S-T-R-E-T-C-H
with Highway Peg Brackets for BMW R1100/1150/1200 years 1994-2009
may not have been quite the “Miracle on Ice” of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, to an over-the-hill motorcycle journalist like myself, it might as well have been. Today, as comfort becomes as important
as performance to my 46-year-old bones, my student points out that my garage is devoid of full-dress or supersport liter bikes. Instead, a 2010 Triumph Street Triple R (95 hp, 400 lbs.) has become my sport/ track day/teaching bike, a 2010 BMW G450X (46 hp, 283 lbs.) is my dual-sport bike, and a 2008 Suzuki DR650 (42 hp, 380 lbs.) is my touring/commuting mount. After a 25-year absence, I returned to
motocross racing for a couple years in the 40 to 50-year-old Vet class and now ride a Husky FC350 (50 hp, 234 lbs.) against a field of mostly 450s. But my favorite bike in the fleet is a 2008 Honda CRF150R (22 hp, 172 lbs.) that I’ve set up for supermoto rac- ing. In its first ever race weekend, I won both heats and both races against experi- enced competitors in two classes. Could it be I was just having the most fun out there? It turns out that my 48-year-old student
had a similar epiphany when I made him park his 1000cc sportbike and get on a 2007 Yamaha TTR125LE (7 hp, 198 lbs.) for the first portion of the dirt lesson. At 6'2", he felt a little silly on such a diminutive machine. But because of the small size and low horsepower, he felt comfortable enough to try the techniques I was teaching him until he was power-sliding around turns like a real dirt tracker after only a couple hours. When I later put him on the much taller and faster BMW G450X, he was able to transfer what he learned on the TTR almost immediately. You would never have known it was his first time on the dirt, and he made me very proud. By the end of the day he asked, “How could anyone learn how to ride a 450 dirt bike without getting on a TTR first?” Couldn’t have said it better myself. While the big and fast bikes continue to
get all the headlines, the ones that deliver the most “smiles per mile” for me continue to be the small displacement, lightweight machines – and that’s the most important spec of any motorcycle.
May 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS 95
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PALO ALTO SPEEDOMETER
Expert repair of Motometer and VDO Speedometers, Tachometers, Clocks
Quartz clock repair and conversion. Custom color face conversion.
http://www.paspeedo.com 718 Emerson Street
www.paspeedo.com Palo Alto, CA 94301-2410
www.motobins.co.uk
Tel: 650-323-0243 Fax: 650-323-4632
S-T-R-E-T-C-H O-U-T
New Zealand
The only New Zealand based BMW Motorrad Approved Travel Partner
All bikes less than 2 years old. Rentals, self guided and guided tours.
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