Tuning against series: Bakker Bomber against BMW R 1100 RS

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Tuning against series: Bakker Bomber against BMW R 1100 RS

Pre-gymnast

Not for the first time, the Dutch chassis builder Nico Bakker shows how to put the good R 1100 RS on its feet.

First of all, allow me to introduce you to the Lord. Bakker is his name – Nico Bakker. Even though a lot of cheese is produced in his homeland, he understands his craft as a chassis builder like no other and in the past even helped large Japanese motorcycle factories out of a jam with chassis problems.
So it is no wonder that Nico Bakker, as a specialist in the production of individual pieces and small series, also cooperated with Bayern at the end of the 1980s. Back then, people in Munich were knitting the first Telelever chassis with a boxer engine. Officially, with Bakker’s support, a machine was built for the BoT racing class, which was quite popular at the time, with BMW regular driver Herbert Enzinger, but unofficially, the practical testing of the new chassis elements was behind it.
The boxer is therefore not new territory for the Dutchman, who subordinated himself to the Munich construction principle for his roadworthy BMW bomber, but designed the technical implementation according to his own ideas. Motor, gearbox, drive shaft, everything remained in the standard trim, only the steel rear frame had to give way to a construction made of aluminum tubes, the forehead cast aluminum parts a filigree welded structure and the old Telelever swing arm made of sheet steel a new one made of milled light metal.
Fine-grained and polished from sheet aluminum, a voluminous 22-liter tank covers the space above the four-valve engine, which also serves to stow electrical and ABS components in the Bakker design. An elegant solo seat hump follows.
And what can the Bakker BMW do better than the production R 1100 RS? Look, for example. Even if the jagged cladding front with the coarse BMW headlights cannot exactly be considered a design masterpiece, the Bakker impresses with its flowing lines that elegantly nestle against the structure of the engine and drive unit.
And what else? Driving, for example. Because the annoying up and down movements of the front section when changing load or inclined position of the standard rubber cow are reduced to a minimum with the Bakker. In addition, there is the pleasing fact that the handlebars are attached directly to the stanchions and not, as with the R 1100 RS, in soft rubber bearings, which deprive the driver of a large part of steering precision and feedback. Despite the rigidly attached and ergonomically flawless cranked handlebars, only some of the fine but annoying engine vibrations penetrate to the palms of the hands.
Nico Bakker moved away from the relatively strong brake buckling compensation of the standard R 1100 RS, ie counteracting the deflection of the front section when braking through the special articulation of the triangular swing arm and lets his BMW noticeably more with the pivot points of the short Telelever swing arm, which have been moved 120 millimeters forward immerse. This also gives the driver clearer feedback on the physical processes: Overall, you feel more comfortable and safer on the Bakker when sharpening jagged bends, as it is more directly connected to the road. At least as far as the front end is concerned.
At the rear, on the other hand, when tuning the White Power strut, a lot of comfort was sought, which – due to the high unsprung dimensions of the Paralever swingarm – can only be achieved with extremely low compression damping and a soft spring. The result is a slight swaying in fast, undulating curves, but the rear eliminates short, hard bumps noticeably more sensitively than the RS 1100 with the Showa shock absorb.
It is logical that the RS 1100’s upright sitting posture for tourists fell by the wayside when it came to the sporting objectives of the Bakker-BMW. Without corners and edges, pleasantly integrated into the motorcycle, in the Dutch version only the tank, which is too long, forces people under 180 centimeters to lean forward. All in all, however, the Bakker pilot enjoys a passable seating area, which has been defused by the specifications of the German import Helmut Wustenhofer in terms of roadworthiness. "For BMW customers, even a super sports car must offer sufficient seating comfort and convenience," explains the Dortmund-based BMW specialist, explaining his objections to the originally mercilessly crouched driver’s posture.
A short detour to the Hockenheimer Motodrom should clarify the taker qualities in the border area, from which the Bakker construction is miles away in the brisk country road operation. If it weren’t for the rigidly mounted pegs that dig loudly into the asphalt, the BMW in the Bakker chassis would actually have what it takes to be a classy supersport boxer. But the Bakker wouldn’t be a real Bakker without racing-proven adjustment options. Using a threaded spindle, the strut length and thus the level at the rear of the frame and the steering geometry of the BMW can be manipulated in the direction of greater handiness and ground clearance. The downside: the sitting posture inclined more forwardly puts more weight on the arms and wrists.
The BMW steers in precisely and cleanly draws its line through the Motodrom. On the patchwork of the Sachskurve, however, the rear wheel loses grip early on, a problem with the already mentioned slack damping and the inertia of the Paralever swingarm.
The handling is somewhat disappointing and has only improved a little compared to the production BMW. One look at the scales says it all. With a total weight of 237 kilograms with a frame and steering geometry similar to that of the series RS, the hoped-for advantage in terms of lightness is of course not available.
E.AT pleasant side of the Bakker-BMW: the ease of installation. If countless screws and bolts have to be loosened on the Munich RS version, the tank and paneling can be separated in a few simple steps with the Holland model. Underneath are those components that explain the high price of the ready-to-assemble frame kit of 15,500 marks: Lots of the full carved CNC chassis parts to the playful exhaust bracket replace the bulky cast chunks of the high-volume machine.

equipment

In order to tackle the small defects of the BMW R 1100 RS, MOTORRAD tried out a number of accessories from the WÜDO range as part of the test drives. In order to counteract the annoying load change movements of the front section, the original shock absorber was replaced by a WP part (price 799 marks), which actually brought an improvement, but was far from the perfect function of the Bakker set-up. An even tighter spring / damper coordination would certainly be the right way to go. The dismountable WP shock absorber offers the possibility to do this in any case. The next step towards driving fun consisted of a tire change from the mounted Metzeler ME Z1 / ME Z2 tires to the Bridgestone mixture BT 56F (front) and BT 57 for the rear wheel. The advantages of Japan rubbers: easy, precise and harmonious turning, little tendency to stand, good cornering stability and the best grip. Only in the high speed range of over 200 km / h on bumpy motorways does a nervous unrest in the handlebars become noticeable. If the heating is too bad, the WÜDO Streamline disc (price 169 marks) screws on it, which provides better wind protection for small and large drivers offers less turbulence. The disadvantage: the upper edge of the window is a bit high for small BMW drivers and covers part of the road when it rains or when the window is dirty. For the very precise: The top speed has been reduced by exactly 4 km / h due to the larger disc. Those who don’t like the offset of the standard handlebars will certainly get along better with the three-dimensionally adjustable handlebar stubs (price 575 marks). They not only move 20 millimeters towards the driver, but can also be continuously adjusted in the vertical offset. All holes for the cables for the heated grip are already made.

Conclusion

Even if the Bakker-BMW does not demonstrate perfection in all respects, the Dutch creation still shows the possibility of training the staid boxer with his purposefully touristic design sporty qualities. It is clear that this will not result in a real racing machine like the Ducati 916, but nobody expected that either. For the BMW engineers in Munich, the Bakker conversion always offers enough ideas for a variant on the subject of sports boxers that is worth considering.

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