BMW R1100 Turbo

Finally, a no-compromise exhaust for the Ducati-esque R1100S, a bike that looks the part but falls a bit short in the power department. We are offering some real gains in torque and power and a level of quality that is commensurate with the bike's innovative engineering. Fuel system upgrades accompany the exhaust system's increased potential.

The black spatula is your new license plate bracket. Don't ask us for dual mufflers as we are sort of adamant about not doing something stupid. Designs, when done correctly, follow a logical path with minimum of detours and make a statement that is true to their purpose. This design has "legs".

The only part of this we use on the turbo is our Black Hole Muffler technology.

Since we've been water injecting things for more than 25 years it was common sense to have water injection for the R series. Hoses, pumps, nozzles, regulators and the logic to make it all work. We know the math and have the experience.

Boost Gauge

3 Bar Boost Gauge with Tattle-Tale indicator showing maximum boost actually run. Glycerin filled to resist vibration. Comes with stainless steel handlebar mount. Easy to reset, even with gloved hand.

Part Number 03-1013 149.50. Center back mount with 12mm x 1.5 lock nut and integral push-on nipple. Mounted to the left of the boost gauge is the pneumatic Dial-A-Boost controller 5 to 28 psi. Integral stainless steel mounts hold the RSR Air Fuel Ratio Gauge, the 3 Bar Boost Gauge and the Dial-A-Boost. All hardware provided.

When you undertake a turbo project with a brand new bike, especially the first new boxer of the millenium, chock full of expensive German parts housed in a vertically split crankcase, you get a little nervous with visions of broken rings, blown head gaskets and other terminal explosions. We really shouldn't have worried as BMW made this one tough puppy.

Heavy stainless steel header, 225hp turbo, new inlet plenum with two additional injectors controlled by an RSR AIC400 Additional Injector Controller, intercooler, RSR Air Fuel Ratio Gauge, a positive oil scavenge system, and a free flowing cannister muffler...throw in 400 hours of development and you have the fastest twin on the block.

Originally tested by Sport Rider Magazine's crew of Nick Ienatch, Jason Black and Lance Holtz the bike was put in a group of Ducatis, Moto Guzzis and the like for a four part comparison: road ride, drag race, top speed run and a road race on the Streets of Willow Springs Raceway. The R1100RS turbo outran all the Ducatis in the road race portion as well as the during the road ride. As for the top speed this was meaningless as the Motronic computer limited the top speed to 145mph. For our own amusement we cruised the bike around the Palmdale high desert at 140 mph under closed loop control. Detecting a certain lack of respect from the journalists who were seen bowing to carbon fiber bits from Italy we pulled the bike from the test...It did not belong in the company of inferior machinery. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. We struck a deal with Nick Ienatsch to do a separate small article which he, to his credit did. Maybe pictures of hero journalists in the afternoon sun dragging kneepads on Supemono Ducatis sells magazines but nobody rides them and they are suck ass slow compared to the R1100RS Turbo. Isn't life fun. Like the French say and know so well..."Everything is politics". Nick made a pass at the drag strip running a 10.6 second quarter mile at over 130mph with very low boost. Damn fast twin!

Subsequent tests were published by Joe Haile, famous for his series of Turbo books and by Paul Peczon aka "Uncle Paul", journalist and Dot Com warrior from Silicon Valley. These reviews are on the internet or hidden in your old piles of magazines. They were glowing in their praise. We regeared the bike and with the rear wheel running 178mph the bike went through the traps at 158mph at El Mirage. The SCTA officials at El Mirage thought the bike would kill all the Harleys so they ruled it's pushrod operated valvetrain to really be an overhead cam and moved it to another class. Like we said it's all politics. A boy named Sue, how do you do!

Enter stage left new kits for the boxers. In production for the R1100S. The RT, GS, 1200C Custom, and other models will require fitment at RB Racing. As of July 2004, development of the R1100S exhaust and fuel as well as turbocharger systems is coming to an end. "S" turbo parts are pictured above. For those of you who will be installing R1100S Turbo kits we have posted a downloadable PDF Shop Manual for the R1100S. This will aid in disassembly, reassembly as well as providing proper torque figures. We will be coming out with a R1200C turbo as soon as one can be scheduled. The R1100RT poses some unique quirks when it comes to turbocharging. We have posted a downloadable Maintenance PDF for the R1150RT. A few of the above parts will also fit the R1200C so when you are ready to tackle this job we have posted a downloadable PDF Shop Manual for the R1200C.

Pictured above is the new turbo we have in stock for the 4 valve R "oilhead" series. These new turbos have the larger compressor that we previously used on the early R1100RS that pumps another 100 cfm of air and is more linear in its response with a potential of 225hp @ 22 psi. We have these turbos in stock and are now building kits. We have to remachine the housings to adapt them to the R Series and the Ni-Resist Iron housings are deburred after we finish a heliarcing operation and are finished with a ceramic coating. The housings are non-magnetic so don't ask us to chrome them. The center section is also remachined and both it and the compressor housing receive a corrosion-proof coating. All hardware that is either raw or cad plated is replaced with stainless steel fasteners.

The saga continues. You have to have a sense of humor and mischief in your soul when venturing out into a world full of unsuspecting Hayabusas and GL1800 Gold Wings. Happy hunting.

