The assymetric fairing doesn't bother me none... It's still the same lines and the difference is in line with engine differences from side to side...

The lopsided front however is plain ugly... Urk...

 

They finally make a bike that's not ugly and still manage to make it .. Ugly.

 

I think its pretty like a girl with an eye transplant from a dog.

 

 

Let's see, a little RC, a little LC, a little R1, and a dash of RR. There's something different to see at every angle.

 

What kind of dog? Are we talking a real little dog so that the eye is wobbling around. That could be kind of distracting during a face to face conversation.

Hopefully not one from a really big dog because then she'd end up with an eye bulging out on one side. It'd be like talking to Marty Feldman from Young Frankenstein. Again, a little distracting.

 

It's the Lazy Eye fairing eddition. The light on the left just kinda sits there not really "looking" at the road but is ment to attract attention of other motorists. What ever you do, DON'T stare at it, it's not polite.

 

The right headlight looks angry ...

 

You must have pissed it off by staring at the left eye! Sheesh I told you not to stare.

 

I actually like it. and they are putting in some neat technology. I think this will really open up what bmw does - if they put to work the performance mindset they have in the M-car class, could be great for sports bike. If you look at their last few years, they have one of the more exciting lineups going. Most of the japanese bikes have been 'more of the same' for quite awhile.

 

cyclops. headlinghts are ugly, like much of the bike. what else should be expected from bmw? "oh, we have to be different, and BETTER." oh please get off your high horse.

and they have been talking about being competitive in their first season of racing on their superior machine. oh yeah, let's just ignore the fact that the japanese have been racing i-4s for many decades! first effort will best the japanese? hahahaha at least they entertained me(for laughs, not on the track).

i saw that 193hp number. after all the bmw bs regarding this new bike, i wonder if it's hype too.

 

yeah, they totally suck.

http://www.worldsbk.com/en/season/st...iCostruttori=C

first year into WSB, first year bike and they can't even break the top 5 - losers.

 

when i wrote my previous post i was gonna give them credit for doing very well so far. thing is though that they act like they're gonna dominate! i guess that's what i'm trying to say.

 

The bike does have an ugly face, though I suspect that like many things BMW, it will look better with time. When I first saw an old airhead beamer I thought it was the ugliest bike I'd ever seen, but I grew to grudgingly admire the quirkiness in time.

What's significant here is that BMW is trying to compete in a market that they have always kept at arm's length. BMW making a "typical" I4 superbike is a big event - especially if the thing undercuts similar Ducati offerings on price. Sure, by the time BMW makes a bike that looks half as good as anything Ducati makes, I'll be riding my Honda Starship GT to my house on the moon, but still. BMW is shaking things up and that's always good for the industry.

Wired, of all websites, has a decent write-up with a nice little promo video at the end that shows development and testing of the new beamer.

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/05/bmw_s_1000rr/

 

I hear you. and the company is a hard one to figure. I have one of their bikes. Great bike, stupid powerful and fast. but has had several issues - low speed fueling the most annoying - that they refuse to fix until the latest version came out. Worse, it had a rear brake pedal initially that rubbed and bound up the return spring when dirty, so you lost all rear braking power. The issued a 'technical service bulletin' to the dealers only. IF a rider complained, then the dealer was to swap out the rear brake pedal for a newly designed one. Can you imagine not recalling a braking safety related issue? And I had an M3 of theirs that took about 4 years of consumer-driven letter writing campaign to finally convince them to fix some faulting lower end bearings. And by far of any bike I have owned, they have one of the worst dealer service records, especially considering the price of the bikes. Notorious for bad customer service. Sad but true. Even with all that - the bike is a great bike (K1200S). And when I was looking at newer fast sport tourers, nothing else compared in my opinion for overall sportiness, fit finish and comfort. I just put a power commander on it and its fixed finally for low speed fueling.

sorry for the long post.

 

I have a love hate relationship with BMW's.

I happen to really like the looks of most BMW's including this bike (from all angles), I like how they perform (from the cars I have driven, never ridden one so I can't say anything there), and I enjoy the company of some BMW enthusiasts.

Unfortunately... those BMW enthusiasts are typically rare (and driving BMW's from the 80's or older) and don't talk about their cars as much so it's not really because of their cars that they are fun to hang out with, everyone assumes I am a ***** when they hear I drive one (perhaps I am... but I am guilty before proven un-prickly), and service is absofrieken rediculuously horrendous unless I bring my car to A particular mechanic that loves OLDER BMW's (he things anyone with a newer BMW than mine is a *****).

Luckily because I do most of the work myself and the car is old the price tag isn't that bad in comparison to many other sporty cars. Some day I want to try out some of their motorcycles.

 

I had an '83 R100RS for 15 years before I bought my VTR in '05, and I rode it quite a bit for 2 years before that as it was my former girlfriend's bike.

But my only attraction for BMWs now is for the old air cooled boxer twins, from a classic standpoint. Their current bikes are either too heavy or weird looking in my opinion.

Oh, and valve adjustments on my RS were a 20 minute job.

 

mmmhmhmhmh, clearing my throat for this one. Here is the deal, go ahead and look at your superhawk. They mounted one cylinder to the left and one to the right. Now open the hood on any v-engine. One bank of cylinders is further forward than the next. Open the hood on a subaru, or the back of a porsche...one set of cylinders further forward than the next.
The problem is that you cannot mount two different connecting rods in the same journal space unless...
http://ambritcycleparts.com/yahoo_si...s.92111324.jpg
you can't see it, but these share the same centerline.

 

But then there's the Ariel Square Four.