and ergonomics."

He did, however, say that they had decided against using the BMW Duo-Lever on the front suspension. As anyone who has ridden the Duo-lever equipped K1200S or R will tell you, even an R1200GS will beat them in the corners. On the other hand, he said the new bike would feature a version of BMW's traction control system.

BMW Motorrad's first Supersports will be the S 1000 RR. "In choosing the name and designation of BMW's new Supersports, we are consistently following our nomenclature at BMW Motorrad. In this name, the "S" stands for Supersports, marking a new class of motorcycles from BMW. The "1000" designates the size of the engine, and the "RR" naturally stands for the model itself."

Roll over Ducati?