BMW 650 Funduro

Missing out on its true calling then.. so many fields to plough.. so
few tractors.

Johno


Beer mate?

 

Yeah. Her feet won't touch ground.

 

Thankyou for that Zebee. I'll do that if she buys the bike tomorrow.
She's definitely going to look at it, with her Dad to help her. I'm
off to Uni so can't go with them.

 

Cripes Johnno, I forgot m'self there. Hope nobody else reads it.
Zebee caught me off guard. heh

 

I did say "with his bikes" that's a catagory that includes all of the
smee bikes and ex smee bikes

G-S

 

Well, to be fair, "feet" isn't the operative word. All she really needs
to be able to do is hold it up on the tiptoes of one foot if she slides
an arsecheek off the seat, the way any number of racer-short blokes on
R1's and the like do. She should be able to handle it on tarmac fine
enough. The balance and reflexes she would've acquired during her
gymnastics will take care of it.

Off road, though, the fact that she weighs a fifth as much as the bike
could make life difficult.

This Honda 125 she rides, is that an @125 scooter or a CR125 mx bike? If
she's never ridden serious dirt before, then, with apologies to Zebee,
her venturing onto it for the first time on the second biggest bike ever
devised for the job (the biggest being the Guzzi Quota)) is going to end
in tears. Eventually, after she's gotten the hang of sliding a locked
front or spinning rear, then maybe. Until then, she'll definitely learn
a lot more and most likely have a better time onboard something like an
F650GS or an Aprilia Pegaso.

Hell, if she's absolutely hellbent on a big-bore, even a KTM 950
Adventure would make a better option than an R-GS. It's just as tall,
but much, much narrower in the bars and seat, and it's some 35kg lighter.

 

Yes, but by the time you'd moved up to the Guzzi, how many Nullarbor
trips had you done on bikes like a belt GPz250 et al?

If a spotty 21-year-old yoof moving from a CBR250 straight onto a
GSX-R1000 is getting out of his depth, isn't is something of a
near-certainty that the same would be the case for a 50kg, 155cm gymnast
moving from a 125 onto an R1150GS?

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 18 Sep 2005 19:17:47 +1000

Lemme see.. what came before the Old Girl?

THe RD250, the GPz, the Pantah (now *there's* a tall bike), the R5, the
'Orrible 'Onda, the SR500, the SR250...

Aside from the Pantah, the Old Girl was the tallest, and it's by far the
heaviest.

And I was doing a *lot* of falling off of motorcycles, seeing as I was
doing the Adelaide Hills a lot while utterly devoid of clue.

I bought her in 1989, got my licence in 1982. So I did have a fair bit
of experience.

Would that have made a differnce? Seeing as I rode Neil's Laverda 1200
Mirage (230+kg, seat height in the stratosphere) in about 1985 as the
test ride before he bought it (he was in SA, it and I were in WA) I
think I'd have coped earlier on in the proceedings.

Nope.

Because what is the problem going to be, where will she strike trouble?

At umpteen kmh because she thinks she's shit hot?

Or not paying enough attention and finding the ground sinking at the bit
of bitumen she is putting her foot down on?

Who has the shorter learning curve and more experience in doing hard
physical things that require care and focus? THe yoof who buys a bike
because it's the meanest fastest thing out there and he has to show he's
a MAN and go FAST AS FUCKING POSSIBLE, or the young woman who has been
doing a difficult physical sport that requires balance and a very fine
understanding of movement and leverage, who has to learn how to cope
with a biggish bike at walking pace?

She's a gymnast. She does cartwheels on the balance beam, which is a
good deal higher than your GS's seat. She can position herself with
millimeter accuracy in a spinning dismount from the uneven bars. She
can lift her own bodyweight with speed and grace in ways that most
blokes can't even manage a beer glass.

Now I reckon that she is likely to find it's a difficult job. And
possibly too wearing. But as the only consequences of her trying to do
that job is the odd scrape on a crashbar and enduring the comments of
twonks in trousers about relative size, I can't see that she should be
stopped from trying it.

Zebee

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 18 Sep 2005 19:13:22 +1200

Tell her not to let the salesman say things like "you can't pick it up".
If he does say such a stupid thing, she should ask him to lie a Goldwing
6cyl on its side and pick it up unaided.

She should check to see how easy she finds it to get on board, it's the
moment between slinging the leg over and getting the bum on that's the
tricky one, best is to not get bum entirely on seat until the bike's
moving.

If it proves difficult, suggest she gets a lighter tall bike like the
650 of the thread title for a year to get used to the tricks of living
with one, as it is easier to handle the lighter bike in those
transitional moments.

Zebee

 

Nah. They're big pansies really ... try to act tough but cry if
their team loses at footy.

It's only the monolever (only one rubber bit on the swingarm) 80G/S
which is the small one, the 80GS is the same size as the 100GS I think.
Which are fairly big.

The sheer amount of shite on the web about these bikes has to be
seen to be believed so go google crazy ...

http://www.micapeak.com/bmw/gs/

Still, if she _really_ wants an 1150, hell, stupider things have
happened.

-----sharks

 

No

 

Heading either up or down a decent loose-surface incline, for starters.

Turning the bike around on the spot when a trail turns too gnarly for
comfort, for another.

Wet clay, loose rocks, deep dust...

