I would think even most demo rides aren’t long enough to get used to the motorcycle. This definitely works against BMW in selling this machine.

When I think of all the other motorcycles I have ridden that I felt uncomfortable with at first the list is long. And it includes the Vespa GTS 250ie which I thought at first was too powerful and too heavy!

I thought I wanted this bike, like all you guys, wayyy tooo tall, and top heavy, I thought. Still, BMW makes lovely bikes.

Thanks for such a great blog!! I ride scooters and bikes, nice to read a blog that bridges that gap.
And your photos…. dreammmyyyy….

I predict that the day will come and you will continue to own your scooter, but you will also become one of the boys “in the bund.”

Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads

Attorney’s don’t have souls.

(Many apologies to any attorneys reading. This is between Jack and I)

So now I realize Mr. Riepe that rather than wanting me to ride at some lofty level of Teutonic mysticism you are really trying to pry me off my Vespa, my Goliath-like source of blogging power. Instead of hurtling down the highway on a wave of manly mystic scooter power you would have me a wimp on a Beemer.

Shame on you young man.

And a whole lot of things I never did well. No comments needed thank you.

Tall bikes. I like them in spite of myself. KLR, F650 and F800. Good utilitarian motorcycles. But I understand how you might not want to fight them.

And thanks for the comments on the pictures. I do sometimes go a long way for the right angle. And it’s getting more difficult. So far I am sticking to it but one day I can see myself not getting off the scooter to shoot a picture…

Should have the next episode up in a day or so.

irondad: Walter Mitty…. well, I guess I am meek and I do at times have an active fantasy life. But being that I have crossed the Grossglockner (albeit in a VW) I am probably not fully in the Mitty style character.

At least not yet.

Thanks for your kind words about the pictures. Most of the time success is a result of being someplace at the right moment with the camera. Well, maybe there is more involved….

The GS line of BMW motorcycles represents the ugliest motorcycles on the road. They are also some of the most practical, and well-thought out machines that money can buy. And from that standpoint, they become raging beauties.

They are tall for a reason: This allows the rider to lean them over at ridiculous angles far beyond the skill of the average ride, and to clear nearly 100 percent of the impossible obtacles you will find on the Silk Route or sub-Sahara Africa.

It can be argued that the average GS rider will never go there. But not so for the average GS rider. A lot of them do.

I could bet you’d love those Tourtech lights. I have PIAA HID lights on my Beemer and they are bright enough to illuminate the soul of an attorney.

Now, stop fooling around. Just drink the Koolaid.

Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads

I think I am of the same mind as you. I make the bike conform to my riding style, except your photos, which are on a higher plateau to which I am still striving. I also looked at the F650 and F800 but found the F800 too tall for me. I even tried to sit on a GS1200 but I could hardly put my leg over, so gave up. Why don’t they make them all a bit lower ?

I have the V-strom but I never intend to take it off road. It’s just that it had the upright ergonomics and solid stance suitable for touring. Perhaps I will re-evaluate a lowered F800.

I have had ample opportunity to test ride other bikes, including BMW but I will not ride a bike unless I am considering to purchase it. My mindset will not allow me to just take a joyride for no other reason.

You must be in good shape to be able to climb hills and overpasses for your photos. I am amazed at your stamina to get precisely the “perfect” perspective based upon the direction of the light.

bob
Wet Coast Scootin

I’d call it a review but enough time has passed since riding the motorcycle that I’m sure what I’m sharing are feelings and memories transformed by time into heroic feats against impossible circumstance. I have this vague recollection of hurdling through snow and over the Grossglockner Pass. Climbing up under an overpass is almost the same thing isn’t it?

Walter Mitty rides a BMW F800GS?

By the way, when I grow up I hope to make photos like you. That one of the bike in the parking lot by the porta-potty shows the light nuances so wonderfully.