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YOUR SISTER’S DOG’S BIRTHDAY PARTY
Before we fully embrace the new year, let’s take a moment to look back at some of the best stories and images published last year in the pages of BMW Owners News.
Planning epic motorcycle adventures are easy. It’s executing the plan you’ve created that’s the challenging part–especially when your plans go awry.
ON THE COVER:
Using an R 1250 RT to test Continental’s new ContiRoadAttack 4 at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina. Photo courtesy Continental tire.
Tell friends you’re planning on riding the Tail of the Dragon and the responses will vary greatly. But conquer those 318 curves over 11 miles on a 33-year-old Airhead and you've got something to talk about!
Eric Esswein wins MOA Foundation’s One Ticket & You Pick It Raffle, Corbin releases new saddle for 2020-22 S 1000 RR and R, The Sportmax Q5S: Dunlop’s new street and track-day tire, BMW Motorrad to Headline Mecum Las Vegas Motorcycle auction on January 24-28, The BMW Car Club of America needs your motorcycle, Welcome our newest MOA members, BMW Motorrad updates the R 1250 RS, Thanks to all making the 2022 Coddiwomple a Grand Success, Gear Up with Winter Gloves, It’s the 50th!
EVERY TIME I HEAR THAT REFRAIN, SOMEWHERE BURIED DEEP WITHIN the depths of my brain, I can hear my father saying, “What the hell is there to be happy about?”
Though I would never reply when I’d hear him say those words, my mind would always begin listing the things we should have been thankful for. Our family, health and home would always lead the list, with things like my motorcycle, Jeep and friends following close behind.
The old man was undoubtedly a cranky old cuss, and I will admit I miss both him and my mom dearly. How I wish we could take just one more ride together. I’ll admit I can be a bit pragmatic myself, and those nostalgic feelings of melancholy can be wiped away as quickly as they appear whenever my wife reminds me, “You’re beginning to sound like your father!”
“What?” I exclaim, believing she couldn’t be further from the truth. But then I ask, “Am I really?”
Well, as much of a pessimist that dear old dad was, and whether or not I’m kidding myself, I like to believe I still have a favorable view of the world around me. Things aren’t quite as dubious as reported, and there is still good out there. If CBS correspondent Steve Hartman had his own network, my channel would never change.
By Bill Wiegand #180584
As we have each January for the past several years, one of our features in this issue is “BMW Owners News Best of 2022,” where we highlight some of the best stories and images submitted by very talented writers and photographers, contributors who also happen to be BMW Motorcycle Owners of America members.
Contributions range from Jack Riepe and his never-ending quest to find his perfect soulmate to Matt Parkhouse and his library-like mental database of Airhead repair. Then there’s Mark Barnes with his analytical analysis of the minds of BMW motorcyclists and Ron Davis reminding us how stupid we can be, but hey, it’s OK because we all do dumb things! On the photography side of the room, we’ve got Mark Janda, Don Bartletti, Paul Phillips and Terence Hamill with their stunning images captured during their travels across the world.
Despite our familiarity with the names I’ve mentioned, we also rub shoulders with many BMW Owners News content creators who aren’t as well known. Kandi Spangler, Louise Powers, Bill Shaw, James Carlisle, Dave Cwi and Maurice O’Neill are just a few of those who share their adventures with us each month through their stories and photographs. Without a doubt, there is greatness among us.
BMW Owners News has always been and will always be the magazine published by and for all BMW Motorcycle Owners of America members. Within these pages, we share our adventures, triumphs and failures every month. I believe we are a fortunate band of brothers and sisters who all share the love of seeing the world from the vulnerable and exposed seat of a motorcycle. It’s a love that’s difficult to convey to nonriders. They don’t understand. But you do, and here, that’s all that matters.
We all have great stories and photos worth sharing with our fellow MOA members, and I’d like to ask you this year to consider doing just that. If you’d like to share your adventures with us, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Feel free to email me at bill@bmwmoa.org to discuss your story and how you can share it with BMW Owners News readers. I look forward to an inbox overflowing with emails.
Happy New Year! Hell, yes it is!
THE FORESTED FOOTHILLS SURROUNDING THE HILLTOP CHATEAU NEAR Hendersonville, North Carolina, remained cloaked in an ethereal blanket of mist and fog following days of torrential rains that had marked the death throes of Hurricane Nicole. Who schedules a strategic planning board meeting in the path of a hurricane? Who indeed.
For three days, our team of directors had come together and bonded over our common cause: the furtherment of our beloved club. As president, I took great pleasure seeing and hearing so many ideas come to fruition, seeing plans unfold, ideas take root and inspiration become firmly seated in the souls of those in the room. The heavy rain outside kept us all inside, which, ironically was fortuitous, as our collective noses stayed against the proverbial grindstone, even when the books were closed and libations were imbibed over meals. Breaking bread; always critical to the formation of a team.
After three days of solving the world’s problems, Saturday the 12th of November had arrived, and our executive session and open session meetings would be held at our MOA headquarters, in Greer, South Carolina. The rain had finally cleared, the sky was blue, and the roads were dry. I had been looking forward to this ride. As it turns out, I’m a motorcycle addict and being cooped up for three days, even with moto-family, gets me to twitching.
Three directors rode to the board meeting: me, Secretary Adam Chandler and Director and Ambassador Michael “Roc” Shannon. The other directors and officers, being smarter and wiser than the addicts in the room drove or flew in as Sunday the 13th was coming, and the temps would hover in the 30s all day for the long ride back. But that day, the weather was great, and I was riding with my fellow directors to meet with our members and break bread with them.
The meetings were great. Our 2022 rally team, Brian Burdette, Pat Carol and Greg Feeler were on hand to give the membership an excellent rally wrap up. Afterwards, they received the finest rally Kermit chairs I have ever seen. As the meetings wound down, I finally had to make moves toward the bikes to get back to Hendersonville for the night, a good 40-minute ride away. Adam straddled his R 18 as Roc made his way to his 2015 R 1200 GS. I know this bike well as I saw it up close when Roc and I first met at the Iowa rally where he and I were inducted into the Friends of Wyle E. Coyote charter club #100.
As I hit the starter and mounted the TFT NAV on Anja, my 2022 R 1250 RT, Adam departed toward his home, while Roc and I took up formation and headed back to the cabin as darkness descending rapidly like a sorcerer’s cape. As I left the interstate for the winding mountain roads leading to our evening abode, we were fully engulfed in the inky blackness of night, the afterglow of sun on the other side of the planet now spitting its final shards of light beyond the crest of the ridgelines.
Leading the ride with Roc on my six, the last 15 miles may stand the test of time as one of my fondest motorcycle memories. I was in Camelot, the mists of Avalon had dissipated as the music of our Teutonic engines echoed through the valley roads into the darkness, revealing what I knew would one day become one of the most divine, pure, and sacred moments of my life.
This year, seek out and find your memorable moments on the bike.
Opposite page top, Taking a break during a fall ride over Monitor and Sonora passes in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Photo by Mark Arola #210388.
Opposite page lower left, An image of the Golden Stupa in Vientiane, Laos, from our four months in southeast Asia. Photo by Ekke Kok #71698.
Opposite page lower right, A foggy photo taken during an Edelweiss Ultimate Alps tour ridden last fall. Photo by Bob Mihalics #199029.
Left, From an October ride to the top of Colorado's Pikes Peak. Photo by Gabriel Kern #218091.
Below, My R 1250 GS at Middlemarch Pass while riding over the Dragoon Mountains in southeastern Arizona. Photo by Jon Lipp #227498.
Each month we publish the great images sent to us by BMW MOA members from their travels around the globe. Send us your best images and you could have your work published in our Postcards from the Road pages. Email your high resolution images, image description and contact information to editor@ bmwmoa.org.
I was offended, frustrated and disappointed with Wes Fleming’s corporatepandering tone regarding the service action for BMW R 1200/1250’s for the well-known issue of rust and binding of the drive shaft splines.
Yes, people should take care of their motorcycles and use them appropriately, but BMW markets the R 1200/1250 GS bikes for exactly the type of use Wes seems to believe inappropriate or ill-advised. BMW sponsors the GS trophy–that represents their marketing position on “acceptable use” of the big GS bikes.
I appreciate taking the time to distinguish this “Service Action” from a “Recall,” but instead of just leaving it at “BMW has a problem and they are taking care of it,” Wes throws in a healthy dose of “It might just be your fault,” and why? Take a step back: BMW has used shaft drives on the big GSs from the beginning–this has not been a problem with all model years. Clearly there was a design issue with the recent years’ bikes that they are addressing with this Service Action.
But instead of leaving it at that, Wes says that “...riding through sand, mud and water” is beyond the norm for these bikes, which implies that such use (apparently abuse, in his opinion) puts a share of the blame for these failures on the rider, not BMW.
No rider should bear part of the blame for such a failure when using the motorcycle in ways exactly as BMW promotes and markets it.
Proper maintenance is the job of every owner, whether they do it themselves or take it to the shop. But implying that riding your GS in sand, mud and water should require more than specified
service at specified intervals or it’s “on you” not only does not hold water logically, it is offensive. Especially so, given Wes’s position as an editor for our organization’s magazine, in that he reflects, intended or not, the positioning of the MOA as regards us as owners and corporate BMW. I expect MOA to be on the side of the “O,” not “BMW.”
I do my own service, and having heard about the issue on the forums, I’ve been regularly inspecting and lubing the splines on both my RT and GSA. I will continue to do so and probably will not take the GSA in for this “Service Action.” But I appreciate BMW owning up to the issue and taking action to solve their problem, and Wes should have left it at that.
Jim McWhirter #187123 Redding, CaliforniaJim – I’ve gotten some flak about my position, and I understand some folks are reading it the way you are. Certainly, my intention wasn’t to offend people, but I see a lot of bikes in the course of a year, and I’ve seen a lot of GSes used for hard off-road riding, including in mud and for water crossings. From my perspective, if you ride your bike like that, it’s not enough to just change the oil every 6k like BMW recommends. The boots on the swingarm are not (nor are they meant to be) impervious to encroachment by water, and if you introduce them to that environment, I believe it’s on you to follow up by making sure whatever water might have gotten in there is gotten out. I realize this is different than environmental water (condensation) some are complaining about, and I certainly did not intend to conflate the two types of water encroachment. Chat with a long-term, hardcore dirt rider about the
work they put into their bike; I believe it might add some perspective to what I wrote. –Wes
This past summer, a fellow member named Brad Smith (#171454) was the instructor at a 12,000-mile service seminar held in Indianapolis. I attended this seminar and watched Brad give a very detailed presentation, and I left with the confidence to perform this service myself on my new 2022 RT. Brad also had the specialty tools available to buy to do the job which included an engine turning bar.
During the week after the seminar, I received a phone call from Brad telling me that he thought he may have sold me the wrong engine turning bar. I think he could hear my disappointment when I explained that I had planned to do the service in a couple days before joining the BMW Motorcycle Club of Colorado’s 100,000 Foot Ride.
Brad said it was too bad I didn’t live closer to Rhode Island, as I could come to his house and we’d do the service there. When asked what he was doing the upcoming Sunday he said he had no plans, so I asked if I could find a motel and come out. He said yes.
There was something going that weekend so almost all the motels were booked and the ones that weren’t were hundreds of dollars out of my fixed income budget. When I called him back, he told me he had looked for a room also and when he saw the prices asked his wife Mary if I could stay at their house. She had agreed so we made plans for me to get there that Saturday.
I left my home north of Chicago that Friday and rode 700 miles. The next morning, I was on the road bright and
early, anticipating arriving at Brad’s early enough to get the bike stripped down yet that day. About a half hour into my trip, while traveling east on I-80, I went to pass a semi. I checked my mirror and did my quick over the shoulder glance and started my lane change. When I looked back at the road there it was, a rock about four inches in diameter directly in my path. I know my brain said swerve and I am sure I tried but I still hit the rock at 80 mph. The impact was so severe that it bent the rim to the point it was rubbing the caliper and cracked it, making all the air instantly gone. I safely made it to the shoulder.
After seeing the damage and realizing I wasn’t going anywhere, I called BMW Roadside Assistance. Two and a half hours later I was on my way to Port Clinton, Pennsylvania and Hermy’s BMW in a tow truck. By the time I got there they had already searched for a replacement wheel for me but had no luck, and much to my disappointment, they had no wheel of any type available to get me on the road. At this point I called Brad to let him know I was not going to make it there that weekend.
Brad told me he was in the middle of changing the brake calipers on his son’s car and that when he finished, he would come and get me. He added that he had
a wheel with a tire on it that would fit my bike. He told me to get a motel for us before he got there.
Overall, Brad, basically a stranger to me, drove 10 hours round trip to help me. He helped me perform the 12k service on my bike AND let me go home with his wheel and tire, knowing that it would be anywhere from four to six weeks before BMW would get my replacement wheel.
I made it to Colorado that weekend because of Brad’s extraordinary help. Brad also produces some very fine and detailed YouTube videos on servicing BMWs. His YouTube title is “BoxFlyer.”
If there is some kind of award and or recognition that can be bestowed on Brad, I want to nominate him. His wife also deserves some recognition for extending her gracious hospitality to allow me to spend a night in their home.
Jim Rostron #29325 Lindenhurst, Illinois
Thank you for sharing your story with us Jim. Upon your recommendation, we will be sending Brad an MOA Helping Hand Award to acknowledge his incredible act of kindness. The MOA Helping Hand award is awarded to anyone who has gone out of their way to aid a BMW MOA member. This
could be aid to the victim of an accident, break down, or any other mishaps that occur while on the road. Saying “thank you” is the right response. –Editor
I second the motion to eliminate rally plastic stuff along with cheap single-use stuff that just breaks when you use it.
Kent Gallaway #195534 Readstown, Wisconsin
“Always maintain your composure and never engage in a road rage confrontation with someone who may be one of the millions of people possessing concealed firearm carry permits.” (Foundation column, September 2022 BMW Owners News).
While the author may believe this, I think he is presumptuous, implying the concealed carry cagers are more inclined to road rage than non-concealed carry cagers.
If this happens to be true, the author should cite documented evidence.
Wayne Richard #145837 Seneca, South Carolina
Each month, the Rider to Rider pages of BMW Owners News detail the successes, failures, wishes and frustrations we all face as riders, BMW motorcycle owners, customers and individuals. As a BMW MOA member, these are your pages and we want to know what’s on your mind.
Got something to get off your chest? Tell us about it. Know a business that deserves to be recognized? Tell us about it. Got a riding or tech tip that we could all benefit from? Tell us about it. Got a suggestion for BMW Motorrad? You know the drill–Tell us about it! There’s only one rule and that’s to stick to the subject that brings us all here–motorcycling, so save political rants for Facebook! Send your thoughts to editor@bmwmoa.org and lets all work to build a better community.
Congratulations Eric Esswein (#211930) of Conifer, Colorado, for winning the BMW MOA Foundation’s recent One Ticket & You Pick It giveaway. Eric has won his choice of any new BMW motorcycle in the 2022 or 2023 BMW model lineup, which includes his choice of factory installed options, for a total prize package of up to $37,500.
Eric’s name was chosen live from the more than 12,700 entries on November 12 at the fall BMW MOA Board of Directors meeting in Greer, South Carolina.
Proceeds from the One Ticket & You Pick It fundraiser benefit the rider training initiatives of the BMW MOA Foundation. With your support, the Foundation will fund over 400 Paul B. Training Grants, dozens of group training opportunities, and all rider training activities at the 2023 National Rally. With every ticket purchased, you are making a difference in the lives of MOA members through rider training.
Corbin’s saddle design enhances the comfort of BMW’s R and RRs by ergonomically dispersing rider weight over a greater area. Using Corbin’s Comfort Cell foam to provide miles and miles of supportive comfort feels firm at first, but doesn’t break down like stock foam to keep the rider’s body supported indefinitely for day-long riding enjoyment.
The Corbin saddle offers a wider seating platform along with a foam shape which has been dished out to conform to the shape of your body and increase body contact area, eliminating hot spots. Additionally, Corbin shapes the nose of the saddle narrow to allow for good ground reach, while their neutralized platform helps reduce the tendency to slide toward the tank under braking.
Engineered to fit perfect to the tank, chassis and tail section, Corbin’s solo saddle will work with the stock rear seat or cowling if preferred. The saddle also includes leather seating inserts and a cover design that allows for custom looks, depending on rider preference. Leather seating will provide a surface that breathes with your body and adapts with the foam during break-in for a perfectly personalized fit.
The front saddles for the BMW S 1000 R and RR are made in the U.S. and carry an MSRP of $422. For more information, visit www.corbin.com.
Dunlop’s new Sportmax Q5S sets the benchmark for the ultimate street and track-day tire. Following in the development footsteps of the Q5, when compared to the Q3+, the Q5S has achieved even higher performance by utilizing aspects from Dunlop’s cutting-edge road race tires developed in Buffalo, New York, and used in the MotoAmerica Road Race Series.
Having enhanced constructions, profiles, compounds and tread patterns, the Q5S provides lighter and nimbler handling and improved dry and wet grip to make it even more user-friendly, all while maintaining class-leading durability.
Key features of the new Sportmax Q5S include an optimized tread pattern design to improve wear characteristics and enhance warm-up times, a shorter and narrower front tire profile to improve responsiveness and give the tire a lighter feel. Additionally, the front tire has reduced dynamic stillness and increased damping to improve braking and handling performance.
The rear tread of the Q5S uses Dunlop’s MT Multi-Tread™ technology to give riders outstanding mileage without sacrificing handling. Both front and rear tires utilize Dunlop’s proprietary Racing Type Fine Carbon Technology in the tread compound and Dunlop’s proprietary Intuitive Response Profile (IRP) for ultra-linear and responsive steering.
