BMW Owners News for March 2024

MARCH 2024

www.bmwmoa.org

NEW!

Michelin Anakee Road Tire

Our new On-road tire specifically designed for Adventure Touring motorcycles The all-new Michelin Anakee Road front and rear tires feature 100% Michelin Silica Technology for optimized wet grip, helping you feel connected to the road in wet conditions.1 The longlasting center tread compound is designed to enable you to take your road adventure the extra mile. And, these tires are built for reliable on-road stability in all conditions so you can have a more condent ride.

Motorcycle.Michelinman.com @MichelinMotorcycle.US #MichelinOnMyMoto

@MichelinMotorcycle

(1) Thanks to 100% Michelin Silica Technology and Michelin 2CT+ Technology on the front and rear tires. | Copyright © 2024 Michelin North America, Inc. All rights reserved.

Official Sponsor of the BMW MOA Annual Mileage Contest

When you carry 45,000 parts, you get a million questions.

We’re happy to answer every one, because we know that’s important to you.

Our parts staff fulfills orders every day from within our service department, not from a warehouse or remote call center. This means if you ever have a question, you can count on talking with a talented professional who works on and around BMW Motorycles all the time. With an unparalleled inventory and dedicated parts staff that ships orders 6 days a week, MAX BMW is here to make ordering parts for your motorcycle convenient and easy!

Shop our parts catalog at www.maxbmw.com Questions? Call us at 203-740-1270 or send an e-mail to francis@maxbmw.com

IN THIS ISSUE 4 | HEADLIGHT A Month to Celebrate by Bill Wiegand 8 | FROM THE BOARD Ride Inspired by Phil Stalboerger 10 | POSTCARDS FROM THE ROAD 12 | RIDER TO RIDER Letters from our Members 14 | NEWS Yamaha Champions Riding School announces

46 RESISTANCE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

BY DUSTIN SILVEY #224778

ChampU: Traffic Survival, BMW Parts, Gear and Accessories 10% Rebate Extended for 2024, March is MOA Membership Month, Rigg Gear Adventure’s Quick Release Luggage Plates, Head West this June for the Pacific Northwest Triple Crown, Bundle the Ridin’ to Redmond Rally Registration and T-Shirt for $99, A Chartered Club’s Rebranding, Paul Yaffe’s take on the R 18.

24 | GEAR INNOVV ThirdEye Blind Spot Monitor

by Richard Ward

26 | GEAR Scorpion’s EXO R1 Helmet by Dustin Silvey 30 | GEAR Fixing a Flat on the Go, Part Two by Mark Barnes 32 | GEAR Klim’s Latitude Suit by Mark Barnes 36 | KEEP 'EM FLYING Looking Back 51 Years

by Matt Parkhouse

40 | TORQUE OF THE MATTER The Only Ears You Get

by Wes Fleming

52 LEAVING MEXICO AND ENTERING GUATEMALA

BY KATHERINE BECKSVOORT #222648

60 | SHINY SIDE UP Get Lost by Ron Davis 62 | SURVIVOR SERIES Zac Markgraf’s R 100 GS

by Daren Dortin

64 | ROAD TALES Going to the Dogs by Dave Cwi 68 | THE RIDE INSIDE It’s Not Easy Bein’ Green

by Mark Barnes

72 | Welcome our Newest MOA Members 76 | WHEN AND WHERE Rally listings ON THE COVER A heavy morning dew covers Mark

Janda’s (#198513) K 1600 parked near Portland Head Light, the historic lighthouse found in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

2 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

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HEADLIGHT

A MONTH TO CELEBRATE Spring is nature’s way of saying, “Let’s party!”

- Robin Williams

March has always been my favorite month of the year and a month of many special dates. The obvious March dates most are familiar with include the start of Daylight Savings time on the 10th, National Pi Day on the 14th, the Ides of March on the 15th, and St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th. This year, the Spring Equinox falls on March 19th and with it, the first day of spring!

Fire up the Google machine and one quickly finds quite a few other, lesser-known days within this third month of the year. These include National Solo Vacation Day on the 1st (Can there be a better reason to take a ride?). On the 6th of the month appear to be two celebrations at odds with each other: National Oreo Cookie Day and National Dentist Day. Never a fan of visiting my dentist, I often thought it would be interesting to down a couple of Oreos on the way to my next cleaning.

If it wasn’t too difficult to get an appointment with them, one day I just might follow through with that just to see their reaction!

Here at the MOA, March is special as well, with a couple of special offers we can all enjoy.

First, there’s the news that the BMW Motorrad 10% discount for purchases of original BMW apparel, accessories, gear, and parts has been extended through 2024! All purchases MOA members make at their favorite U.S.-based BMW Motorrad dealer or online at shopbmwmotorcycles.com qualify for this rebate. The only stipulation is that purchasers must be an MOA member at the time of purchase. Then, once a claim is submitted online at bmwmoa.org/partsrebate, payment will be issued within 60 days. It’s easy to see how, with just a few oil changes, this program could easily cover your MOA membership dues.

To date, more than $52,000 in rebates have been paid to MOA members since the program’s inception.

To celebrate BMW MOA membership, March has been

declared “MOA Membership Month.” During March, MOA members can earn a 20% rebate on BMW branded parts and accessory purchases by applying the rebate to BMW MOA membership dues. To take advantage of this offer, simply submit your parts rebate information at rebates.bmwmoa.org and check the box indicating you would like your rebate applied to your future MOA membership dues. We’ll then double the standard 10% cash rebate and extend your membership based on your rebate earnings. With the ability to earn 20% on all BMW branded parts, accessories, and gear, you may never pay dues again!

Do you know a friend who would enjoy an MOA membership? March is the time to get them in the door with a first-year free membership. To take advantage of this offer, direct them to memberforces.bmwmoa.org or use the QR code found on page 14 of this issue and use the activation code “MEMBERMONTH” to register for the first year on us! There is only one catch: to qualify for the free offer, the recipient must be new to the MOA. Yet another reason I love the month of March is because MOA members who register during March for the 2024 Ridin’ to Redmond National Rally set for June 13-16, 2024, in Redmond, Oregon, will receive a special Rally registration price of $99 when they purchase both a 2024 Rally Registration and a rally t-shirt. The beautiful Ridin’ to Redmond rally design is featured on the back of the heather or navy-colored shirt and is available in men’s and women’s sizes from small to 5X for men and small to 3X for women. To register for the Rally and shirt bundle for $99, visit rally.bmwmoa.org or call the membership team at (864) 438-0962. Once registered, shirts will be available for pickup at the MOA merchandise trailer at the rally.

Let’s celebrate March with the beginning of a new riding season and some great offers for MOA members. Visit bmwmoa.org for details on these specials and watch the MOA member newsletter for even more breaking incentives and promotions during the month of March!

Bill Wiegand #180584 Managing Editor

4 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Road Test In early December, a team of riders representing BMW Motorrad and Metzeler tested the off-road capability of the new R 1300 GS and Metzeler Karoo 4 tires by climbing Nevado Ojos del Saladoa, a dormant volcano in the Andes Mountains along the ArgentinaChile border. At more than 22,000 feet in elevation, Nevado Ojos del Saladoa is the highest active volcano in the world.

Photo by BMW Motorrad.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

7

FROM THE BOARD

RIDE INSPIRED

By Phil Stalboerger #196597 Many of us have careers outside of the motorcycle world. If you are like me, you may often daydream about winning the lottery and saying “Auf Wiedersehen” to your day job, swinging a leg over your bike and then hitting the road with unlimited time and resources.

As Treasurer of your MOA, I’d like us to win the lottery and be flush with cash for an eternity, too!

Imagine never having to worry about another tough financial decision ever. The fact is, everything costs more these days. Labor, printing, goods and services, you name it. I doubt many of us can find a place in our lives where things actually cost less.

As we move into the next 50 years of this club, we will evolve and do things differently and create new dreams for years to come. And likely in ways we never could have imagined in 1972.

I was at a work conference recently where the opening speaker was from BridgeWorks, a company helping organizations retain and engage each generation of talent. The title of the presentation was “Bridging the Generational Divide” and listening to how all of the current generations lived, learned and communicated really explains a lot. Thinking about how we interact with each other, our assumptions and potential miscommunication, I couldn’t help but recall a phrase I have always told my boys: “It’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.” The final speaker at the conference talked about artificial intelligence and how humans have evolved, using technology to solve problems in the world. While technology is driving the ability to find ways to do new things, human interactions are still required to actually solve problems. Both speakers ended their presentations with that very fact: Human relationships and communication are still at the core of deciding and agreeing on what problems need

Contact Phil Stalboerger at phil.stalboerger@bmwmoa.org Contact the MOA Board of Directors at board@bmwmoa.org

8 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

solving. It comes down to communication, and that will likely never go away. How we communicate with one another through whatever new medium we create, whether it be rotary phone, pager, cell phone, etc., may continue to change at a pace faster than we thought.

It is said that Millennials are more likely to spend resources on an experience rather than a thing.

Knowing one of the attractions to the MOA is about sharing the experience of riding and the camaraderie we all have within that experience, how do we help share in our experiences to a new generation who may not see riding a motorcycle in the same way we may think of it? How do we inspire others to share in this amazing, life enhancing, and sometimes life changing lifestyle we call the motorcycle community? This magazine is just one medium we all look forward to each month to see and learn about those experiences.

I am excited to be a part of an organization that celebrates the past as well as looks toward the future. I implore all of us to help each other think outside the box and inspire others to join forces with the MOA family to continue experiencing the journey on two wheels in new ways.

Our bikes are certainly changing, so too will the MOA. Bring a friend to a local BMW motorcycle dealership and show them what the future looks like. Encourage those around you to join the MOA and learn what we all love to experience. After all, it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it.

Ride Inspired!

Phil

10 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

POSTCARDS FROM THE ROAD

Opposite page top left, A shot of my R 1200 RT at a stop in Clanton, Alabama, while touring the southeastern US. Photo

by Magnus Hedemark #235691.

Opposite page top right, My 2013 R 1200 RT during a ride in the Florida Keys.

Photo by Cliff Elkins #86300.

Opposite page middle left, A photograph of my 1971 R 75/5 captured along State Route 150, also know as Utah's Mirror Lake Highway. Photo by Walk Perry #217461.

Opposite page middle right, A stop near Kutztown, Pennsylvania, during my last ride of 2023 on an unseasonably warm December day. Photo by Terence Hamill #14629.

Opposite page bottom, On the way to Rosebud Lake outside Red Lodge, Montana, during my cross-country trip last fall. Photo by Steve Ferguson #203659.

Top left, A shot from a great solo ride along South Dakota's Needles Highway–a ride I take from my Minneapolis home every year. Photo by Richard Tovsen #219511.

Bottom left, My view from the side of the road while riding through the Dolomite Mountains of northern Italy. Photo by Ute Schneider #212181.

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

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

11

t

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

AM I STILL COVERED?

I just renewed my Platinum membership and now I read that the MOA is splitting the tire program from Platinum Roadside? Please tell me I am still going to be covered for both roadside towing and tire protection and you didn’t just cost me $50.

Jerry Aldini #214426 Mountain Brook, Alabama Jerry, Your Platinum membership still contains both roadside towing coverage AND tire protection. We simply moved the administration of the tire program in house instead of with a third-party call center to provide you with better customer service in the claims process. Every Platinum towing package offers 24/7 roadside dispatch along with replacement coverage for two tires per year, up to $250 each. You keep the same great financial coverage but will receive better claim service under the new program. –editor

C'mon BMW!

I’ve been riding for almost 61 years and have had lots of Yamahas, a few Hondas, one Suzuki and one Vincent–which I rode regularly for almost 40 years. I have done hundreds of oil changes and tune-ups, clutch changes, and a few top end rebuilds.

My decision to trade my trusty, reliable and easy to maintain ‘17 Yamaha FJR1300 in on a ‘24 R 1300 GS wasn’t easy–the Yamaha is a great bike, parts are readily available and reasonably priced, and BMW refuses to sell service manuals and I hear rumors of high prices for parts.

BMW obviously thinks that they can force owners to get all maintenance done at the dealership. They are wrong. All this policy does is encourage people to sell black market service manuals.

BMW, you make great bikes; it’s time to

12 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

embrace the right-to-repair movement that is sweeping North America.

Bob Collings #236044 Winnipeg, Manitoba

gave me some validation for my crazy hobby. Bravo, Mark!

I hope he stays with your magazine for many more years. He is a true asset to the publication.

Roland Bassek #234189 Carlsbad, California

From a Beemer to a Duc

My first motorcycle was a 1973 Honda SL350. Close to 51 years later, my fourteenth bike which I can’t wait to ride when spring makes its arrival here in Minnesota, is a beautiful 2014 Ducati Multistrada 1200S Pikes Peak edition.

My previous seven rides have been BMWs. Thanks to the BMW MOA for supporting and promoting all things motorcycling, and for welcoming all riders, regardless of the brand that gets them out enjoying what is a passion for all of us.

I’ll be renewing my membership soon.

Tom Bergstrom #136776 Apple Valley, Minnesota

Clearances by Mark Barnes

I just received my December ‘23 issue of BMW Owner News. I have read many of Mark’s contributed articles and find them well written and informative, whether it’s product reviews or just his perspective on things. His recent “commentary” on life, “Clearances,” is completely spot on.

What he says about our daily lives in work and expectations from society is what I have been saying for so long.

Corporate America is expecting more and more out of its human component, and not understanding the need for lubricants and play/give. I loved reading this opinion piece so much, I only wished I could have it submitted to other publications as well. What he says about our constant daily pressures is the very reason I run to my motorcycles and motor hobbies for that “relief.” His article

The Ride Inside

I just finished reading “Clearances” by Mark Barnes in BMW Owners News (December 2023). This was a year of little riding for a number of reasons I won’t bother sharing, but the narrative was spot on.

Thanks, Mark, for sharing the obvious. It was needed.

Charlie Lueders #206438 Erie, Colorado

Neck Braces

I’ve been wearing the same Leatt STX Road neck brace since 2011. I thought these collars were only for dirt riders until this street-oriented version became available.

Product literature explaining the many ways I could injure my neck had me sold instantly.

As stated in Dustin Silvey’s article (Jan/Feb 2024 issue), spinal cord injuries are more common than people think, and this product works to prevent them.

Besides safeguarding the neck, the Leatt provides additional brain protection. It does this by slowing the rotation of a helmet in a crash. The top surface of the brace is made from a material that creates friction when a helmet makes contact with it. Helmet brands like 6D have internal components that reduce rotational forces transmitted to the head during impact. The Leatt neck brace provides an external method of accomplishing this with any helmet.

I have crashed while wearing my STX.

Did it make a difference? I’ll never know.

However, it’s good peace of mind, and the brace is easy to wear.

Jon DelVecchio #208163 Rochester, New York

Covers

Regarding your recent article about covers (December 2023 BMW Owners News), you missed a very high-quality cover company, one who advertises in your magazine religiously: Geza!

Geza covers are the best covers I’ve ever purchased. They’re not cheap, but what high quality item is?

Steve “Motchy” Motschenbacher #199724 Oshawa, Ontario Steve, Thanks for letting us know about Geza, and my apologies for overlooking them. I appreciate the reminder to check our wonderful advertisers before Google! –Wes

Enjoyed clearances

I very much enjoyed reading Mark Barnes article “Clearances.” In support of Mark’s learned opinion, I would like to offer one more observation: You never see a motorcycle parked outside of a psychiatrist’s office.

Ken Thomson #215320 Lincoln University, Pennsylvania

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Each month, the Rider to Rider pages of BMW Owners News detail the successes, failures, wishes and frustrations we all face as riders, BMW motorcycle owners, customers and individuals. As a BMW MOA member, these are your pages and we want to know what’s on your mind.

Got something to get off your chest? Tell us about it. Know a business that deserves to be recognized? Tell us about it. Got a riding or tech tip that we could all benefit from? Tell us about it. Got a suggestion for BMW Motorrad? You know the drill–Tell us about it!

There’s only one rule and that’s to stick to the subject that brings us all here–motorcycling, so save political rants for Facebook!

Send your thoughts to editor@bmwmoa.org and lets all work to build a better community.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

13

NEWS

Yamaha champions riding school announces champ U: Traffic survival Yamaha Champions Riding School, the premier motorcycle riding school in North America, is proud to announce a new Champions University digital curriculum: “Traffic Survival.” This is the fourth curriculum and arguably the most important Champ U online course to date.

Riding on the street is often considered dangerous and unpredictable. Distracted drivers, traffic, dilapidated roads, and insufficient training have become the norm.

In fact, motorcyclists are 28 times more likely to lose their lives in a fatal accident than other drivers.

The best way to stay safe on the street is to master motorcycle vehicle dynamics, understand the unique dangers of the road, and learn how the best riders in the world avoid them. As our skills and safety increase, so does the fun, and at the end of the day, that’s why we all love this sport! Traffic Survival is designed to give any rider, on any bike, the skills and strategies needed to enjoy every street ride and have more fun on two wheels for many years to come.

Derived from Multi-Time World Champion Freddie Spencer’s curriculum, ChampSchool has been in business since 2014 and has trained some of the best riders in the world with multi-day curriculums for street riders, racers, police officers, motorcycle manufactures, and the U.S. Marine Corps. Yamaha Champions Riding School is at the forefront of motorcycle vehicle dynamics training.

Traffic Survival combines over 40 videos, quizzes, and drills to form the definitive guide for street riding techniques and strategies, derived from data driven best practices, not internet-based theory.

Unlike our $2,500.00 + exclusive multi-day training events, Champ U: Traffic Survival is available to any rider with an internet connection, and at a price any motorcyclist can afford. New riders and veteran street riders will learn the best techniques and approaches to handle a wide variety of situations, especially those that account for the majority of street crashes.

The weather may be getting colder, and your motorcycle might be going into storage for a while. Don’t miss this opportunity to improve your skills on your preferred device. When warmer days arrive, you will be ready!

Learn more about Champ U: Traffic Survival and our other online and in-person courses at ridelikeachampion.com/courses-page/.

14 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

BMW parts, gear and accessories 10% rebate extended for 2024 The BMW Motorrad “All the Time” 10% discount to BMW MOA members for purchases of original BMW apparel, accessories, gear, and parts has been extended through 2024! Every purchase made at a BMW Motorrad dealer based in the United States or online at shopbmwmotorcycles.com can qualify for the rebate. To date, more than $52,000 in rebates have been paid to MOA members since the program’s inception.

Submitting a claim is easy, and members are free to support the dealer of their choice where original BMW parts, gear, and accessories are available. Purchasers must be an MOA member at the time of purchase and submit documentation to support the claim at bmwmoa.org/partsrebate. Claims for qualifying purchases will be processed and payment issued to the MOA member within 60 days.

A complete list of terms and conditions are available along with the submission form at bmwmoa.org/partsrebate.

march is moa membership month We’re celebrating BMW MOA membership during the month of March with extra savings and special incentives.

