BMW Owners News November 2018

X

E-TE RE2GOR U T N E V AD $495

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

Only Sidi boots purchased from an authorized Sidi-Motonation dealer are covered by our product warranty.

X

-TE ONGORE CANY $350 EX

RE-T GAVIAG$O250

MER PERFOER $295 X -T E OR

G

X

DGORE-TE ALL ROA$295

X

RE-TE ARIA$G2O 50

X

X

Second to None www.motonation.com motonation.com

877.789.4940

NOVEMBER 2018

GORE-TE ARM$A3D5A0

AGORE-TE DUN$ 225

NOVEMBER 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS www.bmwmoa.org

The

Benefits of

Membership

We have lined up some of the best discounts in the industry worth way more than $49 per year. Whether you need product discounts, travel discounts or specialized services, your MOA membership can save you thousands of dollars with our partners.

Product Discounts Drayko

Members receive 10% Off any purchase and free knee armour.

Empire State Motorcycle Safety Education Program BOHN BODY ARMOR

Invisible, comfortable protection you wear under your own clothes. Bohn body armor shirts, pants and shorts provide a layer of low profile armored protection from shoulders to shins. BMW MOA members save 10% on all Bohn Armor products.

Login at www.bmwmoa.org for your discount code.

Members receive discounted membership for motorcycle education programs.

Leisure & Lifestyle Discounts Jos. A. Bank Clothing

Members receive a Free Jos. A. Bank Corporate Card.

Legal Shield

Offering members affordable and comprehensive identity theft plans.

Travel Discounts Cruise One

Members get a substantial savings over regular rates.

Hertz

Members receive daily rate discounts on rentals.

For the complete listing of all member discounts, visit us online at bmwmoa.org/discounts www.bmwmoa.org/discounts

wwwolympiamotosports.com

These ultra low-profile LED pods are shockingly bright and can be installed virtually anywhere on your bike. Use the white and amber pods as DRLs, use the amber pods as auxiliary turn signals or use the red pods to create super bright auxiliary brake lights.

Connect the visibility pods to a CANsmart™ Controller to enable intelligent dimming control, strobe features, flash pattern braking, and deceleration activated “Auto Flash” pattern braking.

www.twistedthrottle.com

DENALIelectronics.com // distributed by TwistedThrottle.com

Inside 40

features

54 58 68

a bigger boxer, bmw's new r 1250 gs and RT For more than 35 years, BMW’s boxer motor has been a distinctively powerful and reliable powerplant for all riders regardless of whether they’re heading across the country or down a dusty trail.

ShiftCam Technology makes this venerable powerplant even better.

my father's bmw

By Mike Watson #202953 Some of Mike Watson’s earliest childhood memories are of riding with his dad aboard a 1954 R 51/3.

After restoring the long-neglected motorcycle, Watson is able to relive those memories.

the california bdr

By Paul Guillien #179473 When the opportunity came to be part of the team mapping the California BDR route, Dan Schoo immediately raised his hand and was eager to share his experience and local knowledge.

mountain waters scenic byway of north carolina

By Bob Congdon #162965 Rounding a tight corner, Bob Congdon almost dropped his bike from shock as a spectacular waterfall seemed to jump out of nowhere and grab his attention. Congdon was riding North Carolina’s Mountain Waters Scenic Byway.

ON THE COVER: D an Schoo weaves his way through a tight California trail while on the expedition ride filming and photographing the newest Backcountry Discovery Route. Photo by Ely Woody.

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

the club 4 Owners News Contributors 8 Headlight An Aha! moment, by Bill Wiegand 10 President's Column Happy Thanksgiving!, by Wes Fitzer 12 Postcards from the Road 14 Rider to Rider Letters from our Members Member tested/ product news 18 – BMW Rallye suit

– MotoBikeJack – Lone Rider, a book review

28 It’s time to update your Owners Anonymous book information,

2018 MOA Summer Mileage Contest ends, Free pins, patches and decals from the MOA Gear Store, Sidi Rex boots, Shoei’s new JO helmet, new products from Wolfman Luggage, MOA Helping Hand Awards.

skills 74 From the Foundation Reprograming highway safety messages, by Ted Moyer

lifestyle 76 High Mileage Twenty-two riders reach new plateaus,

by Jim Heberling

84 Jack the Riepe The autonomous moto age is upon us... sort of, by Jack Riepe

86 Rally Review The Green Mountain Rally, by Victor Cruz 90 Reflections from the Lid Pigpen Pete and OCD Oscar,

by Brian Dutcher

events 92 When and Where Places to Go and Things to Do 95 Advertiser Index 96 Talelight

tech 34 Keep ‘em Flying Waking up a few old airheads,

by Matthew Parkhouse

38 Torque of the Matter Ohhhmmm... Ohhhhmmm, Part 2

by Wes Fleming

Photo by Mike McCrary #148315

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

3

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 non-profit 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. Cassie Maier has been riding motorcycles since 2005 with most of her miles on pavement aboard her ‘92 K 75S. The summer of 2016, she decided to take a long ride and zigzagged her way across the country from Seattle to New York travelling more than 14,000 miles alone over three and half months. When she’s not touring the country, she gets away to the Pacific Northwest. Even when she goes to work she’s still surrounded by bikes as she’s a lead rider for the BMW Motorrad demo truck. Not home much, Cassie believes she exists better in the midst of an adventure.

3. Shawn Thomas has worked for many years in the motorcycle industry and is currently a trainer for BMW Motorrad. He’s also one half of the Adventure Brothers and works with his brother Lance as a rider coach and guide. While Thomas lives in California with his wife, daughter and son, his work takes him across the globe and stories he brings back with him are priceless.

4. I n 1972, Bob Congdon bought a new 1972 R 75/5 while stationed in Seligenstadt, Germany. In 1973, as the Vietnam war was winding down, Congdon resigned his commission and

4

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

took off on a year-long adventure. He spent a year traveling across Europe and was on his way to see the Pyramids when the 1973 Arab-Israeli war broke out. He made a detour and picked up a ferry in Izmir, heading to Greece. Having returned to the states to settle down, build a business and raise a family, his long-distance rides were limited and usually included fishing, camping and hiking in the Poconos, the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Catskills and the Adirondacks.

Congdon recently celebrated his 70th birthday by riding his 1972 R 75/5 to Alaska.

5. S ince 2003 Victor Cruz has written more than 20 articles for BMW Owners News. He’s a 15-year member of the Yankee Beemers, serving as Secretary and Editor and has organized group tours through Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Canada and Europe. He also contributes to Backroads magazine and is Principal of MediaPR.net, a tech marketing firm in Boston.

6. J im Bean, #107701, lives in Pegram, Tennessee, and has been a rider for more than 35 years. His favorite type of riding takes him off the beaten path on his R 1200 GS Adventure to the mountains of Colorado and Utah, though his favorite ride so far took him to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. With a passion for photography, Jim’s spectacular images from his travels regularly find their way to the pages of Owners News where he hopes to inspire others to venture down a new dirt road or trail. Jim is also responsible for March Moto Madness and the GS Giants Trails events at ADV Ribfest.

THE INDUSTRY STANDARD W AT E R P R O O F

|

DUSTPROOF

|

RUGGED

|

V E R S AT I L E

ZEGA

ZEGA

PRO

Mundo The utilitarian box that’s ready to take on the world

The best of the best

RIDERS AROUND THE GLOBE TRUST THEIR ADVENTURES TO ZEGA PANNIERS BY TOURATECH CALL 1-800-491-2926 TO TALK TO A TOURATECH ADVENTURE EXPERT

www.touratech-usa.com

WWW.TOURATECH-USA.COM

6

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

Cream and Crimson The sun falls in the western sky during the Hoosier Beemers Rally at Muscatatuck County Park Photo by Ken Yarwick #78764

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

7

headlight

Magazine of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America MANAGING EDITOR

Bill Wiegand bill@bmwmoa.org

ASSOCIATE EDITORS

Ron Davis • Wes Fleming ART DIRECTOR

Karin Halker karin@bmwmoa.org 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 member-ship 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 Supporting your experience by sharing resources, unique events and the community

8

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

An Aha! moment

By Bill Wiegand #180584 “AHA! MOMENTS” ALWAYS CATCH ME BY SURPRISE. WHEN THEY

arrive and a light bulb atop my noggin switches on, I suddenly feel a little smarter, and yet a little confused, wondering how I’ve made it this far in life without this newfound insight.

Scientific evidence supports the existence of the Aha! moment, as it’s been discovered that a split second before this enlightenment arrives, a sudden burst of high-frequency brain waves deep within the right temporal lobe of the brain is measured.

According to The American Genius, many things can trigger an Aha! moment. For GoPro founder Nick Woodman, it was the inconvenience of taking his own photo while surfing. For RedBull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, it was the local drink he found in Thailand that got rid of his jetlag. The inconvenience Ingvar Kampard encountered when he couldn’t fit a table into his car led to IKEA. If you ask me, those were some pretty bright lightbulbs shining over those heads.

Though they may not have the societal impact as those examples, my Aha! moments are just as significant, if only to me. While finding lost keys or a misplaced wallet can make me feel as though a 10-watt bulb was just switched above my helmet, a recent Aha! moment easily ranks up there as one of my top ten of all time.

In September, I was lucky enough to ride to the MOA Getaway in Jay Peak, Vermont.

Never riding in that part of the country before, I was excited about the trip. With the bike ready and my gear packed, I pulled up GoogleMaps to decide on my route.

The fastest route took me from Champaign, Illinois, along I-70 east to Columbus, Ohio, and then I-71 north to Cleveland. After that, I could catch I-90 to the Buffalo area where I would spend the night. After entering Buffalo, New York, into the GPS, I was off and about 658 miles later made it to my first night’s destination, Batavia, New York, for the night.

Early the next morning I was back on I-90 and then I-81 into Canada, where the 401 took me east toward Montreal and highway 10 before I caught two-lane roads to Jay Peak.

The weather in Jay Peak that weekend could not have been better, and the roads surrounding the Getaway site are some of the best anywhere. Now, anytime a group of riders converge on a location from all directions a popular conversation topic will always be “How was your ride in and how did you get here?” Somehow, I always feel like the kid trying to hide in the back of the class, hoping the teacher doesn’t call on him.

“Well,” I began, “I took I-70 to I-71 to I-90 and then I-81 to 401 to 10 and then some twolane roads after that.” At that point the conversation will typically end, and my new friends move on.

Later that night, while thumbing through the screens of my GPS and deciding my route home, I came across one screen in particular that made me pause. Right there, under the heading “Calculation Mode,” I was given four options: Faster Time, Curvy Roads, Off Road and Shorter Distance. The truth is that I always knew they were there, but because I’ve lived in Illinois for so long I’ve never selected anything other than Faster Time.

Suddenly, the room got brighter as I screamed, “Aha!” as I realized I was in Vermont, the weather and roads were beautiful, and I was on a motorcycle. I knew the Curvy Roads button was about to change my life!

©SPIDI → SINCE 1977. 40 YEARS

www.spidi.com

LOOKING FOR PERFECTION. HAVEN’T FOUND IT. YET.

PRESIDENTSCOLUMN

Happy Thanksgiving BMW MOA OFFICERS

Wes Fitzer, President 918-773-7178; wes.fitzer@bmwmoa.org Reece Mullins, Vice President 334-470-7770; reece.mullins@bmwmoa.org Deb Lower, Secretary 719-510-9452; deb.lower@bmwmoa.org Sam Garst, Treasurer 414-704-7767; sam.garst@bmwmoa.org BMW MOA DIRECTORS

Tracy McCarty 913-238-3182; tracy.mccarty@bmwmoa.org Sue Rihn 262-424-2617; sue.rihn@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

Jim Low, Mileage Contest Coordinator 608-347-5910; lowjim09@gmail.com Jim Heberling, High Mileage Coordinator 309-530-1951; jheberling@bmwmoa.org Jason Olson, Ambassador Liaison 507-276-5270; bmwjiggs@gmail.com Lee Woodring, Consumer Liaison 770-331-2419; lee.woodring@bmwmoa.org Joe Leung, Consumer Liaison 403-689-9939; joe.leung@bmwmoa.org Vance and Mari Harrelson, 2019 BMW MOA Rally Chair 2019rallychair@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

10

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

By Wes Fitzer #170126 OVER THE YEARS I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT THE THANKSGIVING

holiday and our need to give thanks for all we have. Thanks for the servicemen and servicewomen who protect us, the teachers who educate our kids who will one day, be responsible for taking care of us and, the first responders who protect us from things that go bump in the night.

There are also few things in life more important than taking pause to look around us and be thankful for all of the things we have. I am constantly reminding my children just how fortunate they are to have a roof over their heads and two loving parents to take care of them and keep them safe.

I wanted to take a little different approach this month for anyone wishing to expand their November holiday planning to include a few lesser-known dates this month.

November 2 is National Plan Your Epitaph Day, and I mention this date for any of our scheduling overachievers. I like to think I’m a good planner, and I already have provided instructions in my will so that gravestone will read “As you are now, I once was; As I am now, you will be.”

November 4 is commemorated by King Tut Day, which doesn’t commemorate the birth or death of King Tut, but instead the day in 1922 when British archeologist Howard Carter and his crew discovered the entrance to King Tut’s tomb. This monumental discovery is believed to be one of the most significant archaeological achievements of the 20th century.

Guy Fawkes Day follows a few days later on November 5. Though I’m not British, if you are or are interested in celebrating along with our British compatriots, it was Fawkes who was behind the infamous “Gunpowder Plot” in 1605 which was intended to blow up the British House of Parliament. Today, Englanders celebrate this day with, as you might guess, fireworks and bonfires.

November 6 brings us Saxophone Day; I wonder if this holiday was celebrated in the White House during the Clinton Presidency?

November 11 is Veterans Day, a day dedicated to American veterans of all wars. In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month an armistice was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I. Initially known as Armistice Day, after the Korean War, Armistice Day became known as Veterans Day. Then, on November 13 comes World Kindness Day, a day to look past the things that make us different and do something kind for one another. The 13th also brings us Sadie Hawkins Day. I didn’t know much about Sadie Hawkins Day other than the dances I attended as a kid where girls asked the boys. I was surprised to discover that it was quite novel back in the late 1930s, when Sadie Hawkins Day first appeared in the popular comic strip, Li’l Abner. Worried that his homely daughter Sadie might never find a beau, Dogpatch Mayor Hekzebiah Hawkins organized a race where his daughter would chase all the unmarried men in town to the finish line.

If she caught one of them, he was legally obligated to marry her. The holiday became an annual event in the comic strip, and evolved into a real-life event as well, albeit with more dancing and less capturing.

The last of the lesser known holidays I’ll highlight this month gets its own paragraph in a thinly veiled attempt to garner the attention of my wife. On November 15, which also happens to be her birthday, we celebrate Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. Coincidence? I think not!

“Honey, I’ve decided that this year I’m not taking you to your birthday dinner until that fridge is clean. What are you doing with that frying pan? It’s not Clean the Frying Pan… CLANG!” Ride safe and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Wes

Fitzer

www.progressive.com

Postcardsfromtheroad

2

1 1. New Hampshire’s Mount Washington while riding from Texas to the MOA Rally in Des Moines.

Mike Brown #45061 Lubbock, Texas

3

2. Corkscrew Pass along the Colorado Backcountry Discovery Route.

Jeff Stone #206109 Aurora, Colorado

12

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

3. At the Burley Mountain Fire Lookout overlooking the Gifford Pinchot National Forest with Mount Rainier in the background.

Dave Neese #211897 South Prairie, Washington

4. Heading south toward Parkersburg, West Virginia, along Route 555, aka Ohio’s Triple Nickle.

Matt Smith #206843 Cary, North Carolina

5

4 5. In front of Our Lady Mont Carmel Church on Prince Edward Island.

Dirk Booy #146869 Mississauga, Ontario 6. Near North Hero, Vermont, on Lake Champlain during the MOA’s Jay Peak Getaway.

Craig Olmsted #197287 Gloucester, Massachusetts 7. At Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains heading to the Green Mountain Rally.

Terence Hamill #14629 Lansdale, Pennsylvania 8. Along California State Highway 168 heading to Death Valley.

Ron Wright #207689 Prather, California 6 7

8

Each month we publish the great images sent to us by BMW MOA members 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.

t

t

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

How about a follow up

When I first joined the MOA, this magazine was always filled with great articles written by people who had the guts to pack it all in and tour the world! For me, it was a great way to learn about that kind of adventure, see amazing photos from parts of the world I had yet to see, and live their travels vicariously.

I am really glad to see the article by Lisa and Jason (Owners News August 2018).

Amazing photos and a really good narrative. I would be all about a follow up: what worked, what didn’t. What equipment did you pack, what broke en route, what held up?

Hey, when I finally get up the guts to do this kind of trip, why re-invent the wheel if I can learn from those who have been there!

Ken Hall #169423 Hood River, Oregon

US 50 a great ride

I enjoyed Joe’s article about his ride (“To the Great Salt Lake,” September Owners News), although I would give him some grief about shipping the bikes and flying to Denver instead of riding. Well, maybe some in his group are hung up with one of those JOB things.

There is one error that I can’t help pointing out. US Route 50 does not either begin or end in Montrose, Colorado. One end is in Ocean City, Maryland, and the other is in Sacramento, California, (I-80 has replaced the rest of US 50 into San Francisco).

I have long suggested that anyone who wants to see the great variety that the U.S. offers should ride this highway from coast to coast. There is Washington D.C., Virginia horse country where the barns look like government buildings, but are a little more ornate. Then there is Appalachia and the fertile farm fields of Ohio, Indiana,

14

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

and Illinois. You should stop at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and don’t miss Dodge City, Kansas. In Colorado there is Monarch Pass and Gunnison. For most of Utah, US 50 joins I-70 but it is marked as scenic in my atlas and there are several opportunities to take a longer and even more scenic route. In Nevada, US 50 has been called the Loneliest Road in America, and then there is Reno. By all means take US 50 through Carson City and Lake Tahoe rather than I-80 into Sacramento and then complete the coast to coast ride on to San Francisco on I-80.

Take two weeks or a month as there are many opportunities for wonderful side trips.

Al Holtsberry #121250 Groveport, Ohio

Love the Mystic

Stunned

I just sat down with my September issue of Owners News and read Wes Fitzer’s article regarding civility. I was stunned.

Stunned. I love our MOA, but I am also a member of PCA, the Porsche Club of America. I know I am not alone in those dual memberships and the appreciation for both brands. I can tell you that your assumptions about the Porsche Club, and more specifically its members, could not be further off base!

Like the BMW MOA International rally, the PCA “Parade” is the annual national event for the Porsche Club of America.

And, in fact, it relies as heavily on volunteers as the MOA rally. The PCA has a saying that “It’s not about the cars, it is the people.” I have only attended one MOA National rally in Hamburg two years ago,

I enjoyed Ron Davis’s September article “How to lose friends and influence absolutely no one” and his mention of the R 100 Mystic.

I have owned a 1994 R100 Mystic since 2006. Even though my first bike was a new 1994 K75, I really liked the Mystic’s lines, and it was my second choice. I never forgot it.

In 2006, I conveniently found a Mystic for sale locally, and I snapped it up. When the time comes to pare down from three (R nineT, R 1200 R and the Mystic), the Mystic will probably be the last to go.

It’s a classic, IMHO Marilyn Roberts #66484 Chesterfield, Missouri

t

but I was struck by the feeling that the two organizations are really very similar, as are the members.

I rode to the Hamburg rally solo from northern Michigan in one day and arrived late afternoon. I had several new friends by the end of the evening who helped me set up my tent, and we enjoyed a snack together and a beer or two before our storms hit that first night. We talked bikes, BMW’s and life.

Likewise, at PCA events either locally or nationally, we are talking about cars, bikes, and about life. New friends are easily made in both clubs.

Additionally, we share in my mind, quite a lot. We all appreciate German engineering, we talk pros and cons of air cooled versus water cooled. We talk about quirky things and why our cars and bikes were designed and engineered the way they were. We attend rallies with new vehicles, not so new ones, but also with those beloved 50 and 60-year-old machines the likes of 356’s, /2’s and all those in between. We smile and laugh a lot, and we share camaraderie. We share stories of breakdowns to our rallies with our old cars or old bikes.

