One litre, 220 ponies
BMW, a company that dominates the bigger capacity market here in Ireland, are off to another great start in 2025.
Machines such as the R1250R and the RS are never going to match the bigger ticket sellers such as the R1300RT and the GS, the adventure version of the latter has to be seen and ridden to be believed, but the range includes a wide variety of bikes including a couple of learner legal and unintimidating G310.
Leaning it in!
Both the dealerships here in Ireland are dedicated to the brand and it alone with state of the art showrooms and workshops. The used bikes are re warrantied with an Approved Used Bike system that ensures that all pre-owned bikes are prepped to the highest standards. Both, Kearys in Cork and Joe Duffy in Dublin, even offer finance packages. The latter is still something that’s sorely lacking in pretty much every other dealership in the country.
The one, however, that continues to fascinate me is the S1000RR. A one litre sports bike, that while around for a relatively short 15 years, has well outperformed its competitors who, ironically, were the ones that originally inspired the company to enter the sports bike market.
It’s not for the feint of heart putting out, as it does, a staggering 220BHP married to 113 NM of torque.
The thing about it, however, is that apart from seeing them being used at Motocraft events or on trackdays here in Mondello, they tend to outperform the public road. It’s very unlikely that any of us will be heading to Tesco to pick up the groceries anytime soon. Meanwhile a significant number of owners still find the idea of taking one to the track intimidating.
The good news is that someone in BMWs ivory tower has been paying attention to this heartbreaking scenario and they’ve decided to do something about it.
So if you ride the companies F 900 R, the S 1000 R, or the mighty S 1000 RR the good news is that BMW have set up a Motorrad Performance Academy at Mallory Park in the UK.
None other than Taylor Mackenzie is the chief instructor with the living legend that is Niall Mackenzie running the classroom tutorials.
On the day there are five track sessions, more than the usual superbike schools. Of these three of them are one to one training opportunities.
These days are designed for racers looking to fine tune their riding, trackday riders to up their game and road riders to be re-introduced to their bikes in an environment where they can be used to their full potential. For the latter these types of events offer a huge amount of learning when it comes to riding on the street.
The first one is scheduled for early next month and can be booked here.