When Toprak Razgatlioğlu secured his second World Superbike title last autumn, it became clear that the racing world was witnessing not only a generational talent but a rider capable of making us rethink the laws of physics. The way the 29-year-old Turk brakes, overtakes, and bends gravity to his liking has astounded even his closest rivals.

But even Razgatlioğlu needs a highly competitive motorcycle beneath him, one capable of fighting the dominant factory Ducati V4s. Hondas, Kawasaki, and even 2022 champions Yamaha have been left behind by the Italians in recent seasons, leaving only BMW’s factory M 1000 RR as a regular threat to Red supremacy. Winning with Razgatlioğlu in 2024 was much about the rider, but it was also the culmination of years of relentless development by the German manufacturer and the Rokit BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team.It was in this context that Cycle World was invited to the Cremona racetrack in northern Italy to test the Rokit BMW Motorrad 2025 M 1000 RR, and do so just 24 hours after Razgatlioğlu had scored a hard-fought hat trick of second place finishes in his bid to keep pace with Ducati’s Nicolò Bulega in this year’s WorldSBK campaign.

What do we know about this machine? Well, we know that it’s based on the production M 1000 RR, which this year comes with a new aero package, including a pair of oversize M 3.0 winglets, additional 6 hp, and crucially, even more performance potential for the race team, who are able to extract well over 235 bhp from the 999cc inline-four. The US-spec M 1000 R makes a claimed 205 hp. We also know that it’s set up to allow Razgatlioğlu to fully exploit his superlative braking skills: To brake later, harder, and with more accuracy than any of his rivals. We also know that he sits low in the bike while convention sits riders on top of their bikes. M 1000 RR BonesWhile we know that beneath its superbike racing skin lurks a road-spec M 1000 RR, it’s not simply a case of thumbing the starter button, flicking up the sidestand, and heading down the pit lane. For starters, there is no sidestand, and that is only the beginning of a long list of oddities and protocols required to get this thing around a racetrack. Riding any WSBK machine is intimidating on countless levels. Don’t be fooled by their road bike silhouettes; they are ferocious, complex, and moody, and demand to be ridden in a specific way. As ever, we have only a handful of laps to work out the controls, the dash, and the electronics under the gaze of the entire Rokit BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team and the ridiculously talented, double World Champion Toprak Razgatlioğlu himself. The BMW team have even left Toprak’s pit garage as it had been over the race weekend.

The Complications of a Racing SuperbikeFirst, we are given a detailed briefing from Christian Gonschor, technical director of BMW Motorrad Motorsport, and there is a stack of information to digest. The race dash is crudely displayed by production standards and confusing, the cockpit has countless unlabeled buttons, there’s no foot-operated back brake—just a thumb on the left bar—and there is no ABS or any braking rider aids. The gearbox is not only race shift but first gear is down, meaning there is no neutral between first and second gears and that you don’t select a gear until the bike’s wheels are turning—that’s why the riders are pushed away by mechanics. There’s no static cooling system, so you can’t hang about in the pits with the motor running, but there is a pit lane speed limiter and, to be honest, I’ve already forgotten which button it is.

The tire warmers are removed, revealing Pirelli racing slicks at their optimum temperature. My technician wheels the M RR out of the garage and points it down the pit lane. It looks angry. It wants the World SBK champion onboard, not me. I jump on anyway, snick down into first, add a few revs, and try to pretend this is just another ride on just another Beemer.The rev limiter makes the motor splutter and backfire, the factory-spec Akrapovič exhaust spits noisily against the garage doors. I enter the track and look down at those myriad buttons. But now I can’t remember which one releases the limiter. Then I remember Gonschor saying that it only works in first gear, and as I nudge home second gear, it automatically disengages.Out of Pit Lane and Into the FireNow it’s just me and the fastest BMW motorcycle ever built. All my instincts are to potter and familiarize, but to hold back means to lose precious tire and brake temperature. At low revs, the factory M engine also sounds like a bag of gravel, like it will eat itself at any moment. I know that no matter how hard I push I won’t be able to get anywhere near the M’s true performance level, but I have to try anyway. It’s counterintuitive, but riding like it’s a gentle trackday only invites a crash.

