[quote=hilld;1795976]I am just getting ready to purchase a "new to me" BMW R1200GS Adventure bike to do some commuting and trail riding and I was wondering who else does that on this board.
That is a great bike. If I could only have one bike the 1200GS beemer would be at the top of my list.
I have been riding for 43 years. My first bike was a 1966 Suzuki 250 X6. I have never been without a bike since then. At one time I had 12 of them, but that is just crazy, so I have
cut down to only 4 or five at a time now. The last time I counted them I had owened 100 or so bikes, all kinds of them. I flirted with the sport bikes, had a couple of Suzuki 750 GXRS and Yamaha FZR's. I seem to have settled on touring bikes, dirt bikes and cruisers for my use. I have a KTM 525 EXC, and a GasGas 250 enduro for the woods riding. I have a 1800 Goldwing for when my wife wants to go along (she won't ride on anything else since I spoiled her with my first Goldwing in 1984). I have a 05 Harley Nightrain for when I want to ride around make a little noise and
look bad. I have a Honda 1800C VTX for when I want to ride around and
be bad.
These are some of my most recent bikes.
The first picture is of me and my KTM after the most miserable ride of my life. I am the guy in the brown coveralls, not very stylish but warmer than some of the guys on the ride.
It was around 30 degrees. We planned the ride a couple days earlier. On the way to the trail head we ran into the snow. By the time we got to the trail there was 6 to 8 inches of fresh wet snow in the woods. We all looked at each other and asked if anyone wanted to chicken out. Being guys we all said of course not! I did mention that I thought we brought the wrong machines, perhaps snowmobiles would be more appropiate.
I durffed onto a 3 foot deep water hole 2 miles into the ride and submarined my KTM. One of the Honda riders was impressed, my bike was laying on its side with the throttle end of the handle bars sticking out of the water and it never even stalled. He commented that his Honda won't run when horizontal.
I rode the next 48 miles soaking wet. The trees had so much snow on them they were bent over and the branches would bounce off the number plate, springing them up in the air and throwing the wet snow up and it would come down on our heads and go down our necks. In places we had to lay on the tank and keep our heads lower than the bars just to get through the bent over trees.
It was a very long fifty mile day in the tight woods of northern Michigan.....but it sure is the one ride that none of us will ever forget. One area was flooded to the extent that an "s" shaped plank bridge a couple hundred feet long and about 4 foot wide that crosses a swampy area had about 4 foot of water under the bridge and about 1 foot of water on top of the bridge. This caused the bridge to float under the surface of the water. It was like riding on a submerged air mattres. The waves caused by the bike tires made the submerged bridge very hard to see and the floating made it move up and down as the bike passed over it. It was probably the most scared I have ever been on a motorcycle. I was already soaking wet and I could just picture myself dropping off the almost invisible edge into about 5 foot of ice water. I was 58 years old at the time, one would think I would have known better!
Wow bikes sure are fun!!
Who rides a motorcycle? 
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