BMW S1000RR Top Speed & Acceleration – MotoStatz

New S1000RR 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds

From when the S1000RR was first released back in 2010 it has pretty much led the litrebike class on the road up until now and has arguably been the best 1000 cc Superbike period.

Combining class-leading power, comfort and usability wrapped in an amazing package has meant that the S1000RR has been pretty much the first choice for most riders wanting the ultimate Superbike.

You can read a little bit more Here about the original S1000RR and see how it performs against the clock.

In terms of engine performance, the S1000RR pretty much dominated the other 1000 cc bikes from the moment it was released and right up until the Japanese finally got their acts together.

When they did, the Japanese brands put out motorcycles that could trade blows on the Dyno and in a straight line with the ballistic S1000RR.

The BMW S1000RR’s development did not stay static from release as it saw various updates that came in the shape of engine, chassis, electronics, and styling updates.

These updates mainly started in 2012, 2015, and 2017 to ensure that S1000RR remained ahead of its competitors.

We also did see the introduction of the HP4 homologation special in 2012 which is a motorcycle that was a more track-focused S1000RR meant for WSBK racing.  There were also some minor updates for the HP4 in 2013 too.

Kawasaki was the first to respond to the S1000RR by throwing a firm left hook after announcing their 197 crank horsepower 2011 ZX-10R.

The Japanese were a little quiet for a while until in 2015 Yamaha with their new 200 crank horsepower YZF-R1 joined the party which is a motorcycle that perhaps’ unofficially a road-going version of their MotoGP M1 motorcycle.

Since then we have seen a slew of new or revised motorcycles from Europe and Japan in the way of various revised ZX-10Rs.

A new GSX-R1000 and new Panigale V4 replacing the outgoing 1299. Also, the Aprilia RSV4 1000 and very recently the RSV4 1100 as well as Honda’s fresh-off-of-the-block CBR1000 RR-R came with an all-new chassis and engine.

All the above are 200 horsepower plus motorcycles that were positioned to slay the S1000RR.

Not only did these new motorcycles all come with S1000RR matching or beating engine performance but they all pretty much had an array of the latest MotoGP-derived electronic rider aid packages.

This meant that to stay relevant BMW engineers really had their work cut out to not only design a totally new S1000RR from the ground that trumped the previous model in all areas.

Bettering the previous version was a monumental task and a new S1000RR at the very least had to be as good as the competition too.

BMW really did a great job and designed and built a motorcycle that is arguably the best all-around mass-produced motorcycle on the road today.

New S1000RR engine performance

BMW has been making incremental improvements to the S1000RR engine over the years with revisions in 2012, 2015, and 2017.

While peak horsepower had largely remained the same right up until the latest model, the main improvements in the engine have come in the way of more bottom and mid-range torque.

The first BMW S1000RR engine was and still is ballistic, though it was quite the howler and behaved more like a Supersport 600 cc motorcycle on steroids.

The engine really had to be at 7000 rpm and above before warp drive would engage.

Below 7000 rpm, while still quick, it was lacking relative to some of its rivals when driving it hard from lower rpm.

The BMW S1000RR engine was the 1000 cc benchmark for so long. Kawasaki and Yamaha were really the first of the Japanese to respond with a brand-new bike in an attempt to dethrone the BMW S1000RR.

You can clearly see that in respect of Yamaha, they likely took some design inspiration from the S1000RR engine which is reflected in the R1’s engines power delivery.

The 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1 engine is actually remarkably similar in power delivery if you compare graphs back-to-back with their power and torque curves following a similar trajectory.

The latest BMW S1000RR engine on most Dynos produces around 15-20 hp at peak more than the outgoing model, which is massively impressive considering how much power the outgoing model had.

What is perhaps even more impressive is how much power and torque the new BMW S1000RR engine makes at the bottom and mid-range.

It dominates every other 1000cc sport bike and actually makes the kind of bottom and mid-range power and torque as if it had 100 cc of capacity more than it actually has.

You can thank the BMW S1000RR’s new shift cam as the new engine employs BMW ShiftCam tech on the intake that varies intake valve timing and lift.

It has sliding concentric outer shafts, with two different cam profiles on them on a splined inner shaft with the drive on one end.

An ECU-controlled motor switches between low and high-speed cams at 9,000 rpm in under 10 milliseconds, which produces soft, low-lift, short-duration cams for low-down and midrange torque.

Then more aggressive profile cams for that crazy top-end peak power.

The results are utterly amazing with an engine that produces massive peak horsepower without sacrificing the bottom and midrange.

