- Overview
- Technology
One camshaft, two engines.
A superbike engine has to idle through town and then pull past 13,000 rpm at a race track. Since 2019 the S 1000 RR has handled both with ShiftCam: an intake camshaft carrying two sets of lobes, which slide sideways to swap between them.
The yellow mark on the scale is the switch point, about 9,000 rpm.
Drag the rev counter through 9,000 rpm
Partial-load lobesLess lift, open for less time. Smooth and economical where most riding happens.
Schematic, not to scale. One valve shown per cylinder.
Below about 9,000 rpm
The intake valves are opened by the partial-load lobes: less lift, for a shorter time. That gives smoother throttle response and better economy at road speeds.
Above it
Electric actuators push pins into spiral grooves on the camshaft, and the sleeves carrying the lobes slide a few millimetres along it. The taller full-load lobes take over, the valves open further and for longer, and the engine breathes as hard as it can all the way to the top.
Two engines at once
BMW introduced the system in 2019 on two engines at once: this inline-four and the R 1250 boxer twin.
The same idea, in metal
A ShiftCam cylinder head in cutaway. The principle, one shaft carrying two sets of lobes, is the same in the inline-four and the boxer twin.
The frame is meant to bend.
Stiff used to be the whole goal. A modern superbike frame is tuned to flex by chosen amounts, because a frame that never gives passes every ripple in the road straight to the tyre.
Scroll to load the frame. The flex is exaggerated so you can see it.
- Engine as structure2019
- The 2019 frame was designed to use the engine as part of the chassis, saving weight and letting BMW tune how the aluminium frame flexes around it.
- Full Floater Pro2019
- BMW's name for the rear suspension linkage introduced with the 2019 bike, which sets how the shock responds as the swingarm moves.
- M Motorsport frame2027
- The M 1000 RR's third-generation frame, standard from the 2027 model year: about 1.3 kg lighter, with walls around 30 per cent thinner, and tuned for more grip.
Every rider aid reads one sensor.
Since 2019 a six-axis sensor has tracked the bike's lean, pitch and yaw. Traction control, ABS and wheelie control all work from the same picture of what the bike is doing, instead of each guessing on its own.
Move your pointer over the instrument to lean, pitch and turn the bike.
- Dynamic Traction Control
- Limits rear-wheel spin, and allows less of it the further the bike is leaned over. From 2023 a steering-angle sensor added Slide Control, which lets the rider set how far the rear may slide out of a corner.
- ABS Pro
- Anti-lock braking that still works when the bike is leaned over. Brake Slide Assist, added in 2023, manages a sliding rear wheel on the way into a corner.
- Launch control and pit-lane limiter
- Repeatable race starts, and a held speed for the pit lane.
- Shift Assist Pro
- Gear changes up and down without the clutch.
Why superbikes grew wings.
At very high speed, hard acceleration lifts the front wheel, and the electronics have to cut power to put it back down. Winglets push the front tyre into the road instead, so the engine can keep working.
The M 1000 RR had them first, in 2021. The S 1000 RR made them standard in 2023, and both bikes got new designs for 2025.