Your experience on your way to Des Moines must have been with one of those one percent-ers who give the rest a bad name. To assume that the PCA club members “waited to be served” is laughable and quite frankly, a gross mischaracterization. It feels like the generalizations about all Harley riders vs. BMW riders. We are above this.

Roger Edgren #194729 Interlochen, Michigan

Club similarities

I have been a member of BMW MOA for somewhere in the vicinity of 25 years.

When I read Wes Fitzer’s column on civility, I certainly agreed with the spirit of his comments regarding the hardworking, good-natured MOA volunteers that do so much to make our events successful.

I have also been a member of the Porsche Club of America (PCA) for about 18 years. I took umbrage at Wes’ disparaging remarks regarding the sense entitlement he assumes PCA members have.

Members of PCA care as deeply about

Porsches and their club as MOA members do about Beemers and their club. PCA members volunteer countless hours serving as national and regional club officers, serving as instructors at Drivers Education events, coordinating rallies, arranging tech sessions, planning interesting recreational drives and so on. BMW MOA members are great, but it is not a characteristic they hold a monopoly on!

Brian Till #61383 Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Here's another good one

Regarding Doug McBride's article about motorcycle songs (October issue of Owners News), good choices! But what happened to "Long Lonesome Highway" by Michael Parks from Then Came Bronson?

How many people started riding after watching this program, or just got up after the program ended, left, and were never seen again? I've had the song on repeat in my mind for many a mile!

Good picks, Doug, I'll just add this to your list!

Wayne Clifton #211763 Mint Hill, North Carolina

Please don't do it!

First off, I am glad to hear the Matthew Parkhouse is recovering well from his recent ordeal! His column is one of my favorites even though I do not own an airhead.

In his July column, he had a photo of an old mine shaft and made comments about exploring it with ropes, lights and friends. Please do not ever enter old mines period. Even if you have friends and ropes and good lights, they can be death traps.

It is too easy to dislodge part of the back of a mine tunnel and cause a cave in or to step into a hole that may go down for hundreds of feet. The deadliest situation that is completely invisible is bad air, which is the lack of oxygen. A person cannot see or smell bad air, and it only takes a couple of seconds to pass out and die if you walk into a pocket of bad air.

I am a mining geologist with over 40 years of experience in dealing with old mines, both underground and open pit.

Even if you have ropes and lights and friends with you it is more likely that several people will die if you run into a pocket of bad air. Several teenagers in northern Idaho died some years ago exploring an old mine, and it was very difficult to recover the bodies.

We all preach safety while riding our motorcycles, but our awareness should not stop when we get off of our bikes!

Abandoned mines are usually posted with signs saying “Stay Out and Stay Alive.”

Those signs are there for a reason.

Tom Simpson #105945 De Soto, Kansas

Thank you Jim Ford

Thanks to Owners News (October 2018) and Jim Ford for the great article about how to sit on your motorcycle!

I coach with Zalusky Advanced Riding School in Minnesota where one of the key pillars of the ZARS curriculum is body position. Like the main message of Jim’s article, we also stress the importance of having a good foundation with the lower body, so the hands can be soft on the controls. We think soft hands are as important when carving your RR through the carousel at Road America as they are when snaking your way through linked sweepers on the Blue Ridge Parkway with your best friend on the back seat of your RT. Jim explained this concept more clearly than any other motorcycle proficiency literature I’ve read. There was something about his writing style that really appealed to me. There was no preaching about what techniques are right or wrong. He methodically presents an opinion and supports it with examples, explanations, and colorful metaphors. I would think that anyone with an interest in riding well would be able to easily assimilate what Jim says and apply it the next time he or she gets on a bike.

Jim’s article prompts me to do two things: First, I’m going to order his book, and second, if Jim doesn’t mind, I might weave a couple of his examples into my coaching work next season!

How cool would it be if we saw more from Jim in future issues of Owners News?

Randy Mattran #1388914 Chanhassen, Minnesota November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

15

PICKUP TRUCK MOTORCYCLE LOADERS

TRAVEL TRAILER, 5thWHEEL CARRIERS MOTORHOME MOTORCYCLE

LOADING SYSTEMS ON CARRIERS PULLING A CAR NO WEIGHT ON RV

www.mountainmaster.net

MOUNTAINMASTER.NET 623-451-7121 www.tourbikes.com www.adaptivtech.com

Join the BMW MOA FACEBOOK page today! Get the MOA Newsfeed via Twitter for more BMW and motorcycle news – www.twitter.com/bmwmoa Costa Rica is a fantastic country for motorcycle fans: rivers, mountains, jungles, volcanoes and beaches… plus terrific weather!

"DAY-LONG" TOURING SADDLES By

Russell

Support Suspension System 4917 Shasta Dam Blvd.

Shasta Lake, CA 96019

Follow your sense of adventure and come and experience an unparalleled BMW ride.

Ask about our motorcycle adventures in Costa Rica, Panama & Nicaragua.

(800) 432-9566 info@day-long.com

www.day-long.com www.day-long.com

16

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

www.costaricabmwtours.com Official Partner of

costaricabmwtours.com

BMW Motorrad

www.cyclepump.com

www.jesseluggage.com

member teste 18

PRoductreviews

BMW's Rallye suit

By Doug Olin #183966 OKAY, MAYBE IT WAS A ROOKIE

move to buy the brand new for 2018 BMW Rallye suit just days before departing on a lengthy tour of Alaska and northern Canada; but after all, I had owned Rallyes before and loved them. Besides, there I was, at BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County getting a 48,000-mile service done before my departure just as their apparel manager gets delivery of the very first 2018 Rallye suit to come into the shop—and it’s in my size.

How could I resist?

Updated for 2018, the new Rallye is BMW’s entry for an off-road suit “full of handy features that make it the perfect globetrotter.” Similar in cut and style to older Rallyes, the 2018 features a new abrasion-resistant ProTechWool material, updated NP2 armor, lots of pockets, wind and waterproof liners that can now be worn either over or under the jacket, but only under the pants, and room for a hydration pack.

In the showroom, the suit is comfortable right out of the box. None of the stiffness and clunky feel of the new EnduroGuard suit. The ProTechWool is soft and inviting. The jacket features elastic mesh lining, and the pants have elastic inserts and come complete with an elastic belt.

There is a wind and waterproof liner which can be worn either under the jacket for better windproofing or worn over the jacket for better waterproofing. It just feels good right away.

There are plenty of pockets and vents, including five pockets on the outside of the jacket, one across the back, and inner zippered pockets for documents and valuables. There is also a clear plastic pocket at the end of the jacket’s left sleeve. There are

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

arm vents and chest vents, and the entire back can be rolled down to create one large vent or rolled up to hold a hydration pack.

For protection, BMW has provided large NP2 protectors for the shoulders, elbows, hips and knees, a long NP Pro back protector, and studs to attach an optional chest guard.

I tested the Rallye over a three-month, 15,000-mile adventure with and temperatures ranging from 125 degrees F to well below freezing.

First of all, it is important to note that this is not a four-season suit. If you read the fine print in BMW’s marketing materials, which I did not before I purchased the suit, it points out that the new Rallye is “suitable for warm to moderate temperatures.” What it doesn’t say is that the suit does poorly in the cold. The jacket leaks air even when zipped tightly against the cold, and the windproof liner quickly becomes mandatory to stave off the cold. Without my Warm ‘n Safe electric shirt, I would have frozen from the wind chill in temperatures in the 40s and 50s. On the other hand, the jacket’s extensive venting allowed me to cross Nevada in 125-degree heat as well as any other jacket I have ever owned, helped in no small part by my Hyperkewl vest. It does well in the heat and there’s plenty of ventilation, particularly when you roll that big back flap down. That BMW elected to put the sleeve tightening straps across the top of the arm vents, thus reducing air flow, as opposed to wrapping them around the non-vented back of the sleeve, like Held and others have done, strikes me as a design flaw.

Equally important, it’s not waterproof. It’s not even water resistant. Not at all. The first time it rained I was heading into the Yukon.

I had the waterproof liner inside the jacket for warmth. While the liner kept my body dry, the outer shell got soaked. Afterward, I discovered that every pocket on the jacket

(inside and out) had also gotten soaked, including the two supposedly waterproof jacket pockets which had actually filled with water. That night I had to use a hotel hair dryer to dry the pockets out. Maybe it was BMW’s way of telling me not to camp.

Fortunately, my phone was in a waterproof case and my documents were encased in plastic or it might have been a major disaster.

From then on, I only wore the liner on the outside of the jacket, sacrificing easy access to the outer jacket pockets and leaving me to ride in an olive drab outer coat with no reflective elements instead of my new, snazzy jacket.

Why BMW did not put pockets on the outside of the liner is another disappointment for me and makes the liner less useful as a windbreaker when you are off the bike.

The pant liners are just silly. You either have to wear them all the time or be prepared to disrobe by the side of the road and struggle to get them in place before rain hits. Either way, all the pockets in the pants are going to get soaked. Why BMW didn’t put waterproof pockets in the pants remains a mystery. I believe Frogg Toggs or a rainsuit would be a much better alternative.

A couple of days out I realized I had more than waterproofing issues with the pants.

These may be personal fitment issues, but I found the adjustable NP2 armor in the knees to be so large, heavy, and uncomfortable that I could not ride for more than a couple of hours without taking a break.

Within a week, I surrendered to the pain and swapped out BMW’s knee armor for lighter and more comfortable aftermarket D3O pads found at a Yamaha dealership in Astoria, Oregon.

I also wondered who thought it was a good idea to include an elastic belt on the pants. The problem with elastic, of course, is that it stretches. If you are using that stretchy belt to hold those heavy motorcycle

pants up… well, you get the picture. Yes, that was me clomping around the Northwest Territories holding my pants up with both hands to keep them from falling down.

It’s worth spending some time walking around in these pants to make sure the fit is right before purchase, because there are no hook-and-loop side panels to adjust the waist and, unlike its competitors, the BMW pants do not include clips for suspenders.

BMW offers the suit in two new color combinations: “black/blue/red” and “grey/ blue.” I chose the “black/blue/red”, but buyers should note that the black used on the suit is really a dark navy blue. This becomes important if you hope to combine the jacket with a different type of black riding trousers. They’re going to clash.

All-in-all, despite my affection for earlier Rallyes, I found the 2018 version to be a disappointment. It does well in the heat, but poorly in the cold. As comfortable as the ProTechWool material is, the lack of even minimal waterproofing/water resistance makes the suit a poor choice for anyone living on the road for any period of time. The failure to make the “waterproof pockets” waterproof is a major disappointment.

Maybe it was a fitment issue, but this is the first time I have ever had to replace BMW armor in order to ride for long periods, and the stretchy belt is just useless.

For a day in the desert ride close to home, the suit is adequate. For the globetrotter who expects to ride in anything other than desert heat, it’s not a good choice.

PROS: Good ventilation, plenty of pockets, out-of-the-box comfort.

CONS: Warm weather only, no waterproofing/water resistance, heavy knee armor, better make sure it fits just right.

member tested 20

PRoductreviews

BMW’s Rallye suit

A couple other opinions...

By Brian Dutcher #160860 I RECENTLY HAD THE PLEASURE

to evaluate BMW Motorrad’s new Rallye jacket. To put this evaluation into context, my test was conducted over an eight-week period late this summer covering more than 2,500 miles, including 780 miles over 52 commutes. During the evaluation I rode in temperatures ranging from 99 to 52 degress. I also encountered a few opportunities to test the jacket in the rain, both with and without its rain/wind shell.

European sizing has always been a bit of trial and error for me and to add a little complexity to the equation, the EU-54 size jacket was a little too big, so I can’t give a valid assessment on the sizing and fitment. For my size and weight, BMW sizing charts recommends a size EU-50.

Although the girth of the jacket was large, the width of shoulders and length of arms was perfect.

When a rider decides to spend north of $700 for an adventure jacket, they are expecting top quality materials, fitment, performance and durability. It is under this premise that I conducted my evaluation. A lineup of the features of this high-tech gear can be found online, so I’ll stick to the impressions the Rallye left on me.

The textile Rallye jacket is one of, if not the most comfortable moto riding jacket or piece of gear I have ever worn. I believe the comfort could be attributed to its lighter weight when compared with other adventure jackets in its class, along with the use of anatomically correct, fitted, very flexible and lightweight NP2 armor in the shoulders, elbows, and back.

The Rallye sports some of the

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

largest ingress and egress vents I have ever seen in an adventure class jacket. Each arm utilizes a two-way YKK zipper with large rubber tabs easy to grab with gloves for adjusting the amount of airflow. Paired with large cuffs guaranteed to fit over the largest full-gauntlet glove and the three-step adjustable forearm snaps, the venting options are tunable to any condition. The chest area features two panels per side revealing mesh panels which use Velcro and snaps to close. Add another 21 cm vertical vent on each side for even more air induction. Where does all this inbound air

go you might ask? Well, the back incorporates three panels of abrasion-resistant mesh measuring 14 x 28 cm on the left and right along with an 18 x 28 cm mesh panel in the center. This entire area lies behind a YKK zippered and Velcro panel that, when lowered, rolls up and is secured by two snaps.

In addition to the two vertical vented chest pockets, there are four (two per side) lower pockets. The unique aspect here is their layering on top of each other. The outer pocket with its fold-over flap secured

by Velcro is a fully waterproof pocket, large

enough for any wallet or large phone.

Behind this pocket is a smaller, vertical, YKK-zippered, fleece-lined pocket.

A water and windproof shell accompanying the jacket can be worn over or underneath the jacket to provide rain or cold protection. It is lightweight with large elastic cuffs, YKK zipper with large rubber pulls and a Velcro rain fly. A stylish reflective stripe on the upper shoulders enhances rider visibility during rain along with a BMW Motorrad imprint on the back of collar. I usually wear a Klim four-season adventure jacket that doesn’t require a separate waterproof liner, so I was a little apprehensive about this design. However, I found it performed very well during my rides in the rain and on colder mornings when I was without a mid-layer, it blocked the wind surprisingly well. The BMW Motorrad product catalog and literature do not explain the material it is made of, but it is lightweight, quiet, and soft.

As I mentioned before, this is top shelf riding gear, yet I found a couple design elements I can’t quite figure out. First, I found the small fleece pockets to be at an odd angle and requiring two hands to operate the zipper – difficult to do when you’re carrying helmet, gloves, etc. I also found the chest ingress vent panels to require two hands to close, though they’re easy to open when riding. While this is a minor detail, it’s one I have become accustomed to. With my other adventure jackets, I’ve gotten used to their internal lanyard, which allows me to secure a key, my wedding ring, SPOT GPS, etc. inside a pocket. I didn’t find that feature with the BMW Rallye jacket. Finally, the clear plastic storage pocket on top of the left forearm is simply too small to use for directions or anything more substantial than a driver’s license. I only found it useful for collecting heat and when riding in the sun, I could feel the radiant heat building up inside the pocket. I also wonder how the plastic will stand the test of time. Will it yellow like the map pocket does on a BMW tank bag? Only plenty of miles and time will yield us that answer.

The BMW Rallye jacket follows BMW’s Concept of Advanced Rider Equipment (C.A.R.E.), which focuses on rider comfort, safety, innovation, and quality. This is supposed to allow a rider to begin a ride with total peace of mind as putting on the gear gets them in the zone. Well, I can tell you

that C.A.R.E is more than a marketing moniker, there is substance to it, and the result was something I had never experienced before with riding gear. It’s like riding with the comfort of your favorite kickback weekend jeans and sweatshirt coupled with modern super fabric technology.

Would I pay the MSRP of $769 for this very well ventilated three season jacket? If I found a size that fit me, I’d be hard-pressed to come up with a reason not to. The limited color options of red/grey and blue/ black could dissuade those moto fashion riders who have to match just right. But, if Santa happened to think I was worthy and I found one under my tree, I would have a long Iowa winter waiting for spring.

www.epmwilbers.com

By Jerry Smith #82173 I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST RIDE

the BMW Rallye jacket at the MOA Getaway in Tomah in September.

It's a very good-looking jacket and my sweet wife said it looked good on me. It was well constructed in red/blue with four exterior and two interior pockets and it was comfortable right away.

The back has a very large panel that unzips and rolls down to expose a mesh panel that would be great on hot Iowa summer days. The chest has large vents covered with snap down flaps that look like they would allow good airflow. With temperatures in the upper 50s during the Getaway, I couldn't take advantage of the venting system. I'd be a little concerned about water proofing, but I understand the Rallye comes with a rain jacket that can be added over the jacket when it rains.

I appreciated the adjustable cuffs on the jacket and especially the collar. It was soft and supple and was very comfortable with the Velcro securing it up around my neck and kept the wind off nicely making my bandana unnecessary.

Wearing the jacket, we went for a ride north of Tomah to the Cranberry Country Museum and while there learned a great deal about growing cranberries, and we rode around a lot of cranberry bogs. It was very interesting.

I liked the BMW Rallye jacket very much and would recommend it to anyone. I only wish they had let me keep it.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

21

100% Waterproof COLORED 303 Rolies!

Learn More atwww.wolfmanluggage.com WOLFMANLUGGAGE.COM

PALO ALTO SPEEDOMETER Expert repair of Motometer and VDO Speedometers, Tachometers, Clocks

Quartz clock repair and conversion.

Custom color face conversion.

http://www.paspeedo.com www.paspeedo.com 718 Emerson Street Palo Alto, CA 94301-2410

Tel: 650-323-0243 Fax: 650-323-4632

member teste

PRoductreviews

MotoBikeJack

By Edward Frank #53857 YOUR MOTORCYCLE IS ON ITS SIDE.

It doesn't matter how it got there. The very nature of it being on two wheels means that, more than likely, sometime in the future it will be on its side. If you're lucky, you won't be hurt and you'll be riding with one or more others to lend a hand righting it. If alone, you may be on a smooth, paved, even surface and are confident you can back up to it and lift using your legs as in the many demonstrations presented. What if you're riding a fully loaded GS alone on a remote dirt road and go down? As with me, on extremely rare occasions, I'll put my foot down in an unseen depression, or due to lack of attention forget the kickstand. Nearing 65 years of age, I can still pick the bike up, but with a lot of effort and noise. If its fully loaded for a trip, forget it.

Hello MotoBikeJack! Ray Lyons developed this jack with preventing potential back injuries in mind. It also gives you the peace of mind knowing that if you're exploring in the middle of nowhere and your bike goes down, you can get it back up.

Recent discussions regarding age and riding have been popular topics in several of the publications I subscribe to.

My age is not starting to make me doubt my riding ability, but the possibility of not being able to pick up my GS might give me pause to think. This tool assures me I'll be able to do that if the need arises.

The MotoBikeJack claims it will work with any motorcycle and can easily lift 1,000 pounds. The jack arrives in a kit measuring 15" long x 5" wide and weighing just under eight pounds.

Handmade of powder-coated American steel, it consists of a 5" square pad, two extensions that you assemble into the pad, and a third extension with the

22

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

jack attached that you place on top of the others. It comes in a canvas bag that you can use for protection between the strap and where it may rub on any part of the bike, if needed. There is a nylon web strap with a coated S-hook that allows its attachment to any type of motorcycle. As a side note, get yourself a simple Velcro bundling strip to also keep with the kit. Wrap it around the front brake lever to keep the bike from rolling once it leaves the friction of the ground.

When mine arrived, I gave it a test run.

I laid out some padding at the points where the side protection bars contact the ground, and gently eased the GS over. Jack setup was simple and straight forward. When attaching the S-hook, use the lowest strong point on the bike so as to get the highest lift possible. A place on the frame or footpeg, as suggested on the website, gave me options. It took me about five minutes to right the bike, and now that I'm familiar with the process, it would probably take

less. Obviously, you would want to store the jack where it could be reached with the bike down, like in a top box or top-opening side box, or make a tool carrier that is accessible with the bike over on either side.

