Late season race stuff...

[svoloch]

Love the paintjobs on those cars !!  Is that an old Bavaria with the slick tires & straight exhaust header ? pretty wild  !! 
Thanks for mining out those pix - fun stuff !!

As for shaft drive & telelever - it's just sad that the old Boxer Cup is gone, while we are moaning about the changes in racing. 
Shaft drive makes 'em too heavy to run with the other dawgs I guess ! 

not just weight.  the telelever and duolever frontends tend to really deaden feedback from the front tire.  I was commenting on it after test riding the K1200S, and the guy actually told me to just trust in the front end

Hopefully the rumored r1300r and s will surface...  it's a crime to not have a solid boxer in the lineup!!

[never2loud]

Look, the Germans made a Jap bike!! Reminds me of the Japs making an Italian bike (ie. RC51, TL1000R) a few years back.

http://www.cycleworld.com/article.asp?section_id=3&article_id=919

You know this new Beemer kind of reminds me of the in-line four cylinder Triumph Daytona TT of years back; not a bad bike, and not a bad price but it never came close to the factory sportbikes from the Japanese in terms of raw performance. 

I'm skeptical that the BMW will be competitive with the Japanese bikes, both on the street, or on the track, and I very seriously doubt they'll even be in the same ballpark price-wise. 

[fastwin]

You know, I'll bet they do well on the track but not the showroom. BMW has all sorts of talent in the F1 world that would easily transfer to MotoGP. But I think the BMW buying public would not go for a BMW/Jap in line 4 superbike. Maybe a few would but not a real base market that could sustain a line of basically German made in line four Jap SBKs. Ain't happening. BMW is weirding out over the four stroke dirt bike thing and now they are going after the Jap SBK market. I think they are spreading themsleves too thin. Time will tell. It will be fun to watch.

I go on record as saying maybe good on the track but sucks on the very expensive showroom. Not to mention the Aprilia SBK as the new kid on the block. It just doesn't get any better. We'll see.

[never2loud]

Speaking of F1, look at how many years it has taken Toyota to become competitive.  They said it would take at least three years, ended up taking four, and now at the end of the fourth are they able to finish a race in a points scoring position (points being awarded only to 8th place).

And once you factor in the crappy global economy, the timing of BMW's entry into WSBK racing couldn't be worse.

Don't get me wrong - I like BMWs and I love WSBK racing - but the timing for this whole thing has really gotta suck.  I wonder if "the down-turn"  will affect Ducati's race programs?

[fastwin]

This is kinda cool! Doesn't hurt that I am/was a huge Lawson fan. Maybe why I have his Kawi reps in the collection.

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=13126

[RED]

BMW since the late '70's has taken an alternate road to success in both racing and showroom competition. Having owned a BMW bike and racing Porsche's one gets it why they do what they do. To German engineers it's more a pure excersize in hardcore dependebility. The way they create things is amazing. I'm not sure where it came from but to perfect is almost not enough. If you've ever taken apart an quality German engineered machine and put it back to gether again you'd understand why they do what they do. They know how to get it right and make it work better than anyone.

You guys say they 'made a jap bike', come on...that's like saying that a Bentley is just a different Ford. If all the modern public knows is Japan-made products because it's what's affordable and 'everyone' uses them then I can understand leming mentality. If you go a little below the surface you'd see that BMW knows the multiple bore high-rev capabilities of inline 4 configuration and have taken it to the next level. The /7's were replaced by the K's, now the K's have evovled. I think that BMW's move into the SBK realm is just another natural progression and not a PR stunt. As far as the showroom competition goes, BMW already can't keep stock on the floor as it is. Can you find an HP around anywhere? I think they'll dominate on track or at least be very competitive in years to come with this bike. I know that I'd love to have one their SBK's in my garage!

[fastwin]

Been a Beemer fan for years. Had an '81 R100RS with Krauser 4 valve heads (it was the last one in existence that hadn't blown up when I sold it) and foolishly sold it for a then new '85 K100RS. It sucked. I lamented ever selling my well sorted R100RS. The K75 three banger was so much better than the K100. I finally found a replacement '83 R100RS locally that I still have in moth balls. It's even the same color as my '81 and has both dual and solo seats. Someday I'll find time to get it road worthy again. It was such a sweet sport tourer, solo or two up. Great fairing design. Worked really well in the rain. It was just an adjustment going from chain drive bikes to the rising/failing shaft drive syndrome.

[RED]

Been a Beemer fan for years. Had an '81 R100RS with Krauser 4 valve heads (it was the last one in existence that hadn't blown up when I sold it) and foolishly sold it for a then new '85 K100RS. It sucked. I lamented ever selling my well sorted R100RS. The K75 three banger was so much better than the K100. I finally found a replacement '83 R100RS locally that I still have in moth balls. It's even the same color as my '81 and has both dual and solo seats. Someday I'll find time to get it road worthy again. It was such a sweet sport tourer, solo or two up. Great fairing design. Worked really well in the rain. It was just an adjustment going from chain drive bikes to the rising/failing shaft drive syndrome.

Sweet mother of pearl, that RS was my dream for so very long. I'm talking 10 years I wanted one. I just couldn't bring myself to buy one. I had the 800 and it was more than cool for me and plenty powerful. But that RS stirred the blood when I looked at it. That bike is what I wanted my bike to be and it almost was just not as powerful. If you need some help getting that bad boy out of the garage please call me. I'll even lend my backside to the seat so it won't feel so neglected. You are so right about the touring. The K's have never been a fit with BMW to my thinking. But as I've heard the quality is there now and the power is good on the S.

[fastwin]

This goes in the "who gives a s#@t" category.

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=13142

[cdc]

This goes in the "who gives a s#@t" category.

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=13142

I can't agree more. 

cdc

[fastwin]

Hmmm, looks like Rossi will have Sete to kick around some more next year!!

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=34772

Wonder if there is a special clause in his contract for hair mousse???

[bryant8]

For those that don't venture to the "Racing & Trackday" section

Pics of Nicky on the GP09

[Duc L'Smart]

Mmmmm... Want one!

[Slag]

Too much like a candy cane 

[AndreRA3]

crash.net has a few good photos of the valencia test:






Takahashi




Canepa


Looking forward to see what Takahashi can do. Dovisioso didn't disappoint.

http://www.crash.net/gallery.asp?cid=6&category_id=303&event_id=valenciamotogptest_28102008