BMW Motorrad 2013 Rider Equipment Lineup

BMW Motorrad 2013 Rider Equipment Lineup, BMW Motorrad Motorcycle Gear

Many new products and a great many refinements are the new features of the BMW Motorrad rider’s equipment for the 2013 season. They offer added enhancements to safety in the classical equipment as well as fresh designs for the leisure and fan articles.

BMW Motorrad has been developing its own motorcycle helmets since 1961. The System 6 EVO helmet is the current highlight of the “BMW helmets” products and is yet again setting the standard in safety, comfort, and design. The Race helmet, an all new development by “BMW helmets”, is already being used by five racers in the International German Motorcycle Championship IDM. The AirFlow 2 and Enduro helmets will be starting the 2013 season with new trendy colours and trims.

Likewise an all new development by BMW Motorrad is the GS Dry suit, which is intended above all for beginners. The Rallye suit, on the other hand, has long become established on all continents. Nevertheless, we have managed to improve this in a number of relevant details. It is now equipped, for instance, with the new NP2 protectors.

The boots that BMW Motorrad is offering riders boast a wide range of functions and appealing designs. Like their predecessors, the new Allround boot is intended for beginners. Sporting a new colour and numerous improvements, the tried and tested Rally GS Pro boot is to go where motorcycle boots have to fulfil the highest demands: offroad. For the city tour we recommend the Urban boot for him and her, likewise a new addition to the range.

Gloves are an indispensable part of motorcycle equipment. The BMW Motorradrange provides the right model for every taste. The GS Dry gloves for both ladies and men are watertight and breathable enduro gloves thanks to GORE-TEX® X-TRAFIT™. The summer will be providing two models, the Rallye gloves for offroad and the ProSummer gloves for tours, both characterised by their lightweight and highly robust designs. Finally, the familiar ProWinter gloves were refined in many details.

By its very definition, functional wear always embodies a special utility value. That’s good – and even better when it comes from the BMW Motorrad collection. Some excellent examples are the Ride shirts. Also, they are made of recycled materials, and so boost that good feeling of having contributed to sustainability. The new Ride windbreaker finds space in the smallest of pockets. The Ride fleece jacket will be available in new colours from the 2013 season.

One fantastic new product comes into play in the form of the Cool Down vest. Simple and ingenious, its HyperKewl™ technology generates a directly perceptible and pleasant cooling effect over many hours.

Whether professional or learner, safety conscious riders are relying on the new Street neck brace. No motorcyclist should get into a situation where he must rely on his protectors. But when this should be the case, they should take as much punishment as the NP2 protectors from BMW Motorrad with their extremely high impact absorption properties. The material for this new protector generation is an exclusive development for BMW Motorrad and is now being used in all new jackets, trousers, and suits.

Of course, this NP2 technology has also been integrated in the back protector and the protector vest – likewise two new products from BMW Motorrad in their function wear portfolio.

The classical kidney belt for beginners and the modular Pro kidney belt with detachable fleece lining and tailbone protector, both new to the range, complete the equipment for safety conscious motorcyclists.

Presenting a wealth of high quality and useful wear and lifestyle products, the leisure collections from BMW Motorrad Stylecannot fail to make the hearts of fans beat faster. Whether fantastically designed jackets and shirts for him and her, distinctive caps and belts, or high quality bags or sleeves for smartphones and tablet PCs – the collection fuels ideas for the perfect gift.

This season, BMW Motorrad Style will be excelling itself with its successful leisure collections, two new lines, and a small supplement in the form of a USB stick in the BMW Motorrad Style Logo collection. BMW Motorrad Style GS, an all new collection,will be thrilling the fans of the earthy enduro machines. With BMW Motorrad Style Heritage, BMW enthusiasts will be celebrating the ninetieth anniversary of the motorcycle brand in 2013.

For additional information, log onto BMW's website.

2013 BMW M5 Dyno Overview

2013 BMW M5 Dyno Overview: To distort a Fletch-era Chevy Chase quote, "It's all turbos these days." If you want performance and fuel efficiency — and really, who doesn't — turbocharged engines are your huckleberry. And so it is with BMW's flagship performance sedan, the 2013 BMW M5 Dyno, which packs a stonking twin-turbo V8 in lieu of the erstwhile model's normally aspirated 5.0-liter V10.

The new M5's S63Tü V8 is the kitchen sink of modern engines. It's a Valvetronic-equipped direct-injected 4.4-liter V8, and nestled in the vee of the engine are two twin-scroll Honeywell Garrett turbos, tipping off its "hot side inside" configuration. The 2013 BMW M5 Dynos unique cross-bank exhaust manifold affords its twin-scroll turbines ideal cylinder groupings, unlike the traditional exhaust manifolds of the seemingly similar Audi 4.0T V8.

Charge air is cooled by two water-to-air intercoolers, which are managed by an elaborate system of pumps and heat exchangers. Factory ratings are 560 horsepower from 6,000-7,000 rpm and 500 pound-feet of torque, delivered from 1,500-5,750 rpm.

Boost builds cleanly from very low in the rev range, the engine behaving in a linear manner despite a peak of 22 psi boost pressure. Torque as measured at the wheels reaches its maximum 475 lb-ft at 5,150 rpm, but since the torque curve is less a curve than a slab, there's plenty on tap when the tach is showing small digits. Peak power is... well, we'll get to that.

The torque tabletop is more or less constant from 2,500-5,200, a span that's a bit narrower than the factory claims for reasons we've delved into previously. Essentially, engine dynos load engines differently than do chassis dynos, so on the Dynojet we never see the wide torque "plateaus" claimed by manufacturers of turbocharged engines. In a nutshell, what we see here is normal and expected.

What wasn't normal and expected is the way the 2013 BMW M5 Dyno behaved while on the dyno. Its power at high revs was anything but consistent. Each dyno pull showed less peak power than the prior one, a trend that was observed for eight consecutive pulls.

Heat-soaked intercooler, you might guess, and so did we. Nope. Immediately after the eighth pull — when the apparent heat soak would have been at its worst — all of the intercooler plumbing and heat exchangers were cool to the touch, suggesting the culprit was elsewhere.

On the ninth dyno pull the result jumped back up, neatly splitting the difference between the lowest and highest result observed previously. Whatever was causing power to steadily ratchet downward apparently took a nap. Stabilized output is our usual goal when dyno-testing cars, and the 2013 BMW M5 Dyno didn't achieve it. Nevertheless we were out of time and as that ninth pull was something of an average of the prior eight, that's what we went with as the representative result: 514 hp as measured at the wheels. But keep in mind the 50-hp spread.

BMW's crosstown rival experienced no such power degradation on the dyno. The 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG we recently tested on this very dyno — using the same methodology — was unfazed. Pull after pull, it actually increased in power before finally stabilizing. The CLS63 AMG, too, is powered by a twin-turbo direct-injected V8, though it sports 1.1 liters more displacement than the BMW. The Benz also has conventional single-scroll turbos.