It was the summer of 2014, and BMW had just released the R nineT. The upcoming press launch, my first, was set for California. I was excited.
After the morning briefings discussing technical specs and market positioning–the usual corporate gobbledygook–we finally got to the good part. For the next two days, we rode. We were then given the option to do a ride-away, meaning the journalist assigned to the bike could take it home for an extended review. I jumped at the chance.
“You’re going to ride from California to St. Louis on a naked bike? You’re nuts!” I recall one of the BMW staffers saying.
The R nineT launch that year coincided with the week preceding our National Rally in St. Paul, Minnesota. Because of that, the ride from California back to MOA Headquarters, then in St. Louis, had to be a quick one. Despite spending most of those miles on interstate highways, it became one of the most memorable rides of my life.
Even today, more than a decade later, experiences of that ride remain vivid, like the dusty trail I took looking for interesting photo opportunities, a conservation officer who blocked my path as I putted along the shoulder during a traffic backup and a spectacular sunrise painting the sky as I rolled through Kansas.
Up until that point, my 2012 R 1200 GS was the only bike I had ever owned that had a fairing and windshield. To me, motorcycling had always been about the wind in your face aboard a basic motorcycle with little more than a motor, two wheels, a throttle and a clutch. Nothing more was needed. Anything else added to that pure simplicity was superfluous and did nothing but take away from the purity of the ride.
If you don’t like riding in rain, cold or heat and having bugs in your face, take your car. I believed motorcycling wasn’t supposed to be the easy way to travel, but that’s what makes it so much fun. Every ride becomes an adventure, creating memories through the unique experiences you have each time you’re on a bike.
It’s the sore butt from a bad seat, the tiny bead of water moving down your back as you ride through a rainstorm or the giant moth that meets your faceshield at 60 miles an hour–moments after you cleaned it, of course.
An entire segment of BMW riders shares this sentiment, as evidenced by the Airheads and their “Simple by Choice” mantra.
I was thinking a lot about that cross-country ride on the R nineT recently while riding home from a BMW press event in California. For this ride, I was heading east on a loaded R 1300 GS Adventure with all the bells and whistles. On top of the typical options we’ve come to expect from BMW, the bike had a heated seat, electronically adjustable windscreen, Dynamic Suspension Adjustment and even an automatic transmission. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I thought heated grips and a Kaoko throttle lock were the best options you could add to your ride.
In my hotel room that first night on the road, I pulled out the Owner’s Manual to get a better grasp on the tech I hadn’t yet explored. Wow, I felt like I was cramming for a physics final and wondered if there was a CliffNotes version available.
At their Vision Next 100 celebration a few years ago, BMW Motorrad rolled out a “futuristic two-wheeler with a female driver wearing only a visor, which looks like a pair of glasses from the next century instead of a helmet. She stops and stands up from the seat, without taking either foot off the pegs…and transports the viewer to the year 2130.”
I’m OK with the fact that I won’t be at that launch! There’s a beauty in the simplicity of an old machine that just runs with no manual to study, tech to master or updates to install.
Sometimes, the best tech is the kind you don’t have to think about. is the kind you don’t have to think about.
