# BMW S1000RR - nearly complete



## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

I took delivery of this bike three months ago, and I'm actually almost done with the major tuning work:

















Location of my Power Commander V (bike is just a hair under 200bhp without ram air at this point - with exhaust finished, I expect to be making 210+bhp. Autotune wideband module not pictured:









carbon bits...

















Attack Performance rearsets, and note the Alpha Racing carbon sharkfin here:









CRG short levers and Motovation bar dampers:









the controls - carbon fiber yoke cover, Valtermoto triple tree nut:









open intake appearance of the MRA screen. A BMC Race filter lurks inside there:









Need to get on the stick and get my exhaust done so I can install this beauty:

















Instead of a full aftermarket exhaust, I've gotten pipes that will let me keep the stock BMW headers (which contain computer-controlled balance pipes and is a very nice bit of technology). Just need to gather the balls to take my Makita reciprocating saw and make some very permanent irreversible cuts to my exhaust!

Brembo M4 monobloc calipers arrive tomorrow. Not sure if they'll really improve braking much, as the stock system is astonishingly powerful, but they will certainly look very, very nice!! I swung by Ducati and picked up banjo bolts and some other knick-knacks, as it's a Ducati 1198 brake system I'm swapping in (which will still be controlled by BMW's ABS system).

The only thing left really to do is to go to full carbon fiber wheels, ceramic bearings, and carbon-ceramic disc rotors. That's a $6000+ upgrade in one fell swoop; a full RB26 engine rebuild is cheaper, and you never know when that might be needed...anyways, I'm very close to my goal of matching the power and weight of the Ducati Desmosedici RR. Exceeding the power of the uber-Ducati is pretty easy; it's shedding pounds that gets very, very expensive!


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## R4VENS (Jan 1, 2009)

awesome machine man!!


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## Max Boost (Apr 9, 2010)

On what dyno would the 210 bhp be measured on?

If it's measured on a dynojet then the figure will be inflated by around 10%. Dynojet dynos are happy dynos, superflow are much more accurate but give a much lower figure than dynojet. Which is why people often think their bike is much more powerful than it is, a bit like the way people quote a totally random figure and claim it as flywheel power.


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## Max Boost (Apr 9, 2010)

I've just noticed how wide the chicken strips are :chuckle:


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## YB0THA (Jul 31, 2010)

:clap::clap::clap::clap:


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## mr mugen (Jan 11, 2007)

quite a weapon, the front lights look awesome


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## banzai g (Jan 5, 2007)

Awesome bike, looks real well. !!!!!!
Will be my next purchase .
One being used over here in the road racing ,
Totally standard engine with a full system , 205hp @ wheel.
Competing and beating full factory superbikes !!!!! Unreal. :bowdown1:


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

got these babies - stock brakes work wonderfully, but these do look the business and having tried them on a few Ducatis they do get the job done.









unfortunately, my brake lines have the banjos pointed the wrong way. Which means I had to order a custom set of Galfer lines that cost an arm and a leg, all for want of banjos turned 180 degrees.

Gonna go saw off the stock exhaust box tonight. Dynojets are optimistic, but the bike makes a consensus 193+bhp at the crank, and there is 7 more available via ram air. That's dead stock. Race exhaust and Power Commander may be able to add up to 18 more - the Power Commander alone has made 6 more wheel horsepower in back to back dyno runs on otherwise stock bikes.

In any event, it is a LOT of power. Things just really get ridiculous after 9000rpm and the power never drops off. Takes balls to keep the throttle pegged, it really does. Since 1st gear at redline is 100mph, dipping into the vats of power way up from 9000-14,000rpm is all at very illegal speeds.

I won't ever own a Bugatti Veyron, but I've been able to accelerate to 150mph just as quickly as one, so I can tuck that experience away. I need only be wary of turbocharged Hayabusas....

the chicken strips - haven't been able to get to the track yet, or even out of the city for that matter, due to work. I hope to shred these tires up on a trackday weekend and then move to Bridgestones.

There are people who "work" on their chicken strips on city streets. That's idiotic, dangerous, and poor riding form. Even when riding at a good pace, I don't get much lean angle. Why? Because if you move your body weight properly, you lean less and turn more stably with plenty of options to quickly change lines if needed.


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## Mark N (Sep 22, 2008)

I have to say that's a stunning looking bike with performance to match. Lots of nice parts. 
Who makes that paddock stand?


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

Mark N said:


> I have to say that's a stunning looking bike with performance to match. Lots of nice parts.
> Who makes that paddock stand?


Two Brothers. I really liked the color combination, and it cost about half as much as the nearly identical BMW/Alpha Racing version.

I really want a matching front, but they don't make one...hopefully they will.


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## neilstafford (Apr 3, 2005)

that looks awesome, very,very nice!


