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Video: BMW S1000R vs. BMW M3

By Jensen Beeler 05/02/2011 17 Comments

Ah, the age old question of which is faster: a car or a motorcycle? We’ve seen the answer debated countless times on internet forums to no avail, and it seems at some point every publication in both the two-wheeled and four-wheeled realms tackles this issue in their own way. BMW recently took up the challenge to see which was faster, and the answer was painfully simple: the BMW…we jest.

Here’s the setup though, two of BMW’s fastest machines, a BMW M3 & BMW S1000RR, start at opposite ends of an unknown course. Unleashing their beasts at the same time, they lap until one catches the other, thus definitively faster. Sounds simple enough, right? There is a kicker though: part-way through, it starts raining. Make your guesses now as to whom won the race, and watch it unfold after the jump. Thanks for the tip Craig!

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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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Racing

Veneman Replaces Toseland for Home WSBK at Assen

By Victoria Reid 04/06/2011 No Comments

Barry Veneman will replace the injured James Toseland at BMW Motorrad Italia for the World Superbike round at Assen. Toseland had surgery to implant wires in his wrist after a testing crash at Motorland Aragon left him with displaced bones and a lack of blood flow. With the surgery requiring at least six weeks of recovery time, Toseland was forced to sit out Donington Park and the next WSBK round at Assen. BMW Motorrad Italia did not replace Toseland for Donington, but has announced Dutch rider Veneman as the Briton’s replacement for the round held April 17th.

Veneman, who competed in 500cc MotoGP racing back in 2001, was a promising rider in Supersport and Superstock racing. He won a Dutch national championship in the mid-1990s, and much more recently he won the 2010 Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race with Suzuki. Not only a local to the Assen circuit, Veneman has been racing a BMW Superbike in the German national championship as well as participating in BMW Motorrad testing.

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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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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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Banter

Wherever You Want to Go, Part 3: Reinventing Mobility

By Jensen Beeler 02/18/2011 2 Comments

In this third video of four (see Part 1 & 2 here), BMW sat down some experts to talk about how mobility will change in the future. It’s funny to hear the issues the different sides propose and talk about in regards to automobiles, as they’re the very same sort of subjects we’ve talked about on Asphalt & Rubber in regards to motorcycles.

Some of the key debates explored in Part 3 of the Wherever You Want to Go series include vehicles as purely a form transportation, the “three internets”, the rise of electric vehicles, and of course whether the future of mobility will be fun. There are valid points all around the table in this video, and almost all of it applies to the future of motorcycles (except maybe the automated land train thing…we don’t see that working for two-wheeled machines). Check it out after the jump, and chew on it over the long weekend.

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Banter

Wherever You Want to Go – BMW Looks at the Future of Transportation and Personal Mobility

By Jensen Beeler 02/09/2011 4 Comments

BMW is halfway through releasing a four-part video on the future of transportation, which explores a multitude of ideas including infrastructure, city dwelling, personal transport, population growth, and the environment. BMW obviously is approaching the issue with its automotive hat squarely on its head, and doesn’t directly deal with motorcycles, but when you stop and think about it, cars and bikes are wrapped up in the same situation. While the only the first two videos have been released, there’s already some interesting concepts to think about.

While we wait for Part 3 (Feb. 15th) and Part 4 (Feb. 22nd), chew on these facts and figures: over 50% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, automobiles are parked about 90% of the time, and there’s roughly five parking spots for every car (that’s 1,500 sqft of space just for a single car!). It sure seems like motorcycles could help solve that utilization/space problem.

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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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News

BMW’s New Liquid-Cooled Boxer Spotted in the Wild

By Jensen Beeler 02/04/2011 5 Comments

The writing has been on the wall for some time for BMW to replace its air-cooled boxer twin with an updated liquid-cooled version, and that hallmark day appears to be coming, as SoloMoto (additional photos on their website) has captured the next-generation German motor out testing in the wild (enhanced photo above) on the Spanish roads near Tarragona. This photo appears to confirm reports that BMW is testing a new R1200GS model, which will feature the liquid-cooled boxer twin, and has obvious differences from its air-cooled predecessor.

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