For the first few corners, it feels utterly alien. There’s no road bike refinement or soft edges to the controls. I’m sitting right in it, not on it. As noted, Razgatlioğlu famously likes a low seat to aid his supernatural braking—so much so he seemingly sits on the subframe—and I’m sitting right in it, not on it with the bars relatively high and distant. It’s relaxed, for sure, but I’m used to sitting on top and up front with my nose directly above the steering top yoke, looking for that all-important connection to the front tire contact patch.Leaving turn 6 I give the quick-action throttle a twist. Then it’s a short, straight blast to turn 7, a fast right-hander taken in third or second. The BMW leaps forward as the revs build rapidly from the midrange but the acceleration feels more about the M RR’s meager 370 pounds than outright power. So far, anyway.

Braking into the apex of turn 7, the Akrapovič exhaust changes pitch as I lean into the inside curbing. The engine-braking helps more than even the most advanced engine-brake systems found on streetbikes as it pulls the bike into the corner. Despite Razgatlioğlu’s crazy riding position, there’s no understeer as it holds the chosen line perfectly. I push the M RR upright and, for the first time, aggressively dial in the power, trusting the grip from the Pirelli slick as well as Razgatlioğlu’s electronics. I’m shoved back into the seat stop—but the result isn’t as brutal as expected. I suspect that the Rokit technicians may have turned down the power in the lower gears.Grabbing third gear, however, those 250 or so braking horsepower kick in hard—and Italy heads backward. The M 1000 RR drives so hard that I’m momentarily stunned. Incredibly, the front wheel remains planted on the track without a hint of a wheelie as those huge winglets and stunningly effective electronics come into play. The shift from third to fourth gear and into fifth is seamlessly done in an instant; the half-mile straight eaten whole in two blinks of the eye. Despite all the drama, the bulbously large fairing is so effective and the riding position so low that there’s very little windblast compared to other racebikes I’ve ridden. Then, when I sit up and grab the Brembo stoppers, I am clouted in the chest by the airstream.

Given Razgatlioğlu’s supremacy on the brakes, I was expecting the stoppers to be seriously sharp, but they are actually progressive and full of feel. There’s immense power, of course, but the lever feel is friendly with more travel than many race setups. Meanwhile, the chassis remains impeccably stable as the front slick bites into the asphalt. After a lap, I start to click with the world championship–winning bike, but it still feels strange. Sure, it steers like a sweetly setup SuperSport 600 and holds its line with precision. But I can’t quite get my head around how low you sit in the bike. Try removing your bike’s seat and taking off the rear preload to get the idea.I still can’t get used to its ridiculous speed down the back straight either. Thankfully for my frazzled senses, the fueling is on point—as smooth as the road bike’s—and you hardly feel the gear changes. Instead, there’s one almost continuous wave of torque shoveling the BMW and me forward. After a couple more laps my lack of fitness becomes all too exposed. There are no half measures on a WorldSBK winner, and I try to ride hard enough to uphold Cycle World’s global reputation while desperately trying to understand this ultra-focused machine. Not look like an idiot, basically. The intensity burns all my energy in just 15 minutes. …And BreatheBack in the pits, it’s time for reflection. Firstly, the Rokit team reveals that the extra help I was receiving in turn 7 was indeed the engine-braking and power output changing in response to the lean angle, gear position, and other parameters. We had been given a safe base setting, but the professionals can dial in changeable power and engine-brake strategies for each corner.

They explain that finding the perfect engine-brake setup for just one corner means starting with a little engine-braking, then adding more as the rider turns into the apex, helping the bike to turn. The team has to get the bike to work, not just on lap 1 but the last lap when the fuel is almost gone and the tire is shot. At which point I begin to understand the importance of having a brilliant team behind you. Secondly, the M 1000 RR is a lot easier to ride (at my pace) than expected. That said, the power was turned down in the bottom gears, and Rokit ran a safe setting for the press hacks. Thirdly, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced such a weird and unlikely riding position on a superbike. Razgatlioğlu must have a love for laid-back cruisers because he has his ergonomics set up more like a Harley Glide than a pin-sharp factory racer.

Finally, we only scratched the surface of the M RR’s potential. More laps and time to understand the electronics would have been welcome. But even so, the respect for Toprak Razgatlioğlu and his BMW M 1000 RR is now off the scale. 2025 Rokit BMW M 1000 RR FIM WorldSBK Specs