First Track Report on the 2026 Track Bike
Buy a new bike, do the most basic prep, go to Laguna Seca
As I mentioned in the last post, I picked up my new track bike. It’s a 2026 BMW S1000 RR base model with TPM(S) and Bluestone Gray metallic in color. Like my previous A bike, it’s a K67 BMW so lots of bits are the same. There have been some incremental upgrades on the bike since my 2020, some geometry changes, a steering angle sensor, some electronics upgrades, and a set of giant wings.
My prep of the bike for the track included:
Installing the forged BMW wheels with T-drive rotors and bringing over the Vesrah RJL-XX pads. I had a set of virtually new SC2 Superbike-sized tires already installed.
G&B Racing engine covers (from the old bike)
Configuring and mounting my AiM XLog and SmartyCam GP
Setting up the Bursig stand (which is the simple matter of removing the top rear left engine to frame nut and replacing with the Bursig receiver).
I fully committed to the new bike by NOT bringing the Tuono this time. The Tuono is great but because it’s so comfortable (and sounds so good), if I have it along I’ll hop on it once and just end up riding the rest of the day on it. I wanted to put my concentration on the new bike so the Tuono stayed home this time. It’s also dramatically easier just transporting and loading one bike.
I did not adjust the suspension at all, it’s still set exactly as it came from the dealership and set by BMW in Berlin (where it was manufactured). It’s had the break-in service done by BMW of San Francisco.
The event was the Laguna Volant Vivere day, where I am staff and spent most of my time supporting the event and riding with clients. It was a glorious day with perfect weather (once the typical morning marine layer burns off, usually between 10-11 AM). We had at least 4 MotoAmerica racers practicing for the upcoming round and a great batch of clients. There were no ambulance runs and very few riders fell down. There were a couple of mechanicals but as a customer, you could pretty much ride as much as you wanted. One customer told me he logged over 160 laps!
I didn’t get a huge amount of time to ride for myself (I’ll be back at the end of July as a customer at the Aprila day for that) but I did get enough time in to get a baseline of riding the new BMW.
Looking at data from last year on the old bike, the stock gearing is definitely an issue (for me), I lost a lot of speed on the acceleration zones. I have a smaller front sprocket for it already. I was down 1-2k RPM through most of the track. On the old bike with shorter gearing, I could use G2 or G3 for several turns, stock gearing largely required G2 for the same turns. In general, I prefer a taller gear since the bike feels less high-strung, however with the stock gearing, it was too far out of the power band.
The stock folding foot pegs were a distraction. I have Gilles rear-sets and will put those on. Unfortunately the stock pegs and rear sets all have my feet higher than I’d like. I have pleaded with Attack Performance to make some but no dice. Kind of an expensive endeavor to experiment with. Vortex, Lightech, Woodcraft? I had a set of E/T and the adjustment range didn’t work well for me. I have tried the Alpha/Bonamici and they’re even higher in the lowest setting.
The stock bars had me pinched a bit, particularly in T2. It made it hard to get weight off the bars there in particular. I don’t have an immediate fix, and this may require some research though I may have a set of incoming Gilles bars to try.
The bike is super planted in the high speed runs. While the old bike felt like it was struggling to keep the front down even at 100 mph +, the new bike only comes up in the first couple of gears. I suspect it’s a combination of the monster wings and the revised electronics. It’ll be interesting to see if it retains that high speed stability with shorter gearing.
The bike turns great, I had good confidence in later and faster turn-ins (which suits Laguna well in the flat no-camber corners).
Stock exhaust and lazy gearing made the bike feel slow (and my top speeds in the acceleration zones were down). It will take me a bit to get used to the stock exhaust because while that’s not really contributing to the bike ‘feeling’ slow, the lack of noise makes it seem slow.
My camera mounting was not good. The vantage was good but the camera being on a medium length arm was super prone to vibration, pretty much useless video. I’ve done some rudimentary fabrication for other bikes and I just need to take a couple of panels off to see what my options are on this one with the stock bodywork.
Engine map #1 was too aggressive for my liking, it almost felt like the bike was trying to anticipate my acceleration. Engine map #2 is awfully good but feels a touch lazy. I’ll bet gearing makes it perfect.
Brake lever reach was inconsistent which compromised my braking confidence. It has the stock fluid in it (T-drive rotors and forged wheels, Vesrah XX pads from old bike). I have Stahlbus bleeders on order and will put in SRF at the same time. Stock lever feel is good and though I normally like to replace the master cylinder with a Brembo Corsa Corta (just because I like the skinny lever), I’m going to stick with the OEM one for a while.
I set the ABS to the minimum setting and I think I felt the rear activating in a few spots. The bikes have an active linked braking system and curiously the minimum setting still has things linked. I seldom broke 1.0 G in braking so I have a ways to go. On fast laps with previous bikes I’ve regularly been over 1.0 G in a couple of spots.
I didn’t go fast enough to take advantage of it, but I appreciate the fender’s brake ducting.
Tire wear was surprisingly minimal. Granted, once you go fast tire wear seems to go up exponentially but still, I got a lot of laps in on a single rear and it’s probably good for another half day at the same pace. Wear was light and the tires look great (SC2 front & rear).
As a staff and stock bike, it was really handy having hazard lights. I helped a rider get out of the turn 5 gravel trap and set my bike on the side of the track with the flashers. The stock mirrors are so-so but useful enough.
Again, I didn’t get a lot of laps to myself but on my best session, I was about 2.5 seconds off my best with my old bike (which was fully setup and dialed in). The fact that I could take a showroom bike, put some slicks on it and ride it around at that pace is pretty okay by me. I’m not riding it again until the end of July but it will be at Laguna again so with some adjustments and slight modifications, as well as having the time and space to focus on my own program, I expect to find some improvement.
Upcoming changes will include:
Radiator & oil cooler guard
Safety wiring the ‘wet’ bits
Switching the front sprocket from 17 teeth to 16 (shorter overall gearing)
Fabricate a better camera mounting solution
Setting sag and paying attention to suspension travel (I don’t yet have pots installed, and may not until the time comes to put the upgraded suspension on it).
If I’m ambitious, I may put at least the front suspension pot on it. I have the Alpha bits and the steering stops from the old bike. The bummer is that there’s some interference with the stock fender (you know, the cool one with the integrated bake ducts). I have a fender from the old bike (pre-brake ducts) and will likely use that if I do mount the potentiometer.
I have the L74 quick change rear kit and it’s a pretty straight-forward installation so I’ll likely do that if I have the time.
Great review and summary of the day at Laguna! I've never been, but it's on the bucket list. (I'm an East Coaster.)
I think your comment about taking a bike straight from the showroom, slap some SC2's on, and going within a few seconds of your previous PB is pretty telling. One of these days I hope to do something similar, but with a M1000R. :-)