BMW officially unveils World Superbike

BMW reportedly unveiled their 2009 World Superbike contender bike to a select group of journalists in Germany on the morning of April 16th.

The bike will be named the S1000RR, and BMW intend to produce 1000 road going versions in 2009 to meet the World Superbike rules.

The road version of the bike will have traction control and the engineers are working towards a target weight of 190kg with power to match at 190hp.

Adrian Roderick, general manager of BMW Motorrad UK told MCN that the S1000RR is unlikely to be in dealers until early 2010, as the World Superbike homologation rules give the firm until December 2009 to build road-going motorcycles.

The price is undetermined at this point but they will try to keep it competitive with similar Japanese superbikes. BMW want the bike to be a consistent top-10 finisher in 2009. They'll look to have a two man team with one experienced rider and one up-and-comer.