BMW Owners News March 2018

BMW OWNERS NEWS – A PUBLICATION OF THE BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA

MARCH 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS www.bmwmoa.org

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Inside features

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the best of europe

By Christopher P. Baker #126077 Though the yellow warning sign cautioned them to slow down, the riders on this nine-day Edelweiss tour through Europe interpreted them to read Fun Ahead!

battlefield memorial workers rally

By Sam Booth #44259 BMW riders join together for a weekend rally of camaraderie and service while donating their time to Gettysburg National Military Park during the BMW Battlefield Memorial Workers Rally.

on a mission to the mission

By Lisa Morris #205543 Riding through desert sand will make most riders nervous. For Lisa Morris, the very thought of sand sends cold shivers down her spine. Despite her anxiety, Lisa took on Baja to finally conquer her fears...

ON THE COVER: A n Illinois sun sets behind a 1974 R 90 S, beautifully restored by Chris Canterbury and the latest motorcycle to be raffled by the BMW MOA Foundation. Visit bmwmoaf.org for more information. Photo by Bill Wiegand #180584

The BMW MOA and MOATM are trademarks of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America.

the club 4 Owners News Contributors 8 Headlight Feeling Lucky?, by Bill Wiegand 10 President's Column March Madness, by Wes Fitzer 12 Postcards from the Road 14 Rider to Rider Letters from our Members 16 Shiny Side Up The Chinese Connection, by Ron Davis Member tested/ product news 18 – BMW Motorrad Navigator VI

– S100 Motorcycle Cleaning Products – Quad Lock phone mount – MotoPressor Mini Pump

28 BMW Returns to Daytona, Metzeler Karoo Street, Shoei’s new

Neotec II, IC Nearview Glasses from Rocky Creek Designs, Fire and Ice for your RT from Corbin, Make plans to meet your friends at Americade, John “Dutch” Lammers receives Knöchlein BMW Classic award

tech 32 Keep ‘em Flying Hitting the Road to Florida,

skills 60 Backcountry Wanderings Terrain Traps and How to Avoid Them, by Paul Guillien

66 From the Foundation Win a Piece of History,

by Ted Moyer

lifestyle 68 Mileage Slaves The Throwback Rider, by David Cwi 72 2016 Annual Mileage Contest Results 80 Jack the Riepe Der Motorradflüsterer, by Jack Riepe BMW MOA RALLY 84 – Volunteer at the Rally

– Iowa's Great River Road Scenic Byway – Field of Dreams Movie Site – By the Numbers

events 88 When and Where Places to Go and Things to Do 95 Advertiser Index 96 Talelight

by Matthew Parkhouse

Photo by Carlos Aguilar #212797

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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the club

CONTRIBUTORS 1. Paul Guillien saved up his paper route money for a Honda XR100 as a kid but his parents said "no way.” Refusing to give up on his moto dreams, he ended up in the motorcycle industry and currently serves as CEO at Touratech-USA. He’s also a co-founder of the nonprofit organization, Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR), where he encourages riders to explore remote places on adventure motorcycles. When not on two wheels, he loves to spend time outside with his family skiing, paddling and exploring quiet places by sailboat.

2. Born and bred in Great Britain, Lisa Morris has sunken into various continents over the last two decades instructing and co-running scuba diving trips around the watery globe with her partner, Jason Spafford. Currently the two are wending their way around the world on two wheels. Follow their adventures at twowheelednomad.com

3. Dan Townsley has been riding since he acquired his first new bike, a 1969 Royal Enfield 750 Interceptor, and since that time many motorcycles have passed through the garage. For the past 25 years those bikes have only been BMW’s, most with thousands of miles on them from around the world travel. As a retired Engineer with very early roots in computers and navigation technologies, GPS devices and related software are passions that continues today.

4. Dancin’ Dave Cwi is a Life Member of the MOA as well as a Premier Member of the Iron Butt Association. He's owned every series of BMW motorcycle from the /2 to the modern RT, and has burned out his wife, who once loved motorcycling but sold her bikes after two trips with Dave. He pays for his riding addiction via marketing stints, including work in Power Sports. You will see him down the road.

5. Matt Parkhouse acquired his first BMW in 1972, upon his return from Vietnam. He hired on at Doc's BMW of Colorado Springs in 1977. Since then, his life has been a mixture of travel (U.S., Mexico, Europe and North Africa), owning/working in various shops, working as a nurse, and being very involved in his local community. He has owned around fifteen airhead BMWs over the years, but his first bike, a 1972 R75/5, is parked by the front door with 423,000 miles on the odometer.

6. A writer of limited ability, Jack Riepe is confined by the absolute truth. Hobbled by arthritis, he types his stories by pounding a shot glass on a keyboard—with his foot, and rumors that he is in the Brazilian Witness Protection Program are only partially true. If you like his column, you’ll love his book, “Conversations With A Motorcycle,” an autobiographical account of his early years on a motorcycle, when women unleashed their passion—on everyone but him. Email jack.riepe@gmail.com for more information.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

The Right Address For Your Bike. bobsbmw.com

2018 BMW R 1200 GSA

BMW MOA Member Discount

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Top of the World A rider on a Beach's Motorcycle Adventures tour in Europe stands on his pegs as he approaches a precarious end of the trail.

Photo by Gretchen Beach #199100

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BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

March 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

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headlight Magazine of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America MANAGING EDITOR

Bill Wiegand bill@bmwmoa.org

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Ron Davis • Wes Fleming • Joe Tatulli ART DIRECTOR

Karin Halker karin@bmwmoa.org CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

David Cwi • Marven Ewen • Deb Gasque Lee Parks • Matthew Parkhouse Jack Riepe • Shawn Thomas ADVERTISING

Advertising materials, including chartered club rally display advertising, should be sent to our Advertising Office. Please contact Chris Hughes for display rates, sizes and terms.

Chris Hughes chris@bmwmoa.org 509-921-2713 (p) 509-921-2713 (f ) BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA

640 S. Main Street, Ste. 201 Greenville, SC 29601 864-438-0962 (p) 864-250-0038 (f )

Submissions should be sent to the BMW MOA office or editor@bmwmoa.org. Submissions accepted only from current members of the BMW MOA and assume granting of first serial publication rights within and on the BMW MOA website and use in any future compendium of articles. No payments will be made and submissions will not be returned. The BMW MOA reserves the right to refuse, edit or modify submissions.

Opinions and positions stated in materials/articles herein are those of the authors and not by the fact of publication necessarily those of BMW MOA; publication of advertising material is not an endorsement by BMW MOA of the advertised product or service. The material is presented as information for the reader. BMW MOA does not perform independent research on submitted articles or advertising.

Change of address notification and membership inquiries should be made to the BMW MOA office or membership@bmwmoa.org. BMW MOA membership is $49/yr. and includes the BMW Owners News, which is not available separately. Each additional family member is $19 without a subscription.

Canadian members add $16 for postal surcharge.

The BMW MOA and MOA™ are trademarks of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America.

OUR MISSION To foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

Feeling lucky?

By Bill Wiegand #180584 IT WAS OCTOBER WHEN THE SEMI ROLLED UP IN FRONT OF MY

house. I knew it was coming. I didn't realize how beautiful the bike inside was going to be.

Seeing that R 90 S as it rolled off the truck was like stepping into a time machine and transported back to 1974. Everything about the bike was perfect. The only thing that wasn’t perfect was that it wasn't mine. I had only volunteered storage space in my garage until it found a permanent home with the winner of the MOA Foundation’s spring raffle.

There have been a couple of photographs of the bike scattered about in the pages of recent issues of Owners News and if you'd like to see a few more, visit the MOA Foundation web page at www.bmwmoaf.org. Sadly, none of the photos can do it the justice it deserves. To read how this bike was chosen for the Foundation raffle, go to page 66 for a complete story.

While it's been exciting to serve as the caretaker of the bike, it's been nerve-wracking and frustrating as well.

My excitement stems from the simple fact that this is a 1974 R 90 S! The bike Ian Falloon described in his book, The Complete Book of BMW Motorcycles, by saying "for the first time in the history of BMW's production motorcycles, the performance was comparable to that of any motorcycle produced in Japan, Italy, or England. The R 90 S was the first BMW Superbike, and with it, BMW's image of conservatism was squashed."

After its release, the R 90 S was an immediate hit with the public and in many ways was an early, factory-built café racer. It didn't take long for Butler & Smith, the US importer of BMW motorcycles, to realize the R 90 S was perfect for the AMA Superbike production-based race class set to begin in 1976.

They were right. At the first race at Daytona in '76, Steve McLaughlin and Reg Pridmore finished first and second with Pridmore going on to win the series championship later that year – an impressive accomplishment for BMW! The nerve-wracking part of watching over this beautiful machine was from the anxiety I felt worried that something bad was going to happen. Something as simple as a box falling off a nearby shelf could have monumental consequences. The frustrating part of storing it was that I couldn't ride it for fear of something terrible happening.

So, how do motorcyclists spend their time when the cold and snow of winter keep them off the roads? If they're like me, they sit on the bikes in their garages and dream of warmer days and twisting roads. In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that I believe the seat is now sufficiently broken in.

After months of seeing the R 90 S every day, the photographer in me finally couldn’t take it any longer. I had to photograph it, but where?

With Judy's help, we pushed the bike into the bed of my pickup, and I began driving. While central Illinois scenery leaves a lot to be desired even in the best of times, in the middle of winter it's downright depressing with grey everywhere.

After finally finding a suitable location, I unloaded the bike, crossed my cold fingers and waited for that magic light just before sunset.

Finally capturing what I thought would be the best images I could and with dark clouds rolling in, I packed my gear and prepared to head home. Just then, I turned to see one of the most stunning Illinois sunsets I'd witnessed in quite a while. I couldn’t get my gear out quickly enough and was able to get off a few frames before the light was gone. I think I got lucky and was able to find a frame for this month's cover.

Right now, the bike is at Gateway BMW in St. Louis being serviced one last time before moving on to its new owner. Unfortunately, that can't be me. But with a single ticket, it could be you! Are you feeling lucky?

www.weisertechnik.com

PRESIDENTSCOLUMN

March Madness BMW MOA OFFICERS

Wes Fitzer, President 918-441-2114; wes.fitzer@bmwmoa.org Jean Excell, Vice President 719-650-6215; jean.excell@bmwmoa.org Reece Mullins, Secretary 334-470-7770; reece.mullins@bmwmoa.org Sam Garst, Treasurer 414-704-7767; sam.garst@bmwmoa.org BMW MOA DIRECTORS

Deb Lower 719-510-9452; deb.lower@bmwmoa.org Tracy McCarty 913-238-3182; tracy.mccarty@bmwmoa.org Marc Souliere 613-828-1798; marc.souliere@bmwmoa.org Roger Trendowski 732-671-0514; roger.trendowski@bmwmoa.org Chad Warner 614-735-8558; chad.warner@bmwmoa.org BMW MOA VOLUNTEER STAFF

Steve Brunner, Mileage Contest Coordinator 910-822-4369; steveb@bmwmoa.org Jim Heberling, High Mileage Coordinator 309-530-1951; jheberling@bmwmoa.org Sue Rihn, Ambassador Liaison 262-424-2617; sue@beemerhill.com Lee Woodring, Consumer Liaison 770-331-2419; lee.woodring@bmwmoa.org Joe Leung, Consumer Liaison 403-689-9939; joe.leung@bmwmoa.org Brian Hinton, 2018 BMW MOA Rally Chair 2018rallychair@bmwmoa.org BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA

640 640 S. Main Street, Ste. 201 Greenville, SC 29601

Robert C. Aldridge, Executive Director bob@bmwmoa.org Ted Moyer, Associate Executive Director tedm@bmwmoa.org Bill Wiegand, BMW Owners News Managing Editor bill@bmwmoa.org Karin Halker, Art Director karin@bmwmoa.org Ray Tubbs, Digital Marketing Manager ray@bmwmoa.org Wes Fleming, Associate Editor Digital wfleming@bmwmoa.org Lesa Howard, Membership Services lesa@bmwmoa.org Shannon Bossana, Membership Services shannon@bmwmoa.org

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

By Wes Fitzer #170126 MARCH MADNESS MEANS DIFFERENT THINGS TO EACH OF US,

but is most closely associated with the annual college basketball tournament usually running from mid-March to early April.

According to news reports, American companies lose an estimated two billion dollars each year to unproductive workers spending company time working on their brackets and office pools instead of their work. Similarly, I wonder what that number would grow to if they included pent-up motorcyclists suffering through another long winter while patiently waiting for the new riding season to begin. Three billion? Ten billion?

Interestingly, vasectomies increase by almost 50 percent during the first week of March Madness. Please remind me to not let my wife schedule any doctor’s appointments for me during that time.

In my research of significant and interesting events of March, I found many others. On March 1, 2007, 170 Swiss infantrymen accidentally invaded neighboring Lichtenstein when they got lost during a training mission. If I had to guess, I’d bet they were using a GPS. Personally, I have never been as lost as I have when using my GPS! On March 1, 2016, astronaut Scott Kelly returned to earth after spending nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. Wow! An entire year without riding a motorcycle.

If I were Kelly, I would have taken a toy BMW R 1200 GSA and sat on it for 90 minutes.

Because the space station orbits the earth every 90 minutes or about 16 times per day, if someone were to sit on the GSA for 90 minutes they'd have indeed set a record for riding a motorcycle around the earth in the shortest amount of time. Impressive!

While most people think of Cinco de Mayo and March 5 as the beginning of a 12-day period to get their livers ready for Saint Patrick’s day on March 17, few know the reason for the party. Cinco De Mayo is observed to commemorate the Mexican Army's unlikely victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Following Cinco de Mayo on March 11, daylight saving time begins. Thank goodness; finally, I won’t be returning home from work each day in the dark. I hate getting home from work when it’s already dark.

I’ve written several times about my difficulties with upper-level mathematics, much to the chagrin of my father. March 14 is the day of Pi jokes. 3.14159265359... anyone? How about a day of riding motorcycles for pie? Regardless of whether it’s apple, cherry, key lime or rhubarb, that’s another event I could really get behind.

Another famous date, or infamous depending on your viewpoint, March 17 brings us St. Patrick’s Day and celebrates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Getting away from religion and politics, the 17th also commemorates the day in 1973 when Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side of The Moon first hit the Billboard’s Top 200 and debuted at number 95. Dark Side of the Moon remained on the Billboard Top 200 for the next 14 years—a record to this day.

Despite all of these other significant dates each March brings, the one with of most importance to me is March 1, because I live far enough south and every March has more rideable days than days with my bike stuck in the garage, I have always declared March 1 as the official beginning of my riding season.

Who’s with me?

Wes

Fitzer

www.progressive.com

Postcardsfromtheroad

1

2 4

3 1. Taking

a break in the Badlands of South Dakota while on our way to Alaska.

David Hrenchir #121136 Plant City, Florida 2. Traversing

Beartooth Pass last June on my K 1200 LT. It was snowing when we got to the top.

Roger Barker #205183 Bay City, Texas

3. A 70th birthday ride included a loop around Arizona’s west coast and a stop at the Oatman Hotel in Oatman, Arizona.

Deryle Mehrten #58537 Sierra Vista, Arizona 4. A n image captured last spring near Tofield, Alberta, while visiting friends.

Jason Crawford #204740 Edmonton, Alberta

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5. T he Olde Corner Deli in Mayville, New York, taken during our annual bike trip to visit kids and family.

Gary Smith #205205 Sarasota, Florida 6. Lake Meredith, Texas, north of Amarillo.

Michael Brown #45061 Lubbock, Texas

7. A photograph taken near Courtright Reservoir in Fresno County, California.

Stephen R. Bauman #154804 Clovis, California 8. Priddy’s

County Store in Danbury, North Carolina, photographed while out on a Sunday ride.

Shawn Pierson #166035 Madison, North Carolina

Each month we publish great images sent in by BMW MOA members captured as they tour the globe. Send us your best images and you could have your work published in our Postcards from the Road pages as well. Email your high resolution images, image description and contact information to editor@bmwmoa.org.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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t

t

RIDERTORIDER Send your letters and comments to: editor@bmwmoa.org

Know the signs

I had an educational experience, two actually, while on a Saturday ride in the Santa Cruz Mountains near the famed Alice’s Restaurant.

We came upon an almost new big Indian Chief with a husband and wife, who should have been riding, but weren’t.

They were stranded in a cell phone dead zone but had placed their helmets on the ground adjacent their ride. I recognized the “distress signal” while my riding partners did not. We turned back.

We were told the couple had stopped for deer and shutdown to watch, but couldn’t re-start. They pushed and rolled the bike to where they were found. We were told lots of riders “flew by” and gave a wave, but didn’t recognize the distress signal of the helmet on the ground. That was lesson number one.

Apparently, the big Indian had all the electronic gismos, including keyless starting, and when the owner pushed the key fob to energize the electrics, he realized the key fob’s battery was dead. Lesson number two is to always carry a spare fob battery. With the rider’s wife, we headed out to find a replacement battery. While we were gone, the owner of the Indian took apart his garage door opener and stole that battery. It was a perfect match.

BMW. First, when redesigning the gas tank, why did you make it smaller instead of adding a gallon? Second, when do we get an F 850 GT? John Carpino #168046 Unionville, Connecticut

Dangerous states

The December issue of Owners News had an article by Lee Parks about the most (and least) dangerous states for riding. I found it interesting and paid particular attention to the weighting applied to evaluating the numbers.

I also recently read an article that identified the states with the most and least motorcycle thefts. In neither of those articles was there mention of the numbers days a year available to ride. One would logically assume that in areas where people are riding more of the year their exposure to risk increases.

Likewise, if motorcycles are out more days a year, they will be more vulnerable to theft. In order to give meaning to those reports I think that location and weather should be factored in. If not, it should be mentioned that those factors were not considered but would logically affect the numbers.

Chris Weld #1671 Pacifica, California

Psyched for the new bikes

I was thrilled to see the article in the December issue regarding the redesigned 750 and 850 GS models. I can't wait to try one out.

In videos of the new bikes, there is clearly a new sound and no longer that of a sewing machine. The early reviews say that this motor is made in China. I'm sure the quality is fine, but I'm a little disappointed. I have just two questions for

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

Kevin Cole #158695 Placerville, California

Thanks, Brook!

Admittedly, I was very much looking forward to reading Brook Reams three-part series on his rebuilding a first year R 100 RS. He's quite the technician and is ready and willing to share his knowledge on rebuilds, especially through the forum.

I remember reading the email he sent, looking for a helping hand for transport out to the 40th anniversary rally in Harleysville, Pennsylvania. As I read it I

thought, what if it was me that was stranded?

I know the BMW MOA faithful would come to my aid, and I know that's what the Anonymous book was created for.

After all, BMW MOA's mission statement is to foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts.

I didn't hesitate for a minute to reach out to Brook. I am very happy I did. I don't think there were five minutes of dead time in our conversation during the fivehour trip east. My '78 R 100 RS Motorsport was privileged to have the company of Gonzo by its side strapped down in the van. I was privileged to sit at the driver’s wheel in Brook's company, listening to his stories and philosophizing. A wonderful time.

Thank you, Brook!

Scott Mercer #207067 Beaver, Pennsylvania

Tell me about George

While reading the January issue of Owners News, I came across the article from Wes Fleming titled “All I Needed was a Clutch” where he mentions George Mangicaro of Beemers Uber Alles.

George is definitely considered a treasure around these parts. Everyone I talk to has a story about his kind nature and willingness to help someone. My story regarding George took place a couple years back when I was in the market to upgrade to my next bike.

Before meeting George, I had been commuting roughly 70 miles year-round for more than 10 years aboard a 750 Shadow and two VTX 1800s. I finally got tired of not having locking bags, no real ABS or heated grips.

Searching the internet, I finally narrowed it down to two BMW models, the RT and the GS Adventure, and began to

email several people. George was the only one who answered all my emails and questions. Now mind you he is not in the business of selling motorcycles, and I did highlight that I would plan on doing my own maintenance somewhere down the road.

Fast forward to today, I decided on a GSA and have ridden nearly 20,000 on it since 2016. I run into people all the time up and down the east coast from Pennsylvania to Tennessee that know of George.

It is funny, it is usually at a gas stop and the conversation starts with my bike and then moves to people asking where I am from. More often than not, they’ll say, "Hey do you know George?" Then they’ll tell me a story on how they know him or how he fixed their bikes and offered advice. Some do mention his Q&A section in Owners News.

Since it is winter now, and frankly there is fewer and fewer of us able to ride, why not a two or three-page article on him?

Cheers.

David Stroud #210229 Bristow, Virginia

Iowa, really!

I am an Iowan. I love Iowa. But when I heard that the 2018 MOA National Rally was going to be in Des Moines, my reaction was "You have to be kidding!"

I attended Iowa State University, which is only 30 miles north of Des Moines, for four years, and there are no hills or curves, just roads every mile with ninety degree intersections. But I have had time to think about it, and I have changed my mind.

We are an agricultural state and proud of our heritage and place in the world economy. So as you ride to Des Moines, get off of I-80 and I-35, and as you drive through the miles and miles of corn and soybeans and smell the odors associated with livestock production, you should marvel at the amount of food produced

by Iowa farmers.

Stop in the small towns and buy gas and eat at the Mom and Pop restaurants and experience the friendliness of our people. Iowa is not just a place, it is an experience. Once at the rally, enjoy the fairgrounds, visit the living history farms, ride down to Madison County to visit the

covered bridges and birth place of John Wayne. I’m sure the tourist bureau will have other suggestions.

If at all possible, you need to visit northeast Iowa. That is where you will find the hills and curves in Iowa. Ride the Great River Road, explore cities like Dubuque and Decorah or take a boat ride on the Mississippi from Dubuque, McGregor, or Harper's Ferry.

If you are coming to Ride Iowa, think northeast Iowa. The rally will be what you make it. Let’s make it GREAT! Dale Brandt #39828 Garnavillo, Iowa

Chuck's eclipse

The article in the December 2017 issue of Owners News, “When Life Gets in the Way"

by Ken Frick, was of interest to me. I read an article in a 2013 Rider magazine about Chuck’s condition and his desire to see a total solar eclipse. I tacked that article on a corkboard in my garage with a “To Do in 2017” note on it.

That inspired me to make my way to Makanda, Illinois, on August 21, 2017.

Thanks to the generosity of a fellow BMW MOA member who lives there, I got to witness a total eclipse of the sun on an abandoned golf course. It was awesome!

