A BMW test rider aboard a new 2009 BMW R 1200 R. Sure it's faster and sleeker than an old Bemmer, but is it better? 

Occasionally I prowl about on bike-related “forums” on the web. There are plenty of interesting and clever people out there who are willing to share their expertise on all things motorcycle. As I ride somewhat-venerable BMWs, these are the sites to which I gravitate. I’ve picked up quite a few tips; I have been amused, entertained and occasionally annoyed. The very few times that I have participated, someone out in the etherland has kindly supplied me with the information that I sought. Neat! 

Back to BMW’s. The old ones are solid, reliable, clunky, slow, and highly sought after by many. The not-quite-so-old ones, say 1970 thru 1985, are even more reliable, slightly faster, solid, sometimes also clunky, and seemingly bulletproof. They are also very user friendly when they need attention. I can attest to this first-hand as my bikes have survived years of my meddling with their works and still perform without surprises. The modern generation of Bavarian bikes are simply astonishing in their complexity, handling, speed, comfort, and through-the-roof prices. Very few will argue with most of these claims. So why don’t I get a newer ride? 

Subconsciously, I have been arguing with myself for some time in an attempt to justify the purchase of a newer machine. After all, my ‘new’ bike is now 25 years old. Neither of my bikes is speedy, and many things need adjusting – frequently. But over and above the budget issue, there has always been the niggling suspicion that newer might not mean better in total. There is no argument that the components are much improved: especially power, electrics, brakes and suspension and handling. In other words, the bikes are leap years ahead of the older models in almost every respect that one could mention. 

Does this not mean that the bikes are better? What is missing? Why hesitate if the wallet can cope? 

Number one on my list is character. This is hard to define and very personal, but any bike with so much plastic shrouding just doesn’t do it! Styling for the skateboard set just doesn’t grab me. Besides, I’m old fashioned enough to want to see at least some of the motor! Also, I am not convinced that I am rider enough for the horsepower on tap on most big new bikes. 

The second factor is attitude. Not mine – but the manufacturer’s!  I just couldn’t put my finger on it until I came across a thread on the BMWMOA forum.  Most of the machines produced since 1995 were never intended to become members of the family.  These bikes have high-tech, computer-driven, complex systems that very few can understand, let alone repair or even maintain. These bikes are not meant to be user friendly if things go wrong. If you buy into the market, you are expected to have every little twitch dealt with by the dealer. Warrantees are good for three years – often five, and then you are encouraged to trade up to the latest and greatest and start all over. The intended market is well heeled and doesn’t wish, – or know, how to do even basic maintenance. After three years, if something goes wrong with the bike it is usually serious, expensive and dealer-service only. ABS and integrated brake systems, fuel injection, computer chip technologies controlling all engine functions: these aren’t for even the talented home mechanic. You are essentially expected to buy into the philosophy of ride and trade up! Don’t try to understand it, don’t tinker with it, just ride it then trade it in. Impress everyone with all of the latest technology and go faster, always faster… 

I suspect that this same attitude has crept into all manufacturers who serve the North American motorcycle market. Certainly that is the way of all automobiles on the road. It isn’t wrong, but it definitely isn’t right for me. 

I like my bikes to be user friendly, even when they are not behaving properly. Besides, I’ve given up trying to impress anyone else. I can’t – my bike doesn’t go fast enough! -- Alison Green 

For nine years I was fortunate to live on a beach on Lake Superior and the kayak and canoe were part of everyday life when there wasn’t ice on the lake. Whether exploring the coastline near home, or venturing further, Superior was an integral part of life. One favourite mini-trip involved ferrying a vehicle to a landing 30km down the coast to facilitate a one-way trip – hopefully with a tail wind. On one such jaunt my girlfriend and I packed a good lunch, swimwear, and sun block, grabbed our paddles and lifejackets and sunhats and dragged our kayaks into the water. It was a marvellous, leisurely day of sun and water and fresh air. As we approached the landing we met a lone kayaker and naturally stopped to chat.  He was absolutely flabbergasted that we had just packed lunches and headed out - His kayak had been lashed to the top of his very fancy SUV for a three week trip circumnavigating Lake Superior. At this point he was within two days of completing his tour and this was the first time that the kayak had been in the water! His boat sported compasses (two) satellite radio, spare paddle, paddle floats, sea anchor, water filter kit, trailing rope, flares, and heaven knows what else… as compared to our kit of lunch and snacks and sun-tan oil. Yes, we lived on the lake and were careful about weather conditions, and our partners knew of our plans for the day – but really! He never planned to do overnight trips, but hadn’t even made it onto the water in days and days of driving alongside the lake! He said the conditions just weren’t right! 

What does this have to do with motorcycling you ask? Nothing really, but it does illustrate the slippery slope of doing too much research and having too much gear and being so prepared that actually DOING the activity doesn’t happen. Some days I fear that this tendency for gadget-wired, performance-enhanced  motorcycles will actually keep people at home for fear of all of the accoutrements not functioning as advertised. 

I keep a quote with me in my daily planner that reads in part -- 

  “to have a home, small but perfect in comfort, so that the business of existing is subservient to the joy of living” 

If applied to the world of motorcycles, the parallel is obvious.  If maintaining the trip blog and programming the GPS, and ensuring that the satellite phone is kept absolutely dry and keeping the weather scanner on the right channel, are causing angst – then some of the magic of travelling by motorcycle is being sabotaged by the very equipment that should free you to enjoy the trip. Where is the pleasure of the ride when mental energy is being spent on such concerns? 

