HATCHING DA PLAN
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| Remember the old Suzi GS750 Project Bike? Offers? |
Contrary to popular belief, we’re full of good ideas (among other things) at CMG and don’t always get what we want. And sometimes, we just don’t have the time or organisational abilities to get anything started (easy to believe, and very true).
We were at a bit of a crossroads. What we needed was a solid summer project to explore the multifaceted philosophical scope of what motorcycling was all about …. Ah, okay, so we just want to have some fun on someone else’s bike!
Earlier this year, the grand idea was hatched in a Vancouver bar just after the Vancouver Motorcycle Show. Richard Seck (CMG Promotions guy) and myself were shooting the breeze with some BMW and Buell people and got talking about their combined racing series.
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| The CMG booth at the Vancouver Show – plans were hatched on that very carpet! |
It seemed odd to us that they’d go through the hassle of setting up an exclusive Buell/ BMW series, yet hardly anybody knew about it (more details in part two). Kind of like a couple of CMG events… oh let’s not open old wounds. It also seemed like a good opportunity to slide a proposal in for them to give us a couple of bikes and the required back up for the summer. This way, we could investigate what this event was all about … and have some fun in the process!
Several beers later and we’d hatched a plan, planted a seed and begun laying out the groundwork for a CMG summer series involving a long-term test bike from both BMW and Buell. We would test, prep, race and then tour them both over the summer period, with a “duel” element between the two bikes thrown in for good measure.
REALITY BITES
After some initial research, we figured it would indeed be doable. However, for the touring part of the equation (i.e. we’d need some comfort) we would ideally aim for the new BMW R1150R and the Buell tourer, the S3.
We contacted the series organisers, ASM Pro Racing, and spoke to Jack Gramas, who would fill us in on what the series consisted of. Here goes:
There’d be a total of six rounds, the last of which (St. Eustache in late August) we decided to enter team CMG into. Why not all six? Throw me a frickin bone here! The race season starts with the riding season and so there would be no build up time.
Anyway, the idea is that we’ll chronicle the build up to the race, detailing what you need to do if you’re interested in racing and finally, how we faired in the whole endeavour.
What we didn’t know is that there is a restriction as to which bikes qualify. Any air-cooled/belt drive Buell is eligible (I think that would be all Buells) but the only eligible Beemer is their sporty Boxer, the R1100S. Good news for the S3 with it’s touring capabilities, bad news for the BMW, as the R1100S is my least favourite of the range – thanks to its wrist crackingly low bars and an arse-unfriendly ‘ard seat.
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| And this is what we got. Can’t complain with that. |
But things are never what they seem.
After approaching both Buell and BMW, we commenced with the follow-up calls.
We called Buell and left a number of messages to various people in the Buell compound. Finally we were told no, albeit rather bluntly (to which we complained, and then were quickly called back), at which point we were told an S3 wasn’t available anyway but an X1 might be possible later in the year.
To date we’re still waiting to find out about the X1.
A follow-up call to BMW had the deal signed, sealed and (two days later) delivered to Bavarian Motosports in Woodbridge, Ontario – all within a week! Ah, the efficiency of it all.