You can see a video of the jack being used at www.motobikejack.com. The current price is $196 plus $32 shipping to anywhere in the USA. When I first discovered information about this jack, I thought I would check to see if there were any other variations of this idea. I found a couple similar ideas, but one was more expensive even without shipping figured in and had issues due to poor manufacturing resulting in breaking. Another one was bike specific and more expensive. I then knew the MotoBikeJack was the one for me.

NEW! Michelin Anakee adventure Tire ®

®

Confidence on any adventure The new MICHELIN® Anakee® Adventure tire is coming soon!

It's the original equipment tire on the 2019 BMW R1250 GS and is available starting January 1, 2019.

Official Sponsor of the BMW MOA Annual Mileage Contest

www.motorcycle.michelinman.com Motorcycle.Michelinman.com

#MichelinOnMyMoto

Copyright © 2018 Michelin North America, Inc. All rights reserved. The MIchelin Man is a registered trademark owned by Michelin North America, Inc.

member teste 24

PRoductreviews

Lone Rider

By Cassie Maier #203304 WITH THE MOTORCYCLES MOVED,

I found myself standing in a room amid about 30 folding chairs, I waited to listen to Elspeth Beard speak while clutching her book Lone Rider in my arms. I’d only just learned about Elspeth a few months earlier and was excited to see and hear her. Elspeth’s story is old, and its only been recently that anyone has taken interest in what she accomplished.

In 1982, at only 23-years-old, with a broken heart and stubborn determination to fuel her, she followed the sun west from London. She had no GPS, no cell phone and no internet.

That is certainly one of the first aspects of her journey that grabbed my attention as I wondered how many of us could simply ditch those creature comforts and trek around the world alone to places where we didn’t speak the language or could read the maps. Elspeth did all of that and much more on an old 1974 BMW R 60/6. It’s almost impossible to even imagine it, and for me, that’s what makes Elspeth’s adventure so extraordinary.

As I took my seat, I found myself chatting with another woman I’d just met. We looked forward at the projector and screen. Elspeth has an easy presence about her. It is obvious that she understands her story's popularity (albeit decades later) but humbly views it as just something that she did.

Nothing special, just a ride to get away from it all for a little bit. It’s her humble nature that makes her story all the more fascinating. A young woman rode a motorcycle, solo, around the world for two years and covered more than 35,000 miles. It sounds simple, but along the way, Elspeth experienced significant joy along with a bit more trouble than she bargained for.

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

The back cover of the book describes her story well, saying: “With some savings from her pub job, a tent, a few clothes and some tools all packed on her bike, she was determined to prove herself and to get over a recent heartbreak. She had ridden bikes since her teens and was already well-traveled, but this journey would be the toughest thing she’d ever done. By the time she returned to England two years later, she was 30 pounds lighter and decades wiser. She’d ridden through deserts and mountain ranges and war-ravaged countries. She’d faked documents and fended off sexual attacks, biker gangs and corrupt police who were convinced she was trafficking drugs. She’d survived brutal crashes and life-threatening illnesses, and she’d fallen in love with two very different men. Told with honesty and wit, this is the extraordinary and moving story of a unique and life-changing adventure.”

Anyone who has done a fair amount of travel by motorcycle will have their own tales of the pleasures and hardships of the road to tell. Those riders will more easily be able to draw parallels to Elspeth’s story.

For those who haven’t done any solo or

long-distance traveling, Elspeth’s story will be incredible and inspiring.

When Elspeth took her place at the front of the room next to the projector, she offered snippets of her story along with information about her life which served as bookends regarding the adventure described in the book.

I found Elspeth to be a strong-willed woman with her own way of doing things, a woman after my own heart really. She’s determined, unwavering, humble, and well-traveled (and by motorcycle at that).

DMC Sidecars

SIDECARS – MOUNTS – HITCHES

866-638-1793

www.dmcsidecars.com dmcsidecars.com www.kermitchair.com

Enumclaw, WA USA

Elspeth Beard with Cassie Maier.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

25

www.motoskiveez.com

LEAVE HOME WITHOUT...

NEW!

Mini Pump

AUTO FF CUT-O

NT

5

Y

» Select pressure, switch ON and the pump automatically switches OFF when the pressure is reached » Displays in PSI, BAR or KPA » Pumps to 100 PSI WA RRA » Actual Pump size: 4.13 x 5.07 x 2.08 inches » Light weight and portable - weighs only 17.5oz YEAR

She encompasses what so many other woman (and men) want. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with her and become slightly giddy as she signed my shiny new copy of her book.

Once I began to read her story, I found it to be written in a way that made me feel as though she was speaking to me. In her presentation, Elspeth mentioned that because so much time had passed between her return to London and her new-found popularity, it was sometimes difficult to recall details of her trip. She explained that it was a good thing that she’d kept all of the letters that she and her friends and family had exchanged during her journey, as they became her reference material as she was writing her book.

I invite you to read Elspeth Beard’s book, Lone Rider, to get a better understanding of what sparked her original idea to travel the world, what kept her going, and what happened once she was home and it was all over.

It’s a story of will, determination, adventure, love, defeat and triumph. It’s an incredible story of the first British woman to travel around the world on a motorcycle.

What’s not to love?

The Kit includes the MotoPressor Mini Pump with Digital Pressure Gauge and all the power leads and connectors to run from your motorcycle battery or a mini jump starter, packed neatly into a sturdy carry case.

www.rockycreekdesigns.com www.rockycreekdesigns.com

GET YOUR BAGS

Off the Floor!

AND UP ON THE WALL WHERE THEY'RE SAFE! Skin protection from the first mile to the last.

LDComfort’s Dual Layer fabric keeps you drier.

Undergarments for serious riders.

View our full line of undergarments at

www.ldcomfort.com www.LDComfort.com

1.888.642.7091

PANNIER AND TOP CASE RACKS FOR 25+ BMWS

BULLRACK PANNIER WALL MOUNTS

order online at:

bullrack.com www.bullrack.com

MOA members SAVE 10% NOW! Use code “BMWMOA”

Cozy Wrist Warmers keep the chill out. www.dwapickle.com www.dwapickle.com

Safety straps for your tired Krausers

www.clearwaterlights.com/on11

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

26

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

History. Family.

Dedication.

It doesn’t matter what you ride or where you ride it, protection is our priority in every helmet we create. That is Arai’s unshakeable foundation which you can rely on.

Even if you never use an Arai helmet for its intended purpose, the handcrafted comfort which only Arai can deliver will let you enjoy every ride even more.

And look darn good while doing it too!

www.araiamericas.com NO HELMET CAN PROTECT THE WEARER AGAINST ALL FORESEEABLE IMPACTS. NOTHING IS A SUBSTITUTE FOR SAFE RIDING PRACTICES.

news Please review and update your Anonymous Book information

2017 BMW OWNERS ANONYMOUS

Rick Salazar (#212666), left the 2017 MOA rally in Salt Lake City and was on his way home to Denver aboard his ’03 R 1150 RT. His route took him through Utah’s Wasatch Mountains and then through Guardsman’s Pass before finally reaching Vernal, Utah.

After lunch, he gassed up and prepared to travel the 120 miles or so miles across the Utah and Colorado high desert to Craig, Colorado. With his fuel tank full, he prepared to get back on the road, and a little voice in his head said, “Check your rear tire pressure.” When he did, he was surprised to see that his differential seal had failed and gear oil was covering the rear tire and rim. “About 335 miles from home and in 98-degree heat, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere. I was just grateful it didn’t happen while I was in the desert riding at highway speeds. I was stranded all alone on a Sunday afternoon.”

His trepidation was quickly building.

Luckily for Rick, also stopped at the gas station were a group of Adventure riders coming from the Rally and heading home to Michigan. One of them took a look at Rick’s bike and asked him if he was a member in the MOA. “Yup, just last week,” Rick said.

The rider mentioned that Rick probably hadn’t received his Anonymous Book yet so he proceeded to pull out his and found the single contact listed in Vernal, Utah.

Rick called the number and Randy answered. A short time later, Randy came out and took a look at Rick’s bike and said, “I’ll be back in 20 minutes”.

Twenty minutes later, Randy showed up with a trailer and with the help of the other MOA members at the gas station, they loaded the bike.

To Rick’s surprise, Randy trailered the RT 135 miles and more than three hours to Grand Junction, Colorado, which was the nearest BMW Dealership.

According to Rick, during their ride, they enjoyed great conversation and talked about Randy’s decades of riding BMWs with his wife of more than 30 years, his three Iron Butt rides as well as his 48 states in 10 days experience.

When they finally arrived in Grand Junction, Rick said he offered to pay Randy for gas and food but Randy “would have none of it.” Together, they unloaded the bike and Randy said he was happy with just a “Smile and a Thank You.” Randy said this was the only time in the three years he’s been in the Anonymous Book that he was called.

As Randy drove off, Rick said he knew that he would be paying this forward with an enormous sense of gratitude.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” Rick said, “that single tow had paid for my membership many times over and by the end of the day I was safe and sound in a hotel room a mile from Grand Junction BMW.” This story of Rick’s Anonymous Book rescue appeared in the October 2017 issue of BMW BMW Owners Owners News but similar tales of MOA memANONYMOUSBOOK 2017 bers using this great benefit of MOA membership are common.

As we prepare the latest publication of the Anonymous Book, please take a few minutes to make sure your information included in the book is up to date. To update your information, Go to bmwmoa.org, login with your username and password. Once there, you should see “Your Profile” but if not, click “My Profile.”

Edit your Anonymous Book choices, click “Save Changes.” If you need assistance, don’t hesitate to call the MOA office at 864-438-0962.

28

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

The end of the MOA Summer Mileage Contest

Be sure to find and complete the 2018 MOA Summer Mileage Contest end form included in this issue of Owners News.

Michelin will be providing the top three male and female riders, along with the average male and female riders. a new set of Michelin tires, so there’s never been a better reason to participate.

We hope everyone had a great summer, full of many fantastic and safe miles.

New fall arrivals from Wolfman

Wolfman Luggage has three new accessories available right now that expand your daily Fall ride.

The new Universal Wolfy Bottle Holster fits most fuel/water bottles up to 12 inches high and 12 inches in circumference, including most one-liter fuel bottles and insulated 36-ounce bottles. It can also double as a carrying pouch with the drawstring top closure and can be attached to any of Wolfman Saddle Bags, Classic Rolies, 303 Rolies, 303 Duffels, Expedition Dry Duffels and the Wolfy Escape Pak. The new Wolf Logo Bottle is a 32-ounce PBA-free Nalgene bottle with the distinctive yellow Wolfman Logo and tire tread design.

Finally, the Wolfy Escape Pak is now made with gray Skyline sailcloth fabric to save more than a quarter pound from their standard ballistic nylon pack.

For more information or to see Wolfman Luggage’s full line of soft luggage for Adventure, Dual Sport, Dirt, Street and Cruisers, visit wolfmanluggage.com.

Retro meets modern with the Shoei JO

With styling traits from classic SHOEI helmets, the new J·O helmet implements innovation and modern functionality along with retro good looks.

Featuring a classic open-face shell design inspired by a rich heritage of vintage SHOEI models, the J·O is finished with a compact overall profile thanks to SHOEI’s advanced technologies and state-ofthe-art manufacturing techniques. Its compact, narrow design features a streamlined 1950s “Ducktail” in sleek and classy shell.

An integrated and retractable CJ-3 shield offers UV protection and a distortion-free view throughout the entire field of vision. With a round shape similar to vintage goggles and bubble shields, the CJ-3 shield was optimized to lessen road noise and wind turbulence while offering space for sunglasses when closed. The shield is available in Dark Smoke, HD Yellow, Spectra Chrome, and Spectra Gold to accentuate riding conditions.

The J·O’s EPS Liner provides enhanced impact absorption by utilizing varying densities of foam and was designed to allow cooling air to circulate around the head to help cool your dome on hot summer days. Solid J·O helmets carry an MSRP of $379 while graphic color schemes sell for $449 and are available is sizes from XS to XXL. Visit your local dealer or shoei-helmets.com for more information.

A new racing boot from Sidi

Sidi’s new Rex boot’s ease of entry and a high level of adjustability through the calf and shin protectors combine to make it one of the best fitting, safest and most comfortable sport boots available.

Equipped with three steel cable adjustable closures with Sidi’s exclusive TECNO-3 PUSH rotor, the shin and ankle mechanisms pull from the center allowing a symmetric closure. The instep mechanism ensures a snug yet comfortable fit.

Sidi’s Technomicro, a composite microfiber material which acts like natural leather, is used to construct the boot’s upper, while elastic panels are added in key front and rear flex areas for maximum comfort.

Cambrelle®, a synthetic lining material, wicks away moisture and keeps skin dry and less likely to blister. The lining surrounds feet along with a single vented ankle support brace which joins the internal and external ankle joint for added support.

Additional features include a nylon innersole with removable arch support pad, double stitching in high stress areas, and replaceable bolt-on parts. The Sidi Rex boots carry an MSRP of $545, and for more information, visit motonation.com.

l

MOA pins, patches and stickers now available in the GEAR Store

Do you need a new MOA patch for your new jacket? Maybe, you bought a new bike and need a few MOA decals for the saddlebags. If so, patches, decals and anniversary pins are available free of charge to members in the MOA’s GEAR store.

Simply visit gear.bmwmoa.org to find your favorite MOA logo-ed merchandise along with a generous supply of patches, pins and stickers. Many items, including anniversary pins, ship free to MOA members.

Not a fan of online ordering? Simply call the MOA membership team at (864) 438-0962, and you can request your complimentary anniversary pins, MOA patches and stickers.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

29

news

news

The MOA Helping Hand Award We’ve all had, or know someone who has had, problems while touring on a motorcycle. We also know people who have gone out of their way to help us or other MOA members, and stories describing these acts of kindness are retold around rally campfires year after year.

The Helping Hand Award is the MOA’s way of showing our appreciation for these acts of kindness and is awarded to anyone who has gone out of his or her way to aid another MOA member.

If you have received assistance that you believe goes “above and beyond” and want to acknowledge that kindness, send your story with the name and address of your nominee(s) to Bob Aldridge, BMW MOA Executive Director at bob@bmwmoa.org.

Then, when you see someone wearing a BMW MOA Helping Hand Award pin, you’ll know you’ve found a true hero of our community!

Jane and Jim Nyffeler ON JULY 14, MARK STEPHENSON PEERED OUT OF HIS

Des Moines, Iowa, hotel room window to find that his new BMW had been stolen. Mark had owned the bike for less than three weeks and had spent the previous day roaming the vendors at the BMW MOA Rally buying accessories to make the bike his own. This was his first rally.

After filing the necessary police report and insurance claim, Mark met friends he had ridden with at the rally and sat in on a BMW Motorrad presentation about new and improved gear.

It was difficult to listen as his mind was thinking about how he would get back home to Nebraska and begin the recovery process.

Following the presentation, Mark’s friends introduced him to Jim Nyffeler of Lincoln, Nebraska. Jim said that his wife had driven in from Lincoln to attend closing ceremonies with him and might be willing to give Mark a ride back. After Jim called his wife Jane to make sure she was okay riding back with a stranger, arrangements were finalized and phone numbers exchanged. With the huge burden getting back home now off his shoulders, Mark was able to enjoy the remainder of the rally as best he could.

Later Saturday evening, Jim texted Mark with their plans for the next day. Sunday morning, Jim packed up his campsite and met Jane at the hotel to pick up Mark. Jane and Mark then

30

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

followed Jim back to Nebraska where they met Mark’s wife. Soon after, Mark and his wife were headed home.

According to Mark, “I not only found someone to help me out in a tight spot, but I made a new friend. In my opinion, Jim went above and beyond. He could have easily told me he had ridden to the rally, which would have been true. Instead, Jim involved his family. It is one thing for a person to “take a chance” and offer a ride, lend money or offer assistance. It is quite another when they involve their family. Jim and Jane Nyffeler are the type of people who represent the MOA and everything the organization claims to be. Because of that, I would like to nominate Jim Nyffeler of Lincoln, Nebraska, for the MOA Helping Hand award.”

Nominated by Mark Stephenson #212164

Jerry Bradford and Ben Merkley of Bentonville BMW I WANT TO EXPRESS A BIG THANK YOU TO JERRY BRADFORD

and Ben Merkley for the great service and consideration they gave me late on a Saturday afternoon at Bentonville BMW. On that day, my wife and I were riding my K 1600 GT from Iowa and heading to Eureka, Arkansas, to attend the MOA Getaway there and experience the superb riding and beautiful scenery of that area. Unfortunately, I pushed the wear on my rear tire past its intended life, and Jerry and Ben came to my aid, staying beyond their regular Saturday business hours to accommodate my less than conservative pre-trip planning.

While I love my K 1600 GT, I’ve discovered it’s not the brand we ride but the great people supporting it that makes me rave about the BMW experience to other riders.

Thanks again to Jerry and Ben as we made it home, most importantly, safely.

Nominated by Andy Sisler #89672

Ride Safe this Winter.

Don’t Be Dim.

Driving Lights

Turn Signals

Brake Lights

weisertechnik.com wwwweisertechnik.com

Made in the USA & UK We support our Veterans

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE ROAD & YOUR HANDS ON THE BARS

Explore MOA GETAWAYS

[

MOA Getaways continue to grow in popularity, and this year we’re offering more than ever before. Spread across the United States in bucket list locations, each Getaway provides a unique opportunity to ride some of the best roads and spend time with fellow BMW riders.

MOA Getaways — great rides and great friends. We look forward to seeing you at a Getaway this year!

Date: November 9 - 11, 2018 Location: Kerrville, Texas 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 in Texas.

Address: YO Ranch Hotel 2033 Sidney Baker Street, Kerrville, TX 78028 Reservations: 877-967-3767 – Mention BMW MOA for rate bmwmoa.org/yohotel Room Rate: King - $105-$115, King suite $145-$155 Website: yoranchhotel.com Host Info: Paul Mulhern | 201-279-6074 | pmulhern@swbell.net Event Fee: $99 Features: The wine country of Texas, ride the Three Sisters

Reserve your spot today! To register, visit bmwmoa.org and click on the EVENTS tab or call 864-438-0962 and a membership associate will be happy to assist you. Contact host hotel for accommodations.

DMC - Mesh Communications

cardosystems.com www.cardosystems.com

32

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

[

Be sure to register early as many locations sell out. Register for more than one Getaway and receive a discount!

www.re-psycle.com 11

11

www.pradisemotorcycletours.co.nz

www.parabellum.com

BREAKING GROUND SO YOU CAN TOO Smart Ergonomics Rugged Protection Innovative Luggage www.twistedthrottle.com November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

33

TECH

keepemflying

Waking up a few old airheads

By Matthew Parkhouse #13272 AUGUST WAS A

busy month with the airheads, as I have been in the middle of waking up a trio of bikes that have been inactive for several years. Two have gone back to their owners in nicely running shape. The third, a Slash five that last ran in 1989, remains on my lift. The owner states he’s not in any hurry, so I have been moving slowly. The Slash five was supposed to be a low mileage bike, but I pulled out what was perhaps the MOST worn out clutch plate I have EVER seen! The gearbox had two failures and rather than doing an expensive rebuild, I’m installing a used four-speed transmission I have on my shelf.

As I’ve been working on these bikes, Susanna and I have continued our traveling.

After three days at home following the Des Moines National Rally, we returned to Iowa, Mason City this time, for the week-long Pyrotechnic Guild International’s annual convention. A colorful, noisy affair as always, and we definitely got our pyrotechnic ya-yas out for a while. While there, one morning we drove the 30 miles to Britt, Iowa, to check out the annual Hobo Convention. While I didn’t see ANYONE I’d classify as a hobo, there were a few downand-out looking folks. It is not the gathering I rode to 13 times in 15 years during the late 1970s and 1980s. Nothing lasts forever, does it? On our way home, we stopped by the Nebraska Nightriders’ HuskerRally in Franklin, Nebraska. The rally is always held at the rather small county fairgrounds, offering nice camping, a couple of modern buildings and a nice set-up for cooking for

I’m fitting one of my “new” straps to the rebuilt Strider. Just about every airhead rider who runs the BMW type of saddlebags, knows about applying extra security strapping. Too many of us have lost a bag while underway because of less-than-secure bag locks. I had finally run through my stash of these straps and turned to eBay. Lo and behold, Bob’s BMW obviously sells them and at $1.90 a side, there’s no excuse not to buy some.

