BMW OWNERS NEWS – A PUBLICATION OF THE BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA
www.motonation.com
APRIL 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS www.bmwmoa.org
APRIL 2017
www.olympiamotosports.com www.firstgear-usa.com/mens-gear/jackets.html
The BMW MOA and MOATM are trademarks of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America.
Inside features
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discover washington By Bill Wiegand #180585 and Paul Guillien #179473 From a small town brimming with German charm to another rich with the feel of the Wild West, a group of riders travel into the Cascade Mountains to Discover Washington.
broccoletti, bread and a beemer, part 1 By Tamela Rich #161425 Ride with Tamela on her nine-day motorcycle tour as she chases a man riding a GS Wasserboxer to discover the unique customs, food and beauty of Italy.
Special k bike Section 85 Brittany Berlinga: Master of Corporate Espionage and K Bike rider By Jack Riepe #116117 A Marine Corps drill sergeant once told Brittany, "The dead never complain... Though they sometimes give good advice.
90 One K75 Rider Who Road the Lightning By Jack Riepe #116117 Some riders dodge the lightning... Others are forged by it.
92 Crafting the Perfect Sidecar Rig By Wes Fleming #87301 Some might use the word blasphemy at the very thought of hanging a sidecar off a K 1200 RS. Wes Fleming sees it as genious.
94 The Ultimate Romance Recipe for K Bikers who Camp By Jack Riepe #116117 Jack Riepe offers the perfect pancake recipe for that special someone still in your life.
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Photo by Greg Feeler
the club 4 Owners News Contributors 8 Headlight Find your Crossroads, by Bill Wiegand 10 President's Column We were Social before Social was Cool, by Wes Fitzer
12 Shiny Side Up My Affair with "The Poor Sister", by Ron Davis 14 Picture This Postcards from the Road 16 Rider to Rider Letters from our Members 18 From the Board Four members vie for two BMW MOA Board positions, Meet the MOA Board candidates.
Member tested/ product news 22 Magura HYMEC hydraulic clutch for F 800 GS, Sidi Lady Gavia
Gore-Tex boots, LEGO Technic R 1200 GS Adventure Road Test, Second Thoughts by Michael Hemenway.
32 Register for the Rally and Win!, Brake Free helmet-mounted
LED brake light, IMTBike’s Best of Portugal tour, Go further with Dunlop Sportmax Roadsmart III tires, BMW Motorrad presents the Navigator VI, Essential adventure with the Klim Carlsbad, Meet our newest Ambassadors, WSBK season opens at Phillip Island.
tech 42 Keep ‘em Flying Of Airheads and inactivity,
discovery 52 Long Distance Style From Cloudy to Sunny in Old Florida, by Deb Gasque
skills 100 Ask a Pro One Drink is Cool, Right?, by Lee Parks 102 Foundation News Foundation Updates lifestyle 104 2016 Summer Mileage Contest results events 120 2017 BMW MOA Rally Volunteers Needed 122 Quilting the Winter Away 124 GEARS training registration is open 128 When and Where Places to go and things to see 135 Advertiser Index 136 Talelight ON THE COVER: Terence Hamill #14629, took advantage of the unusually mild February weather to capture this pastoral image near Lederach, Pennsylvania.
by Matthew Parkhouse
46 Nicht Uber Max Questions and Answers, by George Mangicaro
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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CONTRIBUTORS 1. Tamela Rich began her love affair with the open road in the 1970’s, traveling old Route 66 from the Midwest to California for family reunions. Her G 650GS is a definite improvement on the Vista Cruiser station wagon, with its vinyl seats and underpowered air conditioner! Tamela shares more of this story and others at TamelaRich.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or somewhere down the road. 2. Ron Davis has been a rider, off and on, for about 40 years. Over that period, he’s also squeezed in a full time career teaching high school and university classes in writing, photography, and publishing while also working as a social media writer for the tourism industry in northwest Ontario and Associate Editor for BMW Owners News. His writing has been featured by BMW Owners News, BMW Motorcycle Magazine and The National Writing Project, and his essays, sometimes on motorcycling, can be heard regularly on Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Wisconsin Life.” His recently completed novel for young adults, Sachem Summer, is about love, trout fishing and a BMW R50/2. 3. 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 (U.S., Mexico, Europe and North Africa), owning/working in various shops, working as a nurse, and being very involved in his local community. He has owned around fifteen airhead BMWs over the years, but his first bike, a 1972 R75/5, is parked by the front door with 423,000 miles on the odometer.
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4. Wes Fleming tried being a rock star for 25 years, but gave all that up to focus on motorcycles. His mother still hasn’t forgiven him. The first new motorcycle he ever bought got run over by a car – with him still in the saddle. He discovered BMWs thanks to a friend in 2001 and has been riding trendy, not-so-trendy and sidecar-equipped BMWs ever since. Wes currently holds down multiple jobs, including motorcycle shop office boy and history professor, and when he’s not helping his teenage daughter with her homework, they’re out somewhere in their sidecar rig. 5. Deb Gasque, also known as “The Fashionista,” has been a licensed motorcyclist for 6 years and has embraced every aspect of the longdistance motorcycling lifestyle, including earning a membership into the Iron Butt Association. Deb recently joined the ranks of motojournalism and enjoys sharing her passion for two-wheeled adventures through published articles and her blog page at www.TheFashionistaHasAnIronButt.com. 6. A writer of limited ability, Jack Riepe is confined by the absolute truth. Hobbled by arthritis, he types his stories by pounding a shot glass on a keyboard—with his foot, and rumors that he is in the Brazilian Witness Protection Program are only partially true. If you like his column, you’ll love his book, “Conversations With A Motorcycle,” an autobiographical account of his early years on a motorcycle, when women unleashed their passion—on everyone but him. Email jack.riepe@gmail.com for more information.
Fast Company
Spaniard Jordi Torres accelerates through a corner at the recent MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship opener at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia. Photo courtesy Alex Photo
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BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
headlight Magazine of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America MANAGING EDITOR
Bill Wiegand bill@bmwmoa.org
Finding your Crossroads By Bill Wiegand #180584
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Ron Davis • Wes Fleming • Joe Tatulli ART DIRECTOR
Karin Halker karin@bmwmoa.org CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
David Cwi • Marven Ewen • Deb Gasque Lee Parks • Matthew Parkhouse Jack Riepe • Shawn Thomas ADVERTISING
Advertising materials, including chartered club rally display advertising, should be sent to our Advertising Office. Please contact Chris Hughes for display rates, sizes and terms. Chris Hughes chris@bmwmoa.org 11030 North Forker Road, Spokane, WA 99217 509-921-2713 (p) 509-921-2713 (f ) BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA
640 S. Main Street, Ste. 201 Greenville, SC 29601 864-438-0962 (p) 864-250-0038 (f )
Submissions should be sent to the BMW MOA office or editor@bmwmoa.org. Submissions accepted only from current members of the BMW MOA and assume granting of first serial publication rights within and on the BMW MOA website and use in any future compendium of articles. No payments will be made and submissions will not be returned. The BMW MOA reserves the right to refuse, edit or modify submissions. Opinions and positions stated in materials/articles herein are those of the authors and not by the fact of publication necessarily those of BMW MOA; publication of advertising material is not an endorsement by BMW MOA of the advertised product or service. The material is presented as information for the reader. BMW MOA does not perform independent research on submitted articles or advertising. Change of address notification and membership inquiries should be made to the BMW MOA office or membership@bmwmoa.org. BMW MOA membership is $40/yr. and includes the BMW Owners News, which is not available separately. Each additional family member is $10 without a subscription. Canadian members add $12 for postal surcharge. The BMW MOA and MOA™ are trademarks of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America.
OUR MISSION To foster communication and a sense of family among BMW motorcycle enthusiasts
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I THINK GREG FEELER, THE 2017 BMW MOA INTERNATIONAL RALLY
Chair, created something truly special when he commissioned both the Crossroads of the West Rally logo and the accompanying Find Your Crossroads decal. As Greg has explained, Find Your Crossroads is a phrase he uses to describe the intangible feeling of wanderlust that all riders share that speaks to our basic sense of adventure and bond our motorcycle creates. It’s the reason a conversation can begin with a complete stranger while you’re pumping gas 500 miles from home in the middle of nowhere. It’s why we look forward to riding 300 miles simply to meet a friend for lunch and then ride back home. It’s why the rain, cold, heat and wind can’t stop us or, as Dan Andrews recently mentioned on Facebook, why “I can travel a thousand miles to a rally and even if I don’t know anyone there, I still feel at home.” Find Your Crossroads means something different to every one of us. For some it’s a simple statement that begs for thoughtful reflection. Others see it as a call to action, a push out the door and a reason to get on our motorcycles to see what’s around the next corner or over the next hill. As I stare at a Find Your Crossroads decal that I’ve stuck on the side of my computer, I keep recalling a couple of rides I was lucky to have been part of last year. They were all similar in that they took me to places I had never traveled and over roads, both pavement and dirt, that challenged me more than any other ride I’d ever been on. On each of the rides I was part of a group of individuals traveling together, though there was a ride leader who had created the route and chosen our destination each day. Their responsibility was to keep us on track and on time. Each evening, regardless of whether we gathered around a warm campfire or in a bar with a cold beer, we’d talk about our experiences of the day. A common element I found compelling each time we came together was the unique experiences each of us had every day. What one rider found amazing, another simply didn’t see. A trail that challenged some, others couldn’t remember. For months, twisted ankles and cracked ribs reminded me of a couple of challenges I faced, yet didn’t fully conquer. Even though we were riding as a group, we were all riding as individuals. We were all riding our own rides and all of us were riding to Find Our Own Crossroads. Riding motorcycles is essentially a solitary endeavor undertaken by individuals who enjoy the raw freedom and simplicity of being vulnerable to, yet closely and spiritually connected to the world around us. Regardless of whether we ride a K 1600 GT on twisty asphalt across the country or an R 1200 GS Adventure on a single-track trail into the mountains, we all share a common bond. For me, Find Your Crossroads doesn’t refer to a physical destination or point on a map. It’s not a goal or prize to be won. Find Your Crossroads is a mission statement continually pushing me forward around the next corner, through the approaching valley and over the distant mountain. I hope I never Find My Crossroads. To do so would mean the end of my ride, leaving nothing more to see. I wish you safe travels as you continue to Find Your Crossroads.
www.progressive.com
PRESIDENTSCOLUMN
BMW MOA OFFICERS
Wes Fitzer, President 918-441-2114; jwfitzer@yahoo.com Jackie Hughes, Vice President 509-928-3261; jhughes@bmwmoa.org
We were social before social was cool By Wes Fitzer #170126
Reece Mullins, Secretary 334-470-7770; rangerreece@mac.com Jean Excell, Treasurer 719-650-6215; jeanexcell@bmwmoa.org BMW MOA DIRECTORS
Sam Garst 414-704-7767: guanocave@gmail.com Stan Herman 719-250-4358; hermanhaus1@msn.com Lisa Malachowsky 925-759-4360; lisa.malachowsky@gmail.com Marc Souliere 613-828-1798; beemer1@sympatico.ca Chad Warner 614-735-8558; chad.warner@bmwmoa.org BMW MOA VOLUNTEER STAFF
Steve Brunner, Mileage Contest Coordinator 910-822-4369; steveb@bmwmoa.org Jim Heberling, High Mileage Coordinator 309-530-1951; jheberling@bmwmoa.org David Swider, Ambassador Liaison 415-479-8075; teamkbasa@comcast.net Lee Woodring, Consumer Liaison 770-331-2419; lee.woodring@bmwmoa.org Joe Leung, Consumer Liaison 403-689-9939; joe.leung@bmwmoa.org Greg Feeler, Pat Carol and Brian Burdette 2017 BMW MOA Rally Chairs 2017rallychair@bmwmoa.org BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF AMERICA
640 640 S. Main Street, Ste. 201 Greenville, SC 29601
Robert C. Aldridge, Executive Director bob@bmwmoa.org Ted Moyer, Director of Membership & Marketing tedm@bmwmoa.org Bill Wiegand, BMW Owners News Managing Editor bill@bmwmoa.org Karin Halker, Art Director karin@bmwmoa.org Ray Tubbs, Digital Marketing Manager ray@bmwmoa.org Wes Fleming, Associate Editor Digital wfleming@bmwmoa.org Lesa Howard, Membership Services lesa@bmwmoa.org Noelle Boiano, Membership Services noelle@bmwmoa.org
WE OFTEN HEAR THE VIRTUES OF SOCIAL MEDIA TOUTED BY
those around us. Without getting into the quagmire of what Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or any of the others are or are not, I will offer this: The BMW Motorcycle Owners of America was founded in 1972 as a way for BMW motorcycle enthusiast to socialize, communicate and develop a network of like-minded friends. Even in its earliest days, with the advent of the Anonymous Book, the MOA was using social interaction to enhance the enjoyment of “the ride.” We’ve come a long way in the last 45 years, but our club depends upon social interaction of its members to survive. I believe humans have a basic need to interact socially with our fellow passengers on this rock as we hurl through space at 67,000 mph. This basic need is and has been the driving force of all social groups from the time 800,000 years ago when our species first began to gather around a campfire at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in Israel. This basic need for human social interaction remains a primal need for all of us. This is what holds us together and defines us as different from many other living creatures. Our need to be social, although rooted in survival, no longer defines our survival rate. It is so deeply rooted in our psyche that often times we neglect other necessities to satisfy our need to belong and be social. This is the why and how we’ve ended up where we are. Although the earth is travelling through space at roughly the same rate, our lives seemed to have sped up exponentially since 1972. Back then our social interaction was ALL face-to-face as we sat around talking about our bikes, our rides or the experience at the International Rally. Today, things are so different from those simple times back in 1972. As I have written before, I have two teenage kids at home. When they’re really hungry or in need of cash, they’ll still go out with Ma and Pa for a free meal, and sometimes they’ll bring friends with them. I will sit and watch them on their phones, not talking to each other but “socializing” through their current forms of social interaction. What’s really funny is to watch them, on their phones, communicating with each other through those damn things while sitting next to each other. I honestly worry if they’ll be able to carry on a normal life, hold a job, and carry on a face-to-face conversation without using their thumbs. I guess if they don’t make it in the real world at least they’ll have a lot of Facebook friends who they can stand with in the soup line and “socialize.” As Martin Luther King, Jr. so eloquently stated, “I have a dream,” and my dream is that we return to a simpler time when social interaction was done face-to-face, a time when through the use of social media platforms, we can quickly and efficiently find those people we’d like to interact with personally, a time when we don’t sit at dinner with our faces planted in a device, ignoring those around us who can truly fulfill that basic human need. In the meantime, please send your friend requests to me at the International Rally or one of our many Getaways, where you’ll find me. Reach out, shake my hand, introduce yourself, and tell me where you’re from and what you ride—we’ll continue our social interaction from there, maybe over a cold beverage. Ride safe…
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www.tourmaster.com
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shinysideup
My affair with “the poor sister” By Ron Davis #111820 NO MATTER WHAT
kind of bike I’ve had over the last few years, my wife always refers to it as “your girlfriend.” Well, last spring I got the itch for a new soulmate and did quite a bit of speed-dating with all kinds of different bikes. I settled on a new 2016 F 700 GS, and if we had a facebook profile, it would read, “In a relationship.” I must admit I was first drawn to the F7 by her looks. Dual floating discs up front, kind of a Ducati-esque trellis frame, the typical GS wide bars and upright seating arrangement, cast aluminum wheels, and a quality finish were all flirts that had me ogling. Of the two color schemes available then, I preferred the Light White, but I soon found most dealers only stocked one F7, and they most often chose the Metallic Grey model for their showroom floors. Nonetheless, it’s no wonder that the bike in either skin draws longing looks at gas stations and parking lots. I read a lot of motorcycle magazines, and of course just about every word in BMW Owners News, but rarely, except for possibly a corporate press release, is there ever a mention of the F 700, so as my infatuation grew, I did what I guess most do now when they’re seeking a new mate: I Googled her. I found that if the F 700 GS is mentioned at all on a website, forum or blog, it’s sometimes referred
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
diminutively to as “the baby GS,” “the poor sister,” or “entry level.” The lack of attention for this bike and disparaging attitudes seemed a little odd since I also learned the model was very popular in Europe and is often bought in fleets for guided tours, training, and for rentals. I decided to keep an open mind and do some road tests. I guess my favorite feature of the midrange GS is its size. Probably 90 percent of the time I spend on a bike is commuting about 30 miles over country roads, county trunks, and four lane slab and poking around in stop and go traffic and parking
lots. The F7’s lower seat height, moderate weight (467 lbs. fueled) and narrow frame make it the perfect partner for this. Over our first season together, it has given me as much as 60 mpg, and I have never felt it was underpowered for 70 mph highways (approx. 75 hp @ 7300rpm), though even with six gears, it can get a bit buzzy at faster speeds than that. The “700” in its moniker is actually a misnomer, since the engine has the same displacement as the BMW F 800 GS (798cc); the F7 has simply been detuned
a bit since it’s designed for easy riding and not for roosting off-road. As I was shopping for a new road mate, I also rode the similar-sized V-Strom DL650 and the Kawasaki Versys, but with the F7’s tank below the seat, I was first struck by how much more stable it was in the wind than the taller profiled Suzy and Kawa. Anyone comparing the 700 GS with its nearest competitors will probably be struck by the price difference. The F 700 GS is not a cheap date. I got mine for about $12K including tax and license with an optional BMW Comfort Seat thrown in (Like many F7 owners, I strongly recommend this option). The V-Strom and Versys are both nice bikes, but I like my BMW dealer and service department (Tytler’s in DePere, Wisconsin), and the F7 I’m going steady with came with the Premium package, including luggage racks, center stand, heated grips, stainless brake lines, a number of tech options (ESA, ABS, ASC) and adjustable preload and damping. Also, the dash features dual trip meters, gear indication, temp and tire pressure. None of the other bikes in its class offered all of those features at that time. I know it’s a big mistake to try to give your love a make-over, but I must confess, “Hello, my name is Ron, and I’m a farkleholic.” Though less popular in the States than its more well-known BMW sisters, one nice thing about the F 700 is that all the biggest aftermarket providers offer tons of accessories that it can be dressed with. For my weekend sojourns I added a Touratech luggage rack and Zega Pro cases—light, pretty and rugged, they’ve been perfect. I
also mounted a Wolfman Blackhawk tank bag and a Pelican® topbox for my camera gear, which still left room for a passenger seat bag and a Tooltube®. For safety, I added Cree running lights on the forks, a decelerometer from Vololights in the rear, and a homemade headlight shield. As I’ve found with other bikes of this size that I’ve owned, finding a windshield that cuts buffeting can be a challenge. The standard F 700 shield looks nice but does practically nothing, and I went through three aftermarkets before I settled on a Madstad, which judging from the forums, seems to be a popular choice. I also tried a number of different handguards, including a used set from BMW, but eventually settled on a set of bike-specific Barkbusters VPS from Twisted Throttle; they provide decent protection on colder days and don't interfere with a BrakeAway Cruise Control® and a Helmet Hook®, and Original Grip Buddies® are a must-have for any bike I ride. A witness to past bike tip-overs, I fabricated my own kickstand foot, and I also wrenched on some Givi crash bars from Twisted Throttle—my girl’s good looks are safe. Admittedly, BMW’s F 700 GS is not a bike for everyone. For one thing, it’s not the kind of bike I’d choose to carry a passenger and luggage to Alaska (though I met someone who has…twice…pulling a trailer!). Though it may look like it, it’s not really suited for anything rougher than a gravel fire road since it has a smaller front wheel, less travel, and suspension components that are a step down from the F 800, but then again, so is the price. Despite its aggressive appearance, the F7 is what I would call a genuine street “all-rounder.” During our first season together, the F 700 GS has been a faithful companion, making my daily commute a pleasure and my weekend excursions full of flick-able fun. Make no mistake, I’m a happily married man, but I can’t wait to spend another season with my newest “girlfriend.”
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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www.twowheelsofsuches.com
www.imtbike.com
www.rka-luggage.com
www.epmperf.com
Picturethis
We asked MOA members to submit their photos showing
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For July, send us your Best Shot. One photo may be submitted per member and the best selected for publication in the BMW Owners News. Send your high resolution image, image description and member number to editor@bmwmoa. org.
1. A long Chuckanut Drive overlooking Samish Bay south of Bellingham, Washington. Richard Briggs #209983 Sedro Woolley, Washington 2. A ride through northern Ontario last fall. Dave Cranston #195280 Whitby, Ontario 3. Taking in the view in the Badlands late last September. Jim Heberling #191926 Le Roy, Illinois 4. Somewhere between Colorado and Utah. Jim Cheung #195223 Toronto, Ontario
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5. C alifornia 94 between Dulzura and Barrett Junction about a year ago. Dave Varner #200045 Grand Haven, Michigan 6. A rches National Park in Utah, just a short ride south of this summer’s Salt Lake City MOA Rally site. David Erotas #85769 Buffalo, Minnesota 7. V ineyards in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains above Pateros, Washington. Jeff Henshaw #175364 Lopez Island, Washington 8. P ennsylvania’s fall color in Presque isle State Park along the shore of Lake Erie. Terence Hamill #14629 Lansdale, Pennsylvania
For July, send us your Best Shot. One photo may be submitted per member and the best selected for publication in the BMW Owners News. Send your high resolution image, image description and member number to editor@bmwmoa.org.
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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RIDERTORIDER Send your letters and comments to: editor@bmwmoa.org
Infected with racing enthusiasm
A hardy handshake and my sincere thank you to Wes Fleming and Will Guyan for their articles in the February issue. Since I was a teenager I’ve been a fan of motorcycle racing, most enthusiastically road racing. In America, it must have peaked when I was younger. Now it is struggling. There are a few brave souls trying to make a go of it, racing BMW's S 1000 RR, and I am writing in the hopes that more of us give them more support. They love the sport, or they would not be racing, putting their lives at risk, burning up a lot of money and straining relationships. BMW Motorrad is offering up over $1 million contingency money to racers competing on the S 1000 RR. I do not know if any in the USA qualify. Last year I met one of the only two BMW competitors at Road Atlanta. There were no fans crowded around him like at the Suzuki tent. He was on the back row of the paddock, and it was just him, a mechanic and, I think, his dad. There he was, and boy, was he glad to talk to me and autograph a poster and have his picture taken. These guys need support socially and financially. I do not see any listed yet on the MotoAmerica website, but I’m sure Wayne Rainy is doing all he can to get BMW more involved. I met Wayne Rainy last year, also. He is easily approachable, but he is a very busy man. So, fellow members, I hope to see more of you at the races. You might just feel the rush like I do when I ride through the gates, hear the scream of a superbike "on the pipe" and smell exhausted race fuel. Barber, Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio, here I come. Al Shaffer #62913 Orangeburg, South Carolina
Jackpot!
This morning I was reading comments about the BMW MOA birthday in the February issue of Owners News, and then this afternoon, after searching the past four years for an older BMW, I went to pick up a 1977 R 100 /7. The surprise I received was when the seller said he had a few things in his shop to go with the bike, including special tools, but the most special thing of all were the old BMW Owners News magazines he gave me. I even received the January 1977 copy, so I was able to read the original story about the bike. Kenneth Hunter #164835 Cochran, Georgia
Performance Center Training
I recently completed the BMW Performance Center Off-Road Training Course at the South Carolina facility. I was asked to comment on my experience, so here I am. The experience was fantastic, deliciously dangerous, extraordinary, spectacular, stupendous and exhilarating (just few choice words). The experience was one of the best I have had in decades of riding. I explored, discovered and pushed through some important weaknesses, and I tamed some bad habits! I cemented new friendships, I grew more passionate about riding and my choice to ride a BMW (2013 F 800 GS), and I appreciate my membership to the MOA even more. I highly recommend that any MOA member entertaining the idea of attending the BMW Performance Center OffRoad Classes jump on the opportunity to attend and apply for the Paul B. Scholarship. You won't regret it, I promise! Mark W. Carrera #188605 Monroe, Virginia
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Doubly sick and tired
Dear friends, first I would like to thank Bill Boylan from Florida, for his RIDER TO RIDER comment in December issue of Owners News. I too, as a septuagenarian, agree with his thoughts but have been reluctant to express them. We've tried all those trips to foreign lands when we were younger and welcomed as Americans. After all, we belong to the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America. We've done the knuckle busting and greasy work on those old black bikes, but now find it more suitable to have a three year, 36,000 mile warranty on a modern bike. In addition, the classifieds are sorely missed, as they once conjured up memories of days gone by. Finally, I think most of us still like the idea of hearty food and good lodging along the way. Be Safe Paul Bernier #50412 Newport, Rhode Island
Third time's ... a problem
It's rainy and foggy and cold this morning up here in the true north, so I decided to go through my BMW motorcycle paperwork and try to organize several years’ worth of stuff and came across an invoice from Mathias BMW Cycle dated 4/11/2015 which immediately brought a smile to my face. At that time, I was riding my 1977 R 100 RS from Stoney Creek, Ontario, to Phoenix, Arizona, when somewhere in New York state while cruising along at about 70 mph I felt and heard a clunk from somewhere behind and below me. I initially thought nothing of it thinking I had probably hit a bump in the road. Twenty or thirty miles later I felt and heard the same thing and thought "hmmmm." The third time it happened I knew I had a problem.
From the MOA Facebook page... Wildcard Wednesday What was the best piece of motorcycle-related advice anyone ever gave you?
I pulled over in Cadiz, Ohio, removed my luggage and began riding around a McDonald's parking lot in an attempt to diagnose my problem. While I was doing that, a trucker came over and said, "Hey, I heard something. You got a problem, man." So I shut Klaus down and called a friend who suggested I get to Mathias BMW in New Philadelphia about 25 miles from where I was and they would take care of me. When I met Gene and Jamie, they made sure I was first on the lift the next morning. Jamie took Klaus for a ride and though he didn’t hear anything, he wanted to have a look at the driveshaft. Upon removal of the driveshaft/transmission boot, he immediately noticed that three of the four flange bolts were not where they were supposed to be and somehow they had come loose and fallen out. The repair was quick and professionally done and the bill was more than fair. Once repaired, I’ve ridden thousands of trouble free miles. Thanks Matthias BMW Cycle, you are my ideal BMW dealer. Richard Skrtich #155395 Stoney Creek, Ontario
Discouraged by Riepe
After reading Jack Riepe’s column on page 80 of the February issue of BMW Owners News, I was very disappointed in the article. I was hoping for some wisdom about moto-camping. Not only did the article fail in that respect, but it had a very poor message. Would it not be best to build up, rather than to tear down? I hope that equal time will be given to articles that can celebrate the good side of human behavior, instead of encouraging the dark side of human behavior. Sam Burnett #131083 Abbeville, South Carolina
Brian P. Drew: Turn your head! Look where you want to go, not at where you are now. Tom Monthei: Just buy it! J.D. Luke: Buy and read Proficient Motorcycling by David L. Hough. Tom Cutter: When in doubt, GAS IT! It will either solve the problem or end the suspense. John Smallwood: Assume that everyone else on the road is a myopic, blithering idiot. James Hesketh: Ride your own ride, stay in your comfort zone. Tom Norn: Ride like you're invisible. Jeff Hubbard: Look where you want to go, not at what you're avoiding. Prescott Spatchcock: ATGATT. Clifford Jones: Ride as if you are invisible. You are. Leo Hoyer: Buy one. You'll like it. Derek L. Gustafson: Dress for the slide, not the ride. Gretchen Crane: Just because it has a motorcycle between its legs, does not mean it is a nice man. –My mom. Brad Sutter: If it just doesn't feel right that day, don't ride, take the car. Jim Morabito: When you get a motorcycle it comes with two buckets. One is called luck and the other experience. Your job is to fill the second bucket before the first one is empty. Oma Viles: In one or two years you’ll forget the reason you didn't go on the trip,
but you will never forget the ride if you do. Steven Crider: Life is short, buy the damned bike. So, I did! George Leavell: You can ALWAYS learn to be a better rider. More training is cheaper than even a minor crash. Simon David Johnston: Look after your bike, and she'll look after you. Darryl Cainey: Don't ride faster than your angel can fly. Greg O'Connell: Ride like 97 percent of the people in cars can't see you and the other 3 percent are trying to kill you! Nick Lynch: Buy a heated jacket. Wasting energy and brain power on being cold increases your risk of injury. It'll also extend your riding season. Thanks, Voni! Alex Shaffer: Learn what traction is, and what traction isn't. Donovan Rebekah Reese: Buy a BMW. Scott Burr: To end up being an old and wise biker, you have to first make it through being a young and dumb wannabe. Michael Isaac Ham: Take a class to improve your skills. Then ride, ride, ride! Ralf Meyer: Buy that 86 R 80 RT. Every blacksmith can fix it. But normally, you will never have a problem. Marty Miles: Never tell your wife what you really paid for it. T. Alan Wight: Get proper training. Pat Cleary: Don't ever forget that you are invisible. Bruce Darling: Don't touch a Bandido's Harley.
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Four members vie for two MOA Board positions By Reece Mullins #143779 MOA Board Secretary IN
ACCORDANCE
with the BMW MOA’s 2016 election bylaw change, this spring we have two Director positions open for election. Four MOA members have stepped forward and submitted their biographies and photographs to be published in this issue of Owners News to more thoroughly educate and inform each MOA member prior to casting his or her ballot. Elected candidates will be seated on the board as MOA Directors during the executive board meeting on Wednesday, July 12, at the BMW MOA International Rally in Salt Lake
City. The two candidates elected will serve on the board for three years. New officer elections (President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary) will occur at the same time, once the new board members have been seated as Directors. The two new candidates will replace outgoing Vice-President Jackie Hughes and Director Stan Herman. As in past elections, a special election forum will be available for MOA members to read and interact with the candidates running for election. The election forum will be available by accessing the MOA FORUMS section of the MOA website at forums.bmwmoa.org. If you encounter problems accessing the forums or if you are new to the forums and need help with specific posting guidelines associated with the election forum in the Clubhouse section, contact Forum Liaison, Kurt Schrader at
kschrader@prodigy.net, and he will be more than happy help you. After thoughtfully considering your choices for Director, properly fill out your ballot and place it in the mailbox, no need for a stamp. All ballots must be postmarked before April 30 and received by May 10, 2017, to be counted. The MOA Board of Directors would like to personally thank the volunteers that comprise the Candidate Search Committee (Election Committee) who have diligently worked to bring forth qualified and motivated members to the board, ensuring the healthy future of this great organization we all know and love. Thank you to Tom Buttars, Don Hamlin, and Dave Swider. Your continued service to the organization, like so many of our volunteers, is exemplary and brings honor to the BMW MOA.
Meet the 2017 MOA Board candidates Rudy G. Baumann, Jr. #107916
First of all, I have always loved to ride. My first bike was a ’67 Honda 50 which my brother and I pounded without mercy. It’s a good thing he was always mechanically inclined. My dad was also a top notch mechanic and always loved to drive, and he instilled this into his sons. I am a veteran of the Marine Corps, where I served my country proudly here and abroad. After the service, I attended culinary arts college to be a chef, and that is the profession my
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career is in. Listening is becoming a lost art, and that is why I feel I’d like to be on the Board. I want to provide my skills as a people person to hear what members are saying, bring those thoughts and concerns to the table and brainstorm on how we can come up with solutions to improve our great organization. I see a great future in the growth of the organization. In the past, I have written letters and made phone calls to my representatives in regards to many subjects such as the Federal Ethanol Mandate and safety awareness for motorcyclists and automobile drivers. I‘ve always made it a point to talk to members about their thoughts and concerns at rallies and meetings. I enjoy
speaking with other riders about what their clubs are involved in. It’s important to me to hear as well as be heard. I appreciate your consideration and welcome your thoughts.
Wayne Bogan #194765
I’ve always loved motorcycles, and I rode a dirt bike as a kid. But I didn’t really start riding until 2012 when I bought my first motorcycle, a used 2008 K 1200 GT. It was a great way to test myself and learn what I really loved the most about riding. I realized very quickly that I enjoyed the touring aspect and
traveling across America. I signed up for my first rally at Fontana, and it was there that I recognized 1) the strength of the MOA community and 2) the lack of younger members. Ever since that rally in 2014, I’ve asked myself how I could best give back to the community. The best way I know is to take action now and start doing something. I’ve joined the board of directors for our local Carolina’s BMW MOA and ask for your consideration for the BMA MOA board of director’s position. My goal for joining the board of directors is help strengthen and significantly grow the community. My focus would be on three specific areas: community, new members and education. First, I would like to focus on the experience and stories within the current community through interviews with members. These interviews would help frame up the story of why there is such a love, loyalty and excitement for riding motorcycles—BMW in particular. They need to be shared within the community and outside the community. Second, I would like to leverage the feedback from current members to share with prospective members/future BMW owners through BMW ON and social media. Motorcyclists love to openly share their experiences on what to do and what not to do. People buy products based on stories and recommendations. People often choose travel destinations based on someone else’s recommendation. I want BMW MOA to be THE PLACE for anyone who wants to learn about motorcycles. This will naturally grow the community. Third, there is a massive amount of knowledge within this community. We need to gather that information and share openly with prospective and new members. The BMW MOA should be a central location to get as many of the answers as possible. YouTube and others tools are great, but it takes time to find the right answer. BMW MOA should be the first source people think about when they want to learn about motorcycles–experiences, riding, products, etc. Let’s make it easy to find the top answers to the top questions.
People don’t care about how much you know until they know that you care. I want to listen first and then share as much as possible to grow the community. As a family, we should take care of each other and then always mentor the next generation. The best time to make things better is now. I look forward to the opportunity to listen and serve you to the best of my abilities.
Deb Lower #9927
I am running for a position on the BMW MOA Board of Directors because now is the time when the MOA can play an important role in providing a sense of community among BMW riders. We have diverse groups among the membership, but at the center of each is a deep-seated desire to share our experiences riding, work on BMWs and attend events with other riders. My volunteering to support the MOA and local Chartered Clubs has been an important part of my life. I’ve chaired/cochaired five MOA National Rallies: Moodus (1994), Gillette (2008), Redmond (2010), Salem (2013) and St. Paul (2014). It was my great pleasure to chair the Top O’ the Rockies Rally in Paonia, Colorado, for several years. Currently I am the Treasurer of the Pikes Peak BMW Riders and a member of the BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado, the BMW Motorcycle Club of Indianapolis, and several virtual “fun loving” clubs such as the Knights of the Roundel. My running motorcycles are a 2014 BMW GS, 2013 BMW GT and a 1983 R80ST. I’ve logged over 600,000 miles on BMWs. As I leave my current part-time consulting in early 2017, I have the time and energy to dedicate to service on the MOA Board. In the past I have served as MOA President, Vice-President, Secretary and elected Treasurer. I understand the time commitment needed and ways to be an effective board member. I have served on the BMW MOA Foundation Board which manages G.E.A.R.S. and is the provider of rider education scholarships. I’ll leave the Founda-
tion Board in early 2017. I want your vote and support because I have the knowledge and experience to be able to provide insights to strengthen MOA’s financial viability, emphasize the importance of the Owners News, promote the use of the MOA forum to share information and to continue to expand the opportunities for MOA members to gather at the MOA International Rally, MOA Getaways, Chartered Club events and Regional Coordinator activities. MOA is our organization, and as a board member I will work to assure that we remain member oriented, supporting communication among members through the Owners News, our Forum, social media and Regional Coordinator activities. We must continue to provide Chartered Clubs with the use of the Roundel and avenues for distribution of information about local club events and maintain the Ambassador Program. We have an opportunity to have MOA be the way it used to be with a focus on member benefits, connecting riders to one another and sharing a sense of camaraderie. Make the BMW MOA the great club we know it to be.
