BMW GS1200 – The ExhaustNotes Blog

Mike and his GS in LA a couple of weeks ago.

There’s no doubt that one of the most popular adventure touring motorcycles is the BMW GS1200, and there’s also no doubt that one of the most interesting guys I’ve met in a long time is Mike Huber, who was the topic of the Exhaust Notes blog a few entries down.

When I first met Mike in Baja last March, the conversation turned to bikes of years past (as it invariably does when folks start talking motorcycles). Mike told me his prior ride was a Ducati, and I commented that going from a baloney-slicer to a Beemer must have been quite a shift in perspective. “Nah, I can do wheelies on both,” Mike said. “I can carry a lot more gear on the BMW, though.”

Here’s Mike’s take on the reason why he made the move, along with several stunning photos…

I loved my Ducati M1100 Monster. I drove it from Maine to Seattle, camped on it, wheelied it across the Golden Gate Bridge, loved that the roar of the exhaust set off car alarms, and loved that the clack-clack-clack of the dry clutch sounded like…well, like a WWII airplane preparing for battle.

To me the Ducati Monster M1100 was everything that a motorcycle should be! The only thing that bike wasn’t fit for was the journey I was about to take. My idea was to leave Seattle and travel the country on my motorcycle with a high-level plan of camping in National Forests, visiting National Parks, and continuing to excel within my career.

I work as a project manager, remotely. I am fortunate enough to control my geographic location. I have always made it a point to maximize that strength. In the past I have traveled through Canada, Central America, and South America without anyone knowing I had even left Boston. I find this travel lifestyle improves my day-to-day work as I stay extremely happy. I use travel as a way to remain motivated and work with improved efficiency.

As the weather broke in Seattle in May and the sun shined brightly for the first time in 5 months, I loaded the moto with all my gear and gazed upon my packing job. The packing list was as minimal as possible, yet the bike looked as if it was something from the old Sanford and Son television show. My gear was just too much for this journey on the Ducati.

I had to make a difficult but much-needed decision. That day I traded the Monster in for a BMW GS1200.

A close encounter of the Ducati kind…at Devils Tower National Park, Wyoming!

Sleepless in Seattle, or just another Ducati day on the road…

Mike, thanks very much for your guest blog and thanks for these outstanding photos! Like I said earlier, when I grow up I want to be just like you!

On my last trip through Baja while riding with a dozen guys on RX3s, we stopped for fuel in Catavina while headed south. That’s on the long stretch between El Rosario and Guerrero Negro, where the distance between Pemex stations is over 200 miles. Catavina is a tiny town in a beautiful boulder field (in fact, it’s the area depicted in the lead photo on the ExhaustNotes Baja page). The locals sell fuel out of gas cans in Catavina, and on a motorcycle, you have to stop here to top off. The boulder fields through this region are dramatic, almost other-worldly. You can get a bit of a feel for the area from this photo…

Baja’s Catavina boulder fields. This is some of the most dramatic scenery on the planet!

Anyway, we had stopped for fuel in Catavina when I noticed a guy on an adventure bike amongst our guys. What grabbed my attention is that I didn’t recognize him. It felt weird, because this was our second day on the road, and I thought I was losing it. Usually by the middle of the first day on these group rides I know everybody who’s riding with us. Incidentally, if you want to know what it’s like organizing one of those tours, there’s a story on that topic appearing in ADVMoto this week (you can read it here).

Anyway, I looked at this new guy and then I realized his bike wasn’t an RX3; it was a BMW GS1200. I was just about to razz him a bit about that, and then I saw the jump wings on his bike’s top case. You don’t get US Army jump wings out of a Cracker Jack box, so I knew right away this guy was not going to be your typical adventure rider. No one who rides a motorcycle in Baja is a “typical” anything, but I knew this gentleman was going to be something special.

I asked the guy if he was a paratrooper, the answer was yes, and over the next roughly thousand Baja miles I got to knew Mike Huber well. He rode with us for several days and all of us thoroughly enjoyed his company. As it turns out, Mike is not your everyday former US Army paratrooper (as if there ever could be such a thing); he’s a serious rider with a very cool lifestyle (more on that in a second).

Mike and I became good friends, and when he was in town a couple of weeks ago, Sue and I met him for lunch at La Casita Mexicana in Bell (just south of LA). If you’ve never dined there, trust me on this, you need to make the trip. It’s an award-winning restaurant with a unique cuisine that I learned about from Steve and Maureen at CSC, and to be blunt, it’s the finest Mexican food I’ve ever had. But I digress…back to Mike…

Lunch with Mike at La Casita Mexicana. Those enchiladas sure look good!

Mike is anything but a stereotypical guy. Nope, he’s the real deal. Mike’s has been living on his motorcycle and traveling North America (and a bit of Central America) for the last year, and he just published a story about his lifestyle in Intravel Magazine. It’s a great read, and you can see it here.

Well done, Mike! Ride safe and keep us posted on your travels!