Alphabet Soup

[hansomat]

Alphabet Soup!
I ride a motorcycle, a thing with 2 wheels; a mechanized horse.
Yes, it has a motor and 2 wheels and I like what I ride.
The machine is called a BMW R-1150-GS Adventure. When people ask me what I ride I tell them I ride a BMW. When I believe they know something about bikes I will tell them I ride an Adventure. For experts I will have to add the year 02 so that they get a better picture in their minds of what I ride.
Now let me see: 1) BMW
2) Adventure
3) 02
So to make it easy for most riders and non riders to understand what I ride the bike should be called a “BMW 02 Adventure” That it is made by BMW is for the moment beside the point. Do I really need the R ? R stands for ? Road ? Well, hello, what else would it be made for ? Roadster ? What is a roadster? Wikkipedia lists a roadster as a car. R like in Racing ? Can not be, the GS ( Gelände Straße ) is not a racing bike. So what is the R for ?
Do I really need the 1150 ?
I know that 1150 is close to the cc’s but not really, so why call it 1150?

I just read an article in Backroads magazine ( February 07 ) written by Mike Stackhouse in which he mentions a few bikes he had. A great magazine, by the way.
Ducati 860 GT * BMW R 100/7 * BSA 441 Victor * Ossa Desert Phantom * XS650 Special * SR 500 Yamaha.
He talks about other bikes he is looking at:
02 Triumph Bonneville * ST4 Ducati * K75 BMW * ZX6 Kawasaki * FJR 1200 Yamaha * ZX 12.
Other bikes he mentions in the article are:
BMW F650 * KLR 250 * 67 250 Ducati * 72 450 Ducati * VFR Honda * Kawasaki 650 * KLR 650 * 350Mark 3D * Harley Panhead * Z 750 Kawasaki * Sportster 883 * and finally the word GIVI.
Now if you know all these bikes, wow ! My hat off to you!
But most of us have no clue as to what all these bikes look like. It’s total Alphabet soup!
What is ST ? ZX? VFR? 3D? F? SR? X?
Is X extra ? does it mean X-tra expensive, extra loud, extra what ?
VFR is what ? Very Fast Racing?

I believe it’s nice to know the numbers. 250 cc is small, 1200 is large.
I believe it’s nice to know who makes the bike. Honda is good. Kawasaki is good. Harley is good. ( Do they still need ‘Davidson’? BMW is good, etc.
The year ? Sure a 90’s bike is now considered old.
But yes, add that to the name.
Since all manufacturers come out with new models each year they could give it the number of the year. 07/650
But then BMW now makes a few 650’s for 07, all with X’s
G-650Xcountry
G-650Xchallenge
G-650Xmoto
What is this ? Am I supposed to remember the difference between country, challenge and moto ?
Talking about BMW’s new bikes:
We now have a bunch of 650’s, 800’s and 1200’s.

F800S
R1200S
K1200S
K1200R
F800ST
R1200RT
R1200ST
K1200GT
K1200LT
G650Xcountry
G650Xmoto
R1200R
K1200R
F650GS
F650GS Dakar
G650Xchallenge
R1200GS
R1200GS Adventure
HP-2 Enduro

So basically 3 motors, all tuned differently for Sport, Country, Enduro, Adventure or Challenges.
Well folks, I am challenged here to understand all these models.
And that is only for 2007, forget the models from the past, forget the models of other manufacturers. Never mind what the future will bring.
My mind is on over load with S, K, RT, ST, GT, G, R1, F, HP, LT, X
It’s all Alphabet soup to me !

Besides all of the above I have to remember ATM, PIN, GPS, WiFi, BP and my SS#. Never mind that I now have to remember all kinds of email addresses, too.

Do we have to make naming a bike that complicated? Or is it, that if I confuse the people with enough gibberish they will think I am smart?
Why so many different bikes from one Manufacturer? How many bikes does Honda make this year? How many are really needed? Is it like buying food? For each taste Honda will make a different bike? Today I will eat Japanese, tomorrow maybe German and in the future Chinese?
Its overload…….I am going over the edge with all these choices.

[BubbaZanetti]

i still like letter/number schemes better than names

car names are always terrible: xterra, corolla, lumina, crown victoria.........ugh

bike names too: boulevard, vstrom..........what the heck is a "strom"

to me number and letter designations sound more serious, more down to business.