When I got back to Ohio I wrote Rider magazine and told them how the 2013 article inspired me and asked if Chuck got to see it. The editor emailed back that Chuck did get to see a partial solar eclipse.

I didn't know he was from Ohio. There are really nice roads south of there with Route 555 being one of my favorites.

If I see a white Can-Am Spyder in the area, I'll know who it is. My gut feeling is that Chuck will get to see the next total eclipse in 2024.

Leroy Kessler #126284 Conover, Ohio

Thank you Marcia!

Sometimes I don't read my BMW Owners News in a timely fashion. The cause has many influencers, but is mostly due to the fact that I want to have a block of time long enough that I can read it cover to cover in one sitting. I do read almost all of

the magazine including ads as one never knows what one might learn.

I want to thank Marcia McGuire for her excellent article "The Biography of a BMW Motorcycle" in the December issue. It was well written, and I thank her for doing all the research that I have neither the time nor inclination to carry out myself. Nonetheless, I value the article. It gave great insights as to the mindset of BMW Motorrad and how the company cares about the world, its environment and its people.

It is a tribute to the company that they conduct business with not just the bottom line in close focus, but also the people and environment all the way up and down the chain. It is companies like this that inspire me to spend my money on their products and invest in their stocks.

That way I feel I am doing, at least, a small part myself to help the world around us all.

Karen Thomson #30509 Snohomish, Washington

Tire protection works

I usually avoid extended warranties believing that by the time something wears out or breaks, it's usually time for replacement anyway.

I learned a hard and expensive lesson a couple years ago when a new tire picked up a nail after only 350 or so miles.

After that experience, I added the BMW MOA Tire Protection to my Roadside Assistance coverage. I'm glad I did.

Last fall, on another tire with fewer than 500 miles the same thing happened. This time I was prepared. What I wasn't ready for was how easy it was to get a new tire.

Standing at the service counter of BMW of Urbana I already had my credit card in hand ready to pay for a new tire and thinking I'd have to wait to be reimbursed by the insurance carrier. Instead, once the service manager examined the tire he simply told me not to worry, they'd take care of it.

To my delight, they did and I walked out with a new Dunlop Roadsmart III without paying a dime.

Bill Wiegand #180584 Champaign, Illinois

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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the club 16

shinysideup

The Chinese Connection

By Ron Davis #111820 OFTEN

CALLED

“one of Wisconsin’s best kept secrets,” Tom Zatlonkal’s Motorama is an eyepopping museum of over 400 vintage cars and more than 100 motorcycles, not to mention a “motor pool” of all kinds of military vehicles and a “boneyard” of many other classic rides. After catching a brief clip about this mecca for lovers of all things internal combustion on the local news, my riding buddy Ralph and I stoked the GPS and spent an hour or so drilling down through state highways to county trunks to the gravel driveway entrance of the museum marked by a 1950’s police car resting on the bed of an army deuce and a half.

Motorama is also known as “Alfa Heaven” since it has the largest collection of vintage Alfa Romeos in North America (Bob used to race them).

Almost all the Alfas and the rest of the hundreds of cars and military vehicles on display have been restored to showroom spec, and though the stable of restored motorcycles is smaller, there is also a “bike barn” of over one hundred bikes waiting for some tender loving care.

After meeting Bob and wandering off through the massive car sheds, outdoor military vehicle line-up and a boardwalk through a forested boneyard of ancient cars, I found a line of meticulously restored bikes. I soon spotted one I checked off as a classic Beemer, but on closer inspection I realized it was a bike I had never heard of, the Chang Jiang.

Tom Zatlonkal, an effusive host, caught up with us at that point and had an instant connection with Ralph

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

who, it turns out shared Tom’s hometown of Elmhurst, Illinois. Ralph coincidentally had probably bought his first vehicle, a gorgeous 1964 Chevy Impala SS Convertible, from Bob’s dad, just prior to getting his friendly letter from his local draft board.

Bob has many stories to tell, but his tale of procuring the Chang Jiang was a particularly interesting one. It seems when he heard of the “Chinese BMW,” he just “had to have it,” and that started an odyssey lasting six years and one trip to the Nanchang factory. The Chang Jiang was manufactured primarily for the Chinese army and prior to the 1980s, government policy forbade selling military equipment to foreigners. With lots of persistence and even more paperwork, Zatlonkal finally procured one for his museum. Ironically, soon after China opened trade to foreign markets, production of Chang Jiang came to an end; however, Chang Jiangs are still available, and they have a small following of enthusiasts, who admittedly prize their “Chinese Beemers” more for their rarity than their

1971 Chang Jiang CJ750 M1M

reliability.

The Chang Jiang is derived from the 1938 BMW R 71, the last of the side valve Beemers. Before capturing an R 71 tooling line near the end of WWII, the Russians were already producing copies of the R 71, which they called the IMZ M71 and the M72 (“M” for “motorcycle army”). Stalin had purchased five BMW R 71s via a trade agreement in 1938 that allowed Russian engineers to reverse-engineer the predecessor of the Ural. Many countries and manufacturers had tried to copy BMWs flat twin design, including Harley Davidson which modeled

its XA prototype after R 71s that were captured by the allies in Africa. (Harley produced 1,000 prototypes at a cost of $35,000 each before pulling the plug.) By the 50’s, the Russians judged the R 71 design obsolete and sold the entire tooling line they had confiscated to the Chinese, who began producing Chang Jiangs around 1960. The bikes were named after the Chang Jiang River, also known as the Yangzte.

There are three iterations of the Chang Jiang boxers: the M1, a side valve, six volt model; the M1M, with an iffy reverse and electric start; and the M1S, which upgraded to overhead valves with the help of German engineers. With a 750cc air-cooled engine and shaft drive, most Chang Jiangs were fitted with a side car and produced about 22 horses, top speed in the 50s. Before the Chang Jiang, the Chinese were building a German Zundapp KS600 knock-off. Since the CJ750 was built for the military, it was made with heavy duty materials, though, according to today’s owners, the same quality did not extend to the small bits like gaskets, filters and bushings. Production of the Chang Jiang 750 ended in the late 1990’s, and they could be purchased as military surplus during that decade. Independent specialists continue to build bikes from stockpiles of parts. The Nanchang factory is not out of business; however, and a prototype of a CJ650 with a parallel twin and sidecar was unveiled in 2017.

Central Wisconsin’s Motorama/Alfa Heaven is open May through October, though the museum opens its own sports bar for special holiday parties and events with live entertainment. The 40 acre compound also hosts probably the Midwest’s largest military show, featuring military vehicles, a swap meet, and re-enactor encampment (August 10-11 in 2018). The Motorama Auto Museum’s motto is “You have to see it to believe it,” and after seeing scrupulously restored cars from marquees ranging from Austin to Zaporozhet and motorcycles from CZ to Chang Jiang, I’m glad I did.

For more information and a map to Motorama/Alfa Heaven, visit Alfaheaven. com.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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BMW Motorrad Navigator VI

By Dan Townsley #60829 IT’S BEEN ALMOST A YEAR SINCE BMW MOTORRAD

released the Navigator VI and at that time, many of us experienced first hand that all of its new features were not quite ready for prime time. At last year’s BMW MOA rally in Salt Lake City, representatives from both BMW and Garmin assured us that they were working on fixes. Many of those fixes did come via a couple of software updates, the latest being update v4.90.

The NAV VI has new display hardware, making for much better sunlight-over-the-shoulder, viewing. The polarized screen cover does make the display slightly less bright than the NAV V, but the enhanced contrast it provides and the somewhat brighter backlight more than make up for it. Most polarized sunglasses should work okay with the NAV IV. Because of this new screen cover, the NAV VI looks more like your smartphone display in that it has a shiny and firm to the touch screen cover. The NAV VI is still a resistive touch display, so no special gloves are required though you may find you need to position the NAV VI to reduce the reflection of the sky or yourself in the display when looking at darker on-screen menus.

The new Media Player Bluetooth integration with a smartphone’s music is now working well thanks to the v4.90 software installed, but with some reservations. Unlike the Garmin Zumo 590/595 Series, the NAV VI does not have separate apps for Pandora, Spotify or Apple Music. The Pandora and Spotify services need to be started on your smartphone before the NAV VI can access them. The NAV VI Media Player will access Apple Music via the iTunes app on an iPhone, but you have to know to use the Playlist option in the Media Player. Most of the time the Media Player will even show the selected music’s artwork, but sometimes the artwork does not change when the Media Player

moves to the next song in a Playlist. Also, through the latest software update, BMW has finally enabled all 2013+ BMW’s with radios (GT, GTL, GTLE, RT) to access the NAV VI Media Player when it's connected to a smartphone.

One of the other software improvements was the addition of the “Automatically Skip Waypoint” feature allowing the user to skip Waypoints in a Route when you deliberately bypass them, though you can still use the manual Skip feature if you desire. The one thing that Garmin and BMW have not done is to enhance the Auto Skip setting with user-selectable preferences of Time/Distance. These settings are in the code but not readily accessible by the user at this time.

Another new feature is the Round-Trip app. This app allows the user to quickly calculate a round trip route by setting a Start Location and then, if desired, set the attributes for the trip: Distance or Time or an intermediate Destination. Another addition to the routing feature is the Curvy Roads route calculation mode.

This option avoids major country roads when calculating a route and will usually calculate a much longer route than using any of the other calculation mode options, regardless of set avoidance settings.

Another feature that is still on the NAV VI apps page is Garmin’s Tracker app. The app seems to work as set up for Tracking and even sends, via your smartphone, an email to invite your selected Follower(s), but Garmin's server-side map showing your location isn't working at the time of this article. Also, the email sent to your Follower(s) has links for iOS and Android app’s which don’t exist, at least not in North America.

BMW/Garmin have also added Bluetooth support for remotely operating your Garmin Virb camera. Though you will not get a

BMW Motorrad's Navigator VI on the left with the Navigator V on the right.

camera-eye view on your NAV VI display, you can use the MultiFunction Controller to start and stop recording.

BMW/Garmin’s approach to an intelligent GPS is to link it to your smartphone via Garmin’s Smartphone Link app. The Smart Link app on your phone does have some interesting features, but the implementation is about ten years behind the current smartphone apps providing the same features. For example, the Weather subscription (a one time charge) only provides current weather and forecasts for the closest major commercial airport weather station. The nearest commercial airport might be hundreds of miles away if you’re riding in western North America, whereas the nearest NOAA weather station is most likely a few miles away. By contrast, many of Garmin’s latest automotive GPS offerings use the Accuweather service to access all NOAA weather stations.

Routing on the NAV VI is the same as on the BMW Navigator V, with the additions of Round Trip, Curvy Roads and AutoSkipped Waypoints (Via Points). Routes can have up to 30 Via Points (Waypoints) which separate the route into segments, and each of those segments can have approximately 150 shaping points (points that are not shown in the Skip Waypoint list or announced while navigating). Two hundred routes can be saved in the Trip Planner app on the NAV VI along with a user-installed micro-SD Card.

The NAV VI is an excellent GPS for navigating your saved Tracks found in the Tracks app. You can save 200 Tracks, and each Track can have a total of 15,000 Track Points. Saved Tracks can also be converted to Routes (Trips) on the NAV VI. This Track-to-Trip conversion will yield an exact route path of the original Track as long as you do the conversion with the installed routable map(s) disabled. Once the conversion is complete you can enable your routable map and navigate the newly converted trip – just don’t allow that converted trip to be recalculated while you’re navigating. You can make sure that doesn’t happen by setting your OffRoute Recalculation to off or prompted in the Navigation settings.

Waypoints are still a strong suit for Garmin-based devices, and the NAV VI is no exception. Waypoints are called Saved Places on the NAV VI, and you'll find them behind the Saved tab in the Where To? app. The Where To? Apps main page is the only page on the NAV VI that the user can customize by adding or removing custom search icons, as well as repositioning the search icons by dragging them to a new location on the page.

You can save/import up to 1,000 Waypoints, and they can have any one of the 46 Garmin Symbols assigned to them. The NAV VI does not support Garmin Custom Waypoint Symbols. If you need more Waypoints, you can store them on a user-provided micro-SD

Customized search icons.

Route Trip app screenshot.

Tracker app screenshot.

Tracking duration app screenshot.

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Card, but you'll need to delete some from Saved Places to make room. If you do need a lot more Waypoints, I recommend using Custom Points of Interest (POI) as you can have millions of them on the device. One thing that Garmin did add to Waypoints is support for Waypoint categories in the Waypoint data, but don't confuse Waypoint categories with the Categories tab in the Where To? app which is for finding your Custom POI and the POI embedded in the map. Assigning categories to Waypoints makes it easier to find the ones you want in the Saved tab. If you have assigned categories to any of your Waypoints, when you open the Saved tab, the first page will show the option of All Saved Places and the list of your Waypoint categories. You can use the NAV6, Garmin BaseCamp, MapSource and the browser-based Trip Planner, Furkot.com, to assign categories to your Waypoints.

The last major feature I’ll mention is the BMW Motorcycle integration with the NAV VI. As with the NAV V before it, the NAV VI can be linked to newer, 2013+, BMW’s through the BMW Navigation Preparation Mount. This integration provides the NAV VI with access to much of the bikes instrument cluster data as well as some bike performance data you can only view when

the GPS if off of the bike—BMW doesn’t want you to get too distracted while you’re riding. The NAV VI also links to the BMW Multi-Function Controller, commonly referred to as the wonderwheel, on the left handlebar. This remote controller switch can access several predefined pages on the NAV VI. You cannot customize which pages you see or their order, nor can you access all options on these pages using the multi-function controller. I expect BMW has limited this functionality to reduce the amount of time you spend manipulating the NAV VI while riding. But, then again, you will most likely be touching your way around the interface anyway, so why not make it as easy as possible—using the remote controller wheel?

Aside from the new features mentioned in this article, I think this remote control feature is one of the primary reasons to have a NAV VI on your BMW. I like the NAV VI for what it is, but I would certainly like to see some modernizing of the user interface, a more customizable integration with the Multi-Function Controller and better access to smartphone apps.

The improved screen of the Navigator VI may be reason enough for many riders to upgrade.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

BMW’s Navigator VI represents a significant upgrade from their previous model, the Navigator V. Yet the decision to upgrade is expensive and not as easy a decision that moving from the Navigator IV to the Navigator V was.

To get the opinions of more MOA members , we took a Navigator VI to some of our recent Getaways and gave the unit to members there to demo for the day. John Gilbertson tested the unit at the MOA Getaway at Tomah, Wisconsin, while Tom Burull demoed the device in Pineville, Kentucky. Here's what they thought:

>The BMW Motorrad Navigator VI unit is outstanding My wife and I attended the MOA Getaway in Tomah, Wisconsin, and while there, I had the opportunity to demo a new BMW Navigator VI. I had about 3,500 miles of experience with my NAV V which I found to be very useful. With Nav VI in hand, I quickly connected with one of the local members who helped me upload some off-road routes onto the unit.

The first thing I noticed is that during the day the clarity is beyond clear when compared to my Nav V. Using a tinted visor to read my Nav V on a bright day is more difficult.

The software was fairly similar regarding navigation from screen to screen, so nothing really popped out too much, but what I found is that because of the increased clarity, I found myself using the Nav VI far more than I do with my Nav V.

With my Nav V, I seldom deviate from my downloaded or marked maps while traveling because it’s tough to see. With the Nav VI, I found locating gas stations or restaurants was way more efficient and safe, with less time spent trying to read the screen.

Though I didn’t find changes in Nav VI’s operation that popped out, I truly believe the NAV VI is a safety upgrade for anyone who is serious about throwing their leg over a bike and exploring what the area has to offer.

Thanks for giving me a chance. I have a NAV 5 for sale if you happen to be looking to downgrade.

John Gilbertson #211431 Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin

>Anything you can do, I can do better I’ve been a longtime user of both the BMW Navigator IV and V, and since the Nav V was a worthwhile upgrade over its predecessor, I looked forward to trying the new BMW Navigator VI. At the BMW MOA International Rally in Salt Lake City last summer, I attended a seminar on the new Nav VI presented by Garmin and BMW. After the seminar, my enthusiasm for the “new and improved” GPS was somewhat curbed after hearing a lot of negativity about this product from seminar participants. I returned home thinking my current Nav V would be just fine for the foreseeable future.

At the MOA Getaway in Pineville, Kentucky, I had the chance demo the new unit. I jumped at the opportunity.

One of the first things I noticed was how easy it was to view the information on the screen. No matter the sun’s angle, the data on the screen was very easy to see. I also noticed the longer life of the battery and how quickly this GPS was ready to navigate. While stopping for lunch and playing with this new toy, the battery showed a full charge the whole time. That would never happen on my Nav V. The Nav VI also has twice the memory storage capacity (16 Gb) and uses the same

mounting cradle as the Nav V—that's an excellent cost saving.

In general, navigation, and Bluetooth connection worked as expected.

However, I did notice that all these BMW Navigators have the same avoidance issues. Because I ride an RT, I set my preferences to avoid unpaved roads, but several times when I “avoided a turn” the device would recalculate and direct me onto dirt or gravel roads to get me back on course. I understand this is not a device problem, but rather an out-source issue that should be addressed by Garmin.

I realize I’ve barely scratched the surface on all the many options this device is capable of performing as a navigation tool. The Nav VI has more storage, has a longer battery life, is brighter, and locates more satellites and therefore should be more accurate. Yes, I understand it has some bugs, but I also understand fixes are in the works. So, given my brief experience with this device, I do believe anything the BMW Navigator V can do, my future BMW Navigator VI can do better.

Tom Burull #96448 Edmond, Oklahoma

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S100 motorcycle cleaning products In Germany cleaning isn’t merely an attitude, but a way of life. Years ago, S100 Total Cycle Cleaner was developed as the world’s first spray-on, hose-off cleaner allowing riders to quickly clean their bikes. Today, the S100 family of products has grown to a dozen products all created to help motorcyclists clean and protect their motorcycles.

Last fall, we took some S100 products to a couple MOA Getaways to give members there a chance to test the products. These are a couple of their experiences. For more information on S100 products, go to your local dealer or visit www.s100.com

S100 Detail and Wax

By David Henderson #44679 I first met S100 Detail and Wax on August 9, 2014, my 72nd birthday, at the the Kings Inn, in Cody, Wyoming.

Gail and I were headed to the Chief Joseph Highway and Beartooth Highway and anticipating a great day of riding. We were not disappointed.

When we arrived at the Kings Inn, I asked if I could towel off our R 1200 RT and was directed to a motorcyclesonly wash area complete with a hose, soap, plenty of towels and a spray can of S100 Detail and Wax. Though I’m not a great fan of spray waxes, I thought I’d give it a try. After washing the bike, the product applied easily.

“Can’t be any good, goes on too easily,” I thought. Touching the paint, I could feel where I applied the S100 and where I did not. Once I used S100 on the entire bike, it looked great!

The next day riding, we smashed a few bugs. Arriving at the Pollard Hotel, in Red Lodge, Montana, we encountered our first problem with S100.

Most smashed bugs were dispatched with a soft clean cloth. The remaining bug splats were attracting live bugs mourning their smashed fellows. The bugs were unable to gain a foothold on the S100 and were falling to their deaths. The S100 was too slick.

I bought my own can of S100 Detail and Wax a few weeks later. S100 works well and has stood the test of time and miles. Our bike stays in the barn over the winter, and the paint feels like the fall day I put it up for the winter.

S100 lives up to it’s advertising. Good stuff!

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

The only problem I’ve had is that the nozzel of the can clog if the S100 freezes when left in the weather. Keep this useful product where it’s warm.

S100 Special Surfaces Cleaner

By Mark Stephenson #212164 Last fall, while attending the BMW Getaway in Tomah, Wisconsin, I was presented with the opportunity to field test a product called S100 Special Surfaces Cleaner.

S100 is a motorcycle cleaner which claims to clean and polish fairings, helmets and face shields.

Having a new 2016 BMW S 1000 XR, I had the same concerns as most riders.

Will this damage the finish and paint on my bike? Will this fog my windscreen or face shield?

My primary reason for volunteering to test S100 was because I had run out of the cleaner I brought. The weather was not helping keep my bike clean, and my OCD was pushing me to just give it a try. Give it a try I did.

I followed the process as if I were testing touch-up paint, meaning I began by "trying a small amount in an inconspicuous location." I was pleasantly surprised, as a small amount went a long way with my microfiber towel. Dirt and grime were removed, and I was left with a polished finish. I then moved on to painted surfaces and liked what I saw, so I decided to give it a try on my Vario windscreen and received the same resounding results—a clear windscreen with no residue or smudge marks left behind. S100 Special Surfaces Cleaner appears to be as good at removing dirt and bugs as the more expensive product I was

using for the past two seasons.

A couple of the guys from South Dakota who were riding with us asked to borrow the S100 to clean their bike before they left for home. They were very impressed with the results as well. After explaining to them why one would use a product like S100 instead of Windex to clean your bike and windscreen, I believe they will be future customers also.

My final test came on my ride home where it rained 75 percent of the trip, as I found no silicone-type residue washing off the bike in the rain. After five months, any fear I had in using the product has gone. There has been no fogging or yellowing of my face shield, and my windscreen is as clear as when cleaned the first time. S100 is also a quarter of the price of the product I was using? I can confidently say I will be purchasing S100 in the future.

NEW! Michelin ® Road 5 Tire

Maximum confidence in wet and dry conditions mile after mile The MICHELIN® Road 5 tire is the new benchmark in wet grip for sport touring tires.

It offers superior wet grip versus all leading competitors due to patented MICHELIN XST Evo water drop sipes, which widen as the tire wears, and our latest 2CT and 2CT+ tread compounds.1 Even after 3,500 miles, MICHELIN Road 5 tires stop as short as new MICHELIN Pilot® Road 4 tires 2 for added confidence on wet roads over a longer period of the tire’s tread life. www.michelinmotorcycle.com

MichelinMotorcycle.com

#MichelinOnMyMoto

1. Based on internal wet lap times, comparing MICHELIN Road 5 tires with METZELER® Roadtec 01 tires, DUNLOP® RoadSmart III tires, CONTINENTAL® ContiRoadAttack 3 tires, PIRELLI® Angel GT tires, BRIDGESTONE® T30 EVO tires, and MICHELIN® Pilot® Road 4 tires in dimensions 120/70 ZR17 (front) and 180/55/ZR17 (rear) on a 2013 Suzuki® Bandit 1250, conducted in Ladoux, France. Actual results may vary. | 2. Based on internal wet braking testing conducted in 2016 in Ladoux, France on wet surfaces using a 2013 SUZUKI 1250 Bandit S fitted with 120/70 ZR 17 front and 180/55 ZR17 rear tires comparing a new MICHELIN® Pilot® Road 4 tire and a worn (3,500 miles) MICHELIN Road 5 tire. Actual results may vary. | Copyright © 2018 Michelin North America, Inc. All rights reserved. The MIchelin Man is a registered trademark owned by Michelin North America, Inc.

