If you like your streetbike served with a side of track-day performance, BMW has good news for you in the form of its S 1000 RR. The “RR” marks one of those happy mediums between run-of-the-mill, supersport wannabes and the six-figure “proper” race machines, and it represents a significant return on its relatively low MSRP. Solid performance is supported by safety and stability systems, and that acts as a skill-multiplier to help you keep it dirty-side down.

2019 BMW S 1000 RR Design

Beemer wants to make sure you notice that this is a MY2019 bike, and to that end, the factory revised the body panels with an eye toward efficient aerodynamics for a new look unique to this version, so far. Symmetrical headlights peer from recesses in the front fairing with a central air-induction port that siphons off pressurized air from the entry and feeds it to the intake circuit for a slight boost in volumetric efficiency. This is a really cool feature that I am seeing more and more in the stupidfast genres, but you should know that the boost curve is pretty flat until you get up to around 100 mph. Since that's faster than you can legally/safely travel on public roads in the U.S., unless you're a legit closed-circuit racer, it's more of a conversation piece than anything else.

A bubblescreen rides up top to punch a minimal hole in the weather and protect the 6.5-inch, color TFT screen and analog tachometer, but you've got to tuck in tightly to find it. Clip-on control bars help with that, and while they're in just the right place for a racing posture, if you want to use this as a hot-stuff commuter you can count on lots of pressure on your wrists and shoulders and a stressed neck since there is no way to sit vertically on this machine.

High pilot footpegs enhance the aggressive nature of the rider's triangle, and they pair with the narrow waist to enable the most extreme body English, you know, for those fiery-eyed elbow draggers out there. Below the lights, the cowl scoop opens up like a gaping maw to draw cooling air through the radiator which then vents through the revised and abbreviated cowling. Also, the factory integrated the front turn signals with the mirrors in a move that increases visibility and decreases drag.

Aesthetics and penetration were front-burner items, but so was weight savings, and overall, the S 1000 RR drops a whopping 25 pounds from its previous weight (32 pounds with the M Package accessory). Beemer credits its Flex-Frame feature with many of these improvements since it allows for some weight savings and narrows down the 4.6-gallon fuel tank.

Unladen seat height comes standard at 32.4 inches off the ground. You also have the option of covering the pillion area for a solo-racer look, or remove the cover so you can share the fun with a friend. The taillight is slung under the upswept tip, and I have to admit the cleanliness is rather striking. Overall, it's a smoking hot machine that shows the artistic side of the normally pragmatic-to-a-fault German engineers.

2019 BMW S 1000 RR Chassis

The aluminum-composite, bridge-type frame uses the engine as a stressed unit to eliminate the downtube/cradle section, and save some weight with an aluminum, yoke-style, gull-wing swingarm to articulate the rear wheel. A central monoshock controls the swingarm with the full trifecta of adjustments on tap, and the front is just as tuneable with beefy, 45 mm, usd forks to take care of business. Suspension components up front provide 4.7 inches of travel at the axle opposite 4.6 inches of travel in the rear.

The wheelbase measures out at 56.7-inches long with a steep, 23.5-degree rake and 3.7 inches of trail to give the “RR” an agile and eager demeanor in the corners. Symmetrical, 17-inch, cast-aluminum rims round out the rolling chassis with a fat 120/70 up front and a 190/55 out back, and of course, the hoops are ZR-rated so they can take what the engine can dish out; if you have the testicular fortitude to properly explore the RR's potential.

Dual, four-piston anchors bite 320 mm discs up front with a 220 disc and uni-pot caliper out back, and the switchable, race-style, ABS Pro feature calculates the available traction with data from the six-axis inertial-measurement unit. The ABS can be set to one of four separate profiles, or turned off completely.

2019 BMW S 1000 RR Drivetrain

The fandanglery continues into the drivetrain with a ride-by-wire throttle and a host of electronic rider-aid systems. A refined traction-control system interprets data from the IMU, and like the ABS feature, it calculates the available traction with consideration for angle-of-attack and modulates its interventions based on same. Beemer stuffed in a transverse-mount inline-four powerplant that is simultaneously 8.8-pounds lighter and more advanced than its predecessor.

