Meet Sandra Madden, CAL's featured customer for October 2005

Customer: Sandra Madden
Age: 33
Years Riding: 8 years. 5 years in Germany on a Yamaha XJ600S Diversion, it’s called a Seca II here in the US. Then 2 years on a Suzuki SV650S in California and now on my new BMW after a 9 month leave to have a baby.

What do you ride?
A BMW F650 CS and a bicycle.
We sold my old motorcycle when I was 4 months pregnant because I couldn't ride it comfortably anymore, but we had already decided that after the baby arrives I would need a new one so that I can continue to commute to work. Somehow we never came around to replacing the old motorcycle until the last minute. It was clear all the time that I wanted an F650 CS; that decision was made a while ago on the ride in Australia and a subsequent test ride on a CS model here in California.

The pregnancy books all say that shortly before labor starts you get the urge to 'clean up'. For me it was not so much cleaning up the house, but straightening up my affairs, that meant finally buying the motorcycle. On the Thursday before labor started I started hunting my dream bike seriously. Friday morning the water broke and Friday lunchtime we finally bought the motorcycle at Cal-BMW. The contractions had already started, but they were so mild that I didn't mind going 'shopping'. My husband wanted to pick the F650 up in the afternoon, but at that stage my contractions were already too advanced and we had to go to the hospital instead. Our daughter Sarah Elisabeth was born Saturday morning, half an hour after midnight.

Modifications to motorcycle
The backpack & helmet spider for the storage compartment. The navigation system might come later.

Motorcycles currently owned
A 2005 BMW F650 CS and 2002 Triumph Sprint ST (well, the Sprint is my husband’s, but I own it, too).

My favorite bike is
My bike. Because it’s absolutely easy to control, tight corners are a lot of fun and it looks great in Ginster Yellow Metallic. Not to forget the storage compartment, it can hold all the little things you need to have with you.

Dream bike
The BMW F650CS with a switchable engine. The one cylinder it has for city cruising and the two cylinder engine of the Suzuki SV650S, for highway cruising. Can’t someone invent that?

The best ride I ever took was
A ride through the Dandenong Ranges in Australia on a BMW F650 GS. That was the one that got me hooked on the BMW F-Series. The ranges are full of beautiful fern-tree forests and long curvy roads with almost no traffic. They are ideal for cruising with an F650.

Advice for experienced riders
"Get Kevlar jeans, frame sliders, a heated vest and an ice-cube filled Camelbak for touring."