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Quad Lock phone mount system

By John Wetli #195304 I’LL NEVER UNDERSTAND HOW

the human race has made it as long as it has. I mean, how did our ancestors exist without our technology? How the heck did they communicate, navigate or get information?

I’ll admit it, I feel lost without my phone, and I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one. We stuff them into our tank bags or the dozen or so pockets of our gear and hope we remember where they are. Or worse yet, lose them.

As a bicyclist, I usually don’t have the luxury of an abundance of pockets to stash stuff, and when I realized I couldn’t ride without my phone, I began looking for solutions.

While there are a lot of options, I wanted something clean, simple and secure that wouldn’t mess with the lines of my bike or look like alien fingers coming out of my handlebars.

My search led me to Quad Lock, an Australian company that seemed to have read my mind.

The Quad Lock system is actually two parts: a protective case for your phone and a small mount that attaches to your handlebar. Bingo!

My search was over and the solution

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

found.

I’ll admit that I was initially concerned and wondered how secure my phone was and if it could take road vibration and bumps of my rides. After a couple hundred miles over mostly pavement and gravel trails, I am happy to report security has not been an issue and I’ve not experienced any failures of either the case or the mount.

I was so impressed with how the system worked on my bicycle that last spring I added a bicycle mount to the handlebars to

my motorcycle. Then things got even better when last summer I discovered Quad Lock was selling motorcycle-specific mounts.

For me, a good thing just got better!

Using the Quad Lock system involves the purchase of a phone case and either a handlebar or mirror mount. Thinking the handlebar mount would be less susceptible to vibration dictated my choice. Then to use the system, simply place your phone into the Quad Lock case and attach the mount to your bike. To attach your encased phone to the mount, simply line the notches on the back of the case with those on the mount and rotate your device to a horizontal or vertical position. Once you hear a click, the system is locked and you’re ready to ride. To remove your phone from the mount, depress the tab and rotate the phone a quarter turn and it releases. Simple

elegance.

To date, I’ve ridden several thousand miles with my Apple iPhone 6S mounted on my motorcycle and have been extremely pleased with the security the system offers.

My initial concerns with the case itself have vanished as the phone is securely protected on all sides. Dropping the phone from countertops or motorcycle seats have proven this.

Also, with the phone mounted between the handlebar mounts, it is in line with my instruments and GPS, minimizing the time my eyes look away from the road ahead. Another benefit the system offers is the option of locking your phone in a vertical or horizontal position.

The Quad Lock system is available for most phones from Apple and Galaxy for about $70 for the case and mount system.

Mounts are available individually, should you wish to use the system on more than one bike.

For more information, visit quadlockcase.com.

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MotoPressor Mini Pump

By Jerry Aldini #214426 THERE ARE A NUMBER OF TIRE

pumps on the market designed for motorcycle use and when combined with a good tire plug kit, they can be a lifesaver on the road or in the back country. A relatively newcomer to the U.S. market that offers features making it both convenient to carry and easy to use is the MotoPressor Mini Pump by Rocky Creek Designs.

Measuring 5” x 4” x 2”, the pump, along with several accessory cords and packs into the included carrying case and easily stows into panniers or bags.

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

The MotoPressor Mini Pump itself is very easy to use. Simply pull out the air hose tucked into the back side of the unit and connect the screw-on air hose end to your tire valve. Then, plug one end of the power cord into the pump and connect the other end to your 12-volt power source. Using the buttons below the digital display, enter the desired PSI, turn on the power switch and let the pump inflate your tire. Once the MotoPressor has reached the desired pressure, the unit will automatically shut off.

This setting can even be put into memory for future use.

In use, the pump stayed cool to the touch

and inflated a 120/70 R17 tire to 34 PSI in less than three minutes.

Weighing less than two pounds, the MotoPressor Mini Pump includes a built-in digital pressure gauge, alligator clip cord, SAE plug extension cord, SAE plug adapter wire to connect permanently to the 12-volt battery on your motorcycle, an EC5 “blue plug” adapter cord for use with any portable lithium ion jumper battery pack, user instructions and the carrying case.

Retail price for the MotoPressor Mini Pump is $58.95, and it comes with a fiveyear warranty. Visit rockycreekdesigns.com for more information or to order.

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productnews BMW Returns to Daytona

BMW Motorrad USA returns to Daytona’s Bike Week this year with a full lineup of BMW motorcycles for attendees to see and ride, including the new BMW G 310 GS and the new K 1600 Grand America.

BMW Motorrad representatives will be on hand to answer questions about all of the motorcycles and rider apparel on display at BMW Motorcycles of Daytona.

When: March 10 through March 17,

from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day.

Where: BMW Motorcycles of Daytona

118 E Fairview Ave.

Daytona Beach, FL 32114

Metzeler KAROO™ Street— Road performance from an off-road tread pattern

The new Karoo Street joins the Karoo 3 and Karoo Extreme and expands Metzeler’s line of tires in the adventure and off-road category.

While the Karoo 3 and Extreme tires offer aggressive tread patterns, the Karoo Street has been developed for riders of adventure and dual-purpose motorcycles who spend most of their time on asphalt but don’t want to completely give up off-road capabilities.

Metzeler created the Karoo Street to maintain the off-road look of adventure motorcycles, while combining enhanced wet performance, stability and mileage with outstanding off-road capabilities on dirt roads and hard packed terrain For more information, visit your local dealer or metzelermoto.com

Shoei updates the popular Neotec

Shoei’s new Neotec II helmet boasts advancements in noise-reduction, weather sealing, faceshield functionality and riding comfort. The new helmet is also intercom ready and built to seamlessly integrate with the SENA SRL communication system.

An enlarged lock release button allows easy use with gloves on, while a lightweight chin bar and face shield use a dual locking system for improved holding power when fully-opened. Additional improvements include a newly-designed “Aero Deflector” for improved chin bar aerodynamics and “Vortex Generator” lip to reduce unwanted wind noise. Large upper and lower vent shutters allow use with riding gloves, while a three-position upper vent and upper exhaust outlets offer improved hot-air clearing. A removable, washable, replaceable and adjustable interior padding system is shaped to match the contours of a rider’s head and fit comfortably. Additionally, multi-layer cheek pads improving comfort and helmet stabilization are available in different thicknesses for a customizable fit.

For a complete list of features and pricing information, see your local dealer or visit shoei-helmets.com

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

IC Nearview Glasses from Rocky Creek Designs

When it comes to motorcycling, vision is critical, and as we get older, most of us experience some deterioration in our eyesight.

Rocky Creek Designs IC Nearview glasses offer a solution which allows riders to clearly see the road ahead and read their instrument panel or GPS. IC Nearviews are riding glasses incorporating bifocal lenses allowing a full range of clear vision from the instrument panel and beyond. Available in powers ranging from +1.0, to +3.0, the glasses feature lightweight frames using an anti-fog coating and flexible, flat temple frames for a comfortable fit. Available in Smoke and Clear, an optional Positive Dust Seal is available to offer additional protection from fine dust, pollen, and peripheral light.

Prices for the glasses begin at $29.95 and are available at rockycreekdesigns.com

Corbin offers Fire and Ice for your RT

Keeping your butt warm in the winter and cool in the summer, Corbin’s newest version of their popular Master’s Type Touring Saddle now offers both heating and cooling functions.

The new saddle is typical Corbin with a seating area maximized for comfort and a rider bucket positioned to provide comfortable ergonomics and longrange comfort. Sculpted seating platforms conform to the shape of a rider’s body to give more support while eliminating hot spots and tailbone pressure.

Utilizing the Peltier Effect, a thermoelectric heat pump is able to work as a temperature controller, adjusting either heating or cooling. In their testing, Corbin was able to quickly cool seating surface areas from 10 to 15 degrees below ambient temperature. When applying heat, Corbin has thermostatically limited the temperature to 110 degrees.

The new seats feature Corbin’s high-density Comfort Cell foam, leather seating surfaces and an available backrest. For more information, visit corbin. com

Meet your friends at Americade

Over the past few years, Americade has become the world's largest multi-brand motorcycle touring rally with estimates of 100,000 - 200,000 visitor days during the six-day gathering of friendly, funloving motorcycle enthusiasts.

The week-long festival of motorcycling is a rider convention that draws tourers, sport-tourers and cruisers. Guided tours are featured through Adirondack Park and the Green Mountains of Vermont, and in addition to great riding, Americade also hosts a massive trade show featuring the products of more than 200 vendors, with demos and displays from most major motorcycle manufacturers. Also offered during Americade are dinner boat cruises, stunt shows, comedy shows and much more. Adventure riders can get in on the fun at Americade’s nearby adventure bike rally, “Dirtdaze.”

Americade runs from June 4-9 in Lake George, New York, with DirtDaze running from June 6-9 in Lake Luzerne, New York.

Visit americade.com or dirtdazerally.com for more information.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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new

news

John “Dutch” Lammers receives Knöchlein BMW Classic award THE BMW MOA BOARD OF DIREC-

tors is proud to announce that John “Dutch” Lammers was recently awarded the Professor Dr. Gerhard Knöchlein BMW Classic Award—the highest award presented to an individual by BMW Classic and the International Council of BMW Clubs. The award honors club members who have been particularly instrumental in the promotion and perpetuation of the BMW marque. Only members of a recognized BMW club who have kept their historic BMW vehicles in perfect condition and made them accessible to the public are eligible.

Dutch was introduced to BMW motorcycles while in his early 20s.

Though not a rider at that time, he wanted to ride and began looking for a suitable motorcycle. Upon the advice of a BMW-riding friend, John bought a used 1971 R 75/5.

Not long after buying his first BMW, John added a 1977 R 100 RS to his stable and according to his wife Kate, “the floodgates were opened.”

Over the years, nearly 100 BMW motorcycles have been brought back to life in John’s garage, including /2s, R 50s, R 60s, R 69 Ss, R 90 Ss, /5s, /6s and /7s. His personal collection currently includes the 1971 R 75/5, his first BMW motorcycle, his second BMW, a 1977 R 100 RS, as well as five R 100 RS models, including three 1978 models in Motorsport white, Belgian Police red and gold. A fourth 1978 R 100 RS in silver/blue was sold.

John’s permanent collection also includes a 1978 R 100 S Motorsport, ’78 R 100/7, three R 90 S models, two R 69s, three R 60s including one with a Steib S500 sidecar, and two R 50s.

John's wife Kate is also a BMW rider, and the couple have several bikes

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

awaiting restoration that are not part of their personal collection.

John is accomplished in all facets of restoration and even won an outstanding paint and restoration award at a rally with his R 90 S. Recently Dutch taught himself how to repair and restore gauges and is one of the few in Canada able to provide this service.

Both John and Kate willingly share their love of older BMWs through their

affiliation with several clubs, including the Niagara BMW Riders, BMW Riders Club of Western New York, and the Knights of the Roundel. John and Kate recently served as Rally Chairs for the 44th BMW MOA International Rally in Hamburg, New York.

John was presented the Knochlein award

by MOA Director Marc Souliere last December at the monthly breakfast of the Niagara BMW Riders.

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keepemflying

Hitting the road to Florida

By Matthew Parkhouse #13272 AS A FOLLOW-UP

to last month, the young couple (Lara and husband) came by a few days ago to pick up their legacy bike, now running nicely and actually ridable, even with the unusual leading-link front end. I’m still looking into the availability of these made-inEngland forks.

Our friend Jeff will arrive this evening with his pickup truck to take our pair of Slash Fives to the El Paso, Texas, area. He will drop us off to head east to Florida while he heads to Arizona and his starting point for his first trip to Mexico. We’ve had a tenday run of freezing weather here in Colorado, so I’m glad I got the two bikes sorted out in the fall. Susanna and I are in the familiar stage of

setting up a long bike trip. Piles of clothing, camping and cooking gear, parts and tools, first aid kits and other necessary takealongs are piled in the living room, much of it going to Europe. We swung by the local BMW shop to pick up a new electric jacket for Susanna.

I returned to the shop the next day to load up a bunch of broken-down crates to use for firewood. I got an unexpected assist from the man hired by the dealership to haul the wood away; he was happy to drop the rest of the wood at my house, leaving me with three good-sized piles of wood rather than the one pile I usually have after a wood run. Along with the preparations for our travels, I’ve been cutting up three or four wheelbarrows of stove wood every day.

If nothing else, it has been good physical exercise in preparation for the long ride coming up. Hopefully, wood therapy will come to an end today. This morning also saw us at our bank, getting notarized copies

The legacy R100/7, with the leading link Unit Forks. Lana, who is restoring the bike to running condition does not know when it was done or who did the work. These leading link front ends are still available through a California company – Side Strider.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

of passports, licenses and vehicle titles in preparation for the handoff at Stefan Knopf ’s freight forwarder in Orlando.

That was ten days ago. Since then, Susanna and I took an easy two-day drive to El Paso with Jeff in his pickup and trailer.

After a rest at a Motel 6, we waited for the sun to rise to a decent height and launched ourselves eastward on Interstate 10. We had short riding days; after all, this was only a couple of weeks after the Winter Solstice.

Texas took three and a third days to ride across! It took five days to arrive at Camp Blanding in Starke, Florida, which is a bit north of Gainesville. We were very lucky as far as rain went, just a few drops until we were 50 miles out from Camp Blanding. We got soaked, but it could have been much worse.

The camp is an active National Guard facility, complete with a PX and bugle music for Reveille and Retreat every day. THAT brought back a few memories. The BMW

Checking the load of three Slash Fives at a lunch stop in Walsenburg, Colorado.

Motorcycle Club of Northeast Florida puts on this rally, denoted as “Florida’s Coldest Rally” (they weren’t kidding). In commemoration of the 35th annual rally, they gave the event an Airhead flavor and invited Susanna and me to attend along with Craig Vechorik. Vech brought his beautifully restored 1921 Victoria. We had nice quarters provided to us. I was available for airhead questions and some wrenching, and put on an Airhead Tech seminar on Friday.

Susanna and I presented our pictures of our 2006 tour of Europe on Saturday.

The Rally was fun. The organizers had set up an Airhead Central area with the traditional thrift store furnishings, but it was a bit too cold and rainy most of the time for sitting around in the parking lot. Most of the hanging out was done in the large room of the Post Headquarters, during the day and for the two dinner meals included in the Rally package. Attending a rally at the far eastern end of the country was especially entertaining for both of us as we met many new friends not seen at the western rallies we usually attend. At the Saturday dinner, we tied for the “Highest Miles Ridden to Rally” award, with our 1,705 miles

each from El Paso. The rally coordinators also presented us with an oil painting of the rally's logo. This was a nice and appreciated gesture.

The bikes ran well for the five-day ride. I checked and set the valves on both machines and both were close to where they should have been. I also checked the carbs and found a fair amount of water in both bikes.

The heavy rain of the last 50 miles, humidity and ethanol gasoline had taken its toll.

With everything cleaned and dried, I did a fast balancing of the carbs and pronounced the bikes almost ready to go. We had a bit under 200 miles to ride to get to Orlando and the drop-off point with Stefan. I figured on changing the oil before or at the end of the ride.

At the Saturday dinner, we were introduced to Ed and Darlene Sabin, who live in Orlando. They kindly offered to put us up after the rally. Ed also invited me to change the oil in our bikes on his garage lift. Consequently, I rolled the frost-covered bikes into the sunny end of our quarters' parking lot as we took our time packing things up. We needed the weekend to dry everything out after the rain-soaked final 50 miles the

Susanna and Stefan Knoff go over the details of shipping the two bikes to Heidelberg. Stefan is definitely in this business for the long run as he is building a house between this warehouse and the nearby Orlando Airport.

He sends bikes back and forth across the Atlantic by sea-going freighter but the riders almost always fly in. We will begin our September ride in Europe at his B&B in Heidelberg.

Thursday before. We said our goodbyes, plugged in the electrics and started for Orlando.

The Orange Blossom Trail took us over state highways with a lot of traffic and many stop lights. I picked up oil at a car parts store (almost all carry Valvoline and Castrol M/C oil these days). We were both pretty beat by the time we followed my iPad map function to the Sabin home. We stripped the bikes, and I took care of the oil while they were still hot. Now, just a few miles from Stefan’s warehouse, they were ready to go!

Susanna and I enjoyed getting to know Ed and Darlene, but we were exhausted and called it an early night. The next morning saw us enjoy breakfast with our hosts, pack up the bikes and ride the eight miles or so to Stefan’s shipper. A very helpful gentleman named Cleveland got us into the warehouse and started us preparing the bikes. We planned the gas so we were on or near reserve at the shipper, and I disconnected the batteries; that was the sum total of the required bike preparation. The paperwork went quickly as well. Because we had done an identical journey with Stefan in 2006, he had most of what he needed on record. As

Attending the 35th Winter Rally in Florida gave us the chance to meet a number of new BMW friends. A couple of these friends, Ed and Darlene Sabin, invited us to stay with them in Orlando the night following the Rally. The warehouse of the freight forwarder was perhaps eight miles away in the city. Being an Airhead in good standing, Ed has a lift in his garage. I took advantage of this to change the engine oil of the two Slash Fives prior to sending them to Germany.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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TEC 34

keepemflying

we were getting ready to depart, I checked my bike’s odometer. From the Motel 6 in El Paso, to the rally and to the shipper in Orlando totaled 1,888 miles.

There were few items to report for the trouble tally. I had to repair Susanna’s accessory plug because a screw vibrated out of the fuse holder.

I duplicated my Europe bag of tools and parts that go with me on long road trips and had the necessary soldering iron. That was the main repair done on the trip. I have a list of about a dozen items to take to Germany with us when we fly over: one of the rubber rear tank mounts came apart, a foot peg rubber wore through, Susanna lost a center stand spring, I lost a swing arm cap, that sort of thing. At home, I spent about 30 hours working on the R 75/5 and close to 40 hours on the eBay R 60/5; the time and attention obviously paid off.

Stefan drove us to the Orlando Airport with plenty of time to spare before our flight. On the way, we swung by the new house he is building, conveniently situated between the warehouse and the airport. He’s been expanding his operation over the years and wants a base in the States. He will most likely be at the national rally in Des Moines this coming summer.

We flew home with minimal drama, just missing a snow and ice storm that blanketed the south. I guess I looked so exhausted and wiped out that one of the airline staff pulled me out of the line to board early. I remembered reading Jack London’s story, “The Law of Life.” I figured I probably resembled the old moose as the wolves cut him from the herd—I really WAS beat at the end of the ten-day adventure. Now we can relax a bit; two bikes have been acquired, gone through and are out of the yard and on the way to Heidelberg!

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

One of the highlights of the Rally was seeing Craig Vechorik and his restored 1921 Victoria motorcycle, with a BMW engine. Predating the first real BMW by two years, it used a utility engine BMW supplied to several motorcycle manufactures. Craig had to manufacture a number of parts needed to complete the bike. The project took around three years. Craig and I both presented seminars for the Winter Rally.

We performed a bit of electrical troubleshooting at the Florida Rally. Susanna’s electric vest stopped working. My finger is pointing to the open connection. A tiny screw that secured a wire had fallen out of the fuse holder, allowing it to be loose. I ended up soldering the wire to the brass piece, ending the problem.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

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The Best of

EUROPE Story and Photos by Christopher P. Baker #126077

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BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

Zwingenberg, on the River Neckar, in Germany.

TROP D’ACCIDENTS. RALENTIR.

(Many accidents! Slow down!)

The yellow warning sign for motorcyclists screamed “fun ahead” as we sped past vineyards, golden and glistening with dew in the early-morning, late-September sunlight.

This was day four of an Edelweiss Bike Travel nine-day tour, and the pace had quickened considerably as we headed into the Vosges Mountains. Sweeping bends tightened into whiplash-sharp coils as the road steepened by exponential degrees.

By now, we’d broken into two groups.

Behind, content with a more leisurely pace, our two lady riders, their spouses, and a sprinkling of others, mostly on Harleys.

Ahead, myself, plus a six-pack of middleage pals from Colorado here to ride. Björn Greibig, our 28-year-old tour guide on a BMW R nineT, poured on the gas. He tore through the mountains like Raffaele de Rosa. Perry Cogburn, on an aggressively agile Ducati Multistrada, stayed glued to his tail and I, on a BMW R 1200 GS Adventure, to Perry’s. It was exhilarating as we leaned through the curves at the max and exited near the redline for an absolute philistine thrill.

I was still grinning inanely five fun-filled hours later as we augered down through the hairpins to Ribeauvillé, with its half-timbered 14th-century buildings leaning drunkenly over meandering cobbled streets resembling a Hollywood stage set.

“If we knew our kids were riding like this, we’d take away their keys,” said 61-yearyoung Perry, laughing, as we dined that evening on mushroom soup and lamb stew washed down with a hearty Alsatian Sylvaner.

I’d signed up with Edelweiss Bike Travel for its “Best of Europe” five-country tour, looping west from Erding (43 km northeast of Munich) through the Black Forest, Alsace, northern Switzerland, Liechtenstein, the Austrian Tyrol, and Bavaria.

I rode R 1200 GS Adventure Triple Black, complete with keyless ignition and personalized monogramed leather notebook. At home, I ride a 2009 R 1200 GS Adventure.

This was my first time riding a water-cooled GSA model. The difference left me slackjawed as we swept through the rolling hopland of Franconia and across the Fränkische Alb uplands, north of Erding. Not only did this bike have a far more precise gear box, Shift Assistance Pro, throttle-by-wire, and

View over River Neckar from Hirschhorn Castle, in Germany.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

other high-tech gizmos, it had a 25 percent increase in ponies that generated blistering acceleration as we scattered fresh-fallen leaves on the straights. The bike seemed infinitely more refined and responsive, teasing the twisties with the gazelle-like agility of an F 800.

The first day’s undulating terrain proved ideal for familiarizing ourselves with our bikes. Giant wind turbines studded the hilltops, their blades scything a leaden sky overlaying a precise checkerboard of fields farmed with Teutonic efficiency. Long scimitar curves gradually gathered into tighter arcs as, beyond Eichstätt, we dipped down through forested hillsides to dance alongside the River Althaud. At Dinkelsbühl—an archetypcal walled medieval town seemingly pickled in aspic—we joined the scenic “Romantic Road” stitching together a quintessential fairytale Germany of Middle Age villages pinpointed from afar by church steeples topped by pomegranateshaped domes.

