CTK

I can understand the thrill to test big bikes. I ride a Vespa GTS 250. And this summer we had a lot of problems with the fuel pump in the GTS from my wife and my GTS.

All over Europe, there are hundreds and perhaps thousands users with broken pumps …

So we looked for big scooters! Beverly 500. But there is nothing else which is so smart as a Vespa.

Each of us both uses a big topcase at our Vespa. So it gives us enough storage space to do tours for some days into the near Alps. But we really don’t need very much to go for a some day trip.

The Vespa is fast enough to ride all the small roads we use normally. And we don’t like to ride highways, neither with a big bike or scooter nor with a Vespa.

I agree with you, a Vespa gives you the freedom to stop everywhere and to get the impression of the landscape, smell the wood, see the light, discover small pieces.

A big bike gives me the only impression to miss time when looking around …

I like your photos very, very much. I hope you won’t feel angry, when I write here, that I have the feeling all your photos with your Vespa, somehow in the countryside are much more charming, than the photos you did with a BMW bike.

Each of your photos with a Vespa is a piece of art, well-thought-out and the viewer can feel your love to the countryside and to your scooter and in the way you putted them together. It is nearly possible to touch the impressions and feeling you had, when you did the photo.

The photos you did with the BMW, are simply a bike in the country side. There is no real love in it!

Stay with your scooter! 😉

Ewald

Perhaps you like to have a look to my blog vespamenschen.de for one of our last tour to the Timmelsjoch a alpine pass with a height more than 2.500 m over sea level, at the border between Italy and Austria.

I do like the gear indicator. I wish my Vespa had one so I could track which gear ration in the infinite ratios available I was in.

The only downside in Vespa instrumentation.

Maybe though….

BlueSophia: Those are exactly why it should be on top of the riding pyramid. Far more challenging to deal with –technically, emotionally and psychologically.

No one makes fun of motorcycle riders. Except for those guys at South Park.

I think the BMW S1000RR is a perfect match for your riding style. Since it does 0-80mph in something like 2.75, you could cover 12 stops in under 15 minutes.

My dream is the new BMW K1600GT… Six cylinders and 160 hp, in a touring bike. Touring as it was meant to be.

Fess up… Isn’t the “gear indicator” just the most addictive thing? My K75 has one. At first, I thought it was really stupid. And then I realized how practical it was.

Fondest regards,
Jackl • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads

You know the answer to that! The low center of gravity, the ease of stepping through to get on, the twist-and-go no-clutch transmission, the engine size averaging at 150 cc with top speeds around 60 mph, the small wheel size … all these features put scooters at the low end of the performance pyramid where longer trips or red-line roads are considered.

Of course, these features also make scooters much more accessible for small, inexperienced or occassional riders. A good thing!

the s1000rr is billed as the most fastest/sophisticated yada yada sportbike by BMW. You should review that since your perspective and mine are close in terms of what we want from motorcycling!

I don’t see myself ever on sports bikes but would really be interested in your review of it!

A friend has the BMW R1150RT and he loves it. Feels it is a superior machine to the R1200 RT. Those close technical comparisons are beyond me.

One of the other BMWs available to me is the S1000 RR. Those go fast machines and the leaned over riding position are more than my creaky body can handle.

So I’m not sure what’s next. I do have to post the review of the F800 GS. I have some nice pictures from that ride.

A very nice writeup on the R1200RT, kind of made me miss my R1150RT a tiny bit. These motorcycles definitely live up to one the nicknames given them: Long Distance Operator.

I’ve done 600+ mile days on the RT and repeated the next day with no major issues or ailments.

As you saw though, their bulk can make life “interesting” when going slow or on uneven terrain but even that can be overcome with practice.

It’s quite impressive how motor cops can make large motorcycles like the RT dance…

Still, continental-distances-crushing as these sport-tourers are, there’s more of a fun factor with smaller motorcycles as well.

Again, nice writeup…I look forward to future reviews of other Beemers.

dom

Redleg’s Rides