BMW S1000RR :Most Powerful 1000cc Bike

The one-eyed BMW S1000RR is out to redefine modern litre-class superbikes, without reinventing the wheel. Please take a quick look at the stunning new motorcycle and asks, "Why didn't the Japs think of this before?"

The BMW S1000RR is a super bike manufactured by BMW Motorrad to compete in the 2009 Superbike World Championship. It was introduced in Munich on 16 April 2008,and is powered by a 999 cc (61.0 cu in) inline-4 engine redlined at 14,200 rpm.

BMW only manufactured 1,000 production models in 2009 to satisfy World Superbike homologation requirements, but will expand production in 2010. It features traction control, has an overall wet weight of 204 kg (450 lb) and produces 193 hp (144 kW).

On 26 June 2008, Spanish rider Rubén Xaus signed to ride the bike for the factory BMW Motorrad team. On 25 September 2008, Australian former double Superbike World Champion Troy Corser signed to complete the team's two-rider lineup for 2009. In the 2009 Superbike World Championship season, the highest race result achieved by Corser was fifth place in the Czech Republic, and Xaus achieved seventh place in Italy.

The world of superbikes has set, sorted niches, built over decades of work and ponderous brand building. The Italians have their fixation with form, where aesthetics and exotica are as important as acceleration and excitement. The Japanese have always focused on getting most from less, something that fits the premise of a sportbike to the T - no wonder then that the Jap 4 have dominated real-world sales since they hit the scene some twenty years back. What about the Germans though? Too uptight to please the loose characters of high performance motorcycling? Or too obsessed with mechanical perfection to be able to deliver the inexpensive heaps of thrills that only a superbike can offer?

Justifiably then, BMW Motorrad, the motorcycle division of the Bayerische Motoren Werke and the sole major German bike maker never quite tried to answer the question in the past. Hyper-sport tourers, enduro-adventurers and manic streetbikes, yes, but never a full blown litre-class track assailer. When the powers that spin the white-and-blue BMW propeller decided to make a bike to unfurl the BMW flag on World Superbike podiums, it had to be an all-new motorcycle that rethought the way modern motorcycles were made, and would portray the German way of doing things the perfect way, costs notwithstanding.

Sounds grand and cliched? That's because as believable as it sounds, that's a lie. Das Motorrad's approach towards the S1000RR was almost incredibly simple, sorted out and minus any sort of ego that a long tradition in sportbike making might bring (hint: Ducati). While considering engine layouts, for instance, twins were completely ruled out thanks to the pain it is to get WSB conquering power out of them with reliability. Inline triples were thought of, but dismissed on account of their heavy counterbalancer weights, and Vee-fours were dropped for their complexity. By the rule of elimination, the only sort of engine left was the sort that Japanese have used for decades to rule racetracks and hearts for years - with four cylinders, all in line. A regular twin spar frame, telescopic forks at the front and a conventional boomerang swingarm at the rear were employed, so was chain drive. With every passing moment of initial development, the S1000RR was looking exactly like the bikes it was setting out to beat. The cheapest way to go fast was being re-employed.

Source:Zigwheels.