MotoBrief

For many years, BMW has offered training at the Enduro Park in Hechlingen for those willing to make the pilgrimage to Germany. I’ve never had the opportunity to go. But it looks like it’s gotten a bit easier for those of us in the U.S. They’re now conducting on-road and off-road classes at the BMW Performance Center in South Carolina, where they’ve done automobile driving courses since 1999.

Courses start at $480 if you’re bringing your own BMW motorcycle, or BMW will provide an F650GS ($550), a G650 Xchallenge ($600) or an R1200GS ($650). Interestingly enough, BMW uses the F650GS and R1200GS in the on-road classes, too — you can’t choose from any of BMW’s street-oriented motorcycles. That’s disappointing. As big a fan as I am of the GS line, if I was going to take the on-road class I’d want to be using the new F800S.

There’s no mention of the courses on the Performance Center website, so you’ll need to call them to get more information. It looks like there are at least two of each course scheduled every month through the end of the year.

I had a discussion with a brand snob recently and apparently one of my motorcycles isn’t “real.” I was reminded of this exchange today when I saw an article on the AMA website about the 2008 Buell 1125R.

It appears that Buell, a subsidiary of Harley-Davidson, was allowed to look elsewhere for a powerplant for its newest sportbike. The bike uses a liquid-cooled V-twin designed by Rotax and looks very interesting. In addition to the excellent write-up on the bike, AMA has a great interview with Erik Buell about the bike’s development.

I doubt that this bike will spark any great controversy, given that people have wondered for years when Buell would get around to building a sportbike that’s not powered by an air-cooled XL Sportster engine. So while it’s a big step for Buell, I expect this bike to be a beloved addition to the family.

Not so my BMW F650GS, also powered by a Rotax engine, which was recently scorned by some fellow as not being a “real” BMW. “BMW never made a 650,” he sneered.

So what makes a motorcycle a true example of the marque? Does every part need to roll off a company assembly line? BMW doesn’t make my tires, either — does that matter?

There’s no argument that the engine is the heart of a motorcycle but does it have to be built in-house? Do Aprilia Mille or KTM owners have to put up with this?

I recognize that there will be some motorcycles that will never be considered genuine. Would anyone consider the short-lived revival of Excelsior-Henderson related in any way to the classic American motorcycle introduced by William and Tom Henderson in 1911? It was just a pricey cruiser that didn’t offer anything particularly special, and it’s not an Excelsior-Henderson no matter what the badge said.

But the BMW F650? This bike has been sold by BMW for more than a decade and built by BMW since 2000. It appeared on the BMW factory team in the Dakar Rally. It’s not some orphaned model thrown together to make a quick buck — it’s been revised over the years and has led to the new G series of BMW 650s.

I guess this is more about bike snobbery than about motorcycles. Some people would like to forget BMW made anything after the airhead twin. I imagine every brand has built a motorcycle than someone, somewhere, deems unworthy to be considered “real.”

I don’t think I’m going to worry about those people. I love my fake BMW.

It’s been a busy week for me and I’m just now catching up on reports from last weekend. This forum thread has lots of pictures and discussion of the flooding that wiped out the Moto Guzzi national rally in SE Minnesota. No one at the rally was injured although word is that the entire Guzzi demo fleet went under.

FEMA teams arrived yesterday to assess the disaster. Let’s all hope that government agencies and the insurance companies move swiftly to help those in need.

The Track Diesel Motorcycle looks interesting. The website is absolutely terrible — poorly designed with very limited information, referring you to a Dutch version of the site just to see the price of the bike — so it’s hard to say what the status is. Gizmag.com reported that the bike was commercially available last year but it appears none had shipped at that time.

I hope that this is legit, but I’ll believe it when I see one on the road. The CEO of EVA Products, creator of the Track, said in the Gizmag.com article:

“This week we sold 15 bikes and production is on its way for the first 250 to 500 units that will be sold within the next 2 years. Unfortunately, requests on this bike will probably exceed the production level for some time to come as we have received more than 2000 purchase requests already. For now we will only target the EU market, but we have already appointed a U.S. distributor which will be announced in 2007.”

Now, more than nine months later, the Track website is still talking about needing to sell 50 units before expanding beyond the Netherlands. And no mention of a U.S. distributor — in fact, the site doesn’t maintain any kind of press release archive at all.

So what’s up? Has anyone actually seen one of these in action? I hope that EVA gets its act together and gets these on the streets. EVA seems to have some other projects keeping them busy, like, um, antigravity, so I’m not holding my breath until it ships.

I do wish them the very best of luck, however, and will wistfully imagine the day I can tool around town on my Track Diesel, leaving the smell of french fries in my biodiesel wake.

How’d I miss this?!

Steve Jobs has long touted the iPod’s integration with a wide range of cars. Now the new Victory Vision will support the iPod. Scott Bourne of The Apple Phone Show is reporting that the Victory Vision Street he just ordered includes an iPod connector that lets you tuck it away safely in a compartment on the fairing. The iPod is operated with handlebar-mounted controls and displays on an LCD on the motorcycle’s gas tank.

I always ride with my iPod and this would be a really nice thing to have. Scott has promised to post more when he takes delivery of the bike.

I came across a link to a website that’s hosting some Moto Guzzi technical training videos for some late model Guzzis. Great quality, all in Quicktime. Very cool.

Will we see a Yamaha Ténéré for 2008? Some people seem to think so.

I’ve only seen a couple mentions of this so far. Yet another big dual sport for those of us in the United States to dream of wistfully. Anyone think there’s any chance of this making it to the U.S.?

The Moto Guzzi Norge 1200 was voted number one in the Granturismo category by readers of Italian motorcycle magazine Motociclismo. Is this a big deal? A bunch of Italians voted an Italian motorcycle as the best?

Actually, traditional GT favorites typically win this category — the BMW R1200RT has won seven times. Moto Guzzi has produced what looks like a fantastic touring bike. I’m going to have to try one of these things out.

BMW appears to be giving away free Stuntwars DVDs at part of a promotion of the F800S. The DVD features Chris Pfeiffer, who currently rides the F800S in street freestyle competitions.

Today is one of those days where I’m really missing Chicago. This weekend the Moto Guzzi demo fleet will be at Rosefarm Classics.

The Rosefarm Classics website is one of those unfortunate sites that seem to exist soley to frustrate customers and drive away business. All you’ll find there is an address and phone number, so you’ll have to head over to Google Maps if you want directions.

The details I received were Saturday, June 9 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Sunday, June 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m You’ll probably want to call first to confirm.

I’d love to try out the Breva. I’ve always been a big fan of Moto Guzzi bikes, although I’ve never owned one. Have fun, everybody.