Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

I have been visiting England the past five weeks including a six day travel stint through Scotland (excellent biking country I may add - more when I return to South Africa). Some interesting BMW biking news that I picked up in the UK's Bike magazine was a test report on the new S1000RR plus some pics. Bike magazine describes the S1000RR as a "stunning supersports bike", crank output of 193bhp at 13 000 rpm and and expected 170 bhp at the wheel, full traction control and a newly develop race ABS with alternative settings for different conditions, switchable via four setting modes - rain, sport, race and slick. A compact kerb weight of 205 kg (with ABS) with physical dimentions close to a sports 600. The pics show a stunner - most interesting are the different design configarations on either side of mini-faring and the short stump exhaust system. BMW UK promises to align the price with that of the ZX-10R (Sterling 9620) and YXF-R1 (Sterling 11 120). More interesting is the new F800R - no belt drive but the conventional chain, pair of sprockets, forks with springs in, a single indicator switch and 'no cylinders sticking out the side'. The pics reveal a very smart bike indeed, and the prelimenary Bike test, "Finally a normal BMW" with a selling price (with all gadgets) being Sterling 5925. Some dealerships here operate on a differnt scale compared to those in SA. The two I visited (while my wife was shopping), sell three different brands under one roof, compartmentalised of course, but all employing the same assessory shop, i.e. Ducati, Triumph and either Honda or Yamaha and Suzuki. Obviously competition is much more evident than in SA with assessory sales the order of the day - and therefore substantial bargains. For more info re the above bikes, refer to the July 2009 Bike publication at bike@bikemagazine.co.uk Regards down South Theo