headlight Magazine of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America
MANAGING EDITOR Bill Wiegand
bill@bmwmoa.org ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Ron Davis • Joe Tatulli • Wes Fleming
ART DIRECTOR Karin Halker
karin@bmwmoa.org
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Alisa Clickenger • David Cwi
Marven Ewen • Deb Gasque • Bill Hooykaas Chris “Teach” McNeil • Lee Parks • Matthew
Parkhouse • Jack Riepe • Shirley and Brian Rix Shawn Thomas • Valerie Thompson
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Chris Hughes
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11030 North Forker Road, Spokane, WA 99217 509-921-2713 (p)
509-921-2713 (f)
BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA 509A Old State Rd. Ellisville, MO 63021 mailing address:
P.O. Box 3982 Ballwin, MO 63022
www.bmwmoa.org
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Submissions should be sent to the BMW MOA offi ce or
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Noses into the wind By Bill Wiegand #180584
IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE MOA WE WERE A MUCH MORE homogenous group. There were no subgroups within our ranks, as every- one was an Airhead. In 1972, everyone was “Simple by Choice,” they just didn’t know it. When the MOA was formed that winter, part of the reason was to create
a group of like-minded individuals who all shared a love of motorcycles, particularly BMW motorcycles, and enable them a means of sharing that passion.
Much has changed since those early MOA days when /5s were in showrooms and the R
75/5 was described by Cycle World as “trending away from the stigma BMWs had carried for years. It was a very refined and cleverly disguised Superbike. No bones were made about it: BMW is out after the Superbike market.” In a review describing the newly released R 90 S a couple years later, that same magazine
stated, “It tells you that the BMW image of yesterday (stodgy, conservative, unexciting) has, at last, departed the scene.” Since those early days both our ranks and the numbers of BMW models have grown
exponentially. Today, we are Oilheads, Hexheads, Camheads, Chromeheads, Wetheads, and Hotheads. We ride K-bikes of three, four and six cylinders, Fs and Gs with one, F models with two, and S models with four. To be a true BMW Motorrad aficionado means comprehending an entirely new lan-
guage, using an alphabet comprised of the letters C, GS, GT, CS, S, G/S, HP, LS, LT, R, RR, RS, RT, L, X, ST, T, PD and XR. Higher degrees of BMW enlightenment mandate a working knowledge of words such as Funduro, Strada, Paralever, Exclusive, Adventure, Telelever, Brick, Rotax, Earles, Duolever, and Dakar. Compared to many, my BMW exposure is rather limited, and I’ve recently traded my GS
Oilhead for an XR. It was a difficult decision at the time as I see myself as more of GS guy than S rider. I loved my R 1200 GS, but now I have an S 1000 XR to give me my Strasse fix and will keep the G 450 X to fulfill my Gelände needs. So, I’m still able to ride wherever I could before as only the means have changed. Meanwhile, I wish I had more time with that K 1300 S, and I loved riding both the K and
R versions of the RS. The R 1200 GSA wasser boxer was awesome, and I still feel the shivers the RR shot down my spine on a Roebling Raceway trackday, not to mention the posterior numbness from riding an R nineT across the country. A rider’s thoughts wander while droning across the vast and seemingly endless landscape
of the Great Plains, and the further I got from Billings, the more mine drifted. As I motored east on I-80 and was finally able to push the BMW Motorrad alphabet soup out of my head, an email I recently received began to take its place. It was from a Chromehead who felt that I had shown a lack of respect for the BMW R 1200 C. In an epiphany only hours upon hours of interstate travel can reveal, I realized he was probably right. The truth is, regardless of what we ride or where our destinations take us, we’re all just
like the Labradoodle I saw in a VW Beetle as it passed me. I believe only riders and dogs can truly understand the immense joy we receive by pointing our noses into the wind and feel- ing the sun on our faces while motoring down a road at 70 miles an hour. How lucky we all are.
8
BMW OWNERS NEWS October 2015
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