On dirt, "umpteen" can correspond to "fifteen". All she'd have to do is
roll over the lip of an unfamiliar descent without stopping first.

She doesn't have to reach the ground when straddling the balance beam.

Should come in handy when the GS bounces the wheels into diverging ruts
at 80kph and flings her off.

Which should stand her in good stead for righting a contraption weighing
five times as much when it's doing its Red October impression in a boghole.

Trousered twonks are relatively few and far between in bush central when
the bike's hung up on a tree 5 vertical metres down a slope from the
edge of the trail.

We've been told she's considering this bike as part of her ultimate aim
of getting into adventure-touring, not as something to park within
wolf-whistle range of CBD construction scaffolding. If her plan was put
into action all at once, she'd be learning how to handle a patently huge
bike and how to ride dirt trails simultaneously. That's a recipe for a
pillion ride out of the forest and subsequent arrangement for a mate
with a winch-equipped Troopie to be enlisted into hoisting a smacked-up
R-GS up from the bottom of a ravine.

Riding an R-GS on dirt is something you graduate up to in the same way
as you graduate up to riding a GSX-R1000 on the road.

 

Conehead was a gymnast on a GS.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Sun, 18 Sep 2005 21:48:00 +1000

I suppose it depends on how much sense you think someone has.

I default to "enough to understand things when they feel them".

If she buys it now, then the difficulties will be obvious to her. And
she can determine what to do about it.

To be told "too big for you, we know best, so we won't let you test ride
it or do anything to find out for yourself" is indeed condescending. To
say "OK, it's big, so you have to spend time really learning to use it
before you go deep bush" is more sensible advice. Same as saying to the
yoof "Get the training, learn to ride it properly".

Is she stupid enough to buy it and immediately ride to Cape York? I
dunno, but you know... somehow I doubt it.

Zebee

 

That's why I love her Zebee.

Hey Zebee, that's pure poetry. You are so right. It's snowing here
today so I'm not going to Uni. I'll go to look at the 1150 with her
and if she want's it, .... cripes I dunno wot I'll do. Encourage her I
suppose.

 

That's wot I thought IK. It's a bloody problem.

 

In aus.motorcycles on Mon, 19 Sep 2005 08:39:55 +1200

Way to go! Do her the honour of letting her make her own mistakes

I'd say if she wants to go adventure touring, then she needs to plan it.
She can spend the time getting used to her bike while she works out what
she will need to know.

If you are in NSW, Stay Upright do dirtbike courses, there are probably
equivalents in other states. Encourage her to start her plans by taing
one of these. That way she isn't learning two things at once - handling
her bike and handling the dirt - and she will know what skills she has
to work on with the big bike.

If she comes back from the test ride thinking "that is a bit big" then
suggest she goes on the course now, and use the info she gets from that
to pick a bike.

If there isn't a dirt bike course you can find, contact Motorcycling
Australia, and find your local Observed Trials club. Trials people tend
to be very friendly and happy to give people a go on their bikes.
Trials is all about slow speed bike handling on difficult terrain, and
the skills learned there should translate fairly well. Plus its likely
you'll meet people who have done the adventure touring thing or know
someone who has, and can suggest other ways to learn to use the bike
properly.

Zebee

 

I can and have picked up a Kawasaki Voyager 1300 full dresser and a Gold
Wing (4 cyl) wouldn't recommend it as a Hobby

Yup Fair enough.

All of that is true, and helpful... but it doesn't address the "Off Road
Issue"

I am quite relaxed about shorter riders on road bikes, but I have yet to
see a very short rider and a tall _and_ heavy off road bike work properly.

The problem then becomes the lack of ability to 'dab' either side at
short notice (and have enough leg strength and length for it to work).

Of course if by off road people mean 'smooth dirt roads that aren't off
road' then fine, but if they really mean 'off road' then a Beemer
1100/1150/1200 GS _will_ be a problem unless you are Clem's Height and
Build (or built like Arny but with longer legs).

I have no hesitation is saying that even at 5'8" (and having grown up on
and raced off road bikes) I seriously couldn't do justice to a 'Clem'
bike in the gnarly stuff. Whereas I'd be quite happy taking an R650GS
almost anywhere.


G-S

 

At 5 to 10kph doing off road (seriously)... road stuff will be annoying,
and heavy but possible.

G-S

 

I always assume people are senseless... that way I'm never dissapointed,
and if they aren't then I get a pleasant surprise

See above.

Yup... at which point she'll have paid 'dealer price' for a bike and be
faced with selling it at either 'private sale price' or 'trade in price'
both of which will lose at least $2000.

At some point there comes in off road a pointe where a bike cannot be
safely be managed, this limit is when one cannot safely 'dab' both sides
at need _quickly_ and have sufficient leg strength for the 'dab' to hold
the bike up or push it back up.

This isn't a matter of training, it isn't a matter of skill... there are
off road bikes that IK could ride that I cannot ride safely (and thats
after 35 years of off road riding). Coz he's a tall lanky bugger, and
I'm not.

I doubt it too. But the stated use was 'off road' that is a clear term
that means 'not on a made road', if she's only going to ride it on made
dirt roads and not leave them then fine... but if she's really intending
to go off road then it will be a problem on that bike.

No if's, no buts... _will_ not maybe.

Can I ask you a serious question Zebee?

How much off roading experience have you had? (not talking about the odd
rally track here... they're roads too).


G-S