The R90S Beemer Airhead motorcycle was instantly an icon of the 70's when it first came out. Take a look at these safety videos put out originally by BMW and placed on youtube for your viewing pleasure by beemergarage.com.
Check out the guy's riding outfit, I am thinking the color of his leathers was more red than pink in real life and it was just the crude state of color film technology perhaps? Then again, his rain gear is even more flamboyantly pinkish! He rides though like I wish I would ride all the time.
Some of the stuff he's shown doing though, like passing cars while going up a mountain, is not what's done around here. Apparently it's all one way traffic in Germany up the particular mountains that the films were shot in but even it that were the case here, I doubt cagers would take kindly to motorcycles zooming past them while on the way up or down the mountain!
Part 1 of the safety video. Direct link here.
Part 2 of the safety video. Direct link here.
99% of the rider's actions and the narrator's advice holds true today as it did the day the film was shot. I invite Irondad's feedback of course in light of modern day traffic patterns and his experience as a motorcycle safety instructor.
4 comments:
Nice videos, than you for posting the links. It is nice to occasionally hear the familiar sound of a boxer twin. I think that I'm going through withdrawal not being able to ride at all. I still have at least 5 more months ...
Dear Charlie6 (Dom):
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!
These videos were fun, but I ride with guys who are on these bikes all the time. They all wear pink too. The weather is going to be rainy throughout the entire holiday weekend here, and it is unlikely I will be riding much.
I had a minor lock failure on the topecase, that kept me from getting at gear that I needed on my last ride, and for a week and a half after I got back to the garage. I got it all sorted out last night. It actually took less than 15 minutes.
I will be disassembling the lock and carefully oiling the entire thing on Friday morning.
Hardly in the same league as your mechanical adventures... But everything in scale, I always say.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Charlie6:
If I was that rider's riding buddy for the day, I would be riding solo. I don't lane split, it's illegal here in British Columbia. I would not pass on any curves. I don't think he approached some of those curves correctly, he was too close to the centre line. He was riding too agressively for my tastes.
I too want to see what Irondad posts.
bob
bobskoot: wet coast scootin
It must have been a biker's paradise back in the 70's. I have never seen German roads as empty as shown in the vids.
Overtaking cars as demonstrated would barely be tolerated by cagers these days, and overtaking left while a car is in the left passing lane is not only risky but unlawful.
And even if the roads look like one-way streets, they might be still two-way. It's small country, you know ;-)
Thanks for sharing. Isn't the sound of the airhead lovely?
Post a Comment