On Sunday morning, SK Mbuga woke up excited. His newly acquired toy had been delivered and he wanted to give it a spin, which he did, only to be surprised by its capabilities as he failed to negotiate a sharp corner near his home in Buziga leading to an accident that left him nursing serious injuries.
SK is no stranger to motorbikes. He owns a couple of solar bikes that he acquired early this year and a Yamaha V-Max motorbike that has a top speed of 220 that he bought after his wedding last year in November. A new one costs $18,000 (about Shs64m).
The new bike that he was riding last Sunday is the BMW R1200GS, and despite being one of the most expensive tour motorcycles is one of BMW’s top-selling models and this is why. It has a staggering 170 horse power. It’s top speed is 130.8 mph. The bike weighs more than the writer of this story and many of you readers. It weighs in at 236kg. It will go from 0-100 in 4 seconds, faster than a rally car like the Subaru N12 that does 0-100 in 6 seconds. A brand new bike goes for a staggering $21,000 (about Shs75,285,000). Only the rich and exclusive can afford that. Rally driver Desh Kananura is another Ugandan that owns one of the exclusive bikes.
Amazing as that is, this bike has had its moments. At the press launch of a new bike in South Africa in 2013, Kevin Ash a Briton who wrote for a number of motor publications and was The Daily Telegraph’s motorcycling correspondent for 15 years got involved in an accident while test-riding the new bike in the rugged landscape around the town of George, Western Cape, in South Africa Town. He died at the scene as reported by Daily Mail.
So for now we can say, SK MBUGA dodged a bullet.
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