[RandallIsland]

This could be the start of a moto-poetry thread ... and not a bad one at that ...well, ... maybe...

Richard's post about the Olds he abandoned at the dealer
got me in the mood to write about a doctor
I didn't pay. Yet there is no way,
I have nay the time nor the vision
or present sway to see that project completed,
in all it's finery and gall
about losing a rib when asked
by the doctor if I wanted meds
to which I bellowed with my chest puffed
I'm a man, I'll be fine

So on the bed screaming spread eagled
back muscles writhing
snaking, squirming
wriggling endless ends of eels

a hostage franticly calling
no doctor, not in?!?
no script for the weekend?!?
no.
Than I'll be damned
if he'll ever get payed,
for believing in my puffed chest
earlier today still drugged and free
like a man should feel
fresh out of surgery.

[rinty]

The marque I find confusing is Harley. The model names themselves are easy, but the letter designators are complex. I haven't studied them to see if there is a pattern: I know FX is the Superglides, and FL the big touring bikes, but that's about it.

I think the only confusing thing about BMW's letter / number designators is the inconsistency on how many zeroes follow the displacement. So you have a 100 airhead but an 1100 oiler, instead of a 110 oiler or a 115 oiler. But the rest of it is pretty straight forward: R, F, K, to start and RS, RT, LT, S, ST, and Cl etc., to finish.

The earlier airheads are admittedly a memorization exercise, but that's pleasure for the vintage group.

Rinty

[BubbaZanetti]

But the rest of it is pretty straight forward: R, F, K, to start and RS, RT, LT, S, ST, and Cl etc., to finish.


certainly more straight forward than the / concept, esp considering the "out of sequence-ness" of the /3 /2 thing. i guess when you have more than one basic model (like the /5) designators of intended purpose become necessary.

[crazydrummerdude]

When people ask what kind of motorcycle I have (and I assume they are talking about street-bike), I can see the interest/understanding flee from their eyes

"A nineteen seventy four Bee eMm doubleyou aRe seventy five slash six."

Some people might pick up that I said "1974 BMW," but everyone asked what all that jibberish is. "R 75/6."

"What does the R stand for?"
"Well, it's German; Rad. I think it means wheel."
"What do the numbers stand for?"
"It's roughly 750 cc's, but they just call it a 75. The /6 designates its kind of brakes, starter, speedo, other stuff."

Well, by the end of the conversation, I think they are convinced I drive some crazy 7-wheeled biplane truck.

[RandallIsland]

Like a ghost rider "

.......................RUSH

YEAAAHHH!:rocker :rocker

For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality
Beyond the gilded cage :thumb


.... I had dinner with a rocker acquaintance and some friends, Friday.
Spent the meal giving a history of BMW from the war on, and educating the few with unglazed eyes about the difference between Ks and Rs. IMHO, it's like women (or men, for you hussies out there) ... they're only worth investigating if you are interested IN them. Otherwise, glaze factor kicks in to facilitate eardrum reception.
At best, in polite company.

[rgvilla]

On motorcycles, up the road, they come:
Small, black, as flies hanging in heat, the boys,
Until the distance throws them forth, their hum
Bugles to thunder held by calf and thigh.
In goggles, donned impersonally,
In gleaming jackets trophied with dust,
They strap in doubt-by hiding it robust-
And almost hearing a meaning in their noise.

.........

A minute holds them, who have come to go:
The self defined astride the created will
They burst away;the towns they travel through
Are home for neither bird nor holiness,
For birds and saints complete their purpose.
At worst, one in motion; and at best,
Reaching no absolute, in which to rest,
One is always nearer by not keeping still.
Thomas Gunn "On the move" (1967)

I found this in the book "The Art of the Motorcycle" and read it at my brothers funeral in 2003.

[rinty]

When non riders ask what I ride, I keep it real simple: a BMW. I might add that it's a sport tourer, and that's a sporty bike that's comfortable enough to tour on, but that's all. Most of them are just not interested. They're just making polite inquiries about one of your favourite activities.

There's no point in giving the model number, because it doesn't mean anything to them, and I think most people can't absorb much oral number information.

Rinty