This is what the S 1000 RR feels like

by loox 12th April 2010, 11:59

CAR nuts. Imagine squeezing a 612bhp Ferrari engine into a Smart Car. Brain-numbing power erupting from a featherweight frame.
Sound ridiculous? Not to the Germans. They have the same power-to-weight ratio in their jaw-dropping BMW S 1000 RR.

Picture a Hayabusa engine in a GSX-R750 frame, with Italian technology and Japanese rider aids. Adopt a ZX-10R riding crouch and you've got the gist.

This is what the S 1000 RR feels like. Who cares if it looks a bit cheap in places?

I escaped the recent blanket of snow and headed to the South of France in search of grippier asphalt and the truth about BMW's first production superbike.

Pitching the all-singing and all-dancing £12,235 BMW S 1000 RR against Suzuki's complete £10,199 GSX-R1000 felt a bit like comparing Ben & Jerry's ice cream with Häagen-Dazs.

They're both delicious but which one wins the taste test?

Complete ... the Suzuki GSX R1000
Even though the standard £10,950 S 1000 RR is more comparable in price to the Gixxer, I couldn't resist BMW's technical Sports package. It's like (dreaming of) buying a Porsche without leather seats. It's rude not to. Rather than being a benchmark bike, the K9 GSX-R1000 dug into its K5 roots to recapture some of the punch lost in the K7 model.

It's a handsome machine, with the most road-friendly riding position of all the Japanese litre sports bikes.

The BMW is also comfortable and it looks slimmer and sharper, so I fuelled both bikes to the brim and weighed them. The difference was equivalent to two bags of Tate & Lyle. Or a diet.

With the Suzuki shod in Dunlop's original equipment Qualifiers and the Beemer blessed with superior Sport Attack Continental tyres, the BMW definitely had the edge on the handling.

Nothing, however, prepared me for the BMW's onslaught of power, especially in Sport Mode.

Although Suzuki's superbike is unquestionably impressive, the BMW is awesome - a dyno tells no lies and the S 1000 RR I rode packed a truly astonishing 184bhp.

With 22bhp more than the GSX-R1000 and matching a Hayabusa's punch, it looks like BMW's first step is a gigantic leap for its kind.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/motors/biker/2818881/Battle-of-the-power-bulge.html#ixzz0ksI5dRck