I’m English. I feel warm, fuzzy pride for Stratford-Upon-Avon, Oxford and York.

But my bubble burst as we rode into Rothenburg—Germany’s largest and best preserved walled city—at the end of our

day’s 270-kilometer ride. “Wowww!” I exclaimed predictably as we passed through the Galgentor Gate into a time-warp of iconic medieval Germanic cuteness. The sloping cobbled lanes were well-worn and slippery. I rode on the pegs. Mostly spared from Allied bombing in WWII, Rothenburg’s higgledy-piggledy houses date back to the Crusades. Our lodging, the 12th-century Hotel Reichsküchenmeister, packed a thousand years of history beneath its eaves.

A striking counterpoint, my chicly rehabbed accommodation was a honeypot of contemporary styling and accoutrements.

From Rothenburg we turned west through the rippling farmland of BadenWürttemberg. At the hilltop town of Langenburg we corkscrewed into the valley of the River Jagst on the L1025. The flexuous, fastidiously manicured highway unfurled flat and fast, scrolling in broad arcs past a quilt of golden wheat, purple flax, and bottle-green meadows. We broke for lunch at Kloster Schöntal, a palatial Cistercian monastery and extravagant Baroque cathedral.

The sun was now struggling to break through, and crepuscular rays streamed down like a celestial blessing. But chill autumnal showers stung like a wildcat’s bite as we sped west through Möckmuhl for Mosbach. I kept the traction control in “DYNAMIC” and “RAIN” modes.

The swooping curves and horseshoe bends limning the River Neckar delivered

Edelweiss Bike Travel group at Kloster Schöntal, Germany.

us to Hirschhorn—a great place to break at the hilltop castle-hotel, with a Rapunzel tower and a sensational view over the valley, carved deep into the wooded hills of the Odenwald uplands.

Edelweiss, wisely, operates a strict no bottles and throttles policy. I enviously eyed a tourist knocking back a glass of foamy Erdinger Urweisse.

Soon enough we arrived in Heidelberg and the Hotel Hirschgasse, an ivy-clad, rambling, 15th-century gem heaped with antiques. This being Oktoberfest, the town’s über-historic core was thronged. Every

plaza hosted a music concert (from medieval to oom-pah-pah and techno) crammed with beer-swilling celebrants served by Dirndl-clad wenches.

We burst out of town, streaking south on the Autobahn in a devil-take-the-hindmost dash for Karslruhe. I took the GSA well over the ton. When my throttle hand started to tingle from the vibrations, I eased off and watched tour leader Axel Allgaier disappear on a Triumph Tiger 1050, tailed by Perry on his 1078cc air-cooled V-twin. Then David Briedenbach flashed past on a hypersonic speed test aboard a 160hp BMW K1600 GTL. He clocked 250kph before his wife Jeri, riding pillion, tapped his shoulder: “Enough!”

The real fun began south of BadenBaden as the B500—Germany’s oldest panoramic highway—coiled sharply into the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) like a viper that had been stamped on. The writhing snake of a road required hyper-attention and a judicious, nonstop interplay of throttle and clutch. I kept my eye on the Ducati’s bootylicious rear end as Perry and Axel taught a masterclass in calm, composed mountain riding. I loved it—and so did the bike.

Superbly balanced, the GSA displayed massive athletic credentials as it powered effortlessly uphill on the switchbacks and flew through the fanged bends like a buck.

Drizzle and clouds couldn’t dampen our dopamine day. Nor even the dense veil of cold fog shrouding the gunmetal-gray Mummelsee—at 1,036 meters elevation the

Oktoberfest celebrants in Heidelberg, Germany.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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Schloss Linderhof, Bavaria, Germany.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

March 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

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literal high point of the celebrated “Schwarzwaldhochstraße,” acclaimed as one of Europe’s top ten driving routes.

Then down through tight hairpins to Freudenstad, and on through Wolfach and Schweighausen…over the Rhine and into France…and along the “Route du Vin” to postcard-perfect Ribeauvillé, nestled in a valley framed by vineyards—golden corduroys on the hillsides—and hilltop castle ruins.

Edelweiss had classified day four as a “rest day.” The three ladies opted for spa treatments and shopping. “Hell no!” the guys exclaimed as one, opting for our adrenalin-fueled “Route des Crêtes” loop through the Vosges Mountains. Our high topped out at Collet du Linge (987m) and the Musée Mémorial du Linge WWI battle site. Talk about an antidopaminergic! This somber and emotionally wrenching memorial museum occupies a rocky mountaintop ridge crisscrossed with rock-lined trenches, bunkers, and rusty barbed wire barricades.

Here the Germans organized their

defensive positions to prevent the French advance on Colmar. In the summer of 1915, more than 17,000 men died in intense hand-to-hand fighting, involving flamethrowers in trenches mere meters apart. I departed feeling melancholic.

“Today we ride through the Black Forest again, and we’ll have fun riding the twisty roads into Switzerland,” said Axel at our next-morning briefing. I hadn’t imagined the Black Forest to be so mountainous, so cut through by steep gorges. But back across the Rhine we were soon climbing through dark forests of fir and spruce on a tortuous mountain switchback that delivered us to Kandel—a wind-swept pass at 1,242 m, with vast views over the Rhine Valley. Then down, down, down at an exhilarating Daytona pace to Hexenlochmühle for cappuccinos and Blackforest cake in an old mill-restaurant festooned with Cuckoo Clocks.

Björn showed me the Gear Shift Assist Pro. I soon got the hang of this wizard gadget, enabling me to power up through the

Altar in Baroque cathedral at Kloster Schöntal, Germany.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

gears on full throttle, while deftly blipping the gas for clutchless downshifts into the curves. Plus, the GSA’s lean-angle-sensitive dynamic traction control tightened up the suspension in the tight stuff and whipped my back end into line when it started to break lose on throttle-to-the-stop exits. But Bob, ahead of me on a R 1200 RS and pushing hard to keep up with Perry, twice almost lost his rear end as he fishtailed going into tight curves at speed. Then he misjudged a bend, careened over the center line into a guard rail, and went down. Fortunately, no traffic was coming the other way. He was shaken but unharmed, and the bike sustained only minor damage.

We rode on for a picnic lunch in a meadow on the edge of Naturpark Südschwarzald. Edelweiss’s purpose-designed support van (driven each day in rotation by Axel, Björn, and our third guide, Mike Woltering) featured retractable shelving and on-board refrigeration. Impressive! We lunched on a King’s banquet: salad, sausage, ham, cheeses, sweet pepper, breads, fruits,

Above: Tour guide Bjorn Griebig on a BMW R nineT in the Vosges Mountains, France. Below: View east across Tyrolean Alps from Furkajoch, Austria.

March 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

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Snowy dawn over Wanderhotel Jägeralpe at Hochtannbergpass in Tyrolean Alps, Austria.

and wine gums and Toblerone chocolate.

Soon came the Swiss border and Schaffhausen, with an obligatory pause at Rheinfall—a raging whitewater spectacle (the largest waterfall in Europe) spanning 150 meters and tumbling 23 meters with a Harley’s roar—before checking into the Hotel Promenade.

We awoke to blue skies—finally—and the start of an incredible day. First up, Lake Constance, with its peninsulas surging into Caribbean-blue water. At Ermatingen we turned south to follow intestinal B roads through archetypal Swiss landscapes of lime-green meadows munched by cows wearing bells, quaint villages pinned by church spires, and Swiss chalets adorned with red, pink, and purple geraniums. The distant Alps drew us on as the scenery built like a Mozart concierto.

Beyond Urnäsch we spiraled up into the Alpstein beneath an intense Paul Klee cobalt sky. We lunched at Schwägalp beneath the jagged Säntis peak—at 2,501

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

meters the highest mountain in Switzerland’s Alpstein massif. While most of the tour group rode the cable car for a magnificent panoramic vista, I stayed below to photograph. The lead group’s tight-pack race pace was killing me! After lunch, I switched to the second group, strung out, with each person riding at their own slower pace. I could photograph each as they passed, then overtake them to await their passage further along the route. Coulda, shoulda figured that out long ago!

Above Gams we stopped to take in the breathtaking view over Leichtenstein—a mega-wealthy, pipsqueak principality embedded deep in the Alps. We seesawed downhill into the fairytale nation and within minutes crossed to the Austrian border. Benoit, from Canada, stripped off his Joe Rocket Ballistic riding suit, donned sneakers… then sprinted into Austria and back, to the amusement of the border guards.

The grandeur built in crescendo as we

clawed past ski resorts of the Tyrolean Alps.

Looping in sensuous curves, the FaschinaStraße snaked through long tunnels to deposit us at Furkajoch, a mountain pass (1,760 m) with stupendous views. Then down dizzyingly through Damuls to climb once again, on the Bregenzerwaldestraße (B200), through classic Tyrolean hamlets framed by sheer, snowcapped mountains.

Above Schröcken, a long, fast, banked, and curving climb atop stilts slingshot us up the final switchback to the Hochtannbergpass (1,679 m), separating the watersheds of the mighty Rhine and Danube rivers. The sky was thick with pewter clouds, ominously threatening snow as we pulled in to the Wanderhotel Jägeralpe, hunkered beneath the pass.

The next morning, I looked out on a wintry landscape, the ski resort buried beneath fresh snow and a charcoal sky. The GSA’s temperature gauge displayed 4 degrees C as we set off in snow flurries! We cautiously descended the switchback to Warth and the

Above: Edelweiss Bike Travel tour group in the Vosges Mountains, France. Below: Edelweiss tour guide Bjorn Greibig on a BMW R nineT in the Vosges Mountains of France.

Lechtal Valley, framed by serrated summits shrouded in wispy clouds. Warming coffee and light lunch awaited at Schloss Linderhof, where Edelweiss had included a guided tour. Inspired by Versailles, the baroque palace— the smallest of three palaces built by ‘Mad’ King Ludwig II of Bavaria—drips with enough gold to make Trump green with envy.

We were now only two hours from Erding. We sped through Bavaria, weaving a convoluted route between two major storms to arrive wet and elated at the end of a spectacular nine-day tour.

Professional travel writer/photographer and motojournalist Christopher P. Baker (www.moto-journalist.com) has written and photographed for publications from BMW ON to National Geographic Traveler and Playboy. His many guidebooks include Back Roads California: 24 Leisurely Drives plus five titles in the National Geographic Traveler series. A Cuba specialist, he wrote the award-winning Mi Moto Fidel: Motorcycling Through Castro’s Cuba and leads motorcycle tours of Cuba (www.cubamotorcycletours. com).

BATTLEFIELD MEMORIAL WORK Riding through Gettysburg several years ago, I realized I hadn’t been there since eighth grade. Seeing it as an adult made me realize this battlefield was unique when compared to all others in North America.

As the largest outdoor sculpture park in the world, Gettysburg has one of the finest collections of granite portrait statue carvings from the most gifted artists of the day. The layout of the Gettysburg memorials is not haphazard. When understood why the monuments are placed where they are, interpretation of what happened there becomes much easier. Gettysburg is also the most motorcycle-friendly battlefield to visit. Riders are allowed to park almost anywhere on the battlefield, it is free of charge to visit, and then there is the history of what happened there in July of 1863.

Interested in the battle and terrain, I decided to study and take the National Park Service Guide Exam and guide my students. Since 2000 I have been guiding high school students, friends and fellow motorcyclists at Gettysburg National Military Park.

A few years ago, I discovered that the National Park Service has a program at Gettysburg called the Adopt-A-Monument where individuals and groups can assume stewardship over a regimental monument in the name of the group. I thought it would be cool to get a bunch of

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BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

KERS RALLY

By Sam Booth #44259

history-loving BMW riders together and have an informal rally there where we could tour the battlefield and donate some our time to the National Park Service for battlefield preservation and restoration.

Stewardship responsibilities include visiting the monument periodically to clear fallen sticks, branches and trash and donating a day of labor at least once a year for battlefield restoration and preservation.

In 2014, I applied for and received the responsibility for the monument to Battery I, 1st Ohio Light Artillery, 3rd Division, 11th Corps, Army of the Potomac in the name of the BMW MOA. Two years later, I did the same and received responsibility for the monument to 1st Ohio Cavalry, HQ Guard Co. A&C, 2nd & 3rd Divisions, Cavalry Corps, in the name of the BMW RA. These regiments were chosen for what they represent to the clubs. The 11th Corps contained the largest contingent of German immigrants in the Union Armies. The BMW RA received the monument to the two cavalry companies A & C of the 1st Ohio Cavalry that served as a headquarters guard and ran a primitive courier service, much later performed by motorrad soldiers, to the commander of the First Corps, John Newton.

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The original idea behind this event was to get a bunch of National Park-loving BMW riders together for a weekend rally at the park and donate a day of labor to give back to the National Park Service which gives us all so much. The plan included no rally fee other than what it costs to camp, and during the event we would eat in town at one of Gettysburg’s fine restaurants.

Additionally, we would use the MOA Facebook page to publicize the event. In 2015 we had the first Battlefield Memorial Workers Rally. To my surprise, 45 people showed up. I expected about 18.

That year, the park had us tear down a mile-long section of rotten Virginia worm fencing set to be rebuilt by a high school group coming in the next week. Virginia worm fencing is not nailed but stacked in a zig-zag fashion. We finished the project well before noon and spent the rest of the

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Many hands make light work – and the smiles tell a tale of camaraderie and public service.

day riding the countryside. We felt energized working in a place considered sacred soil, and it felt good giving back to the National Park Service.

In 2016, about 30 people showed up to dismantle another section of fence in the rain. That year, we worked on United States Avenue around the Trostle Farm. In addition to tearing down fencing on both sides of the road, we cleared brush along the eastern slopes behind the Peach Orchard.

Out of 20 scheduled workgroups that weekend, we were one of three to show up to work—the park was impressed. I also learned that day that we were the only motorcycle group doing this nationally.

Other members of this informal group also pitched in to make to make our work

worthwhile. One had patches created for the event while another invited everybody to his home for a cookout. Last year, he brought his grill and cooked brats for everybody at the campsite.

This year the park put us to work on the southern part of the battlefield in the Slaughter Pen behind Devils Den to clear honeysuckle and small trees out of the rocks. Historically, this is where soldiers from Alabama, Georgia, and Texas tangled with those from Pennsylvania, Maine, and New York at the foot of the Round Tops.

Our work completed, we returned to the campground, and everybody began talking about how this event should be a real rally, where we would all meet up Friday, and I would guide on the Battlefield before

dinner. Saturday morning would be devoted to working for the park with riding the rest of that afternoon. Then on Sunday, we would eat breakfast at the infamous Lincoln Diner and return home with part of the rally fee donated to the Gettysburg National Park in the name of the MOA and RA. This year, the 4th Battlefield Memorial Workers Rally will be held May 18-20, at Artillery Ridge Campground, 610 Taneytown Road, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The campground has spots for RV rentals and separate cabins, but you will have to call their office to reserve a spot or cabin. Call 717-334-1288 for reservations. We hope to see you there.

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ON A MISSION TO THE MISSION: MONKEY BUSINESS ON BAJA CALIFORNIA

By Lisa Morris #205543 images by Jason Spafford

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A

nyone who knows me well knows that the thought of riding in sand sends cold shivers down my spine.

Thinking of sand penetrates every cell and seems to scatter molecules beyond the boundaries of my skin. In the depths of my mind, I wanted to believe my days dealing with sand were safely behind me, buried like nuclear waste in airtight containers.

"Why, pray tell, can’t I stay in first gear?”

I enquired en route to the Misión San Francisco de Borja, a Spanish mission located in Baja California. “I like first gear, and I feel a lot more in control,” I continued, conscious of concealing any “princess tendencies” from my argument.

Jason’s expression told me he wasn’t buying what I was selling.

“Second gear is a tad too fast for me, and I can't give it handfuls of gas in first," I persevered, instantly regretting not having voiced such thoughts in the safety of my head first.

Jason had countered with his razor-sharp rationale tens of times already, yet did so again by reminding me that over-revving the engine in “snatchy” first gear prevented me from going a notch faster on the sand when I needed to regain balance.

Of course he was right, and the subsequent silence hung in space.

Just then, an idea struck me that was so

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far out I had to repeat it to myself, and after I had, it seemed even more outrageous. The idea stemmed from a Zen story originating from the villages of Khun Yuam, a small district in northern Thailand, where the locals occasionally ensnare monkeys (Presumably for an entertaining distraction rather than dinner). The story describes how villagers chain a “ewer,” a bulbous-bottomed pitcher with a wide spout, to the base of a tree. Then, they fill the container's bottom with nuts and other food appealing to primates. Overnight, a monkey will invariably venture over and slip his hand down the narrow neck, grab the loot while making a fist. With his fist now too big to pull it out of the vessel, he's trapped.

The point of the story is that if you want to be free, all you have to do is let go.

For me, this story struck a chord partially because when I ride rough terrain, I tend to over-clench my grip on my handlebars. So much so, that my clutch grip has worn smooth.

It was now time to practice my new mantra, and if I could stay enlightened, it might just lead to “slowly, slowly, catchee monkey.”

I threw my leg over Pearl, my trusted BMW F 650 GS, and got going.

The sun was a crimson ball as it rose over the eastern horizon. Streamers of orange light fanned out across the clear blue sky

before spilling over the land in a deluge of amber. We were leaving the ocean behind, and a ribbon-like highway seemingly tossed into the rocks revealed itself. The sun glinted off of it, flecking an otherwise dry and dusty desert.

After dodging a swarm of oncoming 4WDs, we branched off the blacktop and onto the dirt track, immersing ourselves in a boojum-laden landscape surrounded by cactuses twisting as they reached skyward like hairy, inverted carrots. Wobbling through a half-mile of Jell-O-like, silky sand got Pearl onto the rocky road unscathed and me off the shaky ground.

If the desert was the monochromatic start of an old black-and-white film, the landscape had turned to Technicolor. Amid a verdant landscape of saturated greens, the cacti glowed against the afternoon light.

The scenery looked to be created using Photoshop with the saturation set to high.

The splendor around me forced me to control my concentration every throttle twist of the way while weaving through the visual splendor.

The trail was a song of an off-road route inviting me to dance to a rhythm of compacted dirt, manageably jagged stones, and a light smattering of sand. Mercifully, there were only a few rocks bigger than a tennis ball thrown in for amusement. Pearl never

hesitated to jolt my muscle memory, enabling me to slip back into a groove of sorts. Embracing the lumps and bumps together, Pearl seemed confident of the first step in her lead. I felt alive by my motorcycle's flair for emboldening me to take the reins in wielding her with artful precision.

She's the underdog as much as a dark horse, that one.

The afternoon passed, as I found myself riding somewhere close to my technical limits. I was in a heady frame of mind, buoyed up as my tires skimmed over the sand instead of drowning below its surface.

Then bedlam erupted. “Oh, my giddy ants! What the…?” burst from my lips seconds after rounding a blind corner.

A dirt-biker was speeding towards me in my lane, oblivious to the fact that anyone besides himself and his crew might also be enjoying the trails. I reluctantly shared a disturbing moment with the guy: no margin for his error and nowhere for me to go—this was going to hurt. Too stunned to honk my horn, I watched helplessly as the goggled guy barely changed his line of direction, squeezing around me leaving only a hair’s breadth to spare. Too close for comfort, chap—be a dear, and switch lanes.

That's the problem with luck. It can run out at any hairy moment. A trio of dry, rocky riverbeds encompassing stones the

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size of rugby balls stood between the mission and me.

“Okay, here we go!” I cried, as Pearl bobbled over rocks ricocheting off her boulder basher. Uncharacteristically, I gave it my all. Without thinking, I got into a groove, throwing my wheels this way and that, slaloming through bundles of rocks, sending up clouds of fine dust, and closing fast on the finish line.

Successfully zigzagging the rockbound course, I dismounted my bike. We’ve made it, I mused, pleased and perspiring. Removing my gloves, I could see the spike of my pulse heightened by adrenaline coursing through my hand. Shaking like a leaf, I laughed incredulously. Our mind-blowing 22 miles of undulating, curling track had led us to our destination.

Jesuit missionary Wenceslaus Linck officially founded the Misión San Francisco de Borja in 1762. With the knowledge that this region (traditionally referred to as Ádac by the Cochimí Indians) had a fresh source of water was all the impetus the priests needed to begin formal construction. The funds were provided by the Duchess of Gandía, a member of the famous House of Borgia, hence its name.

From its humble beginnings as a small Jesuit outpost or visita for the nearby Misión Santa Gertrudis de Cadacamán, in its heyday the Misión San Francisco de Borja administered to a booming community of nearly 2,000 converts. After the expulsion of the Jesuits in the mid-18th century because of the false speculation surrounding the alleged wealth, they kept from the King, the Franciscans waltzed in and took charge for five years. Their legacy was a sizable adobe mission church. When responsibility was transferred to the Dominicans in 1772, preparations began to erect the stunning, stone church I saw

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before me in front of the adobe one. The mission was abandoned in 1818 due to the indigenous population being decimated by the introduction of European disease— there was just no one left to proselytize.

As postage stamp-sized places go, the view is phenomenal. A necklace of roughhewn construction dots around achingly off-white structures, the outlying mission buildings and ruins that have survived perforating the cactus gardens and thick desert vegetation. Today's custodians of the mission include just one family (headed by caretaker José Gerardo), a paddock of working horses, a small herd of goats, two charming little dogs pining for food and affection, and scores of howling coyotes on the periphery.

Not a single cloud adorned the bright sky.

As the sun traversed westward on its afternoon journey, shadows stalked across the mission. Bands of burnt orange and pink gathered to greet dusk. Toads serenaded me with their croaking clicks and groans. A few pale stars began to appear scattered and twinkling across a bruise-colored horizon, their light hugging the heavens. I swung

gently from my hammock beneath the palapa and watched the mission settle in for the night.

Supernovas exploded and collapsed overhead, punching holes in the galaxy before luminously retreating into the next world. Here, from the desert humming with desert critters, I glimpsed a falling star streak across the sky. It was that sort of place, that sort of night. Jason’s face sailed quietly across the dark oceans of sleep, lit by a soft glow spilling from the moonlight.

I emerged into the new day astride Pearl with enough hubris on the first stretch of sand to believe I could do this. Where this exaggerated pride or unearned self-confidence came from, I didn’t know—perhaps the tectonic plates of my universe were shifting, having taken a giant leap of faith.

More likely it came from my plucky old bike. I didn’t dare look back lest to give myself a fright from whence I came.