BMW MOA members can earn a 20% rebate on BMW branded parts and accessory purchases in the month of March by applying the rebate to your BMW MOA membership dues. Simply submit your parts rebate at rebates.bmwmoa.org and check the box that indicates you would like your approved rebate applied to your future membership dues.

We’ll double the standard 10% cash rebate and extend your membership based on your rebate earnings. With the ability to earn 20% on all BMW branded parts, accessories, and gear, you may never pay dues again!

Do you know someone who should join the MOA but hasn’t taken the leap? March is the time to get them in the door with a first-year free membership offer. Just direct them to memberforces.bmwmoa. org or use the QR code on this page to register. Enter the activation code “MEMBERMONTH” to register for the first year on us! There is only one catch: to qualify for the free offer, the recipient must be new to the MOA. Help us celebrate membership during the month of March. Visit bmwmoa.org for details on these specials and watch the MOA member newsletter for breaking incentives and promotions during the month of March!

Rigg Gear Adventure's Quick Release Luggage Plates

A

Nelson Rigg USA, Inc. continues to expand their Rigg Gear Adventure line of off-road accessories with the introduction of Quick Release Luggage Plates to fit most OEM and aftermarket 18mm round bar pannier racks.

Sold as a pair, quick “set and click” latches secure bags into place, and simple “pull and lift” removes them from the motorcycle rack. These quick release plates have a universal design allowing installation of a wide range of soft saddlebags, including the popular Rigg Gear 100% waterproof Hurricane Saddlebags (SE-4050) and Sierra Saddlebags (SE-3050).

The plates and mounting hardware are constructed from powder coated and anodized aircraft grade aluminum for maximum durability, and the top latch and mounting feet are fully adjustable to securely fit a wide range of racks.

For over 41 years Nelson Rigg has been a family-owned business that has specialized in the design and production of quality Motorcycle Covers, Luggage, and Rainwear. For more information, please visit your local dealer or visit nelsonrigg.com.

B

Triple Digit Glove Covers

Darien Jacket

Messenger Bags

New gear, downloadable catalog updated website & more specials online!

aero_bmwon_May23.indd 1

www.alaskaleather.com

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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3/6/23 5:33 PM

NEWS

Head West in june for the Pacific Northwest Triple Crown

By Dan Muir #166779 Horace Greeley once said, “Go west, young man.”

Greeley’s advice to the intrepid travelers of yesteryear still holds true today. It’s especially true for all the riders from across the nation who plan to head west to the 2024 MOA National Rally in Redmond, Oregon, this June.

This year is particularly enticing because with the support of the MOA staff, both the Washington State BMW Riders and the BMW Riders of Oregon have coordinated their annual rallies to the MOA National and are offering recognition and prizes to riders who attend all three events. We’re calling it the “Pacific Northwest Triple Crown” where, over three weekends, rally goers can attend three fabulous events highlighting the vast riding opportunities found in the Pacific Northwest.

16 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

The MOA National Rally is scheduled for June 13-16 at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center in Redmond, Oregon. Then, just one week later from June 20-23, the BMW Riders of Oregon will host their annual Chief Joseph Rally in beautiful John Day, Oregon.

Finally, the Washington State BMW Riders will host their rally in Cashmere, Washington, in the heart of Washington’s Cascade mountains from June 27-30.

Oregon, and Eastern Oregon especially, is a great place to ride and explore. From deep forests to ancient snow-capped volcanoes, world-famous fossil beds to twisty mountain roads, there’s something for every rider on both pavement and dirt. East of Redmond, Ponderosa Pine forests merge into beautiful open Juniper clad hills and rolling ranchlands.

The extravagantly fabulous riding just keeps on as you go north into Washington state. The town of Cashmere is a stop on the Washington Back Country Discovery Route and is located where the mountain highways blend into one of the most productive agricultural regions of the Pacific Northwest. There, riders can explore mountain passes along with the mighty Columbia River. See the channeled scablands illustrating the power of the ancient Missoula ice dam floods to the modern dams that provide power and water to an entire region. While there, enjoy apples and pears freshly picked from orchards found right in town.

The Pacific Northwest is fascinatingly diverse—in geography, geology, flora and fauna, and in the history and cultures that have shaped this beautiful region for countless generations.

Bundle the Ridin’ to Redmond Rally Registration and T-Shirt

for $99

BMW MOA members who register for the 2024 Ridin’ to Redmond National Rally during the month of March receive a special price of $99 when they purchase both a 2024 Rally Registration and a rally t-shirt. The carefully selected Ridin’ to Redmond rally design is featured on the back of the heather or navy-colored shirt and is available in men’s and women’s sizes from small to 5X for men and small to 3X for women.

The Ridin’ to Redmond National Rally takes place June 13-16, 2024, in Redmond, Oregon. Registration for the National is open now and costs $89 for members and $129 for non-members. To register for the Rally and shirt bundle for only $99, visit rally. bmwmoa.org or call the membership team at (864) 438-0962.

Once registered, shirts will be available for pickup at the MOA merchandise trailer at the rally.

But wait, there's more!

Just two weeks before the MOA National Rally, the Northern California BMW Riders will host their annual ‘49er Rally in Mariposa, California. A fantastic event for motorcycle enthusiasts and history buffs alike, Mariposa is steeped in Gold Rush history and offers the opportunity to ride the trails and visit historical locations from the Gold Rush era of 1849. Yosemite National Park, known for its stunning natural beauty, is also nearby and offers a perfect destination for nature lovers, and the nearby Sierra Mountains means riders can enjoy exhilarating and scenic rides while exploring the region.

California’s diverse landscapes make it an ideal location for motorcycling, from coastal highways to mountain roads and everything in between. It’s a great reminder that California has so much to offer, and the ‘49er allows riders to experience it in a unique way.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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NEWS

a chartered club's rebranding

By Juan B. Botero #232207 When I joined the BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington, I was looking for a community of kindred spirits who liked to ride and go camping. Having worked on various marketing projects involving ad agencies and Brand Guides, I felt the club’s logo needed some help and sure enough, the club had already been notified by BMW Motorrad to make its logo compliant with the BMW Brand Guide.

While the club had incredible potential and history, it was in bad shape. Membership was dwindling, the website was broken, and the outdated brand was causing problems. The club’s board struggled with the idea of a rebranding as I made it clear that it would affect everything. But the more we discussed it, the clearer it became that the perceived problem was an opportunity to get a lot done at once. We could also overhaul the website, broken email server and other communication facets, so we essentially leveraged this task into a much-needed makeover. We spent a lot of time to get it right, and what we ended up with was nothing in comparison to how things would’ve gone had we done this on our own. A big contributor to our problem was that no one in prior leadership roles had a background in marketing or was experienced with rebranding.

Logos from before (left) and (right) after the rebranding of the BMW Motorrad Club of Washington DC.

18 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

I engaged a graphic designer to help us brainstorm logo ideas, and we started to present comps. During this process, I also identified some factors that clearly suggested that we should implement a name change or d.b.a. (doing business as) because we had no budget to promote our legal name. I suggested that we leverage three heavily funded names to our advantage: BMW, Motorrad and Washington, DC. After 24 rounds of revised comps, the combination finally clicked, and after eight long months, BMW Germany approved our new logo.

In retrospect, the Board’s willingness to research, understand and pursue an unfamiliar and difficult process is what laid the foundation to our success. The decision also enabled us to stumble onto another key factor: The BMW MOA has a digital sandbox full of marketing tools and know-how they were willing to share with us at a reasonable cost, including website templates they had already built for other clubs.

After a quick review, our search for a website solution was officially over. Best business practices were written all over their templates with clean WordPress home pages featuring three or four calls to action.

After my initial chat with Ted Moyer, Executive Director of the MOA, I realized he is a kindred spirit because we shared the same principles of minimalist,

effective communication. Our team was impressed with how quickly Ted helped us make these enormous changes efficiently and with excellence. Our new website wireframe was ready 22 days into my term as club president. It then took our team of volunteers two months to populate the web pages until our new site went live without a glitch on Easter weekend, laying a solid foundation to resurrect our club.

Bruce Dimon, our former webmaster and my predecessor said, “Our old brand was state-of-the-art for the year 2000 and our logo looked great but had too much detail to be embroidered on a shirt or baseball cap. And when we tried to get new mugs, the vendor required a permission letter from BMW Corporate which we knew we couldn’t get.”

Another key contributor in this process was Mark Pledger, an IT guru who is now our new webmaster and Chief Technology Officer.

“When Ted Moyer demoed the MOA’s multi-club website, we were already researching other technologies,” he explained. “But we were willing to study all options and after Ted’s pitch, the Board was impressed with the WordPress universe: it was an established and stable technology, it was easy to learn and use, it was not dependent on one or two 'technologists,' and third-party plug-ins are available to enhance functionality. But what really attracted us was that multiple members could post content independently, keeping the site fresh and interesting,” Pledger said.

“Yes, the transition took time. We had to set up the new template, configure it to our needs, load the initial content, stress test all its features, and then communicate our plan to the members. We also merged our old domain (bmwbmw.org) with a catchier one (bmw2.org) and thanks to a remarkable collective effort, we successfully overhauled and relaunched our website in record time.

Everyone is now raving about the new “look

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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NEWS

and feel” of our site; it is extremely easy to navigate, and any club member can easily post new content linked to social media.

All these changes would not have been possible without Ted and his team at MOA. He was consistently available for meetings, BMW Motrrad Club of Washington DC, members gather during their Ride for Kids fundraising ride. responsive to our emails, and he shared with us several best practices that other clubs had and event registration in a clean Excel format. Most already implemented on their platforms, and for that importantly, the new system allows us the ease of we are extremely grateful,” he concluded. offering card payments and automatic, single-date Perhaps one of the most critical elements of our IT reminders for renewals. Compared to the old days of upgrade was the data consolidation, purification and spending countless hours on data entry and individual centralization of our database, a daunting task messages, the new system is an administrative dream successfully tackled by Lester Gebski, the club’s come true.

Membership Committee Chair.

I’m not a techie, I was always intimidated by posting to “When I took over as Membership Chair in January our prior forums, but today I’m able to throw together an 2022, I had no clue what I was up against,” he stated. event spread on the new site without much trouble. I’m “The total active count was 121 members and the also a big fan of the new calendar-based system that database to track all the members was on a program makes it easy for new members to find us. This has been called Access, which was with the former chair who a huge quantum leap for us, and we are thrilled at how had recently moved to Pennsylvania. All I had was an well the relaunch went, thanks to solid teamwork and Excel document downloaded from the database as well Ted’s help.” as previous downloads over the last 18 months. During Club Secretary Gene Freund reflected on the process: our transition to Member365, Ted asked that we deliver “Our club forum at bmwbmw.org which was once the our database in a neat and organized format, and that active home for a community of BMW bikers in the was basically it. We decided what fields we wanted in metropolitan Washington, D.C. area, no longer worked,” the database and combed through the database to he stated. “And our root problem was that the people ensure that all current and former club members were who built and maintained the site had moved on. New on one spreadsheet. We sent the file to Ted, and he volunteers hadn’t made regular updates, and now there worked his magic to get it uploaded onto Member365 was no way to gracefully update the pages. The only which now allows us to manage user profiles and reset option was to start over and find some places to archive passwords, and it can have memberships expire on a the legacy information.” specific date or on the date members signed up. The As advertised, the BMW Brand Guide gives us leeway system also sends expiration notifications automatito localize within reasonable boundaries. Expressed fears cally at 90, 60, and 30 days out from expiration. The by club members that corporate was going to micromannew system has enabled us to grow membership age never materialized. And as we dug deeper into the painlessly from 121 to 225 in just under a year, an 86% nuances of the Guide, we discovered the power of increase! This platform makes our database easy to relationship branding, i.e., how BMW Motorrad is now maintain, which allows us more time for club business, focused on what we are doing with these amazing such as rides and growing the organization,” Gebski motorcycles to build a better tomorrow through social concluded. responsibility.

“After archiving our history, Ted was able to set us up I am extremely grateful to see how our leadership not with a simple-to-use website with user-friendly tools. only understood but also embraced relationship The back end seamlessly tracks the types of income branding. Our membership responded with strategic and generates various sorts of data about membership

20 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

alliances with Rally for Rangers and Ride for Kids by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, among others. And now we have received free marketing resources from BMW Motorrad which we never could have afforded otherwise. The local dealerships have been watching our rebranding efforts closely, and they like the new synergies that we can now offer. Clubs considering compliance with the BMW Brand Guide would benefit by engaging marketing experts familiar with the rebranding process and taking full advantage of the support MOA has to offer. From our experience, the benefits certainly outweigh the limitations stemming from not being able to “ride the brand” full bore.

“The presence a club establishes through its brand is essential to attract new members and keep the club vibrant and healthy. And the model the DC team created is universal. The new leadership certainly honored the club’s rich history but also leveraged it towards the future. Their rebranding evolution can be emulated by any club willing to make a fresh approach to recruiting new members, build excitement for

existing members, and revitalize the community. The BMW Motorrad Club Washington DC will benefit from this effort for many years, and I’m very glad we were able to support them with this makeover. We look forward to hearing exciting new things from them in the years ahead,” Moyer concluded.

Juan B. Botero is an investigative journalist and broadcast media professional based in Baja California, and currently in Washington, DC, promoting his report on the US-Mexico border.

He became president of the BMW Motorrad Club of Washington DC, in 2023 seeking to reorganize its branding and IT. His professional expertise includes marketing, brand repositioning, cross-cultural/ strategic communication, and business development for privatesector, government and non-profit organizations. He rides a 2021 BMW R 1250 GS Rallye.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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paul yaffe's take on the r 18 Motorcycle customizer Paul Yaffe of Bagger Nation (baggernation.com/) recently revealed his latest creation, a unique take on the R 18 Transcontinental that blends hot rod looks with BMW’s history.

Bagger Nation started in 1991 as American Legend Motorcycle Company, and Yaffe has earned a number of accolades and awards as the lead designer, including three “World’s Most Beautiful Motorcycle” awards (Oakland Roadster Show), two “Builder of the Year” nods, and three “Trendsetter of the Year” awards (Easyriders).

He was also inducted into the Sturgis Hall of fame in 2015 and his custom bikes have been featured over 300 times in worldwide publications, on the Discovery and History channels, and elsewhere.

22 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

The One Eight C will debut at the MBE show in Verona, Italy, after a process that started with Yaffe riding the R 18 Transcontinental for over 6,000 miles around the USA. He thought about what he would do the whole time, and settled on a big wheel bagger design like no-one had ever seen, but one that retained as much of the originality and authenticity of the Transcon. First up was a 26” front wheel milled from a 400-pound block of aluminum; it utilizes a customized, handmade 180mm tire. Yaffe had to stretch and rake the frame, as well as construct custom triple trees to accommodate the massive wheel and ensure the bike could still handle well.

Paul Yaffe's customized R 18 Transcontinental–blending hot rod looks with BMW Motorrad history.

Embracing the look of an iconic ‘50’s Mercury Lead Sled the team crafted several one-of-a-kind components and modified existing R 18 elements. The steel front fender was made from scratch. The original R 18 fairing was cut into several pieces and restructured to correct headlight position and flow into the new front wheel. To address the gap between the fairing and the fuel tank a unique chin spoiler was developed, strategically concealing the radiator. Additionally, an exclusive set of Yaffe Monkey Bars was crafted to complement the overall design.

Yaffe said, “The team wanted to retain the saddlebag lids, latches and speakers, so we created a new set of ‘skins’ to give the bags a completely new and unique, stretched profile while retaining the excellent engineering and functionality that BMW created for them.”

To complement the saddlebags, the team extended the original rear fender by crafting a second R 18 rear fender, ensuring it seamlessly matched the profile of the new saddlebags.

Yaffe rearranged the original R 18 taillights into the handmade filler panels and worked the license plate holder into the fender to mimic classic hot rods, then stretched the original side covers to cover more area to help the eye flow into the bags. The bike is also equipped with a sophisticated air suspension system (including an on-board air compressor!) and one-of-akind side pipes that at the same time both retain the classic Boxer head pipes and incorporate a wildly updated styling.

Before finishing the build, Yaffe focused on the bike’s cosmetics, wanting a classic yet simple hot rod feel but without anything to distract from the bike’s elegant new profile. “We went to work perfecting all the fabricated body panels and smoothing everything to a glass-like finish,” he said. Yaffe had his lead painter, Hector Martinez, put down classic gloss black with blood red highlights. Yaffe called the final look “the perfect balance” and said that it “came out spectacular.”

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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innovv thirdeye blind spot monitor system

By Richard Ward #34056 Ottawa and put in my order.

Just over a year ago in December of 2022, my Ford Radar is widely used in the automobile industry for Maverick XLT Hybrid arrived with some impressive safety features. Millimeter-Wave Radar (MMW) enables safety features that I never before had in a vehicle. long detecting range and dynamic target detection Among them was a blind spot monitoring system capacity. The radar has a 77-79 GHz sensor which which flashed in the outside mirrors when a vehicle enables the system to achieve superior performance in closed in from behind or was coming up to pass on range resolution, velocity either side. Also included measurement, and was the ever-helpful rear accuracy. The IP 67 rate detection system. This ensures superior feature has come in very performance against handy in crowded water, dust, and excellent parking lots, like Costco, performance in high and Walmart or any grocery low temperature store. Wouldn’t this be environments. helpful to have as well on As a note, the 2024 a motorcycle, in my case BMW R 1300 GS has my 2013 R 1200 GS? radar-based safety I had the INNOVV K5 systems with its optional front and rear camera Riding Assistant, system on my GS and including the lane heard some talk of them changing warning. The R developing a blind spot 1300 GS lane change monitoring system, so I warning uses a rearchecked out their facing radar sensor to website at innovv.com monitor the back, and found their ThirdEYE including the blind spots, radar system for motorand lights up a symbol cycles. I found it intereston the respective mirror ing, in that there are two to show when it is not systems offered: one with safe to change lanes. an alert device mounted But for those of us not on a handlebar or a The rear-facing radar unit attached atop my license plate frame. looking to upgrade the surface where the rider whole motorcycle to get this, we can get similar could see it and a second, with two alert devices that technology in the INNOVV ThirdEYE Blind Spot system. mounted on your left and right mirrors or the left and Employing a MMW with a frequency range 77-79 right edges of your fairing. The mirror system appealed GHz, and combining the detected information with a to me because of its similarity to what I have on my software algorithm, the ThirdEYE can detect dynamic Maverick truck. target vehicles from both sides of the motorcycle and My K5 camera system is made of high-end aluminum the rear side, providing warnings with a visual alert and alloy and offers stable performance in harsh environan audible warning. ments, so I had no doubt that the system would be of On the road, the system works well, alerting the high quality and work well. I watched several videos of rider to vehicles coming up from behind on the left or the system, and the reviews were positive. I got in right. This is especially handy when riding in staggered touch with a contact in my BMW Motorcycle Club of

24 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

formation on a group ride if you are in the left-hand staggered position and the motorcycle behind you, to your right gets a bit too close. It will also detect a vehicle coming up quickly, directly behind you. The maximum detect distance is 50 meters (164 feet) with a 150-degree angle of sight. On the left or right, the system will give a warning at 3.4 meters (11.2 feet) of a vehicle (or a person, a bicycle, etc.) approaching and from directly behind, a warning alert at 2 meters (6.6 feet). Regardless, a rider should still do their mirror and/ or shoulder checks when turning, changing lanes, or stopping.

