Meet Greg Sowle, CAL's featured customer for August 2009

Customer: Greg Sowle
Age: 51
Years riding: 10

What do you ride?
BMW F800GS

Modifications to motorcycle:
Center stand, hand guards, bash plate, engine guard.

Motorcycles currently owned:
BMW F800GS, Honda Trail 90

My favorite bike is (and why):
BMW F800GS because it is a bike that really can do it all, both off-road and on-road. It is not too big and not too small. It has all the power I need with the agility to make riding fun and exciting wherever you go and however far you may go.

Dream bike:
The F800GS is both my dream bike and a realization of that dream. Before I bought the bike I was debating about different models in the BMW dual-sport line. Before purchasing a bike, I had the opportunity to take the BMW Motorcycle Rider Training course at the BMW Performance Driving School in Greer, South Carolina. I took both their two day off-road training course and their one day on-road course. Because I was able to train on both the F650GS and the F800GS, I was able to experience the two bikes in action in a variety of situations. The training both sealed my decision to get the F800GS and motivated me to buy the bike sooner than later.

The best ride I ever took was:
I've just begun riding so I'm looking forward to discovering this in the near future.

Advice for new riders:
Look UP! In both the on-road and off-road BMW training courses, the one thing the instructors drill into you over and over is to "look up", meaning to always keep your eyes looking up and out well ahead of you. When you are off-road, this keeps you balanced at very slow speeds. For on-road, this ensures you are always prepared for what lies ahead and are ready to avoid it if necessary.

Advice for experienced riders:
Practice emergency maneuvers before there is an emergency. In the BMW Motorcycle Rider Training on-road course, most of the training centered around handling emergency situations. One of these was learning how to apply full ABS braking in an emergency. We practiced this on the track at high speeds and learned just how much of an advantage ABS gives the rider in stopping very quickly. We learned how important it is to practice these maneuvers for each bike you ride, since each bike handles differently. Other maneuvers included emergency avoidance at low and high speeds, and different techniques for hard cornering.