I’m at BMW’s highly guarded Miramas test facility, in the south of France, sitting in perfect silence on BMW’s E-Power Roadster concept bike – and about to participate in a drag race like no other. I’ve been exclusively invited to not only test ride BMW’s highly valuable ‘one-off’ prototype, but also been asked if I’d like to drag race against a BMW S 1000 R ridden by one of their very experienced development staff. I couldn’t turn the opportunity down, could I?
The E-Power Roadster is powered by a battery from a BMW 5 Series car – a long-wheelbase hybrid version only sold in China – while the powertrain is from a BMW 2 Series plugin hybrid. The end product makes 100kW of power, which translates to 136hp. Torque is an immense 200Nm, or 147.5ftlb, all of it pretty much instant.
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The dash is stolen from the C Evolution Maxi-Scoote; the forks are from an S 1000 R, with modified internals to take the extra weight; the rear wheel and Paralever/swingarm are R 1250 R items… It’s fair to say the prototype, attractive as it is, is a bit of a mongrel, built up from a collection of BMW bike and car parts. Everywhere you look, you see bits you recognise from other BMW products. Only the frame and a few key parts are unique and bespoke to this prototype.
Full story to come…
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