Roger Trendowski #88147
I joined the MOA 17 years ago, after restarting my riding career following a 20-year hiatus. The choice of a motorcycle to ride was obvious to me, it had to be a BMW. Since then I have been actively involved with the BMW MOA, the New Jersey BMW Riders Club, and the Finger Lakes BMW Riders. I am also a member of the Airheads and the Iron Butt Association. My commitment to these clubs through my volunteer work has helped me to give something back. I was privileged and honored to be awarded an Ambassadorship by the MOA. You may have seen or heard of me as I have led the registration process at MOA International Rallies for the past five years. Before that, I co-chaired or volunteered in
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Registration for several years. I also support my local clubs, in the NJ SHORE BMW Riders club, I have been president, VP, treasurer, secretary and trustee. As a member of the Finger Lakes BMW Riders, I actively help plan and support our excellent Labor Day rally in Watkins Glen, New York. My professional background in global telecommunications includes strategic planning, marketing, business management, sales, magazine editor and writer. For six years after that I ran my own strategy and market planning company. For the last eight years I ran the operations and finances for a religious school and church. I am currently a board member of a non-profit organization that supports people with disabilities and
have just retired from another board that supported at-risk youth. I have two graduate degrees (business and engineering), an undergraduate in Math and an associate degree in electronics. One of my life-long learnings is that “things can always be improved” and “change can be good.” It’s been true for both business processes and hiring talent. In my business and other responsibilities this approach has proven invaluable when introducing incremental positive changes and outcomes. While leading the MOA Rally registration function, I’ve introduced incremental changes to improve the speed and efficiency of the registration process. We automated the registration process with PCs and cell phone ticket reader apps and reduced overall paperwork and office activities. Starting four years ago as part of registration planning, I designed and
www.bmwusrideracademy.com
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implemented an automated registration volunteer website. In the past I have volunteered in the MOA booth at the NYC motorcycle show where I set up and managed the booth to solicit new and renewal memberships. Taking the time to listen to our members I have gained an understanding of what members want and need from the MOA. Maintaining and expanding our relationship with members, local clubs, BMW dealers, and BMW while improving the financial viability of our organization are critical to the survival of the MOA. I feel I have the skills, experience and time to positively contribute towards achieving these goals. That is why I ask for your support in electing me to the Board of the BMW MOA.
www.nolan-usa.com
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Magura HYMEC hydraulic clutch By John Donne #193450 I USED TO FEEL LIKE POPEYE
when I returned from riding my F 800 GS in the dirt. The problem was, it was only my left forearm that was hurting from struggling with the stock clutch setup. I prefer symmetry. I was spoiled by the hydraulic clutch on my KTM dirt bike and knew the difference it made in my riding comfort. Surfing the web I was pretty happy when I discovered Magura was releasing their HYMEC clutch system for GS. When I finally got the gear, I found installation as easy as the new clutch’s pull.
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
Right out of the box, the Magura system is ready to go, as the kit is shipped as a complete assembly with no need to fill or bleed the system. The installation process begins with removing the stock BMW clutch lever assembly and cable. Pay particular attention to how the stock clutch cable is routed, as the hydraulic line will follow the same path. Then, with the left side bodywork removed, I was able to carefully feed the slave cylinder between the frame and airbox. It was a tight fit and did take a little patience, but it does fit through. Once you’ve routed the hydraulic line, simply reverse the steps you followed when removing the stock lever assembly with the new Magura lever assembly and slave cylinder. It’s that easy. A couple of things I really like about the HYMEC clutch by Magura include a constant friction point that doesn’t change as the cable stretches and the two-finger operation I’m now able to use. Additionally, the reach of the lever is adjustable, which I found to be another big plus. On the downside, I found it a bit more difficult to get used to feathering the clutch when needed, but I believe saddle time will
remedy that. Be careful when going for your first test ride with the new Magura clutch as the friction point will have moved. I found the Magura HYMEC clutch system at touratechusa.com and though its price of just a bit north of $350 seems a little high, I do believe it makes my F 800 GS a better bike to ride.
www.ceebaileys.com/cycle
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Sidi Lady Gavia Gore-Tex boots by Deb Gasque #182082 THERE’S A FIVE-LETTER WORD
that will get my attention quicker than Erin Sills blasting across the Salt Flats: S-H-O-E-S. Beginning back when I took my first steps as a tiny toddler, I’ve adored footwear of all kinds. A peek into my large closet, with shoes on stacks and stacks of racks will provide evidence of my deep adoration. I’ve got stilettos, pumps, mules, slingbacks, flats, sandals with heels and without, running shoes, boat shoes, flip-flops, and boots…lots and lots of boots, including a couple pair of riding boots.
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
Since earning my motorcycle license back in 2009, I’ve been in search of the perfect all-weather, waterproof riding boots that are not only comfortable while cruising down the road, but also comfortable walking, sometimes walking a whole lot while exploring a new town on my adventures, for instance. I find that one pair of boots is extremely comfortable during a long day in the saddle, but torture even walking from the bike into the hotel lobby to check in. And the other pair is just the opposite. It’s much like the various shoes in my closet; some are “sitting-and-looking-mighty-fine”
shoes and others are purely functional for on-the-go (and always fashionable, of course). At every BMW MOA rally, I’ve tried on boots galore and have struggled every time to find my pedi-nirvana. Then it happened…last January, in walk the Sidi Lady Gavia Gore-Tex Boots, and I shout, “Halleluiah!” I slipped these sleek little size 8 (Eur 40), mid-high, sport/touring boots on my feet and was immediately jumping for joy with the perfect true-to-size fit and amazing comfort. I’m happy to report that there was not a “breaking in” period at all, as these Sidi Gavia Gore-Tex boots were completely comfy from the start. I even spent that month of downtime wearing my new boots around the house for long periods of time; they maintained a perfect score for comfort. Sidi, founded over 40 years ago, has a design team that creates groundbreaking designs in motorcycle boots with superior technology, like inner and outer ankle protection. My new Gavia Gore-Tex boots have that superior ankle protection, as well as double stitching at all stress points, and they are CE rated. They are made of Sidi’s new Full Grain Microfiber material which is used in the construction of the upper portion, and they also have a Gore-Tex highly breathable and waterproof membrane which adds a waterproof barrier between the elements and your feet. Additionally, for maximum comfort, Sidi has added an elastic panel adjacent to the entry zipper and Velcro closure which allows a bind-free zip and improved fit, internal heel and toe protection, a top gaiter area which features an elastic stretch panel for a perfect fit, a removable arch support pad, and an anti-abrasion Cambrelle lining.
www.epmwilbers.com I do attest to the complete comfort of these boots while on foot, as I wore them walking around as much as possible. The big question then was, how will they perform on a long day in the saddle? Fast forward to February, when I took them on the road for 10 days. It was barely 40 degrees on much of the first day of my ride. I don’t yet own any plug-in warming gear (don’t judge), so I layered up and prayed for the best. I rode 400 miles that day, and although many parts of my body were pretty chilled, my feet NEVER got cold (I was also wearing Merino wool socks). Later in that trip, I was riding in 75-80 degree weather, and my feet maintained the same comfort level. I was amazed, honestly, and very pleased. The non-slip rubber sole and polymer toe shift-brake pad added to my riding comfort and confidence, and the reflective panel on the rear of the foot provided one more level of safety when riding after dark. At the completion of my 10-day ride and still ultra-comfortable in my new Sidi Gavia Gore-Tex boots, I shouted “Halleluiah!” once more, knowing I had finally found the ideal riding boots. They are super comfortable on and off the bike, finely crafted with great safety features, and are fashion-approved. I’ve got quite the aggressive riding season planned for 2017 and look forward to this sassy pair of boots making my feet smile with every mile! The Sidi Lady Gavia Gore-Tex Boots are available at motonation. com and retail for $250; a men’s version is also available.
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
www.gezagear.com
www.imtbike.com
www.clymer.com
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LEGO Technic R 1200 GS Adventure build and road test By Wes Fleming #87301 WHEN OLE KIRK CHRISTIANSEN
started making wooden toys out of his Billund, Denmark, furniture shop in 1932, BMW Motorrad was already well established. The R4, after all, was 1932’s hottest motorcycle, pumping out almost 12 horsepower and able to reach dizzying speeds of 60 to 62 miles per hour with its singlecylinder 400cc engine. Christiansen knew he couldn’t compete with BMW at that time, and of course the war set both companies back a few years. The Lego Group started producing its iconic line of interlocking bricks made of cellulose acetate in 1947, but sales didn’t really take off until a change in formulation took place in the mid-1950s. Christiansen decided to focus his company on Lego after a warehouse fire in 1960 destroyed most of the company’s inventory of wooden products. By the early 1980s, Lego’s Technic line of kits showed that the company was interested in much more than building surrealistic multi-colored houses and trucks that looked like rejects from 8-bit video games. Technic showed that Lego could craft intricate, functional models that took skill and some measure of patience to construct. None of these characteristics BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
kept parents from throwing out the pieces they found underfoot in the middle of the night, but Lego continued innovating and advancing the art of the model. BMW Motorrad was no slouch in this decade either, releasing both the liquid-cooled K bike and the first functional motorcycle anti-lock braking system.
It was, perhaps, a miraculous coming together akin to chocolate and peanut butter that led to the announcement in November, 2016, that Lego and BMW were set to release their first-ever motorcycle collaboration: a 603-piece Technic kit dedicated to reproducing the R 1200 GS Adventure in a glorious black-and-blue color scheme. Alexander Buckan, the head of BMW Motorrad Vehicle Design, called the project “exciting” and “outstanding,” and stated that “the close and creative cooperation between the two design teams was particularly impressive.” BMW motorcycle riders and Lego enthusiasts clearly had a lot to look forward to when the kit went on sale on January 1, 2017. Early reports of the kit’s authenticity were
scattered, but promising. As a dedicated motorcycle journalist and a committed MOA member, I felt it incumbent upon me to seek out this kit and to take advantage of its recommended age range of 10 to 16 to force my teenage daughter to assemble it. “Six hundred pieces?” she said. “How long is it going to take? I can’t waste my whole weekend doing stupid stuff for you.” Her precocious comment noted, I reminded her that should she refuse my request, I would not hesitate to have AT&T shut off her cell phone service until she relented. I will admit that the box was bigger than I expected it to be when the $80 kit arrived in the mail. “Wow, a package from Germany,” my mail carrier exclaimed. “Do you know Angela Merkel?” After assuring her I had no powerful connections in Germany’s government with a curse-filled tirade entirely in Texas German, I informed my daughter that construction would take place on Saturday evening, followed by a thorough road test on Sunday. “But I have homework!” she protested. “Two words,” I said. “Cell. Phone. Service.” We agreed on a tentative start time of “Okay, after dinner, I guess.” Six hundred and three Lego pieces is a lot more intimidating than it sounds, especially if you used to live with an obsessivecompulsive that did 1,000-piece puzzles of deep space nebulas that he made himself in the basement. In no time at all, our
SO. MANY. TINY. PIECES!
workbench was covered with a mix of gray, black, blue, red and yellow parts, and it was at that point I realized I was going to need beer. We broke for a quick trip to the grocery store, where I was unable to find either German or Danish beer and settled for a brew with a motorcycle on the can. Why the Uinta Brewing Company of Salt Lake City, Utah, choose to make their “Ready Set Gose” beer with salt and coriander I will never know, but since it cost nine dollars for the six-pack, I committed to drinking it all. At least it’s USDA-certified organic and made with wind and solar power, so even though I didn’t care for this particular beer until the fourth can, I’m looking forward to trying their other beers and perhaps even visiting the brewery during the “Find Your Crossroads” rally in SLC in July 2017. (uintabrewing.com, tours daily by appointment at 3.30 p.m., love for beer and closed-toe shoes required) What is even more intimidating than 603 tiny Legos on a workbench is an instruction manual with 200 steps spread out over more than 100 pages. Unlike the owner’s manuals that come with motorcycles, however, the instruction manual that comes with this Lego kit is utterly fantastic and in full color. The step-by-step instructions are easy to follow unless you’ve downed most of a six-pack of beer, which is why it’s handy to
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have a surly teenager doing the heavy lifting. In what was likely the last time I’ll ever be able to impress a 14-year-old girl, my daughter marveled at my comprehensive knowledge of the motorcycle’s subsystems as she assembled them. “That’s the driveshaft!” I slurred. “That’s where the pistons will go!” I continued. “Shut up, old man!” she cried. “And get out of my light!” Four and a half hours later, we emerged from the basement workshop, our completed R 1200 GS Adventure in hand. Lego fans with short inseams are not going to be happy, but most of the rest of us cannot help but be impressed with the kit. Turning the rear wheel turns the driveshaft, which spins the crank, which moves the visible pistons. The kit comes stock with Öhlins shocks, a pricey surprise that is sure to please the most jaded GS rider. The six twin-spoke wheels are shiny and sure to resist brake dust buildup, especially since there are no brake calipers included. (I understand ABS is a $25 upgrade, but adds a full pound to the curb weight of the motorcycle.) The
Each participant had his or her beverage of choice. Overconsumption led to one of them being more useful than the other.
windshield is adjustable with one hand, but it is semi-opaque and difficult to look through. After a good night’s sleep, we took the Technic R 1200 GS Adventure on a road trip to test its rideability. The big adventure bike had a mind of its own, taking us directly to the nearest Starbucks location, where we enjoyed the oohing and aahing of the baristas on duty. By the time we left, three female baristas had thrown their panties at me, exhorting me to “give Jack Riepe our love!” My daughter collected the phone numbers of two male baristas, and I circled back to let them both know that should either of them call, I would return to their coffee
counter every day for …well, forever, or until they stopped calling my daughter. A passing eight-year-old boy exclaimed that the kit was “the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” and his mother gave me the stink-eye as she sighed, “We’ll tell Santa Claus about this, too.” When queried about the Lego Technic R 1200 GS Adventure, Paul Guillien, CEO of Touratech USA, said, “Our development team in Germany got a prototype of the Technic R 1200 GS Adventure a few months ago and wasted no time developing a complete range of accessories to provide crash protection and improved ergonomics for this lightweight traveler. The biggest challenge for our engineers was how to power up the Touratech heated seat on a bike with such an under-sized alternator. Whether you are planning a weekend ride or a trip around the toy room, the Touratech product line for the Technic R 1200 GS will ensure that both you and your bike go the distance.” The Lego Technic R 1200 GS Adventure kit is proving to be somewhat difficult to find in retail outlets in the USA, so online resources are generally best for a quick purchase. Prices vary, but try Amazon and eBay. PROS: Great fun for kids from 10 to 100; authentic reproduction; bouncy suspension; knobby tires. CONS: 603 pieces, approximately 590 of which are tiny; lacks electric or kick starter; kickstand not up to handling gusty winds.
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Make/Model LEGO Technic BMW R 1200 GS Adventure Year 2017 Engine Horizontally opposed two cylinder Capacity 0.9 cc Bore x Stroke 8 x 9 mm Cooling System Air cooled Compression Ratio 2.24:1 Exhaust Upswept 2-into-1 Induction Naturally aspirated Max Torque Braaaaaap! Final Drive Shaft Frame Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene Front Suspension Spring strut
ront Wheel Travel F Rear Suspension Rear Wheel Travel Wheels Length Max Width Max Height Seat Height Wheelbase Wet Weight Ground Clearance Rake Trail
13 mm Spring strut 17 mm Black, cast plastic, 65 x 15 mm 340 mm 95 mm 194 mm 126 mm 236 mm 0.47 kg 44 mm 26 degrees 56 mm
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Second Thoughts by Michael Hemenway Book Review by Bill Taylor #193604 WHAT DO YOU GET WHEN YOU
cross a lawyer, fond memories of a New England childhood, an R 50/2, Native Americans, environmental issues and a mysterious murder? In the case of Second Thoughts by Michael Hemenway (#137302), you get a fun, fast-paced novel. Our hero, Sam Shelton, is in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and his first morning there is a doozy. He can see a urinal, some bars and, most importantly, a police officer. Hemenway takes us into a quick flashback that shows how Sam ended up in the clink—a proenvironment rally staged by Native Americans that got out of hand and ended up with Sam unconscious on the ground. Because—like many college kids—he had a fake ID in his wallet, he ends up with charges against him. Those charges lead him to be introduced to his lawyer, Mike Stone. Stone is a friend of Secunda Dumay, which is in a roundabout way how Sam came to be in Santa Fe in the first place—or rather, how he got there. Sam is 21 years old, just finished his junior year at Brown, and is from Rhode Island. He had a house-sitting gig that put him next door to a quietly odd senior woman. Their shared love of the outdoors helped them
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
become friends, and when Dumay passes away, she bequeaths her beloved 1964 R 50/2 to him. Dumay knows Sam is headed to Santa Fe for a summer internship at The Fisher Law Office, and she entices him to look up Stone, her lawyer friend, while he’s there.
The story starts off a little complicated, because Sam can’t just call his new boss, who is also a lawyer. He spends much of his summer working with Stone to fight his charges, as the fake ID charge alone could brand him a felon and derail his budding legal career before it even starts. Sam
struggles throughout the story to keep his legal woes hidden from his bosses, wellknown corporate lawyers in town who seem to be on the verge of landing a big client, a large mining company. Sam spends a lot of time on his Slash 2; it is, after all, his only transportation, and he rode it all the way from Rhode Island to New Mexico. In addition to his internship, he has a mission: “Ride Pegasus to New Mexico,” a note from Dumay said, “and it will tell you a story.” Sam is convinced the story has something to do with the numbers etched into the side of the bike’s engine block. If Second Thoughts has a central theme, it’s environmental awareness. A mining disaster in Santa Fe’s past hangs over all the events of the book and draws Sam into the sphere of influence of a young Native American woman called Nina. Nina is interning in Santa Fe as well, at the Native American Action Committee, and is intensely involved in environmental affairs related to a 1979 mining disaster referred to throughout the story as Church Rock. Given the personal nature of much of the book (having met the author, Michael Hemenway, it’s hard not to see Sam as a reflection of him), it should come as no surprise that there really was a mining disaster at Church Rock in 1979. Over 1,000 tons of radioactive mill waste generated from the uranium mining process spilled into the Puerco
River along with 93 million gallons of irradiated fluids. The massive spill made the Puerco’s waters unusable, but the Navajo Nation’s request to declare a federal disaster went unheeded. Nina educates Sam on the disaster, and exposes her prejudices towards “Anglos” along the way. There isn’t much in a mystery novel that surprises me anymore; I’ve simply read too many of them. It isn’t a surprise that Nina and Sam become friends and slowly turn into romantic partners, changing their views and perhaps even their life goals along the way. It isn’t a surprise that the murder of Dumay’s professor father decades earlier plays into the disaster at Church Rock, and it certainly isn’t a surprise that Sam figures it all out—in part thanks to a wily independent BMW mechanic (again based on a real person) who helps Sam discover some secrets about his motorcycle. Sam also learns important lessons about the legal system through his own encounter with the court and his felony charge, lessons that the reader would be well advised to heed as well. Second Thoughts is an excellent story, suitable for readers of all ages who enjoy mysteries. The romance is G rated, and the violence tops out at PG. The characters are well fleshed out, with even minor ones getting solid back stories and concrete reasons for being where they are in Sam’s adventure. Hemenway is a stickler for detail, whether that detail is related to the law or the main characters—including that 1964 R 50/2. Second Thoughts is available on Amazon. com in paper and electronic versions, along with Hemenway’s other books, Ryder (another novel), and Blue Lights in Your Mirror: A Guide to the Criminal Justice System for Students, Parents, Teachers and Coaches, which he co-wrote with Fred Smith.
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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www.weisertechnik.com
new
PRoductnews Register for the Rally and WIN!
Members and guests who register online for the 2017 International Rally in Salt Lake or share our latest rally video posted on the BMW MOA Facebook group are automatically entered in a drawing for a Scala Rider Packtalk Duo system and two Rever app subscriptions. Every two weeks, we'll take all the registrants and all the shares and draw a few winners for the swag. The sooner you register or share, the more chances you have to win. It's some really cool swag, too! The new Packtalk Duo from Scala Rider integrates all your favorite communications right into your helmet. There are two Bluetooth-enabled units in each package, so you can keep up to speed with a riding partner or another bike. The package is valued at $579. You’ll never forget a favorite ride with the route recording features in the new Rever app. Start tracking, planning and sharing your motorcycle rides. Download the basic app for free, and you could win the annual subscription for premium features in our little contest! To register for the rally, visit bmwmoa.org and follow the link under “Rally ’17” or visit the Rally Registration page directly. Don't forget to share the rally video on Facebook for more chances to win. All you have to do is click the “Share the Link” tab at the top of the video.
Brake Free helmet-mounted brake light
BrakeFree Technology’s new LED braking indicator mounts to the rear of a rider’s helmet and signals any deceleration. The Brake Free device detects any reductions in speed, even due to engine braking, and alerts following motorists with 100 ultra-bright LEDs. The self-contained BrakeFree unit is powered by a high-capacity lithium ion battery and requires no connection to a motorcycle’s electrical system. The Brake Free carries an MSRP of $149. For more information, visit brakefreetech.com.
IMTBIKE's Best of Portugal tour
For their 20th anniversary, IMTBIKE Tours and Rentals will be offering a new route in 2017: The Best of Portugal Tour. This 12-day tour begins in the sunny city of Lisbon and continues to the historic city of Porto along the edge of the Douro River and its picture-perfect, historic sights. Also included are the Serra da Estrela Mountains southeast of Porto where beautiful asphalt with no traffic shows why Portugal is a great destination for twowheeled exploration. IMTBIKE’s new tour also introduces riders to Portugal’s fantastic beaches, dizzying cliffs, folklore, Fado music, incredible food, world-famous wines, rich history, and an abundance of serpentine roads. For more information, visit www.IMTBIKE.com or email tours@ imtbike.com.
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
Go further with Dunlop Sportmax Roadsmart III tires Said to last longer and offer better performance over the life of the tire, Dunlop’s new Sportmax® Roadsmart III has been designed to work on everything from middle-weight sport bikes for riders looking for more mileage to big, powerful performance touring machines. Independent testing on a 2016 BMW R 1200 RT yielded more than 12,000 miles on the Dunlop Roadsmart III while offering performance advantages including wet and dry grip, steering response and compliance. The Roadsmart III maintains its performance advantage over its long lifespan and features a MultiTread® design to bind a high-mileage compound to the center and a high adhesion compound to the lateral flanks for high cornering grip. Additional features of the new tire include compounds to enhance wear resistance and increase wet road performance, a rear profile to increase footprint, and a sidewall construction to help provide additional shock absorption for reduced rider fatigue. For more information, visit dunlopmotorcycletires.com.
BMW Motorrad releases Navigator VI.
BMW Motorrad’s new Navigator VI offers an updated navigation system using the same dimensions of the Navigator V. A polarizing filter on the new unit offers enhanced readability, particularly in strong and even direct sunlight, and storage capacity been increased from 8 GB to 16 GB. Other new features include options for Winding Roads, Avoid Main Roads, Round Trip and a Natural Guidance function providing a description of the surroundings. A new Bluetooth connected, music streaming feature makes it possible to listen to music stored on a smartphone, and compatible action cams can now be controlled directly by the Navigator VI using either the four-button mount cradle or the multi-controller on the handlebars. Additional functions offer information about motorcycle warning and status messages, traffic congestion and weather reports. All future updates of map data are free. For more information, visit your local BMW Motorrad dealer.
Essential adventure with the Klim Carlsbad
With an emphasis on function, the new KLIM Carlsbad Adventure jacket and pants strip excess and emphasize the essential needs of an adventure rider. The protective gear has been engineered to perform at a high level and is capable of adaptation to personal preference. Constructed using a GORE-TEX® Performance Shell base with substantial Cordura® ripstop material, the new Carlsbad jacket provides six vents at the forearms, chest and back, nine pockets, and D3O CE Level 1 armor protecting elbows, shoulders and back. Using the same material, the pants incorporate D30 CE Level I armor at the hips and knees, two storage pockets, and front and back thigh vents. The gear also uses black 3M™ SCOTCHLITE™ reflective material for additional rider visibility. The Carlsbad line is intended for riders who require durable apparel which will hold up through many years of use. For more information, visit www.KLIM.com. April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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news
news
Meet our newest Ambassadors By Dave Swider #58209, Ambassador Liaison IT IS MY HONOR TO ANNOUNCE
the addition of four dedicated members to the ranks of BMW MOA Ambassador. These members have been nominated by their peers as acknowledgement of their enthusiastic service to our club and community. Congratulations to our new Ambassadors!
Muriel Farrington #89517
White River Junction, Vermont I’ve known Muriel personally and have long been impressed with her diligence, grace and enthusiasm for the club. Muriel has served as a BMW MOA Board Director and served as Board Secretary for two terms, doing a tremendous job. She has also been an active member of the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Vermont.
Jason “Jiggs” Olson #59163
Don Hamblin #9931
Vince Barkhoff #125820
BMW MOA Ambassadors are chosen and nominated by club members like you. If you would like to nominate a member, visit bmwmoa.org, click on the TOOLS button and select the Ambassador link to locate the Ambassador nomination form. Send your completed form to me at teamkbasa@comcast.net and remember to keep it confidential. All nominations are voted on by the BMW MOA Board of Directors.
New Ulm, Minnesota If you attended the 2015 Rally in Billings, Montana, you may recognize Jason’s name as one of the Rally Chairs. Running a rally is a job typically lasting 18 months and a commitment to our club that affects the summer vacation plans of thousands of people. Jason is a member of the Knights of the Roundel #333. Cedar Falls, Iowa Vince was Co-Chair of the 2015 Rally with Jason. Vince has been riding BMWs for more than 25 years, including his mother’s R 75/6 to his first rally MOA rally 1988. Vince’s goal in 2015 was to make sure everyone had as much fun in Billings as he did at his first rally. Vince is a member of the Knights of the Roundel #333.
Lees Summit, Missouri Don has served our club in many ways for many years. Don has served as President for both the BMW MOA as well as the Kansas City BMW Club and has chaired the Land of Oz Rally several times. Don also manages the Kansas City club’s Facebook page and has been involved in other BMW clubs as well.
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news
WSBK opens at Phillip Island By Wes Fleming #87301 THE MOTUL FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD
Championship – commonly known as World Superbike, or WSBK – had its season opener at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit in Australia on 25-26 February, 2017. Both races were nail-bitingly exciting, with #1 plate holder Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) trading the lead with Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing/Ducati), Marco Melandri (Aruba.it/Ducati), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha) and even rookie Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) but ultimately winning both races. Rea leads the championship after its inaugural event with 50 points, but Davies isn’t far behind with 40 points earned from his dual secondplace finishes. The Althea BMW Racing Team had a respectable, but ultimately disappointing outing. Spaniard Jordi Torres finished Race 1 in 7th place, 8.7 seconds behind Rea. Torres fell back quickly from his starting position in Row 3, but fought ahead to within striking distance of the lead pack and benefitted from Lorenzo Savadori and Marco Melandri crashing out of Race 1.
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
Due to new gridding rules, his seventhplace finish in Race 1 put him in the fourth slot on the grid for Race 2, at the head of Row 2. He managed to stay well ahead of Irishman Eugene Laverty in the last laps of Saturday’s race, but couldn’t quite catch fellow Spaniard Xavi Forés, who brought up the rear of the lead pack. Torres had the fastest speed of the entire grid during Race 1, reaching 198.5 mph. Reiterberger spent much of Race 1 clashing with American Nicky Hayden’s teammate, rookie Stefan Bradl, ultimately finishing in 12th place, over 21 seconds behind the winner but just two seconds behind Hayden, who seemed to struggle with his Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2. “I was happy with the test early in the week,” Reiterberger said, praising the setup on his S 1000 RR.
Race 2 was a disappointment for Torres, who had acceleration problems with his motorcycle during the warm-up lap and was forced to drop out of the race altogether. “It was a weekend of ups and downs for us,” he said. “Overall the weekend went well and we know that we have the pace to be consistently within the front group.” Reiterberger started Race 2 well, getting as high as ninth place before spending most of the race in 11th. Unfortunately, he dropped two positions in the final drag race out of Turn 12, crossing the finish line in 13th, nearly 26 seconds behind Rea. Torres sits at nine points in the overall standings, with Reiterberger close behind at seven. BMW has 12 points in the Manufacturer’s Standings, trailing Aprilia (15) but leading Honda (6). Both men earned points in the BMW Motorrad Race Trophy, which covers 20 racing series around the world.
www.tristedthrottle.com/hexezcan April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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GETAWAYS Fontana Dam, North Carolina
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BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
4/21 - 4/23
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Reserve your spot today!
For complete event details and to register, visit bmwmoa.org and click on the EVENTS tab or call 864-438-0962 and a membership associate will be happy to assist you. Contact host hotel directly for room accommodations.
April 2017  BMW OWNERS NEWS
39
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
TECH
keepemflying
Of Airheads and inactivity By Matthew Parkhouse #13272 back when I set up this Slash Five for my Mexico trips. The R&R of doing the pushnot tolerate inactivrod seals takes about two hours or so, but it ity very well. I’ve was a bit longer this time because I was been spending the cleaning parts like the headers and muflast few days preflers as they came off. After I finished and paring Susanna’s got the bike back outside, I tried starting it and my bikes for again. our month-long Even with nicely set valves and a slightly ride around the Southwest. I’m takhigher compression, it STILL refused to ing what I fondly call “The Mexico start. One side was clearly firing Bike,” because the frame on stronger than the other, so I my main ride, Strider, is looked in the carburetors. The still out getting straightleft side revealed a blocked idle ened. Neither bike would jet, something that definitely start after I uncovered would interfere with starting. I them and brought them to got out my little box of jet files the shop door. Susanna’s R and quickly opened the jet pas100/7 simply had a low batsage. This bike also received a tery. Mine, even after a setnew set of fuel lines. When I went ting of the valves and a to try it again, it sputtered on reset of the timing, would both sides and then lit right up. not light up. After a good run to get it warm, I The R 100/7, after an shut it down, pulled all four spark overnight stint on the batplug caps off the dual-plugged tery charger, started right engine, grounded them and up. I changed all the oils removed the top plugs. I installed before it was put up, but I my compression gauge, opened realized I hadn’t checked the throttle all the way and spun the clutch since I had the engine. After a few turns, I replaced it at the West had a steady reading of 115 psi. Bend, Wisconsin, Rally That works out to about 8:1 for back in 2007. I spent a cou- The cylinder and piston assembly, all cleaned up with new pushrod seals in ple of hours with it on the place (note the aligning marks on the rubber seals. Those marks should compression and is at the lower end of the healthy range. The bike, shop lift, delving into the point straight down when things are back together. after all, has 11 trips going south driveline to check it and on the engine. We here in Colorado also I had just replaced a bike’s pushrod seals lube the input splines. The clutch lose about half an atmosphere just being at for a local fellow and decided the Mexico came out a little thin, but within 6,000 feet. The bike’s other side came in at Bike was dripping a bit too much, so it specs. It was dirty, so I cleaned it up 113 psi; it is a good sign to have the left and went up on the lift for the same treatment. with brake cleaner and returned it to right sides come close to matching in At the same time, I exchanged the “low the bike. The clutch, brake and throtcompression. octane” base gaskets that I had installed in tle hand controls got cleaned up and The tires on both bikes were fairly new. I the late 1980s with the stock specification greased. The fuel line was looking had put new ones on the Mexico bike thinned ones. This essentially boosted the old and a bit weepy, so it got replaced. before my last trip there. Susanna’s looked compression about one half atmosphere. The carbs had been drained prior to equally adequate. They did, of course, read The gas in Mexico is in better supply and of the bike being put up, so they were fairly low in air pressure and were topped higher quality than the old highly leaded clean. The vent hoses on top of the up. The pair of airheads are now on the 81-octane “Nova” gas that was the norm engine were rock hard; I ordered a AIRHEADS
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
DO
new set. I left the bike disassembled, put it back outside under cover and finished up a week later when the new vent hoses arrived. I replaced the vent tubes with the new ones, put the air cleaner back together (much easier with the new, flexible vent tubes!) and fired it up. After a short warm-up, I did a quick carb balance. Everything was pretty well equal and I declared Susanna’s bike ready for the trip.
www.motoelekt.com
The cylinder, in place after being installed.
back patio, covered up as a dusting of snow falls. The forecast for our departure next week reads encouragingly good. I’ve gone over the trailer and have renewed the plug-in wiring for the lights. Our faithful Volvo got a good cleaning and going over, getting new fluids, sparkplugs and plug wires. In the last couple of years, I’ve put in a new exhaust system, new shocks and struts and various other bits and pieces, like that overflow reservoir I replaced at the Billings Rally. It has been very helpful having Doug, a fellow airhead rider and Volvo mechanic, to fall back on when these needs arise. I just noticed the windshield fluid reservoir is cracked, but it will work up to three-quarters full. The car will get a new one when we return. I have the reservoir out right now. It will receive an epoxy patch to see it through this trip. I shot some photos as I did the pushrod seals for a friend a couple of weeks ago. I’ll go over how that is done. It is one of those jobs that is often done in an Airhead’s driveway during a Tech Day. Going slowly, it took me a couple of hours to get the job done. I made sure I had the needed parts first. The bike, a 1977 RS, needed four of the later style of seals. BMW had two main types of the pushrod seals for the 25-year airhead run (excluding R 65s and a couple of other odd bikes). The 1970 to 1975 bikes get the seals with a smaller hole. Bikes from ‘76 and on have a noticeably larger diameter hole for the pushrod tube. The ’77 bikes had a pair of small rubber O-rings that sealed the top two engine stud holes of the cylinder. Those two studs are pathways
that carry oil to the rocker assemblies on both sides of the engine. Starting in 1978, there is a large O-ring that seals the cylinder base. This was absent on the bike I was working on. I started by removing the exhaust system and pulling the carbs off and tying them back a few inches. I put the engine at Top Dead Center and pulled the valve covers to see which side I’d be starting on. On the TDC side, I undid the four nuts that hold down the rocker arms, leaving the 6 o’clock and the 12 o’clock head nuts in place. I lifted off the rockers and pulled out the pushrods, laying them down in orientation to each other. The spark plug was out. I then could pull the cylinder away from the engine block. I usually need to give the cylinder a few raps with a rubber hammer to help it along. When the piston pin was seen emerging at the base of the cylinder, I slowed down and got the piston pin fully exposed. On the ’77 RS, it is held in place with an external circlip. I carefully removed the pin with a pair of snap ring pliers. On earlier 1970s BMWs like the Mexico Bike, a snap ring that must be pried out does the securing job. I can then push the cylinder to one side. I’ve often had to apply a bit of heat to warm up the piston metal to allow free movement. When it is to the side, the cylinder is now free of the connecting rod and can be pulled the rest of the way off the studs. You want to take care that the con rod does not drop down as you pull the cylinder-piston assembly away. That sharp, hard edge can raise a definite gouge on the engine block sealing surface. The idea is to
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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keep the piston rings within the cylinder. The piston stayed in the cylinder as I cleaned off the sealing surfaces and cleaned up the cylinder with spray carb cleaner and paper towels. I also cleaned the engine block and the holes that take the pushrod seals. I pulled out the lifters with a magnet to examine the contact area and the cam shaft lobes. Both the cam and the lifters can erode, leaving chipped-away spots on the friction surfaces. With everything cleaned up, the sealing areas, including the new pushrod seals, get a coat of GascaCinch. This is a sealer/dressing compound favored by Volkswagen rebuilders. New O-rings go over the two pairs of engine studs. The new seals are pushed on to the pushrod tubes. There is an aligning mark on the seal, a line that is oriented to point straight down. When the sealer is dry, things go back together. I warmed the piston up a bit with a torch to allow smooth action with the piston pin. After that pin is in place, the cylinder is pushed home to the engine block. You want to get the cylinder as close as possible to the engine. Next, the pushrods go back in (you did place them down to keep track of the contact surfaces, didn’t you?), followed by the rocker arms. You should be able to install the rocker arm nuts to grab some of the stud threads. As
they are tightened, they will pull the cylinder the rest of the way to the block. I used my water pump pliers to tighten up the slack between the arms and their pillow blocks (gentle pressure!). Once everything is tight and torqued (25 ft. lbs.), the valves are reset to 0.15mm (intake) and 0.20 (exhaust). The rocker cover goes on and you rotate the engine 360 degrees (one complete rotation). The routine is then repeated on the other side. With both sides back together, the exhaust system went back in place and the carbs were replaced. I like to check the carb balance when I’m done, partly because I have reset the valves and partly because the cables can get jostled when the carbs are tied back out of the way. When I repeated this task with the Mexico Bike, the steps were identical, except for a different arrangement with the piston pin clips, the size of the pushrod seals and the presence of base gaskets. I also chose to pull the pistons out of the cylinders to scrape off an accumulation of carbon, “decoking” as the British refer to the job. There was a fair amount of this stuff, after eleven runs south of the border. It is reasonably easy to replace the pistons in the cylinders when you are doing it from the engine side. I’m getting kind of excited about this upcoming trip. It will be the first of hopefully several rides this season. I will turn 67 this riding season, and I’m increasingly aware that someday soon the riding door will start to close.
