Jef Francl 2009 Bike Ride
2009 Bike Ride by Jef Francl
For years, I’ve thought that I wanted a Gold Wing when I retired. That’s hopefully in a little over 4 years from now. So, last year, I went to Colorado and rented one. I hadn’t been on a bike in 10 years, and only an idiot (or someone who’s really2ugly) would jump onto 920 pounds unrehearsed. It was terrorizing getting it out of Denver. I had to approach a red light at about 5 MPH with “the landing gear” down, then slam on the brakes at the last second. Going around tight hair pin curves on secondary roads and seeing little pieces of rock on the road was also terrorizing because if that front wheel ever slipped out from under me, I knew I would go down and not be able to pick the bike up by myself. I also was determined not to drop someone else’s $20K+ bike! But on the open road, it was a dream come true! I realized just how much I missed riding, but decided that I needed a lighter bike.
When I got home, I lasted 3 days, and headed to the BMW dealership. I checked out the K1200LT (their “Gold Wing”); and although it was 200# lighter, it felt just as heavy. The weight felt up front and high up. But I sure liked the power center stand! The K1200GT at 156 HP scared me, just didn’t fit me right and had an unusual sound that I didn’t like: imagine running a vacuum cleaner through the gears. Then I test drove an R1200RT and was hooked. 570# loaded, very low center of gravity, and it fit me perfectly! Not only that, with a 7.1 gallon gas tank I would have the range of an average car!
I wanted one with the factory radio/CD player
because I wanted to hear what was going on around me, but most people use MP3 players and headphones despite the added danger. There were only 2 bikes left in the country that had what I wanted, and they were both sold that weekend. So, I had to wait a month for the 2009’s to come out.
BMW started to build the 2009’s for one week, then took a week off for Oktoberfest. My bike was built that week, shipped out and lost in shipment. No way to contact the factory to get any new tracking information. 2 weeks later, a mystery crate showed up in New Jersey. My bike had been found! And I’m now wondering if this was an omen. It was. The CD player skipped on bumps – and it cost $1,500 !!!!!!?????! It was replaced, and all is fine.
The only complaints I have are that the mirrors are set in too close, and I have to move my arms out of the way to see out of them; and the bike REALLY likes to bitch about anything it can think of. More on that later.
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