1975

Man, where has the time gone? 

It's hard to believe that 39 years ago, I was sitting atop my then new (1973) BMW 600/5 bike, riding across this huge continent.  Europeans travel all over there's, but of course Canada is so much more immense.  It's like Euro twice!

I was 20 years of age, had been riding for 7 years already then, a seasoned pro so to speak, a motorcycle Chief Instructor for two...

What an adventure it was too.  Hardly saw another rider on the highway, a few Electra Glides, the odd Gold Wing or CB 750 maybe with Vetter gear, moe often with strapped on duffel bags.  I don't think I saw another Beemer at all, they were pretty scarce then.  Alberta Cycle, the only dealer in Edmonton at the time sold about a dozen a year!  That's 1 a month on average!!

Quite the bike it was too, cost me around 3200 dollars at a time when a Honda 360 could be had for 1100 bucks and Denny Andrews was selling Kawasaki 900's for 2100... and they were giving away a FREE trip to some exotic destination to boot!  

Four gears handicapped acceleration and cruising speed, third was too short, the bike shaking badly by the time the speedometer hit 60mph and shifting the slow and heavy fly-wheeled transmission into 4th often slowed the bike down.  I had a top speed of around 80-85. I remember a Beetle passing me on route 20 along the St Lawrence, and he was barely going faster than I was.  I should have waited until 1974 when they introduced the 900 twin boxer and all the models got 5 speed boxes.

The kick start (BMW recommended you use the starter button at the same time as kicking the engine) was mounted on the left side of the bike and kicked downward, away from the engine.  Several years after the XC trip, while touring two up in heavy weather, the bike refused to start.  No amount of pushing or kicking could make her go and we ended up in the only motel room left in Blue River, where the proprietor took pity on us and offered the room, even though it was not in use due to bad plumbing.  We didn't care, we were soaked thru our 'rain gear' and dead tired.

Do I go with modern...

The next day it had dried out enough that the bike would start but then for the rest of the ride back to Fort Mac, I would turn up the idle adjustments on the carburetors and leave it running whenever we stopped.

Getting gas it was running, changing clothes it was running and I remember watching it from a restaurant window, having to go out every 5 minutes because of course, with a longitudinal crank... and a fast idle, the bike would slowly crab across the parking lot sideways perched on its center stand!!

I always disliked using the side stand.  Beemer side-stands would spring up if any weight was taken off the foot, with the result, a crash onto the crash-bars!  Seems funny to me now, but I can tell you I've had some miserable weather trips on bikes but that was definitely one of the blue ribbon worst!

... or retro?

Anyway... I am hoping that my planned XC ride in reverse next year will be much better.