Sport Motorbike

The BMW HP2 Sport is expensive and quite rightly so considering this is the finest sporting package BMW have rocked up with. Forget the fact that the HP2 Sport is an old air-cooled Boxer engine that supplies the goods, think more in the way this motorcycle will keep up with Japanese superbikes on the open road because of its handling, suspension and demon brakes. £14,500 is a lot of money indeed – but it is a lot of bike with a serious amount of performance goodies to give big fun at the same time.

Based on the R1200S engine, the BMW HP2 Sport gives up a claimed 128bhp at the crankshaft to make this the most powerful Boxer engine ever. The power figure comes from a higher rev ceiling thanks to a new four-valve, double-over-head-cam design and lightweight pistons and superb electronics. Put this all together and you get a punch-laden lump that will hit high 120mph all day every day – and sound good from the underslung exhaust system. Gear ratios are revised enough to ensure the front wheel will loft in first gear and keep the engine on the boil at the top end of the revs. The HP2 Sport gets a six-speed close-ratio gearbox, and there’s also a quickshifter there to keep racer-types happy. Other fancy bits are Öhlins suspension, forged wheels, various carbonfibre parts, Brembo monoblock brakes with radially mounted four-piston calipers at the front, and a MotoGP-style digital dashboard. ABS is optional.

You won’t believe how ridiculously easy it is to cajole the BMW HP2 Sport though hairpins and fast sweepers. While the handling can be described as fast and light, it remains as stable as the R1200S it is based on. Seriously, you can brake late and hard and the Telelever front end combined with an Ohlins shock absorber keeps everything shipe shape. An Ohlins shock at the rear does exactly the same perfect job of keeping the rear end in place at any speed or angle. Not only does it make a brilliant road-going bike, the BMW HP2 will cut up rough at track days.

Although the HP2 Sport is a BMW there are no panniers to talk of – there is, however, an accessory tank bag. Instead what you get with the BMW HP2 Sport is the best of everything: Ohlins suspension, perfectly formed carbon fibre rear subframe, front fairing stay, upper fairing, front fender and more. Brembo race-spec Monobloc front calipers and lightweight forged aluminium wheels laced with Metzeler race compound tyres are just some of the other choice parts. The HP2 Sport is also the first production motorcycle to carry a quick shifter as standard – fitted in-line of the gear lever to cut the spark and fuel injection for clutch-less shifts.

With this all-singing, all-dancing HP2 Sport, BMW should indeed be able to make people – especially the Japanese and Italian factories – sit up and take note. Yes sir, BMW are back, and how!