Well here it is the end of August... and BMW USA finally has decided to deliver it's 2008 R 800GS Twin to the USA dealers.  no one really knows why it is so late.. but whatever the reason... it sure does look like it will be a winner.  I think I told Mark at BMW Charlotte on Saturday after giving it serious look on Saturday that it may be the best GS BMW ever made for it's fans around the world of Adventure Touring.  We'll see for sure... and we can hope that they have made ..or are planning build in support of their anxiously awaiting dealers... If they were going to gamble this would be the one to gamble on for sure... even though the price has finally arrived at est. $2,000 more than anticipated at the BMW Intro in Milan last October..  None the less.... it just makes the R12GS look and feel a little like a Rhino by comparison.. and it has REAL front forks.. that actually may work on both tarmac and a dirt road or two...  Congrats to them...

So today... after still being thrilled with my V Strom 650... I had to pick up the DL 1000 for a little pre Red Bull GP at Indy service...  That was a nice surprise too.. I forgot how much power that motor makes around 4,000 rpm.  It has some stirring torque that comes on like a tractor ... funny after so many thousand miles on the 650 how accustom I got to the 6,000 revs at 80 MPH..  So when 80 MPH showed up I was stunned to see the rev counter sitting at only 4,000 RPM.

What is fun is there are so many really fun bikes available today that anyone can find something to really please their zest for speed and handling on any kind of road surface including race track groomed smooth ideal roads.  But I can tell you that the fun for me is on the bad roads that make Adventure bikes really shine through..

So that's all for now.. if you get a chance sto by your BMW dealer to see the 800 GS if you can before they get them delivered.  Great Job BMW.

Ride Safe... it's a Holiday Weekend...

Bill Kniegge