34

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

lots of folks. We had ridden there many years ago, back when I was vending at rallies, and I set up a table there. The same people are running the event, and we ran into several familiar riders. One unusual aspect of the fairgrounds is the immense racetrack built by the WPA in the thirties. It really looks like part of the ruins at Pompeii, Italy. The facility was also used as a POW camp during World War II. After a couple of conversations with the local folks, I did a bit of research on the fairgrounds. At present, it seems small and unexciting, but it certainly has a lot of history!

Susanna went on a couple of short trips, one to visit with old school-age friends and the other to check in with her parents. Her mother at 93 and her father at 97 are still getting by in their home, so she likes to get up to Boise fairly often. I stayed at home, rested and worked on getting those bikes running.

The final trueing up of the replacement forks. I’m using a piece of plate glass I acquired while working at Doc’s BMW of Colorado Springs when the UPS guy came in with a poorly packed cast wheel we had ordered and dropped it on our glass display counter! UPS bought us a new countertop and I brought in my glass cutter and made a couple of flat surface tools out of the ruined glass top.

I don’t use it very often but it is a nice way of checking the fork tubes for being parallel.

One of the last trips this summer ended a week ago. Susanna and I were in Hot Springs, South Dakota, at a tech day hosted

by Air Marshal Jeff Ecker. About a dozen Airheads showed up. Both Susanna’s R 100/7 and my Slash five had headlamp noton issues, so I spent an hour or so on our bikes with my electrical test lamp. Hers turned out to be a loose wire, mine was a blown bulb. We both left with functioning lights. I had brought up the various tools needed to service Jeff ’s wheel bearings on his Slash Five. The bearings were fine, just in need of more (and clean) grease. I balanced each wheel before it went back on the bike as well. Jeff made sure we had plenty of good food, and it was a fun, social weekend.

Lots of wildlife, too, as several deer and a flock of turkeys, wandered through the yard as we worked and relaxed in lawn chairs. It was a four-day, 800-mile ride, and I’m glad to say that my rebuilt Slash five ran very well on the trip. The rebuilt forks are providing a reasonably smooth ride, and this was the big test of both the bike and of me. I got home tired and sore, but I am feeling positive about the six-week Europe trip

that begins next week! I am VERY pleased that my first BMW remains in service.

This last weekend we attended the Bavarian Mountain Weekend rally at the Sipapu Ski Resort, about 20 miles outside of Taos, New Mexico. We have had the use of a cabin there for many years which we share with good friends Stan Herman, Deb Lower, and Larry Stonestreet. Helen Kafka and Ralph Osterberg are usually there, too, but health issues kept them home this year.

Sipapu, as it is called, is a laid-back rally, and we always enjoy going to it. This year some of the Airheads that were at Jeff ’s the previous weekend showed up. It was enjoyable seeing them and many other knownto-us riders. You can count on it being chilly at night in the New Mexico mountains, and this year did not disappoint. The temperature at night hovered somewhere around 40. Larry reported back, on his way home to California, that it was 45 when he left early on Sunday morning. By the time we got back to Colorado Springs, it was pushing 90. Fall in the West.

The next column will be coming from somewhere near the Adriatic Sea in the

The early disk-braked BMWs ran ATE calipers. I am bleeding the old brake fluid after sucking the fluid out of the reservoir under the gas tank. I have refilled the reservoir with clean DOT 4 fluid and am pumping it through the lines and calipers, being careful to avoid moving the hand brake lever more than half way. If you pull it all the way to the handlebars, it can tear the seal in the master cylinder and give you a drippy hand brake control. With clean fluid in the reservoir, it does not take much to move out the old juice.

Balkans, as we ride our pair of Slash fives, starting out from Heidelberg. We are very busy right now, preparing for our departure. Do you know you need a note from your doctor to get the “green card” insurance required in Europe if you’re over 65?

Just working with pharmacies and health insurance companies to get six weeks of our various meds ready for the trip is a part-time job! We leave in 24 hours, and the meds are still not settled. Battling with Humana Insurance over a vacation override involved several frustrating hours on the phone.

Susanna did most of the pre-trip organizing while I tackled various bits of airhead work. Our plan, subject to revision of course, is to start at Stefan’s in Heidelberg and ride to Prague. After several days in a cabin in a campground near Prague (I think it is the same one I stayed at in 1993), we will head south through the Balkans to end up in Greece. We might get into Turkey, or we might take a ferry to Italy and return that way. We have six weeks, which is a nice, long time. I’ll let you know where we end up.

I am removing all the old, dark brake fluid. I’ll then wipe out the reservoir with a clean paper towel and add some new DOT 4 brake fluid. Careful – it tastes terrible!

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

35

tech

keepemflying

Here, I am removing the bolt that secures the fender brace. Essentially, BMW has supplied the special tool that is needed to remove the ATE brake pivot pin.

I have screwed the special tool (the 8mm bolt I took out of the fender brace) into the underside of the pivot pin. Once it is in place, I hook my 13mm wrench over the bolt head and give it a tap with one of my heavier wrenches. This usually pops out the pivot pin.

Below: A brief stop at Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska.

This bit of “artwork� has really become a major draw for the small Nebraska city. Strider, my R 75/5, appears to be recovered from the crash last February after a fair amount of work and used parts. Many thanks again to Nebraska AirMarshall John Wayne for the donated fork set!

Using my 19 mm wrench to remove the cap that covers the brake pivot pin.

36

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

WHERE YOU GO FOR

WINDSHIELDS

AND OTHER HIGH QUALITY ACCESSORIES EXCLUSIVELY FOR BMW ® MOTORCYCLES Z2360

Z2361

Z2362

www.bohnarmor.com

Z5403

www.imtbike.com

Z5220

Beemerboneyard.com www.beemerboneyard.com

Used Oil‐Head, K‐Bike & Hex‐Head Parts – 50% of New or Less New Maintenance Parts & Tools – WAY BELOW Retail Prices NO BACKORDERS – ORDERS SHIP IN 24 HOURS

10% BMW MOA Discount

N1401-01 N1410-01

Online Orders Only

Enter code BMWMOA in source code box @ checkout & click “apply” Liqui‐Molyoil ‐ oil, fuel & air filters – 12/24K maintenance kits – brake pads & rotors – fuel pumps – Hall sensors – repair manuals & dvds–tools – fuel line disconnect sets – fuel injection controllers – exhausts – batteries & chargers – master cylinders & rebuild kits – starters – spark plugs & wires – cables – radiator fans – alt belts – fender extenders – Carbtune carb/TB synchronizers

ORDER ONLINE 24/7 – M/C, Visa, Discover, Paypal 973.775.3495 M‐F 12‐5PM

www.ztechnik.com www.ztechnik.com info@ztechnik.com

866-ZTECHNK

TEC

TorqueoftheMatter

Ohhhhmmmm … Ohhhhmmmm Part 2: DVOM

By Wes Fleming #87301 IN PART 1 OF THIS

series (October 2018), I revealed that the electrical system of a motorcycle can kill a person, especially if he or she is working on the ignition system. With this column, I’m going to look at how you can safely test the various electrical components of your motorcycle using a digital volt-ohm meter (DVOM), also referred to as a multimeter.

There are really only three things you’re going to do with your DVOM: measure voltage, measure resistance and test for continuity. That may baffle you a bit if you look at the front panel of a typical DVOM simply due to the array of knobs, buttons, connectors and symbols on most of them. It’s okay though, because that’s why you read articles like this.

First let’s look at the different levels of DVOM. The average DIY motorcycle tech like you or me can easily get away with a $25 unit. An electrical engineer might need a mid-range unit like a Fluke 87V costing $400 or more, but you don’t. A calibrated professional unit doesn’t do much the cheapest unit can’t, it just does it more accurately and will have built-in things like circuit protection (to prevent damage to the DVOM) and automatic range selection to make your life easier by preventing you from having to spin knobs and push buttons.

You know how when you were a kid you tested nine-volt batteries for your hand-held video games with

38

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

On an F 800 ST, the battery is easy to access. Remove the seat, take out the eight fairing screws holding the center panel in place, and there it is under the center panel.

To test your battery, plug the leads into your multimeter. The Common socket on the meter (marked "COM") is for the negative (black) lead. For the positive (red) lead, you may have a single socket choice, which makes it easy, or you may have to choose between two possible sockets. Consult your multimeter’s instructions to be sure which to use. Then hold the metal tips of the leads—called “probes” for obvious reasons—against the appropriate terminals of the battery.

your tongue? The sizzle meant you still had power! With a DVOM, you don’t need your tongue any more, and you can test any of the batteries you find in the junk drawer in the kitchen. You can also check your old, neglected extension cords and that box of light bulbs you keep in the basement for some reason.

Start simple. Grab a motorcycle battery, preferably one that isn’t already installed in a bike. It’s not dangerous to test the battery that’s in your bike, though, so grab your DVOM. Disconnect the negative cable from the battery, then connect the leads to your meter. Hold the black lead against the negative terminal of the battery and touch the positive terminal with the red lead. If you’ve chosen the proper settings on your DVOM (DCV, 20V), you should get a reading between zero and 13 volts telling you the resting charge of your battery.

Reconnect the negative cable and test it again to see if—with the bike’s ignition turned off—you get the same reading. If you don’t, there could be a problem.

If you have a helper (or a functioning third arm) you can also test “voltage drop” on the battery. This tells you how far below its resting voltage the battery falls when the starter button gets pressed. Many latemodel motorcycles briefly disconnect the headlight when the starter is engaged, so voltage drop shouldn’t be severe under normal conditions. If it is, that indicates a problem somewhere in the circuit and could indicate a bad starter, starter solenoid, ignition switch, starter button, etc.

As a side note, some folks may have heard of a battery load tester. These are only useful if you have to test a lot of batteries, so are generally overkill for the home mechanic. All they do is tell you if a battery is any good when a load is applied to it; they don’t tell you what the drop caused by the load is. Useful in the context of a busy shop environment, but not so useful at home.

Once you’ve got the basics of testing a motorcycle battery down, you’re set to start learning more about the electrical systems of your motorcycle.

Testing the F 800’s battery at rest gave a reading of 12.52 volts, which is adequate for a battery with the ignition off. This is the standing, or resting voltage, and for a 12-volt battery, you want to see it above 12 volts. This DVOM is an AstroAI AM33D Digital Multimeter and costs less than $10. It can measure AC and DC voltage up to 500 volts, DC current, resistance (ohms) and continuity, as well as check diodes. It has an internal fuse, a backlight and a hold button that will leave the display on the last test point.

Analog multimeters (AVOM) are more difficult to read quickly and generally bulkier than digital meters, so they’re often best suited for home or garage use, rather than sticking them in your road tool kit. This GB Instruments GMT-319 features seven functions including a good/bad battery tester and can handle up to 1,000 volts.

With the starter button pressed, the voltage of the battery drops to 10.85 volts, showing the voltage when the battery is under a load. A drop of two or three volts is expected; more than that likely indicates a problem with your battery, especially if you’re already having trouble starting the bike in the first place.

The Fluke 10 is out of production, but still available through places like pawn shops and eBay. Fluke is the king of DVOMs, and the prices reflect that status. The least expensive unit, the Fluke 101, costs about $50 and is only slightly more complex than the model 10. A top-of-theline, NIST-certified Fluke 789 will set you back $1,000 and is absolutely beyond the needs of the average motorcycle owner. Note here that the reading is below the other meters, possibly because the leads are old and age can degrade wires; degraded wires provide more resistance to electric current.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

39

A BIGGER BOXER BMW’S NEW R 1250

40

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

GS AND RT

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

41

F

or more than 35 years, the boxer engine of BMW’s GS and RT models has been a distinctively powerful and reliable powerplant for all riders, regardless of whether they’re heading out on an extended cross-country tour or simply enjoying a short weekend trip.

For the last 25 years, BMW Motorrad has used four-valve technology in the boxer motor along with electronic fuel injection and closed-loop catalytic converter technology to achieve the best possible power and torque delivery, efficiency and environmental compatibility.

The new R 1250 GS and R 1250 RT not only achieve a new level of power and torque across the entire RPM range, but the new motor also lowers emission and fuel consumption levels while

42

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

offering greater smoothness, especially within the lower engine speed range, and refinement while producing a particularly satisfying exhaust note.

To accomplish this, for the first time in a production BMW engine, ShiftCam Technology has been used to enable variable valve timing and stroke on the intake side. Additionally, the intake camshafts were designed for asynchronous opening of the two intake valves which is said to create an enhanced swirl of the fresh, incoming fuel/air mixture, producing a more effective combustion.

Other technical changes to the engine relate to the camshaft drive, which is now handled by a toothed instead roller chain, an optimized oil supply, twin-jet injection valves and a new exhaust system.

There are two riding modes available as standard to adapt the motorcycle to individual rider preferences. The standard Automatic Stability Control ASC ensures a high level of riding safety and the best possible traction. The set-off assistant Hill Start Control is also a standard feature in both models and enables convenient set-off on slopes.

"Riding Modes Pro" is now available as optional equipment and features the additional riding mode "Dynamic," for Dynamic Traction Control (DTC), in the RT, while on the GS it adds the riding modes "Dynamic Pro," "Enduro" and "Enduro Pro." DTC enables more efficient and safe acceleration, especially in banking positions, while ABS Pro offers greater safety when braking, even in a banking position. The new Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) provides additional safety when braking in

difficult situations by avoiding unintentional acceleration and is intended to keep the motorcycle stable while shortening braking distance.

BMW Motorrad’s Dynamic ESA “Next Generation” damping is adjusted automatically based on rider and road conditions to provide optimum damping comfort and stable ride response, and it is now available for both models.

The new R 1250 GS now features the LED headlight as standard along with the Connectivity feature and a 6.5-inch full-color TFT screen. When used with the Multi-Controller, riders can access vehicle and connectivity functions quickly and easily. The R 1250 RT is fitted with a large 5.7-inch TFT color screen along with an analog speedometer and tachometer.

For more information and images, visit bmwmoa.org/news

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

43

GS motor detail.

RT bodywork.

Highlights of BMW's new R 1250 GS and R 1250 RT ShiftCam • Further developed boxer engine with BMW valve and gs timin Technology for variation of the valve stroke on the intake side. range, • Even more power across the entire engine speed levels, ion emiss and n optimized fuel consumptio . ment refine and s thnes increased running smoo at 7,750 • Increased output and torque: 100 kW (136 hp) kW (125 92 with ared comp rpm rpm and 143 Nm at 6,250 . ously previ rpm 6,500 at Nm 125 hp) at 7,750 rpm and GS TFT dash.

apacity increased to 1,254 cc (previously 1,170 •C

cc).

• Asynchronous valve opening on the intake side mized swirl and more effective combustion.

for opti-

roller • Camshaft drive now via toothed chain (previously chain).

• Optimized oil supply and piston base cooling. ility. nock sensor system for optimized travel suitab •K use of • Latest generation of BMS-O engine control and ive effect more even twin-jet injection valves for carburetion. rmance New exhaust system for optimum perfo • characteristics. ew additional front spoiler on the R 1250 RT. •N ol as Two riding modes, ASC and Hill Start Contr • standard.

RT dash.

modes, • Riding Modes Pro, featuring additional riding in dard (stan Pro ABS , Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) Brake mic Dyna and Pro ol the R 1250 RT), Hill Start Contr ment Assistant (DBC), available as an optional equip item ex works. ration” • Electronic suspension Dynamic ESA “Next Gene ion. ensat comp load with fully automatic height In addition to standard adjustability of seat • of range wide GS), 1250 R the for (exception: HP style s. work ex ts varian seat height and LED • LED headlamp for the R 1250 GS as standard works ex an as ls mode both for light daytime riding optional equipment item. r with • Connectivity: multifunctional instrument cluste res as 6.5-inch full-color TFT screen and numerous featu standard in the R 1250 GS.

RT motor detail.

n.

• Intelligent Emergency Call as an ex works optio

46

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

GS onroad

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

47

My first impressions of the

R 1250 GS

By Shawn Thomas #91122

Recently, BMW Brand Ambassador and Owners News contributor Shawn Thomas was tasked with riding the new BMW R 1250 GS, featuring the ShiftCam technology. While his role in riding the bike was not journalistic, he managed to provide a tasty update on his impressions from being the first American to ride the new ShiftCam GS. Here are his thoughts: THE FIRST THING YOU’LL NOTICE IS

the sound; It’s deep and throaty, without some of the treble tones common in its predecessor. This is accentuated by the optional Akrapovic muffler which—when equipped—gives the motor a considerable decibel boost. The throbbing hum sounds as though you are hearing it through a dampened cloth.

The next impression is from the vibration, or lack thereof.

All twins vibrate, this is the nature of the mechanical beast. But the new version has a smoother, more uniform feel. Both characteristics can be attributed to the newShawn Thomas ShiftCam technology.

At idle—when the throttle is being held at a constant rev under around 80 mph— this new system opens the intake valves at a fraction of their normal range. In addition, each valve is open at a slightly different gap. The asymmetry creates a swirling effect of the fuel and air mixture, resulting in a more uniform combustion.

In addition to the smaller valve

48

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

gapping, the new cam closes the valves while the piston is still in its intake stroke.

The premature closing creates a suction effect, helping “spring” the piston up during its compression stroke.

These two features result in the smoother, throatier sound. But what about power? How much will the extra bore, torque and horsepower really increase the feel of this new machine?

Only a roll of the throttle will tell the tale.

And tell it does. One blip of the gas and the new cam shifts, switching from reduced to full valve actuation in milliseconds. The seamless transition results in an almost rowdy power, the bike leaping forward in a selfimposed race to prove its prowess. At minimum it will make you crack a surprised smile, maybe even a gleeful yelp.

But while the power plant is impressive, there is more to the power delivery than valves and pistons. The optional sports suspension—introduced to the GS in 2017—helps make efficient use of the power by automatically stiffening the rear shock under acceleration.

This of ten- overlooked functionality is key, since it helps ensure that more power is delivered to the rear tire rather than being partially absorbed by the shock.

The result is more efficient acceleration, especially off the line.

The R 1250 GS is exceptional on the dirt as well, though perhaps not in the way you might think. Sure, the power is there.

But hard acceleration is tempered by the lack of traction that comes from riding off-road. Hit the throttle too hard, and many of your shiny new ponies will be lost in an ever-expanding plume of dirt and gravel. Where the R 1250 motor really shines is during low speed handling, maneuvering the bike at or below 1st gear idle speeds. This is considered one of most fundamental skills in adventure riding, and usually the first thing taught at off-road schools. When maneuvering the 1250 at low speeds, the ShiftCam’s efficient combustion leads to more stable idlespeed handling. Clutch and throttle control are still important, but the motor is more forgiving of rider shortfalls.

In short, the new R 1250 GS is more than just an updated logo on an existing frame. The power speaks for itself, as a short test ride will reveal—which you should arrange, since it is good to squeal with glee every now and again.

And yes, we can expect to see this new motor in more BMW’s down the line (The R 1250 RT has already been announced at the time of this writing; others have been seen by the author, under promise of peril if he reveals any specifics!).

SHIFTCAM TECHNOLOGY EXPLAINED BMW’s latest iteration of their venerable boxer motor now has a capacity of 1,254 cc, up from the previous version’s 1,170 cc. Bore and stroke is now 102.5 to 76 mm compared with 101 to 73mm and the new engine produces 136 hp at 7,750 rpm with a maximum torque of 143 Nm compared with 125 hp and 125 Nm of the motor it replaces. These numbers make the new engine the most powerful BMW boxer engine ever to be manufactured in serial production.

The goals in developing the new boxer engine of the R 1250 GS and R 1250 RT were to enhance the already impressive output and torque figures and increase the refinement and smoothness while optimizing emission and fuel consumption.

These goals were achieved by use of BMW’s ShiftCam Technology. New to BMW motorcycles, its function is to vary the valve timings and valve stroke on the intake side through the use of a single-unit shift camshaft with two cams per valve being activated: one partial-load cam and one full- load cam. While the partial-load cam has been configured to ensure optimized fuel consumption and refinement, the full-load cam is designed for optimized output.

