German tire manufacturer Metzeler originally produced plastic and rubber products. Founded in 1863, the company expanded like its peers into aviation, automobile and motorcycle tires. World World II saw the factory destroyed, and after rebuilding and refocusing over time, motorcycle tires became its primary focus before getting acquired by Pirelli & C. S.p.A. in 1986.

Today, Metzeler tires come stock on several production bikes, including the 2024 BMW R 1300 GS. To highlight the new bike’s performance capabilities beyond the typical media launch in Spain or southern California’s desert terrain, Metzeler and BMW Motorrad organized an expedition in Chile to prove how serious the two German companies are about performance under extreme circumstances.

Today is the twelfth anniversary of the day Apple co-founder and figurehead Steve Jobs passed away, age 56. Thirty years prior, he was photographed riding his 1966 BMW R 60/2 near the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, just a few miles south of our home in Mountain View. What he accomplished in those 30 years was nothing short of miraculous.

I ride my bicycle through Los Altos several times a week, passing the Alto Mesa Memorial Park where he’s buried, which recently reminded me of a chance ride I had with Jobs associate and friend John Doerr two months after Jobs died.

They say music turns hard life into poetry, so what does that say about motorcycle design? Where do metal, rubber, gas, melody, and emotion intersect in the face of a century of world wars, financial collapse, transportation, and economic growth?

According to the International Council of Design, regardless of the application, designers follow methodology and a set of fundamental notions, which inform their approach. Designers also strive to ‘do more with less,’ and they maximize economy (of materials, of investment, of energy, etc.) through creativity and ingenuity.

As BMW Motorrad celebrates 100 years in 2023, the sweet spot for the German manufacturer seems to be its popular R nineT, R 1250 GS, S 1000 RR, and R 1250 RT models. Going the distance has been the company’s unofficial motto, it seems, with thousands of customers enjoying the scenery on long trips off-road and on for decades.

So it’s somewhat curious to see the manufacturer enter into the politically-charged EV market, not with a lithe urban marauder dripping with Bauhaus sensibility, but a hefty science experiment reeking of interdepartmental confusion called the CE 04.