1995 Bmw R1100r
1995 BMW R1100R
CYCLE WORLD TEST
LESS SPECIALIZED, BUT STILL VERY MUCH A BMW
THIS IS OUR STANDARD model," said BMW when handing over the keys to its new R1100R. If you fig ure that the 1100R is a shade less specialized than the preceding 1100RS and 1100GS, and if you put the company’s Triples and Fours on one end of the lineup and the upcoming F650 Single at the other, and if you assume that standard means not going in any specialized direction, then, yes, the 1100R is kind of in the middle of the group. Except that 1) standard isn’t always the same as average; 2) average depends on the highs and the lows and which system of measurement is being used; and 3) the 1100R is about as average as it is conventional, which is to say, not very.
BMW has been to Boxer Twins what Harley-Davidson is to V-Twins, and for nearly as long. Then, in the mid-Eighties, BMW expanded into its excellent line of Multis. These are quality machines that sell well, but they didn’t replace the classic, ohv l()0-scries Boxers not right then, at least.
Instead. BMW's thinkers kept the basic idea, the Boxer Twin, and took that classic configuration as far as it could go. They designed a totally new Boxer, coded R259. It was given a larger bore and stroke, bumping displacement to I085cc. Each cylinder head has a single camshaft working four valves. The engine is entirely new. from electronic fuel injection to catalytic converter and stainless-steel exhaust.
The R259 currently comes in two specs. The l 100RS, the faired sport-touring model, has a higher compression ratio and cam timing to put peak power high on the dial. There's more power, too: 90 claimed horsepower for the RS against 80 for the l 100R and the adventure-tourer l 100GS. This makes sense, as the naked R and semi-naked GS will spend more working time in the lower and middle sections of the rev range, so that's where their torque is delivered.
The R l 100 series clearly was designed as a complete unit. Rather than having an engine from one department go into the frame designed by another group, for example, the engine is the frame, in that it serves as the central structure to which the suspension and other parts attach.
In front, there’s BMW’s Telelever system, so called because the front suspension has telescopic stanchion tubes and sliders, but with a leading swingarm pivoted off the engine cases and linked to the fork tubes. The swingarm carries a central shock absorber. Thus, loads from the front wheel are fed into the frame at several points, reducing distortion and making the suspension more precise, all done so as to virtually eliminate dive under braking.
Rear suspension is named Paralever, also a condensation hinting at what’s been done. First, there’s the retention of shaft drive, which is as much a BMW trademark as the Boxer Twin or the spinning-propeller emblem. Back when BMW was almost the only motorcycle with shaft drive, one of the quirks ofthat system was that it hopped up and down when power was applied or shut off. A disconcerting trait, for sure.
Then, other makers began using shaft drive, and their versions weren’t so quirky. BMW devised a system that used a one-sided swingarm with driveshaft enclosed and a second arm, below and parallel to the main arm. The driveshaft got a universal joint at each end. The effect was to remove what the engine was doing from what the rear suspension did. It works, the odd hopping is gone.
These three major assemblies, the engine, the front suspension and the rear suspension, comprise the Rl 100 series. As mentioned, the scries consists of the sport-touring RS, the dirt-road-capable GS and the new standard, the plain l 100R as seen here.
This example isn't quite the plainest RllOOR. The very basic version comes with conventional brakes, disc of course. Anti-lock is an option. Also optional are extra instruments-a tachometer and an analog clock-and BMW's own laced wrirc wheels, which this bike doesn't have.
As a final addition, the Rl 100R comes with a steering damper and the RS doesn’t. Why? BMW’s testers found that the RS’s fairing exerts a stabilizing influence at speed, so it’s less needful of a damper than the unfaired model. It may not be necessary, but it’s nice to know the customers aren’t part of the test program.
This is an easily seen motorcycle and if it's not a work of art, neither is it as stodgy as BMW used to make a point of being. The style itself, however, may leave something to be desired. The parts you’re supposed to see are painted. The others, like the section between the fuel tank and the seat, and the panels below the tank and enclosing all the bits and pieces needed for electronic everything, are plastic, matte finish, and not an artistic treat.
After that, the parts that bolt to the central structure appear to be just that, bolted on. Some of them are nicely integrated, such as the rear brake master cylinder with the brake lever and footpeg. Others, the tachometer and analog clock, for instance, or the headlight and the little legs it rode in on, look literally like additions. The result, while not ugly or even unpleasant, is a bare-bones motorcycle that looks as if it began with a skin-seeing as the RS came first, perhaps it did.
Next, this is a wide machine. The 5-gallon tank has to be wide because it’s also short and not deep. The seat, which can be adjusted for height, like the RS and GS, is shaped to fit the human seat, so it's wide at the back, and sculpted. Finally, the optional saddlebags are located where the lifted foot tends to go. Once you’re situated, the fun begins. The day is coming, thanks to government rules as well as free markets, when there will be no more carburetors and the old grouches of whatever age and gender will say they always liked resetting their concentric Amals and fiddling round-slide Mikunis, and that the old Tillotson worked fine once you learned how. Give 'em three days with electronic fuel injection and they'll never touch a jet wrench again.
