|
As I stood there, sipping a mildly strong cold coffee, I made the first entry in my imaginary notebook. ‘It’s not my kind of motorcycle, but there’s nothing I don’t like about it’. I liked the silhouette of this big, black motorcycle against the sea and what I liked even more was that a little over an hour ago, I was urging the R 1200 R Classic (R 1200 R, hereafter) to behave very unlike its sophisticated self. An effort it entertained with no reservations. I was surprised, since this bike’s dimensions were hardly suggestive of its inclination to wheelie and conduct itself in a rather rowdy manner. Alright, let’s blame the big-bike rookie (me, who else?) for all the out-of-character performance testing but hey, a Rs 15.5-lakh motorcycle should at least wheelie, no? Viewed in this light, the BMW R 1200 R passes with flying colours.
In my books, styling is not as important as functionality and performance. This explains why I like the way this dimensional monstrosity looks. I like its irreverence towards styling – it’s unconventional yet not an eyesore. I like this, the Classic, a bit more than the regular R 1200 R for its spoke wheels. You can have the Classic in just one paint scheme – black with a white centre-stripe – but I think it would look more purposeful if BMW left the bodywork unpainted, exposing bits of raw metal. You won’t sit yourself on your porch, swooning over the gorgeous lines of this motorcycle, no. If you do, you’ve certainly had a childhood full of heavy objects falling on your head. The R 1200 R would rather you pull on a helmet and set out for a round of ‘Boxer’-twin motorcycling. It’s hard to resist.
MORE ON PAGE 2>>
|
