Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019

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Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019

15th pictures

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

1/15
The tire test almost fell into the water in spring 2019 due to one or more precisely several falls.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

2/15
The whole story begins on a normal Sunday in Sardinia.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

3/15
Happens. A fall off-road. Unfortunately for a GS without a steel frame on the boxer pipe.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

4/15
Technology to look at. Aha, that’s how Shiftcam works. But it has to be here and now, in the middle of the terrain?

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

5/15
Our screwing philosopher Gabriel gets new boots after this action.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

6/15
While some are working, others are driving again. Somehow wellness too.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

7/15
Calm your nerves I. Make a clever plan after the monster recovery. cheers!

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

8/15
Calm the nerves II. Sven pulls the cable, the stem and takes over the phone service.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

9/15
Hole patched with standard tools. Question: Does everything fit together again??

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

10/15
Our straightening disc clearly says: of course, there is a welding distortion on the edge of the cover.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

11/15
Crash pilot Sebastian (left) is the man for the rough, Gabriel supervises his apprentice.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

12/15
Note: Even in a quickly improvised outdoor workshop, it can be done to the hundredth of an accuracy.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Jorg Lohse

13/15
More beautiful than the original? In any case, absolutely beautifully functional to get the tire test rolling again quickly.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

14/15
Mission in the tire test: make kilometers. Even where the road ends. It always goes on somewhere.

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019
Markus Jahn

15/15
And yet everything was done right again. That we would take the traditional final photo on the west coast of Sardinia with all bikes despite this chaotic Sunday – for a moment we doubted it.

motorcycles

Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019

Behind the scenes: MOTORRAD tire test 2019
What if it all goes wrong?

Tear down thousands of kilometers in a few days and simulate a season in fast motion. This is the MOTORCYCLE tire test. The timing has to be perfect – but what if everything doesn’t go as planned? Improvisation theater in Italy.


Jorg Lohse

03/01/2020

This story is not a first-person story. This story is a commitment to us. And it is proof that we can only achieve top form hand in hand. This Sunday in Sardinia began like every morning of the past few days. Breakfast together in the hotel, framed by teasing, lovingly targeting driver deficits (“Don’t let the front line always tear you down”) or human addictions (“If you didn’t have to smoke all the time, we’d finally do kilometers”) . The test family is on the way. Dad makes the announcements, Mutti ensures combed hair under the helmet and the children are already whining after the first break.

A clear mission

We have been on the road for a good week, exploring Lake Garda and the Apennines. Now Sardinia with the mission to drive our six GSe through difficult terrain. We all know these days when every move goes wrong. The shirt is buttoned incorrectly, the coffee spills onto your trousers, the bus pulls away from you. Nobody suspects that today is one of those tricky days. When rolling in, everyone first has to shake off the morning sluggishness that is stuck in legs, arms and allergies after several days of driving and over 3,000 kilometers. As always, Tourmaster Karsten has a good eye on the troop. Colleague Kaschel once called this very special characteristic of our top tester “viewing the rearview mirror”. Challenge the team, but also slow down again and again in good time. After all, we have a clear mission. To collect solid results for our MOTORCYCLE tire test.


Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019


Jorg Lohse

Happens. A fall in the field. Unfortunately for a GS without a steel frame on the boxer pipe.

In addition, we ride at least six perfectly matched bikes year after year. Together we unwind 24,000 kilometers and more in ten to twelve days of driving. When it comes to logistics, everything has to mesh. Test routes are scheduled, ferry passages are booked. Once the machine is running, it will run. Unstoppable? Of course not. But stopping would mean breaking off. And no story if canceled. We have never stopped, and there have been no accidents in the past ten years. Over 250,000 kilometers! When it comes to the timing, it is statistically unbelievable. Back to Sardinia. Karsten has found a gravel branch that leads into the mountains. A gate blocks access, but the sign with pictograms is clear: Passage is allowed, close the gate, watch out for animals, stay in the lane. The off-road passage is perfect for starting the young day. A light workout to warm up for the terrain.

Driving becomes more demanding

The higher we climb, the more demanding the ride becomes. The thorn-studded path winds like a single trail into the mountains. Until at some point we stand on a high plateau and despite the cloudy sky have a breathtakingly beautiful view over the vastness and emptiness of Sardinia. The photographer lets the drone whir, and in formation we plow the stony fairway up and down to the plateau until the setting fits. Photos chipped, perfect, go on. But where for? The plateau seems to be the end somehow. Turning back? Boring, never drive the trail twice. A beaten path leads into the bushes. Will the boxer ears fit through there? Above all: what is behind it? Yawning emptiness?


Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019


Jorg Lohse

While some are working, others are driving again. Somehow wellness too.

