Discussion
Thought it might be fun to post some photos of my new bike and give some thoughts on it, by comparison to my old bike.
Old bike: 2015 R1. Fairly modified with regards to fuellinf, exhaust, brakes etc to improve some well documented flaws.
New bike: 2021 S1000RR M pack. Bought new, did around 500 miles in the first week. It's still locked to 8k rpm until the first service in a couple of weeks.
Comparison
Short version; its superior to the R1 in every single way except for maybe seat comfort.
Long version; the handling is superb, effortless even, the fuelling is incredible compared to the R1, even though I spent a small fortune trying to rectify the snappy on/off throttle behaviour. Even then it was so bad I found myself having to fractionally crack the throttle prior to tipping into a bend as otherwise if I opened it at the apex it was so snappy it destabilisd the bike and made it feel horrible. The BMW can be trail braked right into the corner, let off, tip in and then drive out. Beautifully smooth.
The suspension is way more compliant too and the brakes are superb also. The R1 had an RCS19 master cylinder and race pads but the standard BMW brakes are still far better.
The connectivity is excellent. A little slow to connect to my phone and intercom maybe but nothing major. Once it's connected, being able to skip music and make phone calls from the dash is great. The heated grips, cruise control (never thought I'd use it but its actually really useful in restricted limits) and hill hold are good too.
The seating position is really comfortable too. The seat itself is hewn from granite though. Im getting used to it but I've bought a standard seat for longer journeys.
With regard to power/performance, it's currently restricted so hits a limiter prior to the shift cam kicking but it's already fairly swift and I suspect it's going to be a bit bonkers when opened up properly.
Mods so far; evotech crash bungs and tail tidy, single seat cover and a Quadlock mount. Might swap some of the very cheap feeling black plastics for carbon at some point.
Anyway, some photos from when I collected it:
Dave
Old bike: 2015 R1. Fairly modified with regards to fuellinf, exhaust, brakes etc to improve some well documented flaws.
New bike: 2021 S1000RR M pack. Bought new, did around 500 miles in the first week. It's still locked to 8k rpm until the first service in a couple of weeks.
Comparison
Short version; its superior to the R1 in every single way except for maybe seat comfort.
Long version; the handling is superb, effortless even, the fuelling is incredible compared to the R1, even though I spent a small fortune trying to rectify the snappy on/off throttle behaviour. Even then it was so bad I found myself having to fractionally crack the throttle prior to tipping into a bend as otherwise if I opened it at the apex it was so snappy it destabilisd the bike and made it feel horrible. The BMW can be trail braked right into the corner, let off, tip in and then drive out. Beautifully smooth.
The suspension is way more compliant too and the brakes are superb also. The R1 had an RCS19 master cylinder and race pads but the standard BMW brakes are still far better.
The connectivity is excellent. A little slow to connect to my phone and intercom maybe but nothing major. Once it's connected, being able to skip music and make phone calls from the dash is great. The heated grips, cruise control (never thought I'd use it but its actually really useful in restricted limits) and hill hold are good too.
The seating position is really comfortable too. The seat itself is hewn from granite though. Im getting used to it but I've bought a standard seat for longer journeys.
With regard to power/performance, it's currently restricted so hits a limiter prior to the shift cam kicking but it's already fairly swift and I suspect it's going to be a bit bonkers when opened up properly.
Mods so far; evotech crash bungs and tail tidy, single seat cover and a Quadlock mount. Might swap some of the very cheap feeling black plastics for carbon at some point.
Anyway, some photos from when I collected it:
Dave
Mr Squarekins said:
Nice. - and congrats. I test rode one recently. Liked it and will probably buy one at the back end of winter.
Keep an eye on the carbon wheels. My dealer tells me that they've changed a few under warranty.
Thanks, I'll keep an eye on them, they are a concern!!Keep an eye on the carbon wheels. My dealer tells me that they've changed a few under warranty.
Strangely I didn't gel with the demo bike, roads were crap and I was left very underwhelmed but I took a chance and after a few miles I absolutely love it.
That looks lovely! I hope you have many happy miles together.R1 Dave said:
Mr Squarekins said:
Nice. - and congrats. I test rode one recently. Liked it and will probably buy one at the back end of winter.
Keep an eye on the carbon wheels. My dealer tells me that they've changed a few under warranty.
Thanks, I'll keep an eye on them, they are a concern!!Keep an eye on the carbon wheels. My dealer tells me that they've changed a few under warranty.
Strangely I didn't gel with the demo bike, roads were crap and I was left very underwhelmed but I took a chance and after a few miles I absolutely love it.
Keep us all posted about how you get on. Exciting times for you!
Mr Squarekins said:
R1 Dave said:
Mr Squarekins said:
Nice. - and congrats. I test rode one recently. Liked it and will probably buy one at the back end of winter.
Keep an eye on the carbon wheels. My dealer tells me that they've changed a few under warranty.
