Best Superbike: BMW S1000RR

Let’s see. It makes 176.4 horsepower—21 more, on the official CW dyno, than the next closest bike in its class. At Spain’s MotoGP-hosting Motorland Aragon racetrack for MasterBike (CW, June), it destroyed all liter-bike comers. On the road in our own little fiesta of speed, we found it almost as refined and comfortable as the established superbike players. And just to rub it in, the base-model BMW is actually a bit cheaper than some of its Japanese equivalents. Or jack the price up a few grand with the addition of Dynamic Traction Control, ABS and even an honest-to-goodness quick-shifter. As both an introductory effort and a portent of what it’s likely unleashed in the marketplace, this BMW’s the most beautiful thing to blow out of Bavaria since Beethoven. Cue superbike WWIII.