INTERVIEW I BONOVO ACTION BMW'S GARRETT GERLOFF
P92
"It's not just the firing order, but
the amount of power the BMW has
to begin with is super high," Gerloff
says. "The technology on the bike is
really impressive with all the differ-
ent things that they have we can
work with, what we can adjust.
"But it can be positive and nega
-
tive because there's a lot of things
we can change if we're having is-
sues, but at the same time there's a
lot of places that you can go to get
distracted, basically, and not have
the same feeling.
"The motor's got a decent amount
of torque to work with. It doesn't feel
flat on the bottom, and it's got so
much power throughout the whole
rev range. BMW is trying to set up
the electronics and stuff to control it
all without having too much interven
-
tion. It's for sure a fine line.
"It hasn't been the easiest, but
also, I'd say probably the weirdest
complaint I have with the bike is it's
almost like the electronics are too
refined in a way, to where there's like
a big layer of insulation between my
ass, the rear tire, and the throttle. But
that's such a hard complaint to bring
to the electronic engineers. I hon
-
estly don't know the answer. What
do we need to do? We don't need to
make it worse, but there's got to be
something we can do. At the minute,
it's like promoting bad behavior, if
you know what I'm saying.
"The bike does actually control a
decent amount about spin, but it's al
-
most like until the bike is really spin-
(Above) Catalunya
2023 was a turning
point for Gerloff and
the Bonovo team with
his best result of the
year to date. (Left) A
sweetener in the BMW
deal was a reunion
between Gerloff and
his old crew chief
Les Pearson.
"
I'd say probably the weirdest complaint
I have with the bike is it's almost like the
electronics are too refined in a way, to where
there's like a big layer of insulation between
my ass, the rear tire, and the throttle.
"
