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• Air-cooled versus water-cooled
• New boxer consumes one liter less
• BMW R 1200 RS wraps the driver in cotton wool
• BMW HP2 Sport is only available as a used one
• Technical specifications

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7 years lie between the two two-cylinder boxers: BMW HP2 from 2008 (right) against BMW R 1200 RS (2015, left).

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BMW HP2 Sport.

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Aft and front, on the Telelever, the HP2 Sport has a fully adjustable Ohlins shock absorber with a reservoir.

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Race-ready 2D dashboard with LCD tachometer and colored LEDs for shift light / warm-up status.

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BMW R 1200 RS.

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BMW R 1200 RS.

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BMW R 1200 RS.

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BMW R 1200 RS.

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Optional: The ESA version of the RS chassis offers semi-active damping.

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The RS combines a large speedometer and informative LCD instruments. As with the HP2 Sport, there are various view modes.

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BMW HP2 Sport.

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BMW HP2 Sport.

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BMW HP2 Sport.

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One could say: similar, and yet completely different.

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The air-cooled HP2 is nicknamed sport, while the water-cooled R 1200 RS stands for travel and sport.

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Classy racing technology and fine materials characterized the HP2 Sport, which weighs 206 kilograms in 2008. Carbon everywhere you look, up to the front and rear panels on self-supporting carbon booms. Chic are arm-thick manifolds, lean angles, but the raised exhaust is unfavorable for the center of gravity, and the Brembo monoblocks are firm to the bite. With the Telelever, the fork only has a wheel-guiding function.
In contrast, the R 1200 RS, which weighs five hundred pounds, is a sports tourer: with a large, multi-height adjustable window, luggage rack and large pillion seat. Her XXL silencer looks plump. A paradigm shift at BMW means 2015 the upside-down fork, allegedly a tribute to the one-piece water cooler

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Pillion seat and case holder on one side, narrow single seaters on the other.

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The air-cooled HP2 boxer (left) and the water-cooled 1200 boxer.

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The air-cooled HP2 boxer (left) and the water-cooled 1200 boxer.

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The air-cooled HP2 boxer (right) and the water-cooled 1200 boxer.

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BMW HP2 versus BMW R 1200 RS.

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BMW HP2 Sport.

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The HP2 Sport was BMW’s first four-valve boxer with two overhead, chain-driven camshafts each. Additional performance thanks to large, radial valves and milled inlet ports.

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The current dohc water boxer in the R 1200 RS has cheaper, because less curved, suction paths.

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For a BMW boxer, the drive of the HP2 Sport shows unusual revving: the limiter only cuts off the ignition current at 9500 tours. The air-cooled Schlegel only pampers you with a rapid increase in torque at 5500 rpm. Below that, it has a wide plateau at a good 100 Newton meters. The water boxer gets into the RS with more beefy: up to the 7000 mark, he has the lead in terms of performance. Only then does the air-cooled dohc boxer soar to flight so that it cannot be caught. Unlike the technically identical Roadster R 1200 R, this test RS does not press a full 125 hp, but “just” almost 122 hp.

BMW R 1200 RS and BMW HP2 Sport in comparison

Air-cooled versus water-cooled

Content of

The BMW HP2 Sport is a high-performance athlete, the BMW R 1200 RS a pentathlon. We compare the air-cooled boxer with the water-cooled boxer.

Have you ever had a 12 GS in the rearview mirror? Even if many supersport drivers don’t like to hear it: there are opponents who are easier to wrestle. A BMW rarely seen in the wild HP2 Sport with the right driver belongs even more to the brisk Bavarian guard. In 2008 it combined real 133 hp with a fighting weight of just 206 kilograms. After Suzuki’s air / oil-cooled GSX-R models, the HP2 Sport was the most powerful air-cooled series motorcycle of all time! respect.

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BMW R 1200 RS and BMW HP2 Sport in comparison
Air-cooled versus water-cooled

Cozy duddle boxers? That was earlier.

Ring free for the open exchange of blows: Both BMWs are white, blue and black, but their two dohc engines are completely different. Only the bore and stroke are identical. Fat 101 pistons each compress 12.5 to one. A stroke of 73 millimeters here and there results in a displacement of 1170 cm³. In the air-cooled engine of the BMW HP2 Sport, which flows through from back to front, each of the two horizontal camshafts on each side actuates a radial inlet and outlet valve using a rocker arm. The water boxer of the BMW R 1200 RS, which flows through from top to bottom, conventionally carries one inlet and one outlet camshaft on each side (see picture gallery).

In 2008 the BMW HP2 Sport was the most powerful BMW boxer at the top and the most powerful BMW boxer in terms of revs. Larger valve diameters, milled intake tracts, lighter forged pistons and high-strength connecting rods pumped up the biceps, allowing the boxer to insert a full 9500 revolutions. For BMW standards this is almost a rotary engine. Whereby the revving is not that of Italo-V2-Twins – at the top it gets a little tough. In the speed cellar, the HP2 is still stalking its current opponent. The skin then closes briefly and dryly. Like Klitschko’s rights. The torque increases rapidly at 5500 tours. Left hook, right hook, then the straight line.

The water boxer of the BMW R 1200 RS feels even stronger and is full of music from the start. Get in powerfully, deliver up to 7000 tours more torque. Motto: Hit it right away and that’s it. Cozy duddle boxers? That was earlier. This beefy performance characteristic is a power on country roads. Low speeds, high gear? Easy. Simply surf the torque wave. The water boxer hangs almost greedily on the electric throttle – the BMW HP2 Sport still has throttle cables.

