It Lives!

In October of 2004 I attended my first SMOG (Spanish Motorcycle Owners Group) Trail Ride and took the just completed Alpina for its maiden voyage.



Everything was going good until I hit a huge puddle. From there things went downhill fast.



I was able to get the bike running again, by bump-starting it down a hill. What happened after that, thankfully, wasn't captured on video.

Going down a hill with a sweeping right hand turn I decided to tap the rear brake and scrub some speed. However my slow-brain forgot one important fact. The Alpina has the rear brake on the left side and the shifter on the right. Just the opposite of a modern bike. I'm sure you can see where this is going. Anyway I tap the rear brake, actually the shifter, and knock the Alpina into one of its 15 neutrals. Meanwhile I'm still picking up speed. So I stand on the rear brake (shifter), knocking it into the true neutral, and grab the front brake for all it's worth. Suddenly my brain re-programmed itself and my left foot made a wild stab for the rear brake. I missed. So at this point I drop my butt in the seat and try my best Fred Flintstone imitation to stop before shooting off the trail and into the trees. It didn't work. I managed to miss all but one tree, which I clipped with the right side of my bars. Mind you the bike did not have Barkbusters and I ended up fracturing the end of my pinky.

Oh, did I forget to mention that at this point the Alpina only had 3 gears?

Update: July 11, 2010 - After almost a year you'd think it's about time for an update?