For more information, visit your local BMW Motorrad dealer.
Hailing from Huber Fehrenbach’s Black Forest Collection and his 30 years of restoration activities, is the BMW Centennial Selection curated in celebration of BMW’s 100 Years of the Motorcycle.
The group of motorcycles consists of incredibly rare, first-year models, some of which have never before been available at auction, and stands as the most complete historic representation of BMW’s origins and early years ever offered in a single sale. These rare bikes will join a 2,000-motorcycle lineup at Mecum’s 32nd annual world’s largest vintage and antique motorcycle auction in Las Vegas this January 24-28.
Visit Mecum.com for more information.
In 2023, the BMW Car Club of America Foundation will be celebrating the 100th anniversary of BMW Motorrad with a new exhibit titled “BMW Motorcycles: A Century of Innovation.” This will be the sixth major exhibit staged by the BMW CCA Foundation at its Ultimate Driving Museum in Greer, South Carolina.
Like the others, this exhibit will feature a representative selection of motorcycles to illustrate the major developments that mark BMW’s history and will use those machines to tell the stories of the people who created, rode and preserved them. Historical accuracy will be paramount, and each bike will be presented along with its individual story and that of its owner.
While the exhibit’s selection committee has already secured significant participation from noted collectors, as well as the cooperation of BMW of North America and BMW Classic, we are still looking for additional bikes needed to tell the full story. We’re looking for bikes from the postwar era through the present including:
• 1951-on R 67 (including /2, /3) with a passenger sidecar
• 1955-on R 50 or R 69, preferably with Earles forks
• 1976-on R 100 RS
• 1980-on R 80 G/S
• 1981-on R 65 LS
• 1983-on K 100 RS, preferably ’88-on with ABS
• 1993-on R 1100 RS (oil-head)
• 1993-on Funduro
• 2000-on F 650 CS
• 2004-on R 1200 GS (Hex Head)
• 2009-on S 1000 RR, preferably one that was raced
• 2011-on K 1600 GT or GTL
• 2013-on R 1200 GS with (water-cooled) boxer
• 2016-on G 310
• Any era: interesting customs using either boxer or K-engine bikes.
• Any era: interesting race bikes
Bikes should be clean and presentable, with no visible damage–concours condition is ideal, of course, but we know bikes are made to be ridden and that
they accrue patina from use. So long as a bike shows pride of ownership and appropriate care, we’ll consider it, especially if it has a compelling story which could include being ridden on great journeys or having sentimental value thanks to continuous ownership within the same family—really anything that will make people smile.
The exhibit will be on display at the BMW CCA’s Ultimate Driving Museum from May 2023 through January 2024. To include your bike in the exhibit, we would need to receive it at the Foundation by the end of February 2023.
If you have a bike you’d like us to consider including in the exhibit, please contact Michael Mitchell at the BMW CCA Foundation: michael.mitchell@ bmwccafoundation.org.
The BMW CCA Foundation is separate from, and operates independently of, the BMW MOA Foundation and is not part of the upcoming MOA Historical Archive. More information on the MOA Foundation and its activities and programs can be found at bmwmoaf.org
The BMW CCA Foundation needs your motorcycle!"As a new owner of Happy Trails Products as of January of 2020, we have been attending several rallies and even made it to the MOA National Rally in Great Falls. The BMW MOA has been very gracious to us in providing booths for us at all of these rallies.
I find that the MOA is like a family. I've never seen such a well connected group with such enthusiasm for the sport and I'm very honored to be a new member and look forward to meeting many other riders who love the sport just as well! "
–Casey Ralls #230400
Chris Acuna Byram Township, NJ
Yesenia Aguilar Englewood, CO
Joshua An Maywood, NJ
Don Anderson Alma, KS
Don Anspach Waukesha, WI
Jason Antheunis Toronto, ON
Jim Anthony Allentown, PA
David Archer Houston, TX
Rick Ashburn Solvang, CA
David Baccus Greenville, TX
Evan Bergstrom Eagle River, AK
Mike Birnbach New Gloucesterm, ME
David Black Libertyville, IL
Dennis Blasius Delafield, WI
Benjamin Bobrowski Stamford, CT
Victor Bondi Wheeling, IL
Tommie Bos Chatham, ON
Bernie Boucher Jupiter, FL
Danny Boyer York, PA
Maxwell Brosofsky Newmarket, NH
Daniel Burneo Davidsonville, MD
Kimberly Burnett Lamar, AR
Frank Butcher London, ON
Erwin Cabela La Grange, IL
Michael Carson Louisville, KY
Larry Childress Hanover, IN
Dave Chmielowiec Boise, ID
James Ciesla London, ON
John Clare Soldotna, AK
Robert Clark Blackwell, OK
Parker Cline Morton, IL
James Cobarruvias San Antonio, TX
Jared Cook Checotah, OK
Jeff Cosier West Newton, MA
Peter Courtney Alexandria, VA
David Crull Fresno, CA
Aaron Dalley Saint Petersburg, FL
Malgorzata Darlak River Grove, IL
Thomas Dillon Naperville, IL
Luan Do Fairfax, VA
Courtney Dupuy Fort Mill, SC
Jim Eagan Baltimore, MD
Joey Easley Greenwell Springs, LA
Stephen Finley Columbia, SC
Matt Flaming Oklahoma City, OK
Brian Fograshy Monson, MA
Ahron Freilich Hampton Township, PA
Jeffrey French Versailles, IN
David Fuller Long Pond, PA
Patrick Garcia Charlottesville, VA
Jeff Geltz Punta Gorda, FL
Mark Gilbert Kent, WA
Tracy Giles Tuscaloosa, AL
Keith Glabb Pittsburgh, PA
Dan Godin Oakland Twp, MI
Ismael Gomez Smiths Station, AL
Paul Goodwin Santa Rosa, CA
David Greenberg South Orange, NJ
Joe Greenwood Beverly Hills, MI
John Grimsley Springfield, IL
Tarik Hamza Dearborn, MI
Stephen Head Lake Orion, MI
Gene Heil Treasure Island, FL
Scott Helms Lancaster, SC
Jeremy Hogan Oceanside, CA
Martin Houston Sugar Land, TX
Kyle Howard Valdese, NC
Terrance Hughes Dakota Dunes, SD
Paul Hunyady San Diego, CA
Kurt Ingalls Montgomery, TX
Ted Janeczko Redwood City, CA
Hermes Jatczak Etobicoke, ON
Dale Jenkins Waterloo, WI
Eric Jordan Mountain View, AR
Dick Joyce Arnegard, ND
Tom Keller Syracuse, IN
Eric Kelm Milton, WA
Ted Kerr Englewood, CO
Robert Kerris Elysburg, PA
Choong Kim Palisades Park, NJ
Sonya King Enid, OK
Wallace Kinsaul Dora, AL
Clifford Kiracofe Lexington, VA
Adi Klein San Antonio, TX
Kevin Koeberl Calverton, NY
Edward Kostur Myrtle Beach, SC
Dennis Kramer Kelly, KS
Logan Kubin Temecula, CA
Sean Kurtz Sanford, FL
Alex Kvitko Brooklyn, NY
Dan Lakeman Jasper, AL
Christian Lambertsen Chapel Hill, NC
Brian Lanton Joliet, IL
Robert Lawrentz Saratoga Springs, NY
Jonathan LeBlanc Saint Martinville, LA
Gerald Lovejoy Oak Ridge, NC
Russell Lynch Carlsbad, CA
Joao M Crans, VD
Christopher Mack Franklin Park, IL
"I used to be a member of this wonderful group around 2003-06 when I had my first BMW–a faithful F 650 CS, which I loved.
This year seemed to be the right one to get back to riding and I acquired a beautiful F 800 R from National Powersports in Pembroke New Hampshire. The customer service guys there are amazing, understanding and patient as well as encouraging!
Thank you to Brian, Joe and Josh.
Rejoining the BMW MOA was the next thing to do and I still have a few magazines I've saved for the interesting articles published in them.
I enjoy the stories, engine analysis, comparisons and riding suggestions and look forward reading them again!
Thank you for the great work in maintaining this dear publication!"
–Christina Simcic #230387Andrew Mackenzie Pinedale, WY
Wesam Mahmoud Newport News, VA
Tom Mahoney Washington, DC
Donald Manning La Pine, OR
Michael Markland Komoka, ON
Paul Mason Melbourne, FL
Kevin Mathis Athens, GA
Matthew McAllister Portsmouth, NH
Kathleen McCormick West Kingston, RI
Todd McDowell Merritt Island, FL
Kris McGrath Chicago, IL
O’Dell McGuire Columbus, GA
Colin McGurk Gering, NE
Michael McMahon Park Ridge, IL
Chris Melzer Montrose, CA
Roderick Mendoza Palmdale, CA
Jesse Miller Boise, ID
Gregory Mitchell Columbia, MO
Mani Mohtasham Vienna, VA
Terrence Moran Staten Island, NY
James Murphy Fort Collins, CO
Richard Myers Dallas, TX
Bill N Anchorage, AK
James Nation Newburyport, MA
Jonathan Nelson Barre, VT
Cara Nelson Barre, VT
Michael Nikolakis Spanish Fort, AL
Dwight Norwood Cary, NC
Tom O'Sullivan Pismo Beach, CA
Yasser Ousman Fairfax, VA
David Page Atlanta, GA
Gregory Pass Decatur, GA
Wayne Passow Coeur d' Alene, ID
Mukesh Patel Highland, MD
Terry Patterson Seneca, SC
George Paul Evanston, IL
Robert Peavey Hampshire, IL
Paul Poe Eureka, MO
Paul Powell McArthur, OH
Jamie Prohm Ray, MI
Nico Pronk Lakeville, MN
Leon Raczkowski Rochester Hills, MI
James Ramsey Cedar Lake, IN
Martin Rindahl Little Rock, AR
Alejandro Rivera Queretaro, MX
Joan Roca Mankato, MN
Ramon Rodriguez Haymarket, VA
Bryson Salinas Fallbrook, CA
Jack Salter York, SC
Rachel Scattergood Peculiar, MO
Cindy Schaefer Highland Park, IL
Gary Schaub North Fond Du Lac, WI
Leo Scherer Acworth, GA
Jamie Schiermeyer Oklahoma City, OK
Lawrence Schild Sleepy Hollow, IL
Alan School Dekalb, IL
Mayo Schreiber New York, NY
Cory Scott Spring, TX
Ben Sedwick Charlottesville, VA
James Segrest Abbeville, LA
Chris Sherwood Dumfries, VA
Thomas Shields Santa Cruz, CA
Bob Shook Upper Arlington, OH
Lloyd Short Rapids City, IL
Monica Short Escondido, CA
Randy Siegel Issaquah, WA
Thomas Simmons Fate, TX
Terry Smart Chino Valley, AZ
Mark Stanley Kalispell, MT
Matt Steensma Huntsville, AL
Thomas Stromberg Chapel Hill, NC
James Szymanski Chicago, IL
Margery Tedder Phelpston, ON
Yves Tessier North Granby, CT
Krishnan Thirumalai Westfield, IN
Demetrius Thomas Redford, MI
Mike Tice Woodland Park, CO
Roger Tolzdorf Harbor Springs, MI
Jeff Tomchik Mashpee, MA
Ivan Townshend Lethbridge, AB
Charles Turner Center Valley, PA
Mike Ulicki Phelpston, ON
Gerhardt Vikar Sterling Heights, MI
Timothy Viverette Joppa, MD
William Vivian Suamico, WI
Stephen Wade Oklahoma City, OK
Sean Walters King George, VA
Christopher Washburn Dallas, TX
John Watson Elk Grove, CA
Keith Weaver Schuylkill Haven, PA
Scott Wegener Alpharetta, GA
Gary Weiss Mishawaka, IN
Erika Wekony Roanoke, VA
Jeremiah Williams Lee, NH
Douglas Yeo Lexington Park, MD
Charles Zammit Birmingham, MI
Nicholas Zembillas Tarpon Springs, FL
Dale Zitur Anaconda, MT
FOR MORE THAN 40 YEARS, THE LEGENDARY BMW MOTORrad abbreviation “RS” has been synonymous with BMW Boxerpowered sport touring, whether on windy country roads or on long-distance tours. The BMW RS is a master of sporty riding, leaning into turns as well as long distance riding for two with luggage. To ensure this remains the case in the future, BMW Motorrad has given the R 1250 RS some new standard features and optional extras to make the sports-touring Boxer not only a
better value, but more dynamic and comfortable as well.
As before, the legendary two-cylinder boxer engine provides powerful propulsion and maintains an engine capacity of 1,254 cc while generating 136 hp and 105 lbs.-ft of torque. Thanks to BMW ShiftCam technology varying valve timing and valve lift on the intake side, the RS delivers power across the entire engine speed range, is extremely smooth and quiet running and features outstanding fuel economy and emissions.
• Unchanged MSRP from 2022 - $15,695.
• Air/liquid-cooled boxer engine with BMW ShiftCam technology (variable intake valve timing and valve stroke), updated for new ECO ride mode.
• Dynamic Traction Control (DTC) – Now standard.
• BMW Motorrad ABS Pro (part integral) – Now standard.
• Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) – Now standard.
• New LED turn indicators.
• Full LED headlamp.
• New solo seat with optional rear cover.
• New Optional 719 spoke wheel.
• Three riding modes with New “ECO” mode for economical riding – standard.
• New standard Ice Grey paint and optional Style Triple Black and Style Sport Light White/Racing Blue metallic/Racing Red metallic.
• TFT display with “Sport” Core Screen and connectivity - standard.
• On-board power socket and USB socket - standard.
• Seat heating for rider and passenger to make touring even more comfortable – optional.
For the full BMW Motorrad press release highlighting all of the updates for the 2023 R 1250 RS, visit www.bmwmoa.org.
LIKE LAST YEAR, THE MOA’S GRAND Coddiwomple was used as an excuse to ride that last mile and get that last picture to score some points. Complicating that excuse was the higher cost of gasoline, which may have impacted participation in the contest. The event began with 442 registered riders and ended with 145 completing the contest. For 2022, the Grand Coddiwomple ran from April 1st until October 31st (April Fools’ Day to Halloween) with the score needed to complete the Grand Coddiwomple being 300 points or six submissions that scored.
For 2022, nine challenges tempted Grand Coddiwomple riders. There was the expected spelling of the 2022 MOA
National Rally slogan “Wander Farther” which was worth 700 or 1,400 points. There was also a challenge that listed 42 points to submit to get an additional 2,100 bonus points upon validation. This challenge was worth 4,200 total points if you got all 42 points correctly. Overall, judges reviewed 6,294 submissions (up from 6,091 in 2021) and scored 5,387 of them with riders scoring a grand total of 415,900 points!
A new scoring and submission system along with a web portal were introduced for the 2022 Grand Coddiwomple and enabled riders to keep track of their submissions. This portal not only displayed the submissions status but also the
rider's current score. Additionally, this scoring system also emailed updates about the submission status, including the judges’ comments when the submission was rejected. Riders loved this real-time feedback since it allowed them to circle back to get a better submission photo when they were close by.
A random prize drawing will be held on January 21, 2023 (Squirrel Appreciation
Day). Please watch the MOA Facebook page for the announcement. Thank you to our staff of MOA volunteers without whom this fun event would not be possible.
The 2023 MOA Grand Coddiwomple will open for registration on February 2nd, 2023. This will be the third installment of this wonderful scavenger hunt/ excuse to ride contest and as before, the contest will begin on April 1, 2023 and end on October 31, 2023. The theme for this year will be “The 50th” to commemorate the BMW MOA 50th Rally being held in Richmond Virginia.
We hope you enjoy the 2023 challenges and look forward to seeing all the photos riders submit! Registration for the 2023 MOA Grand Coddiwomple can be found on the BMW MOA website at bmwmoa. org/coddiwomple.
This month, we're featuring cold-weather gloves that don't contain plug-in or battery-operated heating functions. All of these gloves feature a waterproof yet breathable GORE-TEX layer to maintain dry hands in inclement weather. While these aren't the only winter gloves available, these are some of the most popular and easily found, so you're sure to find a winter glove to improve conditions on your winter rides. Features, cost and availability vary—check with your favorite motorcycle apparel retailer or online!
We all know BMW makes great motorcycles, but they're committed to a warm, dry and well-armored rider as well. With its proliferation of safety-forward riding gear, it's no surprise BMW offers these competitively priced winter gloves.
• Insulated for warmth
• Goatskin palm
• Knuckle guard made of impact-absorbing foam
• Touchscreen friendly
• Extra-long insulated cuff
• Visor wiper on left index finger
• Black only www.shopbmwmotorcycles.com
Engineered to dominate all four seasons with an ADV-specific blend of robust materials and features. High impact protection and abrasion resistance along with a superior fit and comfort make this all-weather glove the tool of choice for mother nature’s worst. Paired with the Badlands Aero Pro Glove for the hottest days, your world-traveling ADV kit is complete.
• 60g of 3M Thinsulate insulation on the back of the hand
• Polycarbonate knuckle guard
• Touchscreen friendly
• Neoprene gauntlet gasket seals out water
• Visor wipers on both index fingers
• Soft fleece liner
• 3 colors – Black/Sage, Gray, Black www.klim.com
The Taurus GTX gloves have an ingenious cuff which features an outer shell and membrane that are constructed as two separate layers. This means you can wear one layer over your sleeve and the other layer inside your sleeve.
• Multi-layered Primaloft/Primaloft Gold insulation for warmth
• Try-fleece liner wicks moisture away from skin
• Textile construction with suede and ripstop reinforcements
• Touchscreen friendly
• Double-cuff construction – one layer over jacket, one layer under
• Grip patches on palm and fingers boost control
• Visor wiper on index finger
• Black with red accents www.revitsport.com
The top of the Fusion 2 GTX is protected by PWRIshell 500D twill stretch, along with hard shell knuckle and finger protectors. The glove can be secured in one single move with the unique Single Motion Closure system. Waterproofing is then guaranteed by GORE-TEX, rounding out an incredible glove for the most trying conditions.
