Is the 2023, 2024, and 2025 BMW S1000RR Reliable A Good Motorcycle?

There has been a lot of talk lately regarding the reliability of the 2023+ S1000RR. A few YouTuber's and Content Creators seem to be drilling this motorcycle into the ground in an unfair way.

The S1000RR is an incredible and reliable machine

As the proud owner of a 2023 S1000RR (The White Decal-less S1000RR seen in these pictures is mine), and an individual with a lot of friends who own the same bike, it has been an absolute pleasure to own such an amazing machine. My S1000RR had a very slight valve cover leak that started during the break-in process which was covered under warranty at around 1k miles. At the time, my bike had a full exhaust and an SLR Tune. BMW still warrantied the issue. I had the motorcycle back between my legs within 48 hours of dropped it off. Since, I have put 5k issue free miles on the bike. 

What happened to Matthew Woods aka Thoughtaken's S1000RR?

Before someone dives into the issues he is having, one must assess the entire modern superbike market as a whole. These modern superbikes are so overbuilt and sophisticated it is pretty unreal. 200hp+ out of a 1 liter is pretty mind boggling. To put that into perspective, the highest horsepower naturally aspirated car is the Aston Martin Valkyrie which makes 1001hp out of 6.5L. Horsepower per liter, the S1000RR still wins. Now fit these ridiculous motors into a 400lb crotch-rocket along side all the electrical and cooling that has to go along with it, we start to see how impossible it would be to have problem free machines. This is why warranties exist. These bikes are build to such an extreme that it is very difficult for these manufacturers to avoid issues. People will claim the Yamaha R1 is the most reliable while my buddy just picked up a 2024 Yamaha R1, only to be greeted with all of his coolant on the ground and a completely failed water pump at 1k miles. 

BMW ran into an issue where on some bikes, the non-billet levers would barely press against the clutch switch at high speeds (150mph+). This caused the quick shifter to not shift as smoothly as it should. A very easy fix that Matthew Woods has turned into an entire dramatic season of YouTube Videos. He also just wanted money and viewership at the cost of badmouthing one of the best BMW Dealers. 

Now onto his coolant leak. On some bikes, it wasn't entirely uncommon to have coolant leak during pulls. I had a few buddies experience the same issue. I personally have not experienced this issue. My buddies simply went into BMW and got it fixed under warranty. Although it can be considered a "Water Pump:" failure, it is something that can easily be ridden on while waiting for the dealership to get parts. Matthew Woods was given this option, but for whatever reason he decided he wanted to let the dealership hold onto the bike while waiting for parts. I had a buddy put 2k+ miles on his bike while this issue was present. 

It is obviously very frustrating to see an entitled "Influencer" who is far from educated enough to make a claim that "everyone should avoid the BMW S1000RR". This is the same person who mistook his AIT's on his H2 as secondary coolant temps... Let that sink in. 

As someone who has owned modern Italian Superbikes, I can confidently say that anyone who purchased an S1000RR will be very happy with the performance and reliability that comes with it.