Coastal Traveler - Fall 2007 - (Page 35)

coastalrider BMW’s HP2 Enduro $20,590 includes a set of 17 inch street wheels. It is a 2006 model and only a few are left at dealerships. For more info see www.bmwmotorcycles.com German engineers think they are so good that they need a handicap. Porsche has its rear engine and BMW Motorrad has its funky opposed cylinders, which stick out sideways to be cooled by the wind. The design goes back to 1919. BMW made airplane engines before the Great War. But the Treaty of Versailles prohibited Germany from building airplanes, so BMW developed the Boxer engine and began to build motorcycles known for their somber quality. But in 1980 BMW took one of those engines and put it in a dirt bike, creating a new class of Motorcycle. BMW called it the R80GS and began to enter it in the Paris-Dakar rally – and win. The GS bikes were heavy for dirt bikes, at 423 pounds, but were powerful and reliable. A new type of riding grew up around them – long distance exploration. They were bikes you could cover a state with, and then pull off the road at a trailhead and ride to an alpine lake. They had a Che Guevara, Motorcycle Diary quality about them, as if you could find yourself while riding one, like a mobile Bodhi Tree. In its 26 years of development, the GS bikes gained a lot of weight. The current model, the R1200GS Adventure weighs almost 500 pounds. A few years ago, BMW Motorrad got a new boss, who wanted to emphasize performance over solidity. BMW decided to produce a marquee series of bikes called HP, for high performance. The 2006 HP2 Enduro is the first. And the first thing BMW did was loose 26 years of fat. At 389 pounds, the bike is actually 34 pounds lighter than the first GS in 1980. It is still very large and heavy for a dirt bike, most of which weigh 150 pounds less. But on an open course, with double the horsepower and triple the torque of most dirt bikes, the BMW sails by smaller bikes, its jutting cylinders cutting through the wind. It is also three times as expensive as most dirt bikes. It is a hyper-engineered, super limited production, monster of a dirt bike, with massive size, power and presence. The GS range has a chunky elegance, like a titanium bolt. But the HP2 is rangier, sexier, meaner. BMW threw out the balance shaft to save weight. The engine is racier, more urgent than a normal GS. The bodywork, in a muted blue and grey, is unusually elegant for a dirt bike that wins international races. But the bike is perhaps best appreciated on the road. As a dirt bike it is heavy compared to its 250 pound rivals. But it is light for a road bike. The HP2 come with a pair of 17 inch motard wheels, with sticky street rubber. They help to lower the seat, which is uncomfortably high. The HP2 has massive bottom end torque, almost diesel in quality. There is no need to rev the engine, but when you do, it responds with vigor. The handling was superb on Marin’s Mount Tamalpais. It was able to flick from side to side while cresting sharp rises. The suspension was soft for a sport bike, which helped to absorb rough pavement. Everything was smooth. As much as BMW has tried to roughen its edges, it is like scuffing an Hermes saddle. The bike is a black sheep aristocrat, the roguish second born, who fights and whores and finds himself while his brother suffers under the burdens of leadership. coastaltraveler fall coastaltraveler 35 http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com

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Coastal Traveler - Fall 2007 Coastal Contents Coastal Connoisseur Coastal Picks Coastal Hotel Coastal Reader Coastal Rider Coastal Spa Santa Barbara Pismo & Avila San Luis Obispo Big Sur Carmel Monterey Santa Cruz San Francisco Sausalito Mill Valley Stinson Beach Bolinas Olema Point Reyes Station San Geronimo Fairfax Inverness Marshall, Tomales Sebastopol Petuluma Sonoma Coast Redwood Coast Napa Map

Coastal Traveler - Fall 2007

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