Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

The BMW K75S is as much at home on the twisting California coast as it is on the freeways. Those of us who live on the East Coast of America have long since grown sick of maddeningly redundan t articles abou t journalists who ride nowhere in particular but manage La stop at. a rock foro' ma rion an abandoned gold , ' f lks' b d d b k mme, a 0 sy ~ a n rea fast , a nd a roadsi de restaurant tha t welcomes motorcyclists because, it turns out, the owner used to be a top-rated desert racer. There ar e stories abo u t peopl e goi ng nowhere as quick ly as possible that spe nd so much time worrying abo u t no t being th ~ slowest !n th e grou p ,tha t th ey !TII SS e-:eryth mg th at doe sn 1I1 their lane, These a re t ha ppen the sa me people that wo uld do a wa lking tour of the Louv re without br eak in g stride, It was with this a tt itu de deepl y burned into m y ps ych e that I left New York City for the Left Coast hoping to co nfirm my stro nge st bel iefs a nd hopefu lly a vo id the freeway firing squad s. The p lan was to tak e a new BMW K75S from Long Beach up th e Pacific Coa st H igh wa y to Monterey, San Fran cisco, San Jose a nd wh erever else I co uld get a free meal. I wou ld go believing that if yo u do n't kn ow where you' re going yo u ca n ' t be lost a nd I wo uld return sha king my head. _ Fu ncti o na lly , the K75S is little changed for 1988, b ut cosme tica lly th e di fference is striki ng. T he engi ne case, dr ive trai n, and wheels ha ve been finished in m idnight b lack which, a lo ng with th e Ma rrakesh Red pa int job, makes the K75S abo u t the sexiest mo torcycle goi ng, U nlike any motorcycle I've ri dde n, this one drew a n ad m iring crowd an ywhe re I sto p ped, If you' re p repar in g a trip up Route I , be prep a red for a stre tc h o f bored om. Fro m L o s Ange les to Mo rr o Ba y, ju st p ast Sa n Lu is Obispo - abo ut 200 miles - yo u're basically on the freeway, If you wa nt a brief taste of th e coas ta l h igh wa y you ca n detour through Mal ibu , but yo u' ll have to ge t on the four- la ne past Oxna rd a nd live wit h it for a whi le. For me. it was a good cha nce to ge t acq uainted with the K75. The first th ing you not ice whe n ,you sit do wn, before you reac h o u t for th e stu bby han dl ebars, is the seat. in m y case th e o p tio na l so lo seat. Alt ho ug h it a llows a bit of freedom in moving arou nd, it' s far too firm and has sharp edges that mak e th em selves kno wn in shan o rder. T he bars, a lt houg h slig h tly forward. and th e pegs seem properl y pl aced for a vari ety o f riders includin g a plus six-foo ter like myself. The spa n . fairing deflects the wind off your tor so, but hit me sq uare on the face-shield making for a noisy ride without earplugs. According to BMW, tu cking under the fairing adds abou t six mph to th e top speed which th ey claim is 130 mph. I ca n' t verify thi s, but wh en I did tu ck under the fa iring on th e far side o f the speed lim it I noticed that th e di stortion was so gr eat th at go ing 130 with limited visi b i li ty did not see m terribly prudent, The self-ca nce ll ing turn signals, one o n eac h bar, take a little getting used to , as does the horn, on th e left gr ip a nd act iva ted by an upward push of the thumb. Alt ho ugh th e signals wi ll ca ncel th em selves even tu all y (a fter 10 seco nds a t abo u t 30 m ph or 690 ft. in slow traffi c) I found m yself ca nce lli ng them by pushing up on the swi tch next to the left grip . The bar-mounted mirrors p ro vide a 'good rea rward view with o n ly slig h t elbo w fo ul ing . After abo ut 163 m iles of high way ridi ng, a ligh t on the bo tt om of th e speedo me ter wa rned me th at it was time to gas u p. Although the 5.5 ga llon tank has a 1.3 ga llon reser ve the tank fill ed with o nly 3.7 ga llons. averaging bett er th an 44 mpg. U nfor tu na tely, becau se Lo s An geles has so me o f th e wo rst a ir in th e world the pump nozzles wear full-l en gth co lla rs that must be co mpressed as you gas u p. T hat, a lo ng with a tra p door o n th e BMW 's ta nk ope ning mak es 'refill ing a time-consuming a n d ted io us c hore. A t le a st i n Ca liforn ia. To break u p th e mo notony of th e freeway I slipped o ff Route 101 a nd too k R ou te I jus t pas t G a viot a sto ppi ng for lunch in Lom poc, Th is I do not recommend. It 's simply because th ere is no good reason to do it. Back on th e road I joined 101 just past G ro ver City a nd stayed o n until it split off at Sa n Louis Ob ispo with Rou te 101 turn ing inla nd a nd Rou te I head ing for the coast wh ich it reac hes a t Mo rro Bay. T ha t's rea lly where the fu n begi ns. al tho ugh it , does" so gradua ll y; first wi th a brea thtak in g view, then wi th a road that 's as seductive as it is da ng erous. T he road cu ts briefly in la nd to Cam bri a whi ch is the last rea l tow n yo u'll see until yo u get to Carme l so if you want a good mea l or a piece of to urist tr inketry yo u better ge t it th ere. An other 10 m iles up th e road is Sa n Simeon whi ch ex is ts to p rov ide cheap shelter a nd med iocre food in various eth n ic d isguises for th e hordes tha t visit the H ea rst Castle'. Ca mbria's as good a p lace as a ny to stop for th e ni gh t a nd even if you 're not th e to uristy type, a visit to the cas tle is a must.

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