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We were invited along to<br />
Almeria in Spain to sample<br />
the new bikes along with<br />
what seemed like the rest of<br />
the worlds press – and after<br />
3 flights we touched down in<br />
this historic holiday town for<br />
lots of riding.<br />
Sadly, at an event you<br />
don’t get to spend much time<br />
sightseeing and getting to<br />
know a place – but we’ll tell<br />
you this: We need to get back<br />
for a longer visit. The hotel<br />
where we were stationed<br />
is bang on the edge of the<br />
Mediterranean Sea. The city is<br />
not super large but it appears<br />
to be neat, clean and friendly.<br />
Take a short ride out of the<br />
city and you find yourself<br />
in the mountains and for a<br />
motorcyclist – that’s where<br />
the fun starts. Kilometre upon<br />
kilometre of perfect, twisty<br />
roads that carve their way all<br />
over the place.<br />
Motorcycle Nirvana?<br />
No question. If we’d had more<br />
time, we would have stopped<br />
here and there to take it all in.<br />
You ride through tiny villages<br />
that dot the mountains. There<br />
are hundreds of viewpoints<br />
all along the route with info<br />
boards that explain more<br />
about where you are… an<br />
awesome place – even a<br />
scooter would be awesome.<br />
And – people agree with us<br />
because we saw bikes of all<br />
shapes and sizes enjoying the<br />
twisties. A Yamaha Banshee<br />
quad screamed past in the<br />
opposite direction and we<br />
saw a couple of utility quads<br />
trundling along. Three wheel<br />
scooters are very popular and<br />
we saw a few heavily laden<br />
couples enjoying the crisp<br />
winter air.<br />
Upon our arrival we were<br />
hustled along to meet the<br />
teams responsible for the<br />
bikes. It was fascinating to<br />
listen to what actually goes<br />
into building bikes like these<br />
and they had the specialists<br />
– from the guy who designed<br />
the LED lighting system, to<br />
the guy who designed the<br />
TFT display and all of the<br />
connectivity features to share<br />
information and answer any<br />
questions. Also on hand were<br />
the horsepower, brake and<br />
suspension experts – so BMW<br />
really gave us a great idea<br />
about what makes these bikes<br />
tick. We were even graced<br />
with the Big Boss of Motorrad<br />
Dr Markus Schramm who<br />
shared some insights into the<br />
success story that is BMW.<br />
RIDEFAST MAGAZINE MARCH <strong>2020</strong> 73
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