When you turn the key to the motorcycle on, you will hear beeps from under the seat from the control unit (at least with the mirror edition), and a green light comes on the control unit as well. The indicators will flash three times, so you know the unit is active. On the road when an indicator gives a warning on movement left, right, or right behind you, the control unit will beep but you are unlikely to hear it with the motorcycle running and helmet on. But the indicators will FLASH to alert you the rider. Once the vehicle goes by, the active indicator will turn off. The unit will remain active for about 60 seconds after you turn the ignition off.

For more information, visit innovv.com.

Above, A fused wire runs to the battery and the split loom carries the wires to the two indicators I mounted to the edges of the GSes fairing. Below, The left side fairing-mounted traffic indicator.

Richard Ward has been riding since he was 14. Now retired from his position as an IT System Administrator for a couple of New Brunswick government departments, he is now Chief Instructor of a Motorcycle Learn to Ride program.

An MOA member since 1985 and a MOA Ambassador, Richard rides a 2013 R 1200 GS with lots of Touratech and Innovv additions.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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scorpion's exo r1 carbon helmet

By Dustin Silvey #224778 As I write this, the 2024 Dakar Rally is just wrapping up. I love watching the Dakar highlights. Each January for a little over a week as the sun rises, I wake up, boil some water, make a tea, and sit back and watch these crazy souls race across the desert. I watch in a dreamlike state, wishing it was me out there battling the dunes, bouncing over boulders and having a team behind me cheering me forward. Then a big crash is shown, and I am ripped awake from my daydream. A competitor hits a rock too slow, and the bike lands on top of him; or another rider goes just a little too fast through a corner and ends up rolling down the trail.

When I see these crashes, I always think how important gear and more specifically helmets are. Without quality helmets, many of us wouldn’t still be here. I know I have smacked my head a few times, and each time I am thankful for the hard shell wrapped around my skull.

I think finding the right helmet is like finding the right motorcycle: there are a lot of choices and any one of those choices will do in a pinch. However, as any seasoned motorcyclist knows once you find the perfect fit, there is no going back. The problem of course is that helmets like everything to do with motorcycles, aren’t cheap and trying every helmet out there could cost you a small fortune. Due to the fact most of us don’t have unlimited spending accounts, we read reviews of helmets from fellow riders. We take that information, find the color or pattern we like and bam, that is our new helmet for the next five or so years. I would like to contribute to your search for the perfect helmet with my review of the Scorpion Exo R1 Air Carbon helmet.

All cards on the table: the helmet was given to me to use and review while I was riding with the Motorcycle Relief Project (motorelief.org) in November 2023.

Scorpion Exo asked me to try the R1 Air and give them honest feedback. All of the feedback I gave them is included in this review.

Helmet Details

Cost: US $549.95 Sizes: XS to 3XL Safety: ECE and DOT Colors: Blue, Gloss and Matte Bonus: Comes with a clear and dark visor

Scorpion Exo states the helmet was designed for the track but also works great in the curves of the city or canyon passes. It wasn’t designed for the backcountry or dirt roads, but I thought what the hell, might as well give it a go.

Test Conditions

Location: Tucson, Arizona Date: First week of November 2023 Average Riding Temperature: 30° C (86° F) Motorcycle: BMW R 1200 GS Type of riding: Highway, city and dirt road (10%, 20%, 70%) Total number of hours for test: 34

I rode between four to seven hours per day for six days on the trip. The R1 Air was the only helmet I used for the duration of the trip, and I seldom stopped long enough to remove it during the day.

Helmet Looks

Everyone has something different that draws them to a helmet; some want safety, some worry about weight, some want comfort and some just want to look good.

For me, I don’t want to look stupid, so looking good does impact my choice of helmet, but it definitely isn’t the most important thing.

Luckily, the Scorpion Exo R1 Air Carbon in blue looks fantastic. The blue only shows in certain lighting, and in others it looks black. It will match almost any gear you are wearing (always important to the real boss of my life: Janel), and the paint holds up well to rocks being thrown at it from your fellow backroad riders. Several of my companions mentioned to me how much they liked the color and if Scorpion Exo had an adventure helmet in this color, they would love to own one. This is an easy 9/10.

Helmet Fit

Have you ever bought a helmet that fits so perfectly you can’t wait to go ride across the world? Then about 24 hours of riding later, the cheek pads have lost their tightness around your face? You shake your head and the helmet starts swinging from side to side. To me, this is super annoying. I have a very tiny head so finding a helmet that is small enough to fit is already difficult, but to have the padding compress after a few hard days of riding is frustrating and more importantly impacts the efficacy of the helmet. Scorpion Exo has an innovative way to deal with this: their Airfit® inflation adjustment system. The Airfit allows you to inflate or deflate the padding which in turn helps keeps the tension between your cheeks and the helmet the same over time. And

vice versa, if you are finding the helmet a bit tight, you can let some air out.

When I first got my helmet, I added a bit of air and the helmet fit perfectly. Since then, I haven’t needed to change a thing. I didn’t have any hot spots around the front or back of my head, and the helmet fit well even with my Leatt neck brace. I honestly think this is the best fitting helmet I have ever tried. The Airfit® inflation adjustment system makes changing the fitting around the cheeks so easy, it is amazing. I have to go with a 9.5/10 here. I don’t know how fitting could get any better, but we have to leave some room for the next big improvement.

Helmet Noise

In my opinion, noisy helmets suck. My father started riding Harleys in his 50s and was all about the skull caps. Every once in a while, when my father forgets his hearing aids and I have to shout for him to hear me, I want to go back in time and slap some sense into him while shouting: “wear a full-face helmet!” High levels of noise while riding not only tires your brain out, but it has also been proven to lead to hearing loss. Having a quiet, enclosed helmet is important for our health and riding satisfaction—well, mine anyways. Who knows about my father.

I didn’t take any kind of fancy measurements on the noise, but I have used many different helmets from brands such as Icon, Shoei, Arai, Touratec and Klim. This helmet blew them all out of the water. To be clear, the style of helmet impacts how quiet it is, but this street/ track helmet was very quiet. Even without ear plugs, riding along the highway around 70 miles an hour I

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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wasn’t bothered by wind noise. On day three, one of my fellow riders was putting his ear plugs in and I realized I hadn’t used mine once. This helmet is so quiet, I had completely forgotten to put the little orange buds in my ears. If a loud metal concert is a 1 and a quiet violin playing in the background while you enjoy tea with the queen is a 10 for noise, I give the Air 1 Carbon a solid 8/10.

Helmet Ventilation

Having an ultra-quiet helmet does come with some downsides. This helmet is not well ventilated. I was cooking in the Arizona sun where on some days of the ride the temperature got close to 100 degrees. Sweat poured down my face and because I had to have the visor open to keep a breeze going, my face had harsh wind burns. I understand this helmet is designed for the street where higher speeds are more the norm; however, Wow, I was melting on the backroads. On a positive note, as I previously mentioned, even with sweat gushing everywhere in the helmet, I never once experienced a hot spot. I have to rate the helmet based on where I tested it, so for ventilation in a hot climate on some back roads, I can’t give this helmet more than a 4/10.

Final Thoughts

Of course, here’s the real question: Is this helmet for you? First, are you looking for a new helmet? If so, what exactly are you looking for? Where will you be riding? If you are headed into the desert or going to challenge

28 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

the Dakar, I might skip this helmet; however, if you are taking a ride down the Oregon Coast, it could be the perfect choice. Do you have problems getting a helmet that fits (cough cough), then this helmet and most of Scorpions Exo’s helmets might be for you. And lastly, if you just want to look cool, have a helmet that can handle getting rocks thrown at it, and will keep you safe just in case you take that corner too fast, then this one might just be the one for you. For more information, visit scorpionusa.com

Dustin grew up in Quesnel, British Columbia, and began riding on the back of his father's motorcycle many years ago. He has a doctorate of Community Health with a speciality in Indigenous Health. He currently works several contract positions with Indigenous organizations across Canada. Dustin's publication credits include The Globe and Mail, CBC, and Vice News, along with several extreme sport magazines such as Explore, Sidetracked, Canoe and Kayak, and Paddle Magazine.

Dustin and Janel currently live in Powell River, British Columbia.

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MOA Getaway at the Breaks March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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By Mark Barnes #222400 After plugging a puncture, you'll need to restore your repaired tire's lost pressure. Inflation requires energy which can be supplied by your own muscles, your bike's onboard battery, a rechargeable battery within the device itself, or highly pressurized CO2 cartridges. Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages in terms of storage requirements and level of convenience.

Consider these a sampling; other noteworthy options are Rocky Creek Designs’ MotoPressor Pocket Pump V2 and BestRest Products’ ultra-heavy-duty CyclePump Expedition Tire Inflator (bestrestproducts.com). Being stranded with a flat can be truly terrible, but resuming your ride can also be remarkably quick and easy with some inexpensive preparation.

Visit bmwownersnews.com for expanded information on these items.

Crank Brothers “Gem” Hand Pump crankbrothers.com

Hand-operated bicycle pumps never run out of air, assuming their operators don't run out of physical stamina. This one is quite small and light (8” long, 5.4 oz) and has a clever switch that optimizes pumping for either low- or high-pressure applications. MSRP $25

Nuetech Mini Floor Pump ziptyracing.com

This 6.5 oz device's ingenious folding design requires relatively little storage space (11.3” x 1.8” x 1.3”). Unfolded, it can be operated like a regular floor pump with its base on the ground. While larger than a hand pump, it's a bit less awkward to use. MSRP $27

30 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

MotoPressor Mini Pump rockycreekdesigns.com

While a bit bulky (7” x 6” x 2.5”, 24.3 oz), this pump is efficient and easy to operate. It runs off the motorcycle's battery and shuts down automatically once the target inflation pressure is reached. Unique feature: it can also run off a battery jumper pack. MSRP $58

Aerostich Mini Compressor aerostich.com

In its bag with one of the included electrical connectors, this motorized pump takes up 7”x4”x4” and weighs 19 oz.

Drawing on the bike's battery, it converts electrons to psi while dangling on a convenient perch. It can also be purchased in a kit including puncture repair essentials.

MSRP $53

VACLIFE Cordless Tire Inflator amazon.com

Self-contained with its own internal rechargeable battery, this relatively large pump (6.3” x 2.5” x 2.5”, 22 oz) needs nothing from your bike's battery to efficiently inflate a flat tire and turn itself off when the desired pressure is achieved. Includes a flashlight and USB charging port for other devices. Costs about $40.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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TWO WEEKS IN EUROPE WITH KLIM'S LATITUDE SUIT

By Mark Barnes #222400 My recent two-week European tour with IMTBike (“Trip of a Lifetime,” 7/23 issue of BMW Owners News or 7/12/23 post on bmwownersnews.com) was the perfect excuse to test some new riding gear. I’ve long admired Klim’s Latitude suit, and its latest redesign became available just in time for this adventure. The weather on my trip was expected to feature moderate but highly variable temperatures (50-90 degrees F) with some rain, so versatility was a high priority in my gear selection. The Latitude’s extensive ventilation, roomy cut (for layering underneath), and Gore-Tex waterproofing promised exactly that—one outfit that could handle the full range of conditions I’d encounter, while also providing a high level of protection and lots of storage. It was also plenty light and packable for an overseas flight. Klim gear has performed extremely well for me over the years, so I had good reason to believe its promise would be fulfilled. Spoiler alert: it was—in spades!

Fit and Finish The first example of the updated Latitude I received was a big disappointment, not only because my hopes had been so high, but because the garment itself was sooo large! Although I’d ordered the jacket and pant sizes that have fit me properly in Klim’s dirt and street lineups for decades, I had to exchange those for smaller versions this time. Even after downsizing, I found both jacket and pants fit very loosely. While this dimensional generosity created a blousy effect while wearing just a thin base layer, it wasn’t so extreme that fabric flapped annoyingly in the wind or bunched uncomfortably anywhere. In hot weather, the spacious interior allowed cooling air to flow easily into and out of the suit, and in cold weather I could wear several layers underneath— including Klim’s Maverick down jacket—and still maintain good flexibility and range of motion. I’m content trading a tailored fit for extreme versatility and consistent comfort.

Further contributing to my contentment with this tradeoff is the Latitude’s sleek design and light weight.

All of its seams, zippers, and pockets lie flat in a standing position, streamlining the suit’s profile. Klim has done an excellent job straddling the need for a

32 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

relaxed, non-binding fit in an upright or sport-touring riding posture, plus easy-going neutrality off the bike. Although the arms and legs are rotated/ articulated enough for the former, they don’t interfere at all with the latter. Textile technology Latitude jacket liner and shoulder armor. continues to improve, and the Latitude’s fabric is cooling airflow at the neck and upper chest while satiny smooth and pliable right from the start—this keeping the front zipper mostly closed. The jacket’s isn’t your father’s rough, crunchy, original Cordura. It’s lower edge is adjustable via zippered gussets above very thin and light where it can be, and reinforced with each hip, the double-headed main zipper, and an seriously abrasion-resistant materials where it needs to elastic cord within the hem. Fit at both upper and be. Hence, weight and bulk are minimized without lower arm sections is managed by accent-color commensurate sacrifices in protection. straps—such straps are also found on each side of the My bodily dimensions are statistically average for the torso. The zippers over the ventilated wrist gussets species, and I typically wear “medium” clothing have been thoughtfully designed with an indentation (including previous Klim gear). At 5’8” tall, 160 lbs., with at the end so they don’t poke the flesh when worn a 39” chest, 32” waist, and 30” inseam, I’m apparently the inside glove gauntlets. Two Velcro tabs that retract into smallest creature the current Latitude can accommoa beltline sheath allow substantial adjustment at the date; my jacket and pants sizes are the minimums on pants waist, and three snaps at each leg cuff snug offer. Jackets are available in sizes S-4XL, and Klim those openings down to work with any style boot. provides short, regular, and tall versions of most Adjustable straps alter tightness at each leg’s upper Latitude pants with 30-44” waists. See their online size calf. Both jacket and pants are graced with an antichart, but I suggest you also speak to a sales rep as the microbial, moisture-wicking mesh liner decorated in a chart pointed me to my usual sizes, which arrived way two-tone geometric pattern. Branding appears in too large. numerous places but is tastefully understated. Four If your suit ends up fitting like mine, be prepared for colorways are offered, including a blue/gray combo a little teasing. The unavoidably stiff rubberized that just happens to precisely match my R 1250 RS’s waterproof zippers on the chest (a vent and pocket on paint. each side) fold sharply outward if you slouch, conspiring with the loose fabric to create an effect reminiscent of the bullet bras of the 1940s. Have a sense of humor; Protection your riding buddies are just envious, and this actually Vented LP1 Level 1 D30 armor fits neatly into ventilated keeps the chest vents open in the wind. pockets in the Latitude’s shoulders, elbows, hips, and Attention to detail has long been a Klim hallmark, knees, while a ventilated D30 Viper CE Level 1 pad and the Latitude certainly continues this tradition. covers much of the back. The elbow and knee pockets Noteworthy elements on the jacket include “carbon allow considerable adjustment, but given the excess black” 3M Scotchlite reflective stripes that remain a leg length this suit had for my body, the knee armor subtle dark gray until hit with light, at which point they still ended up a tad lower than I’d prefer. This nowflash brilliant silver. All external zippers are premium familiar viscoelastic armor—soft and compliant until YKK waterproof items with pull extensions so useful impact, then instantaneously stiff to absorb and they actually allow the rear exhaust vents to be opened disperse force—is very comfortable and the industry while riding. Speaking of pull extensions, there’s an standard for protection. Klim sells Level 2 versions Easter Egg hidden in plain sight on the collar cinch separately for even greater shock absorption. Robust string—a tiny pull tab shaped like Idaho, where Klim is 600D Cordura overlays can be found on the shoulders, headquartered. Small loops on the collar can be knees, seat, and pants cuffs. Perforated goat leather hitched to little hooks near the shoulders, inviting guards the elbow/forearm areas and supplies a grippy

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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GEAR

interface with the motorcycle at the inner knee; it also appears in a variety of welts and embossed trim panels for a supremely refined aesthetic.

Protection from impact and abrasion is only part of this package; a Gore-Tex performance shell (laminated) membrane provides an impenetrable barrier against rain and wind while still allowing water vapor to exit from inside the suit. Special stretch Gore-Tex panels under the arms, behind the shoulders, across the upper seat yoke, over the knees, and in a gusset at the crotch all aid mobility while denying moisture entry. A Velcro-equipped storm flap fortifies the main zipper’s watertightness from the front, and the pants fly is fully gusseted from behind. Velcro tabs at the jacket cuffs and collar help seal out wind and water at those junctures, and a zipper at the lower back will lock jacket and pants together if desired. While on my tour, I got to assess the Latitude’s waterproofing during a torrential downpour that lasted for hours. I remained completely dry with only the small windscreen of an R 1250 GS (non-Adventure) shielding me from the elements. The one place moisture intruded was at the lower edge of the left leg’s thigh pocket. This was enough to dampen my International Driver’s License and passport, but the water never reached my skin. I have since ridden in less dramatic rain without any problem whatsoever.

Ventilation and Storage The Latitude features fairly large, zippered vents at the outer chest, wrist/ forearms, lower rear torso, and outer hip/thigh, with small exhaust vents under the hamstrings. I would not have guessed those last ones would accomplish much but was surprised to find they added significantly to the cooling effect. All vents are backed with a mesh screen to prevent unwanted intrusions by insects or debris, and those at the wrists can be opened from either end. Depending on your position, the vents often prop themselves open in a way that enhances airflow. There’s also the aforementioned option of hooking the collar wide open. This was a much-appreciated alternative to having the wind press other collars flat against my neck despite having those jackets partially unzipped.

As anyone who has enjoyed the benefits of Gore-Tex knows, its protection comes at a cost, and not just monetary. “Breathable” does not mean breezy; in fact, the windproof aspect of Gore-Tex can make such gear feel suffocating in the heat. Water vapor may be escaping, but air isn’t necessarily circulating. Even vented Gore-Tex can be stifling. Not so with the Latitude. The number and positioning of its vents ensure plenty of airflow through this suit, and it’s easy to regulate during transitional temperatures. Once the mercury rises into the upper 80s, I reach for my LD Comfort evaporative cooling shirt, which has worked great in the Latitude’s microclimate, but even without this substantial enhancement, the Latitude proved acceptably comfortable up to 90 or so, as long as I didn’t have to sit still in traffic—which is as good as I could hope for, even without Gore-Tex. Behind the Latitude’s other set of zippers lie a plethora of pockets.

Large handwarmers in the jacket are augmented by roomy external chest pockets on both sides and a small pocket on the left forearm, which carries a symbol to alert emergency medical personnel you may have stored important health information there. It also has a secret compartment, as does the back protector pocket, just in case your ride includes a

34 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

bandit encounter. Inside the jacket are four more zippered pockets in the liner.

