Why I bought the Roadrunner

The Roadrunner on the road

This Kalahari-yellow R1100GS is called the RoadRunner, and this favourite bird of me is painted on its tank.

This GS was once crashed, like the R3B, (though this time, I did not crash it myself ;-)

A few days after I had sold the Pink Panther, and had bought the Bimota Mantra, this R1100GS came in at my dealer. The owner did not want to have him back, so I adopted him.
After all, the GS is the ultimate travel bike, and far more versatile than the Mantra.

The RoadRunner happens to be a very good specimen of R11GS (they are really all different!), with lots of torque from below.

Why the name

A Running Roadrrunner

It has kept his beak, but we took off the windshield. The biggest change, of course, is the RoadRunner painted on the tank.

This is not the cartoon version, but the real bird, which I saw in the wild in Texas.

The Roadrunner is the work of Klaartje.

The Roadrunner and me

R1100GS, the perfect motorcycle for traveling

The RoadRunner is a great GS; I even think he accelerates better than the R3B. The strange thing with GSsen is that they're all different. With this one, I relate very well.

It has already taken me (and my son Pieter, who was sometimes on the RoadRunner, and sometimes on the R3B with Ernst) to Northern Spain, to the Vosges in France, and of course to Southern Spain.

It even did some serious off-roading (no, what you see here is NOT serious) in the Picos de Europa, on road tires!

The Roadrunner nowadays

R1100GS, brings you everywhere

In february 2005, I decided to buy an R1200GS. I kept the Roadrunner: it had almost 300.000 km on the clock, so I would not get much for it anyway.

In July 2005, I was onvlolved in a terrible accident, when a car hit me. The R1200GS was total-loss (there is a page about the accident).

I decided not to buy an R1200GS again. I an still not sure, but it will probably be a Derbi Mulhacen. The Roadrunner will serve me for long distances, and sometimes for a vacation. When it will become too old, I can replace it with a second hand R1100GS.

Sadly for sale

The Roadrunner R1100GS, for sale

After my accident, I started riding again. First on the Yamaha Tricker, and then on the Derbi Mulhacen.

I did ride on the Roadrunner several times, but my joints that have become stiffer made it so hard to climb on and off the bike that I just felt too insecure to ride on.

It was a hard decision, but an R1100GS is not made to stand still...: I decided to sell the Roadrunner.

It's an old bike, and it has run almost 300.000 kilometers. During it's life, it has got a new clutch and a new joint of the cardanic axle: those are the only problems that I came across. It 's oil consumation is about neglectable: I think it will run many more kilometers without major problems.