We just held a good wake for our friend Paul Swenson, who died at 72. He really did keep riding right up to the end, with a sidecar rig to accommodate his missing leg. However, I’m watching others slow down and curtail their riding. When that time comes for me, I do have other interests. I plan on keeping rabbits and chickens, once the away-from-home travelling lamp is out. Like Paul (a master bike mechanic and restorer), I plan on continuing my wrenching as long as I can pick a bike up. I have a couple of strenuous adventures lined up. I want to ride to Panama—or at least as far as is considered safe—next winter. Though Susanna does not like this idea, I also want to put a canoe in the Mississippi and run downstream for at least a week in the late summer within the next year or two. I recently read a column (by Doug Casey, I think) about how we all “become old” somewhere between 60 and 70. Either gradually or with some event, one simply can no longer do what he or she used to do. As this threshold approaches for me, I am very appreciative that I have taken a number of opportunities as they came along. A summer of archaeology in Northern Ireland, living and riding in London for a year followed by a ride to Istanbul and beyond. Several summers taken off between jobs, school and Army hitches. Susanna’s and my four-month tour of Europe and North Africa. It goes on. I figure that I have LIVED on my bike for over three years if one adds up the longer rides. It’s been grand, and I’m not done yet!
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
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April 2017  BMW OWNERS NEWS
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TEC
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Airheads, K bikes and switches By George Mangicaro #136221
Q:
The neutral indicator light is out on my 1976 R 75/6. I unplugged one of the wires to the neutral indicator switch at the bottom of the tranny and grounded one of the prongs, and the green light turned on. Does this mean the indicator switch is faulty? It seems like a real bear to replace it, and I want to be sure before I dive in. Assistance please. — Tico P. via Facebook
A:
Hopefully the gear indicator switch is bad, because if it isn’t, the cam inside the transmission is bad—and that’s a LOT of trouble. You may be thinking it will be hard to replace that switch because it looks like you have to remove the transmission to get at it–but you don’t. Put the bike on its center stand, support the rear of the engine with a suitable jack, drain the transmission oil and remove the rear engine mounting bolt (the one that holds the front foot pegs on. Note the position of the foot pegs before removing them; they’re adjustable and can’t be swapped side to side). Carefully pry out the spacer from the rear of the engine below the transmission (it’s a tube about an inch in diameter) and remove the neutral indicator switch. Don’t forget to install a new crush washer on the neutral switch and remember that installation is the reverse of removal. Be sure the spacer is square to the engine case when you put it back on. Don’t just wedge it in there and bash it with a hammer.
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
You can replace the gear indicator switch (at left) without removing the transmission, but you do have to pull the spacer that blocks access to it (above).
Q:
I ride a 1993 K 1100 LT and noticed the rear brake light is constantly illuminated. I found the front brake light switch to be defective, swapped in a new one, and that solved the rear brake light issue. The new problem that developed with this is that I can't get the instrument cluster ABS and brake lights to stop flashing. They flash simultaneously, which I believe indicates an ABS issue. They both used to go off before I put in the new front switch. I rechecked all the connections, and they look good and only go in one way. It solved the original problem, anyway. The battery is only eight months old; I have not done a load test, but it would be too coincidental that the issue started same day as new switch. Any clues or ideas what to look for now? Thanks! — C. Huni via email
A:
This answer assumes you have a model year 1993 built before 7/93. After 7/93, the K 1100 LT would be ABS II and the answer would change slightly. You’re correct the switch is not defective if the brake light is now working. The problem you have now was there before you replaced the switch—you just did not know it. Your bike has a bulb monitor. The bulb warning light also functions as one of the ABS lights. This causes the ABS not to fully self-test if there is an issue with a bulb or switch. Have you ridden the bike since replacing the switch? The bike needs to see wheel speed to self-test. If you have ridden the bike, and the ABS lights still blink in unison, then you most likely have a bad ABS controller. Sadly, BMW is not fully supporting the ABS I bikes anymore. You might need to find someone with a GS911 to help you out.
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
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From cloudy to sunny in Old Florida By Deb Gasque #182082 THIS PAST WIN-
ter, in particular, was very cloudy. Don’t get me wrong…our winter here in the Southeast, was extremely mild this year. But as far as my outlook, demeanor, thrive and jive, it was cloudy. With my bad case of wanderlust (okay, I admit I’m a travel junkie), the few months of downtime just didn’t do my soul any justice. With one more month of winter hovering and attempting to suppress every bit of spunk I had left, I gathered all the strength I could muster and rose up in utter determination to get back to my happy place. The perfect remedy? ROAD TRIP! A quick glance at the national weather map turned my head south. And, there commenced the travel plans for Florida in February! Ahhhhh, Florida. Some of the first visuals come to mind: Daytona Beach, Key West, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, Miami. I needed to look deeper and find off-the-beaten-path places that not only stirred my thrive and jive again, but also would be appreciated by my fellow two-wheeled travelers. Like a piercing ray of sunshine bursting through, I found the perfect destination: “Old Florida.” Long forgotten as a vacation destination, this region of the Sunshine State is gloriously full of rich historical treasures and bursts with flora and fauna along quaint waterfront towns that have somehow survived the big shift in Florida tourism. In researching this northern Gulf coast area, I was hooked head-overFashionista heels! When this beautiful synchronicity happens, I start packing my saddlebags! With my route plugged into Google
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
Maps on my ever-omniscient iPhone (“avoid highways” checked, of course), I set out solo on Superbowl Sunday and rode 400 miles to my “staging location,” Valdosta, Georgia. The first official stop on my journey to Old Florida was only 94 miles away, and I wanted to get a good night’s sleep after a long, chilly day in the saddle. That evening, I enjoyed watching the Superbowl from the pub in a really great chain hotel in Valdosta while taking pretravel notes. Always utilize your BMW MOA benefits for discounts on chain hotels and B&B accommodations, I do! I awoke to brilliant sunny skies and knew this trip was the remedy my soul desperately needed. I departed mid-morning on Hwy 221 S out of Valdosta and took a right onto Hwy 146 (Ashville Highway). Gorgeous! The road swept through hilly, country roads with massive ancient oaks dripping in Spanish moss for as far as you could see. I suggest riding this stretch very casually so you can hear gentle “Old Florida” calling out and appreciate all of its glory. I approached the historic city of Monticello and enjoyed the ornate architecture of the stately courthouse that I circled during my navigation to Hwy 19 S. After a mile or so, I turned right onto the Waukeenah Highway. Wow! Another fantastic ride just seeping with Old Florida scenery. Next it was Hwy 59, Hwy 98, Hwy 267, and then a left into the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park (let them know you are staying at the lodge when entering, which will excuse your gate fee.)
Wakulla Springs, Florida
Amidst the flora and fauna of the “Big Bend” region of northwestern Florida lies a hidden little gem: Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park, home of one of the deepest and largest freshwater springs in the world, as well as a 6,000-acre wildlife sanctuary. In 1937, businessman Edward Ball purchased Wakulla Springs. Through
the work of skilled artisans and craftsmen, he built an elegant 27-room Spanish-Moorish guest retreat using “heart” cypress wood, ornate iron work and imported Tennessee marble throughout the lodge. Touted as “North Florida’s Castle,” this was my destination for the evening. Upon arrival (easy parking for motorcycles), I knew I was victorious in my quest to discover Old Florida. The “Great Lobby” was a knockout with its checkerboard marble floors and staircase, antique furniture, massive fireplace, historic relics, Spanish-style light fixtures, and most impressively, the ceiling with handhewn cypress panels and beams decoratively painted with local wildlife scenes. If that wasn’t enough to overload my senses, the elevator (c.1937) did me in. The walls were made of walnut with inlays of various colored woods, and it is the only known surviving period Art Deco elevator still in use. It was so charming, with just a smidgen of creepy. I rode that elevator every chance I got! My newly renovated room was fabulous (Room 28) and included the same gorgeous marble floors that adorned the lobby and dining hall. As soon as I unloaded the bike, I quickly Fashionista’d up and headed for the Edward Ball Dining Room for lunch (pricing for lunch and dinner is moderate, and breakfast is included in room rate). The decor was extremely reminiscent of the '30s and '40s, complete with music from that era playing in the background. Since it was a Monday in February, the lunch crowd was light, and most diners were dressed very casually (with the ambiance of the room, I wanted to put on my pearls and a lovely ballgown). I dined on specialties privy to the Lodge and area: Wakulla Oysters on the half shell, Navy Bean soup (original recipe of the Lodge) and a lovely salad. It was delicious and the perfect energy I needed for a full day of exploration. Steps away from the back exit of the lodge is the original tri-level diving
was peeping into the secret Bourbon vault that Edward Ball had built during Prohibition. During that “dry” period of Americana, he would invite trusted friends into the vault for an evening nip of the forbidden brown nectar. My kind of guy! From my arrival earlier that afternoon to the moment my head hit the pillow, I felt the “quiet elegance” of The Lodge at Wakulla Springs and knew I had Fresh Wakulla 0ysters served in the grand dining room at the Lodge at begun my journey for Wakulla Springs. forgotten Old Florida at the perfect place! (Info: www.wakullaspringplatform for a swim into the famed Wakulla slodge.com; 850-421-2000; mention this Springs. Also, the Florida State Park Service article for a discount) (which now owns the entire property) has a I awoke the next morning to another dock and visitors’ center offering boat rides bright day with not a cloud in the sky, and I throughout the springs/river area. The cost thought of the song “Here Comes the Sun.” is $8 for an hour of sightseeing and is well The smile had definitely returned to my worth it! A fun fact about Wakulla Springs: face, and it was all right! I packed up and set The Creature From the Black Lagoon was out for my next destination…but first, a few filmed on-site, as well as a few of the Tarzan movies. On my boat excursion, I viewed an abundance of native wildlife, including a family of five manatees (the winter is manatee season in Florida’s warm rivers and springs). After docking back at the lodge, I took some time to wander about and take in the serene surroundings. Prior to a lovely nap in my room, I visited the lodge’s soda fountain for a peek at the world’s longest marble soda counter, an impressive 70 feet in length. Later that evening, I enjoyed a fantastic dinner in the dining room, and must recommend the Wakulla’s Famous Old South Fried Chicken. There are certainly many entrees on the menu that look enticing, but the reviews I read prior to my visit mostly raved about the fried chicken, and they weren’t lying! Before it was time to nestle into my lovely bed, I was given a behind-the-scenes private tour by one of the many fabulous staff members at the lodge. One of the highlights
fun detours. Heading south, back the way I came, I found St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge. Worth the $5 price of admission, the views were stunning with pristine nature and wildlife all around. The prize for a drive to the end of the refuge: St. Marks Lighthouse. Nice detour! My next stop, after traveling south on Hwy 98 (the main thoroughfare of the Big Bend) and taking a right onto Hwy 51, was Steinhatchee, a sleepy little fishing village that’s known for its voracious scalloping season (June-September). Visitors are allowed to shallow dive for their legal limit of bay scallops during the season. Local restaurants in Steinhatchee serve up the delicious delicacies, as well as other native sea fare. After a quick look around, I departed south on Hwy 358 and connected back up with Hwy 98 to make my last side trip of the day. I crossed over the historic Suwanee River and took a right on Hwy 320, destination Manatee Springs State Park ($4 for motorcycle entry). The facility has fantastic parking and scenic boardwalk-type walkways that overlook the gorgeous Manatee Springs where you can view Manatees (in the winter season) and a plethora of other native wildlife. During my research, I read nice reviews
Ancient cypress tree, indicative of Old Florida, along the Wakulla River. April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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about the park itself. But what really caught my eye was the on-site Anderson’s Outdoor Adventures (kayak/ canoe/paddleboard rentals, and boat tours). It wasn’t the water calling my name, but their BBQ certainly was. These guys smoke the most amazing BBQ pork (and chicken) I’ve ever tasted; it’s cheap and freaking fantastic! I ordered the BBQ ribs and annihilated them in no time. With my belly full and ready to arrive at my final destination, I found my way back out of Manatee Springs State Park and took Hwy 345 to Hwy 24 westward to the Gulf.
Cedar Key, Florida
The moment I crossed the breathtaking marshes and channels leading into laid-back Cedar Key, I knew I should have booked two nights here—at least. My accommodation for the night, Cedar Key Bed & Breakfast, was absolutely perfect, with easy parking on the quiet street. The owner, Alice, is big on aesthetic detail, and it shows throughout this delightful property. I immediately felt welcomed and relaxed. My room was impeccable, but still maintained an antique charm, and I enjoyed a delicious bubble bath in the antique claw foot tub before departing for my evening of exploration. Cedar Key, labeled “Las Islas Sabines” by a Spanish cartographer in 1542, is rumored to be the second oldest city in Florida. From the Paleo period to the Indian War, the Civil War to the present, this one-square mile city (population less than 800 people) is brimming with history and the soul of Old Florida. I enjoyed a short walk to the waterfront and then to Second Street, where most of the shops in this tiny town are located. Low-key character truly bursts through the seams in this old-fashioned village full of art galleries, boutique shops and seafood restaurants, with one market and one convenience/liquor store. I dipped into the
Fishing is big business in Steinhatchee, Florida.
historic Island Hotel (c. 1859) for a peek and to enjoy an evening libation in their “Neptune Bar.” It was there that I met a few locals, some of whom were in the clam farming business. Contradictory to the ultra-casualness of this little town, Cedar Key began a multi-million dollar commercial clam farming industry in the 1990s which is currently thriving off the charts,
thus breathing life back into the village. (You can score “World Champion Clam Chowder” at Tony’s on Second Street.) It was also at the Neptune Bar that I ran into the “Three Amigos,” as I nicknamed them. They were longtime buddies from Gainesville, Florida, who vacationed in Cedar Key most of their lives. We chatted more about this paradise on the Gulf over scrumptious,
Cedar Key, Florida is surrounded with stunning waterfront scenery.
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local peel-and-eat-shrimp at the Big Deck Raw Bar. After a nice evening, I excused myself and slipped back to my dreamy B&B for some peaceful sleep. I arose early the next morning, fresh and ready for the new day. Following coffee with my innkeeper, Alice, I stepped outside to breathe in the fresh salt air and spied a BMW motorcycle across the street with the rider standing near. Of course I walked over, and before I knew it, we were enjoying great fellowship and riding stories over coffee. I bid him farewell and placed an MOA membership form into his hands, as he hadn’t yet joined our ranks. Pulling away later that morning, I realized the dark clouds haunting my winter had dissipated. It was another sunny day with more of Old Florida to discover. (Info: www.cedarkeybedandbreakfast.com; 352-543-9000; mention this article for a discount) That day, I had one important side trip: Crystal River. I followed Hwy 24 out of Cedar Key and took a right on Hwy 98. An hour later, I was peeling off my riding attire and squeezing into a wetsuit. I was there with a mission: rub a Manatee belly. May sound strange, but it was a “bucket list” item. Thanks to the fine efforts of my captain, Rick, and co-owner Laura of Fun 2 Dive, I came away that day fist pumping. Manatees can be very shy, and strict laws prohibit swimmers pursuing them. However, if a manatee approaches on its own, you may gently give it a rub. I was blessed that day with a curious little guy who needed some attention. Quite exciting, I must say. (Info: www.Fun2Dive.com; 352-228-2279)
Mount Dora, Florida
I took a turn east and unchecked the “avoid highways” box to fast track to my last destination. After nearly two hours on the road and still a little damp from the Manatee adventure, I arrived at Farnsworth House Bed & Breakfast in historic Mount Dora. The innkeepers, knowing I was coming on a motorcycle, gave me a parking spot in their carport. (It’s the little things that make a stay so enjoyable.) I was still smiling but relieved to grab a hot shower and relax. I was totally exhausted, so opted to walk the
The Donnelly House in Mount Dora, listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
of Lake Dora. It was a winter retreat for fishermen, boaters and hunters in the late 1800s, and then in the 1920s, it experienced a boom with its residential and business development. Today, Mount Dora is a mecca for art galleries, specialty boutiques, cafes, pubs and restaurants. I left my motorcycle parked at the B&B and enjoyed a fabulous day on foot, perusing several sassy boutique shops, photographing historic buildings and landmarks, and spending quiet time down by Lake Dora near the Lakeside Inn. It was another gorgeous, sunny day, and my soul was soaring. (Info: farnsworthhousebb.com; 352-409-0330) As I sat by the lake Mount Dora Lighthouse in Gilbert Park, the only inland freshwater that day and pondered lighthouse in Florida. my amazing journey that was drawing to an end, I had a distinct thought: Old Florida may After a delicious breakfast prepared by have needed me just as much as I needed it. the super-hospitable innkeepers, Kim and If you think about it, I was searching to Soren, I set out to explore my last stop in rediscover my sunshine and, coincidentally, Old Florida. Founded in 1880, the hilly area sunny Old Florida is searching to be redisof Mount Dora rests on a plateau 184 feet covered. above sea level and is situated on the banks short distance to Jeremiah’s for dinner, a classic neighborhood restaurant and pub. I didn’t last long chatting with the locals and had my weary body tucked into my comfy bed in no time.
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Discover Washington
By Bill Wiegand #180584 62
BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
PAUL PROMISED “A RIDE TO REMEM-
ber.” He described an area not far from his Seattle home with mountains, beaches and a rain forest, all within a couple hours of each other. We couldn’t get there fast enough. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t care that we had plans, and she soaked the Seattle area with rain in the days leading to our arrival. In this wet climate, residents don’t use ink when writing plans on their calendars. “Have you guys ever fly fished?” Paul asked. With the resounding chorus of “No,” it was settled. We were riding east. Paul Guillien knows Washington state. Depending upon the season and elevation, when he isn’t working he’s usually sailing or skiing with his family. With his day job as the CEO of Touratech USA, he’s also an accomplished rider and president of the Backcountry Discovery Routes. No doubt, this would be a ride to remember. A late start made interstate travel necessary, and rain was still pouring down as we merged onto I-90. The further we got from
Seattle the lighter the rain fell, and by the time we made our first stop at Snoqualmie Falls, it was nothing more than an annoying mist. The 268-foot Snoqualmie Falls is about 30 miles outside of Seattle, tucked between
the tiny towns of Snoqualmie and Fall City, Washington. Not only is the Falls one of the area’s most popular area attractions for its beauty, it’s also famous for its appearance on the 1980s series Twin Peaks along with the Salish Lodge, known in the series as
Above, Rows upon rows of fly fishing lures await anglers at Red's Fly Shop. Below, Paul practices his fly-casting technique.
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“The Great Northern.” A stop there was mandatory. While most of the river is diverted to power plants, during the rainy season between November and March the falls take on a curtain form, with mist rising high above the lower river. Centuries ago, the Snoqualmie people living in the valley saw the falls as the place where their prayers were carried up to the Creator by the great mist rising from the falls connecting heaven and earth. Today, Puget Sound Energy owns the property, and in 2009 the falls were formally listed in the National Register of Historic Places over their objections. With daylight fading and our destination of Wymer, Washington, still 100 miles away, the interstate provided the best option. We droned away in the dark, still wet from the rain. It’s a shame to ride through places you’ve never traveled to with nothing visible other than what your headlight illuminates, but we had a both a reservation and a schedule to keep. “That was the worst part of the trip,” Paul promised as we got off our bikes in the gravel lot in front of the Canyon River Ranch next to Red’s Fly Shop. Located along State Route 821 on the banks of the Yakima River, the history of Red’s Fly Shop goes back more than 80 years to when it was known as The Lattice Inn. With a reputation for gambling and prostitution similar to Lolo, the seedy Missoula, Montana, bar from the movie A River Runs Through It, The Lattice Inn was destroyed by fire in the 1930s and never rebuilt. Over the next 60 years, the property saw many businesses come and go, including a drive-in restaurant, trailer parks, and a campground and RV park. It wasn’t until the early 1960s, when Sharon and Red Blankenship began managing the property, that Red’s became known to Yakima River anglers. Sharon and Red retired about 15 years ago, and today the property is owned and managed by a team passionate about fly fishing and devoted to offering clients a great experience. Regardless of one’s passion, whether it be with collecting antiques, restoring cars, fly fishing or riding BMW motorcycles, it can be a shock to the uninitiated to look at the cost of entry. Just as a trout fisherman may be shocked at the price of a BMW StreetGuard suit, a BMW rider is equally shocked
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Riding above Lake Chelan.
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at the $1,500 price tag of a fly rod. I’ll stick to riding. Following dinner, we returned to find our three-bed lodge meant one of us would sleep on the couch that night. I drew the short straw. A clear and cloudless blue sky smiled down on us the next morning, and as we leisurely gathered our gear and packed the bikes, fishing guide Steve Joyce came by to offer a quick fly fishing lesson. To the unenlightened, fly fishing appears a simple exercise. Beyond the repeated whipping of a line into the water, fly fishing offers a spiritual essence none of us understood. Our conversation with Steve made it clear we were in way over our heads, yet we all agreed how cool it would be to pack a fly rod and reel in our panniers for the next time we found ourselves camping near a trout stream. “Better pack a lunch,” Steve joked, and about that time Ted thumbed the starter on his R 1200, and it was time to get back on the road. In the morning light we were back on the roads lost to darkness the night before. We came in on nondescript State Route 821; today we were riding the Yakima River Canyon Road, a beautiful stretch of pavement matching the gentle curves of the Yakima River. Eventually this road to some distant paradise ended when we turned north onto Highway 97 and headed to Leavenworth, Washington, in time for lunch. As we rode into Leavenworth, something seemed out of order. Missing was the quaint, rustic charm so many small Washington towns founded during the logging or gold rush days displayed. Riding into Leavenworth was like riding into a German village. Located on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Mountain Range in the upper reaches of the Wenatchee River Valley, Leavenworth sits on the valley floor surrounded by mountain peaks and valleys. In the late 1800s settlers came looking for gold, timber and furs; the area exploded with the arrival of a rail line. The city was booming until the logging and sawmill business went belly up and the railroad rerouted its rails, nearly leaving Leavenworth a ghost town. In the 1960s, town leaders had the bright idea of changing Leavenworth’s appearance to draw tourists. They believed if the gorgeous hills had no equal outside of
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A disintegrating stretch of highway running along Washington's State Route 20.
Germany’s Bavarian region, why not make their town look the part. Today, nearly every building and business evokes Germany. From the architecture all the way down to the German fonts used on city signage, Leavenworth offers tourists a complete German experience. The city calendar lists German-styled events including a Bavarian Ice Fest, Ale Fest, Maifest, Autumn Leaf Festival, and of course, Oktoberfest, all taking place around town in venues such as the Icicle Village Resort, Bavarian Ritz
Hotel and Der Ritterhof. After a lunch of cured meats, hard cheeses and ciabatta bread on the patio of the Sulla Vita restaurant, we were back on the road and fighting post-lunch lethargy. We headed north on the Chumstick Highway and our dual sport ride was about to hit the dirt again. Turning onto Eagle Creek Road, our elevation quickly began to climb as we got deeper into the OkanoganWenatchee National Forest. A few more miles and we left pavement altogether,
taking two track into the mountain hovering above us. Following a trail beneath power lines, we continued onward along part of the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route. Though the trail wasn’t exceptionally technical or difficult, in a moment of lost focus, my front tire hit something large and the front end of the R 1200 GS jerked to the right. Down I went into a slow lowside. In a flash, I was sitting up and sliding along the gravel road, slowly rotating with the bike to look back at where I was. Seeing a cloud of dust, I remembered Ted was behind me and hoped he wasn’t too close. Just as I slid to a stop Ted appeared and was going down as well. In that brief moment our falls seemed almost comical; it wasn’t until I stood up and felt the throbbing of my left ankle that I knew it wasn’t funny. I was bitten by my left pannier and my Sidi On-Road boots proved they were outmatched off-road. My injured left ankle made standing on the pegs a punishing endeavor and shifting gears hellish. Growing up riding the fire roads of Wisconsin, I painfully realized my off-road skills weren’t what they once were
and a heavy GS was a lot less forgiving than a 250-pound dirt bike. Still, I was in heaven. It was a simple fall, but it delivered a valuable wakeup call. Eventually, we made it to Plain, Washington, and our stop for the night. Dinner at the Old Mill Cafe, a couple of beers and a bag of ice for my swollen ankle was all I wanted. With a soft bed and some Advil, I slept deeply. The first few steps out of bed the next morning reminded me of the lessons learned the day before, and slipping into my boots provided a new, painful experience. I soon learned that if I was going to twist an ankle, I had chosen the wrong day. Today’s ride would be mostly dirt and include a big piece of the Washington BDR. Chelan, Washington, was our destination, and we’d take the hard way getting there. It was going to be a great, albeit aching day. Leaving Plain, Paul wasted no time and led us straight into the mountains and onto a Butler Motorcycle Map level G1 road. Both Beaver Valley Road and the Chumstick Highway provided incredible views of the Cascades that grew better with every
corner we turned. Soon we were quickly gaining elevation on two-track roads carved into the mountainsides. Climbing Chumstick Mountain offered spectacular views of the mountains surrounding us, and I had to constantly remind myself to look where I wanted to go or end up where I didn’t. The focus required by the rocky trails made me forget about the pain in my ankle. Only dabbing a foot to maintain balance or stopping for photographs reminded me. At the end of the trail, Cooper’s General Store in the tiny town of Ardenvoir provided a place to refuel both ourselves and the bikes and provided an interesting taste of the local culture. Sadly, we were a day early for karaoke night. Now out of the mountains, we were back on pavement and 42 miles from Chelan, Washington, our next destination. Riding through canyons named Morical, Dissmore, Dinkelman and Asher brought us to Entiat, Washington, along the banks of the Columbia River. Though I wouldn’t admit it to the guys, by that time I’d had my fill of riding in the dirt and would have been perfectly content
A pair of riders round a curve near Winthrop, Washington.
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riding pavement the rest of the day. Unfortunately, the vote was 3-1 and throbbing ankle be damned, we were back on a trail with a surprise ahead that Paul kept to himself. Bear Mountain Ranch Road took us back up into the mountains until we rounded a corner to see a spectacularly jaw-dropping view of Lake Chelan beneath us. As we rode into the charming, lakeside town of Chelan, I realized a little ankle pain was worth the view. Chelan, Washington, is a resort community of about 4,000 residents. It sits on the edge of the Cascade Mountains and on the southeast tip of Lake Chelan where the lake flows into the Chelan River. Campbell’s Resort, adjacent to the bridge leading to a quaint downtown, provided our home for the evening and another chance to ice my ankle. Beyond my ankle pain, we all fought the melancholy that comes with knowing the adventure was coming to a close and our brief escape from the reality would soon be over. We still had one more day and needed to make the most of it. Our ride to Winthrop, Washington, the next morning was broken up by a stop at the Sun Mountain Lodge just outside of town. A former mountain bike racer, Paul had fond memories of the area, and it was easy to see why.
Surrounded by rolling hills, Sun Mountain Lodge sits in the foothills of the North Cascade mountain range in the Methow Valley and offers year-round recreation opportunities. Our stop there took us to the stable where Paul wanted to do some scouting for a trip he was planning with his family. It was there we met Debra Schrock (better known as Red) and her horse Buttermilk. While Sterling and I declined her invitation for a quick ride, city slickers Paul and Ted couldn’t refuse. Somehow during our conversion someone made the perceptive observation that just as horses were the adventure vehicles of years ago, adventure motorcycles provide that function today. With that in mind, we figured the only practical thing to do would be to roll a bike into a pasture and photograph it with the horses. Photo session behind us, we were soon waving goodbye to Red and back on the pavement, making our way to Winthrop. Another unique Washington town, Winthrop is surrounded by the pristine forest of the North Cascades National Park. Just as Leavenworth remade itself with its German flair, Winthrop did the same but chose a wild west theme. Winthrop is a snow sports enthusiast’s mecca; once the snow melts, visitors enjoy a balloon festival, rodeo, vintage car show and more. Sadly, we were only there long
enough to enjoy lunch at the Duck Brand Hotel and Cantina, where a western omelet seemed like the perfect thing to order. Fighting off another food coma and the depression of our last day of riding, we began the final leg of our adventure: heading back to Seattle along the North Cascades Highway. Surrounded by snowcapped mountains, we made our way through valleys where elevation changes delivered chilling temperatures. The road offered spectacular views of the Cascades, and before long we were back where we started our journey days before. With handshakes and the promise to ride again someday, we were heading home. As I rode away I realized the gift Paul gave us by sharing this ride and leading us on some of his favorite roads. It was some of the best riding, both on road and off, that Washington offers. Whenever I come home from a trip like this I wonder why I’ve chosen to live where I do, surrounded by corn and soybean fields, where intersections offer the only opportunity to turn my handlebars. I’ve never been able to come up with a good answer to that nagging question and have come to the conclusion that living in the flatlands of central Illinois gives me a greater appreciation for places so different from where I live. I pray I never tire of discovering.
Below, Downtown Winthrop, Washington. Right, The North Cascades Highway.
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Sharing my Favorite Rides By Paul Guillien #179473
FOR MOST OF US, RIDING MOTORCY-
cles is about discovery. It’s about discovering and later revisiting our favorite experiences—a perfect twisty lane, a roadside diner with giant milkshakes, or a vista with sunsets that never disappoint. We all have places that draw us back, and it brings us great joy to share these places with new people. The Discovery Series is a chance for BMW MOA members to share their favorite places with other members while providing an experience they would otherwise never realize on their own. I’ve got some amazing rides in my backyard in Washington State, and when I learned of the Owners News Discovery Series last year, I threw my name into the hat, and was happy when it was pulled. While I had a couple great routes planned that would take us to the Pacific Ocean and Mt. Rainier, the finicky Seattle area weather forecast was showing solid rain all week. The day before our departure, I sent the guys an email that started with the following quote: “All human plans
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are subject to ruthless revision by Nature.” –Arthur C. Clarke One of the many benefits of being a Seattle-area motorcycle rider is that when the weather forecast shows rain, dry land is just a quick ride over the mountains to the arid part of the state. After riding through the rain for about an hour, the clouds finally began to clear as we approached the eastern slopes of Snoqualmie pass. Our first destination is the famous fishing hole, Red’s Fly Shop, which sits in the shadows of towering mountain ridges along the Yakima River. An impromptu fly fishing lesson from guide Steve Joyce quickly taught us that fly fishing is a lot harder than it looks. We could feel the fish laughing at us. Leaving Red’s and with the farmland of the Kittitas Valley shrinking in our mirrors, a narrow lane of curvy blacktop takes us through a pine forest as we ascend Table Mountain. Falling temperatures and a mist in the air greet us as we zip up this fun twisty path. As the towering pine trees grow thicker,
they steal the light, creating a Twilight Zone feel. I was happy to share this mountain magic with the guys and knew this wasn’t something they get to enjoy very often. Our tracks turn to dirt with a steep, rocky climb to 6,359 feet at Lion Rock look-out. Getting off our bikes, we survey the towering snow-capped peaks and bask in the unique sights and smells of this highelevation forest on Table Mountain. As we wind our way back down to pavement, I show the guys an abandoned but still accessible stretch of vintage pavement the called “Old Blewett Highway.” The road has been long abandoned and remains in disrepair with missing pavement, jagged rocks scattered on the roadway and overgrown trees encroaching from the shoulders. It’s a very unique piece of riding nirvana that will paint a smile on even the sourest of faces. After a lunch break in Leavenworth, Washington, we’re back on the bikes heading toward Plain, Washington. We are riding in a forest I know well as it’s home to the Touratech Rally. I lead the
group along my favorite dual-sport road. It’s very remote with rocks, debris and, as Bill found out, surprises around most corners. It tracks along a series of ridges, threading in and out of the hillside with increasingly beautiful views as we gain elevation. Arriving in the one-store town of Ardenvoir, we enjoy burgers while pouring over the map to see how much dirt we have yet to ride. A couple hours later, we pop out of the trees and are welcomed by an incredible view of Lake Chelan. This glacier-fed lake with its bluish-green water is the third deepest fresh-water lake in the United States and extends up the valley nearly 55 miles at an elevation of more than 1,500 feet. In town, we find nice rooms with comfortable beds at the historic Campbell Resort. We regret not being able to stay longer and protest with a late departure in the morning. Including a piece of the Washington Backcountry Discovery Route as a part of
the “Discovery Series” may seem cliché, but it happens to be the most scenic and interesting way I know to get to our next destination. We roll out of Lake Chelan along Section 4 of the Washington BDR and enjoy the day riding primitive dirt roads over Cooper Mountain and Fox Peak as we make our way toward the Methow Valley. A recent rainstorm created some nasty ruts and even washed out the entire road in places. The guys don’t know it yet, but I’ve got a different kind of adventure planned in the wild-west town of Winthrop, Washington. High on a mountaintop overlooking the Methow Valley sits a rustic piece of architecture known as the Sun Mountain Lodge. For many years, I came here for a big mountain bike race, and it’s always been a special place to me with its story-book incredible views. For a real taste of Washington state back country, I surprise the guys with a guided trail ride on horseback. Bill was a bit “worse for the wear” from
all the off-road riding and offered me his spot, so Ted and I went for a horseback ride with the owner, Debra Schrock, known by the locals as “Red.” Friendly and gracious, Red guides us on a trail ride while sharing history of the area and answering our cityfolk questions about what it’s like to look after 50 horses on a daily basis. It’s easy to see from the smile on her face and twinkle in her eye that Red is exactly where she wants to be. The four-legged ride over, we’re back on the bikes making our way back to Seattle and the end of our discovery ride. I’ve enjoyed sharing some of my favorite areas with Bill and Ted over the past few days. I especially enjoy the many “first times” and recounting the day’s events over a beer each evening. Although I truly enjoy riding and visiting these places, the experiences of my friends make familiar trails new for me. I highly recommend sharing your favorite places with your buddies. Go Discover.