• Designed to work in conjunction with heated grips
• Thermolite insulation for warmth
• Touchscreen friendly
• Textile construction with leather palm
• Grip patch on palm for improved control
• Visor wiper on index finger
• Black www.revitsport.com
PAULA AND I ARE SUPER EXCITED AND hope you plan to join us this June for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at the BMW MOA’s 50th National Rally at the Meadow Event Park in Doswell, Virginia, just outside Richmond. This beautiful facility also happens to be the birthplace of Secretariat, the ninth winner of the American Triple Crown, and is surrounded by rich American history and outstanding riding opportunities in all directions. Along with a group of very dedicated volunteers and staff, we are diligently working to create what we promise will be an excellent rally experience for all attendees.
Before we talk about what you can expect to see at the Meadow Event Park, let’s discuss some fundamental reasons to get excited about the MOA’s 50th National Rally. First, our National Rally allowed us to make lifelong friends who share a passion for life on two wheels. Paula and I vividly remember our first rally years ago. As first-timers, we didn’t know anyone there and surely didn’t know what to expect as we walked into an event with 5,000 other BMW motorcyclists.
At the end of that first day, we found a group of new friends from across the country. Years later, those friendships remain even though we may only see each other at our Rally each June. Paula and I look forward to reconnecting with these friends each summer.
The MOA National Rally also gives Paula and me a purpose-driven vacation, which we both enjoy. To fulfill our needs to help, we’ve always volunteered at the Rally, which I highly recommend as a great way to meet new people. Volunteering at the
I also believe that attending the MOA National Rally gives us a vacation from the rigors of a vacation. By that, I mean it’s a vacation where we don’t have nearly the number of decision points we might have in a traditional vacation. At the Rally, I know when and where I need to be and what I’ll do while there. Our only decisions include choosing the route to get there,
what new foods to try and how to get everything I buy back home. That last worry was real until I discovered I could ship whatever I bought at the Rally site home.
Since last fall, we’ve been working on cataloging some great routes to eat, shop, discover some American history or enjoy the beautiful Virginia countryside. As that’s been happening, our entertainment volunteers have been working feverishly to identify, schedule and book great bands. Paula and I are classic rock and classic country fans if that gives you any hints as to what we’re after. We may also have an extraordinary musical treat for everyone on Saturday night, so stay tuned.
Additionally, our Vendor Committee is tirelessly working to bring in vendors offering everything you had no clue that you couldn’t live without!
The MOA’s vendor area has always been one of my favorite parts of the Rally because I’m a touchy-feely guy who prefers to see, try on and touch the things I’m going to buy. I also like to spend my money with vendors who support the MOA and usually offer a rally discount.
There’s a lot more to reveal in the coming months to entice you to make plans to come to Virginia in June. If you do come, I only ask one thing of you: come with an open mind, willing to open yourself up to new friends and experiences. If you do that, I promise you’ll leave happy and wishing you attended your first National Rally sooner. If you’re a first-time rally-goer, I ask you to find Paula and me and introduce yourself.
We look forward to seeing you this June.
Rally gives our vacation a purpose and pushes us to ensure others have a great rally experience.
Since the MOA's inception, our members have come from all walks of life and corners of the globe. Our recent Oral History Project offers a living history intended to preserve our past and be enjoyed by all. Below are a sampling of the overwhelming response we've received by our members for the project.
older RTs, as I find them to be beautiful models.
I’ve been to eight national rallies, so I’m very active with the MOA. I’m one of the Chairs, and I do the charity raffle each year to support children’s charities. We’re part of a great community, and I’ve had nothing but good experiences with the MOA.
David Hammerquist #8582
Our town had a flood in 1972, and the car I was driving back and forth from work got damaged a week after the flood. It seemed like a good excuse to buy a motorcycle, so I bought a small Yamaha 125 two-cylinder.
An article in Cycle magazine inspired me to get my BMW motorcycle. I got a job with Caterpillar Tractor Company in Peoria, Illinois, in 1975. By then I had a Ford Anglia, but the car was having trouble. I thought, “This is another good excuse to buy a motorcycle,” and I remembered reading an article about the new 900cc BMWs in Cycle They were like freight trains, so that’s what I ended up naming my motorcycle.
Shepard R. Brown #27510
We’ve driven BMW cars for 42 years, and I rode Yamahas ever since I was 16, but I owned a couple of different British bikes and Harley-Davidsons in college. I got my first BMW because of a recommendation from one of my military mechanics. He was older than me, but he convinced me to take a look at a BMW.
I got a BMW R 65 that was converted into an S model. My wife and I would ride around Virginia on it often, but we thought we could get something that was more comfortable for two people. I bought an R 100 RS with low mileage from an attorney up in D.C.
From there, my interest in BMW bikes grew, but I always loved the big two-cylinder boxer engineering. I’m the secretary of the local Pensacola BMW Club, and we do a fair amount of group rides. I’m also active with the Jacksonville BMW Club, and I’m heavily involved with their rally committee.
I enjoy the independence that comes with riding motorcycles. Feeling the air, enjoying the smell of the countryside. I’ve been riding for 57 consecutive years and enjoying every second of it. I’ve had four BMWs, but I’ve owned many bikes overall. I’ve ridden my BMWs for a total of about 290,000 miles, and I’m hoping to get my 300,000-mile patch early next year. I enjoy the
In 1976, I had a sister who lived in Texas and a brother who lived in Lubbock, Texas, and the guy who I started with at Caterpillar was in basic training in Lubbock, Texas, so I rode from Peoria to Del Rio, Texas. It was 1,300 miles, and I did it in two days. I went over to Lubbock and thought, “Well, I’m only three states away from the ocean, and I’ve never seen the Pacific,” so I rode over to San Diego. I then went up Highway 1 to San Francisco.
I had planned to spend the night at Rocky Mountain National Park, but I was running late, so I stopped at a KOA campsite in Vale, Colorado. That was the night that the Big Thompson flooded. I was 50 or 60 miles away, which was a good thing. I then went up to Rapid City and rode back to Peoria. That was my most memorable trip. I was a charter member of two local clubs, the Central Illinois Valley Riders and the Black Hills Riders Club. The National Rally the MOA had in Rapid City in 1990 was pretty memorable. I also attended the National Rallies in Minnesota and Montana.
I’ve always been interested in motorcycles. When I was a little kid, I thought the Whizzer was the coolest thing I ever saw. My cousin, who lived about 60 miles away from me, had an Allstate Cushman at one time, and he took me for rides on that.
My introduction to BMW came after my cousin went into the Army
and came home with a BMW motorcycle, and I thought that was neat. I got to ride on the back of that a couple of times.
Once I got out of the Air Force in 1974, I bought the BMW Slash 5.
I’ve had several motorcycles over the years, and the first one was a 350 Honda Scrambler I bought in 1971. I traded that in for a 750 Triumph, and then I got out of motorcycles. A few years later, I bought a Norton 850 Commando. I bought a BMW because I decided I wanted to do some road touring and I figured that would be the reliable way to go. I bought that, started doing some traveling, and sold the Norton.
The BMW is my only motorcycle, and I expect that to last me until I quit riding. My trip to Hyder, Alaska, was my most memorable one. I’ve done all of my trips alone. I went to Hyder and then back down to Prince Rupert, and I spent a few days there. I got on a ferry and took the ferry from Prince Rupert to Port Harding on the northern tip of Vancouver Island and traveled there for a few days, and then I came across Washington, Idaho, Montana, and back to North Dakota.
The most beautiful scenery I encountered on my BMW was a trip I took to Zion National Park in Utah. Utah blew me away–it was just gorgeous. I also got out to Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.
There are not many people who own BMWs. It’s been a very comfortable ride, it’s been durable, and it’s never failed me. It’s impacted my life, and it’s been a lot of fun to ride. Now I mostly just do day trips, but I’ve traveled to lots of places in between those long-distance trips. It’s been a joy to ride. I hit a rally in 1996 or 1997, and I’ve been back to Wisconsin six or seven different times. Wisconsin is such beautiful country. When it comes to rallies, that is the one that I enjoyed the most.
Richard T. Lee #10115 Ridgefield, WashingtonIn 1963, I met some old Harley-Davidson mechanics who had been active riders in World War I. I listened to what they had to say about the riding when there were no interstate or superhighways, just two-lane blacktops. They talked about being able to ride from Mexico to Canada for fun in one straight shot. That was called a Three Flags run: Mexican flag, American flag, and Canadian flag. It started in Mexico and finished in Canada.
The first bike that I actually owned was a 1967 Ducati. I had a dream about doing a Three Flags run and always wanted to name a motorcycle “Three Flags.” That is the name of our 1973 BMW. That’s our vanity plate. That’s what we’ve called the bike from day one.
I went from the Ducati to a series of five Harley-Davidsons. I was
lucky enough to meet a BMW rider who showed me the difference in quality, the tool kits, and the BMW approach to going far not fast. I liked that distance. On the day I bought the motorcycle in June 1973, I was there when the dealer and the mechanic uncrated the bike. I asked the dealer if I could push it around the block. He said, “Why?”
I said, “Because I know as a motorcyclist, I’m going to end up pushing it at some point. I want to see how hard or easy it is.” I pushed it around the block and handed him a check for $2,145.35. Years later, I needed some work done on the machine. I called a mechanic from an independent BMW Airhead workshop and told him what I had. He said to me, “35 years ago, when you bought the bike, did you push it around the block first?”
“Yes,” I said,
“I’m the mechanic that uncrated for you. I am serious. Were you with an incredibly beautiful black-haired woman who looked like Cher?” he asked.
I said yes, I was, and we’ve been married now for 52 years. She has ridden 500,000 miles with me, and we still love that machine. We laugh about the things we’ve done and the places we’ve been. The bike is mildly café-d. Café racers were my passion in the 1960s.
Richard T. Lee
DOES THE PROSPECT OF TAPPING INTO YOUR SOPHISTIcated motorcycle’s CAN bus electrical system strike fear into your heart? Are you unsure what CAN bus even means? Would you rather not have to learn? If you answered “yes” to all three of these questions, yet still want to add electrical accessories to your modern machine, South African company Hex Microsystems (Hex Innovate in the UK) has just what you need. (Yes, this is the same company that brought us the gold standard in on-board diagnostics—the almighty GS-911.)
The ezCAN II (second generation) is an easily installed plug-and-play device, sometimes called a “CAN opener,” that gets inserted in-line with one of your CAN bus modules and then manages up to four add-ons without disturbing the OEM electronics or throwing fault codes. It not only allows seamless integration of accessories, but also provides an extensive set of options for setting up each one, using a USB link to software on your Mac or PC laptop, all without impact to your manufacturer’s warranty. The ezCAN II also allows for some diagnostic assessments of your accessory circuitry.
Physically, there’s not much to it. Leads run to your bike’s battery terminals and the ezCAN II’s small body gets secured under the seat with Velcro. For BMWs, depending on your model, the ezCAN II slips in between the main wiring harness and either your RDC (tire pressure monitor) or DWA (anti-theft alarm system) module, which reside in the tail section or under-seat area. This is accomplished with a simple pair of plugs, no more challenging than using an extension cord for a lamp. Now you can program any/all of the four accessory circuits and hook up your farkles with tidy plugs.
Four male color-coded accessory connections (16AWG wiring) extend from the end of the ezCan II, along with the fused power
leads and the two plugs used for integration with the OEM wiring harness. Each of these is wrapped in heavy-duty braided insulation; apparent production quality is definitely premium level. Four female plugs are included with a hot and ground wire already in place; these are ready to serve as the new ends for your accessories’ power leads. If an accessory requires a third wire (e.g., to supply an operational signal), one of four loose wires (18AWG) already outfitted with intra-plug blade connectors can be added to the junction. Once the female plug is spliced as the terminus of your accessory’s wiring, it’s simply connected to the appropriate male plug on the ezCAN II. The circuits for those plugs are each programed to operate the accessory designated for them in the ezCAN II software during the installation process or at any time afterward if you decide to swap out an accessory or change the behavior of one already installed. Even the physical plugs can be reconfigured, since the third wire is interchangeable with a tiny rubber seal and there’s plenty of wire length to allow future cutting and reconnecting the plugs to new accessories. The ezCAN II is dustproof and waterproof, and four small zip-ties are supplied to keep routed wires neatly in place. Two female blanking plugs are included to seal off unused male plugs.
After installing any updates and registering your ezCAN II, the software allows selection from an assortment of accessory categories for each of the four circuits, including auxiliary lights, turn signals, brake lights, horns, heated gear or unspecified electronics such as a GPS unit, dash-cam, or SAE power plug. Left and right lights can be configured to work separately or together. Each circuit has an electronic “fuse,” meaning it will be disconnected if its amperage draw exceeds a preset limit; they’re all reconnected whenever the ignition is switched off and on. Each of these circuit breakers can be set independently to trip at most anywhere from
1-25 amps, with maximums of 10A continuous draw and 25A peak draw (for up to 25 seconds). The total continuous draw for the entire system is capped at 25A, so pay attention to the power requirements of the accessories you plan to attach.
Note: First generation ezCANs were black instead of silver and had only two 10A continuous/25A peak circuits, with the other two circuits limited to 4A (continuous); they also had provisions for just one set of auxiliary lights, instead of the latest version’s two.
With fuse settings and accessory types chosen, each circuit displays an array of options appropriate for its accessory. For example, auxiliary brake lights can be programed to operate “solid on” or flash (including a California-legal version) when the brakes are applied, and also during rapid deceleration due to engine braking if desired; even the sensitivity to deceleration can be adjusted. Their intensity in running light mode can be adjusted separately from their intensity in brake light mode. Among the numerous settings available for auxiliary running lights are independently adjustable daytime and nighttime brightness in separate high-beam and low-beam modes, several options for flashing, and the ability to set a variable delay to coordinate strobing with horn activation. Heated gear can be activated and regulated with a bike’s heated grip control. Unspecified accessories receive power when the ignition is switched on and can be set to remain powered for up to a minute after the ignition has been turned off. Some settings are not visible on the main screen and must be accessed using simple submenus, but everything is reasonably intuitive.
Although the ezCAN II’s installation is straightforward and well within the capabilities of virtually any home mechanic, finding the best path for wires on a modern motorcycle can present some challenge. Pulling apart bodywork on a BMW is sometimes a decent into Fastener Hell, and those Germans know how to pack every crack and crevice so tightly there’s no room left to thread cables—none of which is Hex’s fault! Nevertheless, I was (eventually) able to route the power leads discretely after removing some tail-section plastic
Hex ezCAN II installed.
and zip-tying the leads inboard of several frame rails on their way to the battery compartment. While the ezCAN II’s body is quite compact, the seven heavily insulated cables extending from it are stiff and bulky, and their plugs are large; count on losing a substantial portion of your under-seat storage volume, which may already be minimal.
No written instructions are supplied in the package, but good step-by-step, bike-specific directions are available in text-plus-video form on the Hex (or Cyclops or Denali) website. The Hex-made guides, however, were created for the first-gen unit. While there’s no difference in the basic installation steps, some details have changed on the latest motorcycles (Denali has made at least some of the needed updates in their guides). On my 2020 R 1250 RS, the RDC module was not where the Hex/Cyclops instructions indicated (for liquid-cooled R 1200s), and my model wasn’t represented in the Denali illustrations for 1250s. I had to locate the RDC module on my own, using a hodgepodge of online resources, because tech support was closed when I did this installation. (Spoiler alert: If you have an R 1250 RS, look under the rear support for the front seat, left of center when facing forward.) Once I learned where to find my bike’s RDC, the rest of the process went without a hitch. Given the possibility your bike’s anatomy also may not exactly match what’s shown in the examples, you might need help locating your RDC or DWA module, too. Get such information ahead of time or be ready to call your dealer or tech support during installation. Bikes without an RDC module may still have the wiring harness branch for it and this can serve as the CAN bus access point for the ezCAN II.
Priced at $195.95, the ezCAN II delivers extensive configurability and great convenience in a small package that’s safe for your bike, equipment and warranty. Of course, there are ways to add accessories without integrating them into your bike’s
CAN bus system, but those typically require running power straight off the battery with independently fused leads, tapping into your existing wiring harness with relays, and/or adding more switchgear to your handlebars or dash—plus the risk of pesky fault codes. Even if you used a basic power distribution module to avoid clutter at your battery terminals, you wouldn’t be able to program cunning functional enhancements, such as having your air horn activate only after a second or two of regular horn operation, allowing you to beep gently/briefly when you don’t want to blast someone with your full sonic capability, or dimming your auxiliary lights in fine increments using your WonderWheel.
A wiring extension kit is available for an additional $59.00. It includes three long cables for reaching forward accessories and one short one for reaching an auxiliary brake light (all with that same robust braided insulation), shrink-wrap and a large variety of connectors for custom setups. The ezCAN II and this kit can be
ordered stateside from numerous aftermarket vendors. I got mine from accessory manufacturer/distributor Cyclops Adventure Sports, since I plan to install their Evolution turn signals and they supply pre-configured wiring for using these with the ezCAN II (for an additional charge of $39.95). It was simple to order the whole setup together, but another reason to buy from Cyclops is their reputation for excellent customer service and technical support.
While researching the ezCAN II, I discovered rumors of a gen-3 version circulating early last year. There was no such device. Hex did update the gen-2 unit to address some reliability issues with the previous iteration, and this was mistakenly referred to by some vendors as a gen-3. Hex has instructed its distributors to replace any ezCAN II units exhibiting the early problems with the updated version, irrespective of the two-year warranty period. (See 4/6/21 post by Founder/CEO Stephan Theil at http://forum.hexcode. co.za/forum/index.php/topic,3552.0.html
for verification and details.)