The pants have large slash pockets where you’d expect, along with a big square pocket on the front left thigh. Although the latter has a thin gusset at its lower edge, it pulls flat across your leg in the riding position, so it’s only good for items shaped accordingly (just put important papers in a plastic bag!).

Final Thoughts My Latitude has provided unsurpassed comfort and protection across an extremely wide range of conditions. In some sense it’s just a simple shell, as opposed to “system” suits with removable liners or covers, but it’s a shell with fantastic functionality and versatility. Add your own a la carte base layers and it works beautifully from 40 degrees to triple-digits, with no need to add anything if it rains. Its name is perfectly apropos, not only in its allusion to global touring geography, but also its breadth of capabilities. I have specialized equipment I’ll choose over the Latitude on certain occasions, but if I could only have one motorcycling outfit, this would be it. That said, brace for the price tag: MSRP is $800 for the jacket and $650 for the pants.

While I haven’t owned Klim’s even pricier top-of-the-line ADV gear, I’ve known a handful of riders who have, and all of them felt to some degree they’d overpaid for overkill, given the kind of riding they actually do (as opposed to imagine doing). By comparison, the Latitude is a bargain, even if you swap out its Level 1 armor for Level 2 bits (an additional $210 for the complete set). You’re still paying a lot, but you’ll get the full benefit of this gear without riding from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego. You don’t always get what you pay for, but Klim reliably delivers good value. The Latitude strikes me as the sweet spot where the vast majority of riders will max out that value in real world functionality.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

35

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KEEP 'EM FLYING

looking back 51 years

By Matt Parkhouse #13272 Winter is settling in and I haven’t done much in the way of getting my hands dirty with the old airhead BMWs. My heart remains in good shape, and my exercise program is helping me to get my body back into shape.

I’ve mentioned that the goal is to be fit enough to ride the Mexico Bike back to the Mexico City area to be part of the Fiesta de San Juan de Dios in early March.

In the 50-plus years that I’ve ridden Strider, my purchased new R 75/5, I’ve collected a few stories. I bought the bike in April of 1972 and started piling up the miles. In May of 1973, I set out on the trip I had in mind when I decided to acquire the Slash Five. I had spent close to a year as a medic in Vietnam when I had the idea of seeing this country by motorcycle. Part of my medic duties included running the morning sick call. I’d see around 50 to 75 men each morning. I’d put up a few advertisements torn from motorcycle magazines around my area where I would see the folks who showed up for sick call. I’d usually encounter a rider or two, and I would put the same question to each of them: “I’m planning on buying a good-sized bike when I get home to see the country. What would you suggest?”

By the time I was sent home (six weeks early, thanks to an “early out”), I had narrowed things down to three brands of bikes: Harley-Davidson, Moto Guzzi and BMW. The Harley idea was rejected for a couple of reasons. The early 1970s were the time that American Machine Foundry owned Harley-Davidson, and the quality and longevity of the legendary bikes was not the greatest. The other consideration consisted of about half the stories ending with, “and then it got ripped off.”

After the long flight back to the “world,” I was hitch-hiking down to UC-Irvine to visit my friend Paul and I got picked up by the driver of a van emblazoned with several motorcycle names, including Moto Guzzi and BMW. As the driver drove me to the university (he was kind enough to go out of his way a bit and drive the returning Vietnam vet to the door of Paul’s dorm), I put the same sick-call question to him. He essentially told me that “both the bikes are good machines, but if you have the extra few hundred dollars, the BMWs are a little bit better.”

After a few days of visiting parents and friends in California, I reported to Fort Carson in Colorado

36 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Springs, where I was to spend the remaining 16 months of my enlistment. I had to extend my original threeyear commitment to get some additional training as a “super-medic” prior to going overseas.

About three weeks later, I rode back to the base on my brand-new R 75/5. That was my very first ride on a BMW! Based entirely on what I had heard with my questioning of several dozen folks, I knew what I wanted.

Within about two weeks, I had ridden 600 miles and needed the 600-mile “initial service.” That was when I made the acquaintance of “Doc” Baum, KD Brooks and Cal Brinely at the just-opened “Doc’s BMW of Colorado Springs.” They were a bit upset to find that I had gone to Denver to buy the bike because I wanted a black 750.

The Suzuki salesman at Doc’s, who answered the phone told me, “We have a black 600 and blue 750.” The staff at Doc’s quickly explained to me that swapping tanks, fenders and side-covers was about a half hour job, and they could have easily met my request by changing the color of the two bikes. I guess that was the beginning of my education into the ways of the airhead BMWs. KD was the main mechanic at Doc’s. He was a retired Special Forces soldier and local honcho at the John Birch Society. I heard some pretty strong political views along with the service tips he was telling me about.

After the initial service, I did just about all the routine work with the bike. I’d been keeping my mother’s VW Bug running for a couple of years prior to going into the Army.

The remaining 15 months of my enlistment went by quickly. During that time, I made several runs to Tucson to visit a lady friend at the university there.

There were a few trips to the West Coast as well. As my exposure to the country prior to the Army was limited to states west of Utah, I set out to see the Midwest. As I had read In Cold Blood recently, my first destination was the Garden City, Kansas, area, where the Cutter family was murdered by a pair of ex-convicts. Seeing the flat prairie and fields of crops extending to the horizon was new to me.

I ended up getting assigned to the Fort Carson hospital on a surgical ward. I basically worked in the role of an LPN. Gaining skills and experience, I found the work very helpful when I finally attended Beth-El

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College of Nursing in Colorado Springs.

I used my weekends and leave time to travel on the BMW. A couple of months after I returned, I went to a small rock festival in one of the city’s parks. There, I met several members of the Terros Hotline who were staffing a small “chill out station” for folks who had overindulged with one or more substances.

Before Vietnam, while at the Fort Lewis training facility near Tacoma, Washington, to take the 40-week “super-medic” course, I had spent a couple of days over the Fourth of July holiday at the Eatonville Rock Festival. I spent that holiday working as a volunteer at the aid station, supporting the 40,000 or so festival attendees.

Most of the workers there in the aid station were from the Seattle-based Open Door Free Clinic.

I got little sleep as I helped look after folks who were sun-burned, had injured feet from walking barefoot into broken glass or occasionally, into a campfire.

Several folks had to be evacuated by ambulance, or on one occasion by medical helicopter. I would have to say, those couple of days changed my life in that from then on, I sought out opportunities to work as a volunteer with that sort of operation. That background led to my talking at length with hotline folks and ended up volunteering to “work the phones” and be a part of the “runners,” a sub-group of the volunteers who would actually go out to see the person in trouble. One has to realize that in 1972 Colorado Springs had nowhere near the resources for help that are in place these days. I ended up fitting quite well with the all-volunteer staff both in organizing the office and the group’s frequent parties.

Late May of 1973 finally rolled around, and I and the Army parted company on good terms. I still remember how I felt

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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with having the freedom to go anywhere I pleased.

Two thousand dollars in travelers’ checks packed away in my gear helped with the “free as a bird” feeling!

When I returned home, I had the money saved up to buy the BMW, and I had 16 months in the service to save up funds for the trip. My first destination was Tucson to see that lady again. On my way down, in New Mexico, I had my first encounter with large animals. A small group of steers was running alongside the road. As I passed them, one chose that moment to veer into the road. I hit it with a glancing blow and went down. I ended up with a skinned-up arm and Strider ended up with a broken headlight lens and a dented headlamp bucket. Day two of the trip and that was my first crash.

I bandaged my arm, picked up the pieces and carried on to Tucson. I found a new lens and trim ring at the local BMW shop (Iron Horse had not yet come into being). With the headlight assembly back together, I spent a couple of days in Tucson, headed for Los Angeles to see my parents and then headed north to Alaska. I rode up the Alcan highway which, in 1973, had 1,300 miles of dirt road. Some parts were quite smooth.

Other parts were horrible.

Part way up the highway, the bike started running poorly and quit several times. I set up a camp spot (it was around 11p.m. and the northern summer sun was still providing adequate light to work on the bike. I had KD go through the bike before I finished up with the Army to prepare for the trip. I finally figured out the points had worn down to where they would not open.

The BMW tool kit was quite good, but the supplied screwdriver was not up to the task of loosening the screw. I’m sure it is still residing in the forest alongside the Highway where I threw it. I ended up using a rock and a long steel rod that was part of the tool kit. I don’t know why it was in the kit but I used the rod and the rock to essentially beat the points so the contacts would open when spark was needed. I put the bike together and carried on until I found a good camping spot.

A few days later, after meeting several fellow travelers, I landed in Fairbanks. Now, this was 1973, and the Alaska Oil Pipeline was on hold waiting for the Government to get started on building it. As I travelled, I ran into several people who were “hanging loose,” waiting for the rumored high paying jobs building the pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. In Fairbanks, I found a Sears store and replaced the screwdriver with a good one. I also quickly found the Fairbanks Hotline.

They were allowing travelers to camp around their building. I set up my tent and joined the crowd of folks

38 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

who were either just hanging around or were taking a break from travelling. The Hotline had set up a large cable drum in the living room of the house and had chairs all around it. Those chairs were seldom empty, night and day, as people shared what they were planning or what they had already done. Lots of people were hitch-hiking and in reaction to this, the Canadian government had set up a series of hostels, mostly along the Trans-Canadian Highway. There was a very minor fee charged for flopping on a gym floor. Empty mobile homes were set up in a couple of places.

Outside of Quebec the hostel was in an old castle. I remember the cost to be one dollar (Canadian) a night.

Once I found one of the hostels, I then had a folder listing all of them. After a month of riding, sight-seeing and enjoying a couple of hot springs, I headed back to the lower 48.

While up in the Yukon area, I located the ruins of my grandfather’s hardware store. He had gone north during the Gold Rush, prospected, and returned home with a small vial of gold dust. He realized that looking for gold was a poor way to make his fortune. He returned to his home in California, found a few backers and returned to Dawson City with a boatload of hardware. He made his fortune, married a nice lady and after the first child was born, decided that a gold camp was not the best place to raise a family. The family returned to Glendale, California, where he purchased a small farm from a fellow he met on the train south.

My Alaska trip was just the first part of what I was calling my “post-Vietnam walkabout.” I made my way to Los Angeles where I stayed with friends and my parents while I sort of caught my breath. I started making plans to ride across Canada with my friend Paul as the next part of the trip. Unless I run across an interesting airhead or two, I’ll write about the next few miles of the journey in my next column.

Matt acquired his first BMW in 1972, upon his return from Vietnam. He hired on at Doc’s BMW of Colorado Springs in 1977. Since then, his life has been a mixture of travel, owning/working in various shops, as a nurse, and being very involved in his local community. He has owned around 15 Airhead BMWs over the years, but his first bike, a 1972 R 75/5, is parked by the front door with 434,000 miles on the odom eter.

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TORQUE OF THE MATTER

By Wes Fleming #87301 I’ve reached the age at which receiving slightly concerning or even mildly troubling news from a doctor is happening more often than I’d really like. It’s not usually anything like a limb in danger of going gangrenous or something inoperable, so it’s all pretty easy to take in stride, adjust my diet and exercise a little, and keep going forward.

Every January I get my hearing tested. As a small child, I was unfortunately prone to chronic painful ear infections; over several years, callous-like scar tissue built up, closing off my ear canal and rendering me deaf. In an attempt to treat me, my eardrums were ruptured by an incompetent, impatient doctor. As a result, my hearing started being a concern at a young age, long before I discovered the joys of playing guitar in a raucous rock band, going to heavy metal concerts or riding a motorcycle.

At about 22 years old, I noticed my folks were always telling me the TV or my music was too loud, and I had to sit at the front of classrooms in order to understand any of my professors. That time, it ended up being a colossal amount of impacted wax clogging my ear

misophonia, a physiological response to certain sounds. For example, using a blender anywhere near me triggers my fight-or-flight response, dumping adrenaline into my system and making me more jittery than after a pot of coffee. Somebody chewing Doritos with their mouth open is enough to send me into a near-panicked rage simply from the overload of stimulus my brain is receiving.

It’s not just me, though. According to an article written long ago by Evans Brasfield for Motorcycle.com, one in ten Americans suffer from enough hearing loss to affect their ability to follow a conversation. (Hot tip: If you’re one of these folks, turn on the closed captioning on your TV. It’ll seem weird at first, but you’ll get used to it and you’ll enjoy your telenovelas much more!) Additionally, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, over 26 million Americans between ages 20-69 have high frequency hearing loss stemming from their work or leisure activities. It’s one of the reasons OSHA has regulations require using hearing protection in high-noise work environments.

the only ears you get canals, but the doctor who took care of me suggested I get a hearing test, given my history. At that appointment, my hearing loss was noticeable but not alarming, and that’s when I learned about using ear plugs in high-noise environments. About 10 years later—about 20 years ago—my audiologist suggested I start learning American Sign Language (ASL) despite regular ear plug use, as my hearing was continuing to deteriorate. My current audiologist agrees, and I’ve started looking into classes.

Despite using ear plugs in even moderately noisy environments ever since, my hearing continues to degrade. On top of that, I suffer from tinnitus, a condition in which your brain actually interprets the lack of sound in certain frequencies as a problem, and thus boosts those frequencies, causing a constant, perceivable noise. For some it sounds like ringing; for me, it sounds like radio static mixed with a highpitched whine. Tinnitus causes me to live in a world that is never silent; I have difficulty falling or staying asleep, and it is a constant irritant throughout my day.

It’s a bit like having a fly incessantly buzzing near your head, but one you can never get rid of. As a result of all these hearing-related things, I’ve been diagnosed with

40 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

The wind noise you experience while riding a motorcycle can exceed 100 decibels (dB); OSHA says just two hours of wind noise that loud can permanently damage your hearing. They say the threshold for an eight-hour workday free of hearing damage is 85 dB; that’s louder than a freight train going by you about 100 feet away (80 dB), but quieter than using a blow dryer on your hair (90 dB). If, like me, you like to play rock music and go see bands, the typical concert can push sound levels of 110 dB or higher.

This is probably a good time to note that the decibel scale is logarithmic rather than linear. Zero dB is the quietest audible sound; 10 dB is 10 times louder than that, but 20 dB is 100 times louder than 0 dB, and 30 dB is 1,000 times louder. By the time you get to wind noise at 100 dB, you’re looking at sound pressure levels 10 billion times louder than your partner softly breathing in their sleep a few feet away from you in the middle of a quiet night, between cycles of your air conditioner.

(P.S.: the average snore comes in at about 70 dB, which is why snoring wakes you up.)

As you can probably imagine at this point, I’m kind of a dick about ear plug use. I do it every time I get on a motorcycle, whether I’m going 10 miles or 1,000 that

day at any speed. I’m also going to talk to you about ear plug use if I see you’re not using them, and I’m not going to drop it until you either use them or ride away from me. I use a set of custom-made silicone ear plugs; they cut 37-38 dB of noise across the entire spectrum, cost $120-130 and are only available through a licensed audiologist. My backups are the last set of silicone plugs I had made, usually about two to three years old; the backups for those are the ones I get made every year at the National Rally at one of the booths in the vendor building. In a total pinch, I’ll use those roll-upand-expand-once-they’re-in foam earplugs you can buy at any drugstore.

Reusable ear plugs like those made by MotoSafe and Etymotic are currently trendy and are sometimes referred to as “musician’s plugs.” As long as you keep them

clean, they should last for weeks or even months. I don’t use them because they are filtering plugs, which is to say they only filter out certain frequencies of noise, ostensibly to allow you to hear your comm system without cranking its volume to max. Some riders have difficulty with this style of ear plug, as their flexible, replaceable (and washable) tips can fail to successfully fill some folks’ ear canals. I stay away from this style of plug because if it lets any sound in, it will let noise in that frequency range in as well, and it’s that steady barrage of noise in any frequency range that damages your hearing. Additionally, they are typically only good for 15-20 dB of noise reduction. If you use this style of ear plug, expect to pay $20-30 for a kit containing two plugs and several pairs of different-size tips.

Disposable plugs—typically made of squeezy foam—are good for a few uses before they get icky with ear wax and lose their ability to expand and fill

your ear canal. The best ones (Howard Leight Laser Lites, Mack’s Ultra Soft) cut as much as 30-33 dB of noise across the entire spectrum, an impressive feat given they’re made of simple foam. These are nice to use at night in a campground, dorm, barracks or hostel, as they’re typically more comfortable to lie on if you’re a side sleeper, and they’re cheap per unit, so buy in bulk! The Laser Lites are $27 for 200 sets on Amazon ($0.14/pair). A 50-set jug of Mack’s will set you back $15 ($0.30/pair).

The ear buds you use with your phone or computer to listen to music are not ear plugs and they will not protect your hearing at all, even if they do fit under your helmet. Some companies—including those who come to the National every summer—will make you a set of IEMs, or in-ear monitors, which block sound at the level of custom silicone plugs and allow you to pipe transmissions from your comm system directly into your ear holes. Corded pairs are eye-poppingly expensive; Bluetooth sets are expensive enough to make you wonder if those

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

41

TORQUE OF THE MATTER

selling them are insane—but if listening to music, podcasts, your GPS or phone calls is that important to you, they may be worth the money.

Schuberth claims their new C5 flip-front helmet reduces wind noise to around 85 dB, something I mentioned in my recent review (Jan/Feb 2024), and one reason why I really wanted to test that helmet despite my lack of enthusiasm for the flip-front style. By using custom-made, full-shell silicone ear plugs in conjunction with the C5, I feel as if I’m making progress in preventing further hearing loss due to riding motorcycles. I won’t be showing up with my C5 on at a concert, so that remains a concern, but I’m learning which venues in my hometown are notorious for running their sound systems at excessive levels and avoiding them.

One final bit of advice from your friendly tinniticand-misophonic friend, if indeed I may call you friend, is this: If you refuse to use ear plugs every time you ride, you should start learning ASL now to prevent any gaps in your ability to communicate with those around

you. “Start learning ASL” is the most fearsome advice I’ve ever received from a doctor, and it’s advice frightening enough to spur me to finally do something about my proximity to damaging levels of sound.

Wes Fleming discovered BMWs in 2001 and has been riding trendy, not-so-trendy and sidecar-equipped motorrads ever since. In addition to his content creation and editing duties, he functions as a freelance guitar consultant and history professor.

When he’s not pacing around his empty nest, he’s out looking for a great deal on a used motorcycle or a vintage guitar.

This audiogram is a visual representation of my hearing loss. From -10 to 20ish is considered “normal” hearing; anything below that is hearing loss (30-40, mild; 40-60, moderate; 60-70, moderately severe; 70-90, severe; 90-120, profound). As you can see, most of my hearing loss is in the “mild” range, right up until we get to above 2000 Hz (higher Hz = higher frequency). My right ear (red line) is OK except at the tippy top, but my left ear (blue)? Yeah. Bad. (The black lines are my test from last year.) Hearing loss at this level makes it difficult to communicate verbally in person or on the phone, leading to a lot of “What was that?” in my everyday life as well as the use of closed captioning on my TV.

