help!! - thinking of going BMW S1000RR

yo,

bought the SD in April 2010, since then done loads of work including all the usual stuff, toured a few times and fair play the bike is great beyond belief. amazing torque and through the pyrenees an absolute gem.

I just cant ignore the fact that i feel the need for something different, i'm from SA and the SD was the first road bike i owned, as my love affair with bikes since the age of 5 has always been dirt.

Ride with a crew that all ride old shool Z1000's, amazing riders and have learnt a hell of a lot off them. whenever we arrange a ride out, and superbikes come along, its always the naked bikes of the crew waiting at the end of the A/B road and the subsequent sports bike riders that cant corner that come in last.

anyway, my dilemma is that my SD delivers most of its power around 7/8k rpm judging from an awesome dyno i had done, rev limiter 10k. i want something more after this thrill which is leading me to want a sports bike. i guess its like a drug and my fix isn't being met anymore. I get great thrills out of wheelies, but that too is not giving me a buzz anymore.

My mates (z1000 crew) who are all in bike related jobs, all say that the S1000RR for me would be the death of me. Because most of my bike riding has been dirt i really feel the need to go on the journey of sports bike in order to see what its like.

Dont get me wrong, i'm no fool or idiot, but i feel the need for speed.

HELP!!!

I

Have you ever tried one? If not, go for a test ride if that's possible. Maybe that wil tell you more.

You already have an answer for your question. Buy it, bikes are for fun not for keeping forever.

Check your local laws for riding over the ton, cause thats were you will be ridding. We loose the bike, get a big fine and possable slammer time in Oregon. You might want to school your self with some track classes. Maybe it's time for you to get a track bike and stay out of jail and possible live longer. I been around long e-nuf to have gone thru all that. One of the things my buds and I noted was a lot of people are fast, untill the crash. Wow, that guy is a fast street rider. Ya, he has not crashed yet.

agreed, sound advice!!!

although i dont appear to learn by mistakes, came off the SD last summer. broke neck snowboarding in march, booked up to do a sesh in January

Getting back up after you fall and not learning are two completely different things my man.

I say go for it. I bought my SD after my Daytona 675 got stolen. I wanted something I could do some longer rides on and the Daytona was very cramped. But it was my first big bike, my first true love and I only had it four months. A lot of the guys I ride with are sporties and I miss my baby dearly! At the end of the day it doesnt matter if you get to the end of the twisties first or last as long as your having fun doing it.

Rode a mates R1 the other day and it made me realise that sportsbikes are, for me, not a 1 bike only bike. But it also reaffirmed that I want to get a supersport again. So similar to the advice above I am going to save my little ass off and get a track bike, most likely a Daytona.

Buy the S1000r but keep the SD if you can. Maybe you ride it on the road for a while then track it, or maybe you sell it. Whatever the result its the journey that counts. As I've said before lifes to short to own just one bike!

I agree with what others have said re. keeping the SD if possible.

I would suggest a key factor in your decision may be how much you enjoy track riding. It would not be safe to exploit the upper reaches of the S1000RR's performance on the roads on a regular basis. You would be at considerable risk of jail/serious injury.

If you're just after a trump card for the pub argument about who's got the fastest maybe this doesn't matter to you, but your first post suggested that you're the kind of guy who likes to ride to the bike's full potential.

Good luck whatever you decide and if in doubt...buy it

Easy......test ride it.....if you like it buy it

Alot of the fun with the SD is you can thrash the nuts off it.... the same speed on the S1000RR will feel lke you are not using it

Buzz thought he could ride the nut's off one , and look what happened to him,,,,,

The last bike I owned before taking a 3 year break from riding was a Hayabusa, which replaced an FZ1 that I'd bought and quickly (within 2 weeks) traded in on the Busa. All I can say now is that I'd rather ride a slow bike fast, than a fast bike slow, especially on the street. I agree that track days are (hopefully) in your future. We just got 10 cm of snow, so looks like my riding is done for the season. That's gonna make my SD seem pretty quick (to me) in the spring. Probably want a Duc Streetfighter by fall though...

I Traded in my '07 geared down R1 for the SDR. Have to say I do miss it for certain areas of riding but not everything.

I guess you need both. If you can afford it.

But then I would also like an SMC R as well for other rides.

SDR is the best compromise I can afford.

