BMW 100 years – a journey
The story of the BMW journey is not one I plan to go into here because there are plenty of other sources for that and this blog is not designed for historical masterpieces. However, I stand in admiration of 100 years of BMW Motorrad – the motorcycle arm of BMW. It is a pretty big achievement in not only design and innovation but the journey it brings for the people who gathered in Brisbane on 23 September 2023 to celebrate this event, with over 100 bikes assembled to mark the occasion and spanning from a R32 1923 to the current R18 1800cc of 2023.
The journey for BMW is quite something. It is pretty amazing engineering. It can be a beautiful and luxurious ride and it can be a more basic back to earth ride, navigating offroad, dunes and those other things you find when you leave the tarmac. As with so much of life, there are so many contrasts in the bikes that had been assembled, the history that had been gathered, the stories that attached, the miles that have been travelled – one of them over 500,000 miles.
The range of bikes is as impressive as the BMW vehicle. However, this piece is about the journey for so many that this two-wheeled means of transport has brought. It is the journey of friendship and family, the journey of thousands of kilometres, the journey of coming together to share.
As I stood admiring the bikes and contemplating the effort that had been put into bringing this event together, the assistance of dealers and Motorrad Australia with some truly spectacular bikes being shipped from interstate for the occasion, the journey for some to get here today travelling big and small distances and the unloading from a trailer for some, I cannot help but think about how so many lives are impacted by the family that riding brings around them, the ones you choose for yourself, the ones you might want to spend time with over those you are related to (not always kidding).
I contemplate how the humble motorbike is not just a means of transport for that journey from A to B and in between but also the journey for some for their mental health – the keeping and maintaining of it but also the recovery of it thought the riding, the interest in a hobby, the building and rebuilding of the bike, the maintenance and everything that goes with having two-wheels stabled with the four-wheels and taking priority, or solo, in the garage. We have a bike in this display – she’s a 1975 R90/6 model. There’s a 2008 R1200GSA in the garage today – they are chalk and cheese, very different riding styles and for different riding conditions.
The journey that comes with this means of travel is nothing like a car – you are directly in the elements, and truly do have the wind blowing in and around you, your face and everything about you. It is the smells that are in the air, the direct experience of the traction on the road, the risks that come with hitting gravel, the thrill of being able to navigate offroad, the direct connection with mother nature through the impact of bugs hitting your visor, particularly as you ride at dawn and dusk – they also hurt like nothing else when they smack into your skin when they are travelling towards you at a significant rate of knots and you towards them at a greater rate of knots.
Bike riders, as with car drivers, can be selective about their company – they like their own. Having said this, this bunch are a wonderfully diverse group of people from all walks of life, with a huge range of experience, many many thousands of hours and miles of riding and a fabulous attitude towards life. The journey of the motorcycle brings so much more than just transport in the truest sense.
