Photo: BMW Motorrad
There’s a good chance many of today's young adults have little idea what the words green and mile mean for the history of a very important industry in our world. I’m talking about the 1999 Frank Darabont movie that got four Academy Awards nominations, won no awards, but managed to rock the worlds of some of us to the core.
Based on the Stephen King 1996 novel by the same name, Green Mile tells the story of how death row inmates, especially one gentle giant named John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan), redefine what values and priorities mean for anyone around them, including for guard Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks).
The story takes place in the mid-1930s somewhere in Louisiana, mostly inside the Cold Mountain Penitentiary, so as you can imagine there’s not much going on in terms of car chases, motorcycle stunts, and such. That’s why, as far as we know, no one ever ventured into paying a vehicular tribute to this particular flick. Until now.
Enter the two-wheeled Green Mile, a stock BMW R nineT modified by a German specialist going by the name Motorrad Witzel Sennfeld. It did this in a bid to satisfy BMW Motorrad’s end-of-the-year push to release a number of customized two-wheelers back in December 2022.
The duo’s idea was to create a tribute to the Green Mile movie, and the biggest move they made in this direction was to go for… green paint (to be fair, British Racing Green, perhaps the most famous such hue in existence), offset here and there by touches of white and the mandatory black on the engine block, wheels, and seat.
Created as a dirt bobber machine, the Green Mile is supposed to be a contradiction in terms. Just like Coffey was a giant that could have easily snapped the guards’ necks, but didn't because such an act wasn’t in his nature, the bike too is supposed to look mean, but go easy on its rider.
We’re told “cinematic inspiration was not only implemented with green paint, but also with plenty of technical adaptations,” but we completely fail to see how things like the two packages of Motorrad Option 719 milled parts, or the green decorative stitching on the seat, can be tied to a story taking place in pre-war America, almost a century ago and an ocean and a world away from BMW’s home.
Leaving the Green Mile parallel aside for a minute, I’ll go on and tell you the nineT boasts several other changes to make it stand out from a pack of its regular siblings. They come in the form of RF Biketech fenders at both ends, with integrated turn indicators and lights out back, and a side license plate holder.
Not many modifications were made from a mechanical standpoint, except perhaps for the SP Cobra exhaust system, rocking black ceramic-coated manifolds and slapped over the twin-cylinder four-stroke engine. We also get Continental TKC 80 tires for better handling, but that’s about it.
Now, as a custom bike, the BMW R nineT Green Mile sure is something to look at, and even dream about at night. But most of the time these things are best served with an actual connection to the thing/person they are meant to honor, and that’s not what we have here.
The story takes place in the mid-1930s somewhere in Louisiana, mostly inside the Cold Mountain Penitentiary, so as you can imagine there’s not much going on in terms of car chases, motorcycle stunts, and such. That’s why, as far as we know, no one ever ventured into paying a vehicular tribute to this particular flick. Until now.
Enter the two-wheeled Green Mile, a stock BMW R nineT modified by a German specialist going by the name Motorrad Witzel Sennfeld. It did this in a bid to satisfy BMW Motorrad’s end-of-the-year push to release a number of customized two-wheelers back in December 2022.
The duo’s idea was to create a tribute to the Green Mile movie, and the biggest move they made in this direction was to go for… green paint (to be fair, British Racing Green, perhaps the most famous such hue in existence), offset here and there by touches of white and the mandatory black on the engine block, wheels, and seat.
Created as a dirt bobber machine, the Green Mile is supposed to be a contradiction in terms. Just like Coffey was a giant that could have easily snapped the guards’ necks, but didn't because such an act wasn’t in his nature, the bike too is supposed to look mean, but go easy on its rider.
We’re told “cinematic inspiration was not only implemented with green paint, but also with plenty of technical adaptations,” but we completely fail to see how things like the two packages of Motorrad Option 719 milled parts, or the green decorative stitching on the seat, can be tied to a story taking place in pre-war America, almost a century ago and an ocean and a world away from BMW’s home.
Leaving the Green Mile parallel aside for a minute, I’ll go on and tell you the nineT boasts several other changes to make it stand out from a pack of its regular siblings. They come in the form of RF Biketech fenders at both ends, with integrated turn indicators and lights out back, and a side license plate holder.
Not many modifications were made from a mechanical standpoint, except perhaps for the SP Cobra exhaust system, rocking black ceramic-coated manifolds and slapped over the twin-cylinder four-stroke engine. We also get Continental TKC 80 tires for better handling, but that’s about it.
Now, as a custom bike, the BMW R nineT Green Mile sure is something to look at, and even dream about at night. But most of the time these things are best served with an actual connection to the thing/person they are meant to honor, and that’s not what we have here.
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