Axial shift of the intake camshaft means the intake valves are activated by either the partial-load or the full-load cam, depending on load and engine speed. The axial shift of the intake camshaft and the use of the partial-load or full-load cam are achieved by means of a shifting gate on the camshaft and an electronic actuator.

The varied configuration of the cam geometry also enables variation of the intake valve stroke. While the full-load cam provides maximum valve stroke, the partial-load cam delivers reduced valve stroke. There is also a difference between the intake cams for the left and right-hand intake valve in stroke and angular position. This phase shift means that the two intake valves are opened to different degrees and on a time-staggered basis.

The effect of this phase shift is to create a swirl and therefore greater agitation of the fuel-air mixture flowing into the combustion chamber to produce a more effective combustion and better utilization of the fuel.

Benefits of BMW ShiftCam Technology -Increased torque and pulling power across the entire engine speed range.

-Better rideability due to increased torque -Increased engine output -Reduction of idling engine speed by 100 rpm.

-Reduction of exhaust emissions and better sound.

-Reduction of fuel consumption by 4% as compared to the predecessor model.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

49

50

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

51

14 years

Bonjour Provence 16 days

2019 TOUR DATE

May 4 - 19

www.adriaticmototours.com

www.adriaticmototours.com

Join us for ‘joie de vivre’ on two wheels!

www.beemershop.com

Peter Hans Lattman MOA # 97545

Call, Text, or Email Peter for all of your Real Estate needs

Cell: 208-664-0101

SCHNEIDMILLER REALTY

E-mail: peterhanslattman@hardworkingpeter.com www.hardworkingpeter.com Please visit www.HardWorkingPeter.com I'm Peter Hans Lattman with Coldwell Banker in Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. Long time MOA member, and life long motorcyclist. Let me show you why I live here.

If you'd like to invest in a second home, or escape the big city for good, I'm here for you!

Call, text, or email me for more information or just the scoop on the best twistie roads in North Idaho!

www.m4motorcycles.com

Why not live where people vacation?

Beautiful Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho!

Put my lifetime of negotiating experience to work for you!

www.rentalaska.com RentAlaska.com Specializing in BMW Motorcycle Rentals since 1994

Alaska Motorcycle Adventures

(907) 376-4513

www.epmperf.com

www.mortonsbmw.com

www.euromotoelectrics.com

www.mortonsbmw.com

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

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

53

54

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

My Father’s

BMW

By Mike Watson #202953

SOME OF MY EARLIEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES ARE OF RIDING

with my dad around Unity, Maine, on his motorcycle. My father was a high school shop teacher and often took on carpentry jobs during the summer months, and he would ride back and forth to these jobs on his 1954 BMW R 51/3. My brothers and sister and I looked forward to him returning home to our family’s camp at the end of the day, as he would often take one of us for a ride on the back roads around the lake.

It was always a treat to spend some time alone with dad. I remember putting our helmets on and then watching dad push the plungers on each Bing carburetor to let a little gas in, then kick the engine to life.

When I was little, he would put me on the seat in front of him, and as I got older, I got to ride on back, and Dad let me make the hand signals.

With no panniers on the bike, if we brought lunch, I'd have to hold it on the seat between my legs. Sometimes we would even get to go “into town,” which meant a 15-mile ride to the small town of Clinton to check on our house there. It was only by chance that my dad had the BMW in the first place.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

55

56

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

William Bowen, an uncle on my mom’s side, was stationed in Kassel, Germany, in the late 1950s while serving with the U.S. Army.

Uncle Bill had ridden and raced motorcycles before his days in the army, and in the spring of 1958, he bought the 1954 R 51/3 from a German man who spoke very little English. Uncle Bill spoke very little German, so after finding someone to translate their negotiations, a deal was made. Supposedly, both of them thought they made a good deal after they agreed upon a price of $175. When Uncle Bill bought the bike, it had a Steib sidecar attached to it, but Bill didn’t purchase the sidecar. Uncle Bill loved the way the BMW ran, and with his fellow soldiers, he spent much of his free time over the next 16 months touring Germany.

Uncle Bill took good care of the bike while in Germany, and when he was scheduled to return home, he knew he wanted to bring the BMW back with him. It cost $150 to crate the bike, another $150 to ship it to New York, and then another $125 to ship it to Portland, Maine. Once the bike reached U.S. shores, Uncle Bill didn’t have any way to pick it up in Portland, so my grandfather borrowed a company truck and brought the BMW home to Benton, Maine.

Uncle Bill rode the R 51/3 around Maine until 1961, when he started school in Portland. As a student, he found that he didn’t have time to ride it and needing money for school, he sold it to his sister and her husband, my parents, for $200. I was born a couple years later, and this bike has been in my family all of my life.

This brings me back to my history with the R 51/3. My dad regularly rode the bike for the next 20 years, and he and my mom liked to ride it around Maine taking short rides to the coast, Rangeley, or just exploring back roads. Dad also used the bike for commuting to work, and it was last registered in 1979, about which time he purchased a Honda 750 for pleasure riding and subsequently put away the BMW. The black BMW sat in the corner of our shed for many years, and

though dad thought he might restore it someday, years passed and with his work and family commitments, the BMW sat and gathered dust.

In 2004, I asked dad if I could restore it, and I brought it to my home in China, Maine, and rolled it into the basement. Shortly after, a freak winter storm blew down my airplane hangar and destroyed my airplane, and the BMW restoration was put on hold once again. In 2011, once the hangar and plane were rebuilt, the restoration of the R 51/3 finally began, 32 years after it was last ridden.

To begin the restoration, I stripped every part from the bike down to the frame and started to figure out what I’d gotten myself into. When I started searching the internet for parts and information on this model, I discovered a group of BMW enthusiasts.

Through that group, I was referred to Chris and Barbara, who live and work just a few hours from me in Barrington, New Hampshire.

While my ultimate goal was to ride the bike again, with a busy job and not enough free time, I am doing what restoration work I can and am taking advantage of Chris and Barbara's expertise to help complete the job. Every time I talk with or visit them, I learn more about these beautiful bikes, and I gain confidence in the work I'm doing.

After the restoration was completed, I often reflect on my time working on the bike. I also think about the 54 years that this beautiful BMW has been part of my family while appreciating the workmanship of the BMW brand.

I’ll never forget the day when my dad, Uncle Bill and I got together to tickle the Bing carburetors and then kickstarted the bike to life just as we had so many years earlier. Listening to that distinctive BMW sound brought back the same joy and excitement we felt 50 years earlier.

Left, Mike holds a photograph taken many years earlier of himself and his little brother sitting on the R 51/3. Above, The R 51/3 with Mike's Uncle Bill (left) and Bill's brother Ed in Benton, Maine, upon their return home from the service.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

57

MAPPING THE CALIFORNIA BDR

By Paul Guillien #179473 Photography by Ely Woody

58

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

59

DAN SCHOO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN

the rich, rural farmlands of northern Iowa riding three-wheelers and dirt bikes. After college, Schoo moved to Chicago to begin an engineering career, but after enduring the cold and windy city for 23 years, the weather and a Telecom/IP Networking startup lured him to the Silicon Valley.

Paradise found, two of the first things he did once there was to buy an Audi TT convertible and a 2005 BMW R 1200 GS. Little did he know that the latter would alter the

60

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

course of his life.

“It was a time for me to explore California, the western United States and Mexico, and there is absolutely no better way to do that than by getting off the beaten path on an adventure motorcycle,” Schoo said.

Soon, Schoo became absolutely addicted to seeing things and traveling to places where few people had the opportunity to go. Along the way, a buddy who also happened to own a BMW Motorrad dealership and was contemplating retirement,

asked him about buying his dealership.

Schoo was tempted, but the time wasn’t right and he didn't pull the trigger. In the process, he got to know the people at BMW. Following the financial collapse in 2008 and the following recession, Schoo found his work in engineering and with startups to be reaching a natural conclusion. Not knowing what to do next, he set off on a long ride to figure out the next phase of his life. Upon his return home, he found a

message on his answering machine from BMW North America asking if he had any interest in opening a new dealership in the Riverside area. Based on his experience, startups were more appealing than purchasing an established business, and after a few meetings and a lot of hustle, in April of 2010 Schoo opened BMW Motorcycles of Riverside. After opening the shop, Schoo promised himself that he’d always make time to ride and has worked that promise into the culture of the shop. A promise he

keeps through monthly shop rides, March Moto Madness at Song Dog Ranch and through a relationsiop with Fastrack Riders for track days.

As his riding continually took him further from home, Schoo (#157784) joined the BMW MOA. He said, “I’ve found that connecting with other MOA members and the MOA’s relationship with Medjet Assist to be extremely beneficial, especially when riding thousands of miles from home or in foreign countries.

“I have been an early supporter of the Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR), which is fully aligned with my passion of riding adventure bikes in the backcountry.

We have shown all of the movie premieres at the dealership and support the fundraising activities of the BDR. “When the opportunity came to be part of the team to develop the California BDR route, I immediately raised my hand and was eager to share my experiences of riding the California deserts and mountains and put to use the thousands of miles of off-road tracks I accumulated over the years. Sponsoring the CABDR South was a natural extension of my love of the backcountry and the mission of BMW Motorcycles of Riverside. We proudly support what the BDR stands for, including knowledgeable, safe and responsible off-road backcountry riding, training activities, and the preservation of motorized access to trails and roads.”

The California BDR route begins along

62

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

the Colorado River at the border of California, Arizona, and Mexico. It then proceeds north through desolate desert areas, touching the river in a few places before crossing the Mojave Desert and the Mojave Natural Preserve. The route then enters the southern part of Death Valley and crosses into the Owens Valley at the Cerro Gordo ghost town. From there, the route runs along the Owens Valley with an expert option taking riders through the White Mountains, before crossing the Volcanic Tablelands and finally ending near Benton, California.

According to Schoo, it was quite challenging to settle on a final route for the CABDR South. There were many choices with a vast area to traverse. “We finally agreed to shorten the route by making it a little more direct to keep the trip to seven or eight days. While that added a bit more difficulty level in certain areas, it truly made the word “backcountry” the operative descriptor of the route as so much of it

is truly remote. During the filming expedition ride, we mostly dry-camped and needed to carry in our own food and water.

To do that, we usually stopped for gas late every afternoon and resupplied with water and food for dinner that night, and for breakfast and lunch the next day. We did stay at a hot spring motel outside of Death Valley and at Benton Hot Springs the final night.”

Schoo’s favorite part of the CABDR was riding through the Joshua trees in the higher elevation sections of the Mojave Desert. “It’s a special feeling to see such rare sights in this desolate and hard to reach area. Being all alone in the Mojave is such an awesome and humbling experience. Also, seeing the many ancient Indian petroglyphs along the route is something that never leaves my mind. How old are they? What do they mean? No one knows,” he said.

The CABDR takes rides through expansive vistas where the extreme remoteness

Below left and below, Some of the varied terrain covered when riding the California BDR South. Right, Petroglyphs along the way.

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

63

of much of the area is absolutely stunning.

The extreme geographical features of southern California are in full view, especially when riding between the highest point in the contiguous 48 states (Mount Whitney) and the lowest point (Badwater, Death Valley) There are not many easy miles, but all are stunning. The route also features spectacular views every day, many hot springs, ghost towns and abandoned mines that are the remnants of the area’s storied history.

“It was an unforgettable experience,” Schoo said.

It is suggested that a large dose of common sense is required for anyone thinking of riding this route. The weather conditions can range from extreme and deadly heat to snow, quite possibly in the same trip.

When Schoo was planning the route, he said his group had ridden most sections multiple times, and their experience was very different each time. Where a road or double-track was easy and fast one time, a few months later the same track was virtually impassable. Summertime monsoon thunderstorms crisscross the desert and can radically change the landscape, and with the distance involved, riders will invariably run into some unexpected challenges.

The route is extremely remote with long distances offering no cell phone communicationm making riding with a partner and some form of satellite communication essential.

Schoo also suggests riders pack light and make sure their bikes are well-prepared and inspected every day to avoid breakdowns.

Riders will be on their own and many stretches of the route require self-rescue if an issue arises. Do not get fixated on specific time frames and be prepared with maps, gas, food, water, shelter and the mental agility to change plans as necessary.

Schoo said, “With every epic ride my greatest memory is always the feeling of camaraderie I’ve created with my riding partners. These rides require teamwork, with everyone putting their heads together to solve problems and make good decisions along the way. I will forever appreciate the lasting friendships I’ve made on this ride.

To see more images and video of the California BDR, visit bmwmoa.org/news. For more information regarding Backcountry Discovery Routes, visit ridebdr.com.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

65

66

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

Packing it in at the end of the ride.

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

67

Mountain Waters Scenic BywayNorth Carolina

By Bob Congdon #162965 November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

69

I came around the corner, a tight corner at that, and almost dropped my bike from shock. A spectacular, raw waterfall just jumped out of nowhere and caught me unaware. I have seen more than a few waterfalls that left an impression on me, including Niagara, but great ones are usually a destination trip. On this day I was heading back to Spartanburg, South Carolina, when views of the Cullasaja Falls and the subsequent falls along the trail came unexpectedly.

Regrettably, I had passed my initial opportunity to pull over at the Falls. By the time I could turn around on the twisty, curve-filled road and go back (5 minutes), the small pull-off was filled with vehicles, and I had no room to park my motorcycle safely. It was about 10:30 in the morning on the 3rd of November, 2018, a Saturday, and the fall color travelers were out in full force.

I didn’t know it, but I was on a portion of the road called “The Mountain Waters Scenic Byway.”

It is a National Forest Scenic Byway in the Nantahala National Forest in Western North Carolina. To quote Wikipedia, “The

70

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

Cullasaja River Gorge offers a spectacular scenic drive along the Waterfall Byway between the towns of Franklin and Highlands, North Carolina. The tallest falls are the Cullasaja Falls, which drop 250 feet in the Nantahala National Forest, Nantahala Ranger District, 90 Sloan Road, Franklin, NC 28734, (828)-524-644.”

The entire route runs from Lauda to Franklin to Highlands, North Carolina. I was on the portion from Franklin to Highlands on Route 28/64. This route, as mentioned above, follows the Cullasaja River Gorge, one spectacular mountain road featuring many waterfalls, including Bridal Veil Falls, Dry Falls, Quarry Falls and Cullasaja Falls.

Before this trip to experience “The Tail of the Dragon,” I began researching a fall ride in the Great Smokies National Park-Nantahala National Forest in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. As this would be my first multi-day adventure on a newly acquired 2011 F 650 GS, I wanted to ensure a memorable ride, as most of my long-distance riding has been on a 1972 R 75/5, purchased new in Germany while in

the military.

The first smart thing I did was post on the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Facebook page looking for recommendations. The response was instantaneous. Several riders mentioned the Whiskey Highway and that anywhere along the highways of 28 and 64 in North Carolina was great riding.

The responses were understated. This route, which is known as the Mountain Waters Scenic By-Way was a dynamic, spectacular, color-filled drive. The ride goose bumped me and had my head shaking in awe continuously with “Whoa” coming out of my mouth. Not only were the falls spectacular but the entire twisties route with the Cullasaja River alongside was a ride not quickly forgotten.

Keep in mind when you are on a motorcycle, you feel the crispness of the air, the chill, the thermoclines, and all the elements of Mother Nature while experiencing the visual feasts. You are a part of the environment. That is a purpose of being on a bike; it’s the journey, in most instances, not the destination. This was a great journey. I appreciated being alive.

Top, A view from the Foothills Parkway, Bottom, The Dry Falls along North Carolina Route 28/64, also known as the Mountain Waters Scenic Byway.

What made this particular ride so spectacular was I had just spent three days traversing the Smokies, including a couple of days fishing the Raven Fork Trophy Trout Waters in Cherokee. I had driven the Cherohala Skyway, the Blue Ridge-iced up, the Dragon, the Whiskey Highway, and the Foothills Parkway. The entire experience was filled with visual treats, but this stood out.

I contemplated combining this route in an article about the entire trip but believed this road deserved a special treatment. You don’t see a combination of raw beauty and a fun motorcycle ride like this every day. The Tail of the Dragon is fun, technical, but not for gazing. Portions of this ride reminded me of “The Road to the Sun” in Glacier National Park-just not as cold or high.

The colors were as spectacular as I have seen in years. Being a huge fan of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and Maine for fall color, I was caught unawares that such color could exist outside those mountainous New England areas. I had been in awe of the color for the past two days, from Cherokee to Gatlinburg, to Deal, to Franklin. But the combination of this winding route and the dramatic river drops abutting the road were in a league all their own. It is a ride I will take again, with a better awareness of the views and geographic wonders ahead of time. I will fire up the GoPro. When one heads to the Smoky Mountains (the most visited National Park in the U.S.), Gatlinburg, Dollywood, Ashville and the Biltmore grab the big headlines. But for scenic beauty, unbelievable fall colors, and spectacular backdrops, the Cullasaja River Gorge is a “must-do” fall road for anyone heading to the Smokies in Western North Carolina. Do yourself a favor, don’t miss it. I know I won’t. I will be heading back to fish the Raven Fork, while enjoying one spectacular, color-filled ride.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

71

If You’re Looking For More Space You’ll Have To Get Creative

The Atacama Expedition Tent

BUY ONLINE TODAY www.redverz.com REDVERZ.COM 720 213 8287

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

www.sargentcycle.com

72

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

www.alaskaleather.com

Your Original Source for Vintage, Classic, and Modern BMW Parts

Get the parts and accessories you need at bobsbmw.com If there’s one thing Bob’s BMW has earned the most fame for, it’s the thriving mail-order parts business. Since 1981, the BMW community has come to trust Bob’s as their prime source for parts when repairing, refurbishing, rebuilding, and restoring their machines—enjoying the benefits of a huge in-stock parts inventory, courteous and personal service, dependable expertise, competitive prices, and fast order processing 365 days a year.

FREE SHIPPING EVERY DAY on orders over $99* bobsbmw.com

*Some exclusions apply on select overweight/oversized items.

Parts | Accessories | Apparel | Service | New & Used Motorcycles www.bobsbmw.com 10720 Guilford Road, Jessup, MD 20794 | 888-269-BOBS (2627) | bobsbmw.com

FromtheFOUNDATION

FOUNDATION 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 Vance Harrelson, Vice President vance@bmwmoaf.org Will McHardy, Secretary wmchardy@bmwmoaf.org Tom Gary, Treasurer tgary@bmwmoaf.org BMW MOA FOUNDATION DIRECTORS

Mark Austin maustin@bmwmoaf.org Ken Hall khall@bmwmoaf.org Kate Lammers klammers@bmwmoaf.org Randy Logan rlogan@bmwmoaf.org BMW MOA FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS

220 North Main Street Suite 500 Greenville, SC 29601 (205) 821-7205 Ted Moyer, Executive Director tmoyer@bmwmoaf.org

Reprograming highway safety messages

By Ted Moyer #100360 THE HIGHWAY MESSAGE BOARD PRO-

claimed, “1,029 Highway Deaths this Year.

124 Motorcycle Fatalities. Drive safely.”

It takes a moment to process the numbers, but I wonder if motorcycles make up ten percent of the population. I have a feeling I know the answer before I get the chance to pull over and check the math.

Given the numbers on the highway sign, motorcycles represent about 12 percent of highway fatalities and a quick internet search shows 3.5 million automobiles and 200,000 motorcycles registered in Alabama. This means that motorcycles make up 5.4 percent of the vehicle population yet represent 12 percent of the vehicular fatalities in 2018.

Let that sink in for a moment.

It should be obvious that motorcyclists are over represented in fatality accidents.

We know motorcyclists are much more susceptible to serious injury, given our lack of structural protection. And, the physics of accidents at highway speeds do more damage than low speed crashes. If we already know this, why doesn’t the message board say, “Stop Killing Motorcycle Riders On Our Highways!”

Since the Foundation launched our America’s Highways, Built for All of Us awareness campaign, I’ve received numerous comments from different perspectives.

