BMW R NineT Racer (2017): first ride and review

Well it has taken four more years, and the orange paint has been replaced by BMW’s Motorsport white, but that café-racer concept has finally reached the streets in the shapely form of the R nineT Racer. And as the launch route in southern Spain flattens out, the road opens up and I crouch behind the low screen with the throttle wound open and the speedo needle approaching the 100mph mark, this latest member of BMW’s Heritage division is making plenty of sense.

The Racer’s 1170cc, aircooled boxer motor is punching it through the air with enough force to get my attention, and with a slightly old-school character and flat exhaust drone that are adding to the experience. The bike is feeling respectably taut and stable, too; and its fairing and the stretched-out riding position dictated by low clip-on bars are combining to make rapid riding as effortless as it is fun.

This has a considerable effect on the handling. The Racer shares the Pure’s suspension spec, with non-adjustable 43mm forks and a rear shock that can be fine-tuned for preload and rebound damping. It has very slightly sportier steering geometry, and at 220kg with a full tank it’s only a kilo heavier despite the fairing’s extra weight.

But much more of that mass is over the front wheel, and the narrow clip-ons give less leverage than the higher, wider one-piece handlebars of the other R nineT models. All of which meant that the Racer was much less agile, feeling almost unwieldy at slow speeds. At least its seat is fairly slim and low, which aided manoeuvrability through villages on the launch route near Almeria.

Perhaps it’s confirmation of the BMW’s café racer status that the faster I rode, the better the bike felt. It was reasonably happy being cranked through tight second-gear bends in the hills, but required fairly firm pressure on the clip-ons to get it to change direction. And although its respectably well-damped suspension was also sufficiently compliant to cope with bumps, the leant-forward riding position didn’t take long to generate a slight café racer wrist-ache.

Thankfully that was much less noticeable on the faster, more open coast road, where the fairing diverted some of the wind from my chest, but allowed enough breeze past to take some of my weight off the clip-ons. The bike’s natural gait seemed to be with about 90mph showing on the alloy rimmed speedo. At that point the Racer felt relaxed and smooth, and had maybe 40mph in hand if I tucked behind the bubble and gave the throttle a tweak.

There’s certainly enough power for some excitement in a straight line. And although the engine lacks the refinement of the modern liquid-cooled boxer, it revved sufficiently smoothly to encourage me to keep the tacho needle jabbing at the 8500rpm redline, via plenty of use of the efficient six-speed box.

The BMW stopped reasonably hard, too, though its conventional four-piston Brembo calipers required a firmer squeeze than the original R nineT’s more powerful radial Monoblocs. Not that I had a chance to brake hard for long, because much of the ride was spent on wet roads where I was more glad of the Roadtec Z8 tyres’ impressive wet-weather grip, and also the BMW’s ASC traction control, a £310 option.

There are also many accessories because, in R nineT family tradition, the Racer is designed to form the basis for easy customisation, with parts ranging from brushed aluminium petrol tank and adjustable rearsets to pillion seat and saddle-bags. Even in standard form it could be quite practical on a longish, mostly main-road ride, when the reasonably economical boxer engine’s typical 45mpg would allow a fairly generous range of about 150 miles.

Even so, for riders who value versatility there are plenty of more suitable boxers, both aircooled and modern. The Racer has been created to go quite fast and look very cool, and succeeds on both counts. If that’s what you want from a BMW flat-twin, just be thankful that it’s here at last.