Left, Capturing the beauty of Washington near Lion Rock look-out. Below, Trying a different kind of adventure ride.
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Siena skyline
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Broccoletti, Bread and a Beemer Part I
By Tamela Rich #161425
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I
’ve been chasing an Italian man riding a GS Wasserboxer for the last six days through Lazio, Tuscany, and Umbria. Tomorrow we’ll be back to Rome, where the entire adventure began. My husband fully approves. We have an understanding.
Rome Traffic and the Social Contract
the center line in a game of “chicken” designed to put you in your place—instead, they edge over to the shoulder a bit so you can make an efficient pass. Mutual respect is a beautiful thing in society. Astride my rented G650 GS, I learn that traffic in Rome is less governed by laws, lanes and speed limits than by an implicit social contract that values efficiency above all else. Yep, I just used the words “Italian” and “efficiency” in the same sentence with
On the first day of my riding adventure, Wasserboxer Man wants me to learn Italian traffic conventions. I follow his lead through Rome’s notorious traffic, shooting through gaps so narrow that I tilt my handlebars to avoid the mirrors of the vehicles on either side of me. Maybe that’s unnecessary, but I feel more confident doing it. Eventually I learn not to overthink it. When we come to a stoplight, we navigate to the front of the line of vehicles. Nobody cares, in fact they have left room for us. Moving to the shoulder, I stand on the pegs to make riding over Tamela's boots in the Tyrrhenian Sea. tree roots beneath the paveno implied irony. Let’s all get where we need ment more comfortable. No reaction from to go efficiently seems to be the guiding the drivers I pass. principle when driving in Italy. Italian I’m having my way with this traffic— motorists respect motorcyclists. They know splitting to the right and left of cars—with that allowing scooters and motorcycles to impunity. When you split a lane into the front of the line at traffic lights is oncoming traffic, drivers don’t rush toward
efficient. Nobody opens a car door to see if they can take you out—that would be highly inefficient and disrespectful. Yes, Rome traffic is hectic, yet manageable. I did it, so you can too. By the time we reach Rome’s beach, Ostia Lido, I’m exhilarated. Heading to the water’s edge in my motorcycle pants and boots, I collect seashells from the Tyrrhenian Sea as a trophy of my accomplishment. I’m warmed up now, Wasserboxer Man. Let’s go.
Ladies First
Wasserboxer Man has other concerns right now, namely the other people in his care. He is Enrico Grassi, owner of Hear The Road Motorcycle Tours Italy and host to a group of Americans on his “Ladies First” tour. We’re from Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Missouri, California, Texas, and North Carolina (me), and not all women— Dan and Derek accompany their mates. You can never know how a group ride is going to work; after all, one bad rider or bad attitude can turn the experience into a living hell. That’s one thing back home, but in a foreign country you’re not going to peel away from a tour with a breezy “arrivederci” My friend Bill Kniegge of Blue Strada Tours convinced me I should give it a try and put
Tour Group with Tamela's bike . Photo by Enrico Grassi HTR.
because Enrico’s admonition recalls a memory from when they were dating some 40 years ago and Dan was invited to family meals. He always wanted butter on his bread but Giovanni wouldn’t stand for it. Eventually Jo’s mother would take pity and bring him some, inviting her husband’s scorn. Another transgression of young Dan’s was asking for garlic bread with spaghetti, an American tradition, only to learn that this made him a Philistine in Giovanni’s eyes. It’s a wonder they got permission to marry! As the tour proceeds and more stories of Giovanni are revealed, we all begin to think of him as the tenth person at the table. This right here is group touring at its best. I count my blessings.
Tuscany Bread and forbidden butter.
me in touch with Enrico. My concerns are allayed after our warmup ride to the Tyrrhenian Sea. Riding BMW, Moto Guzzi and Harley-Davidson bikes, we sorted ourselves into a riding order that held naturally for the remainder of the tour. I would know Christin’s Moto Guzzi V7 headlight anywhere after watching for it in my mirrors for six days in formation. Off the bikes, we laugh and tease each other like old friends. The couple from Pennsylvania, Jo and Dan, share stories of her father, Giovanni, whom they agree that Enrico reminds them of. Both Giovanni and Enrico are Roman and hold staunch views that there are certain foods to eat and certain ways to eat them. Enrico will indoctrinate us in Italian gastronomy with each meal: how the animal is
raised and butchered, when the plant is harvested, how to keep pasta from sticking, and the fact that pork jowl (“guanciale”) not only tastes better than “pancetta,” which comes from its belly, it is also the only pork allowed in “amatriciana” (a staple pasta dish that also includes pecorino cheese, white wine, tomatoes from San Marzano, pepper and chili). Bread becomes an ongoing joke among us, especially between Enrico and Dan— the bread lover in our group. “Don’t touch the bread!” Enrico says each time it’s brought to the table. “Eat first, then use the bread to soak up the sauce.” I tell Enrico, “Sometimes we say ‘sop up the sauce,’” because I know he loves adding to his lexicon. Jo and Dan exchange knowing looks,
I awake in a 17th-century country house on an olive farm overlooking Siena’s skyline. My bedroom walls are plaster, and the ceilings are rough-hewn boards crossed with tree boughs. The fresh coat of yellow paint on the walls is perfect for the weak early morning light. It occurs to me that human beings have been conceived, born, lived, and died in this very room for over 400 years. I move to my closet door—likely 200 years old, since its boards are held together by handcrafted nails—and pull out a wrap for my shoulders as I head toward the window over my writing desk. I left it open all night to soak up the fresh, cool country air. Poking my head outside I see another guest walking her standard poodle toward a gravel lane between the olive groves. A rooster crows. At the risk of sounding trite, I want to
Huge motorcycle parking lot Siena. April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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Interior of Cathedral.
pinch myself. The tranquility and beauty surrounding me are unlike anything I’ve experienced elsewhere. Architects, designers, and Disney Imagineers spend their careers attempting to replicate the simple and timeless elegance that proprietor Letizia Nuti achieved here. Named “Podere La Strega” (“farm of the witch” because it’s a bewitching place), the modernized house, infinity pool, gardens and views are perfect in minute detail. I pull on my riding pants and boots, then head down for breakfast. Our group’s official early risers, Dan and Jo, are on their second cup of coffee, laughing with Enrico about last night’s meal, which would have met with Giovanni’s approval. The temperate late-September weather means we eat all of our meals outside, either under a portico off the side of the house or across the lawn at a long table in a summer dining room with adjoining kitchen. For our arrival the night before, we feasted under the portico on fried squash blossoms, sage, and porcini mushrooms covered in a tempura-like batter— Letizia’s own recipe—as we watched the city lights of Siena intensify against a darkening horizon. We later moved to the dining room for regional pasta, pork, and vegetable dishes, also prepared by Letizia. And bread. There’s always bread. Bread, no butter. The Italian way. We won’t go into Sienna proper until the next day. Today we ride “The Chianti Loop” that will take us to Castellina in
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Siena Cathedral.
Chianti then San Gimignano in the morning, and Greve in Chianti in the afternoon.
Greve in Chianti
At dinner the previous night, Enrico previewed the day ahead, asking who knew Giovanni da Verrazzano. Our group’s Italian-American Jo is the only one who answered the quiz question correctly: he charted the Atlantic coast of North America between the Carolinas and Newfoundland, including New York Harbor, in 1524. New York’s Verrazano–Narrows Bridge was named for him. Giovanni would have been proud of his girl. Greve in Chianti is Verrazzano’s birthplace. After parking the bikes we head toward the piazza. I spy a yarn shop and tell the others not to wait. Inside are all manner of knitted and crocheted hats, scarves, shawls and ponchos. I’ve been waiting for this moment for some months, not knowing when it would arrive. I want yarn that I can take home to knit into my own souvenir. The bespectacled shopkeeper smiles broadly and says, “Buongiorno,” in Outdoor dining in Siena.
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greeting. I see some bulk yarn in blue, black and tan wrapped around spools and tucked under a bench. I quickly realize that both my language skills and hers are inadequate to this transaction. Whipping out my phone, I hold up a finger to this woman in the universal gesture of “hold on just a minute” as I fire up the Google Translate app. We are able to communicate fairly well by typing phrases into the app, making exaggerated hand gestures and smiling a lot. We DO have one language in common: wool. After coming to terms we shoot a selfie together, and I am on my way, feeling pretty resourceful.
Siena
Awake once more in my 400-year-old room, I’m eager to get into Siena. The shimmering city on three hills that has been enticing us from the infinity pool at
Siena shop.
Podere la Strega is now on our agenda. Enrico will lead an optional ride in the afternoon, but we are free to skip it and
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spend the day as we please. The cathedral is my must-see of the day. Its white marble facade and the grey and white-striped bell tower (“campanile”) contrast with every other “siennacolored” structure in the city. I’ll leave the architectural and art critiques to those qualified to opine; to my unschooled eye it is both breathtaking and overwhelming. By the end of the day I can’t look at another Madonna, crucifix or nativity scene, even those fashioned by Donatello and Michelangelo. After another sumptuous al fresco meal cooked in the outdoor kitchen, our merry band of motorcyclists feels bittersweet about moving on to Orvieto in the morning. But move we must. Funny factoid about the phrase “al fresco:” While it originated in Italian, they prefer to say “fuori” or “all'aperto” when describing an outdoor meal. The expression “al fresco” usually refers to spending time in jail. Who knew?
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Brittany Berlinga:
Master of Corporate Espionage and K bike Rider By Jack Riepe #116117 This was the easiest $1.2 million she’d ever make. There would be no paper trail from the client to the nondescript office on the inconspicuous business campus. There would be no blood trail from this endless jungle to the rider on the snarling motorcycle. So far, this assignment had been a piece of cake. Even crossing into Brazil from Venezuela lacked the typical delays and the groping inspection of a woman alone on a motorcycle by rural border guards. She’d been assured by the client that this would be the case. Most client assurances weren’t worth a damn, but these were panning out. Brittany Berlinga was 50 percent of the personnel and nearly 100 percent of the assets of Intuitive Services Rendered — a consultancy that specialized in corporate espionage. The company was known to the CIA, the NSA and the security departments of the Fortune 500. At 37, Brittany was a force majeure of one. She was a former major in the Marine Corps (specializing in military intelligence), spoke five languages, flew helicopters, and raced around on a motorcycle. She was racing now against the clock, through humidity that was like a second clammy skin, on a road that ran straight as an arrow through an endless rainforest. Mostly paved, the road was a two-lane ribbon of asphalt, bordered by red dirt shoulders. It would take her a day and a half, at 70 miles per hour, to reach the turn. Her motorcycle was a jet black K 1300. Customtuned by a shop that did stuff on demand, the bike was modified with black-out lights, radar absorbent paint, and electronics that could sense the body temperature of mammals. A second screen that looked like a back-up GPS could match map locations with incoming calls. The bike was
code-named “Hatchet.” All of its rider preservation gear was passive. Brittany’s current client was a mining company, or the parent company of the mining company, or the vast military industrial complex that sometimes used both as a smokescreen. Brittany didn’t care. She was being paid $1.2 million to retrieve a small, locked steel box from a construction locker at the dismal end of an abandoned mine. No guards. No politics. Easy peasy. The client had two conditions for the job: no one could know about it, and she wasn’t to open the box. Brittany had conditions of her own: no drugs and noth-
not only from the local police, but from anybody in a passing vehicle. And there was traffic here. Not much, but she’d passed farm trucks, some old cars, mining vehicles and a few clusters of bikes. One of these had turned around. There were five riders in this bunch, and they probably didn’t work for the chamber of commerce. Their machines were beatup liter bikes that burned rubber and wheelied when cued, but were no match for the K 1300. They all pulled the ton for a while, with the cluster failing to gain an inch. She was again alone 10 miles later. There wasn’t much to see on a road that was wall-to-wall rainforest for nearly 900 miles. The air was heavy with oxygen in a place where the trees outnumbered the people by two million percent, a theme park ride. While the rainforest was home to birds of paradise, howler monkeys, and orchids, it also hosted five species of poisonous scorpions, centipedes that could kill a dog, and spiders that spanned hubcaps. It wasn’t a theme park ride. There were people living in proximity to the road. Dirt side roads led to farms, ranches and mines. These places meant farmers, cowboys and miners, plus the mechanics, carpenters and electricians needed to keep things running. Nearly half of these people were women—and kids. That meant teachers, nurses, shopkeepers and religion. Brittany was surprised at the number of storefront congregations in these communities. There were also bars and sin, for contrast. Sin took on a whole new meaning in places where the grasp of authority had sweaty palms. She’d passed through a half dozen towns and spent the night in a “hotel” that doubled as a cockroach preserve. The room came with a toilet that didn’t flush, a door
Sin took on a whole new meaning in places where the grasp of authority had sweaty palms.
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ing radioactive. Also, nothing alive. The last restriction was something new. Working for big pharma, she recently retrieved a monkey from a highly guarded military medical facility in the Ukraine. All was well for a bit, until she discovered the monkey could talk. His name was “Mombo,” and he had gotten loose in a hotel room — with her mobile. She figured the current client was lying, because nobody paid $1.2 million for a small metal box that anybody could retrieve. Yet here she was, riding a highpowered motorcycle on a paved road that ran straight through the heart of the rainforest. She occasionally pulled over to look at a lake, a stream or a cultivated field, and to drink some bottled water. It didn't pay to stop very long, as that attracted attention,
that barely locked, and ceiling fan which had recently turned to toast. The guy running the place explained there was WiFi in a back room, probably his. She consoled herself with the thought of a $1.2 million paycheck. The restaurant across the street was surprisingly good, and she brought back six sealed bottles of water. Missing was the sound of gunfire, which was the usual lullaby of her business trips. Brittany was on the road at sunrise. It
made no sense to ride in the dark here. Four hours later, the GPS told her to turn. This road was hard-packed dirt, pocked in paces by the rains. She almost secondguessed the second turn. Though she’d seen it on Google Maps and twice in clientobtained satellite photos, it nearly qualified as concealed. The narrow road behind it was odd, too. Brittany anticipated more dirt, but she thought the road would be wider and more rutted for a mining facility.
That was red flag number one. Eighteen miles later, the road ended in an abandoned compound of two cinderblock buildings with rusted metal roofs and busted windows. There was a small garage with an old truck permanently parked inside, its engine removed and a tree growing from its engine bay. This was never a mining facility. Red flag number two. The “mine” was a tunnel in a small hillside, capped by a huge iron door. There was
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something odd about the hillside. It had a man-made look about it. And there was something odd about the door too: the massive locking mechanism was on the outside. Red flag number three. The assignment called for riding into the mine, which was supposed to be 200 yards long, grabbing the metal box and riding out. One point two million bucks beckoned. The whole thing would take 90 seconds. She thumbed the electronic ring selector switch and glanced at the screen. Thermal imaging showed a haze but no targets. She was supposed to be here at 11:05 a.m., with a 12-minute operational window. Something had either just happened here or was about to. A barely audible beep in her helmet announced the time. It was 11:05 a.m. exactly. Brittany went for it. A combination of high intensity discharge lights and LEDS threw the tunnel into stark contrast. The tunnel had a paved floor. Asphalt, not slippery tiles. This was good because the pavement was slippery enough with bat poop, jungle mold and condensation. The walls were smooth. This place had never been a mine. Things slithered and scurried from the piercing light. She caught the front wheel slipping more than once. It was 20 degrees cooler in the tunnel than outside, yet the stink made it 20 times worse. It was the aroma of putrefaction and of something burned, like rubber. There was debris in the tunnel. Not a lot, but enough to indicate that folks had left in a hurry. Sodden paper was scattered about and boxes of broken glass—laboratory stuff—were strewn here and there. And then for red flag number 4…The road was blocked by a burned-out jeep one hundred yards in. The jeep had been headed out when it burned. The driver made a crisp appearance sitting behind the wheel. The pavement, the walls and the ceiling of the tunnel were uniformly scorched black, leading deeper into the tunnel. The jeep had been burning as it rolled. Now it was welded to the pavement through melted tires. “What the hell happened here?” Brittany
thought. She stopped and inspected the wreck with a flashlight. A Marine Corps drill sergeant once told her, “The dead never complain…though they sometimes give good advice.” Brittany was looking for a plain metal box, about 18 inches, by 12 inches, by 4 inches deep. The contents were unspecified. The thought occurred to her that maybe this guy was there for the same reason. There was no metal box in the jeep. Another barely audible beep in her helmet indicated she had nine minutes left. The tunnel got darker. The soot on the walls and ceiling were eating the light. Even the high intensity discharge lights were barely picking up the details ahead, when the tool locker loomed into view. Brittany expected the locker would be flush with a wall, but it was free-standing. The tunnel had ballooned into a cavernous underground space. This was red flag number #5.
was seeming more like a down payment. And the third was that there weren’t enough red flags in Communist China to cover this sort of thing. The snake recoiled in the searing white heat of the bike’s lights. They were Brittany’s only advantage. And then she thought of another. With the click of an aftermarket thumb switch, the bike’s intense stereo system exploded into sound. The last thing she‘d been listening to was Jethro Tull’s Aqualung. The tunnel reverberated with “…eyeing little girls with bad intent.” The snake struck at the bike, hitting the spot where it had been a split second earlier. Brittany unleashed the demons in the K 1300’s nuclear mill, with the onboard computer dividing raw torque by traction control. She killed the lights in the same instant she popped the clutch, and the snake slammed into the locker, knocking it over. She sensed the snake’s tail whipping over her head more than she could see it in the dark. Her target was a smear of gray light marking the tunnel’s opening. That light wasn’t much, but it was enough to silhouette her movement ever so slightly. The snake struck again at the moving shadow. Its three-foot fangs extended. Brittany had never been stabbed by a bayonet, but she imagined this was close enough. Her leathers pierced and tore at the left shoulder as the savage strike pulled back and the K 1300 surged forward. The snake was fast. The bike was faster. All she had to do was hang on. The motorcycle was three seconds into 79 miles per hour as it got past the snake. Getting past the burned out jeep without slowing down was another thing, and she scrubbed the right mirror on the wall. With less than a hundred yards left to go, she was a heartbeat from escape…escape illuminated by the outside light at tunnel’s portal. She couldn’t believe her eyes. The shape of the portal was changing! Getting smaller! The door was closing! Removing the metal boxes had triggered an old security device and tunnel was sealing itself. Brittany shifted the K1300 into
A Marine Corps drill sergeant once told her, "The dead never complain... Though they sometimes give good advice."
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The locker’s doors were open and one hung askew from its hinges. There wasn’t one locked metal box in the locker, but two identical ones, each rusted to the metal shelf. Britany slammed the one on the left and it broke free. There was a bit of echo in the mine. The box on the right took a bit more slamming, and it too came loose— though she thought the echo sounded a bit strange. The thermal imaging screen glowed, faded, then glowed again. It showed a large shapeless mass changing on itself, covering the screen, then fading again. This happened about the second time the little beep went off in her helmet. Six minutes left. Brittany bungeed both to the bike and spun around to leave. The lights framed a huge viper, 25-feet tall, coiling for a strike. The snake was between her and the way out. She drew three conclusions. The first was that this was a really big, pissed-off snake. The second was that $1.2 million
third gear and opened it up. She lost the mirror on the left against the closing door. Her plan was to continue straight out the “mine” road, making the left in 18 miles. What changed her mind was the cable stretched across the mouth of the tunnel. She tangled with it at the same time she noticed the helicopter with the spinning rotors off to the side. This whole thing was an ambush. The little beeps in her helmet put her in the wrong place—at the wrong time—exactly. The return to consciousness came with a throbbing in her head and the numbing pain of bruised ribs and a slashed shoulder. The two metal boxes were nowhere to be seen. Instead, there were two enormous goons with uzis, wearing identical black suits. Brittany could barely move. The bike was down. And she was in the middle of a rainforest. Restraints were unnecessary. This is generally where most folks conclude things couldn’t have gotten worse. And they would have been wrong. “We meet again, Brittany Berlinga,” said a voice that made her blood run cold. It was Mombo, the talking monkey. And it was clear he was running the show. “Things are different now,” said Mombo. “Different now that I am the CEO of the world’s largest cosmetics company. Thank you for the metal boxes. We didn’t know there were two. Here is your payment.” The monkey uncorked a test tube and poured a clear liquid over Brittany. “That’s about $1.2 million dollar’s worth,” said Mombo with a simian sneer. “It’s giant Amazon centipede pheromone. It’ll be dark in a few hours. They’ll find you very attractive.” Like a bizarre joke, the goons, the metal boxes, and the monkey flew off in the helicopter. There was a strange silence in the void left by the clattering helicopter, followed by a rustling from the shadows of the rain forest floor. (To be concluded…)
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One K75 Rider Who Rode
The Lightning By Jack Riepe #116117
“Some riders dodge the lightning…Others are forged by it!” (From Jack Riepe’s Book of Indisputable Facts.) It had been raining on and off all morning, Don Walker was rolling up a wet tent. There are two things that rally riders hate most. One is setting a tent up in the rain…The other is putting it away wet. “It’s twice the work,” said Walker. “You know, you have to unpack everything and hang it as soon as you get back home. And everything has that dripping, soaking wet feel to it. Little did I know that was going to be the least of my worries.” It was Sunday, the last day of the Four Winds Rally in New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1994. Walker and his wife at the time were systematically loading a 1992 BMW K 75 RT for the ride back to Brunswick, Ohio. Walker had a system for doing things, and wet or not, the gear was strapped to the bike properly. The Four Winds Rally is the oldest continuously-
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running BMW rally event in the country (recently celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in 2016). It typifies the personality and flavor of a traditional Teutonic bike event, drawing riders from a four-state radius. Nicely situated in Redbank Municipal Park, the rally site features a number of pavilions, a dining hall and a presentation center in an old carousel house. It is quaintly rustic with a well-run food concession and locally-made ice cream. “It had been a great rally,” said Walker, “but then again, the Four Winds Rally has always been a good event. It’s just the right size. It draws just the right crowd. And it offers some beautiful backroads riding.” The town of New Bethlehem is straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. Located off Route 28, on bucolic Redbank Creek, it is the kind of town where everybody knows everybody else. And once a year, every year for the last
half century, 400 to 600 BMW riders converge here for three days of celebration and Teutonic bike reflection. There is singing. There are the tribal rituals around multiple campfires. There is story-telling. There are classes in advanced off-road technique and demonstrations on nocturnal cigar lighting. It is where old motorcycles are revered and their riders are well-humored. The BMW “Toaster” is in its glory here. But so are meticulously maintained K bikes, with several “signature” machines redefining the concept behind the Flying Brick. For the exception of those limited few who have toy haulers or RVs, this is a tent rally. (The closest hotels are about 28 miles to the north.) The bane of any tent rally is rain. Not the occasional thunder boomer that lowers temperatures and raises the humidity before moving on, but the steady kind of downpour that requires rain gear for doing anything. It had been a steady drizzle throughout most of the early morning, broken up by intermittent storms. “There was no sense in careening around those back roads in a lingering rain, and it was our plan to hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike and turn west,” said Walker. “We were headed to Ohio, and all I wanted to do was make the best possible time.” Getting to the slab was as uneventful as it was damp. “Traffic on the Turnpike wasn’t bad, and I was holding about 70 miles per hour. If the road got wet, I slowed down. If I hit a dry patch, I could take advantage of it,” added Walker. “The weather ahead seemed like it might even clear.” The problem with lightning is that it doesn’t need a dramatic setting to strike. “It was raining lightly and the sky was as gray as battleship paint,” said Walker. “Weather conditions did nothing to hamper the operation of the bike, and we were making good time. I actually thought we might ride out of it.” A steel railroad trestle crossed the Turnpike and Team Walker was just about underneath it, when a brilliant-blue white bolt of electricity hit the bridge. It arced to the motorcycle in a millisecond. “It went up my left arm and took my breath away,” said Walker. “I didn’t pass out. I wasn’t burned. In fact, I had no sensation of being hit. More importantly, I didn’t drop the bike.” But things were far from normal. Walker
experienced dizziness and started to slump forward. “Are you okay?” his wife yelled from the back. “My response must have been less than reassuring because she reached around and took control of the handlebars from the pillion. We were rocketing along at 70 miles per hour or better, and she was operating the throttle, clutch, and front brake from behind,” said Walker. “This wasn’t good.” Walker and his former wife had three things in their favor. The first was that neither one had been struck dead. Most of the lightning’s charge had been directed to the ground through the bridge. (Walker’s wife was completely unscathed.) The second was that the bike remained upright. And the third was that the Pennsylvania Turnpike is pretty straight in that stretch. Walker’s wife primarily had to hold a steady course. “Our dilemma did not go unnoticed. Traffic around us had witnessed the strike and gave us a wide berth,” said Walker. “The natural response would have been to pull over and stop. But we couldn’t. It was one thing to visualize the practical thing to do, but my wife couldn’t work the shifter and the back brake from behind. And then there was the cinders and uneven nature of the shoulder. There was no guarantee we’d remain upright once we hit that.” Walker’s wife backed off on the speed slightly, while he mulled other considerations. “To all appearances, the K75 was largely unaffected. It continued to run as if nothing had happened. Once I realized that I wasn’t going to die from the lightning strike, I stated to wonder about damage to the bike. Had the electronics been affected? What about the wiring harness? Would the motorcycle restart if switched off?” pondered Walker. He had time to ponder. His former wife was in control of the motorcycle for a good ten minutes, or about eleven miles. They stopped at the first rest area, about 50 miles distant. Walker was somewhat listless and felt he was breathing funny, but far from needing medical attention. The bike restarted normally and they rode into Brunswick, Ohio, without further incident. The damage to the bike? It had a small hole burned through the dash. That was it. There were no other signs of damage. Walker went to the doctor three days later,
to learn that he was fine. The doctor expressed concern at what the immediate effects the lightning strike may have had and advised Walker to seek medical attention “as soon as possible” the next time he was struck by lightning. “I have no plans to be struck by lightning in the future,” said Walker. Nearly 23 years following the incident, Walker said, “I didn’t tell that story to more than one or two people. And I remember every little detail. One of the cars that trailed behind me during the lightning strike had a little boy in the back seat. As the car eventually passed us, that little boy looked at me and mouthed the word ‘Wow.’” For Walker, the most disappointing aspect of the lightning strike was that it had no effect on the wet tent. “You would have thought the lightning might have dried it… but no. Everything was still wet and still had to be hung and dried when I got home,” said Walker. Author’s Note: There is no greater satisfaction than to race a thunderstorm back to the garage and win. I was out on “Blueballs,” a 1986 K 75 of distinction (Sprint Fairing) when a summer afternoon turned rogue. The thunderheads connected heaven and hell, and the wind pursued me like a brunette’s accusations. But it was all happening in my Napoleon Bar End mirrors. This gave me the true power of smugness. The way ahead was somewhat gray, but relatively clear. There wasn’t a cop in sight, so I gave the throttle an extra twist. The lightning struck about a hundred yards ahead of me, and fifty feet to the right. An innocent tree, whose only crime had been to smile at me, was split in half. It was still smoking as I shot by. I remember thinking, “You missed.” Such is the effect of a K bike on the average rider.
Got an interesting K bike story to tell? Did you save a life…rob a bank…deliver a vaccine…or escape a buffalo charge on a K bike? If so, I’d like to know about it. Send me the brief details at jack.riepe@gmail.com. Please write “Unbelievably True K Bike Story” in the subject line. Pictures make it better.
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CRAFTING THE PERFECT SIDECAR RIG By Wes Fleming, Secret K Bike Club Status REDACTED SOME MIGHT USE THE WORD BLAS-
phemy to describe an instance of hanging a sidecar off a K 1200 RS. Others might use the word utilitarian, and others still might call it genius. I definitely lean towards the latter. I picked up my K 12 RS on the cheap from a guy moving to China. He was desperate, and I didn’t much care what my sidecar tug was going to be. I considered hanging a tub off my 1995 R 1100 GS, but I wasn’t sure that old gal had enough oomph left in her to be a good base for a rig I imagined using to cross the vast expanse of the USA. The Hannigan Classic tub I picked up used from a family friend. Claude Stanley of Freedom Sidecars in Middleburg, Pennsylvania, did the assembly, using a mixture
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of stock Hannigan parts and parts he custom-made in his shop. I was able to start driving the rig in February 2011, and after my first sidecar training class, I felt confident enough to start using it for distance and to carry around my daughter, who tended to fall asleep 20 minutes into any ride. The greatest appeal of the K 12 RS-based rig is its highway worthiness. Compared to a typical Ural sidecar rig, this thing isn’t even in the same game. The 1998 K 1200 RS left the factory with 130 horsepower and 86 foot-pounds of torque, more than enough to propel its wet weight of 630 pounds down the road at mind-bending speeds. Hanging a 300-pound sidecar on the side pushed the total weight of the rig towards a half ton, and when you add me, a passenger
and all our gear, we’re easily pushing 1,500 pounds. When we talk about motorcycles, we spend a lot of time talking about top speeds and horsepower, but when you talk about sidecar rigs, you want to start with torque, because that’s the characteristic that gets you going from a dead stop and powers you out of turns. Without a solid amount of torque, a 1,000-pound sidecar rig is never going to make you happy. I noticed very quickly the large amount of drag the sidecar put on the motorcycle from a dead stop. It felt like there was a lot of flex in the mounting system, flex that created an ambiguous, squishy feel to starting off the line. I discussed the matter with my mechanic, and he determined that the squishy feeling came from the
undercarriage of the mounting system, which used just a few steel tubes bolted to the mounting points for the center stand. He declared the setup flimsy, and we contracted with a local machinist to craft a custom plate to replace the side and center stand setup. This cured the squishy feeling immediately, giving the rig a solid, planted feel at all speeds and under every road condition. Once the squishy feeling was controlled, I had to focus on starting and stopping, because those things were obviously suffering under the more rigid setup. I decided stopping was more important because I wanted to be able to get out of trouble faster than I got into it, especially in a decreasingradius right curve, where the sidecar coming up off the ground is a real danger. Replacing the front end was financially implausible, but rebuilding the front brake calipers and equipping them with sintered pads improved both stopping distance and brake feel at the lever. The final piece of the front brake puzzle was installing brake lines with steel braided covers. Instead of ordering a custom-made set, we used a standard set’s lower lines and the upper line from the rear of an R 1150 GS kit, all from Spiegel. The rear was a different story. Neither a rebuilt caliper nor upgraded pads made a significant difference, so my mechanic tinkered with the proportioning valve—the device that divides brake power between the bike’s rear brake and the brake on the sidecar wheel—and got me 75 percent satisfied. There still wasn’t enough power at the rear brake. The solution was to adapt and install the rear master cylinder from a K 1300 S, which bolted up without too much trouble and provided the rear braking power I wanted. Further tinkering with the proportioning valve made it so I could go from 60 to zero in about 40 percent more distance than I could on the K 12 RS before it had a sidecar on it, stopping in a straight line without too much handlebar input. With stability and braking under control, it was time to address acceleration. It only took about 10,000 miles for me to destroy the clutch in my RS. This situation wasn’t helped by the fact that the shop that replaced the original clutch neglected to replace the rear main seal, but my inexperience with sidecars contributed greatly to the deterioration of the clutch. My mechanic recommended a radical
departure from standard K 1200 RS clutch replacement. He wanted to do all the standard things like replacing the slave cylinder (a necessity this time) and all the accessible seals, but his idea was to use parts from the K 1200 LT clutch assembly to improve not just clutch operation, but longevity as well. Using the heavier-duty components from the LT would benefit my RS-based sidecar rig, and they fit perfectly. The renewed clutch allowed all of that torque to get to the rear wheel, and off-the-line power improved noticeably. Stability, braking and acceleration controlled, it was time to take on ergonomics. Sidecar rigs don’t lean, so ground clearance isn’t an issue, and I put on a foot peg lowering kit to ease the angles of my hips and knees for improved long-distance comfort. We toyed with different types of bar risers, but while they enabled a more upright seating position, they didn’t address the core difficulty of leverage when it came to turning the rig. The installation of a rake-reducing kit helped a little by pushing the front wheel out about an inch. This reduced the effort required to turn the rig, but it still remained that the RS handlebars are quite close together, as is standard for a sport-touring bike of that nature. I compared the turning effort to a friend’s R 1200 GS-based rig, noting that turning his sidecar rig with no steering head modifications was far easier. Leverage is what it came down to; the GS handlebar is simply wider than the RS one, allowing the rider to gain more leverage over turning operations. Helibars were probably the best solution, but they were beyond my budget. Instead, I watched various BMW motorcycle classified sections on a number of websites. My patience was rewarded when a rider parted out a wrecked K 1200 GT. I snapped up his handlebar assemblies from the triple clamp up. Installing the GT handlebars on my RS in conjunction with my existing bar risers eased turning effort by about a third, certainly enough to justify the expense and effort. Putting the GT bars on the bike required using GT throttle cables as well, and we had to move some of the other cables and brake mounting parts around as well to ensure safe, clean operation from full lock left to full lock right. Increasing the width between the handlebars gave me
more leverage in turning, thus easing the process, and the taller GT setup allowed an even more upright seating position, improving long distance comfort. The last of the changes to the rig was a combination of stability, control, comfort and economics. Because sidecar rigs don’t lean, they do not wear tires evenly, and because of the increased weight, especially on the rear end, they simply destroy rear motorcycle tires no matter how hard the compound. I was going through a rear tire in under 5,000 miles; that got expensive in a hurry. After trying a low-profile sports car tire that was an absolute bear to get onto the stock 17 x 5 RS rear wheel, I discovered that the rear wheel from an R 1200 CL would bolt right up to my final drive. With the addition of the wheel spacer from a K 12 LT, there was enough room for a 165/65 R15 car tire popular with vintage VW Bug drivers in there. The 17” tire caused some problems; not only was the ride harsh, but it caused the speedometer and odometer to operate improperly. The 15” car tire solved all those problems, bringing the gauges back into spec and adding just enough flex in the rear end to make the ride pleasant. Plus nobody complains about getting 30,000 miles out of a tire on a motorcycle! All in all, putting together this sidecar rig has been an expensive and complicated labor of love. The last money I spent on it was to get the black sidecar painted to match the bike and have the side panels of the bike (damaged and poorly repaired by the previous owner) refurbished. It has been worth it though, and not just because I’ve got a sidecar rig that can run at 80 plus miles an hour on the open freeway all day long, even loaded down with 500 pounds of rider, passenger and gear. This rig has enabled me to take my wife and daughter on long motorcycle trips in comfort. It introduced them to a new aspect of motorcycling that expanded their horizons beyond 200 miles from our home in Virginia. It’s not unusual to see car passengers whipping their phones out to take photos of my wife knitting in the sidecar or my daughter reading a book. I no longer worry about my daughter falling asleep when I ride, and five years later she still falls fast asleep about 20 minutes after we leave home.