"Rockeee AND sandeee!" Jason's voice chanted through the comm to keep my mood and motorcycle maneuvering light.

"Mr. Sandman, bring me a dream…" I sang in response through the shower of sand. I

ran the sight of it through my mind once more to ensure my longing to ride sand hadn't monkeyed my vision. Satisfied, only then did I surrender to emotion, unchain my feelings, and let my heart soar.

During a handful of short sections of trail, the path oscillated between loose and compacted ground to thick sand with no signs of relenting for about a mile. I could feel the intense concentration written on my face. I hadn’t catapulted or capitulated, which was comforting. Sure, I was more wooden spoon than gold medal, but between one heartbeat and the next, I fishtailed down the trail. I have to admit, I was amped.

Jason’s F 800 GS didn’t fare as well. Having pushed his luck by letting his drone battery suck the life force from the motorcycle battery, the former had left the latter worse for wear. Jason dropped his bike and then jump-started it using mine. Then it happened again, and then once more. His riding style was comparable to Russian roulette that morning: A stop-start game leaving him down and out before he even had the chance to start playing.

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The bike took a beating, as did Jason — parched and panting under an unyielding sun. Vertically challenged legs straddling a tall, quarter-ton of weight on a narrow front wheel gave him little traction, let alone much leverage in saving the bike from toppling. Instead, it swiftly sapped his energy by summoning enough strength to raise the laden leviathan up each time he fell. As coolant started to leak everywhere, I realized the remainder of this sortie was going to be a roll of the dice.

Squelching in his gear wet with sweat, Jason knew he made an error a trained monkey would have avoided; putting Captain Slow in front and letting me set an unbending snail's pace. Unhurried speeds were always a no-go for Jason, and I suspect for all other competent sand riders. Despite believing I was riding quite fast while harboring newfound respect for sand in second gear, my doubts began to resurface. We

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pressed on, determined to see this thing out.

“Lisa, you’re riding like an absolute pro today; I can’t believe you don’t need any persuasion. I’m so proud of you,” Jason said in a voice freighted with kindness.

As his spirited words continued, I wanted to grab handfuls of them out of the air and stuff them into my mouth, feeding off them like a praise-led pubescent. Happy emotions swirled around me as I smiled so widely I put myself at risk of swallowing my ears. Then, in a sudden reality check, I felt my arms tense up as I was about to lose control in a drift of sand.

Jason intervened, "Look ahead! Look where you want to go, and the bike will follow." Fighting a tumult of spiraling thoughts, I rallied, kept going, and staved off any fissions of fear. The best whiteknuckle ride of my life ensued, by the seat of my pants.

After my enlivening Mexican cocktail of

pitching over washboard corrugations and yawing through pillowed sand and watermelon-sized rock, I was present, perhaps for the first time all day. The moment was extraordinary. I realized that if I died at that moment, I would have known this connection with my life, with all of its errors and cockeyed, unconventional successes.

Deep in endorphin-fueled euphoria, a feeling like no other came with my success of dealing with the sand that washed away my fear. While not quite able to revel in the sand, if nothing else, we were no longer wheel-arch enemies. Inroads were made, and for all I knew, we had even begun to bond.

Sweat-drenched and spent, I cataloged the day's adventures against the countless possibilities ahead. My plateaued riding ability now abated, I took pleasure in knowing that, today at least, I had graduated magna cum laude.

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Backcountry Wanderings Thinking about terrain traps and tricks to thwart them

By Paul Guillien #179473

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INTERESTING OFF-ROAD TERRAIN IS

the bait luring many adventure riders away from the asphalt. While adding fun to our rides, challenging terrain can also slow our forward progress and even compromise our entire trip.

I first heard the term “terrain trap” several years ago while taking an avalanche safety course. A big part of surviving alpine travel is recognizing dangerous terrain features in avalanche country. While snow doesn’t generally play a role in backcountry motorcycling, we can increase our personal safety and enjoyment by learning to identify troublesome terrain and knowing the best way to ride through it.

Respect the Rut

A few years back while leading a group at the Touratech Rally, I crashed when a shallow rut was just tall enough to pull the front wheel of my F 800 GS out from underneath me. Boom! Down I went. I was simply riding too fast and failed to “respect the rut.”

When riding in rut country, I believe it’s best to choose a line away from the rut altogether while making sure to avoid looking

at it, as object fixation may pull you right into the rut. If your avoidance tactics have failed and you find yourself caught in a rut, just stay in and ride it out rather than trying use the sidewall of your front tire to pull you out. Focus on keeping your speed low, and you should make it out unscathed.

Never Trust Desert Mud

Being from rainy Seattle, I have ridden through plenty of mud. Heck, I’ve done hare scrambles and timekeeper enduro events where every inch of the course was mud. No big deal because Seattle area mud isn’t desert mud.

The most vexing terrain I’ve ever encountered on a big adventure bike is caliche mud. Often found in deserts and parts of Utah and New Mexico, caliche mud is a substance that seems to defy physics—how can something be so slippery and yet so sticky at the same time? Something too slick to ride on that packs between tires and fenders and within seconds, sticking relentlessly to every nook and cranny of the bike.

When it packs between your tire and fender, it’ll lock your front wheel and make it

impossible to keep the bike underneath you. With caliche mud, there are only two things you can do. The best option is to park the bike until the terrain dries out. If you are camping, set up camp and make yourself comfortable and wait for the road to dry out. It happens faster than you might expect, especially if there is a bit of wind. If you can’t wait it out, then avoid the greasy parts of the road and stay on the less-traveled edges.

Succeeding in Sand

Sand still scares me a bit, but I’ve become much better at it in recent years. The first order of business with riding sand is to make sure your traction control is turned off. You’ll need rear tire spin to create enough thrust to push that heavy bike through the sand and computer intervention just doesn’t allow that. I like to slow before a sand section and then get on the throttle just before I enter it. The most important thing to remember when riding through sand is to keep on the throttle — even if just a little.

Quinn Cody, of Baja 1000 and Dakar

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Rally fame, taught me to crack the throttle and rest my index finger on the front brake lever as a way to stabilize the throttle to produce a gentle, positive pressure from the rear tire.

This “desert racer’s cruise control” helps keep the front tire on top of the sand which is crucial. Ease off the gas, and you’ll find your front tire digging into the sand, and a bike struggling to stay on your line.

Another option is to stand. Don’t worry; you can still dab from a standing position—I do it all the time.

Standing allows you to steer with your feet, which is the best way to encourage the direction of the bike in the sand while turning the bars is a sure way to stop your forward momentum. I say “encourage the direction” of the bike is because it’s best if you let the

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bike go where it wants and focus on moving forward instead of trying to control the exact path. Unless the bike is heading toward a real hazard, stay on the throttle and go with it while weighting the footpeg in the direction you want to go. A trick for resisting the urge to steer with handlebars is to let go with your left hand. Believe it or not, it works. If nothing else, it’s an excellent drill to remind you to be light on the bars in the sand.

off course. The slower speed will reduce the chances of catastrophe if you hit a rock and staying gently on the throttle will minimize the impact. Another potential problem underwater is ruts. If during a water crossing you feel your bike slip into a rut, the best thing to do is to try to stay in it until getting through. Trying to turn out of a slimy, underwater rut usually doesn’t work. Personally, I love a good water crossing and find they are easier than they look.

Winning at Water Crossings

Gutting out Gravel

Water crossings, in my experience, pose a more significant risk to the bike than the rider, but can still be tricky nonetheless. I’ve seen more than one boxer motor aspirate water when going deep. If water depth is unknown, park the bike and take a look.

The most common hazard lurking below the surface are rocks, which can throw you

My least favorite surface is deep or loose gravel. There have been times where I encountered sections of gravel that felt like I was riding on ball bearings and that sensation of my front tire pushing creates an awful feeling in my gut.

When riding through gravel, the first thing to do is make sure your traction

control is on as this will help prevent your back-end from getting away while under throttle. In these conditions, I always keep the bike perfectly upright while braking.

Slow down before the corner, then just roll through the bend without the brakes. This technique is something I practice all the time and find it boosts my confidence on any gravel road.

Surviving Snow

I know I said snow doesn’t generally play a role in adventure motorcycling, but if you ride in the mountains in early spring or fall, you may just find yourself between a rock and a slick place.

The first suggestion is to consider turning around while you still can! Often snow gets worse the further you go, and your options will diminish if you proceed. If you must ride through snow, airing down the

tires can boost traction significantly.

Recently, while filming the Nevada Backcountry Discovery Route expedition, we found ourselves on a snowy pass making it necessary to air down tires to low double digits to get through. I also find it helpful to short shift and run a gear higher to reduce torque and increase traction and find that standing will improve my steering ability as I feel more balanced. On the Nevada trip some people on our team, including the editor of this magazine and a legendary desert racer, used their feet as outriggers sliding along in the snow to stabilize the bike, which allowed them to keep forward progress in the most challenging sections.

My favorite snow-riding tip came from my colleague, Iain Glynn, who once told a group on a snowy ride, “Don’t ride faster than you are willing to crash.” This is brilliantly simple advice in any conditions, but

particularly wise in the snow.

The other thing to keep in mind is that sometimes the fresh snow on the sides of the road can provide better traction than the existing lines where cars or other bikes have already been. Don’t be afraid to experiment a bit to find the best traction.

On your next ride, an awareness of “terrain traps” will help you identify problematic terrain before entering these sections.

Recognizing terrain traps before entering them can provide a significant advantage by allowing you to avoid them, or give you a few extra seconds as you implement a plan to deal with them. If you do end up getting bitten by a terrain trap and go down, at least give your riding buddies the time to take a quick photo of you. Your friends on social media will appreciate it.

www.iliumworks.com

Join the BMW MOA FACEBOOK page today! Get the MOA Newsfeed via Twitter for more BMW and motorcycle news – www.twitter.com/bmwmoa

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R90S photo Photo courtesy of Rebecca Canterbury of Boxer Metal

o courtesy of Rebecca Canterbury of Boxer Metal March 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

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FromtheFOUNDATION

FOUNDATION

Win a piece of history

OUR MISSION

The BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Foundation is dedicated to supporting motorcycling and its rich heritage for BMW MOA members and the motorcycling public by funding programs that advance rider safety, education and training.

BMW MOA FOUNDATION OFFICERS

Chuck Manley, President cmanley@bmwmoaf.org Mark Austin, Vice President maustin@bmwmoaf.org Tom Gary, Treasurer tgary@bmwmoaf.org BMW MOA FOUNDATION DIRECTORS

Ken Hall khall@bmwmoar.org Vance Harrelson vance@bmwmoaf.org Randy Logan rlogan@bmwmoaf.org Will McHardy wmchardy@bmwmoaf.org Shalmarie Wilson swilson@bmwmoaf.org

BMW MOA FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS

2539 John Hawkins Parkway Suite 101-111 Birmingham, AL 35244 866-865-1055 Ted Moyer, Executive Director tmoyer@bmwmoaf.org

By Ted Moyer #100360 I MET CHRIS CANTERBURY IN JANUARY

2002. He was the proprietor of Eurotech Motorsports and one of the largest advertisers in the BMW Owners News. A fellow staffer gave me a bit of advice, saying, “Chris likes you to call him each month. He doesn’t necessarily change his ad, but he wants you to check in with him.”

Like clockwork, I made my calls each month and chatted with Chris, primarily about advertising or the latest news in the motorcycle world. Nothing too intense, and our conversations drifted to personal topics. We came to discover that we have quite a few similarities. Chris married his wife Rebecca, an accomplished artist and photographer, the same year I wed my bride. He has two daughters who are the same age as my kids. His family spends a great deal of time outdoors in northern California just

like our tribe of campers, only we do it in the deep south. We both fell in love with the freedom of motorcycling and BMW motorcycles, although he started a little earlier than me.

For years, Chris and I talked by phone or email. We met in person for the first time at the rally in West Bend, Wisconsin. We caught up on the latest adventures, which motorcycles look cool and what might be next on the horizon. It is another unlikely friendship – a west coast custom motorcycle builder and a sales guy from Alabama – bonded around passion for motorcycles.

Fast forward a few years and Chris and Rebecca launched Boxer Metal, a custom fabrication shop that fuels their passion for BMW motorcycles. Chris is regarded as the premier builder of custom BMW motorcycles and has been featured on several

television shows about custom bike builds and the BMW culture. A quick trip through boxermetal.com and you get a sense of the artistry that he and Rebecca create at Boxer Metal.

Chris built the latest Foundation raffle prize, a 1974 BMW R 90 S. It is a 100-point, near perfect restoration. The motorcycle looks the same as it did when it rolled onto the showroom floor in 1974. Why a perfect restoration when your passion is custom bikes? When he pitched the idea, Chris believed the Motorrad community would respond to a restored R 90 S. Even with the cost of finding one of the most desirable post-war motorcycles and the lengthy restoration, Chris believed it would be a successful promotion for the BMW MOA Foundation.

As a motorcycle enthusiast, I get caught up in the beauty of every bike build. I pore over the images and I can’t wait to see the completed project in real life. There is also a stronger emotion at work every time we start a project like this, and it was triggered

by Chris’ statement, “I think a lot of people will buy a raffle ticket for an original R 90 S.” Just like that, it becomes personal.

In that moment, Chris is no longer a bike builder. My image of Chris reverts to the guy I know that is just like me – a husband, father, friend and motorcycle rider who can benefit from additional rider safety initiatives. I have no idea what Chris’ riding skills are like these days. As far as I know, he could give Marc Marquez a run for his money, but you will never convince me that that there isn’t need for additional rider training. If Chris believes a restored R 90 S can raise more funding for this effort, I’m all in.

I hope you are swept away by the emotion the latest R 90 S invokes. I want the pictures to take you back to the day you saw it for the first time in 1974, and I am betting those emotions will drive you to purchase a ticket. I also hope that no one ever needs the safety, education and training the Foundation provides, but until we eliminate every threat of a motorcyclist becoming injured or killed, there will be a need for additional skills training.

Thank you, Chris and Rebecca for putting your passion into this work of art. Oh, and even if you can ride like Marc Marquez, take a training class sometime soon courtesy of the MOA Foundation.

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mileageslaves

The throwback rider

By David Cwi #28490 THIS ONE HAS ME

perplexed. I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted to simultaneously mentor, protect and scoff all in one “conversation.” I probably shouldn’t even be writing about it. I feel that way because it is sort of like betraying a confidence of some sort.

After all, she was just being nice, getting in touch after reading an old article of mine in an old issue of the magazine. Turns out, she is fairly new to riding and nice enough to get in touch to let me know that some of my prose struck a chord for her.

Her email said enough to cause me to offer some advice and ask a question or two. Her response made it very clear that this newbie was a throwback to another era.

I warned her that I might write about her, and out of a sense of courtesy, I’ll hide her identity as best I can, but somebody out there is going to figure out who she is. I wager that after reading this our BMW MOA newbie will never contact me again.

Where do I begin?

My first bit of mentoring was to suggest that this rider get some instruction, and there are few better than Susan. She is still teaching and available for one-on-one coaching.

Susan, I am going to turn this rider onto you. When I told Susan the newbie just bought a late 70’s airhead, an R 100 no less, her immediate response was, “Does she understand that bike is going to leave her stranded on the side of the road?”

Yeppers.

We jointly mused about all the seals that are no doubt shot from

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

years of sitting around, and we wondered aloud if there were still parts available. I thought it likely that this newbie’s local dealer was not even willing to take it in for service.

I mentioned that I had sent the rider a Smurf Card, as she’ll surely need it, which prompted Susan to burst out, “Surely you are not going to allow her to join in a Raider Ride—she’s not ready for that.”

Nope. That’s the purpose of hooking them up with you, Susan. Let’s at least get her newbie skill set up a notch and then work on her long-distance acumen, but maybe wait until she has a more modern bike. But fret not, I also turned her on to the AirHeads, thinking she best find a community offering advice and support.

But let’s see how the newbie talks about her new bike.

“I’m very fortunate to have a comfortable bike. I’ve got a 1978 /7. It actually looks exactly like the one that BMW is raffling off this December, except my baby only has 23,000 miles (please excuse the bragging, it’s a ‘proud mom’ moment).”

“Mom” loves her airhead. I can remember what that was like. I do not love my modern oil head. It is a tool, pure and simple. The last bike I loved was Ruffian, my 1976 R 90 that I turned into a sport tourer via a Rabid Transit fairing and low bars.

That bike never let me down, but there came a day when reality set in. That happened on the annual ride to Daytona and Bike Week when I encountered my first flying brick, a 1985 K 100. Traveling at 80 mph or so on I-95, the K rider twisted the throttle and left me. I twisted the throttle and basically realized there was no get up and go, as at that speed you were about done when it came to accelerating quickly.

Later, he floated back out of the night, flipped up his shield and yelled, “Is there a problem?” It was as if I was a Model T and he was a Tesla Roadster. A new day dawned

for me as by then I had pushed the limits of the airhead and a new performance and safety envelope was suddenly before me.

But I loved that bike. It had a name. I touched Ruffian often because you had to.

Valve adjustments were frequent and generally in parking lots away from home, given the way I rode. Oil changes were often. The bike was as much a living thing to me as my cat.

“Mom” is not there yet when it comes to pushing the performance envelope, noting, “I have to admit, though, most of my riding experience has been in straight lines. I’m good on state highways but I’ve yet to go riding in search of twisties.”

This rider is for sure a throwback. It seems she dropped the bike--do you remember when you first dropped a bike?

Well, now she broke a windshield and was taught by a mentor how to cut the shield.

“You are going to do that with your highend BMW?” I thought, remembering that folks did it all the time back in the day. But listen to this: “He said I could just cut the broken part off and buy a new windshield next break. It was amazing to get to be there. I grew up fixing nothing, like too many kids from my generation. It’s just the best feeling to understand exactly how my bike works and know I can probably fix it if it breaks (provided I’ve got the tools and a manual).”

I read that and my jaw dropped, in part because it was so old school and “right on.”

First, apart from oil changes, the modern BMW owner is not going to “fix” their new BMW although there are lots of things you can do that are part of key maintenance schedules. This newbie is excitied to work on her bike. She continued by saying: “It’s such a shame that my generation can’t see the joy of fixing and really taking control of their things. It’s a lot of work, and it’s almost impossible to find a teacher, but it adds something to my life that is

joyously addicting. It seems like the more involved in my bike I get, the more I want to get involved.”

To make matters worse she went on to note: “I’m finally getting comfortable doing my own oil changes and especially setting my valves. I actually love to set my valves because it makes me feel like a “real” motorcycle mechanic. I’m working on tuning and cleaning my carbs. Hopefully I don’t sound too silly.”

I read that and wanted to put this rider in a protective envelope and keep her away from the rest of you. I was in full bore protect mode after quickly getting over scoff mode and needed, ASAP of course, to get into paternal, mentor mode. Then it got worse, or better, depending on your point of view.

My first salvo into mentor mode focused on the need for her to stay on top of her bike’s maintenance. I was also concerned that a dealer had looked at the bike—more on that in a moment—and went on to advise her about next level equipment, mentioning in passing the value of a GPS along with routing to manage fuel stops and otherwise get ready for being a high mileage slave like some of us. This was her reply: “I try to go without electronics. No music, no phones and no light up maps.

Just paper stuff. It makes it feel a bit more like an adventure that way.”

YIPES. Then came the piéce de résistance. As noted earlier, I asked about taking the bike to a dealer. Surely someone who knew what they were looking at needed to eyeball a

bike of that vintage. Truth be told, I assumed she had discovered thereby that no dealer was willing to actually deal with her bike. My own dealer asserted that my shop would not look at it as “most of the time they come in and you end up having to do serious restoration as something major is wrong.”

Her reply made me wonder if I was exchanging email with someone from another space-time dimension mirroring ours and by some internet magic now connected.

She said, “I went up there one time to acquaint myself with my local BMW dealer, and I found it to be less welcoming than I’d hoped for. Sometimes I think I get a cooler welcome because I’m a girl, and, unfortunately, we usually don’t know a lot about bikes and the mechanics, and it’s probably not the best use of their time to chat us up, etc. No disrespect to anyone there. I’ve only heard great things about their service and staff; it’s just not the kind of place where you can spend time, ask questions, and develop friendships. As you can probably imagine, with my bike selection I’m really enchanted by the 70’s shop model where you could go and hang out and, if you’re luckier than most, maybe get to see the shop, etc.”

O My God. She longs for the mythological, old-school shop run by an enthusiast who was trying to pay for their habit by wrenching and selling bikes. Few of them survived for long but the innocence of this rider is on full display. Lo and behold she attended her first BMW MOA local rally and had a ball and is being mentored and riding with other airhead folks and enjoy-

ing the camaraderie.

As it turns out I once met the person who sold her that R 100. He went out of his way to bail three of us out when we simultaneously had issues on a long ride in his neck of the woods. Perry Bushong was, at one time, a BMW dealer. After he and the brand parted company, Perry still maintained a repair shop that I am guessing continued that 70s feeling until he died.

Our newbie reports that: “Perry ran through the bike and updated a few things... double disc brakes on the front, electric start, added shock covers and lowered them so I can easily put my feet on the ground. He updated a few more things but I can’t remember what right now.”

If Perry Bushong sold that bike, it was in perfect shape before it went out the door and has many more years of service left if taken care of. More to the point, he, like me, no doubt wanted to make sure that bike got into the right hands. I let Ruffian go but made the new owner promise never to part it out and to treat it right. I bet Perry Bushong felt that same way about that R 100 and by golly, the right person now owns it.

“I tell myself that one day, maybe when I’m a bit older, I’ll upgrade to a newer bike.

I’m just so in love with all the many challenges of my old Beemer,” she said.

Perry is smiling down from heaven.

Enjoy the ride, newbie. Thanks for putting that Smurf Card under the seat. Folks today have no clue that there are even places to put things under the seat. Thanks for getting in touch. Maybe someday I’ll see you and your cut down windshield down the road.

www.edelweissbike.com

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

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lifestyl

mileagecontest

2016-17 Annual Mileage Contest results

By Steve Brunner #84292

Steve Ladd #195576 First Place Male

I’m quite fortunate to live in Florida’s lower keys where riding is year round.