More details will be posted in the upcoming months. Visit our new RSR Dynamic Compression Calculator to see how boost can figure into your future.

My bike is fast enough! No it isn't..they never are and BMW's are so conservative that Japan Inc. always has something that will clean your clock. BMW doesn't change things for a decade or more while the Japanese pop out new models on what seems to be now a semi-annual basis...and they get better and better.

Turbos break parts! No, the turbo just sits there passing some oil through it's veins, waiting for you to ask it to pump more air into your motor than it could do by its lonesome. Turbos increase torque, so you shift earlier without having to wind the motor so hard. You don't have to run more than 5 psi to have a 25% increase in power and even at a lowly 8 psi there can be a 50% increase. In short, you can turn up the power for a 100% increase but there is no need to. It's nice to know the potential is there.

I'll wait till BMW Supercharges the bikes. Go ahead and wait. The clock is ticking and even if the bell rings the turbos will be superior. In case you weren't around back in the Formula One Turbo era, turbos were the weapon of choice, even for BMW. Superchargers are there full time, directly coupled to your engine's rpm whether you want the extra oomph or not...and with their fixed drive ratios, your boost is limited. With turbos you recapture wasted exhaust energy and you only use it when you need it...and unlike superchargers, you get to set whatever boost or power level you want.

I'll stick with a pipe and chip upgrade. Boy are you in for a $1000.00 surprise. You are $1,000.00 poorer, the cops can now hear you, and that Motronic computer is busily rewriting all those "not-so-clever" edits back to stoiciometry. Then there's the matter of your exhaust supplier telling you that noise equals power while he doesn't realize BMW fuel limited your equation from the get-go. Then your "chip-guy" didn't understand that BMW programs way below stoiciometry and lets the computer add fuel which takes into account hot weather and high altitude scenarios. Your chip guy tests where his ass is and not where you might go...think about it. BMW routinely looks at these "chips" and has a big laugh. Your bore and stroke are set in stone and your compression ratio is already pretty high...there isn't much you can do.

Turbos cost too much. Your BMW costs too much. In 1971 a R75/5 could be purchased in Germany for $1,300.00 US. Now you pay $15,000.00 to $20,000.00 for your BMW. Turbos are more bang for your buck than anything you can buy, and their level of sophistication and refinement make them a real bargain. These days you often spend money without results. Turbos give results.

I want to win dyno contests...I want to go 200 mph. All of this has been done dozens of times. It all depends on how much horsepower is required for the given situation. Generally if you want to push towards the upper limits, forged, lower compression pistons, water / alcohol injection, and clutch upgrades are necessary. The turbos we use are capable of 28 psi at sea level but run out of air at about 22 psi as beyond this the turbine excedes 180,000 rpm and ceases to "pump" more air. In effect, the compressor wheel appears as a "solid" to the incoming air. In fact, the turbos, at sea level, pump about all the air they were designed for at 15 psi. Running at 2500 feet altitude we never used more that 18 psi and at Bonneville with an altitude of 4500 feet, never more that 20 psi. In dyno contests at sea level, with water alcohol injection we ran up to 22 psi. You can run over 200 mph with as little as 8 psi with one of our larger (K11 / K12/ K100 Race) turbos, assuming you change your final drive ratios. It is a good idea to stick to the factory mandated rev limits in most cases as this keeps the valves from "floating" and keeps the crankshaft in it's design limits. Revving early K100 two valve motors to 12,000 rpm plus would float the valves and break camshafts if stiffer valve springs were not used. BMWs are tough motors, but planning is required for championship bouts.

This may be your hobby but it is our business and in a business sense, turbos make little sense. That we choose to do them is our choice and it has nothing to do with money. The R&D and the tooling and the testing is money that you never get back...Never! Never! Never! No one appreciates what you do and almost no one understands what is involved. We have done enough free work and R&D to pay for a mansion in Beverly Hills. It is our choice. Got to love turbos if you want to play with them.

We get calls from people who want to know if the exhaust they have will work with the turbo (think about it). We have people who call and tell us they will be happy with 200hp all the time (?). We have people call and tell us they are coming by for an installation...they don't ask, they just announce it. We tell them no and they tell us we are assholes. Got to love turbos if you want to play with them.

We have worked with a number of customers on prototypes. Several have announced they were not going to pay us any money because "RB Racing" was going to get rich off the prototype. We offered any of these people to simply pay us for our time and parts and we'll let them have the business. For some reason they always decline the offer. Something about them getting their regular paycheck without any risk or investment. Got to love turbos if you want to play with them.

Over 600 BMW turbos and 1500 turbos for more than 25 platforms over the years. Thousands and thousands of man hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars invested. Computer code, flow benches, test equipment, custom software, electronic circuitry design, specialized castings, cnc and manual machinery, fixtures, specialized fabrication and welding equiment, training of employees etc etc. Got to love turbos if you want to play with them.

Be prepared. This is serious stuff. Know your responsibility. These aren't phony carbon fiber tank protectors.

More to Come...R1150GS/RT in November

Two bolt late or three bolt early flanges...we are tooled for both with some important inovations.

We will be posting more details on the R series turbo parts in November/December 2004. In the months to come and will be featuring customer bikes as they are done. Stay tuned. These are perfect mild mannered turbo bikes.