New boxer consumes one liter less

The “old” boxer runs a real 260! With a maximum of just under 230 km / h, the measured 121 hp BMW R 1200 RS panting behind. At the top, the BMW HP2 Sport accelerates significantly better. But the beefier R 1200 RS goes faster in sixth gear – despite its 250 kilograms combat weight. That is a whopping 44 kilos more than the HP2 Sport. The new engine is thermally cheaper. In a leaner match, it consumes one liter of petrol less. Less curved suction paths improve the flow and thus the filling. Therefore, the water boxer Super with 95 octane is enough, the HP2 Sport wants an expensive Super Plus 98. The old construction is rough and vibrates harder. But their mechanical noises are lower, despite the water jacket shielding the younger engine. The hydraulic clutch of the water boxer is not particularly easy to adjust. The air-cooled flail can do that better. After all, the new bathes more resilient in the oil and is equipped with an anti-hopping function.

Wild downshifting on the BMW R 1200 RS puts you in a good mood: the optional gearshift with blipper function gives you double-declutching when you downshift. The BMW HP2 Sport “only” assists when upshifting. Hey, but already standard in 2008! When the clutch is operated, the HP2 gearbox shifts better, the gears click more gently and with shorter distances. With conventional coupling, the RS sometimes irritates with violent switching jolts.

BMW R 1200 RS wraps the driver in cotton wool

Moment support or not, slight reactions of the cardan single-sided swing (formerly right, today left) still come through. So it’s better to arrow through the curves as before, with even load and pull on the cable, without provoking load change reactions by gas-open-close-open. There were no traction controls at the time of the BMW HP2 Sport. Of course, the BMW R 1200 RS has one. In the “Dynamic” driving mode (it costs extra as part of the “Dynamic” package), the intelligent, lean angle-dependent traction control DTC allows noticeably more wheelspin and even small, joyful wheelies. Not so in the series modes “Rain” and “Road” – in which the cockpit often flashes violently.

Whether in the northern Black Forest or the Nordschleife, the lightweight BMW HP2 Sport feels really good. Your seating position is sportier, much more front-wheel oriented. Here the handlebars are slightly below the upper triple clamp, on the BMW R 1200 RS above, which is why you sit much more upright on the new one. On the other hand, everything feels more direct on the solo athlete HP, in a good sporting sense stiffer. This also applies to the steering precision, it is simply crisper, more precise, tighter.

You can soften the BMW HP2 Sport, its spring elements offer a wide adjustment range. But it will never be a sedan chair à la BMW R 1200 RS. In return, it depicts the asphalt relief very transparently, first in the rider’s bottom, then in the synapses of the driver. In contrast, the optional ESA chassis of the RS with semi-active damping packs you completely in wadding. The RS becomes a comfort glider even on cobblestones or over rough potholes.

BMW R 1200 RS or BMW HP2 Sport – both BMWs have their right to exist.

If you want to go around the corner, the BMW HP2 Sport offers much more freedom of lean angle. Small plastic protectors protect the cylinders from grinding marks – from curbs, for example, when the HP is balanced on the race. The BMW R 1200 RS actually invites you to cheeky driving. It falls – amazingly – almost by itself into the curves. All basic chassis data point in the direction of sluggish handling: flat steering head angle, immense wheelbase, long caster. But: She grinds very early with footrests and main stand. 

The BMW HP2 Sport needs more energetic steering impulses. Its beautiful blue trellis wattle only has an auxiliary function, unlike the bridge frame of the RS. Brembo-M 50 with Magura radial pump were state of the art in 2008. They bite hard, just not ideally metered. This is where the more modern BMW R 1200 RS anchors more brutally. It also has the noticeably more modern ABS control technology.

BMW HP2 Sport is only available as a used one

When anchoring heavily, the Telelever of the BMW HP2 Sport compensates for brake buckling. But it prevents it from becoming more manageable when braking in because of the shortened overrun. And the feedback from the front wheel isn’t ideal either. The rethinking at BMW regarding front wheel guidance is now also manifesting itself in the BMW R 1200 RS. It’s not exactly a feedback champion now, but it rides smoother, rounder, more harmonious. Front headlights and smoke-colored flaps on the front fairing à la S 1000 RR make the RS look sporty. But her purpose is brisk trips – she is a real sports tourer with a luggage rack, better wind protection and a wide pillion seat. 

In contrast, the expensive HP2 lures you to hasty jaunts and race training. A BMW to fall in love with, that doesn’t happen often. She turns on. Everything about her looks noble and valuable. So much carbon: fairing, valve cover, license plate holder, heel guards, tank, fenders. And a really racing cockpit. The BMW R 1200 RS is now available from dealers for boxer fans. The BMW HP2 Sport is only needed – it has not been built for a long time. So real garage happiness.

Technical specifications

25th photos

Images: BMW R 1200 RS and BMW HP2 Sport in comparison

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Conclusion

25th photos

Images: BMW R 1200 RS and BMW HP2 Sport in comparison

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judgment

BMW R 1200 RS – travel and sport, that is what the new model combines with the beefier boxer engine. As long as “sport” means very fast on country roads. In contrast, the more pointed BMW HP2 Sport is a real noble athlete and a future collector’s item. She can also go to the racetrack!

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