Your post is bothersome to me. The word "Help" for starters. Then your reply makes me belive you are not grasping the true meaning of what a super bike is about. I am taking a SWAG that you have less then 15K street miles under your belt. That is nothing. We are not talking about snow boarding here. We are talking 180 plus MPH super bikes. I am saying flat out, you don't have e-nuf experence for that kind of bike. That is something you build up to. Yes, there are some out there who can handle that kind of power, but I am not getting that from you.
I feel I need to say this, because we all have different learned experiences and skills. Some better than others. We all can not do what some others can.

I had a rider follow me down a mountian who thought he could go as fast as I can. He found out the hard way. He wraped him self around a tree. He passed on. I had to sit in front of his mom and tell her what happned to him and why it did not happen to me. This is serrious shit man, and I hope like hell you take it serious. Your life dependes on it and maybe others.

"My mates (z1000 crew) who are all in bike related jobs, all say that the S1000RR for me would be the death of me."
Time to listen to your mates.

Sorry for the buzz kill guys, but it's something I had to do.

Didn't "Buzz" hit the back of a lory and for some reason I remember pic's of him getting picked up and put into a ambi,,,,got to figure out search and find it,,,,,,

Definitely ride a sportsbike (race replica) on the street before buying one. A great deal of compromise is needed to enjoy riding these machines that are not designed for public roads. For some this compromise is part of what makes them desirable. Others this makes them feel like riding a motorcycle requires too much effort and they lose interest in motorcycling all together.

I race a CBR1000, it is definitely not my favorite bike but in its element (the racetrack on a good day when I am mentally and physically prepared) yields the most breathtaking fun short of losing your virginity. The problem is making the moments where I am prepared to hop aboard this fire breathing monster and stay on top. Basically it's a handful to ride and not fun outside of ideal conditions. The SD is a much better all arounder, especially when comparing these bikes on the street. If you want to go fast, go faster. The SD doesn't give up much to a litre bike below 120mph. litre bikes aren't much fun to ride below 120mph. The power delivery of the inline 4 vs a vtwin is one of the major differences. There's a reason I've owned twice as many twins as inlines...

Well, the last few posts kinda said what needed to be said. I've owned everything from a Honda 50 to the S1000RR and its truly in a class by itself. It really fooks up my timing. It accelerates so quickly and smoothly, its pretty easy to get in over your head. It has pretty awesome nannies to keep you upright, but they will not bail you out if you overshoot your turn in / braking points etc.

On the SD, I tended to brake late and trail into the turns. With the S1000RR,I'm arriving at my old braking points carrying anywhere from 20 to 60 mph more than the SD and my tired old brain has a tough time dealing with that, especially at 150-160 mph on the track. For me, its easier to control at those speeds than the SD was, but I can't negotiate the tight stuff as quickly as I could on the SD, because it just doesn't flick like the SD. It takes some muscle to get it turned (at least the way its set up now). And again, timing is more critical.

I probably should add something about the nannies.

TC: TC is kind of a misnomer. The only control you have over traction is that you can't spin the rear tyre using the throttle. You can still bin it in the rain and on sand or gravel if you push beyond the limits of grip. It also gets pissed off if you jump the bike. It really doesn't know how to interpret both wheels being off the ground and makes for harsh landings. My old GSXR 750 was much more fun to jump bridges.

ABS. ABS is pretty cool. I only activated it once. I was trying to find my braking markers at the track and overshot where I wanted to start braking and grabbed a handful of front brake at about 150 mph. I felt the back lift, the brake released slightly and the back sat back down with no drama. I thought that was pretty cool. I don't usually panic, but I did this time when I grabbed a handful. I'm not sure I would have had the composure to let off the brake on my own when the rear lifted. It probably saved my bacon.

Wheelie control. When you pin the throttle, the bike will wheelie in 1st through 4th gears. (I haven't had the balls to try fifth or sixth). The front lifts very quickly and the wheelie control activates immediately. By the time I realise the bike has wheelied, the nannies have already set it down. If you keep it pinned long enough, it will pogo down the track until you upshift. I think its fun, but if you like long, sky high wheelies, this is not the bike for you - unless you turn the TC off.

Nobody really mentioned it, but you could kill two birds with one stone and get a real feel for the S1000RR if you booked a day with California Superbike School.

Do it and flog the hell out of it on the track. Who knows? Maybe you'll bin it and end up racing...