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## Max Boost (Apr 9, 2010)

kismetcapitan said:


> the chicken strips - haven't been able to get to the track yet, or even out of the city for that matter, due to work. I hope to shred these tires up on a trackday weekend and then move to Bridgestones.
> 
> There are people who "work" on their chicken strips on city streets. That's idiotic, dangerous, and poor riding form. Even when riding at a good pace, I don't get much lean angle. Why? Because if you move your body weight properly, you lean less and turn more stably with plenty of options to quickly change lines if needed.



That made me pmsl, legend. So leaning a bike on the street is more dangerous than a 1400kg car being street raced by you?

From what I gather you haven't been riding long, just the last few years I seem to remember, so I'll put those 2 paragraphs down to inexperience and reading too many web pages.


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

Max Boost said:


> That made me pmsl, legend. So leaning a bike on the street is more dangerous than a 1400kg car being street raced by you?
> 
> From what I gather you haven't been riding long, just the last few years I seem to remember, so I'll put those 2 paragraphs down to inexperience and reading too many web pages.


no, leaning a bike is how you ride, and a fair bit is needed. Leaning 50 degrees and dragging knee on the street is stupid. And it is NOT comparable to street racing a GT-R, and if *you* were an experienced rider, you'd also know.

Knee down, body locked in on the tank - you are very committed to a particular line, and changing that line requires sitting up, which lets you run wider. It's much more difficult to tighten up a line when your knee is well paid down on the road, than to sit up and go wider. On the street, ability to change direction quickly is paramount. In a car, one needs only to steer (generally speaking - of course there is controlling over and understeer at the limit, but we all know those limits are very hard to reach on the street in any GT-R with even mild suspension work).

On a bike, whether it's 50 or 100mph, when the turns become sharp, you'd damned well better know how to turn, and it's a complex combination of shifting the body, varying the weight on the pegs, and countersteering - enough of it so that if you tried to think about what you were doing, it'd be too much to think of all at once. So that's where, as you said, experience comes into play.

Good riding technique on city streets can have you negotiate turns without reaching maximum lean angles. The geometry of my particular bike is a good combination as well - I do fly in and out of turns, and never need to use ALL the sidewall and get my chicken strips half a centimeter wide.

If you're flying around onramps or roundabouts and think you NEED to use 100% of your sidewalls, you're doing it wrong. Or you're Valentino Rossi and taking these turns at over triple the speed limit.

I'm no pro racer, but I'd say I know what I'm doing on a bike this light and powerful. I ride using the track-only engine mode, which gives the most direct throttle response, least intrusive traction control, and disengages ABS on the rear wheel, and haven't triggered traction control while leaned over. Just takes a judicious touch on the throttle. And when leaned over, the more you weight your body correctly, the less bike angle you need, which allows you to lay on the throttle earlier and with more confidence in twisting it a bit harder. Dragging knee pucks delays when you can give it full beans, because the bike has to come up first.

Anyways, believe whatever the hell you want, mile-wide chicken strips only mean something to people who care about very pointless things. Like thinking thin chicken strips on a street-only bike = mad-tite MotoGP skillz. Whereas actual MotoGP racers use a lot of body english while the bikes are nearly upright. Now, I wonder why they'd do that? Corner exit drive, obviously. And the street is no different, except that there are damned few situations where I need to take a street corner at 90mph and would then actually need to use all available lean angle.

Or, I could improperly shift my weight on the bike so that I turn using far MORE lean angle than REQUIRED, scrub off my chicken strips, and then I'd be...cool? Considered "experienced". Maybe to you? Perhaps you, if you ride, need some lessons on how to really turn a bike.


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

Brembo monoblocs, midpipes, and bellypan installed. Also swapped out the stock brake lines for Galfer lines custom assembled for my bike. Remapped the PCV and installed my wideband. Need to dyno the bike but from the results that most people get with a PCV + deleting the cats and mufflers, I think it's safe to say I'm running a true over-200bhp at the crank bike. Chopped off over 10kg in the process as well; I had to reset rear sag a touch and revise my damping settings, as the center of gravity on the bike shifted fairly dramatically. Or at least, enough that I could notice the change.

Sorry for the crap photos but this is all I've got at the moment:

















The Brembo monoblocs have a different feel - more progressive but they have overall more stopping power, and the stock brakes are powerful enough as it is (generally considered the best literbike brake system on the market currently). So it's just a small notch above that. Every premium superbike - Ducati, Aprilia, KTM...use these calipers. Just made sense to also throw these on, considering how good the BMW is compared to these others.

A Brembo RCS19 master cylinder is on its way, and then I'll call it a day.Wish I could find (and mount) the rear caliper from the BMW HP2 Sport, but that's a unique part that doesn't show up too often, and all it really is, is the 2-pot floating caliper used on other BMW boxers, but cast in the same matching aluminum as these front monoblocs.