Thanks, I'll keep an eye on them, they are a concern!!Keep an eye on the carbon wheels. My dealer tells me that they've changed a few under warranty.
Strangely I didn't gel with the demo bike, roads were crap and I was left very underwhelmed but I took a chance and after a few miles I absolutely love it.
Keep us all posted about how you get on. Exciting times for you!
Great bike. Just keep in mind peak revs in 3rd and you're way into licence losing territory, so high do these bikes rev.
The S1000RR was a landmark on arrival because it re-wrote 1,000cc performance in several ways. Which in turn forced the other makers to significantly up their game, notably the R1 and GSXR1000, plus the 'blade.
The first litre bike to have a stroke less than 50mm, barely more than most 750s at the time. Testers wondered if that would make it feel like a race tuned engine with wild cams but in fact it had stronger shove from low and mid than most rivals at the time, then cleared off with the high rev ability. The other 1000 makers had to act.
The new one you have revs even higher than the first bike and i would say is pretty much perfection if there is such a thing in super sports motorcycling. Way better than 99 % of us could use! How Fogarty in his day would have loved one of these!
On paper my Ducati is very similar to your bike. The BMW has 212 bhp and 83 ft lbs and weighs 197 kgs wet. The 1299 has 205 bhp and 105 ft lbs and weighs 188 kgs wet. Pretty darn even.
But the S1000RR in reality is the quicker bike, revs quicker, the lower torque figure not a player when you're riding flat out and the bike will be far easier to ride in general. It won't have the quirks and irks and annoyances like every Ducati i've owned either.
I ride this bike because i adore the sound, it's the best looking super sports by far and the mid-range tug feels and sounds so good it makes you want to just use third gear from 3 to 10,000 rpm over and over again. Almost 1300cc from just 2 cylinders is a bit bonkers, but then it has no frame so is a bit mad anyway.
Congratulations on your purchase, along with the amazing 1103cc V4 Ducati you have 1 of the best 2 sports bikes ever made.
The S1000RR was a landmark on arrival because it re-wrote 1,000cc performance in several ways. Which in turn forced the other makers to significantly up their game, notably the R1 and GSXR1000, plus the 'blade.
The first litre bike to have a stroke less than 50mm, barely more than most 750s at the time. Testers wondered if that would make it feel like a race tuned engine with wild cams but in fact it had stronger shove from low and mid than most rivals at the time, then cleared off with the high rev ability. The other 1000 makers had to act.
The new one you have revs even higher than the first bike and i would say is pretty much perfection if there is such a thing in super sports motorcycling. Way better than 99 % of us could use! How Fogarty in his day would have loved one of these!
On paper my Ducati is very similar to your bike. The BMW has 212 bhp and 83 ft lbs and weighs 197 kgs wet. The 1299 has 205 bhp and 105 ft lbs and weighs 188 kgs wet. Pretty darn even.
But the S1000RR in reality is the quicker bike, revs quicker, the lower torque figure not a player when you're riding flat out and the bike will be far easier to ride in general. It won't have the quirks and irks and annoyances like every Ducati i've owned either.
I ride this bike because i adore the sound, it's the best looking super sports by far and the mid-range tug feels and sounds so good it makes you want to just use third gear from 3 to 10,000 rpm over and over again. Almost 1300cc from just 2 cylinders is a bit bonkers, but then it has no frame so is a bit mad anyway.
Congratulations on your purchase, along with the amazing 1103cc V4 Ducati you have 1 of the best 2 sports bikes ever made.
KurtFlew said:
Lovely bike. I had a 2 hour test ride on a sport model back in 2019 and loved it....except the bar vibrations, bit I'd get used to it. The power was incredible and the bike was comfy which was surprising.
I've heard it's very vibey but mine doesn't seem that bad, maybe it's just worse at higher revs which I haven't yet been able to experience or maybe it's just because the CP4 engine in the R1 was fairly 'characterful'. WolfAir said:
congratulations, absolutely superb bike.
time to change the name, s1000 dave
A V4 Panigale was also a consideration. My top 3 were R1M, V4 Pani and the BMW. In the end the BMW made the best sense to me and happened to be significantly less money too so it was a no-brainer. time to change the name, s1000 dave
BroadsRS6 said:
Will you get an aftermarket exhaust for it? 2 people i know with the earlier version (2015 and 2016) say it made a nice difference to sound and power delivery.
This is a quandary I'm coming facing. On the R1 I had an Akrapovic with decat link pipe but it made it horrendously obnoxiously loud, to the point I couldn't use the bike for work (shift worker) as it was just too anti social to use it early/late when people would be sleeping. I'm keen to avoid that situation this time but the issue is that all the silencing on modern bikes seems to be in the cat. If I remove that then I'll need to remap it. I did that with the R1 but the stock fuelling made it practically unrideable whereas the BMWs is lovely and smooth as standard.So in short, I'll probably replace the end can but it's a case of finding one that's actually any louder without being too loud if I later remove the cat.
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