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The Ultimate Romance Recipe for K Bikers who Kamp By Jack Riepe #116117
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There comes a time in everyone’s life when they wish they could do certain things like they did when they were 19. This happens to me more often than I care to admit. Every now and I again, I am compelled to crank up the heat and wow some deserving woman with a little something they no longer expect from me before they have a chance to even think of getting out of that sleeping bag and putting something on. The looks on their faces are always priceless when they see me inching toward them with the first delight of the day. I am talking about breakfast in bed while moto-camping—of course. Moto-camping has been on my mind of late because we are on the verge of the rally season. Nothing says moto “rally” like a sea of tents, divided into tribes and clans, clustered around GS mastodons, iconic whale oil-coolers, or “ahead of their time all the time” K-bikes. Nowhere will you find greater concentrations of enthusiastic people standing in line to brush their teeth from a hose, chanting for toilet paper, or anticipating a hot shower in the back of a specially modified tractor-trailer, than at a BMW moto rally—unless you are touring a FEMA disaster site. Camping is a romantic, nomadic notion fostered by those who are no longer required to do it. Eighty percent of Mongolian yak herders (a traditional family business which requires following concentrations of evil-smelling quadrupeds across 11 time zones) indicated that they’d rather sell ladies’ shoes in a popular mall than camp in yurts. (They are seldom given the choice.) Yet there is something about motocamping that compels one to try it from time to time. Maybe it’s the light rain on the tent roof in the middle of a late spring night. (Rain that will be gone in the morning, except for the beads of water on the gas tank.) Maybe it’s the aroma of morning coffee mixed with first snap of fall when the leaves are just tinged with gold. And maybe it’s the knowledge that you can still do this right, if you want to. My column this month is based on a simple two-part premise: camping can be accomplished with élan and flair, and you should serve one hell of a fancy camp breakfast with style. Say you are riding out to the BMW Rally in Salt Lake City from the east coast. Plan to camp on the first night of your ride. You
and your romantic interest will have showered that morning and be wearing fresh clothes under your ballistic gear. You’ll spend nights #2 through #5 in a four star (+) hotel. This way your love interest can shower in comfort on the second night (and every night thereafter), marvel at the efficiency of a flush toilet, and watch how you order room service like true K biker nobility. Each of the above features translates into extended foreplay. Bonus points: Choose a hotel that has at least one electrical socket with 14,000 volts, to power the hair dryer. As to the camping part…Legitimate comfort camping requires a stash of gear sufficient to support a lunar landing. You will need a tent, sleeping bags, a lantern, a stove, kitchen gear, and personal items. Just like the motorcycle you ride, most of this stuff is somewhat specialized. Buying cheap camping gear is like investing in a discount divorce attorney. In the end, you will be left alongside the road, drenched in your own tears. Multiply the money saved by purchasing a tent with no pedigree, a cheap camp stove, and questionable cookware that instantly (and permanently) bonds with eggs, by depthless profanity and enduring embarrassment. This is why reliable camping gear is usually acquired over years, as the cost of this stuff is equal to 15 mortgage payments. The selection of the campsite is as important as the gear. Choose a campsite that is semi-wild with a stream or one that has a view of the ocean or one that is surrounded by dense woods. Do not choose a campsite that is: • Marked with a sign that reads “Migratory polar bear route.” • Next to a communal bathroom serving 62 other campsites. • Overlooking the adjacent 12-lane interstate. • Downwind from the salmon cannery or the slaughterhouse. • Fifty feet from “Wild Bill’s 24-Hour Billiard Parlor and Pistol Range. It is important you arrive at a campsite in daylight and get stuff set up in an unhurried manner. Then take your love interest/ camping partner out to that steakhouse you passed fifteen miles earlier. Let a damned good headwaiter and chef sort out dinner for two. Remember to order the chocolate soufflé in advance.
Come morning, it is your turn to shine. Untangle yourself from the sleeping woman and venture outside. This should be easy as she will have taken most of the sleeping bags during the night. One curious thing about camping: It may be 78 degrees at sunset, but it will feel like zero degrees Kelvin about 4 a.m. Most commercial campgrounds, and many state-operated ones, have a picnic table at each site. Set up your stove and boil water for coffee, which you will brew in a French press. GSI Outdoors has a great one for $45. It makes 50 ounces of coffee and wears a little ballistic jacket to keep it hot. Use quality ground coffee. According to the most recent statistics, the number one cause for murder on moto camping trips is bad coffee. Make 48 ounces of coffee in the French press and pour one for yourself immediately. Find the cream in your little collapsible cooler. The most important item on a single night camping trip is a small, soft sided collapsible cooler. Into this cooler, you will have packed eight ounces of milk or cream, eight ounces of buttermilk, half a stick of butter, six ounces of sour cream (or a six ounce container of blueberry yogurt), six ounces of real maple syrup, three eggs, and four strips of thick sliced bacon. My cooler is actually an insulated lunch bag that has “Human Organs For Transplant” printed on one side. It fits all of the above, plus a couple of frozen gel pack inserts to keep stuff cool overnight. It was $40 online. Store the liquid stuff in the original containers or little screw-top Mason jars. Find your dry ingredients in the Ziploc bag. You will have prepared these before leaving. These are 1 cup and a half flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Mix dry ingredients together with one egg (using the little plastic container you carried the eggs and butter in as a bowl). Add the buttermilk slowly. You want a thick batter, not a soupy one. Now add the sour cream or the blueberry yogurt. Set aside for 15 minutes at atmospheric temperature. Place your quality, non-stick camp frying pan ($29), with the folding or removable handle on the stove. Cut two slices of thick bacon to fit easily in the pan (four pieces) and fry to the way you like bacon. When done, remove the bacon, leaving the grease
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in the pan. Spoon enough batter into the pan to make four pancakes that barely touch each other. In a soothing voice, attempt to waken your companion. Watch the pancakes carefully. When the top edges bubble, check the bottoms. Flip them if they are golden brown. Soothingly call to your companion again. When the bottoms of the pancakes match the top, stack them on one side of the pan and fry one of the remaining eggs in the other side, moving the pan around to cook the egg without scorching the pancakes. I like my eggs sunny-side up, to dip the pancakes in. Despite the heavy caliber of the ingredients, these pancakes will rise higher than Peter Pan’s ballet slippers. Soothingly call to your companion again. By this time, the most fragrant aroma of coffee, bacon, eggs and pancakes should have permeated the campsite. She should exit the tent with a look of wonder on her face. On a plastic or paper plate, stack her pancakes, alongside the still warm bacon and cooked egg. Apply butter and real maple syrup to her pancakes. Pour her a cup of hot coffee. This is breakfast on the American plan. Make light conversation avoiding topics like politics, the intimate secrets of your bike’s transmission, or the shortcomings of her mother. While she is eating, prepare your breakfast exactly the same way. She will be fascinated.
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Your companion must eat her breakfast right away. Riepe’s third corollary of camping states, “Hot food cooked for a love interest will lose 50 percent of its heat every 30 seconds that it is out of the pan.” Therefore, if she decides to go to the bathroom, check her cellphone, or go back into the tent, it is guaranteed her breakfast will be covered by frost when she returns. She will call this to your attention almost immediately. When done, toss out any leftover dry ingredient, buttermilk and pancake batter. The frying pan should wash easily. I use a disposable plastic container to hold the eggs, the butter, and the yogurt. You can throw that out or recycle it, too. The cooler will be empty. Fold it flat. You will have enough coffee and fresh milk or cream to each have another 11-ounce mug. The most important things to carry on a trip like this are a roll of shipping tape and a UPS shipping form. On day three or shortly thereafter, stop off at a UPS location and ship all your camping gear home.
Frequently Asked Questions about this breakfast:
Why not just use a handy commercial pancake mix where you just add water? Would you eat a steak if you just had to add water to it? Would you drink champagne if it started out as a powder to which you just added water. Rita L., lately of Tennessee, started me on pancakes made from scratch 20 years ago. You can taste the difference. Is it essential to use real maple syrup and butter on these pancakes? Not really…To the untrained palate, old crankcase oil tastes very much like “table syrup” or “pancake syrup” as the fake stuff is often called. Many folks from places like New Jersey prefer the fake syrup because that’s what they were raised on in reform school. If you are going to this much trouble, real syrup and butter is absolutely essential.
Why would I want to impress my love interest with this breakfast? We’ve been together for five years already. So I won’t be impressing her with this breakfast next year. How long is the prep time for this breakfast? I just like to get up and go. About ten minutes in prep time and about the same for cooking the first batch. Ever get up and go and stop at place that was really crowded and had a lousy breakfast to boot? Why not have a great breakfast alone with your soulmate? I am obnoxious and travel alone. Can I just divide the ingredients in half? I wouldn’t. In fact, if you make three smaller pancakes and split the bacon, you can invite the two single ladies camping next to you to join you. I will be giving a demonstration on how to prepare this breakfast at the Georgia Mountain Rally, followed by my presentation “Using A Motorcycle To Build Strong Relationships in Third and Fourth Marriages.” The rally will be held at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds, Friday, May 5, through Sunday, May 7, 2017. I will be giving the same talk at Americade, Lake George, New York, June 5 through June 10, and I will be speaking at the BMW MOA Rally in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 13 through July 15. I will be conducting two sessions: “Using A Motorcycle To Build Strong Relationships in Third and Fourth Marriages,” and “The First Ever National Secret K Bike Rider’s Club.”
Jack Riepe’s revised edition of Conversations With A Motorcycle is out, and from a new publisher, too. The new edition explains douches in New Jersey and answers many questions about the Garden State. Want an autographed one? Email your name and address to jack.riepe@gmail.com. Put “Book Order” in the subject line. Want a Secret K Bike Rider’s Club t-shirt in Classic Black or the new Red “Outkast and Damned” Secret K Bike Riders Club shirt? Email your name, address, color preference and size to jack. riepe@gmail.com. Shirts and books are $20 each, plus $5 S&H. www.heidenautires.com April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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th
CHIEF JOSEPH RALLY June 23–25, 2017 John Day, Oregon Sponsored by
BMW Riders of Oregon (BMWRO) Charter #83
Green grass Tent and RV camping on fairgrounds in John Day, OR. Motels and restaurants three blocks away. Best riding in the West. www.bmwro.org Visit bmwro.org for registration and details. For questions, e-mail
bmwro.rallymaster@gmail.com www.bmwro.rallymaster@gmail.com
Phone: 541-543-7320
Visit MotoMO.org www.motomo.orgfor more info
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You rode through a construction site on a brand new set of tires! This could definitely ruin your ride. But not if you have the MOA’s new Platinum Roadside Assistance and Tire Protection membership. With 24/7 Roadside Assistance, you could be towed to a repair facility and have your tire replaced for free! All for only $79 a year, including your MOA membership. Join online at www.bmwmoa.org bmwmoa.org or convert your current BMW MOA membership by calling 864-438-0962. BMW MOA Platinum Roadside and Tire Protection. Another great benefit of your BMW MOA membership.
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One drink at lunch is cool, right? By Lee Parks #162125
Q:
Some of my
riding buddies like to have a beer at lunch during a ride, some more than one. I have also on occasion had a single drink while on a ride but always feel a little bit guilty when reading safety articles by you or David Hough. What’s a safe amount of alcohol to have (if any) while riding?
A:
Like a majority of riders, I grappled with that question for many years. After all, if I have a single drink at a party and I hang out for two hours afterward without drinking, theoretically there isn’t more than a tiny amount left in my bloodstream—so I should be safe. I must also admit to feeling guilty when I did it in the past, but I could always justify it with a similar argument. After all, that is the formula I use when driving my car to, say, a dinner where I might have a glass of wine or a shot of scotch. Why would motorcycling be different? Unlike a four-wheeled vehicle, motorcycles are inherently unbalanced. When you stop actively balancing them, they fall over. Similarly, because the rider is an active part of
the aerodynamics of the bike, a small errant body movement could mean the difference between staying on two wheels and ending up on your head. Beyond the obvious things like affecting your skillset and reaction time, one of the biggest problems with drinking and riding is how it affects your judgement. What I mean by that is you often make different decisions once you’re under the influence of a controlled substance. This was made painfully clear to me during a 24-hour endurance race in 1996 when I was part of a four-man team made up of journalists from the around the world. It was the 34th running of the “24 Hores Internacionals Motociclistes De Montjuic.” We were the only team allowed four riders as every other team was limited to three. In fact, a couple teams had only two riders! I felt like I barely survived the one-hour-on, three-hours-off format with six one-hour sessions over the course of the race. In fact I was so fatigued that my last two sessions required the mechanics to physically lift me off the bike when I came into the pits for the rider change. I’m happy to say that our team finished seventh overall and second in our class of 750 SuperSport, but it came with a physical and mental cost. All I wanted to do after the race was sleep for a very long time. But this was Spain, and the Spanish love, love, love to celebrate. As I was not the car driver I, too,
would not be seeing a bed anytime soon. So off we went to have a few drinks and hang out with the team and some fans. I barely remember anything about that evening until the point that we started to walk to the car. “Walk” is not even the right word. The driver was stumbling so bad that he literally dropped his keys before they made it into the door locks. “Hey!” I blurted out, “You can’t drive— yeeeer’re drunk!” Of course, I was also drunk. Very drunk. I could hardly walk straight myself. So you can imagine my shock when he threw me the keys and said, “Okay then. You drive, Mr. Lee.” In that moment the keys seemed to fly toward me in slow motion, kind of like the bullet scene in the Matrix. It was one of the most surreal and scary moments in my life. It was metaphorically sobering, if I can even use such a word for this craziness. Here I am as drunk as the rest of the group, not speaking the language and imagining what the penalties for a gringo caught drunk driving are in this foreign land. In that moment I had to make one of the hardest decisions of my life. Do I risk dying or being seriously injured at the drunken hands of someone I don’t really know? Otherwise, do I risk killing or seriously injuring myself and a bunch of strangers by my own drunken hands? Was this to be my personal Kobayashi Maru? It felt like a game of Russian Roulette, and the only question was who was going to pull the
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trigger on us all? My instinct said, “Better the devil that you know.” In other words, if something bad was going to happen, I at least wanted to have agency in the exchange. There were no good choices as my flight was leaving in a few hours, and I didn’t even know the name of my hotel, let alone where I was. I also had no phone and wouldn’t know who to call even if I did. I decided that I was the lesser of two evils, at least in terms of being able to live with the consequences if something bad had happened. Somehow, with the help of my plastered navigator, I drove us back to the hotel unscathed. That was the last time I’ve ever operated a motor vehicle in a state of alcohol impairment. I developed a new strategy after that fateful night. On my motorcycle, I never mix alcohol and riding, ever. And whenever I take my car or truck somewhere, before I take even my first sip, I make sure there is a designated driver and hand them my keys. When I go to reach for them in my pocket and they’re not there, I’m reminded of the decision I made when I was completely sober. If I’m not 100 percent sure (verified by the key keeper) that I’m okay to drive, the trusted party becomes the chauffeur. Lucky for me, my girlfriend of 12 years never drinks and is usually with me, so I have a built-in early warning system and an always sober set of hands to take the wheel at any time either of us thinks it’s appropriate. Combined with my personal zero tolerance policy on drinking and riding, I’m gifted with a level of peace of mind better than any insurance policy.
Lee Parks (#162125) has been riding and racing motorcycles for well over 33 years. He has been the editor of both consumer and trade motorcycle magazines, manufacturers his own line of motorcycle gloves and is a WERA national endurance champion. His riding skills book Total Control has sold over 100,000 copies in five languages around the world. Lee’s Total Control Training company manages—and is the curriculum vendor for—the California Motorcyclist Safety Program as well as several large military contracts. If you have a question you’d like to him to answer in this column, send him an email at lee@totalcontroltraining.net.
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FOUNDATIONNEWS
FOUNDATION OUR MISSION
The BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Foundation is dedicated to supporting motorcycling and its rich heritage for BMW MOA members and the motorcycling public by funding programs that advance rider safety, education and training.
BMW MOA FOUNDATION OFFICERS
Chuck Manley, President cmanley@bmwmoaf.org Mark Austin, Vice President maustin@bmwmoaf.org Bex Becker, Treasurer bex@bmwmoaf.org Greg Straub, Secretary gstraub@bmwmoaf.org BMW MOA FOUNDATION DIRECTORS
Vance Harrelson vance@bmwmoaf.org Randy Logan rlogan@bmwmoaf.org Will McHardy wmchardy@bmwmoaf.org Peter Perrin pperrin@bmwmoaf.org BMW MOA FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS
2539 John Hawkins Parkway Suite 101-111 Birmingham, AL 35244 866-865-1055 Ted Moyer, Executive Director tmoyer@bmwmoaf.org
Find us on Facebook! By Chuck Manley #12106 MOA Foundation President THE BMW MOA FOUNDATION HAS
been very busy the past few months, and during their quarterly board meeting, the organization recognized five outgoing board members for their outstanding dedication and service to the organization. Thank you to outgoing board members Deb Lower, Karol Patzer, George Rice, Bruce Sanders and Eric Simon for their many years of service and contributions to the organization. Current board members include Directors Vance Harrelson, Randy Logan, Will McHardy, Peter Perrin, Bex Becker (Treasurer), Greg Straub (Secretary), Mark Austin (Vice President) and Chuck Manley (President). The MOA Foundation is dedicated to advancing rider safety, education and training, and to that end we’ve gotten the Foundation website updated; we hope you’ll check it out at bmwmoaf.org. Along with the updated website, we’ve also got a Facebook page at Facebook.com/ bmwmoaf. Our website highlights our two primary training outreach programs, GEARS (for younger riders) and the Paul B. Scholarship. GEARS stands for Gaining Early Advanced Riding Skills, and its premiere event is a two-day workshop for young riders or young riders-to-be under the age of 24. The workshop takes place on-site at the International Rally every year and introduces youth to the basics (and more) of riding motorcycles.
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The Paul B. Scholarship is open to every MOA member who wants to take a sanctioned, organized training course. It’s easy to apply for a $250 scholarship, and we encourage all MOA members to look into it. To further extend the Foundation’s commitment to improving rider safety, we’re bringing back the popular “Street Strategies” column in Owners News. In the meantime, an archive of “Street Strategies” articles are available on the Foundation website and we look forward to bringing you new columns in upcoming issues of Owners News, on our website and on Facebook. Finally, registration for the 2017 GEARS (Gaining Early Advanced Riding Skills) training program opens online beginning April 1. Complete program information and the registration page can be found by visiting bmwmoaf.org. GEARS training at the BMW MOA International Rally in Salt Lake City this July will be limited to 24 participants and is expected to fill up quickly. Early registration is recommended. If you have received Foundation-sponsored rider training or believe in our mission of providing the best of rider training opportunities, we invite you to make a tax deductible donation today. It’s a simple process that can be done online, by mail or over the phone. Please visit the website for full details. Safe riding everyone!
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2016 Summer Mileage Contest results By Steve Brunner #84929 CHANGE IS GOOD. CHANGE IS TO
be feared. You can’t have progress without change. The only thing that remains constant is change. Enough about change. CUBS WIN!!! As you know, the MOA Mileage Contest changed last year, with participants choosing one of three contests to enter: Summer, Winter or Annual Mileage Contest. Just like the restaurant offering a dinner menu allowing you to choose one of the three available items, our contests give you a similar option to choose the contest that best fits your riding style. If you look through the list of Summer Finishers and don’t see your name and are sure you sent in a Start Form, well, next month send in the End Form, and magically you’ll have entered the Annual Contest. One thousand, six hundred and nine members sent in their Summer/ Annual Start Forms and 927 Summer End Forms were received. After deciding who is to receive Mileage Contest pins, I’ll begin working on
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the Winter Contest start forms. Wisconsin again is the state with the most participants in the Summer Contest with 93 finishers. Only time will tell if Wisconsin will maintain that title for the Annual and Winter Contests. Minnesota leapfrogged Pennsylvania for second place with 79 participants compared with Pennsylvania’s 77. As for club participation, the BMW MOC of Minnesota rounded up 65 finishers to dethrone longtime champions MAC-PAC of Pennsylvania who had 36 finishers. BMW MC of Indianapolis earned a bronze medal with 30 finishers. It seems that each year we all fill out our forms and send them in. Later, when it’s time to send in the End Form, we hesitate and say, “Nah, didn’t ride as much as I wanted to. I’ll do better next year and will send in the end form then.” As I’ve already mentioned, if you don’t see your name listed among the finishers, you could still be one of the 682 who could enter the Annual Contest. Your bragging rights could be that you were among the finishers in the first MOA Annual Mileage Contest. Please, fill out your end forms and send them in.
Regardless of which contest you enter, please help me by filling out the forms legibly. The End Forms that have your tally on the side are also much appreciated. Notes concerning your change of address are also appreciated, and I have moved more than one member a few states over through my fat finger syndrome, Mailing labels are a great way to enter your information. Entering the same MOA # on the start and end forms is also a plus. As an example, if John Smith MOA #1234 sent in his start form, but entered MOA #11234 in his end form, his incomplete record would not be counted. If you’re unsure of your member number, a simple way to find it is to look at the mailing label on your BMW Owners News each month. Other issues I experience each year include members sending forms without odometer readings, including updated mileage numbers when a new bike is added midyear, or recording the mileage of a BMW motorcycle you rent. Remember, all of these miles count! Looking forward, let 2017 be the year you enter…and finish! See you on the road.
Many other miles were leisurely and about friendship with both new friends and old. Some of my 2016 highlights include the 50th anniversary of Paul and Voni Glaves, who renewed vows while standing in the Rio Grande river at Lajitas, Texas; the Defective Gene Pool gathering in Allen, Texas; the Lone Star BMR Riders cookout in Sulphur, Oklahoma; and lunch at Ezell’s Fish Camp in Lavaca, Alabama.
1st Place - Female Heidi Still #39115
1st Place - Male Dave McQueeney #25244
My thanks to Steve Brunner for coordinating the many activities related to the Mileage Contest. I was very surprised when he notified me of my first place finish in the summer contest, since my mileage was somewhat below what recent contest winners accumulated. Perhaps the new variations of contests have changed how members participate. We’ll see. In 1981, I took delivery of my first BMW in Germany in a deal arranged by Iron Horse in Tucson. After about ten weeks of travel through Europe, that motorcycle was shipped back to the United States and since that time, I have always had at least one BMW motorcycle in my garage. Currently, my home is about 20 miles east of Los Angeles, a few miles from the remnants of Route 66 and the nearby mountains and close to several escape routes away from the ever-growing urban mass of LA. After working 40 years in IT environments as a systems analyst, I retired in 2009. In recent years I have ridden most of my miles on a 2013 R 1200 R and as of December 2016, I had ridden about 176,000 miles on that bike. Reliability has been excellent, with no significant issues; minor replacements included fuel level sensors, a battery and a heated grip. My second motorcycle is a 2002 R 1150 R with only 68,000 miles. This motorcycle has also proved very reliable with only a crown gear seal and pivot bearings needing replacement. While at home, both roadsters undergo regular service at my local dealership, Brown Motor Works, in Pomona, California, and I credit their competent staff for reliably maintaining the bikes. While traveling, I’ve also appreciated the national availability of dealers and have been pleased with service from Gina’s in Iowa, BMW of Jacksonville, BMW of North Dallas, BMW of Daytona Beach, Viva Powersports in El Paso, and MAX BMW in New Hampshire. I had no specific mileage goal for 2016, and most of my miles were related to IBA activities, either on staff assignments or to complete various certified rides. Those were focused, solitary rides.
Wow! What a great surprise to hear I placed in the top spot. Last year, I limped along with my aging fleet, one with more than 100,000 miles and with the other two quickly catching up. Mamba Motorsports in Santa Clarita, California, did an awesome job fixing them when they broke and providing top-notch service. Right now I have more than 900,000 BMW miles and am quickly closing in on one million. Living where I do, I’m lucky to be able to ride all year, with many of my miles accumulated as I rack up 42 miles a day commuting to work. To escape the summer heat, I’ll head to the hills of California and northern Arizona almost every weekend. I also continue to enjoy Iron Butt Association rides where I’ll ride 1,000 miles in 24 hours or less. Riding southern Arizona in the summer is great, as the motels are cheap and there are no crowds. We also enjoy exploring back roads near Safford, Bisbee, Tombstone and Sierra Vista, Arizona, on long weekends. Last September, a friend and I had a fantastic ride exploring the canyon lands of Arizona, Colorado, Utah and Nevada. It was two weeks of awesome riding and hiking. Additionally, just before the contest ended, I headed to Arkansas to attend an event for folks who are either full-time RVers or are thinking about it, to prepare for my rapidly approaching retirement. I have a truck and toy hauler now and in a few months will put in my retirement paperwork so I can really start riding. I hope to see you all in Salt Lake City this July at the BMW MOA International rally.
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Second Place - Male Leslie Gullery #196419
I live in Canyon Country, California, just north of Los Angeles and am a retired from my position as a Senior System Financial IT Analyst for a Health Insurance company. I started long distance riding in 2008 on a 1997 BMW R 1100 RT with my brother Michael on a ride to Canada. Three BMWs later, I now ride a 2008 BMW R 1200 GS. I belong to the Southern California Motorcycle Association (SCMA) and challenged myself to complete their SCMA Grand Slam of Rides, which consists of completing five major rides and 13 out of 15 monthly rides. So, last year I started a Four Corners ride with my riding buddy, Dale. We left California to start the challenge in Key West, Florida, then headed north to Madawaska, Maine, and then west to Blaine, Washington. Just east of Blaine my drive shaft failed and I had to truck my bike home while Dale completed the Four Corners Ride to San Ysidro, California. Two weeks later I rode to Traverse City, Michigan, for my daughter’s wedding and then back to California following Route 66. Two weeks after that, Dale and I headed to Tombstone, Arizona, for the start of the Three Flags Classic which took us from Tombstone, Arizona, to Kimberly, British Columbia. A week after we returned, I decided to attempt the Four Corners again. This time, my route took me from San Ysidro to Key West, to Madawaska, and then to Blaine. While on these tours, we also rode the best 15 Roads in the continental U.S. In between these tours, I also rode to 21 California Missions and 24 California National Parks. My goal in 2017 is to ride an additional 17,000 miles to reach 400,000 miles ridden on a BMW. I’d like to thank Dennis Even of the SCMA for introducing me to long distance
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
riding and Dale Gillibrand for joining me on the Four Corners, Three Flags Classic and Best 15 Roads tours. 2016 was truly my “Year of the Ride,” and I’d also like to thank the BMW MOA for this recognition.
Second Place - Female Minna Case #121097
I live in southern Vermont, close to Mount Snow, where our riding season, unless you are a brave soul willing to ride in the snow, is usually from mid-April to mid-November. I work as a community association and property manager, and I manage a large condominium community, and because the winter months are the busiest time, I am able to take my work “on the road” and do a little travel during the warmer months. My trusted steed Tigger is a 2008 R 1200 GS with more than 152,000 miles on the odometer. We got acquainted in November 2015 when I inherited him from a kind soul; it has been a love affair ever since. Before Tigger, I rode a 2009 G 650 GS named Blackie, and together we had 67,000 miles of fun before parting ways. I absolutely love motorcycling and will ride whenever and wherever I can. I commute a whopping six miles to work, I enjoy riding around all New England, and I am an avid long distance rider. It is not unusual to ride several hundred miles with a friend for a cup of coffee or a good lunch. Last year I rode my ultimate challenge; I rode the Iron Butt Association’s 50cc Gold which took me coast to coast in no more than 50 hours. On that ride, I went from Coney Island, New York, to San Francisco, California, riding the 2,956 miles in 46 hours. It was amazing, and I would do it again. Long distance riding is an endurance sport and one that fits me well as there is nothing better than the humming of the engine and the open road. What great therapy, too! One of the reasons I logged many of my miles in 2016 was because I participated in the Tour of Honor (www.tourofhonor. com) which brought me all around the
country to visit more than 60 memorials in 26 states. I can’t wait to do it again in 2017. I ride solo most of the time but do enjoy riding with friends. I also like to participate in rallies, including the Team Lyle New England eight-hour rally or other fun scavenger hunt types of rides. I am a member of the Vermont BMW Owners Club as well as the Yankee Beemers. I am also a proud member of the Iron Butt Association. I realized this fall that I have actually ridden more than 100,000 miles on BMWs. Another great milestone! I was very surprised to find out that I came in second place for the 2016 BMW MOA summer mileage contest, and I’m proud of that, too. I can’t wait to see what 2017 will bring in miles and adventures on the bike.
Third Place - Male Dan Myers #83451
I’ve been riding motorcycles since 1970, BMW’s since 1992, and for the past five years, a 2011 R 1200 GS has been the only bike in my stable. I am blessed to be retired and living with my wife of 30 years, Chris, the best riding enabler anyone could ask for. We live in Sparks, Nevada, on the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, close to Sierra BMW, an exceptional BMW dealership with an incredibly supportive service department. In 2014, I rode all over Alaska, but in 2016 I just needed to get to Prudhoe Bay so I could attempt an Iron Butt Association challenge. I rode out of Sparks last May to join a MotoQuest tour in Anchorage that was heading to Prudhoe Bay. I was fortunate to be included in an eclectic team of riders, most of whom don’t rack up a lot of miles, but all of whom had better skills than I do. It was so much fun! Other rides took me to Key West, Florida, to successfully complete the IBA Extreme Coast to Coast ride. My next tour took me to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where Chris joined me. Together, we explored that historic city, rode across Newfoundland and ferried to Sidney, Nova Scotia, to ride Cape Breton, Nova Scotia,
before Chris flew home and I headed for the BMW MOA National rally in Hamburg, New York. At Trois Pistoles, 150 miles north of Quebec City, I discovered that my final drive main seals/bearings were blown. Stephane Gagno, a biology professor riding an Indian, shepherded me into Quebec City and translated for me the next day at Moto Vanier. They rebuilt my final drive by 5 p.m. that same day because I was a traveler. The next morning Stephane led me on a 250-mile breakfast ride through the countryside before I headed off for the U.S. and Hamburg. A week after I got home from Das Rally I rode the Idaho BDR with my friend Curtis. A couple of weeks later, another Dan and I rode parts of the Oregon off-road routes. Many 500-800 mile day rides through the northern California Sierra’s and Nevada rounded out my mileage total. I am grateful to so many people who made this past year’s journey possible, and who made it a memorable and rewarding year.
Third Place - Female Jayne Thompson #80297
My husband and I live in a small town in Pennsylvania, set in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. We are blessed to be retired, but keep busy caring for our 40 acres and helping our families. We are also blessed to have great riding all around us! My husband and I each ride an R 1200 GS. We enjoy many types of motorcycling, including competitive touring, riding the roads in Northern Pennsylvania, riding to the BMW MOA National Rally, and meeting our great friends at different events, as well as taking many cross-country trips to visit all the beauty North America has to offer. I’ve been riding my own bike since 1992 when I bought a Yamaha 225 Serow, a bike I still have and use to practice on. My first touring bike was a 1995 Yamaha Virago, and in 1997 I bought a used BMW R 1100 RT and rode with my husband home from the dealership in a December snowstorm.
I bought my dream bike in 2006 when I purchased my first GS, and a year later rode that bike on a dream vacation to Alaska, something I had been thinking about since I was 13! I currently own a 2015 R 1200 GS, and I can’t stop riding it, logging 30,000 miles in one year! BMW has never failed to make my riding experience more enjoyable by making bikes that fit me and my personal riding needs. Since we are retired, our profession is now Motorcycle Adventurers, so this number of miles has become our norm. Last year was an exceptionally good year for our riding, as we traveled through nearly every U.S. state, including a wild ride through New Mexico where we encountered every type of weather except a hurricane. On that trip we also experienced wonderful riding in Utah, including the dirt road through the Valley of the Gods, the Moki Dugway and all of Utah’s wonderful National Parks. We also rode to Quebec, Canada, to ride the Gaspe’ Peninsula, toured Colorado and took several rides through West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Finally, we had a great ride up through New York’s Adirondacks, around Lake Champlain into Vermont to get ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s. A little closer to home, we also rode to every county in Pennsylvania. Thanks to my wonderful husband Darryl for his companionship and support, to all the staff at Hermy’s BMW in Port Clinton, Pennsylvania, for their service and gear, and to our friends for planning some great events to ride to. Riding a motorcycle is definitely the best therapy for a good life! Ride on!
Average Male Rider Dwight Blake #124757
I may be an average rider in terms of miles on my BMWs, but this was a not an average year for me and my wife, Laura. Normally we do a five or six week summer trip to the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia, but because of my knee issues, we stayed in the east this year. We live in Greenfield Township,
Pennsylvania, northeast of Scranton, and are both members of the Black Diamond Beemers of northeast Pennsylvania. Since I retired in 2010, I’ve been able to ride much more aboard my 2006 R 1200 RT, 2004 R 1150 R and a 2001 Moto Guzzi California EV. Laura rides a 2010 R 1200 R, so when we go to Beemer rallies I always ride one of my BMWs and when we go to Moto Guzzi rallies I always ride my Guzzi. My wife and I truly enjoy going to rallies and taking long road trips. Last year we attended four BMW rallies and four Moto Guzzi rallies, in addition to attending Barber Vintage Days in Birmingham, Alabama. Between the two of us we carry all of our camping gear. We do stay in motels for one night stops but camp at all the rallies and locations where we want to spend extra time riding. We are also fortunate to have a great group of riding friends which we often travel with, both locally and on our outwest ventures. Although this year was an “average year,” I had knee replacement surgery in November and am looking forward to many more miles in 2017!
Average Female Rider Donna McInerney #97005
My introduction to motorcycling happened when my touring buddy, who also happens to be my wonderful husband Michael, bought a 1997 BMW F 650. A year later, I was sitting on the bike and wondering if I could learn to ride a motorcycle. A couple of weeks later, Michael said he wanted to trade the F 650 on a bigger bike. I said, “NO!” and told him that I wanted to learn to ride. After he picked his jaw up off the ground, we went to the BMW dealership in Missoula, Montana, and learned about the basic MSF course. In 2001, we took the class together, and that is where I learned to ride. Michael said I took to motorcycling like ducks to water. Michael got his bigger bike, an R 1150 GS, and off we went. Since that time we have ridden the Dempster Highway in Alaska to Inuvik as well as many
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other locations in that area Last year, our plans included riding to the Georgia Mountain Rally, and during our two-week trip we also planned to travel to Georgia via Big Bend National Park to see friends in Terlingua. That route would also give us the opportunity to ride through much of the south including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Then after an oil change in Tennessee, we would continue to Hiawassee, Georgia, for the rally. After the rally, we then rode through North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois to Missouri to see family. Then it was through Kansas and back home to Colorado. In August, I love riding to the Bee Cee Beemers Rally in Naskup, British Columbia. To get there, we ride through Wyoming, Montana and Idaho. After riding the F 650 for about two and a half years, Michael bought me a 2004 R 1150 RT so I could keep up with his R 1150 GS. Then, in 2007 we brought matching R 1200 GSs, so most of my traveling has been on that bike. We both retired in 2015 and are free to travel anywhere we want. My touring buddy and I hope to see you down the road. Ride Safe!
BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
Top 25 Male Finishers MOA # Name State Year 25244 Dave McQueeney CA 2013 196419 Leslie Gullery CA 2008 83451 Dan Myers NV 2011 205864 Roy Kjendal NH 2015 78584 John Frick OH 2009 47185 Skeeter Kopacek MN 1976 51341 Richard Snyder PA 1995 7157 Darrell Penning MN 2016 40472 Rich Westcott IL 2004 79801 Blaine Paulus, Jr PA 2004 86999 Pete Noftz WA 1999 30657 Eric Blume WA 1981 108471 Philip Graber CA 2010 153542 Kent Meyer IL 2015 18816 Taylor Kirchner OH 1995 136582 Daniel Maki MN 2005 89020 Darryl Thompson PA 2012 170740 Martin Beaupre NB 2009 7536 Harvey Read WI 2010 189412 Warren Brownell DE 2016 194600 Abe Leinen BC 2011 197111 Bill Harlan MI 2009 153695 John Coker CO 2009 106179 Bob Ryan MA 2015 159271 Robert Annandale VA 2013
Bike #1 Model Year
Bike #2 Model
R1200R 2002 R1150R R1200GS R1200GS K1600GTL K1200LT 2016 R1200RT R75/6 1978 R100/7 R1100GS 1996 K1100RS R1200RS 2012 G650GS R1150RXTR 1957 R26 R1150GS 2002 R1150GS F650F 2011 R1200GSA R80GS 2007 G650XCM R1200GS R1200GSA R100Mystic 1999 K1200LT R1200RT 2007 R1200GSA R1200GS R1200RT R1200RT R1200GSA 2016 Loaners K1600GT R1200RT 2014 Loaners R1200GS 1978 R100S R1200GS R1200GS
TOTAL MILES 38,152 36,285 36,126 33,987 32,984 32,077 31,885 31,419 28,648 27,596 27,428 26,795 26,578 26,267 26,210 26,196 25,774 25,532 25,391 25,386 24,864 24,559 24,045 23,683 23,066
Top 25 Female Finishers MOA # Name State Year 39115 Heidi Still AZ 2007 121097 Minna Case VT 2009 80297 Jayne Thompson PA 2015 67296 Nancee Musto MN 2016 4735 Margaret Lang AB 2001 205894 Erin Hooper NE 2007 138245 Lisa Hecker MD 2016 196617 Kathy Swisher FL 2002 205222 Lisa Gilbreath IN 2016 89517 Muriel Farrington VT 2012 57286 Donna Schettine OH 1996 200226 Kathy Dean OH 2004 126149 Stacey Papinchak PA 2013 176738 Patty Clark MI 2016 21714 Suzanne Weston CO 2010 146092 Cheryl Laudermilk WA 2009 182034 Chris Sjoberg NE 2012 155492 Kelly Van Allen WA 2015 194120 Joan Bowley ONT 2015 70444 Barbara Allen IL 2015 62350 Pattie Melik AR 2013 155112 Karen Ager MD 2009 124758 Laura Blake PA 2009 143476 Donna Ditlow PA 2012 9927 Deb Lower CO 2014
Bike #1 Model Year
Bike #2 Model
F650GSA 2009 F800ST G650GS 2008 R1200GS R1200GS R1200R 2012 F650GS F650GS 1985 K100RTwSC F650GS R1200GSA R1150R 2013 R1200R S1000XR 2016 Loaner F650 2007 F650 K1100LT 2004 K1200GT R1150R 2015 R1200GS R1200GS R1200R R1200RT F650GS F650GS R1200GS R1200RT R1200GS R1200R F650GS R1200R F650GS R1200GS 2013 F800GT
TOTAL MILES 27,128 27,101 25,748 20,874 20,576 20,106 18,692 18,263 17,172 16,886 16,237 15,978 15,062 14,965 14,738 14,332 13,482 12,528 11,832 11,746 11,675 11,663 11,357 11,300 11,242
All Finishers by State ALABAMA - 5 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 110423 Michael Greenwood 2006 K1200GT 14,102 42184 Michael Waybright 2005 R1200RT 9,733 84761 Thomas Werstler 2013 K1600GTLTrike 8,387 40300 Paul McClain 2012 K1600GT 2006 R1200GS 8,188 118502 Albert White 1998 R1100RT 2012 R1200GS 3,068 43,478
92422 Dewayne Harkov 2000 R1100RT 2008 R1200GSA 3,949 139140 Chris Thorns 2013 R1200GSWC 2,413 122684 Ed Anjel 2005 R1200GS 1,596 48882 Gino Fortunato 1987 K75T 1,591 192020 Michelle Lawson 2014 F700GS 1,063 314,591
COLORADO - 32 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 153695 John Coker 2009 R1200GS 1978 R100S 24,045 97004 Mike McInerney 2001 R1150GS 2007 R1200GS 16,156 21714 Suzanne Weston 2010 R1200RT 14,738 ALASKA - 1 Finisher 114169 Stan Herman 2007 R1200RT 2016 R1200GSA 13,368 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 137737 Paul Dewhurst 2012 K1600GT 12,706 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 176107 Gary Richter 2011 R1200GSA 12,411 11628 Keith Hull 2014 R1200GSA 2013 F800GS 16,649 21713 Stephen Weston 2012 R1200RT 12,245 16,649 173127 Steve Jouflas 2011 K1300S 2016 R1200RS 12,141 9927 Deb Lower 2014 R1200GS 2013 F800GT 11,242 ARIZONA - 18 Finishers 129644 Moe Klein 1984 R100RSE 2012 R1200RT 11,033 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 6599 Jay Kuhns 2007 K1200GT 10,875 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 15737 Eric Peterson 2014 G650GS 10,123 39115 Heidi Still 2007 F650GSA 2009 F800ST 27,128 100083 Greg DeWit 2007 R1200GS 1973 R75/5 9,993 110283 John Kersh 2008 R1200RT 1997 R1100GS 17,098 159578 Mark Lickers 2000 K1200LT 2012 F800GS 8,471 108299 Tim Kash 2013 R1200GSWC 15,741 195464 Roman Soshin 2013 R1200RT 8,349 60547 Richard Lee Schmidt 1998 R1100R 1994 R100GSPD 13,914 171195 H John Murakami 2004 R1150RT 2007 R1200GSA 8,051 58537 Deryle Mehrten 2008 K1200GT 2002 K1200RS 13,045 97005 Donna McInerney 2007 R1200GS 7,294 185857 James Elliott 2012 K1600GTL 1975 R90S 12,822 35271 David Peterson 1999 R1100RT 7,267 100047 Robert Kruse 1997 R1100RT 1975 R75/6 10,727 82902 Conrad Long 1994 R1100RSA 1996 R1100RT 6,922 172496 Ray Blecker 2015 R1200GS 9,468 135812 Monte Potter 2005 R1200GS 6,683 110196 Bern Juracka 2002 R1150RT 7,918 85409 Mark Zimmer 2012 K1600GT 6,486 131796 Michael Shaffer 2014 R1200RT 7,826 32167 Dennis Pink 2007 R1200RT 6,486 177512 Allan Kuenn 2008 R1200RT 1977 R100S 7,449 139500 Mike Zablocki 2002 R1150R 6,063 62287 Angie Brennan 2004 K1200RS 2007 F800ST 7,090 99565 Richard Smith 2009 F800GS 5,021 34477 Shelley Hogan 2008 F800ST 6,901 173517 Randy Bishop 2004 R1150GS 4,178 40624 Steve T. Skrabak 2015 R1200GS 6,787 182814 Daivd Lasater 2011 R1200GS 3,689 38304 Stephen Cantrill 2016 R1200RS 6,783 6438 Robert Hannagan 2010 R1200GS 2012 F800R 3,661 126042 Thomas Kube 2002 R1200C 2,644 106224 Dr Forrest Groves 2001 K1200RS 2,973 94648 Bob Still 2014 R1200GSA 1,860 177655 Jon Montano 2009 R1200GSA 2008 R1200RT 2,553 163660 Steven Cass 2010 R1200RT 2006 F650GS 1,314 51282 Edward Russell 1985 K100 1991 R100GS 2,383 176,515 118621 Troy Corrigan 2004 R1150GSA 2004 R1150GSA 1,945 ARKANSAS - 5 Finishers 15744 Nancy M. Matthews 2006 K1200LT 582 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 270,133 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES CONNECTICUT - 9 Finishers 39280 Wally Melik 2013 R1200RT 13,530 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 62350 Pattie Melik 2013 R1200R 11,675 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 181824 Mike Causey 2009 R1200RT 1973 R75/5 10,835 19607 Greg Anderson 1991 K100RS 1992 K100RS 18,863 196831 Chris Wenzler 2001 R1100RT 2006 F650GSPD 7,186 183033 Ralph Rookey 2005 R1200GS 18,767 163513 Butch Forbes 2016 R1200GSA 5,008 175067 Gerry Arel 2011 R1200R 13,877 48,234 36434 Brian Fisk 1997 R1100RT 1999 R1100RT 13,099 CALIFORNIA - 29 Finishers 175611 Jeff Winnick 1983 R80RT 1998 R1200C 10,940 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 191686 Palmer & Cathy Lathrop 2005 R1200GS 2005 R1200RT 7,425 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 67986 Robert Horn 1971 R60/5 7,251 25244 Dave McQueeney 2013 R1200R 2002 R1150R 38,152 201933 Rick Braley 2005 R1200RT 2,335 196419 Leslie Gullery 2008 R1200GS 36,285 32803 Beth Kemmer 1987 K75C 1998 F650 1,252 108471 Philip Graber 2010 R1200GS 26,578 93,809 137667 Jim Bullen 2009 K1300GT 2012 K1600GT 22,867 DELAWARE - 6 Finishers 138157 Bryan Holladay 2016 R1200GSA 17,586 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 44156 Joel Woolf 2002 K1200RS 2016 R1200RS 15,549 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 39270 Russ Drake 2008 R1200GS 1997 R1100RT 14,059 189412 Warren Brownell 2016 R1200GSA 2016 Loaners 25,386 42793 Larry Rochellle 2010 R1200GSA 13,127 119405 Douglas Bennett 2001 R1150GSPD 8,264 137690 John Katics 2009 R1200GSA 2007 R1200GS 12,346 94294 Dean Smith 2012 R1200RT 1977 R100/7 8,152 99616 Peter Perrin 2001 R1150GS 2016 K1600GT 12,241 139272 Maximilian Vikari 2016 R1200GSA 5,685 205186 Paul Stark 2015 R1200RT 11,205 124289 James Sterling 1996 R1100RS 2016 R1200RT 2,746 137679 Ralph Fox 2016 R1200GSA 2012 K1600 10,511 61217 Dave Cowgill 1979 R100T 2012 R1200RT 1,916 26224 Fulton Martin 2008 R1200GS 9,040 52,149 70742 Dennis Even 2004 R1150RS 7,631 68566 David Tegen 1997 F650 1994 R1100RS 7,055 FLORIDA - 20 Finishers 34496 Mark Lawless 1996 K1100RS 2016 R1200RS 6,886 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 87816 Sharron Zoyhofski 2014 F700GS 6,634 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 202761 Ken Concepcion 2013 F800GS 6,513 161517 Paul Knight 2014 R1200GSA 21,689 113211 Dale McNeely Jr 1985 Ursula 2003 Greda 5,709 115872 Frank Brown 2014 R1200GS 2014 R1200RT 19,622 11500 Carl Schultes 1998 R1100RT 2009 K1300GT 5,555 118134 Ray King 2005 R1200RT 2000 R1200C 19,243 99852 Ron Hanford 2009 R1200RT 2013 F800GT 5,345 103848 Larry Meeker 2004 R1150GS 2014 R1200GSA 18,669 110762 Marv Lewis 1999 K1200LT 1983 R80ST 4,947 196617 Kathy Swisher 2002 R1150R 2013 R1200R 18,263 146671 Bob Merrick 2005 K1200LT 4,128 34979 Wm. Dan Andrews 2014 R1200GSA 16,256 131253 Steve Thorns 2014 R1200GSWC 4,030 155307 Fred Swisher 2015 R1200RT 2014 R1200GS 11,667
30000 Martin Dietz 2009 K1300GT 11,246 2015 R1200RT 1974 R90S 9,880 13981 Victor Commune 18669 Douglas Davey 1998 R1100GS 1998 K1200RS 9,275 100522 Dan Carbone 2009 R1200RT 9,253 83600 Jim Clark 2013 R1200GSA 7,777 171086 Mal Clingan 2003 K1200LTTrike 6,753 112343 Christine Hiday 2013 F700GS 2013 F700GS 6,602 100862 Robert Hiday 2013 F700GS 2011 F800GS 6,413 63752 Walter Deck 2005 K1200LT 1996 R1100RT 4,839 164577 William Markle 2004 K1200GT 3,761 107537 Randolph Nowell 2003 R1200CL 1991 K75 3,507 111138 Ashley Rhoads 1998 R1100GS 1983 R80RTwSC 2,626 113431 David Currier 1977 R75/7 200 207,541 GEORGIA - 5 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 187131 Jim Clark 2012 R1200RT 17,276 194565 Boerge Deist 2014 R1200GS 16,314 84137 Jay Powell 2015 K1600GTL 14,627 140425 Ian Scobie 1992 K75RT 2002 F650GSPD 9,825 199829 Dave Maney 2014 R1200GS 3,434 61,476 HAWAII - 1 Finisher Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 121009 Danny Graham 2006 R1200RT 2012 K1600GT 8,945 8,945 IDAHO - 3 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 182994 Glen Smallwood 2013 R1200GSA 8,393 178115 Hal Bishop 1994 K75RT 1972 R75/5 8,267 178536 Charles Scheer 2012 R1200GS 2009 R1200RT 8,106 24,766 ILLINOIS - 44 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 40472 Rich Westcott 2004 R1150RXTR 1957 R26 28,648 153542 Kent Meyer 2015 R1200GSA 26,267 122465 Robert Meana 1995 R100GSPD 2005 K1200LT 18,051 29325 Jim Rostron 2015 R1200RT 2006 R1200RT 16,718 130842 Bryan Whitehead 2005 R1200GS 15,327 12106 Chuck Manley 2002 K1200RS 2013 R1200GSA 14,758 68908 John Lange 2015 R1200RT 2015 S1000RR 14,265 68813 Ronald Allen 2015 R1200GSAWC 13,338 85808 Richard Patenaude 2015 R1200GSA 12,487 70444 Barbara Allen 2015 R1200GS 11,746 191926 Jim Heberling 2013 R1200GSA 11,621 124409 Mark Ragogna 2013 K1600GTL 10,607 200367 Dan Kurczewski 2004 K1200RS 10,024 116100 James McNutt 1984 R80RT 2010 R1200R 8,372 134096 Jeffrey Fink 2003 R1150GS 2011 F800GS 8,229 152531 Dan Wittry 2012 K1600GTL 8,149 170608 Kirk Johnson 2000 K1200LT 7,856 144873 Ron Winter 1979 R100/7 2002 K1200LT 7,193 92080 Douglas Rost 2000 R1100RT 7,121 167558 Georg Thut 2012 R1200R 7,085 88486 Robert Miller 2014 R1200RT 6,540 109426 Earl Esders 2014 F700GS 2004 R1100S 6,251 156361 Jim Leistra 2009 R1200RT 6,126 77200 David EB Smith 1999 R1100RT 1 999 F650 5,958 19464 Jim Olson 2005 R1150GS 1988 R100GS 5,320 129372 Jerry Beatty 2007 R1200RT 4,841 104733 Robert Zwahlen 1978 R100S 1993 K1100LT 4,757 82467 Jay Green 2012 R1200GS 4,701 182100 Darla Meyer 2009 R1200GS 4,604 80172 Norman Thompson 2014 R1200RT 1973 R75/5 4,413 93674 Nicholas Schmutte 2010 K1300GT 2013 R1200RT 3,460 132272 Ted Harms 2005 R1200RT 1971 R60/5 3,443 128124 Kevin Thomas 2006 K1200GT 2,941 74027 Gary Herberger 2007 K1200GT 2011 R1200RT 2,939 123684 Shawn Martin 2016 R1200RS 2,926 120874 Eric Hasselberg 2014 R1200RT 2016 Rental 2,728 65436 Edward Gullo 2011 R1200RT 2,701
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51462 Richard Fontagnero 1999 R1100RT 1985 K100wSC 2,552 200014 Thomas Liad 1987 R80 2011 R1200R 2,321 174068 Dan Huebener 2007 R1200RT 1,930 30765 Steve W. Alwerdt 1995 R1100RSL 1,737 79888 Mark Pilon 2006 K1200S 935 97060 Larry Scalzitti 2001 R1200C 2002 R1150GSA 167 129317 Jim Tonyan 2002 K1200LT 156 342,309
INDIANA - 39 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 152105 Bret Moye 2011 R1200RT 2006 R1200GS 21,625 205222 Lisa Gilbreath 2016 S1000XR 2016 Loaner 17,172 164422 Dee Reeves 2004 R1150GS 1997 R1100RT 16,107 205608 Thomas Brentlinger 2015 K1600GTL 15,687 103979 Robert Conley 2014 R1200RT 1982 R100CS 13,431 73731 Dennis Shelley 2012 K1600GT 2014 F700GS 10,979 189323 Lina Rifai 2016 R1200R 10,902 41040 Brian Findlay 1990 K75S 1978 R80RT 10,270 83416 Rob Litavecz 2014 R1200RT 9,793 20941 Wayne Garrison 2014 F700GS 9,611 103826 Peggy Sue Rose 2010 F650GS 9,545 108545 Galen Reinholt 2011 R1200RT 8,920 80946 Harold Paterson 2009 K1300GT 8,753 195536 Jay Zach 2005 R1200RT 2016 S1000XR 8,432 204739 Donald Phelps 1998 R1100RS 7,361 194276 John Cannon III 1998 K1200RS 7,054 61605 Dominick LaDuca 2013 R1200GS 6,420 94198 Jeff Kernen 2007 K1200GT 6,278 23712 Harry Hawkins 2005 K1200LT 1995 K1100LT 5,910 133972 Chris Williams 2013 K1600GT 2009 K1200LT 5,739 37304 Andy Fountain 2010 R1200RT 1981 R100RS 5,683 115517 Bill Currier 2005 K1200LT 2011 R1200GS 5,682 41696 James Brown 2015 R1200GSA 5,377 145768 Judy Pearson 2016 F700GS 4,759 189945 Doug Johnson 1998 R1100RT 4,675 50785 James Thatcher 2009 R1200R 4,395 189804 Richard Snodgress 2009 R1200GS 4,395 195892 Joseph Hochderffer 2001 R1100RT 4,008 36410 James Green 2009 K1200LT 1980 R100RT 3,826 76906 Tony Nacelewicz 2014 K1600GT 3,582 135355 Richard Stone 2004 R1150RT 3,466 116558 Brian Boje 2013 K1600GT 3,345 84532 Raymond Kauffman 2012 K1600GLT 2,782 92560 Richard Hansen 2009 K1200LT 2,692 121752 Jim Pugh 2011 R1200RT 2014 F700GS 2,668 193476 Charles Goddard 2000 R1100RT 2,282 135330 Andrew Clark 1992 K75 2,212 88539 Robert Stewart 2009 F800ST 1,708 182608 Michaela Reeves 2006 F650ZGS 545 278,071 IOWA - 16 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 160860 Brian Dutcher 2011 R1200GSA 2013 F800GS 18,254 58995 George Akins 2011 R1200GS 16,518 110139 Robert Rye 2009 R1200RT 2009 R1200RT 14,786 56417 Scott Derscheid 2001 R1150GS 2006 K1200LT 12,258 200615 Roger Howland 2012 K1200LT 11,416 127768 Peter Schmitz 2009 R1200GSA 2016 S1000XR 11,012 69767 Steve Martin 2011 R1200RT 10,671 182161 Tricia Dutcher 2013 F700GS 8,393 80457 Joe O’Connor 1995 R100RT 2006 R1200RT 8,224 100603 Brian “Frump” Hase 2003 K1200RS 2006 R1200GSA 7,008 86315 Robert Zagar 2005 R1200ST 5,189 200988 Brent Howland 2005 R1200RT 4,959 113839 Marlin Wolter 1993 K1100LT 1992 K75RT 4,590 64332 James A. Lange 2004 R1150GS 2000 K1200LT 2,375 89264 Tom Zirbel 2014 R1200GS 2,030 164566 Dennis Boehme 1997 R1100RT 1,040 138,723
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KANSAS - 2 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 85371 Rob Lessen 2014 R1200RT 1988 R100GS 3,301 49163 Mark Kettler 1996 R1100RT 405 3,706 KENTUCKY - 3 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 74775 Bill Marcum 2004 R1150Rxtr 1992 R100RT 14,892 34713 Lowell Roark 2011 R1200GS 2009 R1200RT 3,305 33531 Kent Royse 2004 R1150GS 1,417 19,614 LOUISIANA - 3 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 180999 Steven Kinchen 2015 R1200RTWC 10,183 42562 Thomas Zeringue 2012 K1600GTL 8,963 193065 Chuck Kemp 2013 R1200GSA 6,162 25,308 MAINE - 4 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 73527 David Eskelund 1999 R1100RT 1995 K75A 8,747 199159 Kenneth Simons 2013 R1200RT 7,799 100191 Phillip Jones 2014 R1200RT 6,347 194741 Sarah Quantance 2007 F650GS 6,289 29,182 MARYLAND - 10 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 129225 Martin Cover 2012 K1600GTL 2013 F700GS 22,134 138245 Lisa Hecker 2016 R1200GSA 18,692 199813 John Schmidt 2007 R1200S 2007 R1200RT 12,702 155112 Karen Ager 2009 F650GS 11,663 160295 Bob Hafenmair 2004 R1150RT 10,416 54262 Philip Ager 2010 F800GS 1975 R90S 7,404 91753 Scott Davis 2000 R1150GS 6,000 165741 Brian Conrad 2013 K1600GT 4,651 169079 Christine Conrad 2010 K1300GT 1,090 196267 James Sands 2004 R1100S 2009 F650GS 784 95,536 MASSACHUSETTS - 17 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 106179 Bob Ryan 2015 R1200GS 23,683 131700 Wallace French 2004 R1150RT 2011 K1300S 18,391 153274 John Gamel 2015 R1200RT 14,338 29818 Ed Pedi 2010 R1200RT 2016 Rental 13,549 82395 Larry Marquis 2009 R1200RT 1980 R100RS 12,492 203981 Gordon Winston 2013 K1600GT 11,909 126171 Richard Piela 2013 R1200GSA 1998 R1100R 8,665 100130 Haus Muellers 2002 R1150GSA 2007 R1200GSA 6,988 39061 Bill Mono 2001 R1150GS 1974 R90/6 6,630 97786 Mark MacRae 2002 R1150RA 2004 R1150RTP 5,961 101736 Chris Boire 1993 R100R 1990 K75S 4,645 106380 David Humphrey 2004 R1150RT 2006 F650GSPD 4,458 78656 Arthur Schwope 1991 K100RS 3,564 69294 Bruce Ferguson 2013 R1200R 1,584 31355 Peter Leone 2004 R1150RXTR 948 118765 Carol MacRae 2003 F650GSL 384 65355 Kurt Warner 1985 K100RT 1977 R1100RS 184 138,373 MICHIGAN - 53 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model 197111 Bill Harlan 2009 R1200RT 2014 Loaners 20317 Richard Henrion 2016 R1200RT 196631 Steve Miller 2016 R1200GSA 91091 Richard Wilder 2009 R1200GSA 2012 G650S 5245 Stephen Reese 2010 K1300S 1974 R90S 1505 Raymond Melosh 1991 R100RT 1995 R100RT 176738 Patty Clark 2016 R1200R 176942 Don R Clark 2011 R1200GS 60447 Jim Weber 2016 R1200GSA
TOTAL MILES 24,559 22,103 19,223 18,471 18,039 17,456 14,965 14,830 13,608
135147 Eric Wilson 2004 R1150RT 2016 R1200RT 13,230 77408 Michael Hankinson 1994 K75 1993 K75S 12,867 2013 R1200RT 2010 R1200RT 12,475 113105 Philip Nellis 147020 Robert Hayes 2004 R1150RT 2003 K1200LT 12,402 91268 Thomas Gary 2012 K1600GTL 2009 R1200GSA 12,341 49177 Rick Griffith 2004 R1150RT 1974 R90S 12,180 52941 Gary L. Pothoff 1996 R1100RT 1999 K1200LT 11,620 129625 Marty Buck 1999 K1200LT 11,497 206861 Denise Green 2015 K1600GTL 10,753 188906 Andrea Chappell 2013 F800R 10,529 119975 Michael Madley 2014 R1200RTWC 10,439 140340 Eric Daniels 2005 K1200LT 10,271 159037 Jake Berzkalns 2003 R1150GS 2006 R1200RT 10,168 73512 David McFall 2005 R1200RT 2010 K1300GT 9,266 41228 Craig Kirkwood 2002 R1150GS 2003 K1200LT 9,125 176814 Gilbert Fuentes 2012 R1200R 8,580 131467 Rodney Albrecht 2009 R1200RT 8,348 166938 Deborah Fuentes 2013 F700GS 8,206 5167 Mark Schantz 2013 K1600GTL 7,986 15967 Robert Hicks 2009 R1200GS 7,627 185208 Philip Borkholder 2002 R1150GSA 7,519 61249 Rich Yerman 2014 R1200RT 1978 R100/7 7,050 119008 Gary Stroup 1999 K1200LT 6,941 20650 James Mitton 2012 F800ST 6,847 116535 Robert Foster 2003 R1150RT 6,657 128445 Bob Swanson 2013 F800GT 6,245 188415 Geoffrey Wizgird 2009 R1200RT 6,179 5638 Lloyd Elmer 1992 K75RT 6,084 98372 Tracy Sisco 2009 R1200RT 2003 R1200CLC 5,908 46251 Melvin E. Lehner 2003 K1200LTTrike 1982 R100RT 5,563 163123 David Hogerheide 2015 K1600GTL 5,504 115237 Jerome Pokorski 1974 R90/6 2005 R1200RT 5,270 106833 Richard Higginbotham 2005 K1200LT 4,998 102640 Mike Hart 2013 R1200GS 3,796 98347 James Sisco 2012 K1600GT 2004 R1200C 3,508 102770 Bill Hankinson 1995 R100RT 2000 K1200LTC 3,467 133294 Evelyn Kirkwood 2006 F650GS 3,113 92040 Norma Elmer 2000 R1200C 2,973 16680 George Yosin 2006 R1200RT 2009 G650GS 2,756 102193 Judy Monson 1992 R100RS 2,244 57521 Fred Openlander 1994 R100RT 2,104 92885 Stanley Shirey 2009 K1200LT 2,049 145592 Richard Stanley 2012 R1200GS 2016 R1200GSA 1,237 75914 Stephen Cridler 1996 R1100GSA 178 481,354 MINNESOTA - 79 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 47185 Skeeter Kopacek 1976 R75/6 1978 R100/7 32,077 7157 Darrell Penning 2016 R1200RS 2012 G650GS 31,419 136582 Daniel Maki 2005 R1200RT 2007 R1200GSA 26,196 59445 Bernhard Bjornsen 2013 R1200RT 22,618 67296 Nancee Musto 2016 R1200R 2012 F650GS 20,874 67297 Jeff Oden 2012 R1200GS 2011 R1200GS 19,970 78926 George Doughty 2004 R1150GSA 1993 R100GSPD 19,689 118765 Anthony Garcia 2015 R1200GSA 18,042 150400 Thom Tieck 1995 K75S 16,728 48764 Wallace Heinrich 2006 R1200GS 2012 R1200GS 15,004 408 Jack Weidenbach 2014 R1200RT 2013 F800R 14,857 197614 Larry Ripplinger 2004 K1200RS 2007 F650GS 14,050 46287 Milo Bjerke 2016 R1200GSA 1993 K1100RS 13,361 86515 Jim Lescenske 2010 R1200R 2010 R1200RT 12,861 85387 Tim Born 1987 K100LT 12,072 51902 Tim Nouis 2005 R1200GS 11,534 179898 Scott Madson 2007 R1200RT 11,511 88953 Allen Wilson 2009 R1200RT 2014 R1200GS 10,952 59163 Jason Olson 2005 R1200GS 10,664 198432 Steven Deglmann 2016 R1200RT 10,072 91714 Greg Anderson 2013 R1200GSWC 9,531 115228 Patrick Corrigan 2014 R1200RT 9,288 60027 Timothy Lindstrom 1992 K75RS 9,050 171711 Michael Weaver 2001 R1150GS 8,851 194815 Steven Marsolek 2002 R1150RT 8,458 192087 Annette Linn 2012 F800ST 8,197 200666 Kenneth Farr 2008 K1200LT 2003 K1200LT 8,090 201338 James Logan 2013 K1600GTL 7,853
8950 Barry Nelson 2008 R1200RT 7,594 95628 Lewis Marshall 2015 R1200RT 7,576 102355 Vicki Breese 2007 R1200GS 7,507 173498 John Tomlinson 2010 G650GS 7,409 11317 Doug Dokken 2014 R1200GSA 2013 G650GS 7,365 92043 Curtis Henry 2002 R1150RT 1992 R100GS 7,232 106436 Adam Benedix 2013 K1600GTL 6,993 18302 Larry L. Hawes 1988 R100RT 1999 R1100RT 6,939 131494 Bob Adamek 2005 R1200GS 6,763 9064 Kevin Streeter 2016 R1200GSA 6,672 109596 Scott Hellzen 2007 R1200RT 2003 K1200RS 6,646 6590 Charles W. Coons 1993 R100R 2005 F650GS 6,510 89692 Perry Linn 2012 K1600GTL 6,498 129333 Steven Handeland 1975 R60/6 1984 R80RT 6,440 123492 Norine McVam 2016 R1200RT 6,057 200279 Jim Williams 1991 K100RS 5,883 174967 Rob Tracy 2012 R1200GS 5,845 131743 Daniel Reese 1977 R100S 2004 R1100S 5,607 179896 Linda Allen 2011 G650GS 5,471 185228 Daniel Betlock 2009 F800GS 5,359 188566 Gary McDowell 2015 R1200GSA 5,348 41913 Ted Williams 2014 K1600GTL 5,316 132240 Joel Howard 1985 R80RT 2007 F800ST 5,118 196461 Carl Rowson 2013 C650GT 5,071 179885 Mark Hawes 2006 R1100RT 4,775 102846 Beth Forristall 2009 R1200GS 4,695 148171 Chris Zimmerman 2001 R1200C 4,332 197868 Greg Fetter 2015 F800ST 4,104 34400 Annette Schroeder 2002 F650GS 3,934 178982 William Schafer 2012 K1600GT 3,740 196809 Scott Blixt 2011 R1200GSA 3,388 134867 Chad Lund 2010 F800GS 2003 R1150 3,372 196786 Carla Adamek 2013 F800GT 3,353 52790 Shane Donohue 2002 R1150RT 3,161 204665 Timothy Schwartz 2004 R1150RT 2,975 Robin Asfeld 2008 K1200LT 2,880 157018 Amy Lund 2013 R1200GS 2,845 193657 Chuck Banks 2001 K1200LTC 2,662 197544 Glen Bloomstrom 2008 R1200GSA 2,575 180068 Larry Fraser 2009 K1200LT 2,534 93132 James Puffer 2013 K1600GTL 2,413 18303 Mary Hawes 1991 K75 1988 K75C 2,358 117956 Thomas Erdmann 2008 R1200RT 2001 R1200CM 2,342 117693 Irving Lerner 2010 F800ST 2,238 56676 Dale Peterson 2014 F700GS 1,903 123976 Jim Gilles 2000 K1200LT 1,816 27994 Karol Patzer 2012 F800GS 2007 R1200GS 1,705 147960 David Christianson 2008 R1200GS 1,589 183018 J Dan Elasky 2008 K1200GT 1,346 193454 Randal Anderson 2015 R1200GSA 1974 R90/6 1,328 145886 Samuel Halgren 2008 K1200GT 946 642,397 MISSOURI - 17 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 39352 Jeff Ackerman 2015 R1200GSA 1995 K75wSC 14,021 154080 Fred Niblock 2013 K1600GTL 12,719 86300 Cliff Elkins 1988 K75 2012 R1200RT 10,070 94628 Fielding Childress 2015 R1200GSA 9,970 152008 Bob Bond 1999 R1100R 2010 R1200GS 9,120 2972 Jim Shaw 2008 K1200GT 2016 R1200RT 8,765 35484 David Griffin 2013 R1200GSA 1980 R100RS 8,739 15225 Phil Sulfstede 2012 R1200GS 1990 R100RT 8,664 14066 Cathy Bissell 2016 R1200RS 7,819 14065 David Bissell 2008 K1200GT 2016 S1000XR 5,997 195135 Kenneth Heyer 2016 R1200GSWC 5,811 106766 Stephan Kronberger 2009 R1200RT 4,223 108474 Will McHardy 2006 R1200RT 4,034 155316 Craig Pelletier 2013 R1200RT 1985 K100 3,403 136638 Chris Kerckhoff 2009 R1200RT 3,367 109185 Al Schroer 2014 R1200RT 3,345 39353 Mary Ackerman 1995 K75RTwSC 2,747 122,814
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119613 Michael Smith 2004 R1150GS 3,099 110128 Blair Meiser 2013 K1600GT 2,164 165880 Rich Berman 2007 R1200GS 2,092 77,626