Dual over-head cams time the 16-valve (titanium) head, and new for this year, the cams use BMW's ShiftCam feature that alters the timing and stroke of the intake poppets to deepen the torque well. Not only did the powerband get broader, but it's more potent with less weight to push. The mill measures in with a whopping 205 horsepower at 13,000 rpm and 83 pound-feet of torque at 11,000, but that doesn't tell the whole story though. Eighty-one pounds of that torque figure is available from as low as 5,500 rpm because of the fancy cam-timing trick, so this mill has something to give at just about every part of the rev range.

A quartet of 80 mm bores and a short, 49.7 mm stroke give it a 999 cc total displacement with a sizzlin'-hot 13.3-to-1 compression ratio. Dynamic Traction Control is standard, as are the anti-wheelie feature, slipper clutch and quartet of rider modes. Power flows through the anti-hop clutch to the six-speed transmission before it heads to the rear wheel via a tough chain drive, and the tranny benefits from a standard Shift-Assist Pro feature that lets you shift up and down the range without touching the clutch.

Oh, and for you try-hards out there, the RR can be quickly and easily set up with GP (read: backwards) shifting. As for the top speed, it's far beyond most of us common mortals. Beemer sent a S 1000 RR to the Bolivian Salt Flats and turned in one 242 mph run on a modified bike -- the fastest ever clocked by a BMW bike -- alongside a pair of 229 mph runs. Like I said, you'll never do it justice on public roads.

2019 BMW S 1000 RR Pricing

The price is still TBA as of this writing, but the previous gen rolls for $15,995, and I expect the new sticker to be maybe a few grand higher, but still below the $20k mark.

2019 BMW S 1000 RR Competitors

Beemer really brings the hurt to the competition here, so I needed another serious machine for my head-to-head. I could have gone to the top shelf for one of the many Ducati Panigale variants, but due to the price point, I decided that the base 959 Panigale was the right choice. Duc lets go of the bottom-tier, 959 Panigale for $15,395; less than the lowest probable cost for the newest RR, but still close enough for government work.

Like the RR, the Panigale rocks some windtunnel-tested bodywork that is built to maximize penetration and reintegrate the cooling air with the slipstream with as little drag as possible. It also utilizes the pressure wave at the entry to increase the volumetric efficiency through intake ports below the headlights, so it stands toe-to-toe with the Beemer in that respect.

Ducati packs on an alphabet soup of subsytems with a RbW throttle control, traction control, riding modes, engine-brake control, power modes and a quick-shift system for another draw with the German entry. The Italian engine is a 955 cc L-Twin that necessarily trades horsepower for torque and falls a little short on both at 150/75 versus 205/83. As for curb-appeal, Ducati makes a beautiful product, no doubt about it, but Beemer brings an aesthetic all its own.

He Said

“It ain't for me, but I can appreciate it all the same. Let's face it; there aren't many of us who could do this machine justice, and fewer still that have access to a proper venue. I can't help but remember the saying that it's more fun to ride a slow bike fast than a fast bike slow, but if just knowing that you can light up just about anything else out on the road is enough, then this might be the ride for you.”

She Said

My wife and fellow motorcycle writer, Allyn Hinton, says, “This was unveiled at 2018 EICMA and I'm hearing a lot of debate over whether this looks better than the old version or not. Honestly, though, if you're sitting on the bike, you're not looking at it, and if you're riding this, all folks will see is a blur anyway. If you watched Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, you saw Tom Cruise tearin' it up on an S 1000 RR. It was fun to watch, but any normal human would be in much worse shape after taking a low-sider at that speed.”

2019 BMW S 1000 RR Specifications

Further Reading

Ducati 959 Panigale

See our review of the Ducati 959 Panigale.

BMW Motorrad

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