Hey John,
Hm my first thought one sentence in was you'd probably enjoy the XR. The wider bars (and whatever else I haven't thought about) do make it more eager to throw about. I've had the old one for a day a couple of times. My feelings were both times: on the way home, dawdling (because work is waiting for me) I didn't like it. I forget exactly why. Then on the way back to the garage, flying (because my K1300S was waiting for me) I loved it.
I've had the S1000R once, years ago. I think a 17 plate. I didn't like it as I was still in love with the K. And as you say, the lack of fairing was a big unwanted change. As for power though, it just - like the XR - took a bit of getting used to. It needs the revs to do stuff. I forget how many revs as it's been years. I also briefly owned an 18 plate S1000RR with the full power version of the same engine. I didn't notice that much difference, probably because it's such a pain to access the power without accidentally slowing down or speeding up the rotation of the planet.
The 1000cc inline 4, which I assume is just an iteration, evolution of my one, is a nice enough engine. The power is there, it just lacks the grunt of our 1,300cc or wtf K engine. I dunno, the K, my KTM, the H2 SX, the GS even, have more flexibility in my opinion. One can ride like a silly sausage or sedately with ease. My memory of the S1000 family is the sedate side is just difficult/annoying, and the silly sausage is even sillier. Or something.
Or just get whatever bike doesn't have bright coloured wheels that look like poo after 10 minutes on a damp road
.
