The Coolest Thing About BMW’s New Superbike Has Nothing to Do With Its (Stunning) Looks

Does the Concept RR’s sonically savage recent public appearance bring it one step closer to the production line?

bmw concept rr macroBMW Motorcycles

When BMW debuted the Concept RR at Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este a couple months back, my jaw may have dropped a bit.

Still, I stopped short of writing about it, as it leaned too far toward “concept” and away from “motorcycle you can actually buy and ride.”

bmw concept rr hero
Over the past few months, this “concept” has seemingly rolled much closer to “potential production bike.”
BMW Motorcycles

However, the bike’s recent reappearance at the Goodwood Festival of Speed has tilted momentum decidedly toward the latter. 

Watching someone actually ride this thing makes it feel much more like a sneak preview of the next production M 1000 RR or S 1000 RR. 

While seeing is believing, hearing is too, because wow does this beautiful beast howl.

Shaped for speed

So what exactly is the Concept RR? 

Basically a showcase for all the futuristic design and development in the BMW Motorrad factory superbike M 1000 RR that Toprak Razgatlioğlu raced to the FIM World Superbike Championship last year.

bmw concept rr beauty
Every aspect of the Concept RR is oriented toward aerodynamics, weight savings and ultimately speed.
BMW Motorcycles

Its beating heart is a 999cc water-cooled inline four-cylinder engine making a pulse-pounding 230 horsepower and pushing the straightaway speed well over 180 miles per hour. 

Wrapped around it is an array of bare aluminum and weight-saving carbon fiber parts contoured to maximize aerodynamics while delivering high-speed stability and cornering performance. 

bmw concept rr cockpit
This compact and unfussy cockpit is yet another indicator of this bike’s all-killer no-filler vibe.
BMW Motorcycles

Toward that end, all unnecessary frills are excised, the better with which to tuck the bike’s frame behind the aero-optimized fairing with integrated winglets.

The bike also gets the best of Razgatlioğlu’s racing bike tech, including BMW’s most advanced engine management, traction control and engine brake systems. 

Sound and fury

As impressive as that seems, we all know concept bikes are just that — concepts — which invariably tempers the enthusiasm. 

Still, the words of BMW Motorrad CEO Markus Flasch leave me optimistic this particular one will go beyond that stage.

bmw concept rr drivetrain
You don’t squeeze 230 horsepower out of a 999cc engine without top-notch engineering, one of BMW’s trademarks.
BMW Motorcycles

“The Concept RR offers a true firework of superlatives for both street and track use,” he says. “The transfer from racing to road has never been shown more clearly.”

Lending even more credence is the fact that at Goodwood, the person on the bike was not any old rider: it was Flasch himself!

In the 60-second clip below, you can watch him zip up the hill with gusto. The GP shift pattern indicates the bike’s track-ready proclivities, while the working lights hint that BMW could be seriously considering a street-legal edition.

The high-pitched whine of this bike’s engine is downright gänsehaut-inducing. (That’s German for goosebumps.)

Meanwhile, the furious howl of the exhaust pipe provides a truly visceral world-class racing bike thrill. The way that it uncompromisingly announces this bike’s badassery makes it the coolest element, as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s hoping that whatever actual production bike might emerge from this project has something close to that spirited sound, noise complaints be damned.

bmw concept rr exhaust pipe
As excited as I tend to get about the look of exhaust pipes, this one’s sound is easily its best quality.
BMW Motorcycles