I work for a contractor building hotels and resorts, so my riding is limited to weekends and holidays. Four years ago, my garage was set on fire, and I lost my

Steve Ladd

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

1975 R 90/6 and 1985 R 80 G/S. I’ve since rebuilt the R80G/S and ride it locally.

After the fire, I started looking for a new bike and discovered my liquid cooled 2013 R 1200 GS. I was so impressed with how comfortable and how well the bike handled that I started to take longer and longer day rides. On a typical day ride, I enjoy riding through Florida’s farming country, seeing the different orchards, sugar cane fields and cattle, as well as the different wildlife which may cross my path. On weekends, I’ve taken a few trips through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

After riding the Tail of the Dragon, I heard about the Blue Ridge Parkway. So, on the next three-day weekend, I left my house at midnight and made it to the Shenandoah National Park Saturday evening. That Sunday I rode the entire Blue Ridge parkway to the Smoky Mountains National Park and then continued on to the Atlanta area before heading home on Monday. I took my vacation in July and rode up to Washington State to visit my children and especially enjoyed riding through Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Washington. Hopefully, in a few years when I retire, I’ll be able to explore

more great riding.

I’d like to thank Motorcycles of Miami for the excellent job of maintaining my R 1200 GS and loaning me a 2009 R 1200 RT to use while my GS was having transmission problems.

Dave Hudson #99781 Second Place Male

Living on the edge of the Black Hills just out my back door in Piedmont, South Dakota, I can hop on a trail and into the woods and run trails for miles. Because the weather here in the Black Hills is mild, I can usually ride year-round. Over the last 20 years, the longest period during the winter with no riding has been about two weeks.

I own an auto body and repair shop in Piedmont, so running errands for materials and parts allows me to ride one of my many motorcycles for work as well as entertainment and relaxation. My primary bike is 2016 R 1200 GS Adventure, but I also have five other BMWs that I ride daily depending on what I am doing that day. On average, I can put on 65 to 100 miles a day and more if the day allows.

Several of my friends in the area whom I ride with also ride dual sport bikes, and we’ll take trips around the western states during the year, riding and camping.

I enjoy riding my various bikes any time of day and regardless of the weather.

Stephen Dollar #207432 Third Place Male

My R 1200 RS is my main transportation, and for me, there is no better motorcycle.

My commute to work and back is mostly freeway and a 50-mile round trip which also makes it easy to ride 100 miles each day as I avoid traffic and use different routes. If that means taking the long way, then so be it. Nothing is too far as long as I have the time, and I would rather be moving than stopped, so any detour equals more riding time and a chance to explore.

I did want to see how I would stack up in the mileage contest as I do spend quite a bit of time on the bike on my day trips. I try to limit my weekend trips to six hours away.

This way, I have the time to have lunch or something at a particular destination and then get back to the house the same day so I can do it again somewhere else the following day. Eighteen hundred mile weekends are not uncommon. Even a trip to have service done is a few hundred-mile round trip for me. While there is a much closer service option, Eurosport Asheville is my preferred dealer, so riding there is well worth the trip.

Riding is also my therapy and helped me with the loss of my feline companion of the past 15 years. I found I couldn’t take being in the house without him there, so I would try to find solace on the open road. While this does make it difficult to return at the end of the ride, my head is free of my depression during the ride.

My previous machine was Japanese, and while I am dedicated to maintenance, after 100,000 miles it was no longer cost effective to keep riding it. During one cross-country trip with it I had a complete electrical failure—too much riding in rain I was told.

Now I have a motorcycle that will last as long as I want it to and through any weather.

I have not had a single issue with my R 1200 RS and find the longer the ride, the better the bike runs. That wonderful sound of the engine is actually laughter at the weather, but I am sure all of you other BMW riders hear and understand this.

Wait, why am I still here typing when I could be riding?

William Cockerham #150782 Average Male

I live in West Virginia, a motorcycling paradise, and am retired from the West Virginia Department of Transportation.

I am blessed to own a 2005 R 1200 GS and a 1970 R 75/5. The GS is ridden a little more because it usually gets chosen for any major highway miles and most dirt road trips.

My riding is largely on the back roads of West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. A spring trip to Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground in Cruso, North Carolina, is an annual tradition, along with an annual road trip with the local CMA chapter of which I serve as the Road Captain. I love planning the routes that take our members to new places throughout Southern Appalachia.

I have been riding 46 years and started out on a 1967 Honda Sport 50. I rode Harleys

for nearly 30 years after trading a Kawasaki KZ 400 for a rat 1951 Harley Panhead while in high school. I discovered the joys of BMW in 2008 when my brother asked me to put some miles on his 1100 RT while he was working on the road. Long story short, I purchased his RT and have been a passionate BMW owner ever since!

Most of my riding is solo, I enjoy the freedom of stopping whenever and wherever I like and not hearing anyone complain when the road I have chosen deteriorates to a cow path! I’ve been married 33 years to my wonderful wife Shaun. She rarely rides with me these days, but supports my motorcycling addiction.

Occasionally one of my two daughters will ride with me, and both spent lots of miles with me as they were growing up.

I have immensely enjoyed being part of the BMW MOA community, meeting countless fine people over the years. Especially the members from our Anonymous book who came to my aid earlier this year in Blacksburg, Virginia, and a few years ago in Franklin, West Virginia.

Top 25 Male Finishers

MOA # Name State Year

195576 Steve Ladd FL 2013 99781 Dave Hudson SD 2015 207432 Stephen Dollar NC 2016 203190 Fred Barrie NV 2005 80636 Dean Mickelson CO 2009 83903 Michael Stock NC 2001 108441 Raymond Graber NV 2005 127557 Alan Henderson MS 2015 42362 Jerome Lubbers MI 2015 15441 John Salmon PA 2014 21336 Ken O’Malley LA 2015 164155 JD Darden SC 2015 96137 Stephen Slisz TX 2002 19539 Dean Sherick VA 2014 159480 Spencer Chapin CO 2014 87341 Howard Davidson CT 2016 201478 Jason Doiron VA 2015 79776 Steve Hall NV 2014 112242 Robert Vaughan LA 2013 160804 Craig Rice TN 2014 96448 Thomas Burull OK 2011 100338 David Bonner TN 2009 201417 Robert O’Neill NC 2014 119980 Rowan Schexnyder TX 2004 201555 Robert Dantinne PA 2015

Bike #1 Model Year

Bike #2 Model

R1200GS 1985 R80GS R1200RT 1990 R100GSPD R1200RS K1200LT 2016 K1600GTL R1200GSA 2000 R1100RT R1100RT 1984 R100 R1200GS R1200GSAWC R1200GSA 1992 R100RT R1200RT 2014 R1200RT F700GS R1200GSA 2016 K1600GT R1150RT 2012 R1200RT R1200RT K1600GTLE 2015 R1200RTP R1200RS 2012 F800ST R1200GS R1200RTW 2014 R1200GSA F800GT K1600GTLE R1200RT R1200RT 2010 R1200GS R1200RT 2003 F650GS K1200RS 2008 K1200LT R1200RT

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

TOTAL MILES 41,793 41,266 40,255 36,959 29,931 28,485 28,457 27,862 27,147 26,605 25,534 25,238 24,989 23,420 22,714 22,682 22,444 20,874 20,588 20,292 20,150 20,145 20,061 19,514 19,502

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lifestyl

mileagecontest

Gail Thorne #94496 First Place Female

Since retiring after Paul and I sold our small business, I have been fortunate enough to ride almost as much as I want. The problem is I have other duties that can interfere with my riding, such as helping maintain our property and raising poultry on a small scale.

When the end of the Summer Contest was near, I thought I might be a little short on mileage to even place in the top three, so I decided to extend it and do the Annual Contest, and I guess it worked. I always ride with my husband, Paul, who keeps both of our BMWs maintained so I can always participate in the mileage contest. Without his help, I simply could not. We participate in many long-distance rides with like-minded friends, plus we ride a lot just as a couple. Our travels cover a large part of the U.S., but especially the areas east of the Mississippi River. We ride to as many of the MotoAmerica motorcycle road races as possible, which takes us all over. Also, we get a lot of enjoyment from regional rides here in Mississippi and make a point to always eat at the “Mom and Pop” places as much as possible. We are fortunate to have some of the best food here in the South.

Gail Thorne

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

We have always been a health conscience couple, but as we are aging we are putting an extra effort on our health so that hopefully we can continue to ride for a long time. We hope to see our BMW MOA friends down the road.

Colleen Sepulveda Second Place Female

Living in Santa Cruz, California near the Pacific Ocean coastline and coastal mountains, I have amazing routes to take for a “coffee ride” or just taking the long way home.

I’m retired from public safety, so I can devote more time to my passions, including working as a California Motorcyclist Safety Program instructor, Total Control Advanced Rider Course instructor and trainer of motorcycle instructors. This occupation requires that I travel to various

training sites all over California. Of course, I elect to ride my bike! At the beginning of 2016, I was riding a 2010 R 1200 GS and finished the year with my 2016 R 1200 GS. I love to travel by motorcycle and ride everywhere—Costco, Laguna Seca, dirt roads, scenic roads, cross-country trips— my bike IS my car! Since I ride a GS, all types of riding are possible with just one machine. It’s a true Swiss Army knife.

2016 was a normal year for me. I travel for fun every year and this year I rode the Four Corners of the U.S. solo. There was also an Iron Butt Saddle Sore certification along the way and, of course, the BMW Rally in New York was within the Four Corners! Additionally, I have participated in the Three Flags Rally for the past five years. We take phenomenal back roads from the Mexico border into Canada. It is a different route every year and the roads are epic!

Top 25 Female Finishers

MOA # Name State Year

94496 Gail Thorne MS 2014 108960 Colleen Sepulveda CA 2010 126912 Mary Begley WI 2005 71278 Linda Babcock CO 2011 54089 June Huhn CO 2015 104544 Jodi Koller-Smee AZ 2009 182082 Debbie Gasque SC 1994 152871 Elena Grosenheider TX 2014 178600 Nancy Van Hoorhis TN 2009 112737 Jeanie Thurston CA 2013 202504 Jane Bixby VT 2014 178119 Kathryn Connell NY 1974 108252 Sarah Berg WI 2013 88703 Margie Kallmayer TX 2012 53580 Pat Barnes OH 2008 199397 Summer Beaulier WI 2014 58163 Bunny Swenson WI 2003 168664 Meg Russell MD 2009 107506 Belva Brunner NC 2015 177979 Gail Kunz WA 2007 91814 Jackie Brunken OR 2004 151173 Joy (Kuenzi) Zastrow-Mulcahy WI 2007 160806 Judith Trampf WI 2010 173108 Katy Heyning WI 2005 148945 Natalie Hilbert NV 2008

Bike #1 Model Year

Bike #2 Model

G650GS R1200GS 2016 R1200GSWC R1200RT R1200RT 2017 R1200GSA F700GS F650GS 2008 F800ST R1100RS 1994 R1100RS R1200RT F800ST R1200RT K1600GT 2018 K1600GTL R75/6 K1600GTL 2009 R1200GS F650GS 2016 R1200R R1200R F700GS F650GS G650GS F700GS F800ST 2007 F650GS R1150RT F650GS R1200RT R1200RT F800ST 2009 G650GS

TOTAL MILES 35,675 31,291 19,444 17,402 15,178 10,140 8,735 6,675 5,846 4,480 3,930 3,698 3,570 3,095 2,791 2,637 2,504 2,408 1,792 1,110 938 857 376 313 194

My husband comes with me on some trips, but I’ll go alone if he doesn’t want to ride along. I have friends who do local rides with me, but I also do lots of solo trips to visit far-flung training sites in California. I love the texture of the air in different areas and the various landscapes I get to experience on a motorcycle.

Like so many you who are reading this, sharing the joy of motorcycling with other riders is a rewarding part of my life.

Mary Begley #126912 Third Place Female

In 2001, tired of being dependent on others in order to ride passenger, I took the MSF Basic course and started riding my own bike. My present husband and I began dating that same year. He had been riding since he was a kid, so our time together generally included riding around the roads near Chippewa Falls and west central Wisconsin where I call home.

In April 2006, I purchased a new 2005 R 1200 RT and named her “Red.” The next couple of years were mainly spent commuting to work and school; however, in 2007, we completed a Saddle Sore 1000 and I became hooked on long-distance riding.

We both like to camp, so now we spend vacations doing just that, riding and camping.

Over the past few years and with our kids grown, I’ve had more time to enjoy this passion. I mainly ride on trips with my husband Jim, but often ride day trips alone and commute to work almost every day. In late 2012, I joined the Motor Maids to network with other women who also ride.

Over the last few years, I have placed in the MOA top 25 Female Riders a few times, usually in the middle of the pack. In the new 2016-2017 Annual contest, I didn’t plan to do as well as I did, but the stars were just aligned, and it worked out.

The 2016 season started out as any normal year, but included a Motor Maid weekend event in Cuba, Missouri, in June, a wonderful trip camping and riding twolanes to and from Santa Fe, New Mexico, where our annual convention was held in July and a week-plus in Arkansas in

September riding in the Ozarks. Also included were a few trips north to Duluth, camping on the south shores of Lake Superior and a trip to East Peoria in October for a preconvention meeting. Right before the MOA contest ended in 2017, I got in one more pre-convention meeting ride to E. Peoria, riding there on April 1 (Fools Day) wearing my cold weather gear and my husband’s big leather mittens over my gloves. I am blessed to have my health, a job with ample vacation time and a husband who loves to ride as much as I do.

Thank you MOA for this recognition.

Elena Grosenheider #152871 Average Female

When I was 16, I put $50 down on a BMW motorcycle. When my mom found out she had me get the $50 back and forget about motorcycles.

I started riding seriously about 25 years ago after taking a motorcycle safety course.

My first bike was a Honda 500 Shadow.

After several other bikes, I bought a Harley-Davidson Deuce. I rode that bike solo to Sturgis half a dozen times, and in 2004 and 2005 I rode the Harley Davidson Posse Ride: The Lower 48.

In 2010, I had a Harley-Davidson Road King, and my husband had a 2005 R 1200 RT. When I would take his bike over this curvy road to the grocery store the RT impressed me with its lightness and maneuverability. I started looking for an RT of my own and found a like-new 2009 RT. Six months later I sold the Road King.

When the new water-cooled RTs came out, I got in line.

My mileage contest miles include a trip to Glacier National Park. While up there we attended the MOA getaway event at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on the way home to Texas.

For me, I think the bottom line is to have fun. Every now and then I take in a track day, as I find they sharpen my skills. I am 69 years old and I need to know what my reaction time is, not what I think it is. I love my 2014 R 1200 RT and will continue to ride safely.

U.S.

All Finishers by State ALABAMA - 3 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 143779 Reece Mullin 2005 R1200RT 2016 R1200RT 16,543 134038 Jim Kalahan 2010 R1200GSA 2007 G650X 10,433 113981 John Zeiler 2005 K1200LT 2009 R1200GS 4,413

31,389 ALASKA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 88699 John Szajlcowski 2002 F650GSPD 1982 R100RT 79 79 ARIZONA - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 120767 Hal Korff 1997 R1100RS 1993 K75S 14,229 104544 Jodi Koller-Smee 2009 F650GS 2008 F800ST 10,140

24,369 CALIFORNIA - 7 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 108960 Colleen Sepulveda 2010 R1200GS 2016 R1200GS 31,291 183647 Ren Voss 2013 R1200RT 2016 R1200GSA 18,982 125972 David Swift 2014 R1200GS 2004 R1150GSA 12,885 105084 Fred Morgan 2003 K1200GT 2007 K1200RS 10,050 149040 Matthew Maclean 2015 R1200GSA 7,921 112737 Jeanie Thurston 2013 R1200RT 4,480 201084 Chuck Senior 2007 G650X 2,295

87,904 COLORADO - 10 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 80636 Dean Mickelson 2009 R1200GSA 2000 R1100RT 29,931 159480 Spencer Chapin 2014 K1600GTLE 2015 R1200RTP 22,714 25749 Sphene Harris 2015 F800GS 1998 K100RS 18,392 71278 Linda Babcock 2011 R1200RT 2017 R1200GSA 17,402 54089 June Huhn 2015 F700GS 15,178 21736 Joe Nesselroth 2001 R1100S 2009 F800GS 13,236 87821 Dennis O’Neil 2002 R1150GS 10,580 117080 Jeffrey Wood 2014 R1200RT 7,401 149103 Hudson Philips 2015 R1200GS 4,144 111135 Siggi Pflumm 2006 F650GS 2005 R1200RT 1,847 140,825 CONNECTICUT - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 87341 Howard Davidson 2016 R1200RS 2012 F800ST 22,682 97677 Rockwell Rookey 2007 R1200GS 1982 R100RS 5,626

28,308 DELAWARE - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 35164 Mike Dobson 2009 R1200GT 1990 K1 5,068

5,068 FLORIDA - 10 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model 195576 Steve Ladd 2013 R1200GS 1985 R80GS 130095 Andrew Dulay 2014 R1200RT 92589 Bernhard Echt 2007 R1200RT 75208 Roger Jacobson 2016 R1200RT 115384 Jim Van der Veeh 2004 R1200CwSC 95227 Karl Ott 2015 R1200GS

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

TOTAL MILES 41,793 16,820 14,736 11,063 8,941 6,971

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mileagecontest

6990 Frederick Christ 2015 R1200GSA 2017 R1200GSA 5,735 24076 Marty Pegelow 2015 R1200GS 3,174 61047 Roger Doyle 2002 R1150R 1992 R100R 996 132589 Mark Johnson 1999 F650 1983 R80ST 3

110,232 GEORGIA - 4 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 191403 Bob Sherwood 2008 R1200RT 13,364 144493 Dwight Johnson 2015 K1600GTL 10,152 152654 Erik Carter 2002 R1150GS 7,428 101254 Ben “The Veg” Lower 2012 R1200GS 4,927

35,871 IDAHO - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 155003 Todd Powell 2008 R1200GSA 4,090

4,090 ILLINOIS - 7 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 133834 Patrick McCormick 1984 R80RT 2014 C650GT 11,054 150408 Stephen Braam 2008 R1200RT 7,749 189844 Terry Mueller 2013 K1600GT 2016 R1200RS 7,664 177443 Philip Pace 2012 F800ST 6,902 117539 Patrick Klopfenstein 2006 K1200S 2,892 54001 Bob Ebert 2004 R1100S 2002 R1150RS 1,599 132833 Joseph Madura 2004 R1150R 2007 F650GS 1,297

39,157

INDIANA - 4 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 165632 Anthony Smith 2014 R1200GS 7,863 70691 Richard Greene 2011 R1200GS 6,556 183221 Robert Roudebush 2005 R1200RT 2,053 160634 Robert Nevitt 2000 K1200LT 1,808

18,280 IOWA - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 189688 Craig Porter 2012 R1200R 7,280 9162 Chuck Swenson 2010 R1200RT 2,483

9,763 KENTUCKY - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 163033 Daryl Casey 2011 R1200RT 3,500

3,500 LOUISIANA - 7 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 21336 Ken O’Malley 2015 F700GS 25,534 112242 Robert Vaughan 2013 F800GT 20,588 73831 Marliam Lee 1999 R1100RT 2009 F800GS 13,456 47646 Michael Borchers 2013 F800GT 11,758 136296 Greg Beck 2015 R1200GSA 2015 R1200R 9,553 26795 Larry Kyle 2008 R1200GSA 2002 K1200LT 7,014 10976 Paul T. Vegas 2000 R1100R 2007 R1200GS 4,897

92,800

MARYLAND - 6 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 130473 Jeff Ford 2006 R1200RT 5,028 125011 Gordon McCoy 1998 R1100R 3,642 156331 Richard Russell 2003 R1150RT 1999 R1200C 2,543 168664 Meg Russell 2009 G650GS 2,408 68961 George Criswell 2010 R1200RT 2,296 136450 Chuck Albrecht 2005 R1150GSA 1,635

17,552 MASSACHUSETTS - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 55708 Richard Muhr 2002 R1150R 2012 R1200R 4,755 83985 Tom King 1965 R60 2007 K1200GT 385

5,140 MICHIGAN - 11 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 42362 Jerome Lubbers 2015 R1200GSA 1992 R100RT 27,147 149080 Scott Auer 2013 R1200RT 15,863 44719 David Allgood 2011 R1200RT 2010 F800GS 10,010 43317 David Rowinski 1971 R75/5 2006 F650GS 8,169 74643 John Saazinen 2004 R1150RT 4,534 163995 Roger Van Dan Brink 2004 R1150RT 3,162 40525 Mark Radebaugh 1985 K100RS 2005 R1200GS 2,352 128677 Tim White 2003 R1150RT 2012 K1600GT 2,163 71449 Wayne Koppa 2013 G650GS 2007 G650X 2,071 199746 Bruce Urbanski 2000 R1150GS 1,774 9947 Paul Eisenhauer 2002 R1150RTP 59

77,304

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MINNESOTA - 10 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 150400 Thom Tieck 1995 K75S 16,958 67422 Jerald Heinrich 2017 F700GS 2010 G650GS 14,796 50299 Don Shinkle 1987 K100RT 1984 R100RT 6,914 166871 Tim Clifford 2014 K1600GT 2014 RnineT 5,908 41794 Thomas Bigalke 2009 R1200GS 2016 R1200R 5,587 78493 Kirk Brown 2013 R1200GS 5,468 148171 Chris Zimmerman 2001 R1200C 5,270 29264 Steven Knopp 2013 R1200GS 3,422 46567 Tim Frederick 2013 K1600GTL 1,783 179964 Michael Rippa 2012 R1200GSA 1,344

67,450 MISSISSIPPI - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 94496 Gail Thorne 2014 G650GS 35,675 127557 Alan Henderson 2015 R1200GSA 27,862

63,537 MISSOURI - 3 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 139784 Terry Collins 2009 R1200RT 10,935 152008 Bob Bond 1999 R1100R 2010 R1200GS 4,907 156059 William Jennens 2009 R1200RT 1,286

17,128 NEBRASKA - 5 Finishers

Bike #1 MOA # Name Year Model 115367 John Sinclair 2007 F800ST

Bike #2 TOTAL Year Model MILES 2016 F800GT 14,944

178262 JP Morgan 2009 R1200GSA 9,495 150502 Rick Harvey 2014 R1200GSA 8,791 110521 James Nyffeler 2010 F800GS 2002 R1150R 5,906 46562 Jack Boyer 2003 R1150RT 2,856

41,992 NEVADA - 8 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 203190 Fred Barrie 2005 K1200LT 2016 K1600GTL 36,959 108441 Raymond Graber 2005 R1200GS 28,457 79776 Steve Hall 2014 R1200RT 2014 R1200GSA 20,874 148188 Sam Bexon 2014 R1200GS 2016 Rental 16,635 146373 Grant Kapteyn 2014 R1200RT 15,791 89132 Ernie Baragar 1993 R100GS 2016 Rental 9,131 84582 Reid Brecke 2005 R1200GS 1,110 148945 Natalie Hilbert 2008 F800ST 2009 G650GS 194

