Pictures have emerged of what appears to be a new BMW S1000RR superbike being put through its paces at the Nürburgring Nordschleife in Germany.
The bike captured in the images has a completely redesigned front fairing with even bigger aero wings than before, and that’s likely to be a focal point for fans of the existing bike. But a redesigned swingarm would suggest the changes are more than skin deep.
The new rear arm is enclosed for much more of its length than its predecessor, meaning smaller cutouts and presumably a different level of flex.
It’s difficult to be sure from the spy shots, but the front engine mount section of the frame also appears to have been reworked, with a mounting point lower and further back than before.
All of these changes would suggest there’s probably a new chassis lurking underneath the plastics, with changes that likely run deeper than the reworking already announced for the 2027 M1000RR homologation model that receives 30% thinner frame walls, slicing 1.3kg from its weight.
The seat unit is completely different, too – suggesting alterations to the subframe – with the front bodywork sharing a strong resemblance to the Concept RR prototype revealed by the brand in May 2025 at the prestigious Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este event in Italy.
Elsewhere, the front brakes bolted to the test bike’s electronic Marzocchi forks are Brembo Hypure units, which would be a departure from the Nissin-built, BMW -branded items usually associated with the firm’s road-going superbikes .
The Concept RR also ran Brembos, but it was assumed that was due to the WSBK-derived discs it featured.
Brembo already make BMW’s racing calipers and the master cylinders for their road models, so it wouldn’t be a huge stretch to see them feature on an S1000RR.
The semi-active electronic suspension appears unchanged from the outside, but an updated chassis will probably need internal tweaks to keep everything in line at the limit. There is likely to be a version of the bike available with mechanically adjusted forks, too, as race teams won’t use the electronic versions anyway.
Speaking of electronics, the test bike features a new, gargantuan TFT dash and – more surprisingly – lacks BMW’s trademark jog wheel control on the left switchgear. Instead, what appears to be a finished and production-ready cluster of buttons and switches takes its place.
Aero packages never seem to get smaller, and so the bigger wings seen on the test bike make sense. The current 2025 S1000RR already runs a serious aero package, and you can clearly see from the spy shots that the test bike is running a larger design than the current bike running with it on track.
Whereas the Concept RR used smaller front winglets than the current M1000RR and S1000RR, adding subtle secondary fins beside the headlights for extra top-speed stability, this test bike uses a dual winglet design on each side with vertical end plates similar to those used on the M1000R super-naked .
There are carbon bits and pieces all over the test bike too, including the front and rear mudguard, air intake, underseat and heel plates. Some of these may survive to the finished bike, but it’s more likely an M Performance model will accompany the standard bike in the range.
The Concept RR was powered by the same 999cc four-cylinder engine as BMW’s World Superbike racer, with a claimed output of more than 226.6bhp, but clearly the new road-going S-RR will use a far less fruity powerplant than that,…