It's a sure sign of the times when speed guru Keith Code announces a switch from Kawasakis to BMWs at his California Superbike School.
"We are proud to offer our students training on this spectacular motorcycle," his website proclaims (highlighting the last two words in red), and he's not the only one to praise the Beemer; hyperbolic raves have been flowing from bike journos since the German bike's recent introduction at the Portimao circuit in Portugal. Roadracing World says Keith has "no hard feelings" towards Kawasaki, which reportedly discontinued their sponsorship as a cost cutting measure.
As previously reported, the BMW S1000RR's $13,800 price triggered the opposite type of sticker shock we've come to expect from Bavarian Motor Works; despite a best-in-class horsepower figure of 193 and available goodies like traction control and ABS, the S1000RR is priced right in line with literbike flagships from Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha.
Sportbike sales may be in the toilet, but BMW is making it an exceptionally interesting time to duke it out in the literbike market.
Source: Roadracing World
Related:
- BMW S1000RR Photo Gallery
- U.S. Pricing Announced for BMW S1000RR: Cheaper Than You Think
- BMW Shows Off Superbike, F1 Machines by Swapping Troy Corser and Nick Heidfeld at Nürburgring
- BMW S1000RR Race Bike Photo Gallery
Photo © BMW
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To go from a 600cc supersport to a 1000cc supersport is quite a leap – especially one as potent as a S1000RR with upwards of 165rwhp.
Be interesting to see how they do with these bikes. The KTM school uses RC8 and Super Duke 990s but I don’t think there is any school that uses such powerful bikes as school bikes.
Corser & Xaus told any one who’d listen that they really liked theirs. I’m a little surprised they didn’t have a better showing,even if it was their 1st year out.
Maybe the budget got cut a bit more than planned.
Be interesting to see how 2010 goes for them. There’s certainly no lack of racing heritage or experience.