OLD VERSUS NEW

BMW S 1000 RR VS S 1000 RR: GEN 1

- BRUCE

BMW S 1000 RR

Just how much have sportsbikes changed over 13 years?

Like most of our tests, this one came about following a casual conversation. Johnny and I were nattering about iconic sportsbikes, and it didn’t take long before BMW’s very first S 1000 RR was thrown into the mix. Its arrival on the scene in late 2009 created a massive stir, breaking the confines of convention and setting a new standard and expectation for sportsbikes thereafter. BMW achieved the unthinkable, launching a box-fresh wonder weapon that produced more power than its Japanese rivals, featured more tech, and dispatched the German brand of its ‘pipe and slippers’ affiliation. It was a watershed moment, and as we harked on about our first rides and memories from 13 years earlier, we figured there was no better time to get the bike back in the mag so we could see how this gamechanger had weathered.

Were we just banging on with rose-tinted, nostalgia-fuelled glasses? Or was this machine the timeless centrepiece we still believed it to be? As luck would have it, Johnny had a mate who owned an absolutely mint original version, with just a few thousand miles on the clock. He’d also just taken delivery on his long-term 2023 model S 1000 RR… and the rest is history. A date was set, a shoot was arranged, and the only thing missing was Johnny, who’d had to head off to the NorthWest for road racing duties. Which is another way of explaining how Tim and I lucked in on this shootout, pitching old against new to settle whether what we had way-back-when could even hold a candle against the latest and greatest Bahnstormer from Bavaria. Here’s what we made of them…