There are other motorcycles that employ similar tech such as Suzuki’s latest GSX-R1000 but you could argue that BMW’s implementation is the best we have seen so far if looking and dyno charts.

As motorcycle manufacturers chase ever-bigger peak horsepower numbers they need higher revving shorter stroke engines, and this robs these engines of power and torque in the mid to lower halves of the rpm ranges.

This makes these clever cam designs so important to ensure that engines produce a great spread of power and torque over the entire rpm range..

2019 BMWS1000RR Dyno Curve

– Gen 1 S1KRR – 19+ S1KRR

The dyno chart is quite amazing. What you are looking at is the original 2010 S1000RR plotted against the 2021 model. 

BMW has managed to squeeze an extra 17 peak horsepower over the original with an amazing figure of 202 hp @ 13,500 rpm compared to 185 hp @ 13,000 rpm for the 2010 model.

That’s astonishing enough but the original bike is completely dominated through the entire rev range and especially below 7000 rpm.

And at that exact number, the new BMW S1000RR is 27 horsepower up.

The closest that the original gets to the new bike is at around 11,000 rpm where it gives away only around 5 horsepower.

From 3000 rpm the new BMW S1000RR produces close to 60 ft /lb of torque that builds nicely as rpm rises. 

At 500 rpm there is 75 ft/lb, then from 7000 rpm upward the S1000RR kicks out 80 ft/lb.

There is a slight dip in torque that recovers quickly when the new BMW S100RR hit a peak torque of 85 ft/lb.

It’s by far the most torquey 1000 cc engine, both in terms of peak and the spread of said torque through the rpm range.

For some comparison, the New BMW S1000RR produces the same peak torque at 7000 rpm as the original BMW S1000RR does at peak some 4000 rpm later.

To see what this looks like on the road and through each gear look at the below thrust curve where you will see that the new S1000RR dominates the older model in any gear at any speed.

New BMW S1000RR Thrust Curve

– Gen 1 S1KRR – 19+ S1KRR

Thrust curves are the graphs that we should be paying much more attention to as the typical power and torque curves can only indicate what the engine performance is in isolation.

The engine performance while obviously key does not exist in a vacuum and must be translated through the gearbox.

As torque is delivered through each of the motorcycle’s six gears we actually get to feel its performance from the seat of our pants as it thrusts the motorcycle forward.

Think of gears simply as leverage or more accurately as multipliers of torque.

Engines produce torque and gears multiply it and apply it at speed.

Gearing a motorcycle correctly will make the best use of the torque that the engine delivers at any given rpm, and you the rider will feel this as acceleration when you twist the throttle.

In the above graph, what you are looking at is the acceleration/thrust available for both motorcycles in each gear which is then plotted against speed.

You will see 6 lines for each motorcycle. Blue for 19 plus S1000RR and Red for first-generation S1000RR.

The highest line for each motorcycle will represent first gear as that is the lowest gear that provides the most thrust/acceleration. The second highest line for each motorcycle would be second gear and so on. The lowest line is 6th.

The lower the gear the more acceleration/thrust available to the motorcycle.

If you look at the shape of each thrust curve in each gear, you will see that they are all the same for each gear of the particular bike you may be looking at.

If you compare all lines for all gears to the torque curve of the motorcycle you can see that they are the same shape and have the same peaks and troughs.

That is because the thrust curve is the torque curve but multiplied and translated through each gear.

Speed at 5000 rpm

19+ S1000RR

Gen 1 S1000RR

Speed 1st Gear

33 mph

33.2 mph

Speed 2nd Gear

41.7 mph

42 mph

Speed 3rd Gear

50.5  mph

50.8 mph

Speed 4th Gear

58.2 mph

58.5 mph

Speed 5th Gear

64.2 mph

64.5 mph

Speed 6th Gear

69.2  mph

69.6 mph

Gearing for both new and old BMW S1000RRs is exactly the same for the individual cogs, with the only difference coming in the way of rear sprocket size.

The 19+ S1000RR has a 45-rear sprocket versus the 44 for the Gen 1 S1000RR so overall gearing on the new motorcycle is a fraction lower.

Not only does the new S1000RR have much more power and torque throughout the entire rev range, it also has slightly lower gearing too which will further add to its dominance for in-gear thrust/acceleration.

Between 110 km/h to 130 km/h in 6th gear, the new S1000RR has more thrust and acceleration available to it than the Gen 1 S1000RR has in 4th gear.

The new model is dominant at any speed and in any gear. The new S1000RR dominance is most pronounced for two-thirds of each gear thrust curve. 

For the old bike to stay with the new bike from a roll at almost any speed has to be in a gear lower otherwise it would be stomped.