If you notice similarities between the ezCAN II and Denali’s gen-2 CanSmart, it’s because they truly are identical (hardware and software for both are made by Hex). The Denali-branded setup is $59 more expensive, but for the extra cost it supplies users with four cables already set up with connectors for their other accessories (two for light pods, one for a horn, one for an auxiliary brake light). If you plan on using your “CAN opener” to manage a collection of Denali products, you might need to do a little connector assembling with the ezCAN II wiring extension kit, potentially requiring a couple of splitters (depending on how you want your auxiliary lights configured). The Hex-branded splitters are not readily available from U.S. vendors; they’d have to be ordered from Hex in the UK or improvised. In other words, you’d end up spending the same or a bit more money and maybe doing a tad more work, so the CanSmart II would be the better alternative if you’re a big Denali fan. Keep an eye out for a Bluetooth dongle reportedly coming for the ezCAN II (and presumably compatible with the CanSmart II) that will allow management of the unit’s settings and updating of its firmware with a smartphone instead of requiring a laptop, USB link, and (for updates) a Wi-Fi connection.
For more information, visit hexezcan. com, denalielectronics.com, and cyclopsadventuresports.com.
By Mark Thompson #218859
I’VE ALWAYS HAD GOOD LUCK WITH Sargent seats and have installed them on a half-dozen of my own bikes and recommended them to customers at my shop.
While I can’t speak to earlier years, for me, the 2022 R 1250 GS Adventure’s stock seat is fairly decent, and certainly we’ve all been planted on worse. Still, on longer trips around the 200-mile mark, I found myself squirming to find a comfortable spot; it was
time to install something better.
Sargent seats are made in the U.S. and built on their own seat pans. Buyers can customize the seat in various ways, including only purchasing the rider’s perch on two-seat models if you seldom/never have a passenger or want to save some money. I went pretty basic, opting to get the standard height with heat built in while adding a 40th Anniversary yellow welt to
have it match up with my bike’s bumblebee colors.
Each seat has a hinged compartment built into the seat pan, giving you some additional–and hidden–storage for tools and important paperwork, plus mine came with a small LED flashlight in a clip. Nice!
Installation is straightforward and instructions are included. The only real decision is whether you want it in the High or Low position. If Low, then a pair of screw-in posts must be taken off–as shown in the instructions. If you have a heated seat, plugging it in is necessary. Once those two things are taken care of, the seat installs exactly like the stock units. Since I’d been running the stock seat in the Low position, it was a few seconds’ work to unscrew the pair of posts (keep them!) and then put each saddle in place, listening for the snap of the latches grabbing hold.
Left, Stock (left) and Sargent seats side by side. The Sargent is wider and flatter.
The stock 2022 seat isn’t half bad and may work for some riders, but my endurance level was about 175-200 miles before I was squirming. The built-in underseat hinged compartments offer generous hidden storage for tools, a small flashlight and documents.
A test ride on a blustery October day revealed that the Sargent “standard” seat feels flatter and a bit lower than the stock saddle. It’s also definitely wider at 15 inches compared to 12 inches for the stocker. The flatter profile also makes it just a bit easier to put your feet down at stops. The pillion seat is also flatter and wider than the stock version. I’ve now completed several rides of over 200 miles and never even noticed the seat—a high compliment. Longer rides await, but my previous Sargent delivered comfortable 550-mile days routinely.
The yellow welt matches perfectly with my bike’s 40th Anniversary colors, and
there’s no extra cost in specifying a welt color from a wide range of hues, which I found to be a nice bonus. The seat cover is made from a synthetic material called DTX and provides some grip to keep you planted. It also resists rain and never seems to show any wear or require attention.
Now seats are a topic where everyone has an opinion and different preferences. What works for one person is going to be uncomfortable for another. Sargent recognizes this and gives you 30 days to decide, backed up by an easy process to return the seat for a full refund if the answer is “Nope.”
The retail for the Performance Plus standard height with seat heaters was $1020 plus $20 shipping. Standard height without the heated seat option is $850. Note that if your stock seat is heated, you can plug the Sargent directly into the system; it’s all prewired and with stock wiring connections. For bikes without the heated seat wiring, you’ll need the Sargent heat controller, an additional $140 and an hour to hook everything up (the Sargent instructions are excellent).
You can learn more and order directly at www.sargentcycle.com.
THE BMW PERFORMANCE CENTER IN GREER, SOUTH Carolina, offered the perfect setting to test Continental’s new Hyper Touring tire, the ContiRoadAttack 4. By mounting the tires on the Performance Center’s fleet of BMW motorcycles, including the R 1250 RT, R 1250 RS, K 1600 GT, GTL and B and their F 900 R and XR, reviewers were able to test the tires on bikes offering many different riding styles.
When compared to the well-known ContiRoadAttack 3 which has been available for the last five years, the updated tire is made up of an all-new compound with updated tread pattern claimed to boost wet weather performance and faster warm-up in cold and wet conditions. The tire has a new slick area on the upper tread shoulder for cornering grip at high lean angles and Continental’s TractionSkin technology, which is said to make the tires ready to go out of the box with no break-in period required.
The first day of testing took place at the Performance Center where riders got an initial feel for the tires on the different bikes, doing high-speed evasive maneuvers, emergency braking and fast
laps on the closed course, which was followed by a short ride into the countryside. This allowed me to feel the tire react to different weight bikes.
I have always been a fan of Continental’s MultiGrip single compound tires and their process of temperature-controlled curing of the tire during production. I mention this technology because during the evasive maneuvers I noticed a very smooth transition from center to the outer edges of the tire. On other tires I’ve ridden I’ve felt a distinct transition from the hard center compound to the softer side compound during cornering—not always the best feeling.
On the RT at over 100 mph, I found the tires extremely stable. I was also impressed at how well the tires felt on the K bikes. The tires handled everything we threw at them on that day.
Our second day was spent aboard multiple BMW motorcycles for about 250 miles of riding the winding roads of the Pisgah National Forrest along the North and South Carolina border. If you ever get a chance to ride that area, it will not disappoint.
By mounting the tires on the Performance Center’s fleet of BMW motorcycles, including the R 1250 RT, R 1250 RS, K 1600 GT, GTL and B and their F 900 R and XR, reviewers were able to test the tires on bikes offering many different riding styles.
Continental's all-new ContiRoadAttack 4 ups traditional sport-touring metrics for mileage, comfort, stability and wet grip for the latest high-performance sport-touring motorcycles.
I began day two with very spirited riding on the F 900 XR then to the R 1250 RS, before ending the day on a R 1250 RTP. On all these bikes the tires did great on sometimes not so perfect roads. To me the front tire offers a stiffer sidewall than other tires I have owned but took bumps without any extra motion. Motion was a little more noticeable on the F 900 XR due to it being a lighter motorcycle. I believe lowering tire pressure a couple pounds would have taken care of it on the 900. On the RS and RTP I didn’t notice any difference. I attribute this sensation to Continental’s EasyHandling technology that makes the front tire sidewalls a little stiffer and the rear sidewalls softer to handle the weight. The overall profile of the tire felt just right for me as I turned into the corners, and I never felt like it fell into a corner, just making a nice, smooth transition.
While we didn’t get to ride in the rain, we did encounter some wet roads that did not seem to affect the tires at all.
The last part of the ride I was on a low-mileage R 1250 RTP, and I have to say I now know why so many riders like the RT. Our ride was spirited, and I found the RTP had much more left than I was willing to push it to. Along the way, riders on the GTL, GT and K 1600 B were right there in the mix.
One of our hosts for the review was Raphael Michels, who is not only the lead engineer for the tire, but recently finished the 2022 German Supermotard in third. It was fascinating to listen to his description of what went into the design of the tire and why. Raphael’s passion for what he is doing was refreshing, and I am sure a reason the tire did so well.
After putting the new ContiRoadAttack 4 through the paces on many of our favorite BMW motorcycles, I would not hesitate to recommend them. If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to me at charles.buchanan@ bmwmoa.org.
IT’S OCTOBER AND winter is knocking at our door today.
I’m working on a ’88 R 100 RS that has an electrical problem—it keeps blowing fuses. As I trace various circuits, looking for some sort of short-to-ground, I’ve installed my homemade fuse replacement tool which is nothing more than a 10-amp circuit breaker with a couple of 18-inch wires with alligator clips. I can clip this device in place of the fuse that keeps blowing.
I put this thing together after a Top O’ the Rockies Rally where a bunch of Airhead riders literally passed the hat to collect a few 8-amp fuses as we chased down a similar electrical problem. The 10-amp breaker is close enough to the BMW eight-amp ceramic fuse to substitute for it. I replaced the fuses I added to Strider (my ’72 R 75/5) when I became horrified to discover that prior to 1972, the Slash 5 was built and sold without fuses. If there was a problem, the wiring could catch fire. I installed a pair of inline fuses right away and, a couple of years later, swapped those out for a pair of 10-amp aircraft circuit breakers I found at our local flea market. They have served well over the last 30 or more years.
The slower pace of late fall and early winter allows me to spend time chasing down special shop tools that I might use once or twice during my half-century of Airhead repair. I currently have been looking for a couple of never-used-before parts to repair a mid-‘60s rear drive. In addition to my renewing the seals, one of the brake mounting posts has stripped out of the soft aluminum housing. I have a 12 mm TimeSert kit, but I’m lacking a short thread-restoring part. That should arrive in the next day or two. I’m also seeking a special tool that is designed to remove the
castellated nut that secures the output flange of the pre-1970 BMW bikes. It uses four small, raised studs that grab the nut while being held in place by a special tool that is clamped to the flange. The one I have (and used once) has three of the four studs broken off. A local fellow would like me to go through his 1950 gearbox and has offered to purchase the tool for me. First, I have to locate one.
October has been a month of travel and renewing acquaintances. Our first trip was to the Santa Fe, New Mexico, area where my cousin had organized a gathering of relatives from the “Grey side” of our family. We spent a weekend on a resort ranch, owned by her husband’s family, near Oji Caliente. I hadn’t seen some of those relatives since the mid-1970’s when I attended a wedding in San Francisco.
Susanna and I returned home from the gathering for one night and then drove north, first to Boise where we spent a couple of days with Susanna’s 97-year-old mother. Then, we continued to Yakima, Washington, where about eight of my classmates and their wives from the Midland Class of 1968 were gathered in a large “castle” called Westhome. This is a huge edifice built in 1912 surrounded by large apple and pear orchards. One classmate, David Congdon, is a member of the family that owns Westhome and the commercial orchards. Between catered meals, vineyard tours and just relaxing together for a few days, we had a wonderful time.
(As an aside, most of the “gentlemen” from the Class of ’68 are also the same guys who show up in Joshua Tree National Park every other year. And, by the way, Midland students were not referred to as “gentlemen.” “Animals” was the title I heard applied to us most often.)
After our several days stay there, we drove south, stopping again in Boise. Susanna and I, along with a couple of her
sisters, are struggling with the “aging parent” issue. Fortunately, two of her sisters reside in or near Boise. I just ordered and received the Boise Seniors’ “Blue Book” from the Boise Area Agency on Aging (the Colorado Springs office puts out their version–the “Yellow Book”) to help me take part in organizing the best care for Susanna’s mother. In a very different world, in the 1970’s, I was the “information and referral specialist” with the Terros Hotline. This is definitely a “full circle” thing.
I returned home for about four days and then flew to Dallas where I was the “guest of honor” at the Dallas Airheads Tech Day. You may recall, this is the event I was riding to, about eight years ago when I collided with an antelope at the New Mexico-Texas border. Two jumps and he was in front of me. Everything would have been fine if the critter had continued his way in one direction. Unfortunately, he turned and tried to outrun me. Now, prong-horn antelope are fast but outrunning my Slash Five was more than he could do. I managed to keep the airhead upright and I watched the animal expire a minute or two later. Eric Beeby, the Dallas organizer of the Tech Day, put up a notice with a photo of the bike and expired antelope with a comment saying “Matt will be a little late this morning.” I eventually showed up and helped out at that Saturday gathering.
The Dallas Airhead group had about 15 members attend this current get-together which is a good number for a not-toocrowded gathering in Eric’s Texas-sized three car garage. Eric suggested that I ship down a five-speed transmission to demonstrate how one goes together, so I boxed up a 1981 eBay acquisition from a while ago to be my demonstrator.
Before FedEx-ing the transmission to Eric’s, I photographed the removal of the output flange so that I could avoid sending
down several very heavy tools. I made sure that Eric had the other needed tools (torches, rubber hammers and the usual hand tools) I would need to take the tranny apart.
I flew down to Dallas on Friday and rested from the aches and pains of the total 3,000 miles Susanna and I had racked up attending the reunions. Saturday morning, I came down his stairs as the first few riders showed up in the sort of drizzly weather that made us all glad that we had an indoor work area.
First up on Eric’s lift was a Slash Five that looked to be in good shape but was running poorly. I talked about how the first step in this sort of setting is to address its state of tune. The bike had undergone a top-end refurbishing about 500 miles ago so I was wondering how the valves would look. A quick check showed we were starting with valves that were pretty close to what we wanted.
After a head torquing and setting of clearances, I checked the timing. The bike had points that were in good shape and the timing was right where I wanted it to be. I set the throttle cables by eye, so I’d have it pretty close to what was wanted when it was fired up. I re-gapped the plugs and put everything back in place. The bike started right up so the owner was sent out to get the Slash Five good and warm. While he was out, I looked over the other Airheads that were at the event to be worked on. Most attendees either rode to be social or came in a car. No serious work was needed.
As I started arranging my transmission display, the Slash Five owner returned. I set up the short-to-ground method, using old spokes I had shortened a bit. The bike proved to be already set up pretty well. The idle was remarkably close, requiring just a touch of adjustment. The high-speed throttle cable balance was right where it should be with no adjustment necessary.
I had set up a small table with the
transmission ready to go. As the flange was already removed, I unscrewed the nine or so Allen bolts holding the cover in place. I lit Eric’s pair of propane torches and got the cover nice and sizzle hot. With the heating done, it was fairly easy to tap the cover free of the case.
I then pulled out the shifting cassette, the oil baffle for the output big bearing and the shifting forks. Now I was left with the
output and intermediate shafts, along with the third shifting fork. To get those out, more heat was needed. After the torches were applied to the case area where the bearings are mounted, I tapped the case with the rubber mallet, using inertia and gravity to assist in removing the remaining parts. As I cleaned the parts up, I described and demonstrated how the various parts operate. At this point I re-boxed the tranny
Heating the transmission as the Tech Day attendees look on.
I am pointing out the plastic roller/detent on the shifting cassette. If the bike gets really hot, these can melt a little. I replace them with small ball bearings with the same dimensions as the older plastic ones.
I'm using water-pump pliers to take up any looseness between the rocker arm and the two pillow blocks. This step is really needed with the Slash Fives and the early Slash Sixes. The early bikes have a mating surface that is flat. The later ones have a centering design that keeps things pretty much tightened up.
in preparation for sending it back home.
This gearbox had an output shaft circlip in place, and I’ll update the shifting cassette. Once I’m home, I’ll wash the oil out of the bearings and check them and all seals and any needful bearings will get replaced. I’ll then list the transmission on eBay, where I originally found it.
The rest of the Tech Day was spent with lunch (great burgers, Eric!) and conversation. As the weather broke into sunlight, some of the attendees started for home. I helped with a couple of carb balancing jobs and answered a lot of questions. All in all, a productive, fun day. This was my third Dallas Tech Day; I certainly hope I can do more.
I flew home on Sunday, rather tired by the weekend’s events. It does bother me just how long it takes to recover from some sort of exertion. My cardiologist simply verified that I have Atrial Fibrillation and that yes, I’ll need to rest more. Not what I wanted to hear but it is what it is. I expect my BMW Airhead involvement will be more observation and socializing rather than riding long distances. I have a couple of projects coming up; I’ll be writing about them next month. Hopefully, I’ll have located that short-to-ground in the 1988 RS I mentioned earlier.
Me with the owner of a barely starting or running Slash Seven. Upon looking into things, The engine had three valves that were pretty close to proper tolerances. The fourth valve was so tight that there was no play and we couldn't even spin the pushrod. Setting this valve to specification solved the hard starting/poor running problem.
My home-made 10-amp clip-in circuit breaker. If you keep blowing your one-dollar ceramic fuses, using this really helps. Simply clip it in where the troublesome fuse is and start tracing circuits. Eight amps is close enough to 10 for protecting the bike's wiring.
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Before we fully embrace the new year, we take a moment to look back at some of the best of BMW Owners News from the past year. From the humor of Jack Riepe or wrenching along with Matt Parkhouse as he opens the transmission of an old Airhead, to Mark Barnes, Ron Davis or Mark Janda, each month BMW MOA members share their stories and photographs images to entertain and inform us all.
Big Picture, August Sunset on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway after 469 miles of turns and views through the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Kandi Spangler #220021 and her husband use a simple three level scale to measure fun. While their most memorable experiences are usually in Level 2 and bordering on Level 3, Kandi’s ride in Nepal last year necessitated the addition of a fourth level.
Mike Cloke #192163 and William Scott became lifelong friends during the 1970s when both served at the U.S. Army’s Bamberg MP Station in Germany. It had been nearly seven years since Cloke had seen Scott at an MP reunion in Texas. With good weather in the forecast, it was time for Cloke to visit Scotty once again.
...I then run the bike until it is good and hot, somewhere around 20 to 50 miles. After letting it cool, I re-torque the heads and reset the valves....