This month’s commenter suggested that every multi-vehicle collision involving two parties creates an equally shared responsibility for the

74

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

accident. The writer goes on to state that “If either party was trained and actively using their training, they shouldn’t allow themselves to be involved in an accident.”

I’m not sure that those numbers work out, but the writer’s point was that the Foundation should focus on training riders rather than convincing automobile drivers to watch out for motorcyclists.

The writer also said that automobile drivers likely feel little, if any, remorse for an accident involving motorcycles and that

BOXERWORKS

“They may be inconvenienced with a rental vehicle while theirs is being repaired, there is no lasting impact on the driver involved in an automobile/motorcycle collision.”

This is the sentiment I strongly disagree with.

There is a devastating impact to any person involved in a roadway fatality, whether they are at fault or not. In fact, a recent study regarding post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicated motor vehicle accidents were the most frequent traumatic event experienced by males (25 percent) and the second most frequent traumatic event experienced by females (13 percent) in the United States. MOA Foundation Director Vance Harrelson said it best when he proposed our Awareness initiative, “We all know motorcyclists are at risk, but no one fares well in a vehicle fatality.”

No one believes our campaign will shame the public into being more concerned about motorcycles. The numbers are simply too small given the automobile population.

Conversely, we also know rider training is not enough. There must be a complete solution that champions a balance between rider training and motorist awareness. The MOA Foundation has supported a wide variety of rider training opportunities, and now we must make the effort to influence driver attitudes and awareness. Your help is needed if we have any hope of reducing motorcycle fatalities.

The Foundation’s initial fundraising effort supporting motorcycle awareness concludes this month, but this isn’t the only opportunity for you to make a difference.

As we approach the holiday season, please consider a year end gift to the Foundation.

Donations are tax deductible with no amount too small. We recently added the ability to give at regular intervals through the Foundation’s website on any schedule you prefer, and credit cards are accepted.

Please visit bmwmoaf.org to easily make a gift to the Awareness initiative.

Someday, I hope to ride beneath the highway message board reading, “You did It. No Motorcyclists Were Killed This Year!”

As always, I encourage you to ride safe.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

75

MudSling

706.310.0699

WWW.BOXERWORKS.ORG

www.cyclenutz.com www.cyclenutz.com/moa

fits all R nineT models

MudSling R nineT

TM

Suspension GUARD www.machineartmoto.com

www.machineartmoto.com

Free Ship Code - MSFREESHIP PROTECT IN STYLE

908. 652. 6779

www.imtbike.com

Offering Trips to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile

18 years of experience organizing motorcycle tours. The largest BMW motorcycle travel company in Latin America. BMW International Travel Partner. BMW Dealer for Southern Chile. info@motoaventura.cl www.motoaventura.cl www.motoaventura.cl

Independent touring or guided tours with multilingual guide, mechanic and support vehicle.

lifestyl lifestyl

highmileage

Twenty-two riders reach new plateaus

By Jim Heberling #191926 C O N G R AT U L A -

tions to our High Mileage achievers Here’s hoping everyone enjoys a very Happy Thanksgiving with family and friends. I would like to answer a couple of questions that have come up pretty often over the last year: • You must be an active MOA member to receive an MOA High Mileage Award. Miles you accumulated on BMW motorcycles before you were an MOA member can be used.

• The BMW NA awards and the MOA awards are totally separate. There is no connection/communication between the two.

• The High Mileage application and Honor Roll can be found at BMWMOA.org by typing “High Mileage” in the search field in the upper righthand corner of the MOA home page.

It will be the first item listed and have the title of “Ride the Miles.”

Congratulations to our members listed here for reaching a new mileage plateau and thank you to those who submitted their stories.

Jay Kuhns #6599 500,000 miles I’ve been around motorcycles for as long as I can remember. Growing up, I could see the Harley-Davidson dealership from my front door, which was where my older brother worked after school and on weekends. During

76

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

900,000 miles Richard Snyder

500,000 miles Jay Kuhns

400,000 miles

Deryle Mehrten, Jr. Gail Thorne Frederick Kallmayer

300,000 miles Robert Vaughan Michael Stock Paul Beaver

200,000 miles David Cantin Stan Thibault Laurent Vailly Russell Champion Robert Haines Jan Peterson Richard Lee

dinner one Saturday night, he mentioned that one of those funny looking black German bikes was in that day and the rider was looking for oil. He said that everyone in the shop had to look at the BMW and was blown away because it had more than 30,000 without a rebuild.

After getting out of the Navy and returning home, I started riding dirt bikes with my brother. About the same time, an old shipmate moved into town with a 750 Honda, and soon after, I picked up a 450 CL Honda to ride on the street. Very quickly I started looking for something bigger. I looked at a /5, but on paper the 450 would out run and had better brakes than the Beemer at that time. Then the /6 hit the market, and in February 1975 I rode a red R 90/6 home. I rode that R90 for 20 years and put more than 142,000 on it before I parked it for a ‘95 R 1100 GS. I had the GS for 18 months and 22,000 miles, then replaced it with a ‘96 R 1100 RT. After 123,000, it was replaced with a ‘07 K 1200 GT that I ordered on my 60th birthday.

My first year of retirement included riding the Four Corners, Three Flags, Daytona and a lot of rallies. After 160,000 my poor old legs couldn’t take that riding style

100,000 miles

Gary Arel Bob Hudak Rob Lancaster Jim Begley Gregory Gunn Doug Twing Dorothy Gull Steven Radcliffe Sharon Zoyhofski Peter Modny/Wendy Modny (Co-Pilot) Larry Rochellle Edward Apelian

anymore, so now I’m back on an R bike, a ‘17 R 1200 GS Adventure. Over the years, I’ve also owned a /7 EML sidecar rig and still have a ‘62 R 60/2 with ‘52 S500 Stieb.

I’m a charter member of Pikes Peak BMW Road Riders and have been an Ambassador with BMW MOA since 1977.

Come to think of it, all of my Beemers have made it to 30,000 without a rebuild.

Deryle Mehrten #58537 400,000 miles Wanda and I bought our first BMW motorcycle, a used 1988 K 100 RS ABS SE with about 12,000 miles, when we came back from Germany in 1992. She was a beautiful blue and white and like new. The seat was pure torture, we could barely ride 50 miles without our butts begging for a break. An aftermarket seat cured that, and from then on we rode somewhere almost every weekend until we retired in early 2000. Once we retired, riding all day Sunday so we could get to work Monday became a thing of the past.

Some of our best rides were on our K 1200 RS Bricks. For about 14 years we rode

Deryle Mehrten

out to Death Valley, California, each January for Death Valley Daze on our flaming red K-RSs. Then came the Wedge, our ’08 K 1200 GT. If you ask me, I liked our Bricks best with their size, lots of power and smooth as silk. Wanda will tell you her favorite Beemer is our 2008 K 1200 GT. It’s big, very powerful, though not quite as smooth, but it will carry five days of clothes with all the accessories no problem. A big, comfortable Beemer that can also do some very exciting laps around Laguna Seca raceway, fully loaded and two up—Wow! In June of 2015 we purchased a 2016 R 1200 RS. She is blue and white like our first Beemer and is our first R bike. Not as big and not as comfortable as the K 1200 GT, she makes up for it in spunk and weighs 115 pounds less than the GT. We ride two-up 99.9 percent of the time.

Wanda has been doing the miles riding pillion since 1995 when we rode out to the now gone San Diego October Fest Rally. We had heat, wind, rain—you name it—on our first long ride together. Our time at the rally was awesome! We camped back then and the bond we made with so many other Beemer riders was fantastic. We’re now credit-card-campers; we camped for our last time in 2012 in Death Valley, and consequently really enjoy the BMW MOA Weekend Getaways.

In 1995, Wanda and I

resurrected the South East Arizona Touring Riders, BMW MOA Chartered Club #213, and for more than 14 years published a monthly newsletter called “A View from the SEAT!” SEAT is still going strong with close to 200 members. Wanda and I manage the SEAT Challenge rides, which are rides to themed locations within Arizona. State Parks, Dams, County SEATS, Scenic Roads, Four Corners, National Parks, and recently what we have called “Weird Arizona” challenges.

At 70 years old we are still planning at least two long trips per year and average one or two rides a month. A three to four-day getaway seems to be our favorite, with at least a day ride or two every week.

With 127,000 miles on the ’08 K 1200 GT and 93,000 miles on the ’02 K 1200 RS, it’s nice to have our new 2016 R 1200 RS to give the older girls a rest once in a while!

Gail Thorne #94496 400,000 miles For as long as I can remember, I have loved and ridden some type of motorcycle.

Although not unheard of, this is a little different, considering I am a girl. I am w-a-y past being a girl anymore, but I am young at heart and still love riding. I did not get serious about riding until the early ‘90s when my husband, already riding a BMW, found a “barn find” 1971 R 60/5 for me.

Underpowered by today’s standards, it was just what I needed.

Other than a few mechanical fixes common to a bike that had been sitting for several years, the bike was, and still is, in mint and all original condition. After putting

Gail Thorne

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

77

www.tristedthrottle.com/sw-motech

lifestyl 78

HIGHMILEAGE

31,519 miles on this bike, I now have it displayed in my living room. It was then that I knew I was definitely hooked on BMW motorcycles.

After I rode the R 60/5 for a while, I decided I was ready to step up to a more modern, faster bike and purchased a red R 1100 RSL from Ted Moyer when he owned Venture BMW in Birmingham, Alabama.

After riding it for a few years, I decided I needed a smaller, lighter bike so I traded for a F 650 GS single which seemed to fit my 5’ 0” height perfectly. My next three motorcycles were 650 GS singles, and riding those bikes, I have reached most of my milestone miles, including winning and placing second and third in the MOA Mileage Contest. I recently traded my last G 650 GS for a F 700 GS that I will say is my favorite bike, so far.

I always ride with my husband Paul, who has been riding motorcycles for 55 years. I have to say that without him I could not have accomplished any of these miles. He does all the maintenance on both our bikes, including changing tires, so all I have to do is ride.

We mostly ride to destinations and follow MotoAmerica motorcycle road racing all over the U.S. We also have good friends in Florida who are avid motorcyclists, too, and we enjoy taking a couple of long road trips each year with them.

Since we retired, we can ride whenever and wherever we want.

Riding BMWs has allowed us to meet many wonderful people that we otherwise would have never known. I am looking forward to many more BMW miles and feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to ride a motorcycle.

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

Frederick Kallmayer #15902 400,000 miles My mounts for the most recent milestone included a ‘10 R 1200 GSA, a ‘15 R 1200 GS, a ‘16 R 1200 RT, and an ‘07 G 650 X Challenge. The RT is my favorite of the three dozen BMW motorcycles I have owned.

These 100,000 miles included riding the western portion of the Trans America Trail, which was a three-week, 3,300-mile offroad adventure ride with a group of friends from the Dallas Fort Worth BMW Club. It was also my most memorable ride.

I enjoy all sorts of riding, especially long touring trips with my wife Margie, either two-up or on two bikes. Our club gives us many opportunities for day rides and weekend rides, and we always try to ride to the MOA National Rally. In June, we plan to ride through Maine on our way to our 22nd National Rally.

See y’all there!

Robert Vaughan #112242 300,000 miles In 2004 I bought and took my first motorcycle ride aboard an R 1100 R 75th-anniversary edition. I was 64 years old.

I rode the mile to my home in second gear because I wasn’t sure how to shift the bike. Then, I sat in the house looking at the beautiful bike and wondering what the heck I was thinking of, buying a motorcycle. A few weeks later, I enrolled in a motorcycle training course.

In 2005 I bought an R 1200 RT and loved riding it. I rode the bike to the Hyder “Seek” Rally in Alaska and traveled for 11 weeks through 16 states and six rallies including the MOA National Rally in Gillette, Wyoming, for a total of 15,800 miles. I tent camped for 57 nights and saw much of the Northwest and the Western U.S. I made a new friend at the Gillette rally, and we agreed to ride up to

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska before we got “too old!” In 2009 I bought a new R 1200 GS and headed to Prudhoe Bay with my buddy from the Gillette rally. We had a terrific trip and saw spectacular scenery and have wonderful memories of this epic trip.

In 2012 I came back to an RT with its cruise control and other creature comforts and planned to see as much of the northeast and east as I can. Then, in 2015 I decided the RT was getting too heavy so I downsized to a beautiful black and red F 700 GS. Unfortunately for me, after 90 days of owning it, a thief came along and totaled it. A few weeks later, I bought a 2013 F 800 GT and to date I have put 43,000 miles on it and am loving riding it.

I am happy to say that in my 14 years of riding six different BMWs, I have been able to ride to 49 states, and four Canadian Provinces. My 300,000 miles have added up quickly and at 78 years old, I just wish I had started riding at a younger age, and I am busy working on my next 100,000.

Michael Stock # 83903 300,000 miles I’ve been riding BMW motorcycles for 20 years now and currently have two Airheads and an R 1100 RT. I ride them all regularly, but the R1100RT is the bike I ride most often. Even though it’s nearly18-years-old, the RT is my modern bike and wonderfully does everything I ask of it.

My riding now is limited to loops through the nearby twisty roads of North Carolina, and I try to ride every day and am success-

Michael Stock

ful about 260 days a year.

Memorable rides have included a trip out west through Utah, Wyoming and Montana. A single day ride home from the Vermont rally was also unforgettable for different reasons. Because I ride in the country, I see deer often. My original R 1100 RT was totaled after hitting a deer, and two other deer encounters resulted in damage, but the bike stayed up.

I mostly ride alone, but I am also joined by a few close friends, Neal and Alan. We get together and ride for a few hours on weekend mornings. We ride a similar style and pace, so nobody feels pushed or uncomfortable. I am blessed to have these guys as riding friends.

David Cantin #93860 200,000 miles I began riding motorcycles in the late ‘90s when my son brought an old Yamaha triple home from college and took me to a parking lot to teach me to ride. I was instantly hooked. Having owned and worked on old VWs and Porsche 356s, I knew I wanted a boxer engine and test rode a BMW R 1100 R at the local BMW auto dealer (who was also the motorcycle dealer) in 2000. That convinced me, and it didn’t take long to find a nice low mileage 1997 Glacier Green R 1100 RT in Florida. I flew to Orlando and rode it back 600 miles to New Orleans. Up to that point I had less than 500 riding miles under my belt, so it was quite an adventure but was also only the beginning.

My first really long rides were to the MOA rally in Trenton, Ontario, in 2002 and the Charleston MOA rally in 2003. I put 81,000 miles on the ’97 RT in the six years I owned it, which included trips to eastern Canada in 2004 and 2005.

In 2006 on a ride to Newfoundland I discovered an oil leak between the cylinder and head and sidetracked to the Maine dealer to investigate since I was about to take a ferry far from any dealers. They found I had a broken chain guide with no easy fix. With 97,000 miles on the 1100 RT, I decided to trade it in on a new 2006 R 1200 RT on the spot to keep the ride going. The next day the dealer in Moncton, New Brunswick, did the 600-mile service and I was on my way. I made one more trip to Canada in 2009 and spent the rest of my ’06

ago. While on that ride, we stopped at a lot of National Parks in Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.

My wife just retired, and as soon as I do, we are planning to ride all around America and Canada.

Russell Champion #9624 200,000 miles

David Cantin

RT riding time in the mountains from Arkansas to West Virginia to North Carolina.

Fast forward to 2010…I really liked the look and features of the 90th Anniversary Edition RT, so I traded the ’06 in. It is by far my favorite bike and has been the most problem free so far, with 54,000 miles.

I’ve ridden it to Canada twice, including Nova Scotia in 2013 and Newfoundland in 2014, with the latter being my most memorable ride. Even though it rained quite a bit, riding from New Orleans to New England to Sidney, Nova Scotia, and then taking a ferry to Argentia and riding to St John’s and across the North East coast of Newfoundland and then back to New Orleans was an adventure with a diversity of scenes, people and climates.

With a lot of flat land in Louisiana, I usually ride to destinations 500 or more miles away to find good roads and then stay for a few days. I typically ride alone and meet friends at my destination.

Laurent Vailly #188143 200,000 miles I ride two-up most of the time with my wife, and together we do a lot a commuting and go on long trips whenever possible. We ride a ‘03 K 1200 GT with 165,000 miles and a ‘02 K 1200 RS with 77,000 miles, but my favorite bike was the ‘70 R 70/5 that I bought in Sweden and rode all over Europe when we were living there.

In the States, we really enjoyed riding to the MOA rally in Minnesota a few years

As a Wisconsin farm boy, it was natural that I was exposed to driving and riding all manner of vehicles on wheels, tractors, bicycles, cars and yes, motorcycles. My introduction to two-wheeled motor transport was a Cushman motorscooter. I loved it and all the motorized cycles that followed.

Next, there was a Vespa and then a Royal Enfield.

The early 1970’s brought us the oil embargo and for me, a conscientious desire to limit consumption of petrol. So, a series of small Hondas eventually grew to the UJM 750. I had been reading in the mags about how good the BMWs were, but when I sat on 1976 R 75/6 in the dealer showroom I couldn’t imagine owning that ugly cycle with the jugs sticking out at my feet. I don’t recall what eventually got me to buy that expensive motorcycle, but I did and what a treasure it became. I continue to ride it today and have accumulated more than 120,000 miles on it. Over the years, I have owned four other BMWs and a ‘92 R 100 RT has been my main ride for the last 15 years.

There have been a few long-distance rides, but most of my current 244,000 miles on BMWs have been one-day rides on the wonderful roads of southwest Wisconsin.

My long-distance rides have been primarily to 25 MOA rallies. My ride to Salem, Oregon, in 2013 included the SaddleSore Iron Butt ride while my ride to Hamburg, New York, included a Bun Burner 1500.

Lord knows how many more miles there are for me, but I am still going strong at 80 years of age.

Jan Peterson #97809 200,000 miles The curves of time have gotten me back to riding motorcycles and have taken me to places I might not have gone otherwise,

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

79

lifestyle

HIGHMILEAGE

including Deadhorse, Alaska, Copper Canyon, Mexico and The Four Corners of the USA. My most memorable ride was a National Parks Quest which included more than 70 Parks in 35 States and seven Canadian Provinces. The highlight of the summer was picking my favorite travel partner up at the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Airport and riding through the Maritimes and Newfoundland. The Confederation Bridge was worth the trip. It was on that ride that I learned about the Canadians’ 9/11 Yellow Ribbon rescues for the grounded airplanes at the Gander and Halifax airports where several thousand passengers were returned to their homelands.

Those rescues included many Americans who were shuttled from Yarmouth and placed on the catamaran Catboat to return across the Bay of Fundy back to the U.S. I’ve found that traveling on a motorcycle and camping seem to be the nexus which easily starts up conversations and allows riders to meet new people.

Of the half a dozen BMWs I’ve owned, the R 1150 GS with 110,000 miles would be my favorite bike. I think it’s my wife’s also.

Robert Haines #202508 200,000 miles I retired in 2012 and have been riding motorcycles for over 50 years. My first road bike was a 1967 BSA 650, and over the years I have owned and ridden various other brands. I had owned and ridden Harleys for 40 years before buying my first BMW in 2010.

My first experience with a Beemer was when I borrowed my brother’s ’04 RT and proceeded to put more than 5,000 miles on it while on a two-week trip out west. After that ride I was sold on the RT for its comfortable and reliable long-distance riding and have

80

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

Robert Haines

never looked back or thought about trying another brand.

I bought my first Beemer, an ‘04 R 1150 RT with 17,000 miles in January of 2010. I traded that bike for a new ’14 R 1200 RT in November 2014. This past June, the ‘14 had more than 107,000 miles and was traded in for a new ’18 R 1200 RT. I’m looking forward to putting some serious miles on it.

My favorite Beemer regarding styling was my ’04 RT; however, when thinking of power, my ’14 and’18 RTs have been my favorites. I usually ride alone and weather permitting ride every day. Occasionally I’ll ride with one or two others, but I very rarely ride in a group.

I take one trip lasting three to four weeks every year that usually adds up to 5 to 7,000 miles along with a few lasting several days or weekends. It’s not unusual for me to ride 150 miles to get an ice cream cone or ride to another state for a hamburger. I hope to get more long trips in this year and in the years to come.

