Rumours have been flying thick and fast over recent rumours about a hot new BMW sports tourer. The German company has been steadily and strategically leaking a few details of the coming beast to help build interest in the lead up to the release of the new bike late this year.

Currently the most powerful BMW is the K1200 RS. It is powered by an 1,171cc four-cylinder engine and BMW claim 96kw (130hp) from this well regarded mill. The new model to come to market later this year, dubbed the K1200 S, also uses a four-cylinder engine but is mounted transversely and arrives in a much more aggressive state of tune. BMW are already quoting numbers in excess of 118kw (160hp) from the machine. The new machine is also claimed to be much lighter than the opposition, BMW say the new bike has a power to weight ratio nearly 50% better than the current K1200 RS.

A well known test that BMW customarily put their new four wheeled creations through is a timed lap of the infamous Nurburgring circuit with a top line driver at the wheel. They have now applied this test to the new K1200 S. A video with professional rider Markus Barth at the controls of the K1200 S has been released and it shows a complete lap of the Nurburgring onboard the machine. It is quite an eye opening ride with the ex motocross and road racer lapping the 21km, 172 turn circuit under the magic eight minute mark. Impressive stuff, the white faced tachometer rarely strays below 8000rpm and often swings past the 11,000rpm redline. The onboard video also demonstrates the acceleration available, scorching out of 100kph corners to well beyond 200kph in only a few seconds. BMW are clearly aiming to eclipse the sport-touring capabilities of Honda’s CBR1100XX Super Blackbird, Kawasaki’s ZX-12R and Suzuki’s GSX1300R Hayabusa with their new weapon.

BMW like to be a little different, this is perhaps most evident by the telelever suspension layout that graces many of their machines. The K1200 S is bringing another new revolution to front suspension design with two electronically adjustable parallel links. While the full details of this new system are yet to be revealed, it seems to be of a twin a-arm design complete with ball joints and a single shock absorber. It seems to follow a concept designed by Briton Norman Hossack who first pioneered the layout two decades ago. Obviously BMW would have put their own twist on the design and improved it to a point where they believe it will outperform conventional telescopic forks.

One thing is for sure, this new K1200 S is an exciting new direction for BMW, one that has the whole motorcycling world talking. I have long been frustrated by the fact that BMW had yet to apply the much heralded brilliance demonstrated in their ‘M’ series cars to the fore in their motorcycles. The BMW M3 has long been regarded as the performance benchmark for naturally aspirated car engines, could the new K1200 S fill that role in motorcycling? Who knows, but clearly it is going to be a force to be reckoned with.