Turn the key, set the enrichener, hit the button, there you are. Both barrels, clean and crisp, and that’s how it will be, warm or cold, high or low revs, sea level or that pass west of Denver. Nice.
High compression is efficient, and so is matching the cam and valve timing to the revs at which the engine will be working. Pre-fuel injection, designers used cam timings so radical that they kept the cylinders from filling well, preventing ping and knock. What we have here, though, is cam timing matched to midrange, where the sporting rider will need the engine's best.
And that's what the 1 100R delivers. Not only can you open the throttle to any degree at any time or any revs, you can feel the engine-management system, well, managing. The power comes on and it keeps on coming, because there's no need to retard spark under load, which would be required with a higher compression ratio at maximum demand.
This is clearly a plus, not just because the performance is there but because first, you can use it and second-not that this ever happens to you—if you want power, you can’t get caught in the wrong gear. Torque is so high and the usable rev range so wide, and the fuel injection so responsive, that there is no wrong gear.
One could also say handling and suspension are tailored to the engine. Time was when BMW's were, um. not sparkling in performance and performance came with soft, longtravel suspension to handle bad roads, which is one reason the shaft drive’s attitude changes w ere so pronounced.
The MOOR is a sportbike. There’s still plenty of travel but it’s carefully controlled. the better to handle fast, sweeping turns at sporting speeds. In these conditions, at the speeds the owner wäll travel, handling is simply impeccable, a delight.
In the same vein, the sculpted seat and medium-low bars and mildly set-back pegs and controls put the rider in the perfect crouch for the speeds of which we speak. Only after hours in the saddle does one sit up and kick back.
Drawbacks? Mild ones. This is a sportbike without the wrapper, so the handling at sporting speeds makes for a ride that is firm over chops and heaves. The tire and geometry that work so w;ell on the highway come with a touch of oversteer, nervously seeking direction at lower speeds, which is no big deal except when needling through traffic.
What this comes down to, is where we began. The RllOOR is not average, not even conventional. Given the direction in which BMW is going, this is the new standard. Most and best, it's a true BMW, with the quirks removed and the character intact.
EDITORS' NOTES
BMW HAS TOSSED ITS HAT INTO THE standard ring with the R1100R, but I’m not too impressed. It just doesn’t push my excitement buttons.
My personal opinion aside, though, there are some great reasons for buying an RI 100R. One is that it’s a very comfortable place on which to park your butt, for long rides as well as short ones. Besides, there are those riders who just must have a BMW; if they prefer standardstyle machines to those with more specialized purposes, the RI 100R will be right up their alley.
Actually, I think BMW’s biggest competition for the RI 100R will be its own RI 100RS and RI 100GS. Those are seemingly the same bikes but with different handlebar bends and added componentry that escalates the price.
So, it’s the same old story: To each his own. There are, of course, many riders who’ll simply have to make the R1100R their own. Me, I’ll take the Ducati Monster instead. -Jimmy Lewis, Off-Road Editor
AT FIRST, THIS BIKE SEEMS INCONGRUOUS. While the concept of a basic, twin-cylinder machine is nearly as old as motorcycling itself, the RI 100R is one of the world’s most sophisticated bikes.
This blend of old and new comes together beautifully. Thanks largely to the smooth, torquemeister Twin, BMW has built an unusually fun, versatile motorcycle. People may think of smaller-displacement bikes as urban machines, but nimble handling, ever-present power and anti-lock braking allow the RI 100R to score points in that arena. And for errands, those optional saddlebags come in handy.
Obviously, the bags are useful for longer trips, and the R1100R, with the aid of its firm-yet-comfortable seat, is capable of making them. Add BMW's optional windscreen and the RI 100R becomes a first-rate tourer.
However old the idea of a standard is, it's a darned fine one. BMW’s RI 100R is an equally good means of taking the concept into the 21 st century. -Robert Hough, News Editor
MY FIRST IMPRESSION, THE ONE THAT should count the most in this context, was respect, not only for the R’s high level of performance, but for the work of its designers: This is a wonderfully executed, well-balanced package.
The more lasting impression, which is surely more an indictment of me than the machine, is of fussiness. Each and every little function was laid out so as to work one way. the way it’s supposed to be. And if you don’t do it that way, then you don’t do it.
For example, the saddlebags won’t open unless you release the latch that holds the boxes on the framework. And you can’t undo the latch without the key, so you can’t repack the bags while the engine warms, or leave it idle when you stow the mail or the laundry.
And why do some buttons push in and others push down? And when the fuel light comes on, you know there’s plenty left but can’t see the level or turn anything on or off. I could go on, but my point is that this motorcycle requires me to adapt to it, and I expect my bike to adapt to me.
-Allan Gird 1er, Contributing Editor
BMW R1100R
$11,490