Nearly. We are facing an extremely inclined plane, loose scree, the gradient, well, feasible for a well-trained crosser, but we with the fat GS chunks? We look at each other skeptically. On the other hand: 300 meters further down a path winds through the terrain. Google Maps and Michelin Maps say: Somehow it goes on. We also know that if we bring the carts down here, it’ll be a monster act to bring them back up, if that’s a dead end. But if you don’t dare, you won’t win …

All good things come in threes

We maneuver the boxes down without a rollover. The gravel road is as if freshly plowed, soft as jelly. It gets particularly spongy in the corners. Sebastian booked the tricky day today. Zack, he’s lying on his side with his GS, front wheel slipped away. A quick check – everything on, everything is OK, tap off and drive on. And bang, it’s back on your nose. Same procedure, lucky again. But all good things come in threes. Except that the third time he looks through a fat hole in the valve cover at the brand new Shiftcam control of the 1250 boxer. That is interesting, but far from good.


Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019


Markus Jahn

Crash pilot Sebastian (left) is the man for the rough, Gabriel supervises his apprentice.

We check the hardware: cover down, clean everything meticulously. Okay, there doesn’t seem to have been any further damage to the valve train. But the bike will definitely not be ready to ride until the hole has been patched. A light drizzle sets in. Well, great, fits the mood. Sebastian sits up, I push, Karsten decides. Not with muscle power, with boxer power. So stretch your left leg and press the passenger peg up the path. Without muscle power! Seen from behind, a bizarre scene. Two fat boxers, wedged together, fighting up the mountain, four more who secure them like an escort. But at some point meters become kilometers, then the second follows, and the apex is reached.

Access forbidden

Now just let it roll downwards. However, the gravel is still tricky, and without engine power there is no ABS support. The rain is now pounding with the intensity of a monsoon. Finally the first house appears through the trees: civilization! Only a solid gate behind the very steep and slippery final descent blocks our way there. There is also no passing sideways. A forester eyed the scene suspiciously from inside the house. We break through the window: Unlock? No! You are not allowed to drive into where we are. But we want out. He says no access and points to the sign next to the barrier. But we’re on the other side, just let us out. Drive back where you came from and the window is closed.


Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019


Markus Jahn

Note: Even in a quickly improvised outdoor workshop, it can be done to the hundredth of an accuracy.

Return? Never. no chance. Sven took advantage of the discussion and discovered a small staircase for hikers: But it will be narrow for the boxer’s ears. Anyway, our only chance that actually works. The six of us heave every single bike back onto the road. Thank goodness the forester is no longer seen. Simply leaving the wound GS here at the edge of the forest seems too tricky for us. So let it roll, it’s going downhill right now. If necessary, stop pushing again. The gradient is over quickly, however, and the path goes up again endlessly. Timo and Karsten now dare to go on the asphalt together. The picture from the back of this six-wheeled monster trike is just insane. The incline never ends, and the target location is still more than ten kilometers away, slowly the forces are also dwindling. We’re just not moving fast enough and it will be dark in two hours.

From dive pilot to apprentice

New plan. Sebastian is guarding his bike, we drive ahead into the village. From there it is only downhill to the sea to the hotel, we know the way. In the village we unscrew a valve cover from a GS, which then only has to roll down to the hotel without engine power. One of them drives back to Sebastian with the “replacement cover”, they swap it for the defective one in order to rescue the Sturz-GS from the wasteland under their own power. Kind of a relay race, just different. The plan works, but ice-cold, never-ending rain tears at the reserves. When did we actually take a break today, what ate?


Story: MOTORRAD tire test almost canceled in 2019


Jorg Lohse

Calm your nerves. Make a smart plan after the monster recovery action. cheers!

In the last light of day we roll out in front of the hotel. Quitting time. Beer for the troop who pays the Fall King, and a plan for tomorrow is made. Our landlady Antonia calls her motorcycle mechanic, who of course knows someone who can weld the magnesium cover of the GS. Screwdriver philosopher Gabriel takes over the fine mechanical work, Sebastian is allowed to assist him as an apprentice for the rough. Sven takes over the phone service and tries to organize a replacement cover through BMW. Earliest arrival: by ferry, which will bring us back to the mainland in three days. So this one shot has to be right if we want to finish the test cleanly despite the handicap. Karsten, Timo and the author of these lines are meanwhile moving out as Fieselschweif flags in order to wind further kilometers on the tires. Then we exchange a cover again in order to also move the camber GS evenly on the second voyage.

Conclusion

36 hours after the supposed catastrophe, we clap. The lid was repaired with on-board resources, but still let the test run and still covered a lot of kilometers with all bikes. Tomorrow morning we’ll be back at the breakfast table, teasing, putting on our helmets and driving off. As always with the tire test. Sunday, Monday, on any day …

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