BMW Motorrad has just released its numbers for last year, and the Bavarian brand is showing some strong results in 2010, especially considering the double-digit slogging most other companies took. With sales up 12% globally, BMW sold 98,047 motorcycles in 2010 compared to the 87,306 units it sold in 2009 (that’s a 10,741 unit difference).

Of the motorcycles sold in last year, the R1200GS remained the globally best selling unit within the brand (accounting for 18,768 units worldwide), and was followed by the R1200GS Adventure (11,648 units), R1200RT (11,132 units), and the S1000RR (10,209 units).

Perhaps the most striking news though is the fact that the new S1000RR superbike dominated liter bike sales in the United States, and even outsold the R1200GS here domestically, making 2010 a very successful year for BMW not only on the balance sheet, but also as proof that the Germans can sell bikes that aren’t featured in Long Way Around.

If you weren’t a product of the first .com boom, then you probably won’t get this reference (Google it), but that’s ok as this latest video from the makers of the Ultimate Driving Machine should pretty much explain itself. Still the king of horsepower in the United States (the ZX-10R will be de-tuned upon import to the USA), the BMW S1000RR shows off its mad power yo, and supplants the <<insert Japanese motorcycle name here>> as the bike of choice amongst the burn-out loving stuntah crowd (although, when was the last time you saw a gathering of BMW’s stunting in an industrial park?).

If that’s too much teenage angst for you, then here is a lovely viral video by BMW that uses some light humor to promote its new S1000RR superbike.

Source: Real Ultimate Power

Named after the poison used by Brazilian Indians to tip their arrow with for hunting, the Wunderlich Curarê is the German tuning house’s take on the BMW S1000RR. Clad in the blue and orange colors of Gulf Oil Racing and plenty of carbon fiber and titanium, the Wunderlich Curarê is mix of something new with something old, and celebrates 25 years of the company’s business. Making only modest performance enhancements to the S1000RR, Wundrlich has instead focused its efforts on improving the bikes ergonomics and aesthetics (they left the winking headlight in though). Photos and more after the jump.

When the guidelines for the 2012 MotoGP season were released, a new class of motorcycle was allowed entry into the top series of motorcycle racing. Allowing the use of production-based motors in prototype chassis, claiming rule teams will be able to enter into the series theoretically for much less money than non-factory teams could in the past, which is a move by Dorna to bolster the GP grid size.

One of the first firms to jump on the opportunity is Suter Racing Technology, the maker of one of the more popular chassis being used in Moto2 this season. Using a BMW S1000RR motor as the power plant, the prototype race bike is based heavily off Suter’s MMX Moto2 bike.

The FIM has announced that BMW has homologated a new crankshaft design for World Superbike and World Superstock racing. Effective since June 10th, the new crankshaft, much like the Aprilia RSV4′s upgraded camshaft, could be part of the equation for BMW’s recent success in WSBK, and continued domination in STK1000.

Eskil Suter is a popular man in the Moto2 paddock. Not only is his Moto2 chassis one of the cheapest, but it’s also one of the best performing units. It should be no surprise then that his Moto2 solution (shown above) is one of the most popular in the race series, and Suter sees that as a great jumping off point to enter back into the MotoGP fray (Suter helped engineer the Kawasaki ZX-RR, the Ilmor X3, and the Petronas FP1 SBK race bikes).

With the MotoGP rules in 2012 to allow for claiming rule teams, the door has been opened for a Moto2 styled team (production motor in a prototype frame) to play with the big boys. Suter for his part is looking to draw on his current chassis success, and base his design around the very potent BMW S1000RR motor. The result should be a fairly inexpensive solution to a high-performance race bike as the S1000RR has been popping up on the internet with 190hp stock.

Ever since early reports on the 2010 BMW S1000RR suggested that the German superbike was making a claimed 190hp at the crank, the Bavarian bike sounded like a true contender against the Japanese dominated  market. Then when we heard that BMW may have been sandbagging those figures, and bikes were popping up wtih 190hp at the crank, it definitely piqued our interest.

With disbelief we weren’t sure what to make of the new BMW, and it seem we’re in the same boat as the folks over at MotoBlog.it, as they’ve gotten their hands on a S1000RR and put it on a DynoJet to see for themselves what the bike could do. The result? 191hp. Check the video after the jump

We here at Asphalt & Rubber love Leslie Porterfield. She’s the Queen of Speed, Maven of Two Wheels, and Temptress of the Salts. OK, ok, she’s also blonde and leggy, and while the prior titles are important it’s this latter quality that photographer Markus Hofmann was after when he took Porterfield to BMW’s wind testing facility outside of Munich, Germany. You may remember Hofmann from such other confusing couture meets motorcycle Bavarian ad campaigns as cheetahs with models, helicopters with…well…more models that feature the 2010 BMW S1000RR.

You may remember the cult motorcycle YouTube classic “BMW S1000RR Titanium Valves at 14,200 RPM“, well now we have a sequel to that movie. Showing the BMW’s titanium valves from a cylinder’s point of view, this S1000RR is rev’d through the rpm range with interesting results.

Because of the shutter effect on the video recorder we see the valves go through their motions until finally seemingly stopping as the shutter rate and valve moment go out of sync and re-sync. If you ever wanted to know what was going on inside you bike, here’s a good start on the subject. Video after the jump.

AC Schnitzer is better known in the automotive world for making fine BMW parts and automobiles, but the little German tuning shop also tries its hand at motorcycles from time to time. Unfortunately the company’s prowess at making four-wheeled BMW’s look good and run fast does not translate over well to its two-wheel endeavors. A great example of this is the disappointment we had with the recently released 2010 AC Schnitzer BWM S1000RR, which leaves us here at A&R wanting more schnitzel and less Schnitzer in our Bavarian bikes.