BMW - A Different Level Of Riding

It seems that in life, it is perfectly normal for one to keep looking for the next level to attain to. Be it your career, your Tae Kwon Do belt, your race career in the game Need For Speed of your PS3 right down to the car you own in real life.

Same goes to bikes....

The frequent changing of my rides didnt help me in saving money at all, but it did gave me a wonderful experience which is priceless, and good enough for me to savour for the rest of my life. I was alot more fortunate then alot of riders, after a few swap of bikes, i was thinking of going continental.

In the bike world, which is similar to the car world, when we talked about continental, we pinpoint it down to two countries. The beautiful Italian and the high tech Germans. But for the Germans, there is only one brand to follow: BMW.

Then I was working in a big Italian bike distributor, which market some well known scooters and also the heritage-rich Moto Guzzi. I had the privilege to ride their models like the Griso and the Breva, and most notably the California Vintage up to Phuket to take part in the Bike Week as a publicity stunt. I had a lot of encounters with the Italians. I knew I was a lucky bastard but Italians does not intrigue me anymore...

It was the Germans....

And it was always that coincidental that a friend of my friend was selling his ride. It was a old BMW Roadster, in short they call it R1100R. It was neat and clean after the owner has painstakingly do it up to original state and he is quite in a rush to sell it as he eyed another bigger BMW, thus price is good. 

Well, Life is short, why spend so much time thinking....I got the bike...

It was pride brimming like the foam overflowing in a beer mug. Imagine people ask me "Hey Bro, what are you riding now?" and your answer is "oh, I have a BMW now". I just cant hide that proud tone in my answers!

 Although it was an old BMW, but in local context, a BMW is like a good wine, if the older it gets and the condition is still good...the owner is consider to be a appreciative of classics...cus to maintain an old classics is much harder and more expensive to maintain a brand new beemer.

This is also the 1st time I experienced the renowned boxer engine from BMW. In the 1st seconds, I thought the Guzzis are weird enough with that 90degree V. The Germans have the pistons flat opposing each other, reviving the engine will push you bike from side to side! What a strange way to ride!

But after I pull up speed and onto the highway, the boxers plus the front telelever shocks combined to make the Roadster a formidable riding machine. The telelever front shock created minimum dipping when i forced the front brakes and the boxer has wonderful torque to pull you up to speed after the braking.

With a huge grin on my face after my 1st ride, I know, this was a whole new experience of riding.