A motor officer from the Bartlett, Tennessee, police department negotiates a tight turn during the RTP competition held during the MOA’s inaugural Motorrad Fest event held in Lebanon, Tennessee. Photo by Bill Wiegand #180584
Matthew Parkhouse
We often hear someone avoided crashing because they acted instinctively. The truth is, instinct had nothing to do with it.
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Tar Snakes by Don Bartletti shot captured during a 7,000-mile coast to coast ride. Photo by David Rowe #222405. Challenging my skills aboard my G 310 GS on an unmaintained road near Walpole, New Hampshire. Photo by Kara Dexter #217373. Shaw
After serving our country in Afghanistan from November 2010 to October 2011, Rick Velasquez (#228778) came home a different man. While therapy and medication helped with his PTSD, it wasn’t until Velasquez took part in a Motorcycle Relief Project ride that he found the tools to change his life.
A Short Glimpse into the 49th Annual MOA National Rally by Jack Riepe #116117.
Brian Carey #203865 was at an Irish Festival making Guinness disappear when he received a text from a nephew inviting him to the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. His immediate response was, “Yes!” But Carey quickly realized he’d need to get a bike first. Luckily, he already knew what he wanted.
Put your hand up by David Swider
Restoring a vintage motorcycle had long been one of Marc de Angelis’ (#217644) retirement goals. A year into retirement, a red 1989 R 100 RT came up for auction. While the bike was “all there,” de Angelis wasn’t sure he was up for the task of bringing the bike back to life?
Great to be Here! I’m a 36-year-old lady who has been riding for the last 10 years and have had my 2007 R 1200 R since 2014. I take solo trips all over the U.S., and I’m currently on my Key Largo to Alaska trip, stopping at the 50th 49er BMW Rally in Quincy, California, on my way to Alaska. I had the most AMAZING time there geeking out with all of you, and that’s when I signed up for the MOA. I also won the “Farthest Rider Award” by riding in from Key Largo and received a SWEET custom tool kit from Adventure Made (which I’ve used multiple times on this trip!). I adore my solo trips, and the people I meet on the road make my riding memories. Ride on! Liz Funke #229449
Kate Coit (#226210) didn’t let the fact that she’s a new rider dissuade her from trying to qualify for the GS Trophy women’s team. According to Kate, she arrived at the qualifier as a nobody, but by the end of the event, everyone knew her name.
Along a quiet road in southern Pennsylvania. Photo by Terence Hamill #14629.
My R 1250 RS in eastern Washington near Dry Falls State Park–one the largest waterfall in the world. Photo by Charles Porter #54193.
The cold of a Vermont winter gives riders only two options. They can either spend their time planning rides for the following spring or prepare their ride for the coming season. For Peter Burke (#133958), getting his ride ready is a family affair.
Five BMW Motorcycle of America members tell us their stories of riding BMW motorcycles and what brought them to join our club.
Except for world wars, the Isle of Man TT has only been canceled three times–each time because of an epidemic and each time, the economic and loss on the island was immense. With lockdowns behind them, the return of the TT is like finally being able to take a deep breath of fresh sea air! By Paul Phillips #189196
Through the Ramsey Hairpin and with Parliament Square over his shoulder, Peter Hickman leads the Milwaukee 2022 Senior TT at the Isle of Man.
Hickman finished race week as it began with a win on his M 1000 RR Superbike.
Photo by Paul Phillips #189196.
Stayin’ Safe in the Smokies by James Carlisle #196730.
The MOA Foundation recently recognized Clark Luster (#36336) for his important work of promoting rider safety, education, and training by naming one of its grant programs for the influential leader.
On the way to the Death Valley Rendezvous, we camped one night at the Indian Cove Campground in Joshua Tree National Park. Space #64 felt like an embrace from Mother Nature. We were hugged on three sides by weather softened, four-story-high granite boulders and a blanket of stars. By Don Bartletti #222547.
My campsite for the night while riding the Washington State Backcountry Discovery Route with Mt. Ranier and Mt. Adams in the distance. Photo by John Pelliciotta #225456.
West of US 19 in Florida near Gulf Hammock while on a 48-hour liberty from a family vacation. Photo by David Rau #226278.
Failure is Not an Option by Bill Shaw #70903.
Based on his previous experience touring with IMTBIKE, Wes Fitzer (#170126) was expecting a great ride. Happily, his second experience exceeded expectations and can best be described as a five-star vacation by motorcycle!
A stop to admire the beauty surrounding Buffalo Hills Road near Franklin, West Virginia. Photo by David Burke #109393.
Sometimes, choosing the road less traveled around a large puddle isn’t the best option. Photo by Doug Bakke #224310.
Bike-less by Ron Davis #111820. Early this past spring, I got an offer I couldn’t refuse when a guy from Iowa offered me nearly what I paid for my Honda NC700X. Always looking for something different, I let him have it!
A selfie by Mike Tice #231393.
After deciding to travel from their home in Vancouver to Ushuaia, Argentina, Janel’s husband Dustin suggested that they ride two-up, or if Janel was so inclined, she could learn to ride and take her own motorcycle. Janel had always wanted to learn to ride but never had a reason to do it. Now without a good excuse against it, she's decided to learn to ride. By Janel Silvey #226338.
t Member Tested, April Dunlop Road Smart IV tires by Reece Mullins #143779.
t News, December Todd Trumbore receives Knöchlein BMW Classic Award.
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John
Howard (#227381) captured this image of his R 60S on a First Sunday Ride with the BMW Motorcycle Club of Northern California. Lucky Guy–Charles Buchanan wins the MOA National Rally R 75/5 Grand Prize.
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BMW
Moving to Los Angeles from New York City in the mid 1990s was an eye-opening experience. Finding a home Santa Monica Mountains with broad ocean views had Stuart and his wife California dreaming until they discovered how frightening and devastating wildfires can be. By Stuart A. Kirk #55005.
Amid the wide open spaces of Nevada.
Photo by Graham Kier #225550.
Motorrad reveals Plans for new Electric Models by April Ersten.
A photo taken during a ride along Route 66 from Illinois to California and back. Photo by Chad Garcia #138742.
It was the kind of day where the smart money would have stayed in the motel. A slate gray sky with purple clouds gave a good idea of what was likely to come. It was noticeably brighter in the intended direction of travel, at least from this vantage point on a little rise overlooking a secondary road in West Virginia. By Jack Riepe #116117.
Jerry Glasow’s retirement plans include owning a sport bike for on-track fun, a sport-touring bike for on-road fun and an adventure bike for off-road fun. To Glasow, BMW’s 750, 850 and 1250 platforms were too big. Could the little G 310 GS be the right bike? By Jerry Glasow #35480.
Your Questions, My Answers by Wes Fleming #87301.
Stuart A Kirk looks back at his life and the events that shaped both his family and his career. His riding, something that started as an impulse long ago to eventually become part of his identity, is winding down though at 75 is still provides freedom and joy. By Stuart A Kirk #55005.
Forty years ago, I was young and single. I ran into three guys at a sandwich shop in Baltimore, all on BMWs. Because I owned my first BMW, they soon became my new best friends. One day they asked me if I was going to the rally not that far away in Pennsylvania. “What’s a rally?” I asked. By David Cwi #28490.
Frank
The desire to offer MOA members a second national event has been kicked around for several years. Only time will tell if Motorrad Fest will grow into the celebration of motorcycling it is hoped to be. By Bill Wiegand #180584.
Leonard (#137590) and a friend celebrate as they approach the Kyrgyzstan/China border while riding Globerider's Silk Road adventure. Photo by Helge Pedersen #45007.
Aerostich Transit 3 Suit by Mark Barnes #222400.
Vanson Leathers–American made Riding Gear by Sam Q Fleming #195185.
By Dustin Silvey #224778
When people think of a motorcycle road trip, they often picture long roads with mountains glowing orange in the late afternoon sun, a rider leaned over on their bike barrelling through a tight curve or the celebratory beers shared as riders in t-shirts and riding pants laugh about the day’s causal adventure.
The start to our cross-Canada trip did not begin like that. Instead, a thick fog shrouded the highway out of Vancouver and my body shivered from the cold. Then, with the temperature in the single digits, after about ten minutes of riding I started to see the first drops of rain hit my visor. The universe had decided to tell us this was the time to turn back. I smiled to myself and said to Janel, “After several months of planning, it was going to take more than some bad weather to turn us around.” The universe heard and accepted my challenge.
Our first day’s route took us on one of the most beautiful highways British Columbia has to offer: the infamous Coquihalla, also called “the Highway through Hell.” The highway begins at sea level and reaches an elevation of 1,244 metres (4,081 ft) over a distance of 203 kms; however, the run up to the summit is a rapid ascent over a very short distance. Made famous by the Discovery Channel that coined the nickname, the highway is known for accidents, avalanches, washouts and the steep roads running up and down the mountains. The night before we started our trip up the highway, I was checking the weather as Janel packed our panniers. The weather forecast for the Coquihalla was calling for heavy rain. Having Gore-Tex gear and Sidi Adventure boots we had little concern for a bit of wet riding.
Getting out of Vancouver in thick fog and heavy traffic was our first challenge, but like many motorcyclists, we worked our way into the HOV lane and just rode out the traffic at a steady pace. The further we made it out of the Vancouver and onto the Coquihalla, the thicker the fog became, but also, the more excited I got to be taking this adventure. I paid little heed to the fog and instead couldn’t stop thinking about the adventures we would have once we left our home province of British Columbia. What beautiful places would we find? What types of people would we meet? How would the trip up Route 389 from Quebec into Labrador go?
While my mind was meandering through these thoughts, I heard Janel say, “Dustin, it’s really raining…” She was right, the rain had really picked up and by the looks of the deep puddles in the road, it had been raining steady since the night before. Just then, a truck flew passed, splashing up litres of water that covered our visors, motorcycles and us. After a quick hand wipe of the visor we knew, this was going to be a ride through a lot more than “a bit” of rain.
We spent the majority of our trip cautiously in the slow lane taking on the ascent to the summit. Not only was the rain making visibility difficult, the road was extremely slippery. Most cars and large trucks realized how slippery the roads were and a normal 120km/hr speed limit was down to around 80km/hr. As our elevation increased, we began to see several feet of snow on the
mountain tops. Before long, my nose started to run, my feet were cold and my legs started to shiver. I knew if I was cold, Janel was freezing. But what could we do? Stop and get colder and wetter? Our only choice was to push on and hope on our descent there might be a bit of sunshine waiting for us.
The sun never came, but once arriving at our accommodations we stiffly started to take off our clothes. There was so much water on the road, the water came up under our Gore-Tex jackets and soaked us from the inside out. Janel was drenched from her chest to her waist, and my stomach looked like I had a bathroom accident while standing on my head. Our feet however, remained nice and dry which was a plus, as we all know that drying out boots can take some time and effort. Overall, the day wasn’t that bad: it was wet and the visibility wasn’t great, but most drivers were cautious and left us lots of space along the highway. Once again encouraging the inevitable, I asked the universe: “That’s all you got?”
The next day we were to leave British Columbia with our route taking us into the Rockies along roads that looked like they were attached to the sides of mountains, through snow sheds and out onto the plains of Alberta. The rain pelted us as we loaded up the panniers in the early morning; however, it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm for our next leg. The rain couldn’t be worse than the previous day, and there was a waterfall that was known to be down a short dirt road we were excited to check out.
It was a dark dreary day, the rain wasn’t heavy, but it was constant, creating a chill in the high mountain air. A low ceiling made the mountains around us look ominous, and the slick roads were tugging at our rear tires. The directions to the waterfall were a little vague, so we were out on our own. We came to the assumed turn off and I noticed the burgundy hue coming off a cattle guard ahead. “Have you ridden across a cattleguard yet?” I asked Janel. “No,” was her fearful, questioning response.
This is one of those time I gave my lovely wife bad advice. For those inexperienced with cattle guards, cattle guards are usually made of steel beams running perpendicular to the road, crossing a narrow hole in the ground with gaps in between the beams. Most hoofed wildlife will not cross the guards as they can slip into the gaps. Because the beams are perpendicular, they can be off putting to vehicles so there are flat narrow metals slats that run straight across to limit the impact. I have always ridden across these slats and thus said to Janel “Cross on the beams that run straight.”
As Janel approached the cattle guard, she was afraid and fear led to her slowing down before reaching the cattle guard. When she went to cross the wet cattle guard slats with little momentum carrying her forward, her front tire started to slide to the right, and then her bike started to lean right, which aimed her straight down a 30-foot embankment into the trees below. Instinct kicked in and she pulled the handle bars to the left which actually lined her back up on the road and out of the embankment. If she had stopped there, she likely could have kept going, but like most of us, once we start on the instinct over correction path, we stay on it. Janel then once again pulled to the right, but now she was only headed down a small gravel ditch, at which point she tipped over onto the right side of the bike
“What a wild life, and what a fresh kind of existence! But, ah, the discomforts!”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
colliding with the rocks. All of this took place in under six seconds, with me watching from my side mirror, yelling at her to stop (which I am sure helped).
While running the 100 metres or so back to her, I could see her standing by the bike that was three-quarters of the way to upside down. My first thought was “SIT DOWN!” but Janel being Janel said, “Hit the kill switch, I’m not hurt.” I helped her out of the ditch and finally got her to sit. I walked carefully to the bike, turning it off and assessing the damage. The front tire was at a strange angle, so I picked it up and saw she had torn off one of the front signal lights. Other than that, things looked OK. My biggest concern was, how were we going to get the bike out of the ditch?
As I tried to sort out our dilemma, I noticed a big yellow school bus with rafts attached on the roof and Glacier Rafting Company written on the side coming down the road. They pulled to a stop, noticing Janel sitting on the side of the road and me in the ditch with the bike. One of their guides dropped down from the bus and proceeded to help us drag it out of the ditch. There was a little push and pull, but once out, the bike looked good, and my initial assessment was correct on the damage. We thanked our helpful hands, and they drove off down the road towards what we thought was the falls. I fired Janel’s bike up and asked what she wanted to do. She said, “Well, we better get going, we still have a long way to go. But I want YOU to ride my bike back over the cattle guard, and I think we skip the waterfall.”
All of this, from the crash to us leaving, took place in under ten minutes. I think this was important for our trip to continue. Janel hadn’t been riding that long at this point and was already concerned about crashing or other issues along the trip. The fact she didn’t have time to focus on the crash or the stress about getting the bike out of the ditch was a big part to her jumping back on and carrying on. Too often I think we focus on what went wrong in an abnormal situation instead of realizing it is an abnormal situation and we should really just move on and worry about it at a later date. I think because it was cold and rainy, Janel really just wanted to get a move on.
A wet cattleguard caught Janel's front tire and led to a crash. A phone call to her parents after the tumble to assure she is fine.We still had a long day ahead of us. After riding through some beautiful rocky landscapes, we started to come out of the Rockies near Banff, Alberta. The longdrawn-out plains of Canada came into view ahead of us. Flat straight roads awaited us as we carried on into the heart of Alberta. The rain came and went with the odd warm sun ray to warm up our backs, but once we were within 50 km of our destination, the rain came back with a vengeance. Visibility started to decrease drastically, and the clouds were dark, making me think it was well past 9 p.m. rather than slightly after 3 p.m. The rain poured down on us as we came into Rosebud, Alberta, a small town famous for dinner theatre and our destination for the night. We pulled into Banks and Braes, our accommodation, and we were welcomed by the kind owners who grabbed us towels and helped us get all our wet gear into the building.
The rain finally stopped as we were lounging in our beautiful Highland themed room called the Lachlan Suite, when Janel mentioned she had made a reservation at the dinner theatre for that evening. A quick hot shower, and we were off for a relaxing evening of acting and singing at the Rosebud Theatre. We took our minds off the events of the day by watching these great actors from around Canada sing their hearts out. When the show came to an end far too soon, we made our way back to Bank and Braes and I noticed Janel was limping slightly. She mentioned her ankle was sore and I suggested we take a look when we were back in the room.
Examining Janel’s ankle, there was a bit of swelling but nothing to be overly concerned with. We put some ice on it and she took some ibuprofen. While she was icing her foot, we both realized that when she crashed her ankle had rolled back between the bike and the rocky ground. Without her tall riding boots her ankle would have broken and that would have been the end of the trip, on day two! Moral of the story: ATGATT beats whatever the universe can throw at you…within reason, of course.
Banks and Braes.
Banks and Braes is a boutique hotel that was built over seven years by the owners and only opened in 2019. The owners have several themed rooms from “London” to “Highlands.” They continue to add new themes for different rooms which should be open soon. The breakfasts are amazing and exactly what you need for your ride across the flat plains. Costs per night range from $160 to 175 USD and include breakfast. (banksandbraes.ca/)
Rosebud Theatre, Rosebud, Alberta
Rosebud is famous for its dinner theatre, and it is well worth sticking around for. Guests meet at the dining house, a short walk from Banks and Braes, and enjoy a family meal with all guests. From there they cross the street to the playhouse where the magic happens. Plays ranging from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe to classics such as Fiddler on the Roof keep guests entertained for the evening. The town is small and is based around the dinner theatre, so really, you can’t pass up the opportunity.
(rosebudtheatre.com/)
A great motorcycle ride is from Rosebud to Drumheller through Horseshoe Canyon along Hwy 9. One second the landscape is flat with nothing, and then all of the sudden the landscape turns into a Mars like surface with red hills everywhere. This landscape was great for scientists searching for dinosaur remains, and one of the best dinosaur museums in the world is located in Drumheller. The Royal Tyrell Museum houses some of the largest and most fully preserved dinosaurs ever found. Take the drive to Drumheller, visit with the dinosaurs, and then meander your way back to Rosebud heading southeast along the canyon until you turn back west along highway 10X.
(tyrrellmuseum.com/)
Stay tuned for Part Two of Dustin and Janel’s trans-Canada journey in the next issue of Owners News.
