Reader’s Bike: Steve Evans’ HP2

This entry is part 45 of 24 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #3

2006 BMW HP2 Enduro

There’s a couple of questions that just have to be asked when you meet someone who takes an exotic BMW HP2 and then builds it specifically for the Finke Desert Race. The first is, Why an HP2? The model run finished in 2008, so why that particular bike? And then why the Finke?

Steve Evans, a serious HP2 fan (not the kind on the radiator).

“Out here you require a bike that’s a bit more dirt-oriented,” explained Steve, 43, a builder now living in the Northern Territory, “and I love the brand. BMW is the only brand of bike I buy.

“I found this one second-hand in Victoria and it was $5000 more expensive than a new one.”

Okay. So Steve’s a big BMW fan, and there’s no risk the HP2 is one powerful mofo of an off-roader. But with 200,000km or so of dirt tracks crisscrossing the Northern Territory and surrounding deserts, why would anyone choose to take that boxer-barreled ballistic bullet into the maniacal whoop-frenzy of the Finke Desert Race? For a bet, of course.

“In 2009 a friend of mine decided to go in the Finke on a KTM, and he wanted me to give it a try. I said, ‘No, you go ahead. These bikes are too big.’

“Then in 2010 he said, ‘Look. I’ll bet you $2000 you can’t make it to Finke and back on that bike.’ I went, ‘Rightio. I’ll give it a shot.’”

Steve found the challenge a big one, but he’s not one for giving up easily. After training on the bike for a month he had a fairly clear idea of what was needed to get the 200kg bike over the notorious Finke whoops. He went looking around the world for the parts and technology he needed.

“I approached Touratech, Wunderlich…all the major suppliers of parts for BMWs, and nobody back then actually made forks or triple clamps for the front. I found a firm in Italy who was prepared to make a set. I changed the 45mm forks to a 54mm set-up, and I changed the rear suspension to Öhlins. The rear airbag was great on dirt roads, but across these whoops out here it just didn’t have enough to compensate for the weight and power of the bike.”

That was just the start, as you’ll see from the list. In 2012 Steve lined up at Alice on the June long weekend and missed out on the Finke arrival cut-off time by 26 seconds. In 2013 Steve and the HP2 made it 120km down the Finke track in 90 minutes (the total distance is around 227km that must be completed in four hours), when the clutch failed.

An HP2 is exotic when it rolls off the showroom floor. Look closely. This one makes the stocker look like a bodgied-up bucket racer.

We wondered whether the new Wasserboxer might tempt Steve away from the HP2 for something lighter.

“Mate,” he laughed, “If I could afford to buy every HP2 in the country, I would.”

Will he keep trying to finish Finke?

“I’m going to keep doing it until it’s done,” said Steve. “As far as I’ve been able to find out, no bike of 1000cc or over has ever completed Finke. The other thing is, I’m after the top-speed record. In 2012 I was clocked at 233kph during the race.”

The record doesn’t count unless the race is completed.

Geebus! Lawks!

Here’s hoping Steve picks up the $2000 in 2014. He’ll need it to buy clean jocks if he’s going to ride that course at that speed.

We could use a new pair just thinking about it.

Details

• 2006 BMW HP2 Enduro

• Wheels – Woody’s wheels. 18-inch rear.21-inch front, plus new hubs $3800

• Öhlins rear suspension $1600

• Barkbusters $350

• Set of Andy Strapz Expedition Pannierz $800

• Set of Zega hard panniers $1200

• Set of LED blinkers $320