Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

It was built on publisher William Ra nd o lp h H earst' s 240 ,000 acre spread from 1922 to 1939 at a cost of about $30 million. Although it was nevercompletely finish ed , it is the mo st expe nsive private horne ever built, butonly th e second biggest to the Biltmore House in Ashevi lle, North Carolina. Still , it has ab out 100 rooms, a 104-foo t long indoo r pool, an outdoor pool, a garage for . 25 limos, three separa te guest houses, and required a staff of ab out 60 to maintain. The numbers don't do it justice, but the am ia ble and knowledgea ble tour guides do a good job of filling you in . Our's was even . Ia miliar with th e 1976 bombing of , one of the guest hou ses by th e Symbionese Liberation Army during Patty H earst's tria l. H earst, th e publisher, spent his weekends th ere until his dea th in 1951 and soon after ' th e ho use was donated to the State of Ca lifornia, although the H earst family still owns most of the la nd. If you stay in San Simeon or Ca mbria, whatever yo u do, don 't eat brea kfast at the hotel. T hirty-eight miles north of San Simeon is a littl e dot on the map ca lled Lucia where you can stop for scenic-priced eggs after riding one of the most beautiful 'a nd challenging stretches of road you'll ever encounter. Abo u t 12 miles , past the cas tle you're in th e Los Padres Na tional Forest and the scenery cha nges from rolling sun-b lea ched hillsides to pine trees and giant reeds , to scrub cac tus and back again. The first thing you notice is that th ere a re virtually no speed li mi t signs, only signs a d visin g corneri ng speed s, presumab ly for a loaded Winnebago with a fami ly of six from Io wa. All along the wayan the coasta l side of th e two -lane road you 'll see signs for Vista Po ints, rest areas , eac h providing a more spectacular view than th e pa st u n til th ey become routine. In th e fa ll a nd winter th e traffic is ligh t and the K75 provided p lenty of power to quickly pass the R Vs lumbering up th e road. It , begins making serio us power at abo u t 6000 rpm with an ignition cu t-off a t 8777 rpm. The power is not th e fourcylinder neck sn appin g type, but a more gentle and deceiving ru sh. If you want to ride th e Pa cific Coast Highway lik e a crazed novi ce gunning for th at last factory ride , th e BMW is up to th e task, alth ough yo u will ge t a fair amount of torque reaction from the shaft drive. If yo u want to leave it in th ird and fourth gears it will motor a wa y leaving yo u . to enjo y th e scen er y as it p u lls without co m p la in t from 1500 rpm. And tha t's th e paradox. Rarely will you see so many in vit ing turns and never will you see the same view. The road rises and div es and the water ch anges co lors becoming a shade of blue you expe ct o n ly in the Caribbean. It invites you to a t once speed up and slow down and the onl y real way to do it is to do it twi ce. If you really want to rid!" lik e a nutcase, fin e, but be warn ed that th e corners a re quite sharp , th e cliffs quite steep, the run -o ff quite limi ted and if yo u o vershoo t a ' co rne r yo u co uld easi ly plu nge ~1 0 the most sceni c demise o ne co uld ever hope fo r. And . if yo u did yo u 'd mi ss break fast a t the Lu cia Lodge. , Lucia is lillie mo re tha n a bend in the roa d a nd th e lodge restaura nt s its o n a cliff 500 feet above Lu cia Bay. If you want to stay there, there a re 10 cliff-side ca bins, bu t it pays to make reservations. Breakfast 'is reasonable and even if you don 't ea t the view is worth th e price a lo ne. ' Th er e a re a limited numb er o f outdoor tables on the porch and th e dining room is a p leasant enough alternative. This is one of th ose There are many sharp turns with views such as this along the California coast. You won't get a good view through the distorted windshield. places that you find yourself reading about in touring articles and the sad truth is that it's better t han you wouldexpect, With about 1.5 mi llion people traversing Ro u te I in the course of a year these people see their s hare of trans ie nts, bu t remain friend ly nonetheless. There's also a small general store and gas sta tion . If you're Iowan gas it 's worth filling up because it might be the last chance you ha ve before Carmel , about 45 m iles to th e north. I made the mistake of leaving th e BMW on the sidestand during breakfast a nd when I started it .up I was cover ed in a cloud of blue smoke. This has become a trademark o f the K-series, all th e th e oi l rushing to th e left wh en it's parked on it 's sid e and the only rem edy is to leave it on th e cen terstand , easily done with th e help of a lift-handle that fo lds out fro m th e frame. Popular op in io n su gg ests that th ey move th e sidest and to th e right side , but so far they hav en 't. T he front fork s have 5.3 in ch es o f tra vel and the single rear gas-filled shock, mounted on th e ri ght side , has 4.3 in ches of travel a nd betw een th em , they were mo re than up to the task of handling the twists and turns o f Route I, not that th ey were ever ca lled o n to d o a ny th i n g extraordinar y. At rest with a 165-lb. rider th e Kbik e has 5.9 in ch es o f gro u nd cleara nce and scraping' th e Iootpegs requires th e sort o f lunacy that 's not likel y to allow you mu ch time for sigh tseeing. With liq uids, th e triple is pushing 505 lbs, over its lo ng ish 59.5 in ch wh eelbase whicli. makes it extreme ly stable a t sp eed. I'd been told by a BMW service rep thaI it cha nged directions effort less ly a nd a fter a br ief period of con fidence building I agr ee. You ca n ' t flick it like a spo rt lightweight, but it' s not a limited purpose spo rt bike and mo st ride rs will be hard pressed to find its lim its. In fac t, mos t people who buy th is bike wo n' t even try. And th e reason for that ·is sim p ly cost. Wi th the do llar a t a near-record lo w agai ns t the Germa n ma rk , the bike's a lready steep price has gone up to $7325 and for most o f us that 's si mply too much money to pay for a mo to rcycle. Wha t yo u get for th e m on ey is a m o torcycl e th a t is ex treme ly com pe tent in every area, bu t o u tsta nd ing in none, Bu t it is , th at a ll -a ro u nd compete nce that makes it a ttractive in an era where it' s difficult to find a mo torcycle tha t serves more than one p urpose. In th e sport-touring field its competition is the Suzuki Katana and the Kawasaki Concours. Yamaha had the F jl200 which they no longer import and the Honda Hurricane wi ll a lways be perceived as more of a sport than touring bik e. . L ike H a rl eys, people buy BMWs for the image that none of the j a p a n ese bikes ca n match . L eaving Lucia tk e road straightens out briefly before return- ing to the kinks and bends wi th the Pacifi c ' Ocean turning a gr eenish blu e, clear to the bottom, Working j ust second a nd third gears I found a false neutra l on the downshift wh en done lazily. The next hint of civiliza tio n is the Big Sur just more th an halfway from Lucia to Carmel wh ere th ere are more hotels, resiarurants and tourist traps and the first speed lim it sign - 40 mph - I'd seen for a whi le. Heading o u t of Big Sur th e road becomes less inviting, al though there is a secti on that runs past Point Sur with a gentle rise that's tempting for 10 top-end runs. Only th e breeze coming off th e ocean dis courages you . Before long, you pass th e Point Lobos State Park and shortly therea fter th e real work intrudes at Carmel. It 's a perfect place for the ride to end, gently bringing you ba ck to th e realization that the fun's over. If you stop in the town of Carmel, it's hard to avoid th e Hog's Brea th Inn, the restaurant owned by it s mayor , Clint Eastwood. Out of curiosity I co n tin ued up Rou te I all the way to San Francisco hoping for some o f the magic I' d seen ' earlier, but the road disappoints. All you really see is a lot of avocado fields. . ' For th e rid e back to Long Beach I stuck to the 101 highway stayi ng in the saddle for seven hours at a , stretch and excep t for the seat the trip . was effortless, bu t boring. If yo u have th e time it 's worth going back the way yo u came. • • The K75S has a striking appearance with midnight black engine and wheels and Marrakesh Red paint job. It drew crowds at several stops. 29

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