50TH ANNIVERSARY M1000 RR
UP until the early 2000s, there was a real conundrum about BMW motorbikes. The German firm had been cranking out mega-powered nutter cars for years – including legendary 1500bhp turbocharged Formula One engines, Le Mans racers, and the mighty M-series of road cars (M standing for ‘Motorsport’).
Yet its bikes were, frankly, a bit pants when it came to going fast. Indeed, for the first decade of Fast Bikes’ existence, BMW’s bikes only really appeared on these pages to be mocked for their lardy, underpowered shaft-drive nature.
Of course, the K1200S and R put an end to all that in 2004, and the 2009 launch of the S1000 RR further established new BMW as a proper performance motorbike builder. The S1000 R, S1000 XR and even the latest Boxer range are all sweet wheels. And last year we finally got an M-series bike, the M1000 RR – a race homologation version of the S1000 RR with even sharper performance. And it was on an M1000 RR that Peter Hickman won three of his four TT races this year, taking the Superbike, Superstock and the Senior wins on the Gas Monkey FHO Racing BMW.
So, it’s great to see this special edition
