BMW HP4 – rumour or real?

IT'S been rumoured before but now there seems to be some real photographic evidence that BMW is making a higher-spec 'HP4” version of the S1000RR as a 2013 model.

The pictures, which have emerged via www.soymotero.net, appear to back up suggestions that BMW dealers were told to expect an HP4 later this year when they met for the annual dealer meetings recently. The images here seem to show exactly that bike, and look like they may have come from a PowerPoint presentation.

What's new? Well apart from the graphics and HP4 badging there's said to be electronic suspension control as standard, launch control, revised seven-setting traction control, the titanium Akrapovic exhaust you see in the pictures, improved brakes and forged wheels. Power is said to be unchanged at 193bhp, which begs a question about exactly what that Akrapovic exhaust is doing although it, along with the wheels, does contribute to an 8.8kg reduction in weight, down to 199.2kg ready-to-ride.

Price is likely to be in the “if you have to ask, you can't afford it” category, probably between £16,000 and £20,000.

The pictures certainly seem to add a level of credibility to the story; as well as the graphics, the forks differ from the stock bike's (losing the manual damping adjusters at the bottom) as do the brake callipers. And with more than one angle, including an action shot, they're unlikely to be computer-generated mock-ups.