BMW Motor-RAD weekend <- you see what i did there?

BMW Adventure weekend

This one starts like any other bike story. You go for a Coffee at your local on the bike, speak to a bloke you’ve never met before and he offers you a 3 day weekend as a BMW test rider on their new adventure bike. Pretty standard stuff.

The fun started when I met the man behind We Are Explorers, Henry. A well travelled British expat that lives and breathes adventure, such a great energy about this guy! The crew we were with travelled up from Sydney and I was told that The Gold Coast + Byron Bay was our riders playground. As one of 2 locals and the only rider of the group I was tasked with suggestions for the route.

Part of the deal was we needed a female rider, my mate Parker had been kind enough to lend me her bike whenever I was in Sydney so I thought I’d return that favor. We picked up the bikes and went to get a feel for them on the Motosocial Friday night ride out through the hills.

We set out to showcase some of the most scenic areas the Gold Coast has to offer. Tomewin Mountain, Numinbah Valley, Tumbulgum, Hinze Dam, Bilambil were all on the agenda. The furthest reaching run was a sneaky session on the beach south of Byron at Sunrise but the rest was on home turf.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the new small pot BMW R310GS Adventure bike. I’ve never ridden any type of dual sport before, and I’ll admit I didn’t think I was missing much. Once you get over the “I look like my lame uncle that says he’s a biker but rides a 2 wheeled cardigan” pre-conception and take these little things for what they are. They deliver a ton of fun.

Once you get comfortable (which doesn’t take long) you’re riding on a nimble, tight cornering bike you could sit on for 6 hours and not blink an eye. Even if they’re a little underpowered when you’re ringing it out in 3^rd gear around a nice open corner, I’d defy anyone not to smile. From peg to peg on quick switching corners as good as any bike I’ve ever ridden. I was stoked by the end of our weekend on BMW’s LAMS adventure model.

My 2 gripes on these little bikes are as follows:

1: The front dives a little into corners; I guess I put this down to the guys trying to walk a fine line between on and off road capability

2: The bikes top end just needs that liiiiiiitle more to make it comfortable on more open roads and highway runs. It’s a LAMS bike, I don’t know what I expected, but that’s my 2 cents.

If you’re after something fast you aren’t looking here anyway. These Bikes are built as a go anywhere do anything kind of ride and I’m confident that it delivered! Showcasing some of the Gold Coasts most beautiful and varying terrain the R310GS lapped it all up. Tight bitumen cornering, gravel roads, forest trails and some soft sand riding. All in a few days work and all within 2 hours of the Gold Coast. Enjoy the cracker clip that We Are Adventurers turned out! I can’t watch it too much, I just jump on my bike and leave.

these amazing shots were taken by 2 very Talented lads:

Henry Brydon
Gareth Mcguigan

Go give em some love!