At the Royal Tyrell Museum.
confess to other riders that a trip to the Tail of the Dragon is in your bucket list, and you are likely to receive opinions as diverse as they are unhelpful.
“Yeah, I’ve done it. A couple times I even got her up to second gear,” might come from the leather-clad S 1000 RR rider who looks fast even standing still. The R 1250 GS owner next to him, who’s been there, done that, and has a few t-shirts in his closet, may counter with: “The Dragon’s OK, but-” and here he’d list a litany of roads that are twice as challenging and half as crowded.
Regardless of how the high mileage rider might feel about it, to a rookie like me the idea of 318 curves in 11 miles has the flavor of a rite of passage, hype and commercialization notwithstanding. OK, proclaiming that “I survived the Dragon” via my t-shirt has something to do with it as well—there, I’ve admitted it.
My younger brother Sebastian and I have discussed the possibility of a trip together, he in a car, while I would ride my bike, and 2022 might just be the year all the stars come into alignment. Hopefully, he won’t see the presence of Zeus, my 90-pound German Shepherd, as too big an imposition during the six-day caper.
In fact, Seb, who’s enjoying his semi-retirement in South Carolina, is amenable to the idea. Since he works as an aquatic tour guide, he won’t be able to take leave until after Labor Day. It’s now late May, which leaves me over three months to plan.
A few phone conversations later, we agree on Tuesday, 13 September, as a starting date, with the return scheduled on the following Sunday. This will allow reasonable stages with ample rest between them.
With hotels booked and waypoints defined, I plug the itinerary into my bike’s navigator, then share it with the car’s unit via my laptop. A herculean task for a technological luddite like me, but when I check, both navigators seem in synch, and I feel I just witnessed a miracle.
On Monday, 12 September, Zeus and I pick up Seb at Reagan National Airport. After eyeing my brother with his typical canine suspicion for a few seconds, Zeus decides that Seb doesn’t represent a threat and his wariness turns into tailwagging curiosity. By the time we get home, I know these two will get along famously.
“So, you’re going to ride that one, like last time?” Seb asks, indicating the R 1200 RT in my garage. It’s the bike I rode last year, when he drove his daughter up to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I tagged along.
“No, this one,” I answer, while pointing at my 33-year-young R 100 RT, aka the Red Baron. Understandably, he questions the wisdom of my choice. I explain that, after a year spent restoring the Baron to a ridable condition, chasing every last bug, and tuning it to perfection, this is a bike I can trust. I sense that my conviction doesn’t dispel his perplexity.
While we’re talking, a roll of electrical tape, a small tube of Loctite, and a close-reach ratchet wrench find their place among the bits and bobs already crammed in an aluminum case I refer to as my “just-in-case.” As much as I trust the Baron, I’d hate to be left stranded because I forgot a spare or a tool. In retrospect, had I been truly prescient, I’d have added scissors. Lesson learned for next time.
The following morning, after a leisurely breakfast and the rituals of tire inflation and fueling, the first leg of the journey starts in earnest with Seb
Riding the Tail of the Dragon. Photo by Darryl Cannon.and Zeus in the lead on my Outback. Everything proceeds like clockwork until we hit the Skyline Drive. While I contemplate the breathtaking panorama, I discover that my GPS navigator has no clue of where to intercept I-81 and is telling me to turn at every opportunity. The one in the car, as I later find out, is doing the same. Blame it on poor programming on my part—I did.
As a result of this contretemps, during a stretch when we’re not in visual contact with each other, Seb and I take different turns. We continue separately, eventually to rejoin at our destination, the Natural Bridge KOA Camping Grounds, where we stop for the night.
At daybreak, I take Zeus out for a walk, then a quick shower and I’m ready to go. Seb, on the other hand, needs caffeine and a more substantial breakfast than an energy bar to function. We find a petfriendly eatery in nearby Lexington and take the opportunity to stroll around the VMI campus, where my brother spent a year before being accepted by the Naval Academy.
After the parenthesis down memory lane, I-81 awaits us. The beauty of the Virginia and Tennessee countryside and the perfect weather make parts of this highway enjoyable. Unfortunately, there are also long stretches in which you’re either passing an eighteenwheeler or being passed by one. On a motorcycle, this translates into being constantly buffeted by turbulence. Not fun.
We spend the second night of our trip in Kingsport, Tennessee, and wake up to find the town enveloped in a dense fog. Since today we’ll meet the Dragon, I go over the bike one more time. Tire pressure adjusted, top case and side bags tight, no oil leaks, and so
on. Satisfied, I give the “start engine” signal to my brother and we’re on the road again. There are a few lingering patches of fog, but we leave them behind as we gain elevation.
One stop to refuel and drink a bottle of Gatorade and we’re at the Rt. 129 exit. I must admit I’m a bit excited. I remind myself of my resolve to ride within my skills and not be tempted to chase other riders. As I entertain these thoughts, I see a body of water to my right that can only be Chilhowee Lake. The time for reflection is over. Now I need to focus.
It probably took me a little over 20 minutes from Tabcat Bridge to Deals Gap. The funny thing is that, while I was riding, it felt like forever; yet, in retrospect, that ride seemed to have flown by in a quick blur.
The memories come back to me like a slide show in which the images don’t remain on the screen long enough for the brain to fully register them. The constant leaning and shifting of gears as I negotiate the unending series of turns that slope up, down and up again. The light is everchanging as I ride from shadow into blinding sunlight and vice-versa while the road twists through the mountains. Cutting a left corner too tight, chide myself for kissing the yellow line. The fast guy on an R 1200 GS camps out in my rearview mirrors until I find a pullout and let him pass. Finally, there’s a mix of relief and anticlimax as I cross into North Carolina and Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort materializes to my left. The Tree of Shame won’t be collecting from the old Baron! Is my first thought on realizing I’m at “mile zero.”
When I stop, I realize my bike is, not surprisingly, by far the oldest in the parking lot. Zeus, with Seb in tow, finds me there. In the midst of the happy reunion, my brother muses that “In Italy, roads like this are a dime a dozen.” He has lived near the foot of the Alps for several decades, so his remark is unassailable, if slightly off-point. Roads like this are definitely not a dime a dozen in our country, which explains the variety of license plates surrounding us.
After the de rigueur trip to the souvenir shop, we continue along Rt. 129 to a lovely resort in Fontana Dam, North Carolina. Once there, when I open the top case, something feels wrong. A closer look reveals that the screws that hold the case subframe to the tailpiece are missing. I have an ample supply of M6 fasteners in my bag of tricks, but on further reflection, I won’t need them. The tailpiece is a sealed storage compartment and when I open it, I find the screws hiding in one of its nooks.
Fashioning substitutes for the tiny rubber pads that go between the metal subframe and the fiberglass tailpiece is only slightly more challenging. My calibrated eye tells me the original parts are about three times as thick as electrical tape. I borrow a pair of scissors from the front desk, cut two strips of tape, fold them three times onto themselves and make a small hole in the center of each. Voilà! Kluge-y, but they’ll do until I order the proper parts.
In the small (and blind) confines of the tailpiece, the close-reach ratchet makes quick work of what would otherwise be a tedious job using an Allen wrench. More importantly, this time I use Loctite.
And now you know why I carry a “justincase.”
The outside portion of the resort’s restaurant is pet-friendly, so Zeus joins us for dinner. He’s a big hit with staff members and customers alike, many of whom come over to meet him. Zeus, who hides the soul of a therapy dog behind his gruff exterior, loves every minute of it.
On the morrow, we saddle up again (metaphorically, in the case of Seb and Zeus). The itinerary calls for a lazy loop, destination Johnson City, about 20 miles south of I-81. We’re there by lunch time, but our room won’t be ready until three p.m. When we’re finally allowed in, we discover that there’s only one bed. And, of course, there are no other rooms available.
Miscommunications happen, but this time Murphy has struck with a vengeance. Not being a NASCAR fan, I was oblivious to the fact that nearby Bristol hosts a race tomorrow, so good luck finding a room within a 100-mile radius. By the time we’re ready to tell the hotel staff we’ll keep the room, thank you very much, and can you please set up a cot, we find out they’ve already rebooked it.
Swallowing a few choice words, we reload our stuff, all the while calling around for alternate accommodations. Eventually, Seb finds two single rooms, over 60 miles apart. Under the circumstances, it’s a feat of magic. The closest one, where I’ll be lodging with Zeus, is in Clintwood, Virginia, about 90 miles north of Johnson City. Before Seb drives on to his hotel, we discuss the possibility of skipping the next stop and agree to finalize the decision in the morning.
Shortly before 9 a.m. on Saturday, my brother, who’s already been on the road for an hour, is back in Clintwood, where we reload and refuel. Depending on traffic and pitstops, getting home in one go translates into seven or eight hours on the road. We both feel sufficiently rested, so we declare it doable, although agreeing to reassess at each of the two planned stops.
We’re currently north of I-81, and home is to the north-east, so we check for a way to intercept the interstate by travelling due east from here. Nope, all the electronic oracles we consult are of one mind on this one: the fastest route is to retrace our steps, so we’re forced to travel almost 70 miles due south before any real progress is made.
Through the Bluetooth connection in my helmet, Supertramp’s refrain appropriately plays: Take the long way home, Take the long way home…
We make good time along I-81 and eventually exit onto I-66, the final stretch. It’s smooth sailing until we get close to the Capital Beltway. Here, predictably, a combination of traffic and road work slows us to a crawl.
“Light traffic has been reported on your route.” informs the artificial voice of the navigator. How would I have known without my electronic helper? Then comes what I call the “consolation statement:” “You are on the fastest route.”
We arrive home a little before five. I wish I could describe the triumphal return of our heroes, enrichened with a new cosmic awareness after their latest adventure. But we are the same two geezers and a dog who left last Tuesday, now tired and a bit grumpy. Still, glad that we skipped that last stop, we unload our vehicles one final time.
The 1,100-mile trip turned into almost 1,400 without the Red Baron missing a beat. I’m not counting the minor issue with the top case, which was entirely the assembler’s fault. More importantly, as a rider, I’m now confident that, if ever the Tail of the Dragon comes up in conversation, I can add my very own grain of sand to the vast beach of irrelevant opinions.
And on that note, Zeus, Seb and I agree to leave further philosophical considerations till a more propitious time and retire for the night.
Marc de Angelis was born in Rome, Italy, and resides in Arlington, VA. A 20year US Navy veteran, he’s had a second career as an engineer working for the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C. Now retired, he spends his time riding and restoring Airheads as well as volunteering for several dog rescue organizations.
WHEN YOU READ THIS COLUMN, YOUR CALENdar should show early January, 2023. I hope you enjoyed great holidays spent with cherished family and friends and are looking forward to the new year. The start of a new year is a great time to update your skills enhancement and training plan and to consider how to maximize the effectiveness of training and your monetary investment in executing that plan.
Getting the most benefit from any training can be hard work both mentally and physically. In his book Do Hard Things, Steve Magness offers ideas grounded in science and psychology that teach how experiencing discomfort, leaning in, paying attention and creating mental space to take thoughtful actions can be converted into more effective training and resultant enhanced skills to drive improved rider performance.
During your planning and training, accept what you are capable of by focusing your time on activities that hone existing skills and carefully build new ones without creating excessive risk. This calls for a mindful and very personal situational appraisal: do you have the basic skills to handle the training demands with an appropriate level of risk or discomfort? You might need some unbiased, friendly help with this assessment and should never be concerned about potential embarrassment caused by a mistake during training activities. Embrace the reality of your limits, plan accordingly, and carefully push your capabilities envelope boundary to cause skill development. A
bad mismatch between training scope and rider skill set will result in an unpleasant (at best) and ineffective training activity doomed to failure. Human feelings and emotions serve vital roles in riding scenarios where we need to be tough with our actions or make rapid, difficult decisions. They serve as our first line of defense by providing vital information to help make better decisions. During your training, look for feelings specific to the training situation. Direct your attention at what you are feeling and mentally collect the experience with careful focus. Look and feel for the nuances (pain, anxiety, fear, etc.) and give them specific names. If you can name the feeling, you have created the ability to exert controlling power over the nuance by familiarization. The better we recognize and understand the internal signals our body is sending, the better we can use feelings and emotions to guide skilled actions needed to improve our ride no matter what the conditions. Uncertainty creates fear and anxiety and often just sounds a distracting and ineffective alarm. Clarity of thought gained via practiced feeling and listening facilitates definitive and helpful actions.
Build on your refreshed capabilities, understanding and training goals (skills enhancement or new skills development?), and use all information your body has collected to mindfully respond to the situational reality. Too often, we are only reacting to situational stress and related reverberations. Properly matching perception with reality allows
you to make the appropriate response instead of reacting in a way that can create a worse outcome. Think about the rider who misjudges speed and road conditions and reactively uses the wrong brake or throttle response resulting in a potentially avoidable crash.
The most effective training activities will push you beyond your comfort zone and create some discomfort. For me this is the “maximum learning zone” where training is most effective in skill building. It is also the zone where sometimes misery loves company, or there is strength in team numbers and the people around you become an important team-based cure for your discomfort.
As you plan your training activities, look for those that include established, supportive leadership that gives you a voice in the group and a clear feeling of belonging to the team and training mission. Last, but not least, look for activities that although potentially uncomfortable, offer you the ability to make clear progress and grow your skill set to better enjoy that next ride.
Through the Paul Bachorz Rider Safety Training Grant Program, the MOA Foundation awards up to $250 for MOA members, or up to $100 for non-members, toward the participation cost for an approved training course. Learn more about the MOA Foundation by visiting bmwmoa.org and clicking on the “Foundation” tab.
The day faded with “Cold Steel” and I being accepted into the tribe of the “Maliclixa,” a matriarchy of savage women warriors, long thought to be lost to legend or myth. To be sure, our acceptance had not been perfectly smooth. My gentle readers will recall that “Cold Steel” was the code name given to my colleague, an adjunct professor of interpretative dance from the University of Lulea in Lapland. Technically, she was a certified Lapp dancer. My code name was “Duffle Bag” for a variety of reasons.
THE TRIBE WAS OUT HUNTING THAT afternoon with the object of spearing “the long pig,” which is code for anything male ranging from wild boar to boring aluminum siding salesmen. The ladies looked pretty fit, and I doubted they’d missed many meals.
Even though I was wearing a dog suit (to pass as a sidecar service animal for “Cold Steel”), I was obviously a male and a point of contention for the tribal leader. Like honeybees, the Malicixa communicated through complex dance steps, and according to Cold Steel, they had had a long fruitless day, and they were willing to trade information for a quick meal— namely me. Cold Steel was on the verge of accepting the deal until I tickled her with a poisoned spear.
I’d persuaded her to do a quickstep, informing the raiding party that I was more of a God than just a dog. I proved this by dropping the bottom of the dog suit while lighting up a Maduro cigar. When the ladies had stopped laughing, I was admittedly the God of the unanticipated punchline. For the next week, I’d be required to wear the dog’s head while going about in a pair of extremely tight “Big Dog” briefs that read “Bite The Bone.”
These Maliclixa were tall, statuesque and had perfect posture. Each one was a size four or six with a physique modeled after a sheet of plywood, a look that drives me crazy. Many had interesting tattoos of
fantastic creatures: huge centipedes, giant rodents with tusks and sunflower-like plants that appeared to be eating men. There were many tattoos of men who appeared to be dying of vicious wounds and in pain.
I had a suspicion the Maliclixa may have been dining on missing GS riders, accompanied by a nice side of Ramen noodles… but these folks lived for the thrill of the hunt, not long-winded saddle-bums you could knock over with a rock or a blunt stick.
The trail to the Maliclixa village passed through a valley shrouded in mist before narrowing to a footpath barely the width of a Lapp-dancer’s foot. (I measured it for statistical purity.) Fortunately, I never left the sidecar on the mighty K 1600, though there were a couple of spots where I switched the operating configuration from wheels to “tracks.”
Doing so also activated a major sidecar dashboard reconfiguration as well. The hack’s rather spartan dash, modeled after military sidecars from the 1940s, became a tufted, leather-lined shelf more common to the bars of Duval Street in Key West. Red tufted leather, in fact. A spring-loaded toggle switch activated a mechanism that mixed a perfect Negroni (traditional) or a Dirty Gibson Martini served in the appropriate glass.
Now this will raise eyebrows among my R bike rider friends (both of them). They
will declare this to be superfluous nonsense, even as they have yogurt makers and hide-drying racks on their bikes. But I ask you, what is the point of dispensing perfect 1940s-style cocktails without the correct glassware? I suppose you could serve a Dirty Gibson Martini in a traditional Negroni glass (in times of duress, like a nuclear attack), but what would be the point? Especially if you were on the verge of being vaporized?
Still, there are times when one must make an exception, if for no other reason than to spare the well-intentioned feelings of others. Impromptu late-night soirées in a lifeboat might necessitate drinking a Negroni from a woman’s shoe. Likewise, a farewell cocktail on the 120th-floor roof of a burning skyscraper might require drinking a Gibson minus the little onions.
This reminds me of a story where dire necessity trumped all convention. I was riding a BMW K75 (with a rare Sprint fairing) through the town of “Desolation, Wisconsin,” when I felt drawn to the only light on a road that was a möbius strip of interminable darkness. This was “Swensen’s Bar and Male Sweat Lodge.”
It was 10 pm on a Thursday, and I was the only customer. I swaggered up to the bar in the classic K biker samurai fashion, flashed my standard writer smile #7, and asked for a Dirty Gibson Martini. The bartender had been arranging bottles on the shelf and turned to face me. She was all
of 23 years old, flawlessly blond, with blue eyes that were guile-free. She smiled, and dry-cleaned my soul at the same time.
