Dubai to Marbella via the UK (1 of 6)

Prologue

I purchased my 1999 BMW R1100RT new in October 1998 from the BMW dealer in Dubai. Previous to that I had owned two other bikes in Dubai, a Indian Enfield Bullet 500, I owned it a year and that’s how long it took the dealer to get it run properly, enough said. This was followed by a Harley Dyna Convertible. I thought I would try a Harley and picked the model nearest to a conventional bike, ie: decent ground clearance, engine mounting and wheelbase. It was OK for a year, but I got fed up with its poor handling and with driving in a group from bar to bar wearing fancy dress, so when the year ended and registration and insurance was due, I sold it. It now resides in Canada, so it got good deal.

In the meantime I had purchased a scooter for use at home in Spain. Although I am English, I work in Dubai and live in Spain. No, I do not commute each day, I get eight weeks leave a year. I explained to the dealer in Spain that I wanted a lightweight scooter for get me around the town. That is, the ability to hop the curb in order travel along and park easily on pavements (footpaths & sidewalks for some readers), pass unobtrusively through red lights, the wrong way up one streets etc, but also have the ability to get me and a limited amount of camping gear up the local 2000 metre high mountain ranges.

As I hold a full UK motorcycle licence, I wasn’t restricted to 125cc. The dealer sold me the scooter with the biggest engine he had in stock, a Gilera Runner 180cc, a kewl machine that I great pleasure and mobility from, which I still have and use for getting around town shopping etc. Parking a car in the summer in the ‘Costa’ towns is either a problem or expensive.

Incidentally the Spanish bike regulations for visitors or would be residents to Spain, are as follows:

As soon as you reach fourteen you approach your school headmaster, who issues you with a letter stating that you are a responsible kid, which you take to the municipal police station. In return, you get a permit to ride a 49 cc / 49 kph bike without a licence. This suits the kids and the parents.

In Dubai, parents spend a lot of time driving their offspring’s around the town from party to party, friend to friend. However, if we had the 49/49 rule in Dubai, the roads would be littered with dead kids. The UAE is not a user friendly place for bikers, they are fair game for four wheel motorists and in the ‘hit point’ system fall well behind dogs, cats and camels and just above push bikes.

Returning to the Spanish regulations, persons with car driving licences can ride a bike up to 125cc. Bigger than that, a full bike license is required. However, I am deviating.

For two years I enjoyed touring / camping on the scooter and decided I wanted to do a lot more of it, travelling further afield in a bit more comfort. So I studied sales brochures and visited showrooms. I wanted a touring bike, which would handle well on twisty mountain roads and one which I could get serviced easily by a dealer near to my home in Spain. In addition, I needed a bike I could ride in the Middle East for one to two years. The field was narrowed down, to the BMW’s R1100RT, R1100GS, Triumph Trophy and Honda Pan American, Honda Deauville. The Honda’s were no goers as they are not available in Dubai. The RT was the most suited and I went for it. I used it for two years in the Middle East and a few decent runs on it (see my article: UAE to Oman).