Following the ban on the special frame: BMW responds with a new M1000RR for 2027

After securing two world championship titles with Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW has little chance of challenging Ducati this season, as the technical advantage the Bologna-based manufacturer has built up with the current Panigale V4R is simply too great. Rather than calling for a rule change, as its Japanese rivals have done, BMW has risen to the challenge and is launching a new homologation model of the M1000RR for next season. This is already the fourth model generation in just seven years!

The biggest change compared to the current model is the chassis. As we recall, following the 2024 season, the regulations in the World Superbike Championship were changed in a last-minute move, effectively banning the M1000RR’s frame overnight and depriving BMW of an advantage. Whilst Toprak was able to compensate for this disadvantage with his riding genius, his team-mate Michael van der Mark struggled under these new conditions in 2025 and had to vacate his place in the works team at the end of the year.

The 2027 model features a third-generation M Motorsport frame, still comprising welded cast aluminium parts, with the frame flex having been fine-tuned. It has long been recognised that a motorbike frame can also be too stiff. The right amount of frame flex improves traction when leaning at full angle and is essential for sensing the tyres’ grip limit.

On the new M1000RR frame, wall thicknesses have been reduced by around 30 per cent, resulting in a weight saving of 1.3 kg. Naturally, the wall thicknesses weren’t simply reduced across the entire chassis; instead, the team fine-tuned exactly where the frame needed to be specifically weakened in order to improve its characteristics and, consequently, lap times.

No one at BMW dares to say whether this will be enough to close the gap on Ducati. “What is certain is that we have not yet exploited all the advantages and potential of our current package,” BMW team principal Shaun Muir revealed in an interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “Due to the rainy winter tests and our injured riders, we’ve missed out on a lot of track time, so there’s still a lot of untapped potential. As long as we’re not getting the most out of the current package, it’s hard to say where we’ll stand with the next one. We’re already testing a lot of the new components with the test team, and I can say one thing: everything that’s coming is better. I don’t want to pin that down to the electronics, the chassis or the powertrain. The package as a whole will be better; we can see that very clearly in the test team.”

Topic of the week

From major doubts to a major spectacle: why GP fans have reason to be delighted

Before the start of the season, critical voices dominated, but the World Championship rounds so far have shown that the rule changes are delivering exactly what was hoped for: excitement right up to the final lap.

Read more

TV program

Today

Donington Park: FP1

FIM Superbike World Championship

10.07.2026 - 11:15