Her name was Mandy Swenson, and she’d never made a Dirty Gibson Martini before.
“Can you tell me what goes in it?” She asked.
“Gin, clear vermouth, onions, and a bit of onion juice,” I replied, desperate to prolong the conversation.
“Onions have juice?” She asked in return.
I nodded, struggling for a comeback.
“Is this the right glass?” She asked, holding up a standard cocktail coupe. “Perfect.”
“We only have one like this,” she said, “for guys like you.”
She mixed the drink, hesitated, and said, “I’ll be right back,” disappearing into the kitchen. Gone all of 90 seconds, she returned with her twin sister, “Candy” Swenson. Candy was the cook. The two of them presented me with the finished Gibson.
“Is this right?” stammered Mandy.
The clear liquor shimmered in the coupe glass, topped by a thick slice of Bermuda onion. The New Jersey in me was ready to let go like a volcanic eruption. But I held it in and fired off my best “Battered Baby Seal Look.”
Blond twins named Candy and Mandy! When would this ever happen again? “It’s perfect,” I said. “I’ll probably have another.” Had there been witnesses, I would have been called Mr. Magnanimous for the rest of my life.
Now I was sitting in the sweltering Brazilian Amazon rainforest, in the air-conditioned comfort of a custom sidecar, holding the perfect Dirty Gibson Martini, surrounded by scores of indigenous beauties, wearing naught but coccoloba leaves, and all impervious to my
Battered Baby Seal Look. Did I say all?
There was one, who, like me, was from out of town. I flashed that look at Cold Steel whenever I had the chance. And today was the day I talked her into a perfect Dirty Gibson Martini, too.
I got her talking about herself and she told me the name they called her back in Lapland.
“In Swedish, it is Kallt Stål,” she whispered.
“That’s beautiful,” I replied. “What does it mean?”
“Cold Steel.”
Later, she confided that one of her fantasies was to feed a man like me to a large, carnivorous lizard. It was going to be very difficult to get something going here.
“Have another drink,” I suggested.
At that moment, one of the scouts staggered in, exhausted, covered with cold sweat and nearly hysterical. She tried to dance a warning that was so horrible to its extent that the dance was more Ike a circular limp. There had been a massacre of GS riders. Their bones sat upright in their saddles.
We found the crime scene miles away in a little clearing. Fifty GS bikes had been arranged in a circle. Their riders hadn’t gone down without a fight, or at least not without a lengthy discussion on oil or tires. Skeletons wearing protective gear sat upright in their saddles. Some were still wearing mirrored sunglasses that R bike-riding douches think are cool.
The sight of this apparent atrocity unnerved Cold Steel, and she pulled herself into me, burying her face in my neck. In that instant, I was grateful for the sacrifices these guys made. I would have killed them myself for another hug like that.
“Wait here in the sidecar,” I said to her. “I’m gonna have a look around.”
“Be careful, D.M.,” she said.
I pivoted to look back at her. “D.M.?”
I asked.
“Dog Man,” she replied. It wasn’t much, but I took it.
At first glance, these riders appeared to have been savaged by a stampede of tusked guinea pigs. One skeleton had the bones of a tusked guinea pig in his teeth, while another appeared to be beating the remains of several with a tattered Kermit Chair.
And that was the dead giveaway. You can’t tatter a Kermit Chair by beating tusked guinea pigs with it. This was all staged.
Looking more carefully, I saw one skeleton taking a wallet out of the pants pocket of another. Two other skeletons were holding a cigarette lighter to the elevated butt of a boney rider standing upright on his R bike’s pegs. Another skeleton appeared to be scratching his butt while giving a little presentation. It was then I saw that someone had been arranging these skeletons to replicate R bike rider life.
Removing the helmet from the skeleton closest to me, I discovered it was plastic. The skull had “Fong Goo Roundei Medical Supplies and Halloween Novelties, Shanghai, China” stamped on it.
Returning to the sidecar, I blurted out, “Baby, these are all bogus.”
Cold Steel blinked, took a slow look around and said, “If you call me Baby again, I’ll personally feed you to a large carnivorous lizard.” In the romance industry, this is what is known as a setback.
Obviously, someone went to a lot of trouble to stage this elaborate ambush as a warning and to discourage any further exploration of the valley.
I questioned the scout who’d been the first to discover this elaborate ruse. Cold Steel translated my questions into dances, then drew return dances from the near-shattered woman.
The scout had seen the horrible jungle spirit cursing this humid hell. I expected her to describe Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent of the Aztecs. Instead, she described a half-man, half-fish, who squinted at her.
When asked about the height of this
entity, she described a circus midget. The creature she witnessed was far more dangerous than any feathered snake I have spent years tracking around the world.
“Does the beast have a name?” Asked Cold Steel through a dance that would have drawn $50 bucks in singles on a Friday night.
The scout replied in the saddest movement I have ever seen performed.
“That’s odd,” said Cold Steel. There is no direct translation for the name of this creature. The best I can do is El Petersen. Does that mean anything to you?”
The most fearsome hunters of the Maliclixa wouldn’t follow us past the bogus GS massacre site. Three were content to collect plastic skulls for drinking mugs as Cold Steel, and I disappeared into the deepest part of the jungle. Eight hours later, we came upon the “Temple of Despair.” Its spires towered above the palms choked in vines. It must have been 200 feet tall and built entirely of Ramen Noodle packets. Millions of them.
That was when the net fell out of the trees and pinned Cold Steel and me to the ground. Powerless to move, defend ourselves, or bring an end to the fiendish experiments of the evil scientist El Petersen. The netting was so tight that Cold Steel was wrapped around me like a full-body restraint. I kind of liked it. She wore no perfume but exuded the pheromone of a woman attracted to a guy she hated. I get this a lot. It’s like the aroma of fresh biscuits right out of the oven.
“Riepe,” sneered a familiar voice. And suddenly, there was Petersen in all his hell-spawned glory. “I came all the way to this remote place to test my latest creation…I confined my experiments to mindless GS riders that no one would miss…I am hoarding a food resource that wholesales for 3¢ a ton and still you persecute me,” said Pufferfish Petersen. “Who’s the woman, and what’s with the dog’s head?”
“Petersen, allow me to introduce my wife, Cold Steel.”
This introduction set her off screaming like legions of army ants had bitten her. “I
am not your wife,” she bellowed, turning a shade of plaid.
“You don’t know whether you are or not,” I smirked. “You were out of your head at the time.”
Petersen looked at Cold Steel and said, “Was he wearing the dog’s head when you married him? We’ve all had one Las Vegas weekend in our lives.”
I explained to Cold Steel that Petersen was once a respectable inventor in his own right, holding patents for the underwater microwave, the rain-absorbing tent, and the pocket pizza maker. But breathing the exhaust fumes of R bikes with their low-altitude seats drove him into madness.
“Mad!” said Petersen. “Wait until you see my latest invention.” Six zombie-like R-bikers carried us into the temple and dropped us like a sack of cement into the hugest machine I have ever seen.
“This is it,” said Petersen. “The L.S. Magnetron, the most unique and diabolical machine of its kind. Please note my complicated control panel.” There was a single panel on the front of this six-story machine with two buttons, one marked “on” and the other said “off.”
“Watch and tremble in my power,” said Petersen. Pressing the “on” button set the machine to humming. Within seconds, thousands of Ramen Noodle packets came thrashing through the jungle like a bizarre tsunami of dried snack soup. Many had GS riders clinging to them for dear life, even though they were dragged face-first along the jungle floor.
“What the hell is happening?” I asked Petersen.
“For the time that the machine is running, it magnetizes packets of Ramen Noodles and draws them in from up to 800 miles away.”
“Why?” I asked. “Why do you want every packet of Ramen Noodles in an 800-mile radius?”
“I don’t,” said Petersen. “The machine is only supposed to attract women’s shoes in size two. I can’t get the final adjustment right.”
“But why would you want to pirate ladies’ shoes in size two?” I asked. It was
then I noticed that Petersen had tiny feet. Ladies size two.
“What happened to all the missing GS riders? Asked Cold Steel.
“They’re around here someplace,” said Petersen. “Nearly all just refused to let go of a packet of Ramen Noodles. Some were dragged the full 800 miles. A packet of Ramen Noodles has a value of 30¢. Did you ever see a GS rider willingly part with 30 cents? They become zombies when they unwillingly part with 30¢.
“And the air missing from the tires?”
“I’m canning it and selling it back to riders as pre-stressed, off-road, super inflatable air,” said Petersen. “It wasn’t selling well until we started rumors that inhaling it is ‘Good For The Man,’ if you catch my drift.”
“So what becomes of the legions of zombie-like GS riders?” Asked Cold Steel.
“We give them a packet of Ramen Noodles and a glass of prune juice, and they are as good as new. They’ll find their bikes as they start to walk out of here.”
And so ended the strangest case I’ve ever investigated for the MOA. What happened to Cold Steel? She decided to remain with the Maliclixa, claiming she had a lot to teach them. I wanted to teach them a few things myself but was discouraged by the look in Cold Steel’s eye.
As for me? Cold Steel chewed her way out of the net. She let me go, provided I never shared these details with anyone, nor used them in my column. I promised. The last thing I did was slip a canceled airplane ticket to Vegas in her gear. She’ll never know whether she was or wasn’t married to me because we all have at least one Vegas weekend.
Did you like this story? My columns appear through the vision of the MOA and the generous support of BestRest Products, manufacturers of the CyclePump and the EZAir Tire Gauge, and through the extended kindness of the Kermit Chair Company.
WHEN I FIRST started participating in long-distance events, one of the most frequent questions people asked was, “Why do you do it?” I always welcomed that question because it gave me an opportunity to be an ambassador for long-distance riding in general and, more specifically, for the Iron Butt Assocation.
My canned response was, “I thrive on the challenges,” which is true, but that was only part of the story. The real reason was that long-distance riding filled a void. After 30-plus years of motorcycling and having ridden the breadth and width of this country many times, the excitement I once felt about riding had slowly, almost imperceptibly, dimished. In short, I was getting bored. Discovering LD riding rekindled the passion I lost and provided me with a new focus that renewed my enthusiasm.
Looking back, my discovery of this sport was unavoidable and perhaps even inevitable, given the number of remarkable riders who were members of my club, the BMW Bikers of Metropolitan Washington—chiefly Bob Higdon, Paul Taylor, Larry Fears, Elsie Smith and Tom Loftus. Sadly, some are no longer with us, but their spirit of adventure was infectious, and they were wonderful role models for
me and others entering the sport.
Because of my involvement in the sport, I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of my long-distance riding heroes—also legends within the BMW community— people like Ardys Kellerman, Ross and Jean Copas, George Barnes, Voni and Paul Glaves, and Jim Owen. After a little prodding, I gained some insight as to why they are so passionate about spending days on end in the saddle. All spoke about the anticipation of visiting new and different locales. All spoke about the camaraderie and generosity they experienced, not only from other riders but also from complete strangers. And on the subject of longdistance rallies, they all spoke about the
thrill of the hunt and for the quest for that elusive perfect route.
It’s said that you should never meet your heroes for fear of disappointment. I found the opposite to be true. These intrepid men and women were an inspiration and their willingness to help is one reason why I am trying to pay it forward.
The MOA has been around for 50 years in large part because of enthusiasts like these who are willing to give their time, energy and knowledge to help others. We are showing no signs of slowing down either, which can’t be said of some other respected motorcycle institutions. The most recent example of decline is the Gold Wing Road Riders Association (GWRRA).
Founded in 1977, “the world’s largest single-marque social organization for owners of Honda Gold Wing/Valkyrie motorcycles” closed at the end of July 2022. At its peak, the GWRRA numbered 80,000 members in 53 countries with more than 800 active chapters.
There are many reasons why some clubs, organizations and enterprises prosper and others fail. These include adapting to changing cirucumstances, providing value, establishing a realistic vision of the future, and cultivating a culture where collarboation is encouraged and carmaraderie is fostered. It’s this last point where we, collectively speaking, excel. We will always have passionate members who are willing to give their time and energy to help other riders regardless of the badge on their gas tank or how many miles a year they log. To my way of thinking, this is the hallmark of an organization that’s thriving, not in decline.
If you happen to be riding up the Dalton Highway, across the Mojave Desert or through Hoboken and someone stops to ask you why, be prepared to spend a couple of minutes telling them your story. You will both be richer for the experience.
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THE FOG WE’LL examine here is mental; I hope to provide some illumination on at least one variant of the subject. Much has appeared in the media about the “brain fog” some people experience among other lingering symptoms in the wake of their COVID-19 infections. What I’m about to discuss is a symptom of the pandemic’s broader impact on us, regardless of whether or not we fell prey to the virus biologically. Obviously, many who escaped severe illness still paid a high price. Anxiety about one’s own health or the safety of loved ones, stress over financial losses and political strife, and weariness of uncertainty all took heavy tolls on the mental health of vast swaths of the population. Those are pretty straightforward issues wherein its easy to draw lines between cause and effect. Other factors are perhaps not so readily apparent. “Decision fatigue” is one of these.
During normal times, large portions of our daily life are conducted on autopilot. We don’t have to think much about how to brush our teeth, get to work, cook familiar meals, mow the lawn, etc. These are such oft-practiced routines, we’re barely conscious of them. Our minds are usually on other things while our bodies go through the motions. We’re daydreaming about vacation, planning a sequence of errands for later, worrying about a report deadline, listening to music or a podcast. There’s surplus mental space, and we fill it with other stuff, be it pleasant, pragmatic or distressing. How many times have we driven to the office or grocery store and then realized we had no memory of the trip because our attention was elsewhere? Only when something out of the ordinary crops up does our mind suddenly refocus on the immediate situation. Of course, this
may happen too late to avoid catastrophe in some cases, such as operating a vehicle, but that’s another topic. My point here is novelty jerks us into the present moment and commands our mental faculties, whereas the hyper-familiar leaves us free to muse about other things.
During all the societal upheavals and practical gyrations of the pandemic, familiar routines fell like dominos.
Working from home (or losing work), dealing with children at home instead of school, navigating business closures and restrictions on daily activities, adapting to protective health measures, changing established patterns of social interaction (the list goes on ad nauseum) all involved large-scale, long-term deviations from our old routines. Things we could have done on autopilot in the past now required much more of our attention and constant problem-solving on a wide range of levels, from trivial to monumental. Simply picking up food had to be figured out in new ways because restaurants were closed, market supplies were erratic, and the time available for meal preparation could be dramatically different than before. Even folks whose schedules grew more relaxed (e.g., minus their long commutes) still had to deal with extensive external changes requiring numerous forced adjustments in how they managed their time and activities. In other words, few people avoided an avalanche of novel demands on their cognitive apparatus.
Without well-worn grooves to handle most of the day’s steering, all sorts of things had to be monitored, evaluated and decided anew. Not only were they different than they’d been pre-pandemic, but many kept changing as scientific guidance evolved, political jurisdictions thrashed around, and businesses, schools, places of worship, sports operations, and most every other organization on the planet struggled to adapt. Chaos is exhausting in large part
because of the constant need to triage the multitude of demands bombarding us from unpredictable directions. Independent of the magnitude of any particular challenge, the sheer quantity alone is extremely taxing. The mental “idling” accompanying established routines is no longer available for resting our concentration or multitasking, leaving us paradoxically both more tired and less productive. No wonder anxiety and depression increased markedly during this period, but again, that’s another topic; I’m sticking with the issue of mental fog here.
Many of my friends and people I see in psychotherapy have wondered aloud why they don’t feel much better as the restrictions and fears associated with the pandemic have eased lately. Sure, they’re glad to be able to move through the day’s activities more freely and have greater access to social interaction, but all that involves yet another tsunami of disrupted routines. As onerous as some of the pandemic adaptions may have been, they at least had started to become relatively mindless habits instead of new problems to solve. Some changes might even have ended up feeling preferable to the old ways of doing things, but even switching back to prior patterns we’re excited to re-embrace means applying yet more mental energy. Social skills, for example, can rust just like riding skills during periods of disuse. We’re all accustomed to the need for more deliberate concentration when we resume riding each spring. We may be surprised, however, to find ourselves feeling awkward or committing an uncharacteristic faux pas as we reenter the social sphere after a lengthy period of relative isolation. More attention and effort are required, even for enjoyable, highly anticipated changes.
At rest, the brain consumes an astonishing 20 percent of our body’s energy budget—even while we sleep! When more actively employed, this allocation can
increase significantly. Conscious decisionmaking burns additional energy-related resources and reduces the mental space available for other matters. When we must exercise this faculty continuously rather than intermittently, we typically have subjective experiences of both fatigue and unfamiliar limitations on our cognitive processing. While comparisons between neurological functions and computer systems have plenty of problems, an analogy to RAM (random access memory) seems appropriate here. There’s a finite amount of attention and “working memory”—the cognitive equivalent of RAM— available to any individual. These fluctuate with lots of other factors, such as emotional state, sleep deprivation, hormone and neurotransmitter levels, but at any given moment there is only so much a person can track and process. When we have less room in our heads, some things don’t make it in and our processing speed slows down; we miss details, forget stuff, and must resort to using prosthetics—like paper and pencil—to organize our thoughts, make calculations, or complete any number of other mental operations we’d normally do with far less deliberate effort. The aggregate experience is frequently described as “fogginess” by those suffering it.
In such a state, our abilities are understandably compromised. It’s important to recognize this for at least two reasons. First, if we view this phenomenon as a moral failing instead of a normal reaction to overload, we compound our misery (and probably our degree of impairment)
by adding self-criticism to the equation. Rather than spurring us on to a higher level of performance, the effect is apt to be counterproductive, adding to our distractions and stress. The same applies in our judgements of others. Secondly, if we don’t take such impairment seriously, we put ourselves and others in peril by plowing ahead as though we’re at our usual level of
functioning. Operating a vehicle while foggy obviously risks life and limb, but making big decisions about finances, careers, or relationships while “not in our right minds” can also have devastating consequences. This is probably not the time to overhaul your brakes, rebalance your investment portfolio, jump on a promotion, or reconfigure your family relations, without some way of clearing your mind first.