Sad indeed is the poor motorcyclist whose fancy radar detector unit malfunctions and lands him with a hefty speeding fine – if one has become utterly dependant on such an item, then its demise can potentially ruin the trip. 

I’m all for anything that will improve safety, enhance the pleasures of the trip or make life easier along the way. What does concern me is the tendency for the equipment to take priority over those aspects of motorcycling that we cherish – especially freedom. I fear that many people will be drawn unwittingly into the world of gadgetry because they have been lead to believe that all of this equipment is necessary. It just isn’t so! It is nice to have the options – useful stuff, handy, entertaining in its own way – but not obligatory to the enjoyment of the ride. 

Personally I’m fascinated by the new generation of GPS units for motorcycles that come complete with helmet mounted wireless speakers to advise you of every up-coming route decision. They are marvellous inventions that could take a lot of the worry out of navigating through unknown cities or back-country roads. But I’m just not in that much of a hurry most of the time, and I enjoy stopping to check the map. I enjoy planning with paper maps and marking my planned routes – then deviating from the plan… sometimes I even enjoy getting lost! We are collectively in danger of forgetting the real reason that we ride a motorcycle in the first place. It is the RIDE – not just getting to the destination that is paramount. 

Seriously, the equipment that is available now is astonishing and very functional. I just hope that people don’t forget that most of this stuff is an option and not mandatory. 

A safe and appropriate motorcycle, proper gear, good health and a positive and sober mind – these are the necessities for enjoying a ride. Good weather helps too! 

Ride safe, and don’t forget to wave! -- Alison Green 

In the back of Alison's shop sits her first bike, a 1975 BMW R60/6.  

I just finished re-reading Peter Egan’s column in the June 2007 issue of Cycle World and chuckling to myself. I like Peter’s stuff. Irreverent, unpretentious and sometimes very savvy. In case you haven’t read this particular column, he waxes on about bikes he has owned – some of them on more than one occasion – and which bikes always draw him back again and again. My first thoughts were somewhat along the lines of “why would he ever buy a bike back once he has sold it,” and “Is this guy nuts or what?”  I can appreciate his list of favourite machines; he has a wealth of riding experience and the smarts to know what he likes and why. But buying back the same bikes? 

Then I paused to think about my own continually-changing-but-static collection and I realized that I have owned three BMW R100RT bikes over the years. How did that happen? I don’t even like fully faired motorcycles… The problem (?) is that they simply cannot be beaten for long distance comfort and weather protection. RT’s are possibly the least friendly of the BMW airhead line when riding off the pavement,  the lowers can cook your legs in hot weather and it can be stuffy behind the fairing. They are more of a nuisance for routine maintenance, and the very devil to tie down in a trailer or truck. BUT, for sheer weather protection and long distance comfort, the BMW fairing is in a class of its own. So I have ridden them long and hard, then moved on to lighter and more nimble machines when the itch to do really long tours has been salved.    

So I ride with small windshields or bikini fairings and have great fun. But then I find myself on a trip when the weather turns sour and I am damp and buffeted and my hands are cold and the gap at my neck is taking on water –  and then... you guessed it! I’m on the hunt for another all-weather touring machine. 

I have been faithful to the BMW marque over the years – and always airheads at that… This is not due to any altruistic standards on my part, it is simply because I can usually keep an airhead running, and not one has ever left me seriously stranded. “ If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” So I ride vintage German and lust after something newer and quicker and with better brakes. 

Thus far my search has taken me to try (but not buy) a Honda ST1100 (too heavy at slow speeds), a Honda Pacific Coast (too boring, no character), a V-Strom 1100 (too much bike), a BMW R 1200 GS (can’t afford it – and far too much bike for me)… you get the picture. I do try to expand my horizons a bit, but keep returning to my keeper bike which is a 1981 R 80 GS – also by BMW. Enough power to get there, light, fun and good for both the long haul highway and the logging road. The bike fits me; physically, emotionally and temperamentally – so I won’t let this one get away!   

Unlike many, I am also still riding my first ‘real’ bike. It was purchased new in the autumn of 1974 but it is a 1975 model year BMW R60/6. Over the years and many miles it has magically morphed from Curry Red (yucky –original colour) to platinum (big mistake- just looked dirty grey) to black-cherry (looked good for a couple of years) to it’s current and hopefully permanent creamy white with pinstripes. .  It seems every ten years or so, I get tired of the colour and the stone chips and the scrapes, and I spring for a paint job. This way I get to ride a ‘new’ bike at a fraction of the cost – and I already know all of its quirks!  Not a bad deal in my books. 

The same machine has also run the gamut of options and add-ons over the miles. Full Vetter fairing with lowers and Craven bags – naked with soft bags – barn-door windshield with hard Krausers – and now with a small Scout Fairing by Parabellum and matching white Krauser bags. At the moment, this suits quite well.  There is also a great carbuncle of a Velorex sidecar stuck to it at the moment – but that is another story altogether… 

Like changing clothes to suit the season, my bikes take on new persona to match the changing times – but the bottom line always remains the same. Satisfying and safe riding on a compliant and willing machine - wherever the road might take me. 

Have a safe and warm holiday season! -- Alison Green