I believe the only way to see the U.S. is on a motorcycle!

Bob Hudak #143234 100,000 miles I started riding in 1974 after graduating from high school. My first bike was a British bike, and a couple of years later I bought an American bike. Like a lot of us, life got in

the way, and I didn’t ride for several years. Then, in 2001 I mentioned to my wife that I was thinking about getting another motorcycle. She encouraged me, and I ended up buying a R 1200 C. I rode primarily by myself and commuted to work whenever I could. We lived in Michigan, and I really enjoyed riding across the state to get a cup of coffee or to northern Michigan for a burger, so it was easy to put in 500-mile days.

The R 1200 C had just under 70,000 miles when I traded it in for a 2014 R 1200 RT. I continued commuting to work until I retired in 2016, and we moved to Florida. Since retiring I have had the opportunity to start taking longer trips and have ridden from Florida to Michigan a couple of times and recently completed a 1,000mile ride in less than 24 hours for a group that is dedicated safe long distance riding.

Last year I met a friend for lunch in Georgia, and we then rode into North Carolina where we spent a week riding the popular motorcycle routes and visiting the popular motorcycle destinations. I have another ride to Michigan planned for September and am currently planning another 1,000 miles in 24 hours within Florida for early next year. I’m also planning another trip to North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia next June. At this rate it won’t take me nearly as long to put another 100,000 miles on BMW motorcycles.

Dorothy L. Gulla #208211 100,000 miles My love affair with the BMW S 1000 RR began in June 2013 when I walked into the MAX BMW dealership in Brookfield, Connecticut, and the moment I laid eyes on the red, blue and white S 1000 RR, I knew it was going home with me. Luckily, MAX had one available, and I rode off with a big smile on my face!

In June 2016, and now living in Fort

Dorothy Gulla

Myers, Florida, I had connected with new friends and had joined a few motorcycle groups and clubs. One of my friends convinced me to join her and her boyfriend and ride from Fort Myers to Hamburg, New York, for the 2016 BMW MOA International Rally. I was a bit nervous as this would be my first long-distance motorcycle journey. Before departing, I realized that my calendar had a few other “adventures” coming up in the fall, and I decided another motorcycle was in my future. On June 30, 2016 I purchased my red 2016 S 1000 RR from Gulf Coast Motorcycles in Fort Myers!

I have traveled extensively since the 2016 BMW MOA International Rally on my two S 1000 RRs. One of my favorite ride destinations was to the Americade Rally in Lake George, New York, where I met up with friends after riding solo from Florida. My intention was to return this year, but because of a motorcycle accident in May, my plans had to be altered. The crash happened while I was on a women’s motorcycle tour, and I got hit from behind by another woman rider. The impact threw me off my 2016 S 1000 RR, but thankfully my gear saved my life. I was hospitalized in North Carolina with serious injuries, but my faithful traveling companion just shy of 50,000 miles was totaled. This broke my heart.

My plan was to get on the healing path and back to riding as soon as possible. In the interim, I traded my 2013 S 1000 RR for a 2018 S 1000 XR. Last July I set out for another journey on my XR which included stops in West Gap, Virginia; Little Switzerland, North Carolina; Johnson City, Tennessee; and Charlotte, North Carolina. From there, I set out

for the BMW RA Rally in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, after which I returned home to Fort Myers, Florida.

Solo motorcycle traveling is a joy for me though I also travel with friends and various motorcycle groups and clubs. I am looking forward to the unveiling of the 2019 S 1000 RR – my dream bike!

I ride because I want to live in the moment, experience freedom and be my true self, knowing that I can do whatever I set my heart upon. The result: pure bliss!

Doug Twing #147696 100,000 miles My BMW adventure began in 2008 when I purchased a low mileage K 1100 LT. I flew from Wisconsin to Orlando, Florida, to pick it up and then rode 1,300 miles in 24 hours to get home. Too bad I didn’t know what a Saddlesore 1,000 was at the time.

I must say this bike is still my favorite for riding the twisties. So far, I’ve racked up more than 75,000 miles on it.

I have been involved with the Wisconsin club since 2009 and spent two years as president, and I normally lead two or three club rides each year to some type of food destination. My wife Gina has ridden on the back of my bikes since we were in high school.

Many of our trips are to other club rallies and a few national rallies. Our most memorable ride was a six-day trip through Italy last year on a new K 1600 GTL. We became spoiled on this trip and had to buy a GTL as our new touring bike when we returned.

I hope to see you at a rally soon.

Ed Apelian #94930 100,000 miles Unlike many BMW riders who rode dirt bikes as kids, I was a late bloomer and didn’t get into motorcycling until I was 34. My first bike was a 1982 Suzuki GS 650 G, and from that point on I was hooked. In my early riding years, I was a “cruiser” guy,

believing bikes should be loud, chromed and that all motorcycle gear should be black. I remember wondering why on earth would anyone ride one of those BMW bikes that sounded like sewing machines. It wasn’t until 10 years later, in 2000, that I got my first taste of riding a BMW when I took a spin on a new 2000 R 1100 RT. The hook was set and three months later I became the proud owner of a pristine 1997 R 1100 RT. While that bike wasn’t a good fit for me, its prior owner Don Miller, was and has become a long-time riding partner. In 2002, I swapped that 1997 RT for my first new motorcycle, a 2002 R 1150 GS which fit me like a glove.

In 2008 my two-bike garage became all BMW with the purchase of a 2006 R 1200 RT, which fit well beside my beloved GS. Since then I have only owned BMWs because of my love for the BMW riding experience and having a great local BMW dealer, Motorcycles of Charlotte. I kept my GS for 10 years and 34,000 miles, and in 2012 traded it for a shiny red R 1200 GS Adventure on which I have racked up about 18,000 miles. My GSA is a street only GS on

Ed Apelian

which I enjoy my shorter tours of three to four days and when I am exploring the curvy mountain roads in the North Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia area where I am fortunate to reside. I believe the GSA is the best handling motorcycle I’ve owned.

In late 2016, in anticipation of my upcoming retirement, I traded my ‘06 RT for a shiny new 2016 R 1200 RT, and to date I’ve managed to put about 14,000 miles on that bike.

Most of my miles came from touring the

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

81

lifestyl

HIGHMILEAGE

U.S., where I have ridden all 48 lower states and Canada. I am not the type of rider who goes out for an hour or two, but prefer full days in the saddle.

In April 2017 I took one of my most memorable trips, riding solo from my home in North Carolina to the MOA Rally in Salt Lake City, Utah. I had not planned on doing that trip alone, but things changed, and when faced with either going solo or not going I made the decision to just do it. That turned out to be a great decision and truly an epic ride for me. It was not only my longest solo trip but exposed me to the beauty of riding by myself. I met some great folks along the way and found that when you are riding alone everyone talks to you and you never feel alone. It is just not the same experience when you are riding with others. Additionally, riding solo gives you a feeling of independence, freedom and adventure where you make your own schedule, stop as often as you like and ride long or short days.

This year I rode to the MOA National in Des Moines, Iowa, and from there on to Duluth, Minnesota, where I connected with two Canadian riding buddies and rode the north shore of Lake Superior.

I have been fortunate to have been mentored by my late riding companion Ron Hamlin, who taught me a lot about traveling on two wheels. Ron taught me how to slow down and enjoy the ride, take the road less traveled and to follow three simple rules: never pass up the opportunity to top off your tank, never pass up the opportunity to pee, and never ever pass up a sign that says homemade pie!

I have also been blessed with a wonderful and supportive wife who totally understands my passion for motorcycles. Now that I am retired, I hope my two trusty BMWs get me to 200,000 miles in a lot shorter time than it took me to hit 100,000.

Peter Modny #159590 100,000 miles Wendy Modny #206934 Copilot 100,000 miles It all started back in February 2010, a short time after Wendy had lost both of her parents. While we were having morning coffee, out of the blue she said to me, “I think it’s time we got another bike.”

I almost choked with delight hearing those words and told her it would take me three weeks and there would be a deal made. Well, it only took two. I researched different manufacturers, but I always wanted a BMW. Well, low and behold, when I arrived at the local BMW Motorad dealer, there it was, perched up on it’s centerstand, alone on the showroom floor.

Like many others out there, Wendy and I gave up our love of motorcycling to raise our family. Thirty years we waited, and boy, was it worth waiting for. The bike we purchased is a ‘00 R 1100 RT, and so, we resumed our two-up travels.

The first year we followed Route 66 from Chicago and arrived at the Santa Monica Pier two weeks later. The next year we were off to the east coast of Canada, riding the Cabot Trail and then sailing over to Newfoundland. We have ridden to the west coast three times while zig-zagging our way across the continent. On a trip to Utah we were able to visit all the National Parks and even enjoyed getting snowed on in Bryce Canyon. There have even been several Iron Butt rides as well.

Wendy and I love to pick a destination and then just ride, with no set timetable so we usually travel by ourselves. We have our own sign language we’ve developed over the years which seems to work for us, and Wendy has a talent for taking photos that may never have been taken had she not been the pillion.

We just returned from a memorable five-week, 11,414-mile adventure trip to the Yukon, Alaska and the Northwest Territories. Our RT tows a small trailer which carries everything we need on our journeys, and

we like to camp as often as possible.

Wendy and I have now ridden every state in the lower 48, as well as Alaska and Hawaii. We’ve also travelled to every province in Canada, as well as two Territories.

Wendy is my second set of eyes and can usually spot four-footed critters way before I do.

I see a side car rig in our future so that I can introduce our new grandson into the MOA fold. Now, we begin the next 100,000; the first one only took us eight years.

Sharron Zoyhofski #87816 100,000 miles The majority of my first 100,000 miles on BMWs was aboard my ‘99 R 1100 R. My current favorite bike is my ‘14 F 700 GS with just over 36,000 miles on it.

I would say that the majority of my rides are memorable as my riding is completely for fun. The most fun and memorable are the one or two-week motorcycle camping trips that I have taken. The most recent was a week-long trip that I took with my girlfriend, Adrienne, on the back of my F 700 GS where we camped along the way to the BMW Rally in Des Moines.

All of my riding is for fun, and many rides include a loop to a destination, like for breakfast or lunch, then back home. I enjoy seeing the scenery along the way and love visiting National Parks, National Historic Sites, old mining areas and small towns.

I enjoy all types of riding—alone, two-up with Adrienne, or with a group of friends. It is all fun!

Sharron Zoyhofski

82

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

GEAR STORE BMW Club White Latte Mug 14oz latte mug with the standard BMW Clubs logo.

Men’s Sport Tek Wind Jacket i A lightweight top layer, this jacket takes on unpredictable weather with athletic colorblocking, superb functionality and exceptional breathability.

Twill Mid Profile Hat Hats, hats and hats availablein a variety of styles and colors.

Ladies Fusion Pullover Fantasitc looking and very comfortable pullover for ladies. 95% Polyester/5% Spandex textured double knit jersey. Made with TopShield Technology Moisture wicking and anti-microbial fabric.

Quarter-zip mockneck styling with solid contrast windflap & collar facing. Contrast coverstitch gives this piece an athletic feel.

Available in Grey with Royal trim or Navy with Grey trim.

Order online at gear.bmwmoa.org

lifestyl 84

jacktheriepe

The autonomous moto age is upon us…sort of

By Jack Riepe #116117 IT’S BEEN ALMOST

six weeks since BMW Motorrad unveiled a fully autonomous prototype motorcycle based on the R1200 GS to great fanfare.

Social and broadcast media aired clips of this familiar two-wheeled behemoth starting, accelerating, leaning into turns, stopping, and coming to rest on its side-stand, sans a rider.

More astounding were the media interpretations of the significance of this event. Nearly all clung to the official release that this machine was basically a research model to explore future safety elements to protect the lives of riders. One article stated that motorcycle riders were 28 times more likely to die in accidents than other motorists. Another predicted the time was coming when safety features like ABS braking and traction control would be common features on motorcycles.

Reading stuff this like this is a great comfort to me as I know I can get a job writing news reports if I fail as a humorist (which my critics predict on a near daily basis). It astounds me that the PR folks for the Bavarian Cuckoo Clock Moto Conspiracy (BCCMC) continually fail to impress the current crop of media zombies that many of the wondrous marvels of the future, like motorcycle ABS braking, were pioneered by the strudel-stuffers in 1985! Statistics that bikers are 28 times more likely to die than circus trapeze artists or bomb

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

disposal technicians do not paint an entirely accurate picture either.

Technically speaking, the motorcycle in the clips was not fully autonomous as it was unable to make decisions by itself and was remotely piloted by a technical team of engineering puppeteers through a little flying saucer device attached to the top case.

Future consumer models may come equipped with antennas disguised as a flamingo, a plush wild boar, or a horned-helmeted troll as not to embarrass the average R bike rider. On future models, motorcycle operating decisions may be made by a central office in Bavaria, or by the rider’s wife, and in some extreme cases, her mother.

The unveiling of the semi-autonomous motorcycle puts the Huns back in the running with Honda, which developed a selfbalancing motorcycle that at the touch of a pretty woman’s hand, would follow her down a hallway and accompany her outside. I was a lot less impressed with the Honda as I have been doing the same thing with pretty women for 43 years. (I will be crucified for using the qualifier pretty in conjunction with the superior noun women. Allow me to say I regard all women as pretty… That is pretty smart…Pretty tough… And pretty much better than me in all regards….That being said, some women are really pretty.)

It was no surprise to me that the “semiautonomous” motorcycle unveiled by the strudel stuffers was a venerable GS model.

It probably took every inch of the upright player piano-sized side-bags, and the top case, to house the gyroscopes, the radio receiver, the servos, the support electronics, and the liverwurst sandwiches for the controlling engineers. This is how it starts.

In less than six months, the Bavarian Cuckoo Clock Moto Conspiracy will

reduce this to a single wafer, made of plastic and durillium, priced at $256,000.

With the race to produce self-driving cars, autonomous personal aircraft that fold up into briefcases, and instant divorce tablets, the heat to create a fully autonomous motorcycle will hit full blast. These machines will make it possible for humans with absolutely no skills to experience the sort of things that used to be death-defying. On the cage-management side, parallel parking will be deleted from driver’s ed., and driver’s ed. will be replaced by courses in getting the most from your vehicle’s social media abilities. Super-fat, out-ofshape, posers (Let’s see anybody challenge me on that one.) will now compete in autonomous versions of the TT race on the Isle of Man. Neophyte Blubboes (There’s a word that will raise a few eyebrows.) will ride to Prudhoe Bay, while reading their email on their GPS screens.

There have been rumors that German pretzel twisters perfected a fully autonomous motorcycle years ago. While these machines performed with expected Prussian precision, some models began to suggest suitable riding partners, eliminating obvious douches and social sea anchors.

But then they began to criticize riders’ apparel, and other life choices. There are stories that one bike began choosing places in the yard where its rider could safely bury in-laws. Some of these tales might be exaggerated. I thought of burying my in-laws in the yard without any help from my K 75.

It is one thing to rail against the future, it is quite another to experience it. The truck from Area 51.5 arrived in the middle of the night and left a rectangular crate in my driveway. For those of you reading my stuff for the first time, Area 51.5 is the secret K bike development facility at an undisclosed

BUTTERY SMOOTH

HYDRAULIC CLUTCH KIT

location above a “performance artist” bar in Las Vegas. Here, top people in K bike design labor on the kind of options that make this motorcycle (named after the 11th letter in the alphabet as opposed to the 18th) the machine of the future.

It was in Area 51.5 that the ultra-stealth, anti-gravity K bike paint was developed. It was here that nuclear 3-, 4-, and 6-cylinder engines were perfected, driving the whale oil trade into the shadows forever. It was in this unassuming think tank that the irresistible lupine whine of the K bike was fine tuned. This is a high frequency sound, audible only to the riding cognoscenti.

I whistled softly (the secret tune of a more secret society) and the crate opened itself to reveal a fully autonomous, prototype K 1600, the fast one, not the Batman/ Harley Davidson replacement model. The machine started itself, raised its side-stand, and self-balanced, while I got on. This was a different experience—for the motorcycle—and it cursed in German, while the self-balancing gyros began to smoke. A large B flashed on the three-dimensional dash display, indicating a potential “Blubbo” condition.

The bike is always in fully autonomous mode, though the thumb wheel selector switch on the left handlebar now offers three new options: a) Ride like an obsequious little squeaker; b) Ride like a K bike rider; c) Impress a pretty woman. The first option is for R bike riders making a challenging transition. The second is for those who ride on the edge, and then shave with it.

I chose option C. The three-dimensional dash flashed a question: “A pretty woman or a really pretty woman.”

I typed in RPW.

The motorcycle fried the chicken strips on the new tires to the point where I thought I was Colonel Sanders. Every curve became a 48-degree lean. Every stop was 145 miles per hour to zero in 16 feet, or less. I came in third in the TT Race at the Isle of Man, I passed Tom Cutter on the highway—75 times—going in one direction. This last one doesn’t really take much effort.

The bike came to a halt in front of a lone rider, a woman, whose mystical powers caused the tide to linger, changed wildflowers into songbirds. and brought light into the dark places that have spawned my prose for years.

This fully autonomous K 1600 had arrived in a cloud of vapor, as smoke from the brakes combined with oxygen that became personal clouds as the bike went from super-hot to super cool. When the mist dissipated, the woman said three words to me: “Oh…It’s you.”

These autonomous machines have a long way to go.

JOIN US ON

@MAGURA @MAGURA USA

My columns are made possible through the support of the BMW MOA and the generous foresight of BestRest Products, manufacturers of the CyclePump Inflator and the EZAir Tire Gauge. Plan to see me at next year’s MOA events. Buy a CyclePump and forget about flat tires.

Like the way I write, then you are going to love my two moto books: Conversations with A Motorcycle and Motorcycles Speak Louder Than Words Autographed books make better Christmas gifts, suggesting you went to a lot more trouble than you did.

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

85

MAGURA HYMEC HYDRAULIC CLUTCH CONVERSION KIT • Smooth Hydraulic Feel • No Maintenance, Self Adjusting • Less Clutch Pull - Up to 25% • Pre-Built for Street, Adventure, Vintage, MX & Off-Road bikes • Easy Installation • Made in Germany info@magurausa.com 800.448.3876 www.magura.com www.magura.com

lifestyle 86

rallyreview

The Green Mountain Rally by the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Vermont

By Victor Cruz #91428 THERE WE WERE, IN THE UPPER

reaches of Vermont’s National Forest, home of gap country, where the chain of green mountains is bisected by ladders running east to west, roads officially posted as “scenic.” We have Appalachian Gap, Lincoln Gap, Middlebury Gap, and Brandon Gap, where the Green Mountain Rally is held every September for the past 36 years.

What a location.

At a time when rally attendance is on a decline, this BMW Vermont clubsponsored event was sold out with, 263 motorcyclists, a third of whom hailed

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

from French-speaking Canada. There was live music, early riser hot coffee and a clutch of four-bed cabins. The rally even showcased a French-Canadian band. Camp Thorpe in Goshen isn’t part of the Vermont Park system, but a private nonprofit summer camp for children and adults with disabilities. With acres of soft beds, it was a challenge deciding where to pitch your tent.

Day temps were in the 60s with nighttime lows in the 40s.

This year an award was given to a rider who’s gone to every event, though he seemed to forget his certificate in the newly built, post and beam Hathaway Pavilion.

Possibly the food was a distraction: we were fed two excellent breakfasts of bacon, sausage, pancakes and scrambled eggs along with never-go-hungry dinners of chipotle chili, tiki masala tofu, roasted chicken, baked potato, corn on the cob, baked beans, and salad. These self-described “homecooked meals” were finished off with fingers diving eagerly for the trays of freshly baked peanut butter and still warm chocolate chip cookies, soft at the centers, crispy at the edges.

Riding Vermont is spectacular, with hardly any traffic and good to great riverfollowing roads to write home about. I’ve

been riding up here for 18 years, and it always surprises. The bovines lumber on rolling fields among swarths of blond, beige and golden grasses and wide open patches of dried wild flowers. A red barn suddenly emerges, alive with two horses ringed by a white trailing fence. A monarch butterfly hits your helmet, and you wake up riding in a dreamscape. Call it pastoral until the www.helmetsunblocker.com Remus on my naked K 1200 R cracks the serenity. It’s not too much stimulus or too little fanfare; it’s just right.