42 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

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BOOTLEGGER Running illegal moonshine on the Appalachian Backroads at one time flourished in the Heart of Appalachia.

44 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

THE HEART OF APPALACHIA ARE MORE THAN 1,500 THRILL-INDUCING MILES OF HEART-POUNDING EXCITEMENT.

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DANIEL BOONE Follow in the footsteps of early pioneers through Virginia's westernmost region. Make stops at Wilderness Road State Park and Cumberland Gap National Historical Park as you ride through history, taking the route that early settlers once trudged across as they opened up settlement in the west.

EAGLE’S NEST The valleys on the Eagle's Nest loop were once used by early pioneers as they moved westward toward Cumberland Gap. This route winds along the Powell and Clinch Rivers and through wooded backroads where eagles soar. Here you'll find plenty of open space to get your motor running!

GARGOYLE This route winds along some of our more remote backroads, giving you a unique perspective of the challenges that were encountered when early settlers made their way to the Appalachian Mountains. Curves abound as you twist and turn through many of our small mountain towns.

HEARTBREAKER The Heartbreaker takes you on a dual-loop ride through the mountains, beside beautiful rivers and streams, climbing in elevation to ridgetop vistas where you can see for hundreds of miles. This is an ideal route when you want to see all that the Heart of Appalachia has to offer.

PANTHER’S BREATH Wind your way through some of our western areas while enjoying the valleys and their expansive views.

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WOODBOOGER The Woodbooger, also known as Sasquatch or Bigfoot in other parts of the country, is rumored to roam these mountains. This route sends you deep into his home territory, complete with dense forests, spectacular overlooks and amazing curves to thrill even the most experienced rider! 

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46 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

RESISTANCE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND

By Dustin Silvey #224778

“Ideas are cheap. It is only what you do with them that counts.” ~ Isaac Asimov The past four months have not been easy on Janel and I. In May 2023, it was determined Janel had a rather large fibroid (a benign tumor). After some trouble finding a doctor in our smaller city, she was finally scheduled to have the one-pound monstrosity taken out of her in October; however, the surgery was then bumped to the middle of December. After over half a year of waiting, the doctors finally removed the tumor, and Janel began the healing process. As I write this in early January 2024, she is still recovering and is right now sitting on the couch behind me. Janel can walk around and get in and out of bed without help, but she still gets tired quickly. Luckily, she is on the road to recovery and the doctors said it is unlikely this will happen again. Good news all around.

For myself, in late August I noticed something large and swollen protruding from my armpit. I went to the doctor, and they quickly determined it was a swollen lymph node.

It is never a good sign when a lymph node is large and hard, and while waiting to see a surgeon for several weeks the node became larger. Having the brain of an adult in their 40s, I automatically went straight to the negative: “I have lymphoma!” and began mentally preparing myself for the worst. I reviewed my life experiences so far and thought, “You know, it’s been a pretty good ride (no pun intended). I have travelled all over the world, my family is pretty awesome, and I really lucked out with my amazing wife.”

Then I thought, “Wait, we have a motorcycle ride in 2024 to Mexico; I can’t miss that!” Luckily, after the surgeon quickly removed the tumor, it was examined and tested, and just like Janel’s tumor, it turned out to be benign. No cancer. All my worries were for naught.

Our two health scares really got me thinking about what is important to myself and well, to all of us as a people. When I thought it could be the end, I didn’t think, “Oh no, what about my job!? I haven’t finished that report!” Nope, instead I was upset I couldn’t go on a motorcycle trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, this October. Now I won’t say it’s the exact same for Janel who is chomping at the bit to get back to work instead of resting and recovering, but I am confident she would have been disappointed to miss out on another amazing motorcycle trip. So, if our thoughts when we believe death is at the door are on travel or other activities we love, why aren’t we just doing those things all the time? I believe I have some answers below.

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The Root Cause: Resistance

Resistance is that voice in our heads that finds reasons why we can’t do something. It tells us, “Nah, you aren’t good at that, so why bother trying.” Or it tells us, “You will fail.” It makes us want to stay in the comforts of our home, in our stable jobs, in our routine. Resistance stops us from trying that new exercise program, or finally picking up that instrument we have been wanting to play for years.

Well, in the words of my friends over at the Motorcycle Relief Project (motorelief.org/) “Forget Resistance!” (Or sub in your own more colorful word choice).

In order to fully enjoy and embrace what life has to offer, we have to stop resistance from preventing us from doing new things that could change our lives.

In my younger years, resistance led my life. I was afraid of everything; new things, new people and new experiences scared me. I had crazy amounts of anxiety, and I wouldn’t try anything I wasn’t already good at. I have bad news for everyone: no one is good at anything the first time…ANYTHING! So, if I wouldn’t try new things, then I was missing out on all the experiences life had to offer. Resistance had a hold of me, and man, was resistance good at rationalising all my decisions for me. When we think to try something new, resistance pulls us back to safety by seeking out the things we think we have to do, rather than allowing us to think about the things we should or could do. Let’s discuss some of the tool’s resistance uses to stop us from enjoying the adventure that is life.

Responsibilities

Remember being a kid? Many of us, I know I was one, would sit on our beds thinking how great life would be when we were adults and could finally do what we wanted to do! No one telling us what to do! We would be free! Then we got jobs, and some of us had kids, most had/have mortgages. Me, I got pets. It just never ends. We can’t do what we want, because now we have responsibilities. Ugh, gross. These responsibilities are one of the main tools resistance uses to stop us from doing things, especially travelling.

When Janel and I were planning our cross-Canada trip, we couldn’t find anyone to help us with our cats (the boys), our only real responsibility. My parents were asking all their friends, my friends were asking their friends, and no one was the right fit. Let’s be serious, we weren’t going to leave our furry babies with just anyone! We seriously started to think the trip wasn’t going to happen. Resistance was at the point of winning. About two weeks before we were supposed to leave on the trip, we were at dinner with my best

friend and his wife Joanne. I decided to forget resistance and gave it one last shot, asking Joanne if her parents, who are some of the kindest people and animal lovers, would take the boys. One hour later we were in her parent’s apartment planning it all out. Had we not gone with this hail marry, our trip might not have happened and resistance would have won. For those of you who have read my stories here, you know what an adventure it was and the positive impact the trip has had on our lives.

So how do you overcome resistance when it uses responsibilities as an excuse not to go on that ride? Go on a shorter ride. The world won’t change that much if you go on a two-week ride. And honestly, even during our four-month ride, other than Canada getting cold at the end, nothing much changed. Finding pet sitters, paying your mortgage, getting away from work, or even your kids, is a lot easier with a shorter trip.

Responsibilities are important, if they weren’t, well, they wouldn’t be responsibilities. However, it is important to remember we are allowed to walk away from them for short periods of time. Put a basic plan into place so while you are away your responsibilities are handled, then jump on your bike and go for a ride.

Tell resistance it can worry about the responsibilities; you are going out on your motorcycle!

Necessary Skills

Another favorite of resistance is you don’t have the skills to do something. Of course, we don’t have the skills if something is new to us; if we had the skills, it wouldn’t be new! I was a national-level wrestling coach, and the first thing I always told all my new participants was “Everyone started where you are right now. No one walked into this room knowing how to wrestle. Keep coming, and you will figure it out.” That’s the truth. It’s the same thing Janel always says: she got better at riding a motorcycle by shockingly, riding a motorcycle.

We have to put ourselves out there in order to get better, no one starts as a professional.

Resistance will tell you that your lack of experience and skill set will lead to things going wrong or you getting hurt, but it’s all about how you get out there.

Start small, like how many of us learned how to ride a motorcycle: we took a riding course. Riding courses are a great way to get some basic skills. Then we started going on rides that slowly got longer, and the longer the ride, the more experienced we became. Now, we go out riding for the weekend and don’t even consider it a big deal. It just takes time and practice. The more experience you have on the bike, the quieter the voice of resistance becomes.

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This is the same with travelling. At first, travelling can seem daunting, and resistance will tell you, “You don’t know where to stay; you haven’t travelled in years; do you know how far you should ride each day? you don’t speak the language; you won’t be safe on your own.” To be honest, these are all legitimate issues that you should address, but the fact is, they can be addressed with a little effort. If you are travelling to a country where you don’t know the language, it can be scary; hire a translator for the trip, or book a guided tour. If you’re uncomfortable planning the logistics of a trip, book a guided tour, and they will do all that for you.

Tours take care of all the issues that come up with travelling, but also provide a foundation for learning the necessary skills to travel successfully on your own.

Ask questions on the tour, get to know your guides, show interest, and slowly, you will become an expert traveller yourself and learn what you need to know for your first solo expedition.

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Forget Resistance

Resistance does have its place in our lives since it came up as a protective measure in the evolution of humans–the more careful you are, the more likely you are to survive. As humans evolved, the world was a dangerous place with most everything having a way to kill us–kind of like Australia. However, as our world has now become safer than ever before, resistance can hinder our personal growth. In this new, safer world, I say forget resistance. Don’t wait until you have negative health news to revaluate your priorities because you might not be as lucky as Janel and I. Start determining what is important to you now. If you have always wanted to ride a motorcycle across Europe, take a look at what you need to do as far as your responsibilities are concerned, make a plan or book a tour, and go.

For Janel and I, now that we are healing up, we are headed for a two-week ride across central Mexico this October. We are joining Motodiscovery (motodiscovery.com) to ride from Mexico City to Oaxaca and will be attending the Day of the Dead celebrations. We will ride through the Sierra Madres to the Pacific Ocean,

enjoying some celebrations, some beach time, and of course motorcycle riding. All MOA members are invited to come along for the ride!

I had a great time meeting so many of you at the MOA Rally last year, and I would love to meet many more of you this October. I know Janel is excited to meet many of you that have reached out to her. If you are interested in joining us you can check out the trip at the link below. Forget resistance; there is no better time than now!

Join the Adventure!

United Sidecar Association members embrace the cycling lifestyle and share their adventures in the club’s full-color magazine, The Sidecarist.

Find out how you can join us.

Click here, or go to Sidecar.com.

https://motodiscovery.com/tour/ oaxaca-dia-de-muertos-adventure-forbmw-moa-2024/

Dustin grew up in Quesnel, British Columbia, and began riding on the back of his father's motorcycle many years ago. He has a doctorate of Community Health with a speciality in Indigenous Health. He currently works several contract positions with Indigenous organizations across Canada. Dustin's publication credits include The Globe and Mail, CBC, and Vice News, along with several extreme sport magazines such as Explore, Sidetracked, Canoe and Kayak, and Paddle Magazine.

Dustin and Janel currently live in Powell River, British Columbia.

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SPRING IS COMING! LET’S GET READY TO RIDE! BE SAFE. BE SEEN. | ADMORELIGHTING.COM/BMWON

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Stopping for a moment to admire the view on a narrow road in the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico.

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Leaving Mexico and Entering Guatemala

By Katherine Becksvoort #222648 March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

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Leaving Mexico, our hearts were filled with sadness, as it had been such a splendid country with many sights, sounds, colors, welcoming people, amazing history, and incredible food. The vibrancy and diversity of our experiences were so much more than we had imagined. We agreed that returning to Mexico to travel the country more thoroughly was an exciting prospect, especially with the relative proximity to our home in Idaho.

My mind swirled with memories of our nearly two months in Mexico, which included swimming in a warm ocean for the first time, wondering how much seafood we could consume in one sitting, as it was so delicious. We learned that the best restaurants were those suggested by gas stations attendants, or the lavanderia staff where we got our laundry done, not necessarily Google Maps, Trip Advisor, or iOverlander. These folks know where the locals go, outside the tourist districts, where you walk into a restaurant past the local dogs sitting patiently outside, waiting for a bite offered at the end

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of the meal. Often, while riding along high mountain roads or near hot, sandy beaches, we’d see where truckers were stopped next to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. These places have become “must stops” for a good lunch or a quick bite to eat.

Other memories include watching the items sold by locals on the side of the road change from coconuts to pressed sugar cane juice, to avocados, oranges, bananas and mangoes, to baskets woven in the local village, to wood carvings and hand-sewn tapestries, to fresh fish on strings held up by children, to hand processed bags of pink or white salt, and back to more sugar cane and coconuts. I watched donkeys pull these gathered wares on handmade carts toward the pickup area in nearby towns, then loaded onto bulging semis, which were driven to the rest of Mexico and beyond—pondering the direct realization that many of our fresh fruits and vegetables in the USA begin in these small communities, gradually traveling through the local markets to the larger

distributors and into the hands of even bigger packing companies, which send them across borders to our grocery stores in polished refrigerator trucks.

Another memory was walking the streets of Oaxaca, sampling deep, sensual chocolate mole sauces drizzled over roasted chicken with sweet, tangy fruits and spices to brighten the plate. I explored the Zapotec ruins of nearby Monte Albán as the early morning sun burned off the haze from the city, then watched the ruins fill up with tourists. The countless markets in the city were filled to the brim with every spice imaginable, colorful unfamiliar fruits, rainbows of unusual vegetables, and dripping butcher meat with dogs patiently waiting their turn for a treat. Fresh seafood on ice was brought in from who knows where, and colorful handwoven fabrics were hanging on racks to be carefully later selected for sewing curtains or outfits for a special occasion.

Oaxaca is a world of blended colors representing sights, sounds, colors, and textures of the surrounding high-mountain villages and low-lying valleys.

Our warmest memory in Mexico was camping on the beach near Huatulco National Park at Don Taco, a well-known overlander and motorcycle hangout area run by a delightful Dutch couple, Frans and Anneke, who enjoy helping other travelers after years and years of traveling the world themselves. The campground is located directly on the beach of the Pacific Ocean, nestled in the small fishing village cove of Bahia de San Augustin, south of Santa Maria Huatulco, a sandy town of roughly 300 people. We woke on our first night to discover baby sea turtles hatching out of their sandy nests, searching for the ocean but getting confused by the town’s streetlights and scurrying around our tent. During the day we snorkeled amongst sting rays and watched giant mother sea turtles looking for a place to land and lay their eggs. Dolphins swam and dipped alongside our boat as we traveled through the surf looking at seabirds clinging to the shoreline. Don Taco, aptly named after the camp dog, also offers free use of their tuk-tuk at the campground to visit neighboring beaches. Driving on three wheels through deep sand was a new sensation, especially wearing swimsuits and flip-flops. We would have stayed a week if we hadn’t felt the push to keep heading south.

Inset left, A baby sea turtle. Left, Relaxing in the evening sunshine in Bahia de San Augustine, Mexico.

Top and bottom right, Walking the streets of Oaxaca, discovering countless booths with everyday, colorful market staples including many vatieties of bases for mole sauce.

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San Cristobal de las Casas, up in the giant mountainous state of Chiapas, was chilly in the evenings and refreshingly cool compared to the hot beaches we had just left behind. The turquoise water and tan beaches changed to green jungles and mountains with parrots, iguanas, and spider monkeys, as the locals’ clothing became more colorful and vibrant.

Dodging rainstorms, we visited Cañon del Sumidero. With walls that rise more than 1,300 meters from the Grijalva River at the bottom, it is as breathtaking as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, although framed by verdant foliage.

While at the overlook at the canyon, we were approached by a group of five young American exchange students who asked where we were from and what we were doing. I always feel humbled and proud to explain that we were traveling the length of the Americas, and possibly beyond, on the two impressive BMW motorcycles loaded with gear in the parking lot. Young women often wanted to sit on my bike to see what it felt like and asked lots of questions, dreaming of their own travel plans for the future.

An unpleasant memory was dropping my motorcycle into a giant pothole at a busy intersection while trying to make a right turn too quickly in a small gap of traffic during a busy market day. Brandon was ahead of me on his R 1200 GSA, having made the turn and missing the pothole completely. Before my feet had barely touched the ground to stand up, I reached over to turn my motorcycle off as three tiny 150cc motorcycles (carrying three people each) pulled over to help lift my immense bike back upright. By the time Brandon had circled back around, I had all the help I needed! Seeing large motorcycles like ours loaded down for our extended trip is a rarity in Mexico. Many locals enjoyed stopping to talk with us, look at the bikes, and ask questions about the trip, our gear, where we had been, and what we were planning on seeing.

One heartbreaking memory that will stick with us was noticing how many migrants we saw on both sides of the road, traveling in both directions, walking for a better opportunity or rumored safe life. Many of these migrants were groups of teenage boys carrying small backpacks with all their essential belongings. We saw them walking along the road, washing trucks by hand or working in nearby fields to continue heading north or south. The other most significant group of migrants included women carrying babies on their hips with their other children walking alongside, stopping in the shade while hoping to flag down a ride to make the journey easier. We contemplated this as we kept heading south on comfortable motorcycles on our “fun vacation.”

A challenging memory we carry was fighting the intense winds through La Ventosa on our heavily loaded bikes as we rode through this well-known funnel, full of wind farm Left, The steep, forested rock walls of Cañon del Sumidero. Above, Puma crossing sign in Guatemala. Even as we were cautioned and hopeful, we never encountered one.

turbines. We saw a semi blown onto its side and stopped to inquire with other truckers about the safety of continuing in the same easterly direction. Unfortunately, I dropped my bike again when the wind pushed me over while I was asking for directions.

We decided to ride through this windstorm anyway, with false confidence and an open mind to what might happen, then laughed with victory. We had done it. I had done it.

Doing all this and more on our way through Mexico toward Guatemala, I was beginning to realize what a long journey we were on and how much we would change through this experience. The trip is forming itself into its own beast while weaving our own experiences, which are difficult to describe and yet exciting to discover every day. We are lucky to have seen so much, yet fully understand we have barely scratched the surface of this incredible country before we continue to the next.

Moving on to Guatemala provided new challenges, especially with navigation. Our cell phone plans covered Canada, the USA and Mexico, but as we approached the Mexico/Guatemala border crossing, we knew our data would no longer work for us.

We learned purchasing a SIM card for our phones and loading local data onto it was the best option for our needs, although, for the first day at any border crossing, you often don’t have the data needed to begin the journey in the new country. We had planned a whole day to cover the 160 miles from San Cristobal to Huehuetenango, with a stop at the Tenam Puente archeological

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Our motorcycles dry off after being fumigated in La Mesilla, at the Guatemalan border after leaving Mexico.

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site and, foolishly, a border crossing. Because of this, cell phone data plans and SIM cards were low on our priority list.

We had selected a recommended, popular, and “relatively safe” border crossing into Guatemala at La Mesilla. We approached the border around lunchtime after fueling up at one of the last gas stations on the Mexico side. We had also hoped to purchase cold water here and some snacks, but the station had been robbed, and all the windows were blown out, with bullet holes in the doors and walls. Because of that, it was boarded up and only sold fuel. The attendant told us it had been like that for months, as it wasn’t safe this close to the border with all the cartel drug smuggling. There had recently been increasing struggles with narco-traffickers and the Army. He encouraged us to move on and not be anywhere near the border after dark.