129,151 NEW HAMPSHIRE - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 207512 Rich Ziegler 2016 R1200GSA 14,704 205864 Roy Kjendal 2015 K1600GTL 2016 K1600GTL 12,996

27,700 NEW JERSEY - 5 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 108259 Moshe Levy 2015 R1200RT 18,139 94539 Robert Rogers 2005 K1200LT 10,968 92994 Dan Morrow 2008 R1200GS 10,310 51993 John Strickland 2015 F800GT 9,870 185743 Tom Wright 2012 R1200GSA 5,055

54,342

NEW MEXICO - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 46627 Dick Cochran 1969 R60 2011 F650GS 6,458 205965 Jeffrey Clemens 2004 R1150RT 2,206

8,664 NEW YORK - 5 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 91270 Leo Griffin 2006 R1200RT 5,077 115454 Gregory Storey 2004 R1150RT 3,964 178119 Kathryn Connell 1974 R75/6 3,698 168183 Paul Springer 2012 K1600GTL 263 190128 Karen Springer 2009 G650GS 132

13,134 NORTH CAROLINA - 13 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 207432 Stephen Dollar 2016 R1200RS 40,255 83903 Michael Stock 2001 R1100RT 1984 R100 28,485 201417 Robert O’Neill 2014 R1200RT 2003 F650GS 20,061 149271 Dave Selvig 2004 K1200LT 2000 K1200LT 19,161 196619 Earl Black 2014 K1600GTL 9,041 84292 Steve Brunner 2003 K1200RS 2004 R1150RXTR 8,757 100004 Robert Stewart 1 973 R75/5 2014 F700GS 8,668 179564 Jeff Vestal 2011 R1200GS 7,159 136942 Mickey Mantel 2007 R1200RT 2007 R1200GSA 6,757 78384 John Moore 2009 G650GS 2011 R1200GSA 6,275 112433 Benton Blalock 2008 K1200LTC 6,153 191508 Adam Stewart 2015 F800R 1973 R75/5 5,754 107506 Belva Brunner 2015 F700GS 1,792

168,318

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March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

77

mileagecontest

NORTH DAKOTA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 205221 James Cron 1 999 K1200LT 8,018

8,018 OHIO - 6 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 65291 Doug Curry 2004 K1200RS 8,062 117888 Dana McMahan 2009 R1200GSA 2016 R1200GSA 3,921 28159 Donald Walker 2 014 R1200GS 3,363 53580 Pat Barnes 2008 R1200R 2,791 97716 Matthew Markling 2015 K1600GTL 760 100108 John O’Leary 1992 R100GSPD 1999 R1100RT 142

19,039 OKLAHOMA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 96448 Thomas Burull 2011 R1200RT 20,150

20,150 OREGON - 7 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 9734 Barry Larrain 1976 R90/6 2010 R1200GS 15,580 108366 Leon Brunken 2007 R1200RT 14,562 148075 Chris Henry 2009 R1200RT 2016 R1200GSA 9,978 159955 Marshall Neck 2002 R1150RT 9,629 154370 Splinter Wrenn 1979 R100RS 1981 R65 6,937 126884 Clarence Story 2002 K1200LT 1,211 91814 Jackie Brunken 2004 R1150RT 938

58,835 PENNSYLVANIA - 12 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 15441 John Salmon 2014 R1200RT 2014 R1200RT 26,605 201555 Robert Dantinne 2015 R1200RT 19,502 88715 Leland Junge 2014 RnineT 2016 R1200GSA 18,789 126153 John III Ferenz 2013 R1200GS 9,436 60972 Walter Halaja 2014 R1200RT 4,428 82893 John Ferenz 1995 R1100RS 2016 R1200R 4,344 116788 Philip Debski 1998 R1200C 2,569 8076 H. B. Pennypacker 2000 R1100R 2006 R1200GS 2,268 103931 Ralph Meyer 2014 C650GT 1989 R100RT 1,523 100041 Gerry Cavanaugh 2004 R1150GS 1,312 149458 Gordon Till 2009 F800GS 1,296 56066 Clyde Jacobs 2004 K1200GT 39

92,111 SOUTH CAROLINA - 5 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 164155 JD Darden 2015 R1200GSA 2016 K1600GT 25,238 131241 Jerry Barron 2011 R1200RT 15,780 126593 Brian Edwards Sr 1999 K1200LTwSC 2006 R1200RT 13,556 182082 Debbie Gasque 1994 R1100RS 1994 R1100RS 8,735 34077 Bill Gasque 2002 R1150RT 1 994 R100GSPD 7,582

70,891 SOUTH DAKOTA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 99781 Dave Hudson 2015 R1200RT 1990 R100GSPD 41,266

41,266

78

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

TENNESSEE - 9 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 160804 Craig Rice 2014 K1600GTLEX 20,292 100338 David Bonner 2009 R1200RT 2010 R1200GS 20,145 96663 Chris Marshall 2014 R1200RT 1995 K75 11,703 186426 David Kropp 1993 R100RT 10,796 75688 Robert Cooper 2006 K1200GT 7,250 138536 William Van Voorhis 2015 K1600GT 7,118 114187 Kenneth Martin 2011 R1200RT 6,267 178600 Nancy Van Hoorhis 2009 F800ST 5,846 194568 Michael Fowler 2011 R1200RT 4,605

94,022

WEST VIRGINIA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 150782 William Cockerham 2005 R1200GS 1973 R75/5 9,426

9,426

TEXAS - 18 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 96137 Stephen Slisz 2002 R1150RT 2012 R1200RT 24,989 119980 Rowan Schexnyder 2004 K1200RS 2008 K1200LT 19,514 182591 Mike Valentin 2016 R1200RT 19,337 99390 Larry Grosenheider 2009 K1300GT 2014 R1200RT 13,247 15902 Rick Kallmayer 2016 R1200RT 1980 R80/EML 12,572 124255 Jeffrey del Castillo 2007 F650GS 2011 R1200R 11,786 132375 Harry Jr Burney 2016 S1000XR 2011 K1300S 11,033 185891 Howard Evans 2011 R1200GSA 2011 F800R 8,997 103843 Eric Brubaker 2008 R1200RT 8,682 105901 Don Mills 2006 R1200GS 2011 S1000RR 7,780 148810 Lee Dixson 2009 F800ST 6,956 124646 Graham Littrell 2006 K1200GT 6,852 152871 Elena Grosenheider 2014 R1200RT 6,675 102059 Gene Ronchetto 2016 R1200GSA 5,607 142347 Melvin Wieck 1987 K75C 4,324 136417 Fred Kraft 2012 K1600GTL 2017 R1200GSA 3,509 34193 Andrew Jones JR 2012 K1600GT 2007 G650X 3,465 88703 Margie Kallmayer 2012 F650GS 2016 R1200R 3,095

178,420

WISCONSIN - 26 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 126912 Mary Begley 2005 R1200RT 19,444 193823 Dan Harjung 2003 R1150GSA 2005 K1200S 15,740 20087 Steven Lemke 2002 R1150RT 1996 R1100RT 11,336 102858 John Stoneman 2015 R1200RT 10,876 135671 Jerry Riederer 2005 R1200RT 9,887 46249 Michael Haye 2002 R1150RT 1988 R100RT 7,741 130656 John Ihde 2006 R1200RT 7,577 70801 Lee McGlade 2016 R1200GS 7,259 43498 Alfred Meronek 2006 K1200LT-Trike 6,037 150734 Bill Matchefts 2011 R1200GSA 5,382 200857 Dustin Beaulier 2014 F800GSA 4,255 149494 Cory Majszak 2008 F800ST 3,615 108252 Sarah Berg 2013 K1600GTL 2009 R1200GS 3,570 162912 Talbot Teboe 2003 R1150RT 3,188 129950 Jeff Vanderberg 2006 K1200LT 2,804 199397 Summer Beaulier 2014 F700GS 2,637 39094 Harmonica Bob Gramling 1994 K75RTA 1986 K75RT 2,564 58163 Bunny Swenson 2003 F650GS 2,504 206890 Bill Cochran 1996 R1100GS 2003 K1200LT 1,981 181807 Jeffrey Severson 2012 K1600GT 1,673 151173 Joy Zastrow-Mulcahy 2007 F650GS 857 148459 Peter Feneht 2000 R1100RT 754 82171 Jim Guthrie 2005 R1200GS 641 107916 Rudy “Big Ru” Baumann 2004 R1150R 1989 R100RS 399 160806 Judith Trampf 2010 R1200RT 376 173108 Katy Heyning 2005 R1200RT 313

133,410

UTAH - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 35099 Bob Mabey 2006 R1200GS 1984 R100RS 11,873

11,873

WYOMING - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 136538 Ted Rasmussen 2011 R1200RT 2001 R1200C 7,414

7,414

VERMONT - 3 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 150557 Michael Crossman 2015 K1300S 2014 R1200GSA 9,512 194076 Eric Rossier 1999 R1100RT 4,091 202504 Jane Bixby 2014 K1600GT 2018 K1600GTL 3,930

17,533

CANADA

VIRGINIA - 6 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 19539 Dean Sherick 2014 R1200RT 23,420 201478 Jason Doiron 2015 R1200GS 22,444 151945 Richard Peebles 1989 R100RT 2003 R1200CL 12,545 120697 Donald Burns 2002 R1150GSA 1980 R65 4,700 44061 David Weiss 2016 R1200GS 3,484 149701 Barry Defibaugh JR 2008 R1200GSA 2,139

68,732 WASHINGTON - 2 Finishers

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 166121 Leonard Kunz 2007 K1200GT 2007 K1200GT 1,982 177979 Gail Kunz 2007 F800ST 2007 F650GS 1,110

3,092

BRITISH COLUMBIA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 129934 Edward Von Euw 2014 R1200RT 5,587

5,587

INTERNATIONAL CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - 1 Finisher

Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 67656 Pieter Waker 2006 R1200GS 2009 F650GS 2,766

2,766

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www.alaskaleather.com www.bohnarmor.com March 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

79

lifestyl 80

jacktheriepe

Der Motorradflüsterer

By Jack Riepe #116117 bike can carry a soliloquy from Shakespeare, or that the puttering of an R bike is a surprise to discover recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies. A growl of you have supernatuan “F” bike was a plaintive cry for someone ral powers, and they to water it, so it could grow up to be a GS are not always the Adventure. A Ural simply wanted to be powers you would normal. pick, given a choice.

I was stunned that so many motorcycles Some supernatural had a story to tell. One “K1300” claimed powers are useful. Others, not so that it had never been above third gear as its much. And they are far more comrider became paralyzed around 162 miles mon than you might expect. Many per hour. Another K bike stated that its riders have them in one degree or rider used his machine’s fearsome reputaanother. tion to improve his social standing with I know a woman who can render suitable breeding partners. Many machines men into stuttering fools by merely had tales of elegance and history. An R bike slipping into her ballistic gear. (I can’t spoke of the day when all roads were “secgo into greater detail, as the long-faces ondary,” and what it was like to be with will draw their long-knives and purRobert E. Lee at Gettysburg. sue me in the Rider-To-Rider secMy question was, “Why were these powtion.) A man of my acquaintance, a ers bestowed on me?”

BMW R bike Fireballs answered, rider, can place IT WAS THEN I REALIZED I COULD HEAR THE “Because you are pure whole crowds in a coma by dis- MOTORCYCLES TALKING…ALL OF THE MOTORCYCLES… of heart, and not easily swayed by cheap cussing the oil he EVERY MOTORCYCLE…TALKING AT ONCE. chrome and tasseled uses, and the saddle bags…Because complex proceyou judge motorcycles by the purity and dure he follows when filling his tires It was then I realized I could hear the power of their square, or slanted engines… with methane. (He developed the spemotorcycles talking…all of the motorcyAnd because you understand that three, cial hose himself.) cles…every motorcycle…talking at once. four, and six are always more than two.”

I, too, have supernatural powers.

There were a thousand voices in my head The amazing thing is that I can hear a My powers were slow to reveal as motorcycles spoke to each other, about motorcycle, but I can’t directly talk to it themselves, and the manner in which each other, praising or mocking their riders, unless it is mine. This level of communicathey became evident was excruciatand mourning the days when they had less tions has its limitations. For example, Cy ing. It was at the BMW Motorcycle than 180,000 miles on their clocks. I thought Ubinger’s aging K 1200 LT pleaded with me Owners of America’s Bloomsburg my head would explode as these Teutonic for a drink. My first thought was “rum or (PA) Rally—the one where the temtongues all wagged at the same time. And rye?” The bike has so many leaks that it is perature reached 1,200º Fahrenheit then one single voice became the dominant perpetually thirsty. A light rain produces a and Amish apple dumplings exploded sound in my head. It was my own 1995 K rainbow smear that traces back to a half like bombs—when I became aware of 75—the bike known as “Fireballs.” dozen pressure fittings past their prime. I a strange sensation that would forever “Shut up,” screamed my bike. “My rider held up a can of brake fluid, and the bike change my life. It was not the tingling can hear you.” started to cry. of my extremities, especially when I The sudden silence was worse than the On another occasion, I was passing the mingle with ballistically-wrapped noise. And then it began again. This time, motorcycle repair shop of Shirley Johnson, unicorns (see line one in the second the bikes directed their comments to me. It’s a famed mechanic in southeastern PA, paragraph). Nor were these the hard to believe that the wild whining of a K IT IS ALWAYS A

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

symptoms of breathing an atmosphere of cigar smoke and rum in the evenings, when the K bike riders came out of the shadows and bred conspiracy.

It was something so unexpected and alien that I thought I was losing my mind.

This initial diagnosis was confirmed by other members of my club, the Mac-Pac, the premier BMW chartered riding club serving southeastern Pennsylvania, who responded by wrapping me in wet sheets and leaving me in a port-o-potty. Simply stated, I began to hear voices…deep baritone voices…thin, high-pitched voices… earnest and inspiring voices in dialogue with a rich German accent. Now, you wouldn’t think this odd at a rally for German motorcycle devotees. But these voices were overwhelming the conversations of riders.

GET YOUR BAGS

Off the Floor! when I heard a half-dozen BMW bikes screaming they were being tortured. It was frustrating that I couldn’t reassure them that I felt their pain. I have the greatest respect for Shirley Johnson and count him as a friend of mine. He is a man of his word and has pledged to kill me if I ever mention his real name in anything I write.

A point I have repeatedly made in my published works is that a motorcycle will never lie to you, nor will it ever tell you the truth. Dick Bregstein’s R bike still swears that last house he hit ran out in front of him. My K 75 known as “Blueballs” (with the rare Sprint fairing) was vaporized in a conflict with a minivan. Its last words to me were, “I will miss you, even if your butt covers both sides of the rear wheel.”

I occasionally speak to other marques, and I been a lecturer at Americade for the past three years. This is the rally catering to the Harley and the Rising Sun crowd. A woman pulled up to me on a shiny new Harley Davidson Limited Edition Road Rage Eagle King (or something like that) and asked, “Are you Jack?” Before I could answer, her motorcycle said, “Don’t even think about it, fat boy. Keep walking.”

Some motorcycles want me to give their riders a message. Gary Christman’s GS wants him to forego wearing the chicken suit when riding through Canada. Steven Pelletier’s GS wants him to know that he’ll get a better soybean harvest if he stops waving to the crowd and keeps the speed at a steady 13 miles per hour, which is the machine’s best soy bean-picking velocity.

Larry Ripplinger’s K bike wants him to know that it can sense the difference between the 87 octane he puts in the tank and the 94 octane he claims to use.

Marty Sluyter’s red K 75 asks why he only has time to detail everybody else’s bike.

Tom Cutter’s Prune-Whip colored R bike cries out for new paint, or for a UPS logo to give credibility to its present shade. Peter Frechi’s turbo-powered K 100 is threatening to call the police if he ever approaches it with a screwdriver in his hand again.

I have become the “Der Motorradflüsterer,” or the “Motorcycle Whisperer.”

Motorcycles tell me things they will not

share with anybody else. One Harley Davidson confided in me that it has custom silent mufflers, and that outrageous noise the neighbors hear come from the butt of its rider. A VESPA from Key West told me that its burly rider sings opera in his helmet all day, but only the female parts. And an aging R bike explained to me how an R bike rider could never get lost.

Apparently, idling R bikes left on their side stands will vibrate to the left, until they point to the true north. This is the kind of information that will make us all better riders.

These special powers take an emotional toll on me. I came across an R bike crying its headlight out. The machine was simply inconsolable. This was the motorcycle whose rider topped off the tires with hot methane gas every Thursday. It was Wednesday, and rider had planned to spend the night at Taco Bell to get the pressure up. The bike was terrified.

I will maintain a special table at BMW MOA’s Des Moines Rally, where for a nominal fee, I will be happy to tell anyone what their motorcycle is thinking. All “donations” rendered for this service will go to the “Brazilian Bordello Semi-Retired Piano Players’ Fund,” administered by the South American Witness Protection program.

The purpose of this fund is to keep aging writers from dying of thirst.

See you there.

Author, speaker, and defendant Jack Riepe will shortly announce his rally speaking engagements for 2018. Already booked are two national events and a series of regional BMW motorcycle clubs. Riepe’s new book, Motorcycles Speak Louder Than Words,” is the second volume of his moto series and is now shipping singly or in a set with Conversations With A Motorcycle - The Revised 2nd Edition. Find both at jackriepe.com. The third and final book of the series The Motorcycle Rider’s Diet, is slated to appear this summer. Fat chance of that. Christmas is more like it. Riepe has two writing speeds: slow and delayed.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

81

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Photo by Dawn Hein

2018 BMW MOA International Rally - Des Moines, Iowa We Need Your Help

VOLUNTEER!

Coordinating our rally each year actually begins years before the event’s date and starts with the site selection committee researching various sites before selecting the final facility. Then, the real work begins as the Rally Chairs begin their work to book entertainment, suppliers, vendors and the site personnel to make your rally a success.

While volunteering your time at the rally may sound intimidating, it shouldn’t. Many committees have many tasks that most of us can easily do, and when 1,500 or so of us lend a hand, great things happen. Many hands make light work.

In the days before the rally gate opens, a group of volunteers will be needed to help with sign making and placement or offer security in the vendor area prior to the rally.

Others are needed to help set up the registration area and the entertainment stages, to monitor the arrivals of members, to assist RV-ers set up their rigs, or to offer direction to camping areas. These are just some of the committees that could use your help. If you are able to help on the Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday before the official Rally opening, please contact us.

Then, once the rally gets underway, many hands will still be needed. Interested in helping out? Visit the BMW MOA website at bmwmoa.org and select Rally ’18 beneath the EVENTS tab for volunteer opportunities. Or, email Paul Ruffell, 2018 Volunteer Chair, at 2018volunteers@bmwmoa.org or the Rally Chairs at 2018rallychair@bmwmoa.org with your questions.

With all of us working together we can make the 2018 MOA Rally something really special. See you in Des Moines.

experience the journey

Is this Heaven? No, it’s Iowa It’s a great time of year, with spring training currently in full swing and opening day just a few weeks away.

Regardless of whether or not you’re a baseball fan, you’ll probably remember the movie Field of Dreams, one of the Best Picture nominees at the 1990 Academy Awards. Based on the novel Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella, the movie features Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella, who repeatedly hears a voice coming from his vast corn field telling him, “If you build it, he will come.”

The message consumes Kinsella’s mind, and he builds a baseball field, not exactly knowing what to expect next.

Before long, Shoeless Joe Jackson and some of his Chicago White Sox teammates banned from the game for throwing the 1919 World Series appear, eager to play the game they so love.

The emotionally appealing, feel-good movie stars Kevin Costner in what some believe to be his best performance.

Other actors include Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Burt Lancaster and Ray Liotta.

84

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

Passionate baseball fans attending this summer’s BMW MOA International Rally should pack a glove and a baseball as the Field of Dreams movie site is in Dyersville, Iowa, only about 190 miles from the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Set amidst the tall, picturesque cornfields of northwestern Iowa, the famous baseball field on the Lansing Family Farm is open

to visitors from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m. daily.

The farmhouse is open for tours from 9:15 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. and visitors are always welcome to play on the Field of Dreams! Ample gravel/dirt parking is available, and there is a gift shop on site.

For more information, visit fieldofdreamsmoviesite.com.

Reserve your place in Des Moines today!

Gotta get there

Discover Iowa’s Scenic Byways Iowa’s two national scenic byways and nine state byways offer unique varieties of scenic features, and much for riders to see and do.

Whether you choose to ride this route before, after or during the rally, follow the Mississippi River between Iowa’s southern and northern borders on the Iowa portion of the Great River Road National Scenic Byway, and you will find world-class vistas, charming river towns, magnificent limestone bluffs and so much more. Just a small part of a 3,000-mile- long network of federal, state and county roads, the Great River Road stretches the length of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca in Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico.

The Mississippi River, which defines this byway, is the ribbon of life for people, plants and animals that call the river home.

The views of the river are ever changing along the 328-mile route in Iowa. You may be looking down from the bluff at a panoramic scene or be right on the riverfront where you can dip your toes in the water.

One constant as you travel this worldrenowned route is the stories you’ll hear of the Mighty Mississippi and the nation it helped build.

It’s hard to escape discovering history on the Great River Road because people have inhabited the Mississippi River valley for thousands of years. Along the route, you’ll find the evidence of prehistoric Native Americans at Effigy Mounds National Monument in northeast Iowa and Toolesboro Indian Mounds about seven miles east of Wapello. You’ll also be following in the footsteps of the first Europeans to visit Iowa, French explorers

My Favorite Rally Experience

“I’ve made it to 23 MOA N ational Rallies why? Where el … se can a wom an shop for ge learn, laugh, rid ar, e and enjoy co cktails with ne and old friend w s? To have al l that AND 5, snoring men 000 serenading m e to sleep ea night—pricel ch ess! Cannot wait for the Rally in Des M 2018 oines!”

– Karen Cox

#55920

BY THE NUMBERS

86

Average July temperature

734

RV sites at Iowa State Fairgrounds

13,000+

Hotel rooms in Greater Des Moines Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet. They were followed later by immigrants from Germany, Ireland, France and Scandinavia who settled into the beautiful spaces along the byway.

Sixteen national interpretive centers and countless museums along the byway retell the histories of the people who have lived here.