BMW has done an amazing job and produced the kind of in-gear thrust you would expect from an engine with an extra 100/200 cc and will trade blows and even beat a Panigale V4 and RSV1100.

As the new bike revs a little higher than the old, BMW could have geared even lower without losing much reach/speed in each gear all the while producing an even more potent in-gear thrust.

Just to be clear, the thrust curves you are looking at do not take into consideration the many in-gear ECU throttle limitations and restrictions that many motorcycles come with from the factory.

The graphs you are looking at are without these throttle resections and are a direct 1:1 of torque multiplied by gearing.

They are kind of how the bike would look after an ECU flash or if the stock ECU came with zero restrictions.

19-21 BMW S1000RR Acceleration Review

It is no surprise that the latest S1000RR is devastating in a straight line and no surprise that it is even quicker than the original.

The Original BMW S1000RR which for a very long time (alongside the Gen 2 Hayabusa) was one of two benchmark motorcycles for straight-line performance.

If we exclude the H2 and H2R  as well as other special motorcycles, the new BMW S1000RR sits at the top of the pile with the Panigale V4 and RSV1100.

We can now add the Honda CBR1000RR-R too!

These four machines trade blows for straight-line supremacy. Probably followed by the current GSX-R1000 and then the R1.

Forget the Kawasaki ZX14R and Gen Two Hayabusa, and the slightly lower power gen three as due to their weight, they’ll often only lead from a dig, but on a highway, the latest litrebikes have those heavyweights beaten convincingly!

This is because the new literbikes produce similar (and for some models more) horsepower.

The litrebikes also way anywhere between 40-60 kilograms less than those Hyperbikes. This makes a huge difference to acceleration.

Like all lightweight litrebikes, their 0-60 mph times are always difficult and the BMW S1000RR is no different.

Even with the launch and wheelie control, while perfectly capable they are hard to dip under the three-second mark, with the S1000RR achieving a 0-60 mph in 3.1 seconds which in first gear is 9000 rpm.

Getting a sub-three-second 0-60 time will be simply down to the rider’s skill and luck, as well as conditions on the day and not the bike.

Even after 60 mph and still in first gear wheelies are a problem.

That 200 hp can never be put to the ground immediately – and unfortunately for the new BMW, it needs a change to second gear to go from 0-100 mph which the BMW S1000RR achieves in 5.50 seconds.

0-100 mph between 5 and 6 seconds is pretty much a time that all litrebikes of the last 20 years can achieve!

For the latest litrebikes and the BMW S1000RR, it’s when second and third are engaged that it becomes easier to translate that insane power into forward motion.

At this point, older litrebikes would be rapidly dispatched.

The new BMW S1000RR hits 0-200 km/h in 6.55 seconds and 150 mph in 9.43 seconds before it even passes the quarter-mile mark which it does in 10.12 at a mind-boggling terminal speed 156 mph! 

I hear you screech that a BMW S1000RR can do sub ten seconds on the Quarter Mile!!

Even older litrebikes can!  Yes, it can but much of what a motorcycle will do in a quarter mile is more about the rider’s skill size and weight, and of course, the conditions on the day rather than simply what a motorcycle is capable of.

Getting into the nines on a litrebike requires a very impressive 60 ft time.

Most of the 150 horsepower plus litrebikes I have tested have 60 ft times of around 1.9 seconds. 1.7 to 1.8 seconds is required generally to get sub tens at this horsepower level.

If you baby it, you won’t be in the 9s unless you have even more insane power than the S1000RR to claw back lost time from the dig.

The S1000RR has an insane trap speed of 156 mph, so with a better launch we could easily see 9.8s at 156 mph plus all other things being equal.

0-180 mph should really be the Superbike benchmark if we are to measure from a dig.

And the 19+ S1000RR is the fastest bike on test if we exclude the H2R .

It beats out the Panigale V4 by a few tenths with an amazing time of 14.27 seconds. It’s almost two whole seconds faster than the Gen 1 BMW S1000RR tested.

The BMW S1000RR  can accelerate from 0-300 km/h in 16.50 seconds.

With the new S1000RR, you can pretty much confidently play with anything on the road and be guaranteed the win other than a few Hypercars like the 765LT or some crazy fast-tuned cars with 1000 hp plus.

New BMW S1000 RR Top Speed is 197.4mph

If you remove the ECU speed limiter the new S1000RR is pretty much a 200 mph motorcycle.

If you decat it and dyno-tune it, drop the mirrors and go down a few teeth on the rear we are talking a 210 mph motorcycle on the right day with a jockey onboard.

We managed 197.4 mph on this de-restricted BMW S1000RR  but your results may vary!