78584 John Frick 2009 K1200LT 2016 R1200RT 32,984 18816 Taylor Kirchner 1995 R100Mystic 1999 K1200LT 26,210 171564 Jim Kieding 2016 R1200GS 2015 S1000XR 20,537 98325 Jim Lasley 2004 R1150GSA 1981 R80GS 20,268 55210 Robert Schoenfeld 1995 K1100RS 2010 K1300GT 18,242 NEW MEXICO - 7 Finishers 57286 Donna Schettine 1996 K1100LT 2004 K1200GT 16,237 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MONTANA - 5 Finishers 200226 Kathy Dean 2004 R1150R 2015 R1200GS 15,978 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 59517 Neil Jones 2004 R1150RT 2015 R1200RT 15,757 171850 John Camp 2001 R1200C 2013 R1200GSA 21,323 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 87594 Joseph Svites 2011 R1200GSA 2007 R1200RT 12,891 80519 Jeffery Foster 2009 R1200GSA 2012 R1200GSA 20,457 65695 Mike Meredith 2010 F800ST 14,633 150134 Troy Todd 2005 K1200LT 2011 R1200RT 11,853 178804 Jeffrey Kramer 2009 R1200RT 2011 R1200GSA 18,575 87432 Ave Forseth 2002 R1200RT 5,881 47040 Karl Hoffman 1995 K1100RS 1990 K75S 11,815 94370 Jim Gross 2014 K1600GLT 2016 Rental 7,054 123908 Eugene Allard 2005 R1200RT 4,083 44259 Sam Booth 2004 R1150GSA 1954 R51/3 11,291 141645 Sam Hokin 1991 K75RT 6,603 97551 Gary Armstrong 2002 R1150RT 1988 K75C 1,621 208196 David Mosher 2015 K1600GTL 10,701 113279 Richard Sackett 2012 K1600GTL 5,883 15230 Kim Lemke 1988 K100RS 1977 R75/7 260 76104 Randy Merrow 2009 F650GS 2012 R1200RT 10,561 783 191448 Margaret Tafoya-Migliori 2015 R1200R 26,478 77611 Randy Gabriel 2010 K1300GT 9,973 80,678 NEBRASKA - 15 Finishers 200915 Sandi Valois 2015 R1200GS 9,765 NEW YORK - 16 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 62373 Jerry Riha 1975 R75/6 2002 R1150R 9,034 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 108670 Henning Carlsen 2005 R1200RT 1976 R90S 8,388 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 205894 Erin Hooper 2007 F650GS 20,106 146177 Jeff Grant 2004 R1150RT 7,943 11558 Wayne Edkin 2005 K1200LT 1974 R60/6 17,038 48169 Tom “Bullit” Buttars 1978 R100RS 2007 F800S 17,384 115500 Wallace Gingerich 2013 F800GT 2015 F700GS 7,577 58851 Clyde Wells 1976 R90S 1978 R100SwSC 10,807 162336 Michael Sjoberg 2010 R1200GSA 15,571 29658 Mike Sikora 2016 R1200RS 7,518 27208 Ray McKenna 1978 R100S 1984 R80ST 10,046 182034 Chris Sjoberg 2012 F650GS 13,482 200248 Barry Spencer 2004 K1200GT 7,400 189690 James Spotts 2011 G650GS 9,458 117390 Cliff Sawyer 2015 R1200R 13,281 112515 Sigrid Sackman 2007 R1200RT 7,160 110126 Gary Miller 2007 K1200GT 2001 F650GS 9,331 68401 David Bruner 2000 K1200LT 1974 R90/6 9,527 50371 Dominic Cioffi 2013 R1200GSA 2016 R9T 7,159 171805 Jan Moolenschot 2007 K1200LT 2011 R1200GS 8,116 32462 David Ruffner 1975 R90/6 1977 R100/7 7,327 167004 Meiissa Todd 2014 R1200RT 7,064 181747 Conrad Scholz 1999 R1100R 2007 R1200R 7,961 110521 James Nyffeler 2010 F800GS 2004 R1150R 7,185 112134 William Farmer 2014 R1200RTWC 6,859 5703 Larry Wilson 2000 K1200LT 1993 K1100LT 7,797 193613 Ray Weinand 2012 R1200RT 6,601 141355 Mary Riha 2003 R1150R 6,686 129302 Frank Florio 2014 K1600GTLE 2016 S1000R 6,379 56299 Daniel Ruffner 1991 R100RT 1983 R65 5,967 122322 Howard Schisler 2009 K1200LT 2012 F650GS 6,570 188307 George Richardson 2011 F650GS 2013 F800GT 6,365 123124 Dale Brooks 2003 R1200CLC 5,725 55920 Karen Cox 2009 K1300GT 6,467 95891 Cranky Frankie Palmeri 2003 K1200RS 6,084 150502 Rick Harvey 2014 R1200GSA 4,970 29674 John Lenart 2016 R1200RS 2013 F700GS 6,307 141644 James Soque 2010 R1200RT 5,412 182232 Deeleen Sawyer 2012 F650GS 4,549 109602 Paul Koontz 2003 K1200LT 2012 R1200GSA 5,869 31479 Bruce Gallagher 2013 R1200RT 2015 F800GSA 4,076 143267 Francis Geiger 2008 R1200RT 3,620 90817 Stephen Cox 2016 R1200GSA 5,700 41897 Lee C. Hutson 1987 R80RT 1983 R100RSwSC 4,011 116713 James Karasek 2004 R1150RT 1,305 52893 Randall Beecham 1997 K1100LT 2002 R1150GS 5,294 135798 Edward Gawarecki 2007 F800ST 2009 K1300GT 3,361 136,600 189978 Zig Laczko 2012 F650GS 5,246 155944 Ben Murray 2003 K1200GT 2,460 NEVADA - 11 Finishers 40584 John Bebout 2016 R1200RT 5,109 118,702 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 3968 Ricahard Huber 2004 R1150GSA 1995 K75RT 5,006 NORTH CAROLINA - 21 Finishers MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 200251 Dennis Hudson 1999 K1200LT 4,329 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 83451 Dan Myers 2011 R1200GS 36,126 183257 Winston Campbell 1982 R100 1993 K75RT 4,180 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 127397 Michael Lary 2008 R1200RT 15,059 179852 Joe Boal 2012 R1200RT 3,495 131087 John Beamer 2004 R1150RT 2007 F650GS 20,658 105940 Douglas Laird 2008 K1200LT 2016 R1200GSA 14,408 110496 Judith Gau 2001 F650GS 2,864 101132 Mike McSwain 2001 R1150GS 1995 K1100LT 17,525 200336 Marc Sykes 2014 R1200GS 2014 R1200GS 12,074 82849 Roger Pivonka 2008 K1200GT 2,208 137000 Keith Paxton 2014 R1200RT 2014 R1200RT 15,760 8864 Scott McKay 2007 F800ST 1994 R1100RS 7,669 162462 Harry Adams 2013 R1200RT 2,154 110562 Mark Rutter 2014 R1200RT 2013 R1200GSA 15,108 71186 Rich Berger 1999 R1100S 1990 K1 4,868 146478 Martin Sackman 2009 R1200GSA 2,149 27797 C. Danny Wilson, Jr. 1988 R100RS 1988 R100GS 13,700 18986 Jerry Bumps 2015 F700GS 4,545 107662 Robert Gibbs 2003 K1200GT 1,973 98770 Scott Prochaska 2015 R1200GS 12,170 143767 Scott Hilbert 2007 R1200S 2014 R1200GSA 3,275 116634 Abby Merrow 2006 R1200RT 2015 F700GS 1,593 195153 Piper Charles 2012 R1200RT 11,022 83113 Larie Trippet 2014 R1200GSA 2016 Rental 2,978 36610 Lawrence Arnold 2003 K1200LT 1,481 101719 Debby Hoots 2014 R1200GS 10,452 83968 John Hertel 2009 R1200GS 2,880 14755 Steve Brossia 2002 R1150RT 1,105 79291 Dan Hoots 2016 R1200GS 9,709 148945 Natalie Hilbert 2008 F800ST 2009 G650GS 178 33412 Allan Smith 1999 K1200LT 2014 R1200RT 1,022 40610 Bert Brumfield 2007 K1200GT 1998 K1200RS 9,000 104,060 299 Mike Todd 1977 R75/7 152 90132 William Murray 2016 S1000XR 2015 R1200RT 7,845 418,124 NEW HAMPSHIRE - 8 Finishers 201314 Henry Lowe 2015 R1200GSAWC 7,215 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL OKLAHOMA - 9 Finishers 107666 Thomas Landrum 2004 R1150RXTR 2009 K1300S 6,061 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 100674 Scott Norman 1996 K1100RS 1980 R65 5,167 205864 Roy Kjendal 2015 K1600GTL 33,987 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 128495 Michael Blotzer 2014 R1200RT 4,631 108922 Tom Murray 2007 R1200RT 6,681 22026 Randall Eggert 2008 R1200RT 14,386 102604 Ed Meadows 2002 K1200LT 4,398 109561 Andy Travnicek 2000 R1200C 2015 R1200GSA 5,765 146027 Dwight Olson 2012 K1600GTL 2006 F650GS 13,551 110602 Brian Young 2002 R1150GSA 2,968 88235 David Martin 2001 R1150GS 5,543 47205 Kendall Smith 2008 R1200R 10,723 101844 Jan Prochaska 2013 F700GS 1,112 127549 Douglas Fahlbeck 2014 R1200GSAWC 4,889 94422 James “Bob” Gillispie 2001 R1150GS 2016 R1200GS 9,163 27798 Sharon Wilson 1997 R850R 550 172879 Susan Stanley 2009 F650GS 3,190 186498 Tom Williams 2015 R1200RT 7,855 17952 Bobby Pearson 1985 R80RT 1978 R100/7 349 30195 Ronnie Lavoie 1980 R100T 1980 R100RT 1,869 190357 Ghent Hopkins 2014 R1200GSA 5,810 33211 Richard Cockman 1978 R80/7 347 81455 Cole Mills 1997 R1100RA 1975 R60/6 165 122559 Greg Cunningham 2000 K1200LT 4,679 175,747 62,089 25091 Michael Truel 2015 F800GT 2,802 NORTH DAKOTA - 8 Finishers 7998 James Firestone 1993 K1100LT 2007 K1200GT 568 NEW JERSEY - 15 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 69,537 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES OREGON 14 Finishers 42335 Greg Glur 2006 R1200RT 1982 R65LS 15,000 60249 Reno A. Del Ben 1993 K75 2005 R1200GS 13,907 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 162129 Thomas Trenbeath 2005 R1200GS 2012 R1200R 11,349 122798 Rick Mickles 2012 R1200RT 8,269 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 144330 Rob Keller 2014 R1200GSWC 10,897 88147 Roger Trendowski 2014 F800GSA 1981 R100RT 7,397 128521 Charles Mileur 2005 R1200GS 1990 R100GSPD 18,295 132429 Scott Wagner 1992 R100RT 1995 R1100GS 10,863 164962 Steven Adell 2004 R1200CL 7,182 148075 Chris Henry 2009 R1200RT 2016 R1200GSA 14,771 55992 Delmer Dyk 2003 K1200LT 1983 R65 6,562 116486 Robert Smith 1998 R1200C 6,583 112658 Jake Broyles 2009 R1200GSA 2005 R1200RT 13,434 96353 Myron Scott 2001 R1100R 2009 R1200RT 5,551 200519 Richard Licdtka 2015 R1200GSA 4,399 194989 David Hewsser 1996 R1100RT 2005 R1200RT 11,056 61911 Larry Puppe 1994 K1100LT 1991 K75 1,899 135894 William Dudley 1975 R90S 1978 R100RS 4,107 173746 Larry Smith 2014 R9T 2006 R1200RT 10,228 27037 Kent Streibel 2010 R1200RT 821 181233 Bill Metz 1985 K100RT 2013 R1200RT 3,924 18185 David Cook 1993 K75RT 8,841 62,942 7605 Paul Poyio 2005 R1200RT 3,910 90113 David Peterson 2003 R1150RT 1999 R1100GS 8,454 OHIO - 49 Finishers 120872 Jay Schwartzopfl 2003 K1200GT 2017 R1200GSA 3,738 183851 Don Moore 2005 R1200GS 2005 K1200S 6,737 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 45037 Nancy Glindmyer 2013 F800GT 3,678 25277 William Philo 1977 R100RS 5,668 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 138382 John Slater 2011 R1200GS 3,177 190759 Robert Miller 2016 R1200GSA 4,617
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
12967 124275 167133 77161
Steve Woodward 2009 R1200RT 2000 R1150GS 4,279 Brian Sitton 2005 K1200LT 1989 K100RS 3,731 Brad Sitton 2014 R1200GSA 2,843 Dan Hall 2013 F800GS 2,746 115,700
PENNSYLVANIA - 77 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 51341 Richard Snyder 1995 R1100GS 1996 K1100RS 31,885 79801 Blaine Paulus, Jr 2004 R1150GS 2002 R1150GS 27,596 89020 Darryl Thompson 2012 R1200GS 25,774 80297 Jayne Thompson 2015 R1200GS 25,748 106590 Bob Lilley 2011 R1200GSA 22,893 49851 Dick Lins 2013 R1200RT 1993 R100GSPD 22,214 13579 Larry E. Troutman, Sr 2015 R1200GSA 2008 R1200GSA 19,698 98722 Gene Van Essendelft 1995 K75RT 2001 F650GS 18,347 126149 Stacey Papinchak 2013 R1200GS 15,062 146023 David Ward 2015 R1200GSA 14,970 42411 Jim Ditlow 2008 R1200GSA 1993 R100GSPD 14,696 197668 Samuel Fike 2001 R1150GS 12,864 43952 Mac Kirkpatrick 1961 R69S 1975 R90S 12,562 102670 Joe Babkowski 2013 R1200RT 2003 K1200LTC 12,383 87002 James Robinson 1996 K1100RS 2004 R1150GSA 12,328 43352 Ed Kneller 1997 R1100GS 1992 R100GS 12,216 206028 Bryan Hinkle 2015 F800GT 11,985 76799 Jason Kaplitz 2013 R1200GS 11,876 124758 Laura Blake 2009 R1200R 11,357 143476 Donna Ditlow 2012 F650GS 11,300 132926 Erin Hoxie 2002 R1150R 10,732 200927 Jody Klocko 2015 R1200GSA 10,542 164213 David Blewett 1985 K100RT 1992 R100GS 10,381 67897 John Gehr 2012 K1600GT 2014 R1200GS 10,308 120394 Bruce Davis 2016 R1200RT 9,941 30937 James Fortney 2002 R1150GS 1963 R60/2 9,041 124757 Dwight Blake 2006 R1200RT 2004 R1150R 8,421 98617 Rich Nagy 2008 R1200GS 1998 R100GS 7,985 198389 Sandra Sander 2013 F700GS 7,924 63837 Norman Lutz 2010 K1300GT 2009 F650GS 7,678 93091 Parker Bartley 2011 S100RR 7,563 127096 Bruce McKelvy 2005 R1200GS 2003 K1200LT 7,380 207519 Dan Allen 2010 R1200GSA 7,270 31455 Edward Tatters 2002 K1200LT 1985 K100RTwSC 7,203 188751 Karl Best 2013 R1200GSWC 1976 R90/6 7,159 12012 James Bauman 2015 R1200GS 7,050 51108 Elsie M. Smith 2006 F650GS 6,802 8501 Lee Hetrick 2012 R1200GS 6,768 101913 Rick Sorensen 2011 R1200GSA 6,659 46091 James Bauer 2012 K1600GT 2005 R1200RT 6,586 173737 Glenn Kidd 2013 R1200GS 6,174 121246 Bruce MacPhail 2000 R1100R 2002 K1200GT 5,946 202295 Christopher Derosa 2011 R1200RT 5,606 100456 Douglas Raymond 2002 R1150RT 2011 R1200GSA 5,354 42863 William B. Fox 2016 R1200RS 5,342 113752 Tony Karas 2011 R1200GSA 5,168 40176 Gregg Moser 2009 F650GS 5,159 145904 David Henricks 2009 R1200GS 4,910 103576 Scott Fillman 2002 R1150GS 4,587 61423 John Grimaldi 2003 K1200GT 4,365 95722 Linda Sorensen 2010 R1200GS 4,172 73367 Steven Silberman 2015 R1200GSA 4,124 136559 Jay Scales 2012 K1600GTL 3,932 146516 Angelika Haviland 2008 R1200R 2011 F650GS 3,848 147673 Raymond Kendrick JR 2006 K1200R 3,797 146 Dan Rudert 2016 C650S 3,478 34429 Skip Metz 1998 R1100RT 3,376 136757 Rob Haut 2008 R1200GS 3,369 173865 Ken Johnson 2009 R1200GSA 3,148 193011 Jeffry Smith 2003 F650GS 2,992 168370 Sandy Nagahashi 2005 F650GS 2,969 52672 Fritz Spokas 2016 R1200GSWC 2,676 90220 Eric Heilveil 2007 R1200GS 1972 R75/5 2,490 50619 Beth Ann Brady 1994 R1100RSL 1997 F650 2,233 124215 Kenneth Bruce 2010 R1200GSA 2004 R1150GSA 2,149 68932 Stoney Read 1976 R90S 1969 R69 2,107 8285 Brett Gilbert 2008 R1200R 1,740 190219 Aaron Berkebile 2011 R1200GSA 1,698
April 2017  BMW OWNERS NEWS
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lifestyl
mileagecontest
169572 2561 107307 134113 112313 8196 57241 101789 24754
James Hudson 2013 F800ST 1,463 Carl Millhouse 1973 R75/5 1986 K100RT 1,319 James Corry 1984 R80ST 1,196 Richard Sichler 1974 R90/6 1,023 Robert Bartelt 2002 K1200LT 2003 K1200GT 931 Bill Zane 1958 R60/6 1951 R51/3 862 Paul Sanders 1975 R90/6 559 Rick Torpey 1993 K75S 1969 R60/2 333 Joseph Dille 1986 K100wSC 1975 R90S 256 625,998
RHODE ISLAND - 4 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 49971 Richard Roy 2001 F650GSPD 2013 F800GT 12,041 109554 Tom Pappas 2007 R1200R 7,643 83469 Roy Jackson 2013 R1200RT 7,234 22329 Carl Saccoccio 2006 R1200GS 1977 R100RS 6,514 33,432 SOUTH CAROLINA - 3 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 144287 Ken Rhye 2004 R1150RT 2013 F800R 4,481 120873 Marylee Jackson 2009 R1200GS 3,748 62913 Al Shaffer 1993 R100RT 2001 R1100RL 1,830 10,059 SOUTH DAKOTA - 5 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 108043 Rick Nelson 2012 G650 2014 R1200GS 16,497 134901 Daniel Fisher 1996 R1100GS 2012 F650GS 9,626 99183 David Bourdeaux 2013 K1600GTL 8,150 52492 Gary Johnson 1999 R1100RS 3,514 107873 Thomas King 2004 K1200GT 1978 R75/7 567 38,354 TENNESSEE - 8 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 120850 Alan Donnels` 2015 R1200GSA 14,337 167502 B William Clevenger 2012 G650GS 2006 R1200RT 11,297 203045 Danny Nelson 2015 R1200GS 8,799 15856 Kermit Easterling 1982 R100RT 1984 R80RT 7,672 73301 James Pollard 1988 K75C 1997 F650ST 5,105 7275 Karl Mace 2007 F800ST 1992 K75 3,263 166572 Lynn Hash 2010 R1200RT 2012 F650GS 3,251 188055 Andrew Bentley 2014 R1200GS 2,433 56,157 TEXAS - 27 Finishers MOA # Name 130595 Christopher Ross 169878 Dave Schani 117178 Michael Voudouris 37671 Bill Edwards 86904 Gary Grosenheider 183940 John Burger 124913 Dennis Drake 80703 Chuck Wetzel 78655 James Schulz 5091 John Kresena 19684 John Dunn 166081 T Leslie Gatts 109536 Rickey Carter 173213 Bert Whitaker 127040 Steve Henson 117817 Bruce Sanders 117818 Miranda Sanders 127041 Helen Rayborn 101275 Urspeter Flueckiger 61946 Scott Dishnow 35753 Rex R. Wright
114
Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL Year Model Year Model MILES 1975 R90/6 2012 R1200GSA 19,586 2011 R1200RT 2014 R1200GS 19,249 2015 R1200GSA 2012 K1600GTL 18,653 1975 R75/6 1999 K1200LT 18,153 2005 R1200ST 2016 R1200RS 17,314 2010 F800GS 2016 R1200RT 12,644 2012 R1200GSA 2016 K1600GTL 10,236 2010 R1200R 2004 K1200GT 9,420 2015 R1200GSAWC 8,885 2016 F700GS 7,394 2014 R1200RTWC 6,043 2004 R1150RT 2004 R1150GS 5,937 2011 R1200RT 5,893 2006 R1200GS 5,523 1974 R75/6 2005 K1200S 5,227 2010 R1200R 2006 R1200HP2 5,006 2010 R1200R 2011 R1200GSA 5,006 2002 R1150R 2007 F650GS 4,724 1976 R60/6 1974 R90S 4,642 2009 R1200GSA 1970 R60/5 4,425 2002 R1150RT 4,409
BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
125313 56330 20774 148810 21560 49318
Mark Johnson 2007 K1200GT 4,100 Paul Mulhern 2005 R1200GS 2010 F650GS 3,250 Kurt Schrader 1978 R100/7 1969 R69S 2,594 Lee Dixson 2009 F800ST 2,400 Gerard Lobosco 2004 R1200CL 2,039 Douglas Richter 2006 R1200RT 1978 R80/7 1,030 213,782
UTAH - 9 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 112330 Larimer Dimond 2008 K1200GT 14,647 109983 Rich Dolan 2004 R1150RT 2009 R1200GSA 12,638 135948 Bob Sawyer 2009 R1200RT 12,613 110159 Jeffrey Thurmond 2002 R1150RT 1995 R1100R 8,461 52184 DeVern Gerber 2004 K1200GTwSC 2010 K1300GT 6,692 103656 Steve Barnhill 2014 R1200GSAWC 6,410 97809 Jan Peterson 2002 R1150GS 2001 F650GSD 5,356 129134 Marcia Thurmond 1999 K1200LT 5,027 147866 Eric Lemaitre 2003 R1150RT 717 72,561
101733 John Eberhardt 2013 F800GT 3,542 116042 Daniel Yorkston 1995 K75R 2,706 165664 Robbie Elder 2010 F650GS 1,742 2010 F650GS 1,732 165663 Jim Elder 131255 Hank Giddings 2003 R1200CLC 1,428 175,027 WEST VIRGINIA - 2 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 131753 Kevin Wood 1999 K1200RS 1971 R60/5 4,772 120070 Richard Carson 2004 R1200CLC 3,517 8,289
WISCONSIN - 93 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 7536 Harvey Read 2010 R1200RT 25,391 7892 Bob Alexander 1990 K1 2005 F650GSPD 22,841 6735 Ken (Mac) McHugh 1988 R100RS 2013 F800GT 18,608 161370 Lynn Behrens 2004 R1100S 2016 R1200RS 18,161 130652 Jim Begley 2004 R1150RT 2005 R1200ST 17,629 197889 Jerry Hendrickson 2012 R1200GSA 2009 G650GS 14,774 VERMONT - 13 Finishers 147696 Doug Twing 2004 R1150GSA 1994 K1100LT 13,297 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 197914 James Meinecke 2004 R1150RT 2015 K1600GT 12,987 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 116940 James Bronson 2006 R1200RT 2006 F650GS 12,748 121097 Minna Case 2009 G650GS 2008 R1200GS 27,101 102270 John Lawrence 2007 K1200GT 1995 R100RT 12,532 150557 Michael Crossman 2015 K1300S 2014 R1200GSA 21,866 162200 Ron Feurer 2009 R1200GS 2013 F800GT 12,207 59719 Gerry Dockum 2015 R1200RT 17,441 23334 Jim Galaszewski 1984 R65LS 2009 R1200GS 11,361 89517 Muriel Farrington 2012 F650 2007 F650 16,886 145293 Christine Ledezma 2004 R1150RXTR 2013 F700GS 11,195 116786 Dennis Gilkenson 2015 R1200GS 14,319 137993 Gary Hau 1978 R80/7 2006 K1200LT 11,007 133958 Peter Burke 2010 R1200GSA 2012 R1200GSA 13,985 32181 Ritche Miller 2004 R1100SBCR 2005 R1200ST 10,896 147314 Jeff Jackson 2008 R1200GSA 2016 Rental 7,585 89407 Gary Klinker 1999 R1100RT 2007 R1200RT 10,818 205036 Larry Lamb 2013 R1200GS 2016 R1200GS 6,949 16721 Brian Manke 2000 R1100RT 1977 R100S 10,187 52675 Ted Hall 2010 R1200RT 2014 R1200RT 6,791 67739 Bruce A Grahn 2011 R1200RT 2003 R1150GSA 10,145 32284 George Haggerty 1979 R100RTwSC 5,983 49712 Randy Boris 2015 R1200GSA 1976 R90/6 9,739 195308 Ed Demler 2014 R1200GS 5,913 124936 Rich Skinner 2011 R1200RT 2004 K1200GT 9,661 189431 Joy Ellis 2013 F700GS 5,680 28273 MIke Standlee 2007 R1200GS 9,460 76994 Roger Reckis 2008 R1200GSA 2,847 197355 Shad Volbrecht 2005 R1200RT 2016 R1200RT 8,879 153,346 196282 Mark Hoesiy 1994 R100GS 2007 R1200RT 8,878 VIRGINIA - 17 Finishers 57031 Scott Henderson 2004 R1150RT 1983 R100 8,626 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 51939 Rodney Pettit 1985 K100RS 2004 R1150GS 8,221 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 79770 Kevin Dubois 2013 R1200GS 8,001 159271 Robert Annandale 2013 R1200GS 23,066 69280 Mark Doggett 2013 R1200RT 7,933 75768 Doug Teague 2006 R1200RT 2008 R1200RT 20,931 97077 Kevin Birr 1992 R100GSPD 1986 R80RS 7,914 198184 Kevin Searls 2015 R1200GSA 14,516 204622 James Weyker 2014 F800GT 7,883 194064 Albert Oakley 2016 R1200RT 12,102 130662 Jim Fuhrmann 2007 R1200RT 7,758 32559 Jim Moss 1986 R80 1992 R100GS 11,809 134216 Jim Riederer 2009 K1200LT 2006 R1200GS 7,522 151616 Don Conner 2013 K1600GTL 11,427 195090 Dale Schneider 2010 R1200R 7,425 142456 Mike Gunther 2009 R1200GS 11,189 129994 Andrew Pretzl 2002 R1150RT 7,288 60415 David Adams 2003 F650GS 2007 R1200RT 10,412 147016 Curt Boettcher 2009 K1200LT 6,906 179758 James Burger 2016 R1200R 1978 R80/7 9,389 35214 Timothy Roy 2008 R1200RT 6,721 160441 David Taminger 2012 K1600GTL 5,367 34884 Alfred Paltzer 2007 R1200RT 1983 R65 6,544 78076 Jimmy Nelson 2005 K1200LT 4,961 51550 Thomas G. Van Horn 1995 R1100RS 1978 R100wSC 6,388 63806 Robert Altic 2011 R1200RT 3,720 81296 Kurt Niemetscheck 2015 S1000RR 6,362 44345 Chet Hepburn 2015 R1200R 3,577 45588 Dan Stecker 1978 R100S 1977 R100/7 6,358 94486 Jeffery Green 2001 R1150GS 3,322 96217 Thomas Stresing 2015 R1200R 6,146 127333 Doug Braley 2000 R1150GS 2,682 51851 Jude T. Wagner 2002 R1150RT 5,645 149701 Barry Defibaugh JR 2008 R1200GSA 2,139 44770 Richard Burton 2007 K1200S 5,620 32660 Tim Tolson 2005 R1200RT 1,371 54080 Jeff Gehler 2013 R1200GSWC 5,600 151,980 54081 Mary M. Gehler 2011 F800R 5,411 WASHINGTON - 19 Finishers 114282 Jack Permer 2007 R1200RT 5,296 Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL 44679 David Henderson 2005 R1200RT 5,173 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 31986 Ronald Limberg 2005 R1200RT 4,821 86999 Pete Noftz 1999 F650F 2011 R1200GSA 27,428 43753 Sue Rihn 2009 R1200GS 1987 K75T 4,534 30657 Eric Blume 1981 R80GS 2007 G650XCM 26,795 108428 Pat Stauss 2013 K1600GTL 2016 Rental 4,471 146092 Cheryl Laudermilk 2009 F650GS 14,332 63417 Steve LeDuc 2004 R1150RA 4,400 155492 Kelly Van Allen 2015 R1200GS 12,528 150734 Bill Matchefts 2011 R1200GSA 4,358 153183 Jay Van Allen 2016 R1200GS 12,398 2003 R1150GSAwSC 1988 R100GS 4,232 103463 Sam Garst 192235 Judy Mirick 2015 F700GS 2013 G650GS 10,348 160056 Hannah Schneider 2007 F650GS 4,205 166192 Kim Dorsing 2013 K1600GTL 9,921 48142 Ruth Ann Reynen 2008 R1200R 2013 F700GS 4,199 163798 Robert Posey 2004 R1150RT 9,669 2803 James Low 1971 R60/5 1999 K1200RS 4,188 57919 Richard Steen 2016 R1200RS 1990 R75S 9,149 133005 Karen Jacobs 2012 R1200RT 4,184 36606 Douglas Barritt 2013 R1200RT 8,748 126677 James Rathke 2004 R1200CLC 4,054 61414 Megan Barritt 2002 R1150RS 2004 R1150RS 8,533 180314 Miro Sapozhnidov 2013 R1200GS 3,900 143539 Thomas Collins 2001 R1150RT 2013 F800GS 6,547 16063 Jeff Smigla 1972 R75/5 2005 R1200GS 3,741 66102 Bob Knutson 2004 K1200RS 2003 R1150R 3,905 178218 John Panzer 1991 R100RT 3,584 142502 Andy Sulla 2003 K1200RS 3,576 117290 Gregory Voskuil 2006 R1200RT 3,541
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mileagecontest
110607 Dale Geske 2014 R1200RT 3,538 182106 Julie Pettit 2009 G650GS 3,528 109286 Bill Saxler 2006 F650GS 3,502 183879 Kevin Pepin 2010 K1300GT 3,497 99167 Craig Remus 2000 R1100RT 1984 R100RT 3,486 74309 Gary Halpin 2015 R1200RT 3,249 37283 Wayne Nankervis 2009 R1200RT 3,175 133083 Alan Penn 2011 F800ST 2,899 132982 Joann Hayes 2011 F800ST 2,887 119025 Andrew Schneider 2004 R1150R 2,829 58283 Scott Lukasik 1985 K100RS 2,675 38356 Steve Reynen 2009 R1200GSA 2001 R1150GS 2,664 100504 Robert Reitberger 2007 R1200RT 2,523 51525 Mark Turner 2002 R1150RT 2,242 50455 Jim Kossow 2004 R1150RT 1,975 206890 Bill Cochran 1996 R1100GS 2003 K1200LT 1,894 123936 Ingrid Schmitz 2008 R1200GS 1,707 34249 Richard Olson 2007 R1200RT 1,643 90610 Billy Ferg 1998 R1200CwSC 1985 K100RS 1,496 64014 James M. Pilarski 1993 R100RT 1,455 26797 Howard Linson 2007 K1200LT 1,446 122174 James Bagurdes 2003 K1200GT 1,169 181764 Heidi Goehring 1991 R100RwSC 1,077 31798 Arlene Neumann 1983 R80GSPD 965 43159 Karen Hoffman 1987 K75T 862 151173 Joy Zastrow-Mulcahy 2007 F650GS 827 148459 Peter Feneht 2000 R1100RT 669 6853 Mike Cohen 2009 R1200RT 556 114121 Paul Wherton 2002 R1150RT 543 77792 James Marks 2000 K1200LTC 529 73695 Tony DeLorenzo 2015 R1200GSA 365 11039 Kevin Groehler 2012 K1600GTL 358 584,784
Canada ALBERTA - 3 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 4735 Margaret Lang 2001 F650GS 1985 K100RTwSC 20,576 34120 Brian Hanasyk 2013 R1200GSWC 2013 R1200GS 12,320 184214 Darren Campagne 2012 R1200GSA 8,330 41,226 BRITISH COLUMBIA - 10 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 194600 Abe Leinen 2011 K1600GT 24,864 50771 Reinhard Bartel 2012 R1200RT 20,021 147332 Douglas McDonald 2010 R1200GSA 2003 R1150GS 15,262 173620 Rob Chapple 2011 R1200RT 2012 F800GS 15,006 118078 Don Schmok 2013 K1600GT 1994 R100GS 10,583 129934 Edward Von Euw 2014 R1200RT 8,900 180536 Shirley Sirkia 2015 F700GS 8,826 138890 Reto Camenisch 2000 R1150GS 8,286 81000 Bill Wallace 1990 K75RT 7,171 162140 Henry Sirkia 2013 R1200GSWC 4,660 123,579 MANITOBA - 2 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 68806 Eric Duguid 1990 K1 2012 K1300S 6,713 169873 Scott Ferguson 2006 R1200GS 6,598 13,311 NEW BRUNSWICK - 4 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 MOA # Name Year Model Year Model 170740 Martin Beaupre 2009 R1200RT 201359 Ivanhoe Beaupre 2006 K1200GT
34056 Richard Ward 2013 R1200GSWC 6,532 162280 Brock Hossack 2005 R1200RT 2016 Rental 6,016 50,588 NOVA SCOTIA - 4 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 179131 Daryll Davies 1980 R65 1983 R100RS 9,380 120617 Sandy MacLeon 2013 R1200RT 6,890 128465 Marilyn Wright 2010 F650GS 2,715 129637 Ted King 2006 R1200RT 552 19,537 ONTARIO - 24 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 159590 Peter Modny 2000 R1100RT 19,584 170868 Mark Warner 2000 R1100RT 2015 R1200GSA 18,744 139428 Mike Muldoon 2013 R1200GS 18,452 48929 Charles Fider 1982 R100RT 17,245 155401 Andy Clark 1977 R100/7 2007 R1200S 15,253 194120 Joan Bowley 2015 R1200RT 11,832 141987 David McDougall 2011 R1200GS 10,175 154764 Jeff Firkser 2014 R1200GSA 2014 R9T 9,900 40164 Darryl Cainey 1993 R100GS 9,150 101141 Dominque Rambie 2009 R1200GS 8,148 6711 Vic Bobinski 2007 K1200GT 8,147 146833 Ross McClure 1999 K1200LT 8,030 155511 Raphael Shew 2009 R1200RT 7,521 61015 Russel Roode 2010 F650GS 7,377 31210 Carol Taub 2009 R1200GS 2002 F650GS 6,665 37273 Mark Howson 1995 R100R 1968 R50/2 6,363 39319 Ross Copas 2009 R1200GS 5,980 43199 Bob Mac Millan 1986 R80RT 2007 R1200GS 5,849 26738 Jacques Day 2007 R1200R 2006 K1200R 5,240 90041 Rosemary Gaines 2011 F650GS 4,916 119204 Paul Ruffell 1987 K100RT 1998 R1100RT 3,938 51183 Jack Gucciardo 2012 F650GS 3,834 105607 John McAllister 2008 F650GS 1,803 43200 Marj MacMillan 2007 R1200GS 1,371 215,517 SASKATCHEWAN - 2 Finishers Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 159819 Bob Livingston 2015 K1600GT 10,872 45943 Merv Kosar 1995 R1100GSA 1987 K75S 706 11,578
International JAPAN - 1 Finisher Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 71184 Junji Yoshida 1993 R1100RS 1,267 1,267
SWITZERLAND - 1 Finisher Bike #1 Bike #2 TOTAL MOA # Name Year Model Year Model MILES 141525 Scott Miller 2005 R1150Rxtr 2016 R1200RT 580 580
TOTAL MILES 25,532 12,508
www.arkansas.com April 2017  BMW OWNERS NEWS
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
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RALLY
2017 BMW MOA INTERNATIONAL Rally
New career opportunities await By Paul F. Ruffell, Volunteer Chair #119204 DON’T BE SURPRISED WHEN YOU’RE AT
the BMW MOA Rally in Salt Lake City, Utah, this summer and members of the Volunteer Committee walk up and offer you a short term career opportunity. It will happen. No matter how content you are with what you are currently doing, whether it be full-time employment or retirement, our short term job offers will be more rewarding than your wildest expectations. While there is no salary, the satisfaction of volunteering for even a few hours with any of our committees will create new friendships along with a great sense of giving and being part of our rally. Volunteers are the backbone of a MOA National Rally, and without
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member involvement our annual July get together would be impossible to host. Coordinating each rally begins years before the event’s actual date and starts with the site selection committee researching various sites before selecting the final facility. Then real work begins, as the Rally Chairs work to book entertainment, suppliers, vendors and the site personnel to make your rally a success. The Rally Chairs also assemble a team of Committee Chairs, responsible for various rally activities. They begin their activity months prior to the rally, planning how to make their assigned tasks succeed and enlisting member volunteers to help them. This all happens before the first person
rides through the gates. While this may make volunteering your time at the rally sound intimidating, it shouldn’t. Committees have many different needs that most of us can do. Individually, what we as volunteers do is actually easily done, but when 1,500 or so of us contribute a bit of time, our combined teamwork appears to the casual observer as a very efficient and well-organized operation. Many hands make light work. In the days preceding the rally, a special group of volunteers is needed to help with sign making and sign placement or offer security in the vendor area prior to the rally. Others are needed to help set up the registration area and the entertainment
Our growing list of online resources includes information on: Registration Meet your Rally Chair Up to date Rally News RV Registration Vendor Registration Seminar Listings Hotels and Lodging Rally FAQs Rally maps Things to see and do in Salt Lake
Visit bmwmoa.org and click on the RALLY ’17 link
stages, to monitor the arrivals of members, to assist RV-ers set up their rigs, or to offer direction to camping areas. The stuffing of mugs with our pins and patches also requires many helping hands, and the MOA Gear Store and the Prize Committee both could use your help. If you are able to help on the Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday prior to the official Rally start, please contact me or a committee chair. Once the fairgrounds have been transformed from empty buildings and fields, success is still not guaranteed. For a successful Opening Day, committee chairs need volunteers agreeing in advance to assist with a shift on Thursday. If you would
like to help, please be sure to let a committee chair know. Then, once the rally is actually underway, many helping hands are still needed. Registration volunteers are needed throughout the rally as are shuttle volunteers to help taxi members around the rally site. Additional volunteers are needed to provide Rrally security and sell 50/50 tickets for the local charity that we generously support. Other committees needing your help include Door Prizes, the Sewing Table, the 5k Run, Bike Judging, the Bike Wash and Oil Change Stations. Don’t like the heat? Then pull up a chair and join Ice Sales and stay cool in the shade. If you have a medical background or have first aid
experience, consider volunteering at our First Aid Station. Please visit the BMW MOA website at bmwmoa.org and select Rally ’17 for more opportunities to help. Believe it or not, most members have so much fun volunteering, they usually signup for more than one shift. I assure you, rally volunteering is fun and will still allow you to enjoy other rally activities. That must be why about a third of all rally attendees volunteer to make their MOA Rally a resounding success. Please don’t hesitate to contact myself or any committee chair and help make the 2017 Crossroads of the West Rally our best MOA rally yet.
