The New BMW Has Been Out 2011

As you can imagine the Paul Bird team are ultra keen to get started with it and so who better than the team itself to help us show the first edition of the race version of it here at the Nürburgring. The PBM team have evolved and restructured continuously in order to be in a position to utilize the new bike’s potential to the maximum next season.

The new race bike has been eagerly anticipated by everyone involved in the Superbike racing project for a while now, says Steve Guttridge, race planning manager of Kawasaki Motors Europe.  The 2011 Ninja ZX-10R superbike has been teased for a couple of months now but this is the first time the bike has been shown in Kawasaki green with sponsor logos.

BMW Has Been Out 2011

We say go for it. Rumors indicate that BMW is seriously testing public reaction to the new concept and could put the bike into production in very short order if demand is there. Twin high-mount tailpipes, which do an excellent job of exposing the single sided swingarm, complete the look. Two projector style headlamps add some urban flair to the front of the bike while a single saddle seat marks the bike's minimalist design.

Up front, the traditional Bavarian Telelever fork has been replaced with a beefy USD telescopic fork holding twin wavy disc brakes. Introduced at the EICMA Show in Milan, the BMW LO Rider concept uses a variation of the standard Boxer theme, stripped down to its bare essentials. BMW could definitely fit into that category with its latest concept bike. Sure, placing a torque rich motor into a standard style frame isn't anything new, but bikes like the Moto Guzzi Griso, Suzuki B King and the latest Yamaha VMax prove that there is a revival in that particular niche.

Lately, though, there has been a new segment emerging, and it could be described as custom standards. The market shift towards ever larger engines was what prompted the German marque's withdraw, as the firm's latest Boxer engines just can't be bored or stroked nearly enough to compete with some of the V Twin behemoths that currently fill the market.  BMW has been out of the cruiser market since it stopped building its R 1200 C models a few years back.