BMW Motorrad Archives - Page 31 of 32

News

BMW Makes ABS Standard on All 2012 Models

By Jensen Beeler 04/19/2011 4 Comments

Another cog in the wheel has turned, bringing us closer to complete adoption of anti-lock brakes as standard equipment on motorcycles, as BMW Motorrad USA has announced that all 2012 BMW motorcycles will come standard with ABS. It was 23 years ago that BMW brought the technology to motorcycles, so it seems only fitting that the company would be the first to implement the technology across its full line-up.

To the chagrin of some motorcycle enthusiasts, ABS has slowly seen its way onto a variety of motorcycles over the years, including the sportbike segment. It seems only a matter of time before it becomes standard across all manufacturers, not just BMW Motorrad.

“Plain and simple, being able to stop a motorcycle faster and more predictably helps prevent a rider from becoming a statistic,” said Pieter de Waal, Vice President, BMW Motorrad USA. “It’s time for all of us in the motorcycle industry to embrace the benefits of ABS. Extensive testing by safety experts, law enforcement authorities and journalists around the world consistently demonstrates that ABS reduces overall crashes and saves lives.”

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News

BMW Motorrad Posts Best Quarterly Sales Ever

By Jensen Beeler 04/08/2011 13 Comments

The BMW Group has released sales information for its motorcycle sales in Q1 of 2011, and the results are impressive. Posting its best quarter ever, BMW Motorrad sold 23,109 motorcycles in the first three months of this year, up nearly 11% from last year’s figures. True to trend, but still interesting enough, March lead the quarter, accounting for nearly half (11,675) of those sales for BMW (January had impressive numbers too though). BMW doesn’t state which models are responsible for this record number of sales, but educated guess would again suggest the hot S1000RR superbike and K16000-series tourer, along with the always well-sold R1200GS.

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News

BMW Motorrad Posts 22.5% Sales Increase for February

By Jensen Beeler 03/09/2011 2 Comments

BWM Motorrad continues to post impressive sales growth numbers for its product line, and is making a strong showing for 2011 already. With sales up 22.5% last month compared to the same time period in 2010, BMW sold over 6,700 motorcycles in February. BMW-owned Husqvarna posted even stronger numbers than its parent company, with sales up 47% for the same time period, and selling just over 900 motorcycles last month.

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News

WSBK: Vets & Rookies Mix It Up for Race 2 at Phillip Island

By Victoria Reid 02/26/2011 1 Comment

Sunday dawned a damp Phillip Island for the opening round of World Superbike racing, after a clear week of testing and practices which were all dominated by Carlos Checa. The Spaniard won pole on Saturday, though reigning champion Max Biaggi’s improvement through the weekend brought his qualifying time to within .013s of Checa’s. Sylvain Guintoli and Leon Haslam were next to the veterans on the front row.

Both were also fast in the damp morning warm-up, though Australian Troy Corser was fastest in the changed conditions, with Checa was tenth fastest. It was dry and sunny by race time rolled around for Race 1, though the sky had turned grey for Sunday’s second race. To see how the riders adapted to the changed weather for Race 2, continue reading after the jump.

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Racing

WSBK: One Man Show for Race 1 at Phillip Island

By Victoria Reid 02/26/2011 4 Comments

Carlos Checa started the season-opening round of World Superbike racing at Phillip Island on pole, having dominated testing and the weekend. Reigning champion Max Biaggi started alongside him, finally bearing his #1 championship plate, having posted a qualifying time just .013s slower than Checa’s. Completing the front row were Sylvain Guintoli and Leon Haslam, both quick in the dry times from Saturday’s qualifying.

Conditions on Sunday led to some shake-ups in the order for the morning warm-up, as overnight rain dampened the track. Australian Troy Corser led those times, followed by Guintoli, Jakub Smrz, Haslam, and the injured Jonathan Rea. Chris Vermeulen was unable to race at Phillip Island after failing to pass the physical due to a slow recovery from knee surgery. To find out who dominated Phillip Island Race 1, continue reading after the jump.