We continued toward another market further down the road, keeping our eyes up and attentive to whatever we might encounter. As we walked in to purchase water and snacks, we felt slightly uncomfortable and out of place as we were being closely watched by several people hanging out in front of the store. We were strangers in a strange town, and the locals were probably curious and suspicious about us. We moved on, approaching the Mexico border crowded with several tourist buses, local commuter buses, farm wagons and transport trucks, dilapidated cars held together with spit and a prayer, and lo and behold, another motorcyclist! We pulled up alongside, thankful to see someone we hoped would be a new friend.

Border crossings are always busy and chaotic. Being organized, having all of your proper documentation, drinking plenty of water, and bringing along a good dose of patience is usually all that is needed–and a smile, for sure.

Chatting with Paul, our new friend, it turned out he’d been traveling for several years throughout Latin America. During our conversation, he offered several tips as we moved through multiple lines with lots of paperwork and stamps before realizing we were checked out from Mexico and our TIP (temporary import permit) had been refunded. We were now allowed to drive the next mile toward Guatemala.

Hopping on our motorcycles, we felt a sense of accomplishment that half the crossing was now over. Riding the mile of “no man’s land” toward La Mesilla, we turned the corner and saw a closed gate blocking the road with what looked like crowds awaiting our arrival. It was like a gate of safety, keeping us separated from a mob selling everything imaginable. This was the border crossing entrance for Guatemala. It was chaos and daunting, and we had doubts about entering.

We bravely left our motorcycles on the Mexican side of the gate after being assured they would be watched carefully by “helpers,” young boys who assist at border crossings for tips. We then meandered through the various lines and checkpoints with our paperwork to get stamped into Guatemala. The last step was the mandatory fumigation, which cost 38 Quetzales (roughly $4.85). I stood there and watched a uniformed man hand-pump unknown chemicals and thoroughly spray our motorcycles. I remembered the apples in my tank bag for later down the road and the bandana I’d been using to wipe my face on hot days tied to my top bag. Both received the same treatment.

Finally, the gate into Guatemala was lifted after we finished

our paperwork, received our stamps, bought insurance, and exchanged our money. We moved through the crowd of people while they patiently waited for us to buy something as we drove through La Mesilla.

From here, a line was drawn in the sand and road conditions deteriorated in every possible way. Our three-and-a-half-hour ride to Huehuetenango, 52-miles was made over shoulder-less roads made mostly of dirt and large rocks with pavement now and then and terrible potholes.

Once we arrived in this city of 120,000, we quickly discovered Google Maps didn’t work well at all. We also found many one-way, narrow cobblestone streets and steep hairpins through dirty neighborhoods, and darkness was falling. No stress here at all, right?

We wound our way through town, going the wrong way many times while asking for directions from locals as Google Maps failed us repeatedly until we saw a small hotel with a large gate for a garage. With only one room left, the owner felt it was too small for us and was embarrassed to rent it for the night, but we desperately assured him we would be happy to rent his couch if we could just stay safely inside somewhere. We were exhausted, hot, thirsty, hungry, and grumpy, yet very thankful. Darkness had fallen as we unloaded what we needed for the night and settled into the tiny room to fall asleep.

Thus began our third country of the trip, Guatemala. There were too many potholes to count, many of them deep enough to break spokes on our wheels, intensely steep canyons and frothy, rocky rivers traversed as we continued east toward Guatemala City, and incredibly friendly people with big smiles on their faces who waved as we rode by.

Hoping for even more magic here than we experienced in Mexico, we were shooting for Lago Atitlàn the next day–and, hopefully, better navigation while there.

Originally from Chattanooga, Tennessee, Katherine Becksvoort is a travel nurse based in Boise, Idaho. Before beginning her second career as an RN, she spent 14 years working as an outdoor educator throughout the United States, Canada and Alaska, leading backpacking, rock climbing and sea kayaking trips with teenagers.

Having completed solo hikes of both the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail, Katherine bought her first motorcycle, a BMW 1200 GSA, in 2016.

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SHINY SIDE UP

get lost

By Ron Davis #111820 Though it might appear as if any fool can easily get lost on the road, or really anywhere, losing one’s way consistently, at will, actually takes careful study, years of practice and above all a special, God-given talent for being totally oblivious to how one got anywhere or where anywhere happens to be. At the risk of sounding immodest, I am such a one.

I think I became aware of my special talent when my dad first took me trout fishing. We separated, him headed upstream and me down, and he told me I couldn’t get lost as long as I stayed next to the creek.

After an hour of fighting tangled fishing line, hooks snared in trees, and catcher’s mitt-sized mosquitos, in my abundant 10-year-old wisdom, I decided to head back to the car, disregarding my dad’s instructions and cutting cross country. Within minutes, I had lost sight of the creek and everything took on an alarming state of sameness—no country road, no car, but lots of trees, swamp and ominous looking thickets presumably harboring bears, rattlesnakes, and that hideous “Creature from the Black Lagoon” which had been giving me nightmares. My talent for getting lost not

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fully developed yet, I didn’t blunder blindly on, but started yelling for Dad. “Help!” seemed appropriate, and Dad was able to come to a somewhat less than nurturing rescue.

Motorcycling opened a whole new universe of possibilities for honing my talents. More than once I found myself in the bowels of the labyrinth-like roads that snake through Wisconsin’s Driftless Area (a two-wheeler’s mecca). Looking for virgin trout water or the mother of all twisties, I often jumped without hesitation from state highway, to county trunk, to town road, to gravel and finally to cow pasture track. I found farmers quite helpful in directing me out off their property.

Lately, with an even more finely developed skill at getting “displaced,” I’ve become a genius at turning short rides into unplanned “detours.” When my wife, who’s never been impressed with my exceptionalism, calls to ask where I am and if I remember where I’m supposed to be going, my usual response is “Of course I know where I am, I’m right here!”

Absolutely the first rule in getting lost is going where you’ve never gone before. This spring, after mentioning I was looking for some new lakes to explore with my kayak, some kindly moto-compadres took me back into an area littered with some of Wisconsin’s more than 10,000 lakes (Cheeseheads are a bit more liberal with the definition of “lake” than Minnesotans). After miles squirming down nameless gravel roads chasing my guides’ taillights through the clouds of dust, I began to get suspicious, wondering if these guys were actually bent on playing some cruel prank. Were they trying to get me lost? Please, they could have deserted me after the second turn, and I’d still be out in the sticks subsisting on grubs, talking to a pet wood tick and wearing my bike’s tank bag as a rain hat.

And speaking of being stranded, an expedition last year reminded me of the old Kingston Trio song where the hapless “Charlie” is doomed to ride Boston’s MTA for the rest of his life for want of an extra nickel to get off. I was trying out a BMW 650 in Santa Fe with home base in the famous Historic Plaza District. After frolicking for a day through the nearby mountains, I found myself exhausted and clueless as to how to find the casita where my wife and I were staying. If you’ve ever been in that area, you know many of the streets are basically

400-year-old goat trails, some close to single lane with no sidewalks. The “roads” randomly become one way, sometimes inexplicably dead end, and stream with cell phone zombies wandering among the five million tea houses, craft stores and art studios that blanket the area. Everything looked familiar, which was the problem. The exasperating search was capped off while I waited at a red light and spotted my wife across the intersection on her daily two-mile walk. I couldn’t hear what she was saying over the traffic, but could read her lips as she yelled, “Do you know where you are?” Of course I did.

Ron’s Time-Tested Guide on How to Get Lost:

• Depend completely on your own, unique “sense of direction.”

• Failing at depending on your sense of direction, put all your faith in the wind, moss on trees, flying birds or “where most people seem to be going.” (Some motorcyclists keep trying to tell me how a watch and the sun can actually help you find true north, but apparently it has to be an analog watch (the kind with hands). If you’re lucky, you can probably find yours where you safed it away with your coin purse, your Three Dog Night eight-track, and your checkbook.)

• Eschew any thoughts of carrying a map, a GPS doohickey or scribbled, indecipherable notes on highway numbers derived from a Google search.

• Pretend to pay scrupulous attention to the well-intentioned travel advice from random pedestrians, convenience store clerks, or fellow motorcyclists always ending with “You can’t miss it,” but don’t ask them to repeat their instructions at risk of revealing what a hopeless moron you may be.

• Don’t jeopardize the possibility of a great ride by focusing on street signs that contain puzzling phrases like “no outlet,” “detour,” “alternate route,” “trucks only” or “bridge out”—a motorcycle can always find a way through!

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Ron Davis has been a rider, off and on, for about 50 years. Over that period, he’s also squeezed in a full-time career as a high school English teacher and later, a university professor while also working as a social media writer for the Northwest Ontario tourism industry and as an Associate Editor for BMW Owners News. His writing has been featured in a host of motorcycle magazines, and his essays have been broadcast frequently on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life.” He has also authored two books on motorcycling, Shiny Side Up and Rubber Side Down, published by Road Dog Publications (roaddogpub.com).

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SURVIVOR SERIES

Zac Markgraf’s 1993 r 100 gs

By Daren Dortin #60755 What’s the backstory on this low mile, well-kept 1993 R 100 GS?

Did the seller provide good records and maintenance history?

I had just bought an 1988 RT in April 2023, and within about 100 miles I discovered it had been chewing up the right cylinder rod bearing, something I can only assume the previous owner wasn’t aware of. While that bike was undergoing surgery at the Beemer Barn in Lockport, New York, I needed something to scratch the spring riding itch. My dream had always been a PD, but I found this 1993 R 100 GS with only 15,550 miles in Detroit for what seemed to me to be a hell of a deal. After a couple phone calls and a promise to my wife that I’d be back by morning, I left after work and was back by midnight.

The seller, a former engineer who helped develop some pretty incredible on/off-road emergency response vehicles for the military and first responders was the third owner but had owned it for more than 10 years. Needless to say, during his tenure with the bike, along with the first two owners, this bike was kept well.

A thorough hand-written log started in the original owner’s manual, then was added to later by the second owner in a printed maintenance log, and finally digitized in a spreadsheet with the third owner. It detailed its complete service history.

Additionally, it’s been a treat to discover the paint marks on all of the bolt heads, likely reapplied during each service.

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Did it come with both the solo and dual seats?

Unfortunately, not! The bike came in stock form with the double seat, which is very comfortable, but I love the look of the single.

This is a reproduction from Bayer, who sent along one hell of a German pilsner, along with it some ‘90s period-correct BMW and aftermarket stickers. Fitment isn’t perfect, and I can tell it isn’t OEM, but it will do for now.

How does the GS and Airhead 247 compare with other bikes you’ve owned or ridden?

I’ve primarily ridden dual-sport bikes, starting with a DR350, then a KLR, with one deviation being an 1989 Honda Hawk NT650 (an incredibly underrated bike, btw).

That Mono RT I got 100 miles out of and this GS are my first 247s. What initially stood out to me about the BMW was the engine-braking, the loping torque-twist at idle and low RPMs, and then that undeniable character of glancing down and seeing those cylinders. It has a utilitarian quality to it, for the most part everything is where it is because it made sense and isn’t shrouded in miles of wiring and plastic (disregard fairing frustrations to follow).

What were some of the peculiar aspects of this bike and airheads (in general) you’ve had to process and get used to?

The glaring characteristic that stands out to me with this bike in particular is the fairing and signal design, then the headlight assembly, as I just did the lens swap–big oof there. A major draw for me into this BMW world comes from the community the RT belongs to and from every Airheads Beemer Club magazine issue going back 20 years highlighting the kind of people that work hard to preserve the knowledge of these machines needed to increase their lifespan. This is the way. It’s made me step-up my work ethic. It’s funny how getting a machine like this with its history could compel me to restructure my garage, get a lift and install lighting, all to at least meet, if not exceed, the efforts of those that came before me and continue making this thing spit holy hellfire up two-track roads.

What is the appeal in keeping this bike (mostly) in its stock form?

I’m sure some purists will balk at anybody claiming this bike to be stock, it certainly was up until about a month ago when I finished all this work (and have kept every bolt, washer and part to revert if needed).

This has been the trickiest part of owning the GS so far. I have a dream of what I want this bike to look like, but it’s in such beautiful shape as-is, it is a battle to fight against my urge to personalize it. It will stay as it is for now, but if I’m able to, I’d like to find a replacement tank, fairing pieces and side covers and have them painted. Those pieces would alleviate some of the nerves I feel when this thing hits fire-roads on the 3,000-mile trip to the California coast I’m doing this June.

Ultimately, for better or worse, I’m not in a position to keep a bike like this as a show piece so we’ll see what itch manifests itself and how some winter tune-up and downtime makes for scratching.

Notable repairs and maintenance you’ve done during your ownership tenure?

• Top end reseal, kit from Boxer2Valve • Neutral safety switch • Heidenau K60 Ranger tires • Deletion of fuel solenoids when fuel hoses cracked • Replace corroded collector with Y-pipe • Replaced leaking rear shock

Modifications so far?

• Boxxerparts.de Dual-lens Headlight • Single Seat and rack from Bayer • TracTive X-Cite Shock from Beemershop • Deletion of Pulse Air-Injection system • LED Taillight • Tank pads from CSS • Cacko Tall Windscreen (not pictured) • SuperTrapp Y-Pipe and Muffler (7 Discs) • Euro style, early starter cover

As part of the “next generation” of airhead riders under 40, what do your friends and contemporaries say about your bike?

I’ve got a buddy who rides nothing but Yamahas, another who only rides Buells (maybe a similar level of enthusiasm among those fellas), and the rest are riding Yamaha T7s, Honda Africa Twins, BMW GS Adventures or whatever the next new thing is.

There’s a blend of “Hell yeah, brother” and “That thing is too old to abuse.” There’s something to that last point—bikes like this are probably only going to get more valuable.

I can only assume it’s been the case for the life of these bikes, but it’s very much a “if you know, you know” type of thing. I’m new to this world but my overall take is that it’s pretty easy to assume that anybody on an airhead is a fanatic and a bit quirky.

It’s been a fun ride getting to know the community and the different types of riders attracted to these old air-cooled twins.

Daren hosts the Airhead 247 Podcast and lives in Mountain View, Arkansas.

His first BMW was a 1972 R 75/5 purchased in Athens, Ohio, in 1990. His current rides include a ‘75 R 90S, ‘77 R 100 S, ‘78 R 100 RS, ‘81 R 80 G/S and a 1994 K 75. Daren also works as a for hire drummer and can be heard on recordings

by Jimbo Mathus and Alvin Youngblood Hart.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

63

ROAD TALES

going to the dogs

By David Cwi #28490 I like people and dogs a lot. Dogs, we suppose, do not dwell on what was and what is coming but live mostly in the now, depending on positive and negative memories when encountering a particular situation or person.

I’m not sure where this thought is taking me, but surely some of you are making me realize that focusing on the now has certain advantages. One rider in particular got me started down this foggy road–let’s call him Joe. It’s winter. We both happen to be at our local dealer.

“Hey Joe, long time no see. Are you going to the National Rally this year out in Oregon?” I ask.

I’m thinking this long-time rider probably is and that I might be able to suck him into a Raider ride. Though he answers my question, his vibe says there is more.

“No, I’m not,” Joe replies.

“Really, why is that,” I ask.

“My riding buddy is no longer riding,” he confesses.

Joe’s answer confuses me, yet is crystal clear.

Personally, I am at a point where riding alone is fine but riding with friends as part of a Raider Rolling Rally is more fun. Maybe he has a lot of “life stuff” making it difficult to take time off. For some reason, I supposed there was more. I must have had a questioning look on my face because he continued.

“I don’t like the idea of riding alone should something happen on the road,” he said.

I nodded my head like your friendly local bartender listening to your tale. Then he said, “Actually I’m here today as I am thinking about selling my bike.”

Now that’s a conversation starter.

“Why is that?” I asked.

The specifics of his “why” escape me, but I do remember him saying this, “My wife doesn’t want me to sell the bike. She says I should continue riding, even if it’s just shorter day rides.”

After my recent Badlands beatdown crash, MY wife suddenly was not in favor of my riding, so I am genuinely curious why someone else’s wife is telling a guy NOT to hang it up.

So, I asked him, “Why does she want you to keep riding?”

“I don’t want to be one of those guys who stops living and just sits around telling stories about days gone by. I still want to make memories,” he said.

64 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Interesting. If motorcycling is a source of your most important memories, then time is not your friend.

There are surely layers to that thought. My own memories merge camaraderie and fellowship with bikes, rides, and roads. But first and foremost, you had to actually like and be comfortable being on a motorcycle. Suddenly, I was aware that, for many, that is changing because in part, they themselves are changing and sometimes the ride itself is the cause.

The stories are mounting.

For example, Rob surprised me last year when he said he was not coming to the Ozark weekend because he sold his bike and was playing a lot of pickleball.

Apparently, that’s the new thing couples can do and enjoy together. Pickleball is more fun, the bike’s not being used, so the bike gets sold.

My wife is on board with that logic because she cannot stand riding in the heat of the summer, she thinks I ride too fast and never want to stop, She added, I’m not a “smell the roses” type traveler and no fun. That was part of the reason she sold both of her bikes within the first year of our marriage.

Actually, the fact that folks are even willing to sell their bikes I once found strange. But then the bikes changed. My airhead was, to me, a kinda-sorta creature. There were airhead whisperers who could balance carbs by simply feeling the exhaust pipe’s living pulses. Lots of us were unwilling to sell them as lead came out of gas. We dual plugged them, changed the timing, and otherwise worked to keep them alive.

The new bikes are more like making love to an artificial intelligence hologram. Something is missing which, in part, is the requirement that you use a loving touch to keep your ride alive. Airheads were hands-on in the middle of the night checking timing, adjusting valves, and changing oil in a hotel parking lot.

Like those old airheads, riders are aging. Their fast twitch muscles are going away along with their strength, balance and reflexes. Attention and night vision are not what they were, which can be seen by them adjusting their riding by only going out during the day or buying lighter bikes.

The ultimate adjustment is death. I’ve lost four comrades in recent years, three to cancer and one to missing a deer but instead going head on into a tree.

Another three of us survived major accidents in the last

three years.

When you have spent your adult lifetime working to make your biological markers significantly younger than your chronological age, bad things happen to those numbers when you shatter a hip and are laid up for 12 weeks. At some point your age catches up and you cannot get back all that you lost, so other aches and pains from other problems like rotator cuff tears and joint bone on bone take on new meaning.

On that score, Bill rang me up today out of the blue saying he was returning my call. It must have been a butt dial as I don’t remember calling him but was glad to hear from him. For the three of us having accidents, Raider Karma is the only explanation of how we survived. One of us fell asleep on an interstate, crashed and basically walked away with only a banged up ankle. Bill missed a corner, but when he went off the road, he barely missed the wire anchored to the ground holding a telephone pole upright. Consequently, his head is still attached but he suffered major internal damage and lots of recovery time.

Bill said he plans to borrow a ride now once a year to still keep at it but admitted this during our call, “I now appreciate more living and family, and riding is not as important to me.”

Major beat downs that you don’t want to repeat get you to thinking for sure. Unless of course you’re an addict. Now that’s a thought. Is riding for some an addiction?