It’s an entire state custom-made for riding, complete with small town general stores, the kind with floorboards that creak when you walk through, offering maple syrup cones for a dollar. You can lose yourNew gear, downloadable catalog self in Vermont by just following the arti& more specials online at: sanal cheese trail, or visit Poorhouse Pies in Underhill, an open shack that trusts you aerostich.com/on www.aerostich.com/on ©2018 Photo by Craig Olson enough to leave the right amount of change before your gobble your fill of strawberry rhubarb. As Jack Riepe would say, the roads aero bmwon 7 2018.indd 1 6/4/18www.beemershop.com 3:40 PM here have “more dips than an ice cream stand.” Although the showers could be fancier, someone said how MOV’s Green Mt. Rally is the “gold standard” among campouts. He spoke the truth.

We rode to The Alchemist brewery in Stowe to pick up some souvenirs, then rode to Frank’s BMW dealership near Burlington. Route 100 is the default, but not the only route. Take a loop north from Royalton on 110 then south on 14 from Barre.

Incomparable Vermont. September is a perfect time of year, when vacationers have gone back to school and the leaf-peepers are still in cocoon, too much green still left unspent for those critters. To tap MOV visit bmwmov.wildapricot.org.

Fun Facts

• Oldest Male Rider: Bob Pipes, 83 • Youngest Male Rider: Brian Guntharp, 22 • Long Distance Solo Male: Bob Smith, 1,310 • Oldest Female Rider: Muriel Farrington, 77 • Youngest Female Rider: Samantha Wilkins, 21 • Long Distance Solo Female: Melissa LaVangie, 1,100 • Youngest Passenger: Glenlivet Burke, 2 • Long Distance 2-up: Richard and Barbara Piela, 1,850 • Long Distance Sidecar: Ron and Jackie Jones, 1,115 • Oldest BMW: 1966 R 60/2

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

87

www.ayresadventures.com

www.capitalcycle.com www.captialcycle.com

Since 1981

www.gotournz.com

www.motobins.co.uk

Accepting reservations now for spring & fall 2019 dates Sign up today.

TM

ISRAEL ISRAEL

with magnificent Petra, Jordan

www.motodiscovery.com www.motodiscovery.com

(830) 438-7744

Maximize Garage Space!

Easily Move Your Bike!

Suburban Machinery

GET YOURS BEFORE

OCTOBER 15TH PRICE INCREASE!

Made in America | 1,100 lb Weight Capacity

www.stopngo.com info@legalspeeding.com | 214.673.9443 MOAwww.legalspeeding.com Member Owned See Videos at our Website! legalspeeding.com

88

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

Footpeg comfort kit for 2018 K1600GTL & Bagger.

Driver & passenger comfort kits for most BMW models.

440-951-6555 see more products online at www.suburban-machinery.com www.suburban-machinery.com

www.corbin.com

Motorcycle Relief Project (MRP)

HELPS VETERANS

with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

GET UNSTUCK,

DECOMPRESS, connect with other

VETERANS and take meaningful steps toward

RECOVERY. Have a bike you no longer need?

DONATE

A BIKE of any make or model.

5-day Relief Rides on

Help us help our vets.

ADVENTURE BIKES

TODAY.

BMW GS at no cost to participants.

DONATE

www.motorelief.org MOTORELIEF.ORG

November 2018  BMW OWNERS NEWS

89

lifestyl 90

reflectionsfromthelid

Pigpen Pete and OCD Oscar

By Brian Dutcher #160860 IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER

you’re out on the road, at a rally or just cruising a parking lot, we’ve all seen them at one time or another. Heck, some of us may have even been mistaken for one of them. When it comes to riders and their bikes, there seems to be two extremes when it comes to, shall we say, “motorcycle hygiene.”

Let me introduce you to Pigpen Pete and his obsessive-compulsive riding buddy OCD Oscar. Polar opposites regarding the cleanliness of their bikes, these guys motor happily through life in their own worlds. The rest of us just shake our heads when we see them and wonder how they do it.

OCD Oscar never misses an opportunity to polish and clean his bike in the never-ending effort to retain its showroom luster and shine. In Oscar’s view, it’s not enough for “Precious” to be spotless; every piece of chrome, polished aluminum, and plastic that some German designer envisioned on this high-performance machine must sparkle in blinding brilliance.

On the other side of the spectrum, Pete’s bike, appropriately named “Ogre,” takes on a unique form of military camouflage, concealment and deception, similar to a special ops sniper in a ghillie suit. This primal covering is carried along and treated as if it were in an ectosymbiotic relationship with Ogre. To Pete, this is as normal as Witch’s Hair hanging from an old-growth conifer in the Pacific Northwest and a reminder of past adventures. Layers of sediment, intertwined with numerous species of dried vegetation and insects from multiple climate zones adorn Ogre. Some might see this covering as similar to face paint on a warrior preparing for impending battle; however, these are

BMW OWNERS NEWS November 2018

remnants and scars of battles past, not preparations for expeditions yet to come. If one dares to explore beneath the machine’s engine armor, he or she can find an impressive display of sedimentary stone forming, a layering that, more than once, has caught the attention of a young geology student determined to examine the formations growing within the skid plate.

Although individual and distinct, Oscar and Pete’s rituals both have unique attributes. For example, when a group of OCD Oscars head out on a ride, tracking the group never becomes an issue. Like an infrared strobe lighting up the desert night, the trail of riders’ reflections on a sunny day can be tracked from space.

Conversely, Pete has the uncanny ability to park his bike along a trail in the woods and never worry. Like a color-changing chameleon, Ogre blends into nature’s surroundings like moss on tree bark. Hikers pass by and never even once perceive the advanced adventure machine’s presence.

While Oscar travels with an assortment of the latest and greatest technical cleaners and polishes designed to make Precious defy the effects of aging, Pete embarks with tools one expects to find in an archeology expedition including ropes, pulleys, a shovel and possibly a winch to get out of the most precarious situations.

Pete practices an extreme level of water conservation. Like a cowboy on the trail for months, the only water Ogre sees, beside river crossings, comes once a year. At the end of each riding season and before Ogre’s winter hibernation, the accumulated crust from BDRs and Jeep trails is removed with the help of a high-pressure power washer, revealing Ogre’s actual color.

Oscar, on the other hand, is on the watch list of several western states’ water conservation boards because of his pre- and postride cleaning routines. With spray chemicals in hand, Oscar lays down another layer of

bug repelling, wind resistant and super slick protectant that not only keeps the bugs, dust and water from sticking, but thanks to NASA engineers, also improves aerodynamics.

Although Pete and Oscar may be polar opposites, there are a couple of attributes Pete and Oscar have in common. The first trait they share is that they can easily be seen as they approach. Pete rumbles down the trail followed by a cloud of dust resembling a Dakar leader, with intermittent debris fields kicked up like the tail of a comet. Oscar, on the other hand, closely resembles the blinding and shimmering white light of a meteor.

Another similarity they share is that their machines, Ogre or Precious, are always kept in top running condition. The result is the same: two steeds running at the top of their game.

At first glance, bystanders see Oscar as an OCD patient and Pete as just a lazy slob not properly caring for his excellent piece of Germany engineering. Unfortunately, these uninformed conclusions don’t see the common element: both riders are brothers from a different mother. The DNA shared between them is the unwavering passion for riding and the experiences they have derived from the road and trail that fuels their souls and guides their future. Both Oscar and Pete are genuinely living the moto lifestyle in every sense of the word.

In reality, and let’s be blatantly honest, if we step back and take a look at ourselves, there is a little piece of Oscar and Pete in every one of us. We should also be proud to have them in our family of riders and as members of our organization. Just as positive attitudes are good for the soul and contagious, Oscar and Pete’s passion for riding inspires others to go further, to explore new destinations, and take on new adventures. In the end, isn’t that what we need, more riders getting the most out of their riding experiences?

You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time, go ride today.

www.epmwilbers.com

www.dubbelju.com www.gezagear.com

MOTORCYCLE VACATIONS OF A LIFETIME!

Guided tours // Self-guided tours // Custom & Private tours // Rentals // Worldtour

Since 1980 it has been our goal to discover as much as possible of our beautiful planet on a motorcycle. Order our new touring program 2019 and find

ring Order your new tou program now online!

wonderful inspirations and tours which will make you want to leave right away and start exploring the world on two wheels!

w w wwww.edelweissbike.com .edelweissbike.com

www.illiumworks.com

WHENANDWHERE

Email your event information to editor@bmwmoa.org

4

6

2 1

Map courtesy of

November 1

11/03/2018

BMW MOA Board of Directors Fall Meeting - Open Session Location: Houston, Texas Contact: BMW MOA ray@bmwmoa.org The BMW MOA Board of Directors invites everyone to attend the Open Session of the fall meeting which will be held on Saturday November 3rd, 2018 starting at 12:30PM. The meeting will take place at the Embassy Suites - Galleria located at 2911 Sage Rd., Houston, Texas 77056 and we look forward to seeing you there.

92

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

2

3

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.

3

11/09/2018 - 11/11/2018

16th Gumbo Rally - Swamp Scooters Motorcycle Club Location: Carencro, Louisiana Contact: James Carpenter (337) 298-6340 president@swampscooters.net Rally fee includes great food Friday and Saturday nights as well as breakfast on

5

Saturday, bike games, shaded camping, a great location to camp and enjoy the bonfires.

4

11/09/2018 - 11/11/2018

Middle of the Map Rally 2018

Location: Bixby, Missouri Contact: Skunkwerks Moto and Fabrication skunkwerksmoto@gmail.com The ultimate end of the year road and trail rally, hosted at the GS Trophy qualifier grounds in Bixby, Missouri. Ample camping, challenging trails, fast gravel, and beautiful curvy tarmac all await the most demanding motorcyclist.

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

OVERSEAS SPEEDOMETER REPAIR R & K BIKES

January 5

800-444-0292

www.speedometer.com www.speedometer.com

01/18/2019 - 01/20/2019

BMW Motorcycle Owners of Northeast Florida 36th Annual Winter Rally Location: Starke, Florida Contact: William Botkin, Co-Rally Chair wfbotkin@comcast.net Start the rally season off right by attending our 36th Annual Winter Rally, “Florida’s Coolest Rally.” Held south of Jacksonville, near Starke, Florida at the beautiful Camp Blanding Joint Training Center. Friday night is our “dogs and brats” dinner with all the trimmings and Saturday is our semi-famous steak dinner. Camping, door prizes, local rides, seminars and much more. Enjoy camping along the shores of beautiful Kingsley Lake, a roaring camp fire (seen from outer space) in the campground and camaraderie with like minded riders.

www.motoelekt.com

www.epmperf.com

May 6

05/03/2019 - 05/05/2019

2019 Georgia Mountain Rally

Location: Hiawassee, Georgia Contact: rally@bmwmcoga.org The area offers rewarding twisties, impressive vistas and renowned mountain hospitality. Hiawassee is located just minutes from some of the finest roads in the country, including Deals Gap, the Cherohala Skyway, and the Blue Ridge Parkway. For dual-sport riding, there are many great forest roads to suit all skill levels.

COME EXPLORE AN

MOA GETAWAY

TODAY VISIT BMWMOA.ORG AND CLICK ON THE EVENTS TAB November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

93

Spain & Portugal May 6 – 18, 2019

13-day vacation, starting at $3,670 Call today: 866-343-7623 www.bluerimtours.com www.bluerimtours.com

AeroFlow AeroWings AeroWings direct airflow away from shoulders, chest, arms and hands.

They expand overall coverage and protection for driver and passenger.

Improve performance of any screen.

AeroFlow K1600B / K1600GA AeroScreen Smooth aerodynamic shape andwww.aeroflowscreens.com flared top ensures clean over-helmet airflow while looking over top. aeroflowscreens.com 714-777-4844

www.contimotousablog.com

94

BMW OWNERS NEWS  November 2018

United States Postal Service STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION

advertiserindex Adaptiv Technologies...........................16 Adriatic Moto Tours...............................52 Adventure New Zealand Tours.........88 AeroFlow...................................................94 Aerostich-RiderWearHouse................87 Alaska Leather.........................................72 Alaska Motorcycle Adventures.........53 Arai Helmets.............................................27 Ayres Adventures...................................87 Beemer Boneyard..................................37 BeemerShop............................................52 Best Rest Products/Cycle Pump.......16 Bob’s BMW................................................73 Bohn Armor..............................................37 Boxer Works Service..............................75 BullRack.....................................................26 Capital Cycle............................................88 Cardo Systems.........................................32 Clearwater Lights...................................26 Colorado Tourbike Rentals.................16 Continental Tire......................................94 Corbin Pacific...........................................89 Costa Rica BMW Tours..........................16 Cyclenutz...................................................75 DMC Sidecars...........................................25 Don’t Want a Pickle................................26 Dubbelju Motorcycle Rentals............91 Edelweiss Bike Travel............................91 EPM Hyper Pro.................................53, 93 Euro Moto Electrics...............................53 Geza Gear..................................................91 Helmet Sun Blocker...............................87 HEX ezCAN...............................................87 Ilium Works...............................................91 IMTBike Tours...................................37, 75 Jesse Luggage Systems.......................17 Kermit Chair Company.........................25 LD Comfort...............................................26 Legal Speeding Enterprises...............88 M4Moto-psa............................................52 MachineartMoto....................................75 Migura USA..............................................85 Michelin Tire............................................. 23 MOA Gear Store......................................83 MOA Member Benefits...................... IBC

1. Publication Title: BMW Owners News 2. Publication Number: 1080-5729 3. Filing Date: 09/27/18 4. Issue Frequency : MONTHLY 5. No. of Issues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Subscription Price: $13.00

Morton’s BMW.........................................53 Moto Aventura........................................75 Moto-Bins..................................................88 MotoDiscovery........................................88 Motonation..............................................BC Moto Skiveez...........................................25 Motorcycle Relief Project....................89 Motorrad Elektrik...................................93 Mountain Master Truck Equipment..16 MTA Distributing.......................................IFC Overseas Speedometer.......................93 Palo Alto Speedometer........................21 Parabellum...............................................33 Paradise Motorcycle Tours..................33 Peter Lattman Real Estate...................52 Progressive Insurance..........................11 Redverz......................................................72 Re-Psycle BMW Parts............................33 Rider Magazine........................................93 Roadrunner Magazine..........................93 Rocky Creek Designs............................25 Russel Cycle Products...........................16 Sargent Cycle Products........................72 SPIDI Inc........................................................9 Stop ‘n Go..................................................88 Suburban Machinery............................88 Touratech.....................................................5 Twisted Throttle.......................... 1, 33, 77 Weiser Technik........................................31 Wilbers USA.......................................21, 91 Wolfman Luggage.................................21 Ztechnik.....................................................37

7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 640 S. Main Street #201, Greenville, SC 29601 Contact Person: Ted Moyer Telephone: 205-821-7205 8. Complete Mailing Address of the Headquarters or General Business Office of the Publisher: 640 S. Main Street, Ste. 201 Greenville, SC 29601 9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor and Managing Editor: Publisher: BMW MOA, 640 S. Main, Ste. 201, Greenville, SC 29601 Editor: BILL WIEGAND, 640 S. Main, Ste. 201, Greenville, SC 29601 Managing Editor: SAME AS ABOVE 10. Owner (Do not leave blank. If the publication is owned by a corporation, give the name and address of the corporation immediately followed by the names and addresses of all stockholders owning or holding 1 percent or more of the total amount of stock. If not owned by a corporation, give the names and addresses of the individual owners. If owned by a partnership or other unincorporated firm, give its name and address as well as those of each individual owner. If the publication is published by a nonprofit organization, give its name and address.)

Full Name: BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Complete Mailing Address: 640 S. Main, Ste. 201, Greenville, SC 29601 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: NONE

12.

Tax Status (For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at special rates.) The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes: HAS NOT CHANGED DURING PRECEDING 12 MONTHS.

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 11

November 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS

95

13. Publication Name: BMW ON 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: October 2018 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation Average No. Actual No. CLUB MEMBERSHIP BENEFIT Copies Each Copies of

Issue During Single Issue

Preceding Published

12 Months Nearest to Filing Date

a. Total Number of Copies (Net Press Run) 30,333 29,377 b. Paid and/or Requested Circulation (1) Paid/Requested Outside-County Mail Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (Include advertisers’ proof and exchange copies) 28,253 27,152 (2) Paid in-County Subscriptions Stated on Form 3541 (Include advertisers’ proof and exchange copies) — — (3) Sales Through Dealers and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales, and Other Non-USPS Paid Distribtion — — (4) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS — — c. Total Paid and/or Requested Circulation [Sum of 15b(1), (2), (3), and (4)] 28,253 27,152 d. Free Distibution by Mail, (Samples, complimentary, and other free) (1) Outside-County as Stated on Form 2,029 2,150 (2) In-County as Stated on Form 3541 — — (3) Other Classes Mailed Through the USPS — — (4) Free Distribution Outside the Mail (Carriers or other means) 27 __ e. Total free distribution [Sum 15d, (1), (2), (3),(4)] 2,056 2,150 f. Total Distribution (Sum of 15c and 15e) 30,309 29,377 g. Copies Not Distributed 24 75 h. Total (Sum of 15f and g) 30,333 29,377 i. Percent Paid (15c, divided by 15f, times 100) 93.14% 92.4% 16. Electronic Copy Circulation a. Paid Electronic Copies 0 0 b. Total Paid Print Copies (Line 15c) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a) 28,253 27,152 c. Total Print Distribution (Line 15f) + Paid Electronic Copies (Line 16a) 30,309 29,302 d. Percent Paid (Both Print & Electronic Copies (16b divided by 16c x 100) 93.14% 92.4% 17. Publication of Statement of Ownership. PUBLICATION REQUIRED. Will be printed in the November 2018 issue of this publication.

18. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner: Ted Moyer, Associate Executive Director Date: September 27, 2018 I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleadling information on this form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil sanctions (including multiple damages and civil penalties).

talelight

House on the Rock

Larry Reed #206748 and Rick Giroux #196411 approach Bridal Veil Falls, the towering 365-foot waterfall overlooking Telluride, Colorado.

Photo by Jim Bean #107701

The

Benefits of

Membership

We have lined up some of the best discounts in the industry worth way more than $49 per year. Whether you need product discounts, travel discounts or specialized services, your MOA membership can save you thousands of dollars with our partners.

Product Discounts Drayko

Members receive 10% Off any purchase and free knee armour.

Empire State Motorcycle Safety Education Program BOHN BODY ARMOR

Invisible, comfortable protection you wear under your own clothes. Bohn body armor shirts, pants and shorts provide a layer of low profile armored protection from shoulders to shins. BMW MOA members save 10% on all Bohn Armor products.

Login at www.bmwmoa.org for your discount code.

Members receive discounted membership for motorcycle education programs.

Leisure & Lifestyle Discounts Jos. A. Bank Clothing

Members receive a Free Jos. A. Bank Corporate Card.

Legal Shield

Offering members affordable and comprehensive identity theft plans.

Travel Discounts Cruise One

Members get a substantial savings over regular rates.

Hertz

Members receive daily rate discounts on rentals.

For the complete listing of all member discounts, visit us online at bmwmoa.org/discounts www.bmwmoa.org/discounts

wwwolympiamotosports.com

X

E-TE RE2GOR U T N E V AD $495

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

Only Sidi boots purchased from an authorized Sidi-Motonation dealer are covered by our product warranty.

X

-TE ONGORE CANY $350 EX

RE-T GAVIAG$O250

MER PERFOER $295 X -T E OR

G

X

DGORE-TE ALL ROA$295

X

RE-TE ARIA$G2O 50

X

X

Second to None www.motonation.com motonation.com

877.789.4940

NOVEMBER 2018

GORE-TE ARM$A3D5A0

AGORE-TE DUN$ 225

NOVEMBER 2018 BMW OWNERS NEWS www.bmwmoa.org