Now what http://www.motorcyclenews.com/MCN/sport ... -from-wsb/

Bad news for the WSBK series.
BMW seem to be pulling back from high performance bike manufacture and competition.
Selling Husqvarna to KTM after winning world championships and making arguably the best middle weight Enduro bike and now this :bet we don't see a replacement for the s1000RR.

They might as well give up on WSBK, what does that leave? A grid of 13-14?

WSBK is really not doing it for me at the moment. Just can't compete with MotoGP.

To be fair I find WSBK more interesting generally, more contenders for the win and a brit heading for the title.

At the end of the day I will watch anything as long as its a good race, at Laguna the only bit of the race I enjoyed was Marquez overtaking Rossi the rest was a bit dull.

A valid point was made that BMW has a habit of joining race series after race series and just as things stsrt to click they bail. F1 comes to mind, but others are.mentioned. strange tactic indeed.

Trouble for BMW is that racing is supposed sell bikes but the market for sports bikes is on its knees.
No return on investment makes no sense.
Perhaps Dorna should start a race series for adventurer bikes. KTM, Guzzi,BMW, Triumph et al. Would make an interesting championship.

No more RR models from BMW?
But plenty of R models and liquid cooled now at that.
They had a star line up before entering the race circuit, they will Carole on just fine.
Poor Marco he seems to be the killer of many a race team. Anyone remember Kawasaki and Marco?

Racing is supposed to sell bikes isn't it.
Problem with BMW RR's is that every rich dreamer and wannabe takes to it to show off and tell everyone "I have one",
then the reality sets in and either find out it is boring (fast yes but still boring) or there is a new "I want to have" on the market.
Just my 2 cents.
As mentioned sad for Melandri.

Right out of the box a winner BMW took people for a ride with a bike they sold to the public to quick,,,hence all those unforseen warrenty callbacks,,,,,if I were shopping for an IL4 in that size ,(which I never would) I'de go JAP all the way,,oh,,and BIC lighter it every year to be on top of the latest and greatest all the time,,,,,as the newer stuff is bound to be better in some way,,,,,,,

Yeah sure all manufacturers are in motorsport for charity reasons!
How many Ducatis have been sold due to Foggy winning the superbikes? Why does KTM sells so many dirtbikes, coz people love the orange colour?!
GS sales for BMW started when they won dakar and then Ewan and Charlie brokenback round the world cowboys really boosted the sales.
Manufacturers are in racing to show off quality and technical know how, which eventually relates to sales for a part of the customer group they are targeting, in this case sportbike riders.
Still recon it's a boring bike, maybe lack of soul describes it better. Bit similar to a Honda, perfect in lots of ways, does everything really good but... boring.
Rather have an RSV4 with a Austin can on it if I want a 4cyl

Well, at least we can agree on the Austin can.

Taylormade exhaust look's betta,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

http://www.racetaylormade.com/tmpages/bmw/bmw1000.html