I’ll let you know in a moment why that thought comes to mind: but this I know: back in my single and more stupid days, some of my own rides were purely cleansing rides. Want to mitigate stress and take your mind off of life’s BS? Go for a ride. Better yet, ride to a party-Rally. Rumor has it that youth has no fear and few plans and responsibilities so surely the young or middle-aged in crises can live in the endorphinenhanced now of a ride. I wondered if guys who loved to ride real fast in the twisties or on the track were “hooked?” To my surprise, a rider I know known for his long-distance mania pretty much admitted that.

I’m not going to tell you who it was, but for him it started with a minor accident causing a wound that did not heal easily. Realizing I had not heard from him in a while, I reached out and in our email exchange, I learned he had stopped riding but was playing

pickleball! Say what!

In one email he mused about this life change and asked, “How does someone whose whole purpose in life is to take a bike into the sunset supposed to stop riding?”

How indeed I wondered.

“But now I’ve stopped, more as a concession to my wife’s fear rather than mine,” he said.

But here was the kicker: “And for some reason I don’t miss it. It seems like it was akin to giving up smoking.

Once you’ve decided to make the plunge, you don’t think about it any longer,” he concluded.

So, who knew? We have a continuum here. You either feel comfortable and get off on riding and even more so hanging with your friends sharing experiences, or you discover pickleball and sell your bike. Is that the future? Nah. Time to go to hang with the dogs and stay in the now.

See you down the road.

Dancin’ Dave Cwi is a Life Member of the MOA as well as a Premier Member of the Iron Butt Association.

He’s owned every series of BMW motorcycle from the Slash 2 to the modern RT, and has burned out his wife, who once loved motorcycling but sold her bikes after two trips with Dave. He pays for his riding addiction via marketing stints, including work in powersports. You will see him down the road.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

65

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March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

67

THE RIDE INSIDE

it’s not easy

bein’ green

By Mark Barnes, Phd #222400 Remember Kermit the Frog’s signature song and 1970 Sesame Street super-hit? Kermit’s ode to involuntary (and sometimes unpleasant) individuality was about the literal color green, but there’s a parallel with the figurative version, as in being “green” at a new activity and lacking the ease and sophistication of those with extensive practice. Nobody starts at the top. We must work our way up the ladder of mastery to make genuine progress in our development rather than evading challenges and maintaining a façade of competence that would crumble in any real test.

We all know a rider who fits the latter description.

They may buy the fanciest gear and own the most powerful machinery, but they’ve invested only in the material aspects of our avocation without putting in the time and effort it takes to become a truly competent motorcyclist. I confess, I was exactly “that guy” during an earlier period of my long tenure on two wheels. I know all too well the experience of hiding “shameful” limitations by finding excuses to avoid rides that would expose my shortcomings to riding buddies while imitating how expert riders talk about doing things I couldn’t do (and wouldn’t dare try). If I could look and sound the part, I hoped to fool people into accepting me as their peer when I was nowhere close.

Most of my inadequacies as a motorcyclist during that era resulted from a complete and utter lack of guidance; I was so ignorant of proper riding technique that I didn’t know how much I didn’t know and couldn’t fathom how to learn. In my naïve mind, the adept riders were simply talented and brave. The only way I could imagine becoming as good as they were was to push myself and just go faster and faster, white-knuckling my fear and fighting impulses to roll off the throttle on my series of latest, greatest racer-replica liter-bikes (which I kept thinking would make up for what I lacked as a rider). Calamari, anyone?

Of course, my approach was horribly counterproductive. I not only learned nothing useful that way, but I also took foolish risks for zero rewards. Rather than ride terrified and humiliated, I mainly posed when around other riders and derived most of my motorcycling

68 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

enjoyment from riding solo or with others who possessed even less skill. I’m not proud of this, but I don’t condemn myself for it, either, because I didn’t/ couldn’t know any better back then…and I did change my ways.

My perspective on riding well is no longer so much about competition as it is about collaboration. Rather than construing every outing with other riders as a race, establishing a pecking order wherein speed equals pride and lack of speed equals shame, I now consider anyone faster or smoother than me a potential teacher whom I might ask for assessment and advice, and I’m happy to be their student. My ego isn’t involved in the same way it had been. Instead of trying to prove myself admirable to others based on my place on the podium (as if!), I’m admirable to myself for taking a humble, open stance and pursuing substantive improvement, not a grandiose image. When I first transitioned to volunteering, I was a slow guy, rebranding myself as a neophyte despite my decades on two wheels; it was a tremendous relief. People expected less of me, and I had no false pretext to try—and inevitably fail—to live up to. It felt much better to undersell and overperform than the other way around.

I relaxed and had more fun, and I could begin working on problem areas I had previously hidden or didn’t even recognize.

I learned that everyone had to learn to ride well; it wasn’t just a function of inborn abilities or superhuman courage. I could orient to the process of getting a riding education (both formal and informal), which meant I finally had an alternative to pretending and avoiding strategies I’m now certain were laughably transparent. I wince at the realization my initial cohort must have generously tolerated me as an obvious fraud in their midst when I first entered the sport-riding scene. You see, I had only ridden the flat, straight roads of Central Florida for many years before moving to East Tennessee, where I was introduced to mountain twisties. I’d never gotten any riding instruction (I didn’t even realize it existed), and I knew nothing about cornering a street bike. Ridiculously, I expected to

master cornering the same way I’d developed the ability to go fast in a straight line, just by yanking open the throttle, hanging on, and getting used to it. That’s not how it works.

After my paradigm shift from trying to become braver to trying to ride more skillfully, I no longer needed to obscure my “cowardice” (this fear was actually good judgment, given my ineptitude). I could now focus on practical methods of getting a motorcycle to do what I wanted it to do. The necessary methods weren’t arcane mysteries magically unlocked by becoming a fearless road warrior. They were concrete actions that could be explained/understood and then practiced, with results reflecting the amount of effort I devoted. If I wanted to hang with the faster riders, I needed only to spend the time required to master the relevant skills—a much more prosaic process than I’d envisioned. This involved reading books and articles, watching videos, and engaging instructors to gain a conceptual framework, then practicing the applications on a moving bike. Ideas got translated into activities, which then became competencies with enough repetition and plenty of correction by knowledgeable observers who could alert me to discrepancies between what I thought I was doing and what I was actually doing, and instruct me on what I should be doing. In other words, true proficiency was a product of humility, not swagger. I had to both a) tolerate the frustrations of learning new things that didn’t come automatically, quickly or easily, and b) ask for help from others who would see my naked flaws and point them out to me, adding constructive guidance. Even without a brittle ego to protect, these are difficult things to do because they require so much hard work and perseverance.

Improvement in virtually any domain requires a willingness to accept our limitations and then invest in their incremental expansion. Pushing the envelope of personal growth means leaving our comfort zone. By definition, this is uncomfortable. Sometimes, the discomfort involves fear, sometimes physical pain, sometimes the boredom of repetition, sometimes the

bewilderment associated with complexity, and always the tension of endurance. Without sustained effort over the long haul, any gains are apt to be ephemeral. New grooves must be worn in so our thinking is consistently altered, our habits and reflexes are reprogrammed, and our muscle memory is, well, memorized in accord with the change in method. There’s no substitute for time spent in this process, which always takes longer than we want or would have guessed. Only with copious redundancy does something alien and awkward become familiar and graceful. This is why it’s an awful waste of time and money to attend a riding school and then not diligently practice those lessons over the following months and years. Even mastered skills decay with disuse (regardless of what’s recalled intellectually).

When dealing with a new challenge, it can be helpful to remind ourselves of the challenges already faced and conquered. For example, when working on my trail braking (trading braking force for lean angle during the early portion of a corner), I can get a bit overwhelmed by the prospect of precisely coordinating these two actions: deftly easing off the brake as I simultaneously countersteer to achieve the desired arc and lean angle. I must also attend to all the other variables I’m trying to juggle simultaneously (e.g., eye direction, line selection, body position, footpeg weighting). Sometimes, I feel I just don’t have enough mental bandwidth to squeeze in one more element, and I get discouraged. Then I remember I somehow learned to delicately feather the clutch in concert with subtle throttle rotations to feed just the right amount of power to the rear wheel, avoid stalling, and sustain momentum while navigating rock gardens on my dirt bike while also balancing and steering the bucking chassis and not focusing on my fear of a compound fracture in the middle of nowhere. That accomplishment suggests I’ve got the capacity, I just need more practice to make precision trail braking take up less mental space. Really, trail braking (in isolation) is no more complicated than the throttle/clutch coordination every rider manages every time they pull away from a stop; it’s just adding one thing while subtracting another.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

69

THE RIDE INSIDE

Challenges are only daunting until they’re not.

Consider how often new riders fumble friction zone management while trying to take off, yet it becomes second nature with practice. What had required lots of deliberate concentration is now automatic and occupies no space whatsoever in consciousness, and what had been an isolated task is now integrated with other actions and the rider’s intentions. This will happen with trail braking, too, and any other riding skill we focus on and repeat correctly enough times.

It’s not easy bein’ green. There’s a great deal of work to go from newbie to average to advanced, mental work, physical work and emotional work.

On the other hand, starting out is not that different from any other stage for riders who value and pursue growth. An MSF Rider Coach friend, one of the most competent motorcyclists I know, calls himself a “Professional Beginner.” He means he’s always learning, always striving to approach the process with the wide-openness of someone starting fresh and fighting the natural tendencies to narrow one’s mind and calcify one’s conceptual model. Zen Buddhists call this Shoshin, or “Beginner’s Mind,” and it’s a worthy aspiration, not a basis for self-reproach.

New information must be welcomed despite its demands for flexibility and ongoing adaptation. With this approach, bein’ green isn’t only difficult, it’s also exhilarating, a journey of endless discovery and self-improvement, and best when solidly grounded in a community of others traveling the same path and offering each other the benefits of their respective experiences with trial and error. We needn’t consider our inadequacies cause for shame; they characterize every rider at our stage of development (whatever stage we’re in), and every rider who has ventured beyond our level had to contend with the same frustrations. They simply figured out how to engage successfully in the unavoidable struggles, and some are willing and able to pass along what worked. Bein’ green includes being the fortunate recipient of others’ hard-won insights, even when we must still make those truths our own through practice.

Kermit came to embrace bein’ green, despite its downside. We can, too.

70 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Mark Barnes is a clinical psychologist and motojournalist.

To read more of his writings, check out his book Why We Ride: A Psychologist Explains the Motorcyclist’s Mind and the Love Affair Between Rider, Bike and Road, currently available in paperback through Amazon and other retailers.

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NEW MEMBERS

Welcome our newest MOA members Tyler Aaron Bradenton, FL Pat Adams New Braunfels, TX Larry Alkire Omaha, NE Timothy Allen Waukesha, WI Eric Anderson Denver, CO Bob Anderson Cedar, MN Craig Antliff-Mitchell Graham, WA John Anton Sebastopol, CA Paul Ashworth Cary, NC Rick Austin Jackson, MI Ryan Aydelott Kildeer, IL Tony Baca Brea, CA Patrick Baginski Brooklyn, NY Adam Bagley Westminster, CO Blaine Bahm Bucyrus, OH John Barnes Edmond, OK John Barnette Joplin, MO David Barr Mechanicsburg, PA Dwight Bays Oklahoma City, OK Justin Bean Saint Petersburg, FL Jessica Bean Saint Petersburg, FL Dana Berwick Monroe, CT Tyler Besso Roanoke, VA Wally Bestgen Deltona, FL Christopher Biard Carpentersville, IL Crow Black Newbury, MA Stephan Blackman Verdun, QC Andrew Blackwood Charleston, WV Stephen Bodnar Cobleskill, NY Patrick Bolan Camas, WA Philip Bond Commerce Township, MI Gaurang Borkar Algonquin, IL Daniel Borunda Fort Collins, CO Susanne Bossley Powell River, BC Mark Bowling Port Richey, FL Jon Boyd Corvallis, OR Gregory Branski Orland Park, IL John Brenner Martinsburg, PA Dan Brewer Moore, OK Mark Bridges Thomaston, GA Jason Briggs New Fairfield, CT Kevin Brock Louisville, KY David Brown Spartanburg, SC Brenda Browning Mechanicsburg, OH Cori Bruder Ypsilanti, MI Chuck Brussow Abilene, KS Alexander Buech Conroe, TX Rick Burnett Fairhope, AL Michael Burns Sublimity, OR Tim Butcher Poynette, WI

72 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Ramiro Cabrera Cheshire, CT Kevin Cahoon Littleton, CO Domingo Camarano Anaheim Hills, CA Michael Cannon Estero, FL Nicholas Carbone Eastvale, CA Pat Carden Bremen, GA Jim Cardinal Etobicoke, ON William Carrouth Oklahoma City, OK Nicky Castello Glen Gardner, NJ Carl Cephus Schenectady, NY Randy Chandler Newcastle, OK Tom Charles Rochester, MI Stephen Chase Fredericton , NB Kiran Chitnis Cupertino, CA Zachary Choe Fort Mitchell, AL Adam Chrapowicki Killbuck, OH Taso Chrisafis Seattle, WA Frank Cioffi New Castle, PA Lee Clark Newland, NC Michael Clark Greenville, SC L. Clarke Cypress, TX Damon Clement Logan, OH Robert Clement Zion, IL Bryan Clementson San Diego, CA Rex Clothier Bellingham, WA Dragos Cocos Uppsala David Coffaro Aptos, CA Charles Collene Bucyrus, OH Robert Collings Winnipeg, Manitoba Ken Colpo Ravenna, OH Gregory Congdon Plover, WI Tony Copanos Keego Harbor, MI Teresa Covey Harrisburg, PA John Cram East Bethel, MN Wade Creel Morris, AL Roberrt Crowell York, MA Vincent Cruz Oakwood Hills, IL Mike Cuthbertson Edwards , CO Stacey Cutshaw Fishers, IN Jenny Cuzner Indianapolis, IN Devin Davis Rio Rancho, NM Jerome Davis Edmond, OK Gregory Demars Essex Junction, VT Tim DeMetris Somerset, CA Quinn Denning Byron Center, MI Fred Desmith Mandeville, LA Andrew DeVincent Washington, DC Larry Dickens Southfield, MI Thomas Dietrich Mead, CO Chuck Dittbenner Gulf Breeze, FL

Brian Dore Surrey, BC Ronald Dorn Shawnee, KS Frank Dorogi Amherst, NY Christian Douglas Mt. Clemens, MI Sharon Drago Plaistow, NH Brad Driggers La Pine, OR Samuel Duell Menasha, WI David Duke Norcross, GA Rick Dunk Pawnee, IL Thomas Dunn Gatlinburg, TN Shawn Durkee Belvidere, IL Robert Earle Boise, ID Mike Easterly Pryor, OK Allen Edwards Denver, CO Chuck Egolf Spokane, WA Marvin Ehle Imperial, PA Sarah Erb Unionville, IN Ray Errer Brighton, MI Arnold Estok Pageland, SC Ricky Evans Midlothian, VA Bernd Ewert San Ramon, CA Christian Falardeau Calgary, AB John Farris State College, PA Phillip Firmin Burke, LA Lorienne Fisher Arvada, CO Wayne Ford Shippensburg, PA Robert Forsyth Argyle, TX Brian Freeman Covington, IN Laura Freeman El Segundo, CA Rich Freese Shoemakersville, PA Ashutosh Gangwar Gilbert, AZ Mario Garcia Morla Marlborough, MA Nate Garhart Bellevue, WA Robert Garofano Tampa, FL Kurt Garver Brinkhaven, OH Thomas Gebhart Watertown, SD Tim Geis Monclova, OH Sanford Gentry Williams, IN Ted Georgas Bradenton, FL Doug Giese Manhattan Beach, CA Jim Gillette Naperville, IL Greg Giuliani Caledonia, WI Al Glossian Brownville, ME Richard Goff Blacksburg, VA Jonathan Goff Bristol, TN Leon Goodenough Wann, OK Kostiantyn Goshchevskyi Brooklyn, NY Paul Graveline Lakeville, ND Cecil Greck Asheville, NC John Greco New Orleans, LA

“My wife Roty and I joined because of Tami Bakke and her praises of the organization. We love to ride and are always looking for places to travel. We also look for ways to increase our skill on the road. My wife rides a Can-Am Spyder and I have a Triumph Tiger 1200 Rally Pro and a Scrambler 1200 XE. Always looking for an additional ride, the S 1000 XR is on my list.”

