BMW M 1000 RR 50 Year Anniversary M First Look Preview

Happy birthday, BMW Motorsport! You’re now all of 50 years old. To celebrate the iconic Bavarian performance division’s birthday, BMW Motorrad has gifted us with the BMW M 1000 RR 50 Years M Anniversary model. Building on the familiar M 1000 RR superbike from 2020, the M RR 50 Years M model brings significant upgrades to an already serious track bike.

Dressed in São Paulo Yellow, as were many of its legendary 1970s and ‘80s M forebears, the M Package features carbon fiber wheels, a lightened and adjustable anodized aluminum swingarm, a lightweight lithium-ion battery, and a taller windscreen, in addition to weight-saving aluminum and carbon fiber bits.

About those bits. The M Carbon Package ($32,495 MSRP plus $4,500) comes with carbon fiber front and rear fenders, upper fairing side panels, tank covers, chain guard, and sprocket cover. The M Billet Package includes billet aluminum engine guards, folding brake and clutch levers, rearsets and front brake lever guard. Rounding things out, an M Endurance chain, rear seat cover and passenger kit, and the expected complement of M badging designed especially for the 50 Years Anniversary observance. Oh, and also GPS Lap Timer trigger software.

Still got that checkbook out? Keep it pinned with optional accessories like a radiator guard, two tinted windshield options, M tire warmers, and an M cover kit in the unlikely event of your parking your M edition sportbike outside.

If you’re not fully moved by this motorsports moment, the “standard” M 1000 RR features all the rider aids, controls, and assists you’d expect. Plus, rider modes (Rain, Road, Dynamic, Race, Race Pro 1-3) offer a spectrum of ride experience to match ambitions and road conditions. Displaying all of this is a generous 6.5-inch TFT display.

The horse behind the curtains is the liquid-cooled 999cc inline-four with four titanium valves per cylinder putting out 205 hp at 13,000 rpm and 83 pound-feet torque at 11,000 rpm. It could likely take you a bit further than the electronically limited 189 mph top speed.

The blue, violet, and red badge has always stood as a minimalist marker of sleeper power in streetable guise, but the 50 Years Anniversary M Package offers the familiar overstatement of the BMW M GmbH’s race livery. Even if the record of M’s historic involvement with Motorrad before 2020 is spotty—make that slim to none—this M Package still speaks to the M-class purpose of a barely civilized track machine allowed to legally prowl the streets.