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With the madness of Daytona behind me, I found myself riding west towards the city of Tallahassee, where the map indicted that Hwy 98 would fulfill my first American Dream requirement - a ride along the Gulf of Mexico.

Although we’ve only just got our hands on the K1200GT CMG long-termer, I got my grubbies on one courtesy of BMW USA, way back in March for my US Tour. After racking up a total of 4000 miles in ten days I’d gotten pretty familiar with the bike’s capabilities. The following is my account of how it performed, although I should probably clarify that this is based on the bike I had in the US, not the actual CMG long termer.

Back in the summer of 2002 we had the good fortune of taking Honda’s ST1300, Kawasaki’s ZZR1200 and Yamaha’s FJR1300 down to Pennsylvania for an extended weekend’s blast. Apart from having one hell of a good time, we got to know all three bikes pretty well and produced what has become the most popular article of CMG’s history.

What do eight Aussie 30-something's do when they feel the need for a break from the daily grind? In March this year, the answer was a Kiwi Dirtbike Adventure - a four-day ride through some of New Zealand's most picturesque and challenging terrain.

I think it's taken all of us a bit by surprise at how quickly the inaugural race of the Canadian Thunder Series has come around. Thankfully it appears that all the important bits have come together, although we're still in eleventh hour negotiations with some prospective sponsors.

As I pull up to the lights at the end of Main Street the Florida drought has just broken and Bike Week is looking decidedly wet. There’s a girl with her back to me under a large umbrella, standing in front of a large bath sized bucket of cold beer.

The RC's 999cc four stroke, 90 degree, v-twin motor comes with fuel injection and ram air to produce a claimed 130bhp @ 9,500rpm, with a max torque of 71 lb.ft. at 7,000rpm, in stock form. The PGM-FI fuel injection utilises two injectors per cylinder with the ram air passing directly through the frames steering head. Camshafts are driven by a gear train off the crankshaft.

I was a big fan of the (now) old F650 Funduro. In '98. I toured around New Zealand on one, two up with luggage, and the 650 never missed a beat, coped well in all situations and allowed us to explore a lot of the more interesting dirt roads which would have been otherwise left undiscovered.

Welcome back to part two of the ZX-7 story: The Transmission that Ate My Wallet.

It's now half way through June and it seems that summer has at last arrived, but what about spring? I mean one minute I'm freezing out there and the next day it's summer! Oh well, best make the most of it.