Brand-new BMW R1100GS
New and shiny: the Pink Panther

The Pink Panther was my second R1100GS. It was an anniversary model, or in German: a Jubileumausführung.

We didn't relate: it felt much slower than my first, the gearbox kept giving false neutrals, and the ABS engaged almost every time I braked on a surface that was not like a race circuit.

According to the dealer there was nothing wrong, so I traded it in (for a Bimota Mantra) after half a year.

After my beloved Bumble Bee fell in such a way that the subframe broke and it was declared total-loss, the insurance allowed me to buy a new one. I got a red-and-white 75-anniversary model, which I called the Pink Panther (red and white making pink).

Here the Pink Panther is seen on her first day, shiny and all. She has seen sand and mud since then...

She brought us to Norway and Greece, but somehow, I never related to her as I had done to the BB.

Apart from that, I sometimes felt that the perfect behaviour of the GS had its boring side: the fact that the bike feels secure in every circumstance, also has the effect that it doesn't matter how you ride. On the XT500, everything feels exciting at half the speed (or even much less) of the GS.

Unfortunately, I had lots of problems with this one: The gearbox had to be changed, the shocks at the back had to be changed, the ABS malfunctioned (the pause between two brake periods, when the ABS came in, was much too long, with the result that almost no brakes were applied; this has never been resolved), and somehow, the engine never had as much torque as my old one did. I should have had both on a dynojet or something...

So, at a certain moment, I traded her in for the Bimota Mantra...

 

We did a lot of traveling with the Pink Panther

I don't have any photographs of our trip to Greece anymore, but I do have pictures of our trip to Denmark, as you see here.

This was on a beach in Jutland. There is a beach, in the north, where you really are allowed to ride on the beach, but here, we ignored som written signs in Danish to get here.

 

This photo was taken somewhere in Norway (I don't have a travel report of that trip).

 

It was on that trip in Norway that I found, when we paused, a dead Reed Bunting in its beak :-(

 

The Pink Panther saw some beautiful stretches in Norway, covered with snow and lonely.

 

And on the way back, we rode through Sweden as well.

So you see: the Pink Panther had a good life with us ;-)

 


© Copyright - Author: Sylvia Stuurman , Pictures: Ernst Anepool .
Copyright 1993-now.
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