Road Trip: ’86 R80RT ‘Airhead’
Due to a guest cancellation at our little AirBnB glamping cabin, I had a five day window with nothing much to do. Because I hadn’t seen my oldest son in two years, I decided to ride my old ’86 BMW Airhead out to Eugene, Oregon for a quick visit. This was NOT a normal ride for me!
Eugene is about 800 miles from Victor, which would mean two 400-mile days to get there, then two 400-mile days coming back, allowing just one day to visit. At 70 years old, riding 1600 miles in four days is NOT my style. I generally like to do short two-night/three-day solo moto-camping trips in and around Idaho, Wyoming & Montana, where each trip might total 400 or 500 miles. I’m not accustomed to doing heads-down 400 mile days–one after another; nor is my butt! So this trip was a big undertaking.
Still, I wanted to see my son, and since I’ve been doing more of my own maintenance of late, I wanted to give the bike (and my maintenance!) a real-world challenge. So with more than just a little apprehension, I put the trip on my calendar for September 15 – 19, 2024.
I rode all two-lane blacktops except for 100 miles around Boise—which I couldn’t avoid. The ‘sweet spot’ for my Airhead is 55 – 60mph, or about 4000rpm, which worked well except for the 100 miles on 4-lanes. With fuel and rest stops, I found I averaged about 50mph, so the 400 miles days equated to about 8 hours in the saddle.
I’ll must be honest and admit that the last quarter of the first day—and the first night!—was hell. I was riding the 100 miles of 4-lane around Boise and couldn’t find anywhere to stop when I needed to rest. Painful! And then later that night I was hit with major leg and foot cramps. More painful, yet! Fortunately, I had brought plenty of Icy Hot. I spent the first night in Ontario, Oregon.
The second day’s ride, via Highways 26 and 20, was fun and beautiful with great roads, very little traffic, and nobody on my 6. That is until I hit some cold rain going over the top in between Burns and Bend, where I had to stop and put on most of the cold weather gear I had packed. But from Bend through Sisters and on to Eugene, it was once again dry and beautiful. The only disappointment was that I couldn’t take the McKenzie Highway (242) cutoff because it was closed due to wildfires.
I spent one day and two nights with my son, Lenny, who is the owner and proprietor of Oregon Whitewater Adventures in Eugene, then loaded up for the return trip. If you’re in Oregon and want some river time, contact Lenny at Oregon Whitewater Adventures.
The first day’s ride on the way back was really quite spectacular. After Sisters, I took 126 to Prineville, then 26 back to Ontario via John Day, Unity, etc. The traffic dropped to nothing at Prineville, the roads all seemed newly paved, the scenery was stunning, and the weather perfect. I again spent the night in Ontario—about half way. The forth day’s ride home was the reverse of the first day: 100 miles of 4-lane (I-84) past Boise, then Hwy 20/26 almost all the way home.
I’ve lived in Teton Valley for going on 45 years, so I know a lot of Idaho is beautiful and great riding. But I can’t say much for the 2-lane stretch across the Snake River Plain. It’s windy, dusty, the traffic is always heavy, the roads are a patchwork of seams and repairs that rattle your teeth on a bike, and the scenery just doesn’t look different the second time you see it. It’s not my favorite ride in Idaho.
All and all, the trip was a success. The bike performed flawlessly, which is more than I can say for its rider. And after the first day, and the super uncomfortable first night, my old body did okay. But that said, the next time I ride to Eugene, it will be part of at least a long two week moto-camping trip. I can’t imagine what motivates the ‘iron butt’ folks to ride 1000 miles in 24 hours–day after day! NO, thank you!
One highlight of this trip was that on the way home my old Airhead turned over 96,000 miles on the clock. If you have any questions or want more information about my routes, just Contact Me, here.