The river has also changed over the years as people have tried to tame it, mainly for transportation. A stop at one of the 11 lock and dam systems is worth your time. Some offer tours, and at others you may happen to see barges carrying their loads of corn or coal. Learn more about transportation at one of the riverboat museums in Dubuque and Keokuk.

Register online at www.bmwmoa.org

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Covered Bridges within 50 miles of the Rally Site

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86

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

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WHENANDWHERE

Email your event information to editor@bmwmoa.org

29 20

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Map courtesy of

April 1

04/06/2018 - 04/08/2018

Hill Country Hangout

Location: Kerrville, Texas Contact: Paul Mulhern 210-279-6074 pmulhern@swbell.net Just in time for the famous wildflower bloom and on the doorstep of the famous Three Sisters. Two nights camping included, or enjoy nearby hotel accommodations.

The best roads in Central Texas plus motorcycle museum, wineries, shopping, and more.

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BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

2

04/07/2018

Mars Maintenance Madness

Location: Landenberg, Pennsylvania Contact: Matt or Tracy 610-274-1344 novacich@email.chop.edu Come and share that work on your ride to make it ready for a screaming riding season.

Why be slow and wobbly. Fix it right and keep it riding straight for your riding season.

We will share stories, riding lies and Maintenance advice whether you need it or not!

3

04/20/2018 - 04/22/2018

MOA Getaway Fontana

Location: Fontana, North Carolina Contact: Fontana Village Lodge info@fontanavillage.com (828) 498-2211 Join us amid the pristine beauty and legendary roads of the Nantahala National

Forest and mountains of western North Carolina for an event you’re sure to remember.

4

04/22/2018

34th Wild Goose Run

Location: Beaver Dam, Wisconsin Contact: Brian Justman brianjustman@kewaskumpig.com The Port Washington BMW Club invites all Midwest area clubs to join us for a noon brunch and festivities at the Bayside Supper Club in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.

5

04/28/2018 - 04/29/2018

33rd Annual BMW Motorcycle Motoexpo & Flea Market Location: Pecatonica, Illinois Contact: Earve Brauer (until 8PM) 815-962-

Detailed information for all events is available online at: bmwmoa.org

8911/Steve Frank 815-761-0048 rockbmw2000@yahoo.com We welcome buyers, motorcycle and accessory dealers, vendors, and enthusiast-sellers to join us for our huge indoor BMW MotoExpo and Flea Market! Vendors who register early get a free listing on our club website and enthusiast-sellers are welcome to rent a vendor space or sell their items on consignment at our club booth.

May 6

Louisiana’s Oldest MOA Charter Club

2018 Great Hopewell Road Rally

Location: Nelsonville, Ohio Contact: Sam Booth samrbooth@yahoo.com Join us in the Hocking Hills of southeastern Ohio for some of the best riding roads in the Midwest. Two nights camping, Friday and Saturday dinners, guided rides of the Earthworks/effigy mounds, self-guided rides, endless coffee, movies, awards and door prizes.

7

- Group Rides - Camaraderie - Discounts -

05/04/2018 - 05/06/2018

www.blackhawkbmwclub.org

www.gulfsouthbmw.org http://www.gulfsouthbmw.org/

gsbmw.secretary@gmail.com

05/04/2018 - 05/06/2018

The Original Mini-Rally

Location: Delton, Michigan Contact: Mike Hart (269) 317-9951 bathartx46x@comcast.net Located between Delton and Hastings near the Yankee Springs Recreation Area there are plenty of back roads to explore, both paved and dirt. Numerous camping areas with 2 bath houses as well as some electrical connections and rooms, cabins and bunk-houses for an additional charge - first come, first serve.

8

05/11/2018 - 05/13/2018

MOA Getaway Coeur d’Alene

Location: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Contact: The Coeur d’Alene Resort (855) 703-4648 There’s something magical about Lake Coeur D’Alene that’s hard to define, but it begins with spectacular Idaho sunsets, the glowing lights of downtown Coeur d’Alene reflecting across its waters and the wonderful roads.

9

05/17/2018 - 5/20/2018

European Riders Rally

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

89

European Romance Germany | Austria | Czech Republic

July 26 - August 8, 2018

15-day vacation, starting at $4,605

www.bluerimtours.com Call: 866-343-7623 | www.bluerimtours.com

Location: Burkesville, Kentucky Contact: www.bmwmcon.org We’ll offer a weekend of great riding for both the street and dual sport enthusiast.

Join in on the guided group rides both Friday and Saturday or explore the area on your own.

10

05/18/2018 - 05/20/2018

BMW Battlefield Memorial Workers Rally Location: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Contact: Sam Booth samrbooth@yahoo.com Once again we will be gathering at the Artillery Ridge Campground in the Gettysburg National Military Park for another weekend of volunteering for battlefield restoration and preservation for the National Park Service.

11

05/18/2018 - 05/20/2018

The 2018 Downeast Rally

Location: Phippsburg, Maine Contact: Cedric Harkins 207-415-5907 rally@bmwrsm.org Enjoy 3 days & 2 nights of Oceanside camping at Hermit Island Campground. We provide a Friday night chowder & chili, Saturday morning full breakfast, Saturday evening lobster dinner & Sunday morning pancake breakfast along with live music on Saturday night.

12

05/19/2018 - 05/20/2018

New Sweden 450

Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey Contact: Ron Cesaretti rcesaretti@comcast.net We are back for our fifth year! 450 miles of great back roads linked together in the tristate area. The ride will take place over the course of 2 days, traversing some of the best roads in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

13

05/24/2018 - 05/28/2018

The 49’er Rally

Location: Mariposa County Fairgrounds Contact: Joe Luthy 49erchair@bmwnorcal.org Mariposa is the gateway to Yosemite National Park and located on scenic State Highway 49. Rally activities include: speakers, vendors, food trucks, skills training, beer garden, poker run, 50/50, street rides, lead GS ride, live entertainment, Saturday

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BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

night dinner and the GS Giants!

14

05/25/2018 - 05/27/2018

The Great Chicken Rally

Location: Dunlap, Tennessee Contact: Dianne Albe rallychair@bmwmoal.org Grills are back and we are smokin’ some gooood chickens… Suggested rides will be available for you to explore the area. The rally grounds are the historical Coke Ovens Park and Museum that commemorates the boom era of coal mining in the region.

15

05/25/2018 - 05/27/2018

2018 Charter Oak Rally

Location: Eastford, Connecticut Contact: Chris Jennings nostnkncmptr@live.com 203-368-9281 Join us in the scenic shores of Crystal Pond at Camp Nahaco, Eastford, in the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut. We offer camping, showers, beautiful country roads and four meals (including our famous Friday night chili), door prizes and an excellent reason to get your motorcycle out of the garage.

June 16

06/01/2018 - 06/03/2018

2018 Land of Oz Rally

Location: Atchinson, Kansas Contact: Don Hamblin rallykcbmwmc@gmail.com An even better rally value than ever in the best kept riding secret in the midwest!

Shaded camping with lake views, Chili ’til gone Friday, KC BBQ Saturday before the live dance music.

17

06/01/2018 - 06/03/2018

MOA Getaway Cedar Breaks

Location: Brian Head, Utah Contact: Cedar Breaks Lodge ushotels@diamondresorts.com (435) 677-3000 Surrounded by the majestic canyons, rock formations and rugged landscape of southwestern Utah, Brian Head is a motorcyclist’s dream with miles of roads most riders can only dream of.

18

06/08/2018 -06/10/2018

16th Annual Laurel Highlands

BMW Riders Campout Location: Somerset, Pennsylvania Contact: Jason Kaplitz gsjay@kaplitz.com 814-615-9138 Friday evening enjoy Gourmet Dump Stew (bring a can or two to add to the pot), hotdogs and snacks til their gone. Morning Coffee & tea. Saturday Catered dinner, tons of door prizes. Hearty send-off breakfast Sunday morning! Pavilion, picnic tables, hot showers, campfires allowed-wood provided! Motels & Restaurants nearby. Sat. night campground entertainment! There is great riding in any direction with many selfguided tours available.

19

06/15/2018 -06/17/2018

MOA Getaway Grand Targhee

Location: Alta, Wyoming Contact: Grand Targhee Resort info@grandtarghee.com (307) 353-2300 Join us at the Grand Targhee Resort and experience some of Americas most scenic roads and legendary national parks including Yellowstone and Grand Teton as well as the famed Antler Arches in Jackson, Wyoming.

20

06/21/2018 -06/24/2018

Touratech Rally West

Location: Plain, Washington Contact: www.touratechrally.com Please check the website for more updates.

21

06/24/2018 -06/30/2018

Appalachian Mountains & Music Motorcycle Tour Location: Front Royal, Virginia Contact: Tamela Rich tamela@tamelarich.com This is a luxury tour that includes accommodations, meals and two private bluegrass concerts—one by Wayne Henderson! The itinerary celebrates Southern Appalachia’s rich history, it’s fusion of cultures and cuisines, and it’s oral storytelling heritage in Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

22

06/29/2018 -07/01/2018

BMWRO Chief Joseph Rally

Location: John Day, Oregon Contact: Bob Metzger 608-642-1186 bmwro.pres@gmail.com Enjoy the friendly confines of the Grant County Fairgrounds in the heart of central

Oregon. With tent and RV camping available, enjoy daily guided and nonguided group rides, catered dinners, breakfasts and a beer garden as well as evening bonfires.

July 23

7/12/2018 – 7/15/2018

BMW MOA International Rally

Location: Des Moines, Iowa Contact: Brian Hinton 2018rallychair@bmwmoa.org A beautiful rally site, wonderfully scenic roads and awesome area attractions welcome rally goers at the 46th annual BMW MOA International Rally this summer in Des Moines, Iowa. We look forward to seeing you there.

24

Rally

07/19/2018 - 07/21/2018

47th Annual Top O’ The Rockies

Location: Paonia, Colorado Contact: Carl Thomte rcarloski@msn.com The area offers some of the best riding in the state both on and off road. There are three National Parks within a day’s ride from rally headquarters. Enjoy three nights of shaded grassy camping, Saturday night dinner, two nights of live entertainment in the beer garden, free wifi and endless coffee and tea. Food vendors and showers are on site and restaurants and motels are walking distance from the rally central at the teen center located in the middle of the park.

25

www.motoadventours.com

07/19/2018 - 07/22/2018

2018 Cascade Country Rendezvous and GS Rally by BestRest Location: Republic, Washington Contact: Dan Muir rallymaster@wsbmwr.org Join the Washington State BMW Riders and BestRest Products at the Ferry County Fairgrounds in Republic WA. Guided off-road and road rides, seminars, dirt riding training in one of the best riding locations in the Northwest. More details can be found at www.wsbmwr.org and bestrestproducts. com.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

91

Touring Sport BMW 1431 Laurens Rd Greenville, SC 29607-2340 864-232-2269 www.touringsport.com

www.touringsport.com

August 08/04/2018

26 19th Annual 100,000 Foot Ride Location: Lakewood, Colorado Contact: David Kosak 720-810-2479 davidkosak2937@gmail.com This ride is designed to take you over enough mountain passes in a day to equal 100,000 feet. This accomplishment is not available anywhere else in North America and perhaps the world. The 100,000 Foot Ride combines some of the best motorcycle roads and stunning scenery the state of Colorado has to offer.

27

08/10/2018 - 08/12/2018

41st Annual Daniel Boone Rally

Location: Boone, North Carolina Contact: John Olsakovsky 704-577-4512 rally@carolinasbmwmoa.org Enjoy some of the best motorcycle roads on the East side of the Mississippi River. With three states in easy distance, ride the Blue Ridge Parkway and High Country of North Carolina, try the roads in Southwest Virginia and Northeastern Tennessee and try out a variety of challenging and fun GS rides, all in easy distance to the campgrounds.

08/16/2018 -08/19/2018

28 Touratech Rally East

Location: Huntingdon, Pennsylvania Contact: www.touratechrally.com Please check website for more information.

08/16/2018 - 08/19/2018

29 Nakusp Hotsprings Rally Location: Nakusp, British Columbia Contact: Robert Tetrault nakusprally@beeceebeemers.com The Nakusp municipal campground is a beautiful location nestled right in the town of Nakusp, near amenities, restaurants and shopping. The area provides both on and off-road riding experiences. Take a dip in the lake or soak in the Hotsprings after a fantastic day of riding.

08/17/2018 - 08/19/2018

30 MOA Getaway

Eureka Springs

Location: Eureka Springs, Arkansas Contact: Inn of the Ozarks (479) 253-9768 info@innoftheozarks.com

92

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

Nestled in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas and surrounded by pristine rivers and lakes, Eureka Springs is known for its healing waters as well as ribbons of highway twisting around majestic bluffs to reveal the area’s breathtaking scenery.

31

08/24/2018 - 08/26/2018

MOA Getaway Copper Mountain

Location: Copper Mountain, Colorado Contact: Copper Mountain Resort (888) 760-7561 Come to colorful Colorado to ride some of America’s most breathtaking stretches of the Rocky Mountains. For some, these spectacular mountain passes and canyons represent motorcycling nirvana.

September 32

09/07/2018 - 09/09/2018

MOA Getaway Pine Mountain

Location: Pineville, Kentucky Contact: Pine Mountain State Resort rita.jackson-edmondson@ky.gov (606) 337-3066 Set in the Kentucky Ridge State Forest and surrounded by mountains, this secluded resort offers peace and tranquility while being the perfect place to get away for a weekend of fun and great riding.

33

09/07/2018 - 09/09/2018

MOA Getaway Sedona

Location: Sedona, Arizona Contact: Poco Diablo Resort reservations@pocodiablo.com (928)282-7333 Surrounded by red-rock buttes, steep canyon walls and lush pine forests, the Sedona area offers some of the most scenic roads of the southwest taking riders through postcard-perfect rock formations and incredible landscape.

34

Rally

09/07/2018 - 09/09/2018

36th Annual Green Mountain

Location: Goshen, Vermont Contact: Eric Rossier ebryantrossier@gmail.com Come join us to carve the sweepers and streamside shaded twisties of Vermont.

Enjoy cool mountain air as you soak up bluegrass Friday night. Dine comfortably on home-cooked meals in the screened hall, or fire-lit pavillion. Self guided gap rides and tons of gravel roads in and near National Forest.

35

Bash

09/14/2018 - 09/16/2018

33rd Annual Autumn Beemer

Location: Quincy, California Contact: bashinfo@comcast.net 1-925-209-1066 Come check out the famous CCBR coffee, our Beer Garden, 2 nights of camping w/ early camping available, a Saturday night BBQ, two Continental breakfasts, a GS ride, a poker run, vendors and speakers. RVs and leashed pets are welcome and there’s great camping on the grass along with hot showers.

09/14/2018 - 09/16/2018

36 Purity Spring Rally

Location: East Madison, New Hampshire Contact: www.gsbmwr.org Come and join us in the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire for our 27th annual rally. You can choose to camp, stay in a cabin (cold water), or stay in a hotel room.

Camping is on a level grassy field and hot showers are a short walk from the camping and cabin area.

37

09/14/2018 - 09/16/2018

MOA Getaway Jay Peak

Location: Jay, Vermont Contact: Jay Peak Resort (802) 988-2611 info@jaypeakresort.com Ride the deliciously winding roads through lush topography that only God could have created. Experience Green Mountain with its rushing streams and working farms so picturesque every photograph taken becomes a picture postcard.

09/21/2018 - 09/23/2018

38 15th Thunder Mountain

Rendezvous

Location: Hotchkiss, Colorado Contact: Kerry Dolan 970-985-1274 dolankm@gmail.com Our rally offers great camaraderie, a beautiful venue, and the greatest riding in Colorado. It also helps us raise money to support motorcycle safety and the local Booster

Club. Our low elevation venue includes a large meeting hall, restrooms with showers, plenty of grassy camping and the convenience of walking to downtown restaurants, stores and motels.

09/21/2018 - 09/23/2018

39 Hoosier Beemer Rally

Location: North Vernon, Indiana Contact: Jeff Kernen 812-801-1327 jrkernen@yahoo.com Friday night includes a gourmet Hot Dog roast as well as Live bluegrass music and Saturday evening we’ll have a catered meal and give away door prizes. Come ride some of the best roads in southern Indiana and enjoy some great fellowship at the same time!

www.epmwilbers.com

09/21/2018 - 09/23/2018

40 MOA Getaway Tomah

Location: Tomah, Wisconsin Contact: Cranberry Country Lodge (608) 374-2801 Experience a unique combination of quiet Midwest charm in an area untouched by glaciers. This area of southwestern Wisconsin is known by deeply carved river valleys, lush forests and some of the best riding in the region.

www.pradisemotorcycletours.co.nz

October 41

10/12/2018 - 10/14/2018

43rd Falling Leaf Rally

Location: Potosi, Missouri Contact: Bill Haugen rally@gatewayriders.com The St. Louis Gateway Riders welcome you to the foothills of the Ozarks, offering exciting riding for road and dual sports, and beautiful Fall colors.

November 42

11/09/2018 - 11/11/2018

MOA Getaway Texas

Location: Kerrville, Texas Contact: Y. O. Ranch Hotel (877) 967-3767 Nestled in the heart of Texas Hill Country and full of cowboy spirit, riding this part of the state provides spectacular vistas of wildflowers and sun-kissed rivers over wonderfully rolling hills on the best roads this state offers.

www.euromotoelectrics.com

March 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

93

THE DARIEN JACKET “Simply the best stuff on the planet...”

-Review by Brent

2017 .

YOUR GEAR YOUR FIT.

.

YOUR RIDE

5/15/17

AES_2017

12:16 PM

New gear, downloadable catalog & more specials online at:

Small.indd

1

www.aerostich.com/on

aerostich.com/on

Photo: Pedro Saldarriaga

©2018

aero bmwon 3 2018.indd 1

www.ayresadventures.com

1/9/18 1:50 PM

Canyon to Endless Mountains BMW Riders Association Rally Wellsboro, Pennsylvania July 19-22, 2018

You can be here, too!

Register at www.bmwra.org $40 for members / $50 for non-members

After Des Moines, ride east to that other rally!

BMWRA_MOA_ON_Ad.indd 1

1/20/18 4:02 PM

Join the BMW MOA FACEBOOK page today! Get the MOA Newsfeed via Twitter for more BMW and motorcycle news – www.twitter.com/bmwmoa

94

BMW OWNERS NEWS March 2018

advertiserindex Adriatic Moto Tours................................... 35 ADV Depot.................................................... 82 Adventure New Zealand Tours............. 79 AeroFlow....................................................... 82 Aerostich-RiderWearHouse.................... 94 Alaska Leather............................................. 79 Alaska Motorcycle Adventures............. 70 Americade.................................................... 17 Ayres Adventures....................................... 94 Backcountry Discovery Routes............. 87 Beemer Boneyard...................................... 25 Beemer Shop, The...................................... 67 Best Rest Products..................................... 70 Bill McGovern CPA..................................... 70 Blackhawk BMW Club.............................. 89 BMW MOA Foundation............................ 64 Blue Rim Tours............................................. 89 BMW Performance Center...................... 86 Bob’s BMW.......................................................5 Bohn Armor........................................... 25, 79 Boxer Works Service.................................. 37 British Motorcycle Gear........................... 25 BullRack......................................................... 81 Capital Cycle................................................ 37 Clearwater Lights....................................... 77 Colorado Tourbike Rentals..................... 36

Corbin Pacific............................................... 27 Cyclenutz....................................................... 37 DMC Sidecars............................................... 86 Don’t Want A Pickle................................... 82 Dubbeju Motorcycle Rentals................. 37 Edelweiss Bike Travel................................ 69 EPM Hyper Pro..................................... 25, 67 Euro Moto Electrics................................... 93 Geza Gear...................................................... 17 Gulf South BMW Club............................... 89 Helmet Sun Blocker................................... 70 HEX-ezCAN................................................... 35 Ilium Works................................................... 63 IMTBIKE TOURS................................... 17, 67 Kermit Chair Company............................. 37 LD Comfort................................................... 36 Legal Speeding Enterprises................... 25 MachineartMoto........................................ 25 Michelin Tire................................................. 23 MOA Gear Shop.......................................... 71 MOA Member Benefits............................ 83 Morton’s BMW............................................. 37 Moto Aventura............................................ 36 Moto-bins..................................................... 36 Moto Skiveez............................................... 36 Motoadventours........................................ 91

MotoDiscovery............................................ 70 Motonation..................................................BC Motorcycle Relief Project........................ 76 Motorrad Elektrik....................................... 79 Mountain Master Truck Equipment...... 81 MTA Distributing/Olympia Moto Sports..IFC On The Level Magazine............................. 94 Overseas Speedometer........................... 70 Palo Alto Speedometer............................ 36 Parabellum................................................... 70 Paradise Motorcycle Tours...................... 93 Progressive Insurance.............................. 11 Ray Atwood Cycles.................................... 82 Redverz.......................................................... 35 Re-Psycle BMW Parts................................ 67 Rider Magazine............................................ 91 Russel Cycle Products............................... 87 Scenic Wheels Motorcycle Tours.......... 86 Stop ‘n Go...................................................... 36 Suburban Machinery................................ 37 TEXA USA...................................................... 27 Touring Sport BMW................................... 91 Twisted Throttle......................................1, 35 Weiser Technik...............................................9 Wilbers USA........................................... 17, 93 Ztechnik......................................................... 31

BMW ON (ISSN:1080-5729) (USPS: 735-590) (BMW Owners News) is published monthly by BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Inc., 640 S. Main Street, Suite 201, Greenville, SC 29601. Periodicals postage paid at Pewaukee, Wisconsin and additional mailing offices. Opinions and positions stated in materials/articles herein are those of the authors and not by the fact of publication necessarily those of BMW MOA; publication of advertising material is not an endorsement by BMW MOA of the advertised product or service. The material is presented as information for the reader. BMW MOA does not perform independent research on submitted articles or advertising.

POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO BMW ON, 640 S. Main Street, Suite 201, Greenville, SC 29601 © 2018 by BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Inc. All information furnished herein is provided by and for the members of BMW Motorcycle Owners of America, Inc. Unless otherwise stated, none of the information (including technical material) printed herein necessarily bears endorsement or approval by BMW MOA, BMW NA, the factory or the editors. The editors and publisher cannot be held liable for its accuracy. Printed in the USA. Volume 48, Number 3.

March 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

95

talelight

No Curves Ahead

Sunrise on Monument Valley.

Photo by Mark Janda #198513

96

BMW OWNERS NEWS  March 2018

www.five-gloves.com

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BMW OWNERS NEWS – A PUBLICATION OF THE BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA

MARCH 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS www.bmwmoa.org

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