– David Hobbs #235156

Shane Green Anderson, IN Melissa Green Belfast, ME Debbie Green-Clark Lafayette, IN Sheryl Greene Bluffton, SC James Greenwald Northford, CT Mary Gregory Aiken, SC Ron Grote Star, ID Rick Grote Raleigh, NC Alex Grozdic Berwyn, IL Douglas Gruber Milford, CT William Hallett Huntsville, AL Clint Hamilton Saint Charles, MO Nate Hansen Milwaukee, WI Gary Hansen Clark, WY James Hanson Wakonda, SD James Harkness Asbury, IA Heather Hart St. Augustine, FL Joseph Hasan Stoughton, WI Gary Hasert Bloomington, MN Mark Hatey Bernice, LA Shawn Haugen Oak Harbor, WA Paul Haywood Charlotte, NC Joshua Haywood Charlotte, NC Jim Hemsworth Georgetown, TX Bruce Henderson Moreland, GA Sean Hendricks Canton, OH Rudolph Hernandez Miami, FL Jose Hernendez Aurora, CO

Brent Herold Louisville, TN Rodger Hines Harrisburg, PA Matt Hoffman Huntington Beach, CA Gary Hooker Ferndale, WA Davis Houdek Aurora, OR George House Asheville, NC Dan Hubbard Lebanon, TN Nicholas Hubner Saint Clair Shores, MI Kelvin Hughes Ann Arbor, MI Paul Hughes Columbus, OH Greg Hunter Phoenix, AZ Stephen Husar Oakton, VA Tom Husby Snohomish, WA Brandon Huschka McPherson, KS Kimberly Ireland Tenino, WA Michael Irving Graeagle, CA Kenneth Ivaska Romeoville, IL Chris Jackson Pensacola, FL Louden Jackson Pensacola, FL Perry Jackson West Union, SC Paul Jacus Carefree, AZ Candida Jagger Lebanon, TN Kristina Janeva Countryside, IL Bob Johnson Kirkland, WA Josh Jones Littleton, CO Bill Jones Newport News, VA Craig Jones Zionsville, IN Phillip Jones Fletcher, NC

Peter K. Reno, NV Oscar Kaas McKinney, TX Chris Kabrick Bloomington, IN Steve Kattenbraker DuQuoin, IL Stephen Kaufman Calgary, AB Gjorgi Kavazov Countryside, IL Thomas Keister Thomasville, GA Lisa Kerman North Richland Hills, TX Waqqas Khan Peoria, IL Maxim Khramov Closter, NJ James King Elmira, NY Jeffrey Kirsch Franklin, NC Mark Kischkel Monee, IL John P. Klein Pasadena, CA Katie Knoll Charleston, SC Jim Koenig Manson, WA Steve Kotajarvi Madison, WI Nicholas Koverman Greenville, OH Mark Krause Bay City, WI Eric Kumpf Oak Harbor, WA Richard Lamoureux Littleton, CO Ji Lee Lancaster, CA Mike G. Landavere Laurel, MD Roger Landon Richland, WA Sean Lane New Albany, OH Cesar La Charles Lash Leesport, PA Verstreken Laurent Evergreen, CO Wayne Lawler Alpine, NY

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

73

NEW MEMBERS

Jun Lee Dedham, MA Jason Legate Pollock Pines, CA Earle Levine Arcadia, CA JJ Lewis Cortez, CO Frank Libby Belhaven, NC Steve Linscome Kelso, WA Bob Linton Deerfield, IL Braxton Lollis Colorado Springs, CO Daro Lomboy Milford, OH Brian Long New Oxford, PA Byron Loubert Bethesda, MD Anthony Lozito Fairfield, NJ Bret Lucas Prescott Valley, AZ Dennis Luce Sandpoint, ID Greg Lynd Niceville, FL Daniel MacDougall Englewood, CO Chris Maita Hatfield, PA Issam Mansour Northville, MI Gregg Markmann Veradale, WA Daniel Marsala Pomfret Center, CT Michael Marshall Huntsville, AL Timothy Martinez Lafayette, IN Victor Martinez Palm Coast, FL Michael Martinkus Stickney, IL Joseph Mason Wagoner, OK Anthony Mast Parkesburg, PA Richard Matthews Delaware, OH Roger Maxwell Hartselle, AL Jack Maxwell Santa Barbara, CA Jeff Mayeur Happy Valley, OR Matthew McClellan Mooresville, NC Kimberly McClintock Longmont, CO Charles McClure Denver, CO Scott McDonough Lakewood, CA David McGuire Saint Louis, MO Scott McKee Commerce Township, MI Jason McKeough Hingham, MA Terry Mckinney Johnson City, TN Michael McKinnon Dover, NH Jeremy McNulty Eau Claire, WI David Micca Indian Harbour Beach, FL Brian Michelson Annandale, VA Cody Michener Aurora, CO Mark Miller Concord, CA Brent Miller South Lebanon, OH Steven Modricker Roslyn, PA Chiranjeevi Moganti Dunlap, IL Tarig Mohmed Denver, CO Dan Monaghan Clermont, FL Rich Mooradian Petoskey, MI Maurice Moortgat Sandia Park, NM Raul Morales Fallbrook, CA Jared Moren Odessa, FL

74 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Robert Morgan Dallas, TX Fred Morley Albuquerque, NM Michael Morrell Greeneville, TN Salma Mosahil Schaumburg, IL Charles Moss Gaffney, SC Geoffrey Moss Norfolk, VA Chris Mullady East Wenatchee, WA Eric Murauskas Park Ridge, IL Micheal J. Murphy Roosevelt, AZ Sean Murphy Kalamazoo, MI William Nagle Bethesda, MD Richard Nardone Avon, CT Jordan Neely Johns Island, SC Richard Nelson Knoxville, TN Jim Nelson Wamego, KS Wilson Nichols Washington, PA Jennifer Nickle Dublin, OH Marco Nunez Boerne, TX Mark O’Driscoll Virginia Beach, VA Matt O’Connor Spring, TX Matthew O’Driscoll Barboursville, VA Jared Ogden Fredericksburg, VA Matthew Olgren Midland, MI Todd Olson Sawyer, MI TT Orvik Port Costa, CA Neal Overstreet Daytona Beach, FL Matthew Owen Jeffersonville, IN Chant Owen Franklin, TN Erbio Padua Myrtle Beach, SC Sherri Palmer Monclova, OH Peter Park Honolulu, HI Sean Patton Oklahoma City, OK Bob Pawloski Grand Rapids, MI Chris Pennington Floyds Knobs, IN Anderson Perez Hope Hull, AL Joshua Perl East Quogue, NY Zee Peters Renton, WA Louis Peterson Pensacola, FL Chris Petlock Vallejo, CA Tom Pfeffer Omaha, NE Michael Pisula Pittsburgh, PA Frank Pohmajevich Pasco, WA Jeff Pollock North Bennington, VT Ben Porobenski Slatington, PA Mike Prest Niagara Falls, NY Dru Pritchard Galloway, OH David Privitera Hampton Falls, NH Richard Puswald Fairview, NJ Robert Rasters Livermore, CA Baudilio Recinos Spring, TX Venkat Reddy Naperville, IL Brent Riggs Fall Branch, TN Matt Rios Tenino, WA

Michael Rogers Burbank, CA Ken Rothschild Purcellville, VA Johann Ruestmann West Covina, CA Robert Rushing Henderson, TN Isi Sahman Riviera Beach, FL Rich Santo Milton, FL Ron Sayre Pipersville, PA Allen Schade Laguna Niguel, CA Sergio Schinoff Stuarts Draft, VA Heiner Schwutke Rochester Hills, MI Zachary Scott Everett, WA Philippe See Brunswick, ME Michael Shackleford Atlanta, GA Steve Sheltz Louisville, KY Pete Shenkle Collegeville, PA Scott Shook Gilbert, AZ James Shouse Cape Coral, FL JD Sims Livingston, TX Kurt Sisco Englewood, FL Andy Smiley Boiling Springs, SC Greg Smith Carmichael, CA Peter Sonneville Crystal Lake, IL Louie Speciale San Francisco, CA Tiger St. John Lewis Center, OH Connor Stahnke Odessa, FL Stanimir Stanimirov Palatine, IL Martin Stone Oakland, CA Steve Takimoto Delray, FL Wayne Tarapilli Pittsgrove, NJ Lynn Tarapilli Pittsgrove, NJ Harvey Tatel Monroe, WA Marilyn Thaxton Chagrin Falls, OH David Throckmorton Brady , TX Matthew Thurber Lewisberry, PA Bradford Turner Cookeville, TN Mukunda Venkata Gurnee, IL Willie Viarnes Jamestown, TN Christopher Voegelin Midlothian, VA Richard Wagle Euclid, OH Philip Wagner Greenwood, IN Paula Walkins Washoe Valley, NV James Warren Tweed, ON Mark Wasson Olympia, WA Dennis Welsh Yarmouth, ME Marvin Wesley Edmond, OK John Wilgeroth Wind Gap, PA David Williams Frankfort, MI Anne Williams Mebane, NC Tim Williamson Waxhaw, NC Craig Wilson Union, ME Seth Wonkka Ayer, MA Paul Woods Colorado Springs, CO Mark Zang Wexford, PA

JOIN US FOR THE

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DOWNEAST RALLY May 17–19, 2024 of Southern M

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Rally

GPS: 44.0385 N, 70.4727 W

2024

www.agassizvillage.org

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WHEN & WHERE

For complete details on any event listed, please visit bmwmoa.org and click on the Rallies & Events tab.

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35 25 6 18

28

21

14

32 23

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40

31 24

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29 2

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38 19 26

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36 22 12 8 13

3 39 9 41 20 43

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1 3/21/2024 - 3/24/2024 DEATH VALLEY CAMPOUT Furnace Creek, California president@bmwnorcal.org 2 3/29/2024 - 3/31/2024 MOA PREMIER TRAINING WITH RYAN AUSTIN Long Beach, California membership@bmwmoa.org 3 4/4/2024 - 4/5/2024

MOA PREMIER TRAINING IN GREER Greer, South Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org 4 4/6/2024

2024 RTE NORTHWEST TN, EAGLE BOAT TOUR & BOYETTE’S EAT CATFISH

76 BMW OWNERS NEWS | March 2024

Tiptonville, Tennessee captrehkopf@gmail.com 5 4/14/2024 – 4/28/2024 IMTBIKE CELEBRATION TOUR OF SPAIN FOR BMW MOA MEMBERS Madrid, Spain tours@imtbike.com 6 4/14/2024 40TH WILD GOOSE RUN Beaver Dam, Wisconsin brianjustman@kewaskumpig. com 7 4/19/2024 – 4/21/2024 HILL COUNTRY HANGOUT Kerrville, TX makowski.michael@gmail.com

Map courtesy of

8 4/19/2024 – 4/21/2024 MOA GETAWAY AT FONTANA Fontana Dam, North Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org

12 5/2/2024 - 5/5/2024 BMW TAME THE DRAGON Robbinsville, North Carolina bmw.motorrad.ttd@gmail.com

9 4/25/2024 - 4/26/2024 MOA PREMIER TRAINING IN GREER Greer, South Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org

13 5/3/2024 – 5/5/2024 GEORGIA MOUNTAIN RALLY Hiawassee, Georgia rally@bmwmcoga.org

10 4/26/2024 - 4/28/2024

MOA GETAWAY AT THE BREAKS Breaks, Virginia rides4fun@bmwmoa.org 11 4/27/2024

TEXAS NATIONAL PICNIC Jacksonville, Texas detbmw@gmail.com

14 5/4/2024 38TH ANNUAL MOTORCYCLE FLEA MARKET & MOTOEXPO Leaf River, Illinois rockbmw2000@yahoo.com 15 5/9/2024 – 5/12/2024 L’INTER 2024 BMW MOA FRENCH CONNECTION Aspres-sur-Buëch, France bmwmoa.fc1980@gmail.com

16 5/16/2024 – 5/19/2024 DOWNEAST RALLY ‘24 Poland, Maine bob.cohen@bmwmoa.org

26 6/7/2024 – 6/9/2024 49TH SQUARE ROUTE RALLY Sabillasville, Maryland sworddrill79@gmail.com

17 5/16/2024 – 5/19/2024 25TH ANNUAL EUROPEAN RIDERS RALLY Burkesville, Kentucky ridersrally@bmwmcon.org

27 6/13/2024 – 6/16/2024 RIDIN’ TO REDMOND NATIONAL RALLY Redmond, Oregon membership@bmwmoa.org

18 5/17/2024 – 5/19/2024 49TH ANNUAL GREAT RIVER ROAD RALLY (GR3) Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin rally@madisonbmwclub.org

28 6/20/2024 – 6/23/2024 BLACK HILLS RENDEZVOUS Spearfish, South Dakota johnlangdell@rushmore.com

19 5/17/2024 – 5/19/2024

2024 GETTYSBURG BMW RALLY Gettysburg, Pennsylvania samrbooth@yahoo.com 20 5/17/2024 – 5/18/2024 MOA PREMIER TRAINING IN GREER Greer, South Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org 21 5/18/2024 – 5/19/2024 NEW SWEDEN 450 Starlight, Pennsylvania pijliskojr@gmail.com 22 5/20/2024 – 5/24/2024

SMOKY MOUNTAIN MAGIC TOUR Fontana Dam, North Carolina becky.smith@bmwmoa.org 23 5/23/2024 – 5/27/2024 49ER RALLY Mariposa, California president@bmwnorcal.org 24 5/23/2024 – 5/26/2024 LAND OF OZ RALLY Paola, Kansas moa_84843@yahoo.com 25 5/31/2024 – 6/2/2024

47TH ANNUAL HIAWATHA RALLY Houston, Minnesota hiawatharally@gmail.com

29 6/21/2024 – 6/23/2024 MOTOMO RALLY 2024 Crane, Missouri kronie12@gmail.com 30 6/27/2024 – 6/30/2024 CASCADE COUNTY RENDEZVOUS Cashmere, Washington djmuir22152@yahoo.com 31 7/18/2024 – 7/21/2024 52ND ANNUAL TOP O’ THE ROCKIES RALLY Paonia, Colorado lowrtax@gmail.com 32 8/17/2024 31ST BLUE BUTT RALLY Virginia City, Nevada bluebuttrally@gmail.com

2024

May 16-19

33 8/23/2024 - 8/25/2024 2024 HOPEWELL ROAD RALLY Athens, Ohio samrbooth@yahoo.com 34 9/6/2024 - 9/8/2024 BMW MOA KENTUCKY STATE RALLY Pineville, Kentucky rides4fun@bmwmoa.org 35 9/6/2024 - 9/8/2024 53RD ANNUAL WISCONSIN DELLS RALLY Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin rallychair@wiscbmwclub.com

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ERR 2024

WHEN & WHERE

The BMW Motorcycle Club Of Minnesota invites you to our 47th Annual

Hiawatha Rally May 31 - June 2, 2024 In the beautiful bluffs country of southeastern MN. • Money Creek Haven Campground near Houston, MN. • 2 nights camping on grassy shaded tent sites.

• Demo rides by BMW dealer Leo’s South.

• Door prizes and awards.

• 24-hour coffee, tea, water and lemonade.

• Friday evening soup and hot dogs until gone.

• Guided dual-sport ride and field events.

• Dinner Saturday evening. Sunday morning treats and worship service

Register: www.bmwmocm.com Questions: hiawatharally@gmail.com

SQUARE ROUTE RALLY 2024 June 7-9 - YMCA Camp West Mar - Sabillasville, MD

• Great venue with tent camping & bunkhouses • Bratwurst / hot dog dinner on Friday night • Tiki Bar featuring German Oktoberfest Beer • Adventure Riding Seminar / Speakers • Amazing Saturday rides!

• BBQ dinner + Live Bluegrass Music on Saturday night • Door prizes & Rally Awards

36 9/12/2024 - 9/15/2024 MOTORRAD FEST AUTHORITY BIKE SHOOTOUT Lebanon, Tennessee becky.smith@bmwmoa.org

40 9/27/2024 - 9/29/2024 37TH ANNUAL HOOSIER BEEMERS RALLY North Vernon, Indiana k12lts@gmail.com

37 9/13/2024 - 9/15/2024 TUG HILL TURNOUT Lowville, New York camdengroup@icloud.com

41 10/25/2024 - 10/26/2024 MOA PREMIER TRAINING IN GREER Greer, South Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org

38 9/19/2024 FOURTH ANNUAL LAUREL HIGHLANDS WEEKEND SPONSORED BY THE BMW MOA Somerset, Pennsylvania gsjay@kaplitz.com 39 9/27/2024 - 9/28/2024 MOA PREMIER TRAINING IN GREER Greer, South Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org

42 10/28/2024 – 11/9/2024 BMW MOA DAY OF THE DEAD TOUR WITH MOTODISCOVERY info@motodiscovery.com 43 11/15/2024 - 11/16/2024 MOA PREMIER TRAINING IN GREER Greer, South Carolina membership@bmwmoa.org

52nd annual

TOP O’ THE ROCKIES Rally July 18-21 Paonia, Colorado

Spectacular Scenery, Outstanding Rides! Camping & Live Nightly Entertainment, Food, Beer Garden, Vendors, Poker Run, Lavs & Showers On Site

Come join this amazing party!

Visit bmwmcc.org/tor

bmw2.org/srr

Norm Wright (303) 478-8203 topotherockies@bmwmcc.org

ADVERTISING INDEX

EDITORIAL

CONTRIBUTORS

SALES & MARKETING MEMBER SERVICES

Managing Editor BILL WIEGAND | bill@bmwmoa.org Art Director KARIN HALKER | karin@bmwmoa.org Digital Media Editor WES FLEMING | wes@bmwmoa.org Associate Editor RON DAVIS Associate Editor JOSE ABILES Bill Wiegand, BMW Motorrad, Phil Stalboerger, Magnus Hedemark, Cliff Elkins, Walk Perry, Terence Hamill, Steve Ferguson, Richard Tovsen, Ute Schneider, Dan Muir, Juan Botero, Richard Ward, Dustin Silvey, Mark Barnes, Matt Parkhouse, Wes Fleming, Katherine Becksvoort, Ron Davis, Daren Dortin, David Cwi, Doug Baker Executive Director TED MOYER | ted@bmwmoa.org Membership Associate TONYA MCMEANS | tonya@bmwmoa.org Membership Manager PAULA FITZER | paula.fitzer@bmwmoa.org Chief Operating Officer BECKY SMITH | becky.smith@bmwmoa.org BMW MOA Headquarters 2350 Hwy. 101 South, Greer, SC 29651 (864) 438-0962

MEMBERSHIP

Membership in the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America is open to all riders, regardless of brand affiliation. Although we are united by the BMW marque, adventure-minded motorcyclists will find a home here.

Join today by visiting bmwmoa.org or call one of our friendly membership associates at 864-438-0962.

BMWMOA.ORG

BMW ON (ISSN:1080-5729) (USPS: 735-590) (BMW Owners News) is published monthly by BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Inc., 2350 Hwy 101 South, Greer, SC 29651. Periodicals postage paid at Greer, SC 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.

Adptiv Technologies............................... 39 AdMore Lighting...................................... 39 Adriatic Moto Tours................................. 19 Adventure New Zealand Tours........... 71 Aerostich-Rider WearHouse................. 15 Alaska Leather........................................... 15 Beemer Boneyard.................................... 66 Beemer Shop, The.................................... 37 Best Rest Products/Cycle Pump......... 66 Black Box Embedded.............................. 37 Boxer Works Service................................ 67 Capital Cycle.............................................. 35 Down East Rally........................................ 75 Dunlop Tires............................................. IBC Euro Moto Electrics................................. 35 European Riders Rally............................. 77 Georgia Moutain Rally........................... 77 Geza Gear.................................................... 19 Heart of Appalachia................................ 44 Helmet Sun Blocker................................. 35 Hiawatha Rally.......................................... 78 HEX ezCAN................................................. 35 Ilium Works................................................. 66 IMTBike Tours............................................ 37 Kermit Chair Company........................... 39 M4Moto....................................................... 75 MachineartMoto...................................... 19 Max BMW.......................................................1 Michelin Tire..............................................IFC MOA Getaway at the Breaks................ 29 MOA National Rally.................................BC Morton’s BMW..............................................5 Moto Bike Jack.......................................... 29 Moto Bins.................................................... 67 MotoDiscovery.......................................... 67 Motohire Spain......................................... 28 Motorcycle Relief Project...................... 43 Mountain Master Truck Equip......29, 67 Nelson Rigg................................................ 21 Overseas Speedometer............................7 Portugal Motorcycle Tours................... 67 Progressive Insurance...............................3 Redverz........................................................ 39 Rider Magazine......................................... 71 Roadrunner Magazine........................... 75 Rocky Creek Designs.............................. 67 Ron Davis - Rubber Side Down........... 67 Russel Cycle Products............................. 29 Sargent Cycle Products.............................5 Sidecarist Magazine................................ 51 Square Route Rally.................................. 78 Top of the Rockies Rally......................... 78 Touratech.......................................................9 Vanson Leathers....................................... 67 Ztechnik....................................................... 71

POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO BMW ON, 2350 Hwy 101 South, Greer, SC 29651 ©2023 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 54, Number 3.

March 2024 | BMW OWNERS NEWS

79

TAILIGHT

Wise Decision “I photographed my R 80 near the town of Wisdom, Montana.

Unfortunately, I did not stay!”

–Doug Baker #45947

BEST IN-CLASS HANDLING, GRIP, & MILEAGE @RIDEDUNLOP | DUNLOPMOTORCYCLETIRES.COM | © 2024

NATIONAL RALLY June 13-16, 2024

Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center • Redmond, Oregon

REGISTER ONLINE

bmwmoa.org/redmond