2024 BMW M1000XR review | It looks like a sports tourer but think of it simply as a comfy superbike

BMW are giving their customers the chance to enjoy the thrill of full-blooded superbike with the comfort of a sports tourer with the new M1000XR.

That will be mana from heaven for those forced to leave their cramped race reps behind, but still feel the need for speed. The only downside is you’ll need deep pockets. It costs a whopping £22,580 and the ‘M XR’ we’re testing, here at its world launch in southern Spain, is fitted with a £5100 ‘M Competition Package’, complete with lashings of carbon fibre (including wheels) and billet aluminium parts. That’s serious cash, but then it’s a serious bike.

It looks like a sports tourer but think of the M XR simply as a comfy superbike. It delivers full-blooded, foaming at the mouth performance, from the way it scrambles your brain on the throttle to the crispness of the steering and the savage brake bite. With so much power it demands to be ridden like a superbike in the corners, where it responds sensationally to the ‘point and squirt’, rather than long, leant over sweeping lines where it can’t use its 200bhp superpowers.

All this performance is neatly wrapped in a machine that’s easy to ride, thanks to friendly engine mapping, rider aids and it’s so spacious and comfortable you could spend all day in the saddle without noticing, although wind noise is high at speed. Add in all its standard bells and whistles and the M1000XR is a hell of a lot of bike, albeit for a lot of cash.

Despite its height the M XR is never wayward or top heavy. Sure, there’s more suspension travel than an S1000RR superbike, but there’s less than the S1000XR sports tourer. That keeps it feeling tight with no excessive adventure bike-like weight transfer on and off the throttle.

The way the M XR dances from corner to corner is mesmerising and feels so much like a crisp-handling superbike it asks to be ridden like one. It comes alive when you brake and accelerate hard in and out of corners without too much speed in the middle and it’s so easy with such deliciously powerful Nissin ‘M’ brakes (first seen on the 2021 M1000RR), pin-sharp steering and feel through the chassis.

With so much space to move around the BMW it’s far less effort to pilot than a race rep. There’s lots of legroom for taller riders, the seat is comfy on long trips and while the wide bars place you more over the front than the S XR, your wrists are never battered. Electronic suspension is plush and the ride is smoother than the filling-shaking M1000R super naked and RR superbike.

Based on the sports touring S1000XR, it’s fitted with the full-fat 999cc, inline four-cylinder ‘ShiftCam’ engine taken from the current S1000RR superbike. BMW had to slice 10bhp off the S1000RR’s top end (with mapping) for the M XR to pass Euro noise regs, but 199bhp (up 31bhp on the ‘S XR’) is still way more than you need for the road.

It displays all the hallmarks of an angry, race derived motor when you pin the throttle. Acceleration so brutal it’s hard for your brain to keep up and the aural drama is every bit as intoxicating, from its shrill exhaust note, twisted airbox roar, the pop and bang of its sublime up/down quick shifter and crackling overrun off the throttle.

Such speed is surreal on a machine with a lofty, BMW GS-like riding position and at first you feel detached sat so far away from the tarmac, but it quickly feels natural. Despite its searing performance there’s lots of sub 9000rpm grunt, where the ShiftCam system runs on its milder inlet cams.

Power delivery is smooth, safe and predictable thanks to an engine that’s perfectly mapped in all its riding modes. The extra weight the 223kg M XR carries over its superbike and super naked sisters takes some of the viscousness out of the power, too and its smooth anti-wheelie and traction control systems serve to tame the beast even more. 200bhp has never been easier.

With so much power the inline four has an industrial feel and slightly buzzy at motorway speeds, but never an irritation. BMW claims 43mpg, which isn’t great for a ‘tourer’, but that gives a theoretical 191-mile range from its 20-litre tank.

MCN Owners’ reviews of latest generation S1000XR and S1000RR, which more or less makes up the M XR, are mostly excellent, but there are some reports of poor dealer back-up in some.

Few machines are as quick and comfy as the M XR. A super naked gives you the same superbike thrills and similarly relaxed riding position, but there’s little concession to wind protection or comfort.

Only Ducati come close with not one, but two rivals: the 168bhp, 239kg, £26,595 Ducati Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak and the 178bhp, 225kg, £31,995 Ducati Multistrada V4 RS. The Italians have more character, but their performance, on paper at least, can’t match the M XR’s.

It’s loaded with standard-issue performance and touring goodies. On the one hand you’ve got lap time-busting launch control, forged aluminium wheels, a lithium battery and wings and on the other, there’s heated grips, cruise control, keyless ignition, cornering lights and a low, two-way adjustable tinted screen.

It’s noisy at speed, but a taller one is available as an accessory. As well as a slimmer back end, M XR-specific stacked wings produce the same 11.4kg downforce as the S1000RR at 136mph. You can’t fit hard panniers and a top box, so fully-laden, two-up touring is probably out, but BMW offer soft luggage options. You could take or leave the M Competition Pack, as it’s mostly for show.