It’s been almost all about motorcycles this final week of 2021.  All except the riding unfortunately; we’ve been under a misty, damp fog since Thursday that built into rain showers New Year’s Eve and early New Year’s day.  So my motorcycle fix has to come from all the research we’ve done this week on possible new bikes.

We’ve been looking at potential cruiser bikes for long country road cruising and are considering the BMW R18 Bagger or the BMW K 1600 GTL for Bill.  As for me, I’m discerning the differences between the BMW R 1250 RT versus the BMW 1250 GS and deciding which one would suit me better.  I have a huge disadvantage in that I have never been on a long cruise at 35-45 mph, so I don’t know exactly what I’m looking for.  But I’m leaning toward the GS as it seemingly does both road and off-road equally well.

            I have learned this week that I am not as intimidated by the weight of motorcycles as I was at first.  I learned a simple but extremely effective technique for lifting a motorcycle off its side stand.  That trick is to rotate the front wheel to the right before trying to lift the bike.  It is so effective in shifting the weight that when I first tried it with my Scrambler, I had to catch the bike from falling to the right.  This technique is so effective, that I used it on the 1250 GS when we visited Adventure BMW, and I used it to straighten up the Triumph Rocket when we stopped by Sunrise Cycles.  With the Rocket I brought the wheel to the center which was enough to allow me to easily straighten the almost 650-pound motorcycle!  I did not get on the R18 at Adventure, but I will on our next visit.

            We were able to see the T120 Triumph Bonneville Gold Line edition at Sunrise Cycles, the local Triumph dealer—as well as Suzuki, Yamaha, and Kawasaki.  The hand-painted gold line is beautiful on the British racing green tank, and it gives us some hope that they will get the Triumph Scrambler XE Gold Line in the gorgeous looking Baja California orange color.  While we were there, we also looked over the Suzuki Hayabusas they had (3) and the classic Kawasaki Ninjas.  And I came to realize that motorcycles don’t seem as large as they first did when I began my riding journey.  It could be that I am getting used to riding and being around motorcycles.  Or it could be that, after having looked at both the BMW R18 Bagger and Transcontinental behemoths, all other motorcycles seem much dwarfed in comparison.  I prefer to believe the former, however, as it reflects much better on me as a rider.

Happy New Year to my Readers! I wish you all good things in 2022.