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

all done


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## NerdJuice (Jul 6, 2010)

Good lord! That's intimidating. Love the amount of carbon.


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## GTaaaaaarrrrrr! (May 4, 2006)

Not really a big fan of bikes Toby but that looks badass. Looks like the sort of bike Batman would ride  How much weight have you dropped with all the carbon etc.


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## Miguel - Newera (Sep 18, 2003)

Your S1000RR looks very cool Toby, you've done yourself proud.:thumbsup:
Personally I'd have chosen brighter colours - to keep the bike as visible as possible when going fast, but each to their own I guess.

As for Max Boost's light banter on your chicken strips, forget about it!
I'm sure in the city there you've a lot of possible hazzards to look out for:
Dirt on corners, pedestrians, pot holes and man hole covers, etc. Besides, you're a dad now - and you need to make sure you're always going to get home in one piece. Wearing chicken strips out on busy roads is probably not the greatest idea. 

Also too many people lean off bikes far too much on the road in efforts to wear their knee sliders whilst putting too much weight on the inner foot peg. 
You don't see racers doing that, they're genuinely leaning over so much they often can't help buy scrape their knees, but these can be people with an total lack of fear / self preservation instincts which often results in injury when things go wrong. That's racing 

There's nothing to be ashamed of to have one of the best road bikes on the market within 2 years of getting your licence. You've nothing to prove, just enjoy it at your own pace.


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## freakazoid3 (Jan 19, 2008)

I love your 1000rr Toby :thumbsup:
If you ever fancy a change for a few months for my carbon busa your always welcome 
Although the distance that we are from eich other migth play us part...


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## Rostampoor (Nov 20, 2006)

nice.


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## bazza1 (Aug 18, 2007)

*Not Bad*

mmmmmmmmm. not bad I suppose but my 1985 1.1 micra auto would give it a run for it's money !


Baz.


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## arnout (Oct 29, 2003)

where is the turbo?


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## kismetcapitan (Nov 25, 2005)

Ran top speed last night - two runs back to back. Good lord, it is FAST, and now my car feels very slow  It hits an indicated 299kph but still pulls another 500rpm or so, about 190mph. What's remarkable is in how SHORT a distance this speed is achieved - it just pulls smartly without much letup until about 290kph, then the acceleration slows (relatively). Not sure objectively - there's an odd time dilation effect, like everything slows down at that speed. I quickly ran out of road before I could really hold the bike at the limiter - I just tagged it good and hard, saw the tach and "299" on the dash, then rolled off the throttle to negotiate a curve in the highway at a more sane speed.

Kind of remarkable - three years ago I was mulling over what 50cc scooter to get. Now I've tuned this bike up to around 210bhp and can safely negotiate mountain twisties at a good clip (I am a fairly conservative rider, and even if I'm riding fast, it's because I feel there's still a reasonable margin for hazards, oncoming cars, etc). Needless to say, there's a lot more to learn, but I guess I took to bikes like a fish to water, and advanced riding instruction certainly helped a lot. Haven't even come close to dropping this one yet (knock on wood) - this bike feels like a familiar old pair of jeans. It fits me better than any bike on the planet. I've toured the countryside with it, even ventured on some dirt roads a bit (taking a shortcut). The traction control and the soft throttle response in "Rain" mode really keeps the bike perfectly tame even on loose surfaces, if you're sensible about it.

Nevertheless, I don't see myself "upgrading" from this bike - it'll take me a lifetime to reach its limits. It's so damned competent as well - I've had far more "moments" on my old BMW F800S than this bike, and I'm quite a bit quicker on this obviously! To be honest, I can't recall a single moment where the bike slid or even spun a wheel - just a blinking of the traction control light on the dash. Very seamless.

Not sure how much weight the carbon fiber dropped - maybe 5lbs? Ten at the very most? The thing with bikes is that plastic is already pretty light...the biggest weight saver was sawing off the huge muffler box - that thing weighs a ton. Haven't even touched the stock exhaust can (although it's all now free flow up to that exit point). Think I can save 2-3 more lbs with a titanium can, but the stock can does keep the otherwise completely wide open exhaust relatively quiet and civil around the neighborhood. After tuning Skylines, I just can't leave well enough alone with anything stock - gotta personalize it, make it unique, squeeze some more power out of the engine. I don't need 210bhp for street riding, but then again, neither do I need 650-odd bhp for my car either!

Ah, a new part did arrive today - a Gilles titanium rear axle nut. It is ridiculously light, like it was made of a shell of tinfoil. Guess bits like that can save weight as well, but I just got it as the BMW self-locking nut is brutal on the threads and I wanted a kinder, gentler locking nut.


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