Gifford takes his youth quite seriously! Johnathan without his helmet.

Johnathan Gifford

Age: 29
Marital Status: Divorced
Children: Not yet...
Current BMW(s) Owned: 1997 BMW F650ST
Years Riding Motorcycles: Nearly 5 years on the street, riding about 10,000 annually
Profession: Intranet web applications developer
Birthplace: Havre de Grace, Maryland
Home: Moore, OK (just south of Oklahoma City)
First bike: Kawasaki KE100
Motorcycles owned: 2, the Kawasaki and F650ST

Who or what prompted you to take up motorcycling?
When your dad has an airplane, car, tractor, motorcycle and you’re 12 years old, you want to be just like dad. You push for a motorcycle, airplane, car, tractor...basically whatever he will let you have. In my case it was the motorcycle.

I got back into motorcycling after graduating from college. Dad had just sold his ‘85 Goldwing and was itching for another motorcycle, but didn't want something big. I tagged along since I had the weekend free. While he looked at Vulcans, Magnas, Intruders and cruiser-style bikes, I looked at Ninjas, CBRs, Katanas and other sporty bikes. When we went to the BMW shop I could see a real difference between the sport bikes and the BMWs. The F650ST kept tugging at me. I was pretty sure I wanted it, especially when Dad test rode its cousin (the F650) and decided to buy a black one.

I had wanted a new car, but changed the wording to a new "vehicle" so I could include a motorcycle. The ex-wife was not thrilled with that idea. I think she was hoping I would forget the whole idea. I put it to her like this, "New motorcycle, or new Jeep Cherokee?" You should have seen the look on her face when she asked which one was cheaper. She wasn't happy when I told her she had to give me an answer in the next couple days so I could take advantage of the great financing deal from BMW. I should have known it was a sign of things to come when, on the day I picked up my brand new motorcycle, she went to her mother's.

Most interesting motorcycle?
Way too early to tell!

Longest Ride?
During my first year with the bike my dad, a co-worker of his and I went to the Missoula, MT MOA rally. Somehow, I managed to get two straight weeks of vacation and couldn’t believe my luck. I was 26 and had only been working for the company a little over a year. From Tulsa, OK to Missoula, MT is not a long distance, but the way we went it was. We hit every National Park we could.

Best Ride?
Is there a "best" one? Great rides are like comparing apples to oranges. Each one has it's own rewards and experiences and each and every opportunity to get out on a long run is great.

Favorite Roads?
AR 16 from Fayetteville, AR to Clinton, AR. That road is a constant mix of sweepers, tight curves and straight-aways. It’s a good two to three hours ride. Depending on your starting point, be sure to get gas in Fayetteville or Clinton. Gas stations are rare in that part of Arkansas so when you find one, pray that it's open. The Talihina Scenic By-Way (AR 88 and OK 1) is also a great road that will lead you to many other great roads or trails.

Most memorable ride?
They've all been fun. I can't remember one that was worse than the others. That includes getting blown off the road, riding through a hailstorm, or completely misjudging a corner and ending up somewhere I shouldn't have been. They have all been learning experiences. At first, I thought the hail was bugs hitting me until I remembered bugs are not out in the rain.

Involvement with BMW clubs and activities?
Over most of the last four years, I served as Webmaster for The Chain Gang. The course of my life changed forever when on the same day, I was laid off and the wife told me she wanted a divorce. With much less spare time and a new job, I had to give up being the Chain Gang Webmaster.

My dad and I had a great time at the Redmond MOA Rally putting on a tech session for valve adjustments on F650s. We may put on another type of tech session this year. At the past couple of rallies, I've also been judging the stock F650's.

For the past 3 years I’ve organized the "Jail Break in the Clouds" September rally at Queen Wilhelmina State Park on the Arkansas/Oklahoma border. I will continue as long as I own an F650. A few of my other goals include the BMW motorcycling community. I intend to be more active in my local club -- possibly helping organize dinner rides from our own exclusive dealership in Oklahoma City. I plan on attending my favorite club rallies this year like the Natural State Rally and Land of Oz this year and include a few new ones.

A Long range goal being every national rally, Europe, New Zealand & Australia if the opportunity arises.

Dad is great riding partner, but now that I live in the Oklahoma City area and he lives in the Tulsa area, we can't ride together as much as we used to. It would be great to have a riding partner close again like that.

An addendum: Your reporter and Johnathan conferred for an hour. It was an interesting conversation with his Oklahoma/Maryland accent and my Brit/Canadian/Southern accent.

He said he would always have the F650, but down the road he'd like an 1150R bike. He loves the ‘80’s look. We also found out that he also has a hobby more expensive than motorcycles. Johnathan has a degree in music and plays a bassoon. Would you believe you can pay $30,000 to $150,000 for a quality bassoon, plus maintenance? When he mentioned "maintenance" this reporter envisioned him lying underneath it with a crescent wrench in one hand and a torque wrench in the other…then he informed me he doesn’t even own a torque wrench.

He learned (motorcycle) maintenance at his Dad’s side "the farmer’s way", which probably meant fine tuning by ear or feel. But even the best mechanics have bad days. Coming back from Redmond this year, he got 40 miles outside Oklahoma City and threw the chain on his 650 because he had forgotten to tighten the axle nut.

Let’s hear another round of applause for the Anonymous Book. To show just how small the world is, the fellow who responded to Johnathan’s emergency was none other than the brother of someone he’d camped with at the Oz Rally.

Johnathan’s website will be completed by the last week of January and you are all invited to pay a visit. You can view it at: www.jgifford.net