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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RALLY
2017BMW MOA INTERNATIONAL RALLY
Quilting the winter away By Glenn A. Burmeister #115156 FOR A RIDER LIVING IN THE UPPER
Midwest, winter is a time to reflect upon the last riding season and plan the routes for the upcoming summer. Then what? Riding time is replaced with…well, I look for ways to occupy the long winter. After the holiday season, the home improvement stores deconstruct the holiday section faster than an S 1000 RR. Overnight, they are transformed from a festive montage of lights and greenery to a plethora of plastic organizational platitudes. Yes, it is the storage season. An opportunity, pre-football games, to clean out the closets, dispose of gifts of holidays past and make room for the most recent of garments bestowed upon us. I too succumbed to the winter pairing down event, until I found myself unable to part with, you guessed it, the array of MOA rally t-shirts I had acquired over the years. All the miles and memories, I just could not pass them on via the donation box in the parking lot. They just would not have the same meaning to a stranger as they do for me. And worse yet, I could not relegate them to the rag
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
basket to end up as a staining applicator device for a future woodworking project, only to be discarded in some environmentally sensitive manner. So, washed, folded and stacked, they sat, stoic, awaiting a future use decision. Meanwhile, the holidays are also a time for fam-
ily gatherings. My mother was to arrive this year for an extended stay. I needed to plan ideas for an 86-year-old woman to fill her time as well. So what does she like to do? She makes quilts. Her church group, Prayers and Squares, makes prayer quilts for those recovering from medical procedures. It started with congregation
members only, but it has grown to include others, and regular quilts go to Veterans at the VA. The obvious answer: two birds with one stone sort of thing—have her make a quilt from the cherished Tees. Although she did not have her quilting companions, she was up for the challenge. After the bowl games, the sewing machine, a Husqvarna 500, came out. Material for backing, borders and bunting was purchased, and customization of the Husky, with a walking foot to accommodate the thickness, was purchased. The coveted T-shirts were cut using a custom framework from the wood shop. Note: T-shirts stretch, so a backing material must be applied to the back side of the shirts, prior to assembly. The layout was determined using 16 shirts going back to the West Bend, Wisconsin, rally in 2007. The most recent were from the MOA Getaway weekends of 2016. Not just the backs were used. Many fronts and sleeve designs were also used to embellish the back of the quilt. The project was complete in less than two weeks. Sew, next year, when you are thinking of how to spend those long winters…attend the rallies, buy the shirts and make a quilt out of them. You can use it to keep warm while dreaming of your next MOA adventure.
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www.etbmw.org/club-rally
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Join the BMW MOA FACEBOOK page today! Get the MOA Newsfeed via Twitter for more BMW and motorcycle news – www.twitter.com/bmwmoa
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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RALLY ONCE AGAIN, THE MOA FOUNDA-
tion is bringing rider training to our youth attending the BMW MOA International Rally this summer in Salt Lake City, Utah. Running in coordination with the rally on Thursday, July 12 and Friday, July 13, up to 24 students will have the opportunity for free riding instruction at the Salt Lake City Fair Park.
Because this is an MSF-certified training program on a dirt course, no prior riding experience is necessary, and the program is open to anyone between the ages of 13 and 17. Training will take place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, and participants must provide riding gear, including helmet, eye protection, gloves, boots providing ankle support, long pants and a long sleeve shirt. In addition to range practice, GEARS
training will also include classroom instruction, crash-scene management and an introduction to first aid. Noted riding experts will also be available to offer personal riding instruction. Lunch and snacks will be provided. To register for GEARS training, visit the MOA Foundation webpage at bmwmoaf. org and click on the Rally ’17 link. See you in Salt Lake City!
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BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
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BMW OWNERS NEWS  April 2017
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April 2017  BMW OWNERS NEWS
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event
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April 1
4/7/2017 – 4/9/2017
Hill Country Hangout
Location: Kerrville, Texas Contact: Paul Mulhern 210-279-6074 pmulhern@swbell.net The best roads in Central Texas plus motorcycle museum, wineries, shopping, and more.
2
Carolina for an event you’re sure to remember. An $89 event fee includes a Friday night welcome party and dinner with cash bar, Saturday night dinner and awards with cash bar, $500 worth of door prizes, event t-shirt, special MOA gift and a silent auction to benefit the Motorcycle Relief Project. Event Fee does not include lodging. Visit bmwmoa.org/getaway to register for the event and contact Fontana Dam Village at 800849-2258 for room reservations.
4/21/2017 – 4/23/2017
MOA Getaway
3
4/23/2017
33rd Wild Goose Run
hosting the 33rd Wild Goose Run. We would like to invite all Midwest area clubs to join us for a noon brunch and festivities at the Bayside Supper Club.
4
4/29/2017 – 4/30/2017
32nd Annual BMW Motorcycle MotoExpo and Flea Market Location: Pecatonica, Illinois Contact: Earve Brauer/Steve Frank rockbmw2000@yahoo.com Until 8:00 PM 815-962-8911/ 815-761-0048 Huge indoor BMW MotoExpo and Flea Market, open both Saturday afternoon and Sunday! We welcome buyers, motorcycle andaccessorydealers,vendorsandenthusiastsellers.
Location: Fontana Dam, North Carolina Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Join us amidst the pristine beauty and fantastic roads of the Nantahala National Forest in the mountains of western North
Location: Beaver Dam, Wisconsin Contact: Brian Justman 262-692-2787 brianjustman@kewaskumpig.com The Port Washington BMW Club will be
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Detailed information for all events is available online at: bmwmoa.org
BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
55
May 5
5/5/2017 – 5/7/2017
3rd Hopewell Road Rally
Location: Logan, Ohio Contact: Sam Booth samrbooth@yahoo.com Join the Southeastern Ohio Beemers again for a weekend of early spring riding in the hills of southern Ohio.
6
5/5/2017 – 5/7/2017
The Original Mini-Rally, 45th Year
Location: Sturgis, Michigan Contact: Mike Hart 269-317-9951 bathartx46x@comcast.net Welcome spring with us in Sturgis, Michigan, at the Green Valley Campground, S/W of town on Fawn River Rd.
7
5/5/2017 – 5/7/2017
Georgia Mountain Rally
Location: Hiawassee, Georgia Contact: Geoff Maffett president@bmwmoga.org This is a great venue for both street and dual sport riding adventures. Your rally fee includes two nights camping, chili dinner, steak dinner and two pancake breakfasts.
8
5/12/2017 – 5/14/2017
MOA Getaway
Location: Coeur d-Alene, Idaho Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway There’s something magical about Lake Coeur d’Alene that’s hard to define, but it begins with the spectacular North Idaho sunsets and moonrises, the glowing lights of downtown Coeur d’Alene reflecting across its waters and the wonderful roads. An $99 event fee includes a Friday night welcome party and dinner with cash bar, Saturday night dinner cruise and awards with cash bar, $500 worth of door prizes, event t-shirt, special MOA gift and a silent auction to benefit the Motorcycle Relief Project. Event Fee does not include lodging. Visit bmwmoa.org/getaway to register for the event and contact Coeur d’Alene Resort at 855-999-7998 for room reservations.
9
5/18/2017 – 5/21/2017
European Riders Rally
Location: Burkesville, Kentucky Contact: ridersrally@bmwmcon.org We’ll offer a weekend of great riding for both the street and dual sport enthusiast. Explore the area on your own, or stay onsite and enjoy seminars, movies, motorcycle games and more.
10
45th Moto MO “Crane Rally”
Location: Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin Contact: rally@madisonbmwclub.org Join us for the 43rd Annual Great River Road Rally in beautiful Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin, located at the epicenter of the best riding roads in the state. 5/19/2017 – 5/21/2017
2017 DownEast Rally
Location: Phippsburg, Maine Contact: Sanford Peabody 207-272-2367 rally@bmwrsm.org Join us as we return to Hermit Island at the start of the New England riding season for another DownEast Rally! Enjoy three days and two nights of Oceanside camping at Hermit Island Campground.
13
Natural State Campout
Location: Morrilton, Arkansas Contact: Rod Kilduff rod.kilduff@conwaycorp.net A no-frills camp-out at the Corps of Engineers Cherokee Park on the north bank of the Arkansas River, southwest of downtown Morrilton, Akansas. Complimentary coffee and lots of good roads.
15
5/19/2017 – 5/22/2017
32nd ABC Rally
Location: Ontario, Canada Contact: Rich Stevenson johnnydundas@gmail.com The Forest City Motorrad Club of Southwestern Ontario (MOA #159) will be hosting its 32nd rally at the Springwater Conservation Area, in S.W. Ontario.
5/19/2017 – 5/21/2017
43rd Annual Great River Road Rally (GR3)
12
5/19/2017 – 5/21/2017
5/18/2017 – 5/21/2017
Location: Crane, Missouri Contact: Ken Foster 417-827-3198 kenandemmfoster@cs.com Join the Springfield BMW Road Riders for camping along a spring-fed creek, with plenty of shade and grass to pitch your tent and park your bike.
11
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16
5/20/2017 – 5/21/2017
New Sweden 450
Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey Contact: Ron Cesaretti 856-425-4040 rcesaretti@comcast.net 450 miles of great back roads linked together in the tri-state area. The ride will take place over the course of 2 days, traversing some of the best roads in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.
17
5/25/2017 – 5/28/2017
18th Annual ROK Rally
Location: Del Rio, Tennessee Contact: bmwrok.org It is our pleasure to host our 18th Annual ROK Rally in conjunction with an amazing synchronized firefly show by Mother Nature at T.W.O. Creeks Camp area in Del Rio, Tennessee, Memorial Day weekend!
5/19/2017 – 5/21/2017
Texas National Picnic
Location: Rusk, Texas Contact: Rich Barnhart 936-645-4549 detbmw@gmail.com Join us at the Texas State Railroad Park. This is a week-end campout with the Picnic being held at the Park Dining Hall around noon on Saturday.
18
5/25/2017 – 5/29/2017
45th Annual 49’er Rally
Location: Mariposa, California Contact: bmwnorcal.wildapricot.org Join us for the 45th annual 49’er Rally at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds, Memorial Day weekend, 2017! Mariposa is the gateway to Yosemite National Park and located on scenic State Highway 49.
April 2017 BMW OWNERS NEWS
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event
whenandwhere
19
5/26/2017 – 5/29/2017
2017 BMW Motorcycle Owners of Alabama Rally Location: Dunlap Tennessee Contact: bmwmoal.org Come join us at our Memorial Day Rally in the beautiful Sequatchie Valley in Dunlap Tennessee. Situated just west of, and close to Chattanooga, Tennessee, we’ll have some great suggested rides for you to explore the area. The rally grounds are the historical Coke Ovens Park and Museum. 5/26/2017 – 5/28/2017
20 Charter Oak Rally
Location: Eastford, Connecticut Contact: Chris Jennings 203-368-9281 rally@crvbmw.org Join us on the sunny shores of Crystal Pond in the “Quiet Corner” of Connecticut at Camp Nahaco in Eastford, CT. We offer camping, showers, pretty country roads, great food including our famous Friday night chili, door prizes and a great reason to get your motorcycle out of the garage.
June 21
6/2/2017 – 6/4/2017
41st Annual Hiawatha Rally
Location: Houston, Minnesota Contact: Greg Anderson 2017hiawatharally@gmail.com Rally pin to the first 330 attendees, two nights of camping along with coffee, tea, water and lemonade, Ride for Pie Friday afternoon as well as Friday evening soup and roast your own hot dogs until gone.
22
6/2/2017 – 6/4/2017
MOA Getaway
Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Sitting at the eastern foot of the Rocky Mountains and within sight of Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs offers a delightful mix of western charm,
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BMW OWNERS NEWS April 2017
sunny skies, crisp mountain air and wonderful roads. An $89 event fee includes a Friday night welcome party and dinner with cash bar, Saturday night dinner and awards with cash bar, $500 worth of door prizes, event t-shirt, special MOA gift and a silent auction to benefit the Motorcycle Relief Project. Event Fee does not include lodging. Visit bmwmoa.org/getaway to register for the event and contact Hotel Elegante at 719-576-5900 for room reservations.
23
6/2/2017 – 6/4/2017
2017 Land of Oz Rally
Location: Atchinson, Kansas Contact: Don Hamblin bmwscooter@gmail.com, 256-479-5606 Treat yourself to a weekend the whole family can enjoy at beautiful Warnock Lake, Atchison, Kansas! In the heart of the “best kept secret” of the midwest, you can enjoy scenic touring roads, ADV riding with the GS Giants, Championship KC BBQ (with special kids meals), Field Events, an Old School Bike Show, Live Music, Door Prizes, Awards, 24 hour gourmet coffee or explore historic sites in the most haunted city in the state.
24
6/2/2017 – 6/4/2017
43rd Annual Square Route Rally
Location: Sabillasville, Maryland Contact: Bruce Dimon president@bmwbmw.org Join us at Camp West Mar in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland. There are a lot of twisty roads in the surrounding hills, field events, seminars, self-guided & guided guides (adventurous and paved), and an optional (extra cost) professionally guided tour of the Gettysburg Battlefield.
25
Rally
6/8/2017 – 6/11/2017
41st Annual Pure Stodge Iowa
Location: Middle Amana, Iowa Contact: purestodge.org, Steve Carson 319-330-2844, psta.rally@gmail.com Wwe offer the best bands (both Friday and Saturday night), the highest quality rally food included Friday and Saturday evenings, shaded camping as well as nearby hotels, Amana shops, hospitality and restaurants to be enjoyed. Excellent door prizes and riding in the scenic Iowa countryside top off this not-to-be-missed rally experience.
6/9/2017 – 6/11/2017
26 15th Annual Laurel Highlands
BMW Riders Campout
Location: Somerset, Pennsylvania Contact: George Blackham IV or Jason Kaplitz (gsjay@kaplitz.com) gjbiv1stsgtusmc@yahoo.com (814) 615 9138 We return to Pioneer Park Campground located in south central Pennsylvania. Pioneer Park is a terrific full-service camping resort with excellent showers and facilities.
27
6/9/2017 – 6/11/2017
25th Gathering of the Clans
Location: Ferguson, North Carolina Contact: Charlie Smith 276-628-3251 bmwcharlie@embarqmail.com Airheads and other members of the motorcycling community are cordially invited to join us for this weekend of celebration at High Country Motorcycle Camp. Roads for any style of riding, plenty of shaded creekside camping, clean hot showers, tech sessions, Friday and Saturday evening meals. 6/15/2017 – 6/17/2017
28 17th Annual Red Rock Rendez-
vous Rally
Location: Panguitch, Utah Contact: beehivebeemers@hotmail.com The Rally site is the gateway to Zion, Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Grand Canyon National Parks; plus there are 10 additional state parks within one hour riding! Make plans to attend the best little rally in the west. 6/18/2017 – 6/23/2017
29 Appalachian Mountains and
Music Motorcycle Tour
Location: Front Royal, Virginia Contact: Tamela Rich tamela@tamelarich.com Luxury tour includes accommodations, meals, and two private bluegrass concerts! In addition to these iconic roads, the tour itinerary celebrates Appalachia’s rich history, its fusion of musical genres and dances, its distinctive cuisine, and its oral storytelling heritage. Begins at Front Royal, VA on June 18 and ends in Little Switzerland, NC on June 23.
30
6/23/2017 – 6/25/2017
The BMW Riders of Oregon Chief Joseph Rally Location: John Day, Oregon Contact: Doug Tewksbury 541-543-7320 bmwro.rallymaster@gmail.com The fairgrounds has it all - green grass camping, hot showers, clean restroom facilities, a large pavilion building for meals, improved Wi-Fi connections and an RV park.
31
6/23/2017 – 6/25/2017
Camp-N-Ride
Location: Merritt, British Columbia, Canada Contact: Gary Smith 250-766-3192 judosmith@telus.net This is a non host event. Come and join fellow riders in a great area of the Nicola Valley in B.C. Canada. Please check our website for updates and further details Valley Bmw Riders.
July 32
7/9/2017 – 7/12/2017
The GS Giant: Snake River Ramble
Location: Ririe, Idaho Contact: Tracy Novacich 302-723-2354 Spend three days in the shadow of the Tetons riding the best of eastern Idaho and Wyoming, both on and off road. Your rally fee includes a daily catered breakfast and dinner, bike games, door prizes, great old and new friends and awesome adventures, plus the obligatory tee-shirt and swag bag.
33
www.bmwmcoga.com
7/13/2017 – 7/16/2017
BMW MOA International Rally
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Contact: Greg Feeler 2017rallychair@bmwmoa.org Utah is a rider’s wonderland with 21 national parks and monuments, 40 state parks, and seven national forests. Easy day rides from the Fairpark will take you into the mountains to Park City, the Utah Olympic Park, and the year-round resorts of Alta, Solitude, and Snowbird.
www.bcbmwclub.com
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34
7/20/2017 – 7/23/2017
46th Annual Top O’ The Rockies Rally
Location: Paonia, Colorado Contact: Matt Baroody matthewbaroody@msn.com The Paonia area boasts some of Colorado’s best riding, both on and off road. Your rally fee includes three nights shaded camping, Saturday meal and two nights live entertainment. Great place to stop after the MOA rally!
35
7/20/2017 – 7/23/2017
45th Annual Cascade Country Rendezvous Location: Republic, Washington Contact: wsbmwr.org Join us for the 45th annual Cascade Country Rendezvous in beautiful Republic Washington. Camp at the Ferry County Fairgrounds or stay in a local motels.
August 8/5/2017
36 18th Annual 100,000 Ft. Ride Location: Lakewood, Colorado Contact: Carl Thomte 303-753-662 rcarloski@msn.com Ride enough mountain passes in a day to equal 100,000 ft.! This ride can go from 300-500 miles depending on the final route.
37
8/10/2017 – 8/13/2017
Camp-N-Ride
Location: Kaslo, British Columbia, Canada Contact: Gary Smith 250-766-3192 judosmith@telus.net This is a no host event. Come and join in on the camaraderie of fellow riders and visit some of the best riding in British Columbia. Please check our website for further details Valley Bmw Riders.
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8/11/2017 - 8/13/2017
35th Annual Husker Rally
Location: Franklin, Nebraska Contact: Jayney Solo 402-676-1739 jayneysolo@cox.net Join us for our 35th annual rally at the fairgrounds in Franklin, nestled in the beautiful Republican Valley of south central Nebraska. The Nightriders offer a weekend of great food and fun. Meet others who share your love of the open road, good company, shaded camping, hot showers and the best rally food. 8/11/2017 - 8/13/2017
39 40th Annual Daniel Boone Rally Location: Boone, North Carolina Contact: rally@carolinasbmwmoa.org Join us for the 40th Annual Dan’l Boone Rally at the KOA Campground in Boone, North Carolina. Some of the best motorcycle roads east of the Mississippi River with three states in easy distance. Ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, High Country of North Carolina and much more. 8/17/2017 - 8/20/2017
40 Nakusp Hotsprings Rally Location: Nakusp, British Columbia, Canada Contact: Grant Fengstad nakupsrally@beeceebeemers.com The areas around Nakusp, BC boasts some of the best riding roads in all of British Columbia. Whether you come for the workshops, talks, camaraderie, riding or to relax in this picturesque location you will not regret your visit.
healing waters and ribbons of highway curling around majestic bluffs and over hills revealing the area’s breathtaking scenery. An $89 event fee includes a Friday night welcome party and dinner with cash bar, Saturday night dinner and awards with cash bar, $500 worth of door prizes, event t-shirt, special MOA gift and a silent auction to benefit the Motorcycle Relief Project. Event Fee does not include lodging. Visit bmwmoa. org/getaway to register for the event and contact Inn of the Ozarks at 800-814-8307 for room reservations.
September 43
9/8/2017 - 9/10/2017
MOA Getaway
Location: Pineville, Kentucky Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Set in the Kentucky Ridge State Forest and surrounded by mountains, this secluded resort offers peace and tranquility and is the perfect place for fun and great riding. A $89 event fee includes a Friday night welcome party and dinner with cash bar, Saturday night dinner and awards with cash bar, $500 worth of door prizes, event t-shirt, special MOA gift and a silent auction to benefit the Motorcycle Relief Project. Event Fee does not include lodging. Visit bmwmoa. org/getaway to register for the event and contact Pine Mountain State Resort Park at 606-337-3066 for room reservations. 9/8/2017 - 9/10/2017
41
8/17/2017 - 8/20/2017
19th Beartooth Rendezvous
Location: Red Lodge, Montana Contact: Charlie Greear/Carla Tooth registrar@beartoothbeemers.org (208) 661-5639/(406) 696-2114 You can’t ask for a better view! Join us at the Lions Camp located 10 miles south of Red Lodge, Montana. Ample camping space is available in and around the camp and there’s even a mountain stream nearby. 8/18/2017 - 8/20/2017
42 MOA Getaway
Location: Eureka Springs, Arkansas Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Nestled in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas and surrounded by rivers and lakes, Eureka Springs is known for its
44 Camp-N-Ride
Location: Midway, British Columbia, Canada Contact: Gary Smith 250-766-3192 judosmith@telus.net This is a no host event. A great time to relax along the Kettle River, or go for a variety of rides in the area. Please check our website for further details VALLEY BMW RIDERS. 9/8/2017 - 9/10/2017
45 Wisconsin Dells Rally Location: Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin Contact: Brian Manke & Heidi Goehring dellsrally@gmail.com Lots of shade & scenic paths await you. There’s more room to camp this year plus live music both nights and a pig roast Saturday. Check out our website for more details Wisconsin Bmw Motorrad Club.
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9/8/2017 - 9/10/2017
June 2 – June 4, 2017
MOA Premier Getaway
Location: Sedona, Arizona Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Surrounded by red-rock buttes, steep canyon walls and lush pine forests, the Sedona area offers some of the most scenic rides in the southwest through postcard perfect rock formations and beautiful landscapes. A $129 event fee includes a Friday welcome party and dinner, Saturday dinner and awards, $500 in door prizes, polo shirt, special MOA gift and silent auction benefitting the Motorcycle Relief Project. Visit bmwmoa.org/getaway to register for the event and contact Poco Diablo Resort at 928-282-7333 for room reservations.
47
9/14/2017 - 9/17/2017
Ride the Blue Ridge
Location: Morganton, North Carolina Contact: Gene Smith 828-439-9754 rallymaster@knobbies.org Ride the Blue Ridge with the Knobbies. Join us once again at Catawba Meadows Park in Morganton, North Carolina, for some of the best riding in the South. Our Knobbies guide GS rides, sport rides and more.
48
9/15/2017 - 9/17/2017
Annual Oktoberfest in September
Location: Round Top, New York Contact: Don Eilenberger deilenberger@verizon.net Once again, we’re honoring the actual date of when Oktoberfest begins in Germany (September 16th in Munich) - and planning on excellent September riding weather! We are again gathering at the Crystal Brook German Resort in Round Top NY. The weekend can be had as an all inclusive, ALL meals included with lodging, or as a B&B weekend with breakfast included.
The BMW Motorcycle Owners Club of Minnesota invites you to the 41st Annual
Hiawatha Rally
Money Creek Haven Campground near Houston, MN. Rally fee includes: 2 nights camping on grassy shaded tent sites. 24-hour coffee, tea, water and lemonade. Vendors. Demo rides by Leo’s South. Door prizes and awards. Rally pin to first 330 attendees. Custom rally T-shirts for sale. Ride for Pie Friday afternoon. Friday evening soup and hot dogs until gone. Live music Friday night. Guided dual-sport ride and field events Saturday. Dinner Saturday night. Sunday morning worship service and treats.
Preregistration:$40 per person until 5/15/2017 ($20 children ages 7-15). Preregister to be entered in a drawing to win a free Kermit chair! Onsite registration: $45 per person, starting at noon Friday. ($25 children ages 7-15). Children 6 and under free. Registration forms and more information: http://www.bmwmocm.com/hiawatharally.html www.bmwmocm.com Questions: Email 2017hiawatharally@gmail.com Registration checks payable to: BMWMOCM Mail to: C. Bushnell 9925 Trenton Lane Maple Grove, MN 55369
9/15/2017 - 9/17/2017
49 8th Annual Twin Valley Rally Location: Meadows of Dan, Virginia Contact: Seth Pagani seth@twinvalleyrally.org Imagine the perfect motorcycle rally. You put it in an area renowned for amazing roads and sublime scenery. You host it in a clean, intimate campground with proper amenities. You make it small enough to get to know practically everybody there, but large enough to broaden your friendships.
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www.bmwmcmag.com
event
whenandwhere
You have music, door prizes, and possible test rides of fine new machines, amazing food, vendors and fun events. That’s what Twin Valley Riders, the sport-touring and adventure-riding club of Southwest Virginia has done with the Twin Valley Rally.
50
9/22/2017 - 9/24/2017
35th Last Chance Rally
Location: Buena, New Jersey Contact: Pete Lisco 856-589-7015 Enjoy shaded camp sites, cabins and local hotels to accommodate your travel preference. Enjoy a relaxing weekend of field events, riding destinations, awards, camaraderie and a fabulous roast pig banquet.
51
Rally
9/22/2017 - 9/24/2017
31st Annual Hoosier Beemers
Location: North Vernon, Indiana Contact: www.facebook.com/ hoosier.beemers Join us for great riding in scenic southern Indiana. Rally fee of $30 includes two nights camping, Friday night gourmet hot dog roast with all the fixins’ and live bluegrass band, Saturday night dinner, door prizes and awards.
52
9/22/2017 - 9/24/2017
14th Thunder Mountain Rendezvous Location: Hotchkiss, Colorado Contact: Gary Campbell 970-2102604, gcampbell44@yahoo.com Come join the 14th Thunder Mountain Rendezvous hosted by the BMW Riders of Western Colorado! We will be at the Delta County Fairgrounds in downtown Hotchkiss on Color Weekend on the sestern Slope of Colorado and once again offering great camaraderie, a beautiful venue, and the greatest riding in Colorado.
53
9/28/2017 - 10/1/2017
Last Chance Camp-N-Ride
Location: Oroville, Washington Contact: Gary Smith 250-766-3192
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JUDOSMITH@TELUS.NET A great camp out with great bunch of people from both sides of the boarder as well as some excellent rides in the area. Please check our website for further details Valley Bmw Riders. 9/29/2017 - 9/30/2017
54 Oklahoma BMW Rally Location: Talihina, Oklahoma Contact: Mike Truel, mtruel1@cox.net Come join the Central Oklahoma BMW Road Riders for this multi-club camp out in southeast Oklahoma! The Talimena State Park marks the Oklahoma entrance to the Talimena National Scenic Drive, a winding road through the Winding Stair Mountains that is known for spectacular foliage. 9/29/2017 - 9/30/2017
55 Gathering of the Clams Location: Wakefield, Rhode Island Contact: Carl A Saccoccio 401-447-7114 carlsaccoccio@verizon.net Join us at Camp Fuller YMCA on beautiful Great Salt Pond in Wakefield, Rhode Island. Enjoy three days and two nights of oceanside camping or sleep in a shared cabin at no extra charge.
56
9/29/2017 - 10/1/2017
MOA Getaway
Location: Tomah, Wisconsin Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Experience a unique combination of quiet Midwest charm in an area untouched by glaciers. The Driftless Area is characterized by its beautifully sculpted topography, forested hillsides with valleys cut into limestone bedrock by cold-water trout streams. An $89 event fee includes a Friday welcome party and dinner, Saturday dinner and awards, $500 in door prizes, t-shirt, special MOA gift and silent auction benefitting the Motorcycle Relief Project. Visit bmwmoa.org/getaway to register for the event and contact the Cranberry Country Lodge at 608-374-2801 for room reservations.
57
9/29/2017 - 10/1/2017
2017 Rams Rally
Location: Parker Crossroads, Tennesee Contact: Spencer Bennett 901-626-2831 spencer14554@gmail.com Friday and Saturday nights tent camping, pancake breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, Saturday evening dinner, endless Coffee,
Lemonade and Ice Water at Rally Central, live music, and Legendary RAMS Door Prizes.
November 58
11/3/2017 - 11/4/2017
47th South Central BMW Owners Reunion Location: Fayettville, Texas Contact: Gene Ronchetto vp@bmwclubofhouston.com Enjoy tent and RV camping, guided road rides or GS rides, social events, Texas cooking, awards, and great fellowship on the shore of Lake Fayette. All in a pleasant wooded lakeside park, with hiking and fishing opportunities as well. 11/10/2017 - 11/12/2017
59 16th Swamp Scooter Gumbo Rally Location: Carencro, Louisiana Contact: James Carpenter president@swampscooters.net Everyone is welcome at our Annual Gumbo Rally so come pass a good time and laisser les bons temps rouler (let the good times roll) at Bayou Wilderness Rv Resort near Lafayette. Rally fee includes great food Friday and Saturday nights as well as breakfast on Saturday, bike games, shaded camping, a great location to camp and enjoy the bonfires. 11/10/2017 - 11/12/2017
60 MOA Getaway
Location: Texas Hill Country, Texas Contact: bmwmoa.org/getaway Join us this November in the rumpled terrain of Texas’s famed Hill Country, an area laced with endless miles of appealing twolane blacktop running through wooded canyons cut by spring-fed rivers. A $89 event fee includes a Friday night welcome party and dinner with cash bar, Saturday night dinner and awards with cash bar, $500 worth of door prizes, event t-shirt, special MOA gift and a silent auction to benefit the Motorcycle Relief Project. Event Fee does not include lodging. Visit bmwmoa.org/getaway to register.
advertiserindex Action Stations/Bohn Armor........49, 101 Adaptiv Technologies............................... 40 Adriatic Moto Tours................................... 47 Adventure Designs.................................... 57 Adventure New Zealand Tours............. 43 AeroFlow.....................................................111 Aerostich-RiderWearHouse..................115 Alaska Leather............................................. 45 Alaska Motorcycle Adventures...........115 AlpsTours.com............................................. 40 Arai Helmets....................................................5 Arkansas Parks and Tourism....... 116, 117 Ayres Adventures....................................... 56 Backcountry Discovery Routes...........103 Beach’s Motorcycle Adventures........... 44 BeadRider...................................................... 74 Beemer Boneyard...................................... 89 Beemer Shop, The...................................... 74 Best Rest Products...................................115 Best Western Inn of the Ozarks............. 89 Bike Log......................................................... 56 Bing Agency................................................. 83 BMW Club of Battle Creek.....................131 BMW MOA Foundation....... 58, 59, 60, 61 BMW Motorcycle Magazine...................133 BMW of Southeast Michigan................. 74 BMW Performance Center...................... 20 Bob’s BMW.................................................... 75 Boxer Works Service.................................. 47 British Motorcycle Gear........................... 57 BullRack.......................................................119 Capital Cycle................................................ 74 Cardo Systems............................................. 34 Cee Baileys Aircraft Plastic............... 23, 98 Chief Joseph Rally...................................... 98 CIMA International.................................... 21 Claw of the Dragon.................................115 Colorado Tourbike Rentals..................... 57 Corbin Pacific............................................... 45 CruzTools....................................................... 57 Cyclenutz....................................................... 47
DMC Sidecars.............................................118 Dubbeju Motorcycle Rentals................. 74 Edelweiss Bike Travel................................ 50 EPM Hyper Pro...................................13, 119 Euro Moto Electrics.................................113 First Gear......................................................IBC Georgia Mountain Rally.........................131 Geza Gear...................................................... 25 GS-911 Diagnostic Tool............................ 50 Global Rescue............................................126 GSM Motorent...........................................119 Haynes NA/Clymer Manuals.................. 25 Heidenau Tires............................................ 97 Helmet Sun Blocker.................................118 HEX-ezCAN.................................................119 Hiawatha Rally..........................................133 Ilium Works................................................... 40 IMTBIKE TOURS................................... 13, 25 Jesse Luggage Systems........................... 45 Johnstown Thunder................................123 Kermit Chair Company............................. 84 Land of Oz Rally........................................119 Laural Highlands BMW Club Campout.98 LD Comfort................................................... 50 Lee Parks Design........................................ 57 Legal Speeding Enterprises................... 48 M4Motorcycles.........................................127 MachineartMoto......................................115 Magura USA................................................. 49 MOA Member Benefits..........................125 MOA Platinum Roadside Assistance... 99 Morton’s BMW Motorcycles.................126 Moto-Bins...................................................... 57 Moto Skiveez............................................... 56 MotoMo Rally.............................................. 98 Motonation..................................................BC Motorcycle Releif Project - psa............. 84 Motorcycle Travel Network..................119 Motorex USA..............................................124 Motorrad Elektrik....................................... 43 Mountain Master Truck Equipment...... 56
MTA Distributing/Olympia Moto Sports..IFC Overseas Speedometer........................... 74 Palo Alto Speedometer............................ 84 Parabellum.................................................100 Peru Motors................................................119 PIAA USA....................................................... 83 Progressive Insurance.................................9 Ray Atwood Cycles.................................... 47 Redverz.......................................................... 48 Remus USA................................................... 35 Re-Psycle BMW Parts................................50 Rich Phillips Leather.................................. 47 Rider Magazine..........................................113 RKA Luggage............................................... 13 Roadrunner Magazine............................123 RTW Moto Tours......................................... 74 Russel Cycle Products............................... 57 Saddlemen................................................... 41 Sargent Cycle Products..........................118 SBS Brakes..................................................... 48 Scenic Wheels Motorcycle Tours.......... 56 Side Kicker.................................................... 56 Spectro Oils of America............. 43, 45, 47 Spiegler.......................................................... 47 Stop ‘n Go...................................................... 84 Street Eagle Motorcycle Rentals...........119 Suburban Machinery................................ 40 TecMate.......................................................101 Texas State BMW Picnic.........................123 Total Control Training.............................127 Touratech.........................................................1 Touring Sport BMW.................................127 Tourmaster................................................... 11 Twisted Throttle................................... 36, 37 Two Wheels of Suches.............................. 13 Weiser Technik............................................ 31 Westco Battery..........................................127 Wheels of Wonderment M/C Camp.. 118 Wilbers USA.........................................25, 101 Wolfman Luggage...................................101 Ztechnik......................................................... 51
BMW ON (ISSN:1080-5729) (USPS: 735-590) (BMW Owners News) is published monthly by BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Inc., 640 S. Main Street, Suite 201, Greenville, SC 29601. Periodicals postage paid at Pewaukee, Wisconsin and additional mailing offices. Opinions and positions stated in materials/articles herein are those of the authors and not by the fact of publication necessarily those of BMW MOA; publication of advertising material is not an endorsement by BMW MOA of the advertised product or service. The material is presented as information for the reader. BMW MOA does not perform independent research on submitted articles or advertising. POSTMASTER: SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO BMW ON, 640 S. Main Street, Suite 201, Greenville, SC 29601 © 2017 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 47, Number 4.
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talelight
Cowboys Ahead
Usually it’s texting or inattentive drivers demanding a rider’s attention. On your way to the Rally in July, add cattle drives to that list. Photo by Bill Wiegand #180584
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