Elite Fleet

BMW wheels out its very biggest guns to the Aussie press in an epic trip to take on Tassie’s challenging tarmac

- Amy Harburg

How do you test four different bikes at once? Easy. Deploy them all to Tasmania. In Australian terms Tasmania is motorcycling heaven. Endless good-quality roads, enough twisties to keep you amused for days, and amazing scenery. It seems BMW agrees, recently holding a press launch of four new models there.

In the platoon of bikes to test were the 1000cc triplets of the S 1000 XR, S 1000 R, and the insane S 1000 RR. Added into that mix was the sergeant major of touring bikes, the K 1600 GT. BMW provided the option to ride the old model as a direct comparison to the new model. All the new models included the addition of a Euro 4 Emission-class engine, a few more horsepower and Dynamic Traction Control (DTC). In the case of the S 1000 XR, this is all that differed from the old model — well that and a new colour scheme.

Now while these upgrades are actually significant changes, they might be easily overlooked — that is unless you put the old model and the new model side by side. So that is exactly what they did. This was going to require a planned strategy. First ride the old, then hop straight over to the new. Well, that was the plan anyway.

It’s no secret that I’m not a knee down sports bike rider, so when I found myself first up on the S 1000 RR, I have to admit my heart skipped a beat. I had been hoping to ease myself into the two days of testing on the S 1000 XR, but hey, when you’re presented with the opportunity to ride a “double R” you take it, right?