Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/127713
BMW R' ,oaR ROAdsTER Logical defiance h e n I first mounted the BMW ' R1100 R Roadster, everyth ing . a bout the bike seemed to defy logic, the controls, the "styling," the seating position, the big bags but no fairing. What kind of motorcycle is this , and who is built for? Well, I spent some time commuti ng on the BMW, and the kind of motorcycle this is? A great one. Who is it built for? Me. The styling - it's still weird, but the controls, once I learned The BMW Way, . were just right. The sea ting posi tion is more uprigh t than w ha t I' ve become accustomed to, and though the rider has but one wa y to sit in the saddle since its shape really d oesn't allow you to move around much - it is a really comfortable place to be: I was glad, at the end of our 250-plus-mile day, to mount the Roadster for my 3D-mile ride hom e. The four-v al ve, catalyst-equipped R259 Boxer engine might be a stressed member , bu t th e rid er isn't. Wit h 80 horsepower fro m the 1085cc tw in on ta p , n ot to men tion good lo w -end torque, it is easy to leave your troubles behind you, as well as any traffic. It starts and warms quickly, and thanks to the Bosch engine management, never stu mbles when cold. The capacious sadd lebags swallowed all the gear that we needed to carry for th e day's ride, w ith ample room to spare. Suspension on the Roadster features BMW's Telelever front-end unit. The fork tubes are just sliders: no springs, no da mpening action. Instead, the burden falls upon a conventional spring/shock comb o connected to an A-arm (th e "lever" in Telelever) that pivots on two joints mounted to the engine cases. The arm extends forward, attached 't o a sing le spherical joint o n a crossbrace .be tween the sliders, providing for a rigid, flex-free fron t end. The big bonuses here are the very smooth action and inheren t mechanica l anti -dive. Becau se the geom etry prevents dive, the sprin g rate doesn 't have to be made very high in order to compensate for this phenomenon . It's a great design and a real plus on tw isty roa ds where you can carry braking in to a co rne r much fu r the r because the geometry isn't upset by the stopping forces. The Pa ra le ve r rea r s us pen der, designed to counteract the forces associated with a conventional shaft dri ve that extend and comp ress the rear sus pension whe n on and off the th ro ttle, is merely adequate. Unlike the front, the action for the sin gle-sided design isn't quite so smooth. It feels fairly stiff over sharp bu mps and, as I wi tnessed on the freewa y when Chris [onnum hit a horrend o us pothole, reall y let s the rider take it in the shorts. In the end, though, the handling is light and easy to control, and with optional ABS you can't fault the R1100R's road manners. Most of the staffers didn't enjoy the Roads ter quite as much as I d id, cornplaining of the torque-effect that tweaks the bike to the right when you rev the engine while traveling at low speed, and the rather dra ma tic e ngine braking when you shut off the power. But they left th e b ik e alone after their initial im p ression. It is most telling that the two riders who had spent the greatest amount of time with the bike favored it, and as a package I think it's a winner. Bu t, at around 10 g rand (dependi ng upon the op tions selected), it's definitely rather a high "s tandard." -Mark Hoyer W RICA'S SPORTBIKE If) Q'\ Q'\ rl 13