Dream Sweeper
Today I up and decided it would be a good day for a longer ride on my new motorcycle. As I have mentioned, the new bike is a BMW RNineT, which is a stripped-down version of the classic BMW boxer twin. It’s a lot of engine, 115 horsepower, on a very basic frame and accoutrement. There is nothing fancy about the bike, but rather, it stands out in its plain simplicity. Compared to everything else I sat on at the dealership, nothing felt as sound and comfortable as this bike. The ergonomics of the seat/peg/handlebar configuration are about perfect for me and I wouldn’t change a thing. It feels like it was made to ride and ride long distances. This is not a touring bike for long-distance cruising, but rather a street bike that just happens to have a comfortable configuration. Most bikes offer all manner of accessories to add after you take the bike out of the showroom. Even my R1250GS Adventure has thousands of add-ones available from BMW and lots of aftermarket vendors. With that bike I added a sheepskin seat cover, a number of storage bags to hang off the various roll bars, a front light cover, high visibility fog lights, accessory plugs, handlebar phone grasps and special high visibility brake lights. In theory, I could all of that and more to my new RNineT, but I haven’t and I suspect I won’t. I asked the parts manager at the dealership, a fellow named Jonathan, a very knowledgeable parts guy, what he would add to the RNineT and he was flummoxed. He couldn’t really think of something and yet when I bought the Adventure he had an endless list of suggestions. That spoke volumes to me.
As I headed out for my ride I decided to assess how this “perfect” seating configuration stood the test of time in the saddle. To begin with, the seat, while shaped very much to conform to the human derrière, is a relatively thing structural seat with minimal padding. That was a concern for a longer ride. Then there was the complete lack of a fairing or windshield. This reminded me of my first big bike, which was a 1970 Triumph TR6R Tiger 650. I had to ride it from London to Rome in two days, a distance of about 1,200 miles all without any wind protection. That never occurred to me as a problem in those heady adolescent days, but it sure seems wild and wooly by todays standards. The foot pegs on the RNineT are simple forged steel and have none of the rubberized cushioning on larger bikes. Needless to say, there are no heated grips or seat and neither a GPS nor any sound system. But none of that seems necessary on this bike for one reason or another. I might miss the tunes, except that is now handled independently with a Bluetooth helmet and an iPhone in my pocket.
Somewhere in the middle of my 90 mile ride, I decided that I quite like not having too many do-dads on the bike. I don’t plan to ride this cross-country, so I don’t miss the GPS and everything else is perfectly adequate for my purposes. The bike is technically titles as a 2021 BMW RNineT Pure, and I now see why. This is a purist’s machine. Nothing frilly, just all the basic mechanisms in plentiful supply. The engine is smooth, the brakes grip well, the suspension does its job with smoothness and the six-speed transmission works through its paces with precision and effortlessness.
It was a pleasant September day and being a Friday, it was not overly crowded on the roads heading East. The weather was warm, but not hot and there were distant rumblings of thunderstorms that would arrive later in the day. I Took the bike out through Valley Center and it handled like a dream. Then I headed up Palomar Mountain on S6 to test out its handling on that famous knee-scraper. This bike handles like the street racer it is set up to look like. It turns easily and is light and lithe. I saw no vehicles ahead or behind me the whole way up. At the top I didn’t hesitate to go right over the hilltop and start down the sweepers of S7 for the 14 miles down to Lake Henshaw. I consider those sweeping turns to be the real test of a motorcycle. Where I had ridden uphill in second gear, I headed down in third, so I was traveling faster and with more determination. if there is a motorcycle heaven, that ride down S7 leads right to it.
As I headed down, I was listening to my “Upbeat” playlist and Billy Joel came on with River of Dreams, one of my favorites about which I have previously written. Billy start by saying, “From the mountains of faith, to the river so deep, I must be looking for something, something sacred I lost, but the river is wide and it’s too hard to cross.” My spiritualism extends to the solidarity of motorcycle riding and if there is ever a moment of grace that I feel , it is on roads like S7 riding downhill through sun-dappled sweepers. The ride down ends with a few nice turns just as the song finishes and ends with, “We all end in the ocean, we all start in the streams, we’re all carried along by the river of dreams.” These ribbons of asphalt are my rivers and a day like today on a road like S7 is my dream, so those are my river of dreams. I, like everyone in the world, know that I am looking for something and that its undefined, but this is as close to heaven as I am likely to ever come. I know how corny that sounds, but I can tell you that is exactly how I feel when I am leaning into one turn after another from side to side.
I may never want to ride my big Adventure on this mountain road again since it felt so perfect on my new RNineT, my Dream Sweeper. I have often said that the Adventure is the best bike I have ever owned and I believe that is still true. But I think I have found my perfect companion bike in the RNineT and the beauty of it is that I am now convinced that where I have all the bells and whistles on the Adventure, I am best off with the stock model of the RNineT. I am now faced with the dilemma of which bike to ride every time I go out. That’s a good problem to have I figure.