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Bikes

BMW S1000RR Superstock Limited Edition

By Jensen Beeler 02/23/2011 5 Comments

To help celebrate Ayrton Badovini’s complete domination of the 2010 FIM Superstock 1000 Championship (the Italian won nine out of the ten races, finishing second only in the tenth race), BMW Italia is releasing a limited edition BMW S1000RR street version of the winning superstock bike.

With only 50 units being made, and available only in Italy, lucky owners will get the already potent S1000RR, along with a bevy of aftermarket goodies like a Akrapovic “Racing Exhaust” (pictures show a slip-on though), Gilles Tooling rearsets and levers, carbon fiber panels, LED turn signals, and of course BMW Italia’s racing colors.

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News

Confirmed: 2012 Husqvarna Street Bike to Debut at EICMA

By Jensen Beeler 02/22/2011 12 Comments

Husky fans are going to have something to talk about for the next 8 months as BMW Motorrad VP Hermann Bohrer has confirmed that the Husqvarna brand would be dipping its toe into the street bike waters with a new bike launching at EICMA later this year. Said to have German technology with Italian design, the new Husky will be a middleweight adventure bike that features a BMW F800GS parallel-twin motor that’s been increased to 900cc in displacement, which makes it not too dissimilar from the Husqvarna Mille 3 concept (shown above) we saw last year at the Italian trade show.

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News

BMW Motorcycle Sales Up 24% in January

By Jensen Beeler 02/08/2011 4 Comments

Monthly sales reports are becoming a more common occurrence from motorcycle OEMs who are actually starting to crawl out of the lower circles of motorcycle industry hell (makes you wonder about the companies not making press releases though, huh?), and accordingly BMW has posted its January 2011 numbers, which shockingly again show strong figures. Selling 4,714 units in January 2011, BMW Motorrad posted a 23.6% sales increase over January 2009’s numbers (3.814 units). Achtung!

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Racing

Corser Sits Out Testing After Crash at Phillip Island

By Victoria Reid 02/04/2011 1 Comment

Troy Corser was forced to sit out the second day of testing for BMW Motorrad at Phillip Island after a crash Wednesday left him heavily bruised. The team was testing at Phillip Island after skipping the official World Superbike test at Portimao in favor of warmer climes, first at Eastern Creek and now at Phillip Island in Australia. Though the team said the test was satisfactory, any crash major enough to force a rider to sit out a day of testing can be worrisome. He is apparently fine, but had “painful bruises” that kept him from riding effectively.

That crash left Leon Haslam to do the bulk of testing for his new team. “We were still focusing on electronics and worked on a setup for this race track,” Haslam explained. “This was important as in three weeks time we are going to have our first races of the season here. We have already found a good base to work on. I am happy; we made some good progress. My lap times were quite good for these hot conditions. Of course we still have some work to do before the season starts but I am happy with the progress we made so far. The bike improved a lot in the last month.”

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News

BMW S1000RR Outsells the R1200GS in the US for 2010

By Jensen Beeler 01/19/2011 7 Comments

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.

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Racing

WSBK: BMW Motorrad Italia Launches in Monza

By Victoria Reid 01/17/2011 4 Comments

BMW Italy launched its satellite team at Monza on Monday, which will see James Toseland partnering with WSBK rookie Ayrton Badovini, on BMWs that are only barely removed from the factory effort. According to Bernhard Godmayer, Head of BMW Motorrad Motorsport, “Now we can count on two teams, and we want to establish an excellent relationship between them, allowing for a constant exchange of data.

The German engineers will have a chance to compare themselves to the Italian engineers, and vice versa. The first step in development will be given to the factory team, and once it is tested and approved, it will be passed on to the Italian team.”

As such the major engine development for the BMW Superbike effort will fall on factory riders Troy Corser and Leon Haslam. Toseland is on his second season back in WSBK after a failed effort in the satellite Monster Yamaha Tech3 MotoGP squad. His experience and double world championships should help BMW in its effort to improve beyond what Godmayer called the team’s “not satisfactory” 2010 season.

BMW approved this Italian arm of the BMW Superbike effort on September 21st, according to team director Andrea Buzzoni, in an effort to improve the company’s overall standings in World Superbike.

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