Yet there’s no denying the need to get certain things done and the unavoidable urgency of some decisions. What’s a poor brain to do?
Generic self-care is always a foundational element in mental health and should include physical exercise, good eating and sleeping habits, effective relaxation, and
meaningful engagement with supportive friends and family. Covering all of these is far beyond the scope of this essay. Instead, I’ll focus more tightly on addressing the problem of lost and disrupted routines. Just knowing how crucial routines are to our functioning is part of the solution. This makes us more motivated to direct attention and effort into streamlining our days with stable patterns. This may mean prying our attention away from the anxiety-provoking impingement of the moment to develop a “big picture” plan, accepting a short-term loss in responsiveness to achieve a larger-scale gain. Rather than surrendering to entropy, we need to forge replacement structure as promptly as possible by implementing new routines. Even if we have to revise these systems over time, we at least have some reason to feel confident the most important things will get done—they’re on the calendar! Yes, we can no longer take care of errands X, Y and Z like we used to each week, but we don’t have to continually reinvent the wheel if we create an alternate arrangement with a reasonable chance of sustainability. This investment pays off, as long as we don’t become too rigid; nature breaks what doesn’t bend.
Respite is not a luxury, it’s an absolute necessity for resilience. Closing a hard boundary around chunks of time wherein we will not be dealing with the constant barrage of novel demands allows for much more efficient handling of those demands when we again open ourselves up to them. The time subtracted is generally less than the time saved, yielding a net increase in
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productivity. This cannot just be the time we spend asleep! While the comprehensive rest of sleep is vital, we also need recreational time. In fact, without the latter, the former usually becomes very elusive. Recreation might be passively watching a movie, meditating, actively playing a sport or musical instrument, or creating a piece of art. It is walling off the mind from the day’s concerns and letting it roam in a different domain for a while. Even very brief reprieves can reset our circuitry in advantageous ways. A few minutes of deep breathing every couple of hours can feel transformative when done consistently. Such diversified activity often supports a more creative approach to problem-solving elsewhere and a better attitude all around. Taking breaks doesn’t make the demands disappear, but it does make us better at addressing them. It can be terribly hard to turn our eyes away from matters we consider threatening but doing so helps us see more clearly when we return our gaze to those same matters afterward.
As simplistic as this may seem, the more regularity and rhythm we can put in place, the better. Taking a 20-minute walk each day is good, doing it the same time each day is better. Certainly, monotony can be obnoxious, or even soul-crushing in some cases, but it’s a matter of context. When the world feels like a swirling maelstrom, islands of sameness are welcome and refreshing. When life feels overwhelmingly stagnant, this principle reverses and we crave novelty. Remember when your young children insisted on hearing the same bedtime story night after night? You may have been puzzled or exasperated by their fixation on a certain book, long after they’d clearly memorized every detail. This phenomenon isn’t so mysterious if you consider how much of their days were spent confronting unfamiliar, or at least as-yet-unmastered, challenges. The desire to end the day with something utterly predictable and dependable makes perfect sense, especially if that “same old story” involved a theme relevant to their developmental concerns at the time. Likewise, in
the midst of pandemic-related turmoil, we may find it unexpectedly soothing to listen repeatedly to familiar music, re-watch movies, and give old novels another read. At an even more fundamental level, activities in which rhythm is integral, like singing, chanting, dancing, and playing musical instruments, can feel immensely restorative, especially when coordinated with others. These provide a bodily (as well as mental) experience of regularity in sharp contrast to the randomness elsewhere.
Earlier I advised against overhauling your brakes while foggy, since missing a little detail could have disastrous consequences. However, going through highly routinized maintenance procedures (oil changes, spoke tightening, chain lubing, cleaning and polishing, etc.) can be like playing a favorite oldie on guitar when these serve as much-needed vacations in the land of the highly familiar and relatively mindless. They require just enough attention to keep other concerns at bay, but not enough to cause further depletion, and they’re easy, reliable wins.
The above measures won’t magically dispel all the ills of the recent era’s discombobulation, but they may help clear some of the consequent mental fogginess. The pandemic ordeal is far from over, even if the worst biological impact is behind us. Adjusting to whatever form the new normal takes will extend the extra demands placed on our minds for some time still to come.
Mark Barnes is a clinical psychologist and motojournalist. To read more of his writings, check out his book Why We Ride: A Psychologist Explains the Motorcyclist’s Mind and the Love Affair Between Rider, Bike and Road, currently available in paperback through Amazon and other retailers.
A FEW MONTHS AGO, I started asking fellow riders for their “stupid” stories, those regrettable moments when impulse, lack of experience and foresight, mental lapses, or, in the case of Jack Riepe, general lasciviousness got in the way of sound, two-wheeled judgement. Since the first and second installments, the stories just keep on coming.
Dale Weisman (#36764) of Austin, Texas, had a case of the stupids that still haunts him…
I think most riders take a certain perverse glee in confessing their dumb and dumber motorcycle moves. I’ve made plenty of them in my 45 years of riding. Fortunately, thus far, I’ve only damaged plastic and metal parts and not limbs or grey matter. I count myself lucky.
One of my dumbest moves can be characterized as a “fool problem” rather than the more technical “fuel problem” diagnosis. Riding with a couple of buddies, all on airheads, in the beautiful Texas Hill Country, we rolled up to a gas station along the highway in bucolic Blanco. My beloved ‘87 R80 was near reserve so I filled the tank. Fueled up and eager to ride another 150 miles or so, we took off and cruised a mile or so up a steady hill. At the crest, my R80 sputtered to a stop. Hmmm, must have left the petcocks in the off position. Well, no. After much cranking, almost wearing down the battery, she wouldn’t fire up. My buddies were ready to pull spark plugs, remove the carbs and rebuild the engine on the side of the road.
Then a little lightbulb glimmered in my pea brain: “Nope, let’s ride back to the gas station.” Fortunately, it was all downhill, and I cruised in neutral almost to the
station. I returned to the pumps and noticed that one of them had a green handle. I had filled my tank with diesel. I’m here to tell you that an airhead does not run on diesel. The short distance I had gone was fueled by the gasoline in my float bowls. Now what to do? I kindly asked the store manager if he had any plastic jugs. Nope. Not even a fuel container to buy. So, I did the unthinkable: I rolled my R80 into a grassy field behind the store, pulled the fuel lines, opened the petcocks and dumped five gallons of diesel onto the lush pasture. After completing that desecration, I returned to the pumps and filled the tank with 87 octane gas. The R80 fired right up and off we rode. That evening torrential rains inundated the Hill Country, hopefully diluting all that diesel before it reached nearby creeks. I’m not sure if I’ll ever make good on my karma debt to Mother Nature.
Jim Faucher (#58519) had his own “stupids” moment which also involved fuel…
So, after two years on my 1970 Yamaha R5 (which later was rebranded as the RD350), I traded up to a 1972 Suzuki 750 “water buffalo.” Bigger bike, longer trips, but I was still basically a newbie. I had to use the reserve tank one day. No problem, right? You already know the rest of the story. The next time my motor sputtered, I realized that my petcock lever was STILL ON RESERVE! GAH! Amazingly, I was in an urban area, on an incline, and was able to coast to the gas station at the bottom of the hill. Lesson learned and never repeated for the next 50 years.
Jim Stettler (#222931) had a memory that was a bit more grisly:
When I was 16 in 1967, I got my first motorcycle. It was a 1966 Benelli 125cc Cobra Scrambler. I bet few people living
today have any idea what $215 would buy for a machine like this. Most of my friends had Honda Super 90s. I wanted to be different.
We hung out at a friend’s garage every free moment when we weren’t riding. We had one friend, Bob Bill, who was a clean freak who believed in keeping his Super 90 spotless. One day he had just oiled his chain and wanted to prevent any oil being splattered on his chrome rear wheel.
He put the bike on the centerstand, started the motor, put it in first gear and carefully, or so he thought, held a rag up to the chain near the rear sprocket to clean off excess oil. Imagine his surprise when the rag got caught in the rear sprocket with his fingers partially intertwined and wrapped around the sprocket. Off goes the tip of his index finger! Almost casually he said, “There goes my finger.”
We were all in shock and didn’t know what to do. So as any 16-year-old would do, we rushed him to the closest hospital emergency room ten miles away. This was on the back of another friend’s Super 90 with his hand wrapped in an improvised bandage. By the time we got there, he was trying not to faint and barely able to hold on.
AS he was being attended to in the emergency room, the nurse came out to us in the waiting room and asked, “Where’s the finger?” We looked at each other and said, “The finger... Why?” She responded, “So we can sew it back on.”
When we got back to the garage, we found the fleshy finger-tip wrapped in a shop towel on the floor and we threw it out in the trash. It had never occurred to us that sewing it back on might be possible, and he spent the rest of his life without a finger-tip. Bob Bill’s life was full of these kinds of incidents, too numerous to mention.
And sometimes stupidity is the offspring of temptation. Take this story by Robert Hayes (#228747)…
Growing up in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, some neighborhood kids had Honda 50s, and they would rev them and pop the clutch, rearing them up before setting them back down. It looked pretty cool, so I had to try it on my Honda 160 Dream. Instead of rearing up, it JUMPED into the flower bed and knocked a 3x3 foot hole in the side of the stucco house next door.
Words cannot describe the feeling. I extricated the bike from the house and went around to the front to tell the owner. I showed him the damage and told him that I was without a job and broke, and that if he would let me, I would fix it myself. He was pretty cool about it and said that was fine with him. Now, there is no way to estimate how little I knew about fixing stucco, but I knew it looked like concrete. The local hospital had a building project going, so I went over there and explained my problem to a superintendent and asked if I could borrow a little concrete. (Hey, I had no money and even less shame, OK?) I had a little plastic bin to put it in. He said no problem, so I got a bin full and took it back to the house where I poured it on the ground at the bottom of the hole...and it just sort of spread out like ooze. Hmmm. This might take a while. About 20 trips later, I had the hole filled, added a little paint and voila! It was as good as new.
About 25 years later, I went by there, and the same man still lived there. We went out and looked at it and had a great laugh. I would love to be there one day when someone tears down that house and wonders how and why that flatsided, two-ton concrete pyramid got there! The answer: one plastic bin at a time. And as for why, a kid with a bad case of The Stupids tried to destroy that house with a Honda 160 Dream!
You can find more stories from Ron Davis, some never before published, in his second book, Rubber Side Down: The Improbable Inclination to Travel on Two Wheels, published by Road Dog Publications (roaddogpub.com) and available in print, Kindle and Nook formats wherever books are sold.
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THE TIME YOU read this, the annual Octoberfest event will be long over. But I’m thinking about it as I sit here now trying to update the web site list of next year’s Raider Rides and Rendezvous. You are of course welcome to join in. The rides of are free and worth every penny!
I’ve got rides on the brain, and this year’s October ride in particular, which was, shall we say, a bit different. The weather had an impact. The Devine Ms. Cindy had an impact. Dare I say getting older had an impact.
You likely remember hurricane Ian back in late September/early October, which was the deadliest storm to hit Florida in near a century and hammered the state before turning north and east spreading serious rain and wind up the east coast. It moved slowly as it mucked its way up the coast but also spread west as far as mid-Ohio.
We were all eyeballing the forecast, and it was clear that when this bad boy got to Ohio, it was going to hang out for two or more days and arrive at our hotel sometime early Saturday or maybe even in the middle of our planned Friday night “tailgate” party in the parking lot. If you lived further east and north, it would get to you first so if riding in on Friday from there you would possibly encounter serious weather. Surely, our Saturday ride on technical roads would be a doozy, made worse if there was wet leaf mass on the roads and in corners.
As you might expect, the storm had an impact on who showed up. No one from the southeast braved the hurricane and made it to Ohio, while others were having to evacuate their homes ahead of the storm. Others up the coast in the
Carolinas just did not want to deal with the downpour. Folks coming in from the east had to decide if they wanted to deal with rain all day at the event and then again on the way home. I, in turn, had to make a decision I never had to make before. More on that in a minute. But that was the teaser. As it turns out I made up my mind while backing the bike out of the garage.
My complication was twofold. First, I would be starting out east of the storm in GREAT weather. In fact, I planned to leave Thursday. Turns out that one of our group has brain cancer and happens to live near Papa Smurf in Ohio. Since this rider could not get to the event, then elements of the event were coming to him for lunch on Friday. So, I decided to leave Thursday, arrive near the guy that night, and roll to see him on Friday with Papa and Mayor John joining in for lunch. Kill a few birds with one stone: eat barbecue and get to see friends.
As I was sorting all this out, folks were chiming in about the weather. One by one they announced that they were–gasp–planning to arrive by car. There. I’ve said it. I reported this back to everyone planning to attend so they would know that some were not coming on a bike. These car folks in turn were exchanging emails, and most everyone was bringing their spouse. But there’s more.
Shoulder Joe announces he was bringing his excellent home brew. Mayor John, it turns out, keeps bees and makes mead from their honey and was bringing some. Others chimed in and they began to plan out a whole weekend, sorting out what you can do in a car on those great technical roads and that led to a covered bridge tour and lunch at the marina where we usually stop anyway. The evening carriage ride town tour got washed out, and the river boat dinner cruise was sold
out. But Lo and Behold, there was this incredible Middle Eastern/Asian restaurant on the main drag. Who knew? I mean who the heck were these people putting this together on the fly? Where did all the biker trash go?
I saw the weather forecast, but I’m Dancin’ Dave. I mean it is part of my self-image to ride in and sometimes not stay long but ride out wherever “there” happens to be. My DNA and genome has been transformed via magical survivor events starting with a crushing ride when the Iron Man, who got his name from this episode, and I rode from Baltimore to Mardi Gras in a freezing slush storm. I had a windshield. He did not, hence Iron Man. Yes, covered with snow falling hard, just the wrong air and road temp turned it to slush before being sprayed by everything rolling around you. We were on Airheads and there was no such thing as heated gear.
Or take the time in recent years when Papa and I rolled to the LD “pizza party,” and Bike Week started out at 19 degrees and never got above freezing until the next day south of Atlanta. But on that ride, I had everything electrified that could be electrified, from socks to pants to jacket liner, and I still froze.
Besides, when it came to this upcoming ride, I now knew that there would be folks with cars, and all I had to do was get there, and I could join up with them in caged warmth and do all the car-stuff, leaving maybe a six-hour run on Sunday in the rain. What the heck, piece of cake.
But then there was Michael, my idol, kinda sorta. Michael is also an LD rider, and that means he can ride hard miles and is more about rallies. Back in the day, I was all about certified endurance rides. So, there are days when he is on rides others would say are not fun. It turns out he had gotten soaking wet a couple of days earlier
out of New England, and we amiably chatted via email about how to correctly hang stuff to dry in front of a blowing motel air conditioner and the value of motels that still had washers and driers for guest use.
He signed off with this night-beforethe-event thought: “The Triumph is packed, but I’ll make a final decision in the morning. It may be the Chrysler. At 77, I no longer feel the need to beat myself up just because I can.” Gee, there’s a thought. If it is not going to be fun, why do it?
But I was packed and ready to go. I had even announced to the Devine Ms. Cindy that this was my best packing ever! I mean I even re-discovered this collapsing luggage carrier thing that is no taller than 24” when collapsed and not too wide and can fit inside the soft waterproof bag behind me on the bike. I can use it to roll my duffle and saddle bag liner to the hotel and do not have to carry it. My fancy new air pump found its new spot. The ride was the excuse to find all the wiring for my heated glove liners and socks as I got set up and ready for the winter. I mean I was READY and packed and dressed, and I was literally on the bike, backing it up out of the garage.
And then she spoke in that Cindy Speak voice she uses when she needs to get my attention. “Are you sure?” she asked. “Yes,” I replied. After 22 years I still get all the respect I have apparently earned. What she was really saying was “Are you nuts? Why are you riding to a rained-out event?” Then I got it.
I had a stream of consciousness moment as my life passed before me in a flash. You see, I knew that Papa Smurf was going to show up on a bike. But then he had to leave Saturday morning and had a short three-hour ride in the rain. He was coming off of heart bypass surgery and
had just then been cleared to ride with the riding days limited, so he was going to ride. But was I really ready to see him and Mayor John who was also riding IN A CAR?
Let’s see. I’ve got a wife who saw her husband get flown back home using a walker and then in rehab for 12 weeks and more after his Bad Lands Beat Down. The husband guy promised this spouse that he would not put a fuel cell on the replacement bike, that he would not ride again all night, that he’d get off the bike more frequently and other half-truths. Well, there was no fuel cell on the bike and that’s true.
And it came to me in a flash. There is a continuum of Ride to Party. At one time it was all about the ride TO the party and then catching up with friends once you got there. I am realizing that it is now very much more about the friends and significantly less about how you got there.
And in that moment, I suddenly understood why folks show up in RVs and cars at the National Rally, which for years seemed a wacko way to get there. Do what makes sense for you.
I look forward to seeing you down the road.
Listen to Dave talk about pain management and other aspects of riding long distances on motorcycles on Episode 56 of 200 Miles Before Breakfast, the only podcast where you can get to know the MOA one member at a time. Visit bmwownersnews.com online to listen to the podcast, or subscribe now in your favorite podcast app.
Reece Mullins, President (334) 470-7770; reece.mullins@bmwmoa.org
Brian Dutcher, Vice President (402) 289-7182; brian.dutcher@bmwmoa.org
Kelly Moore, Treasurer (859) 536-8638; kelly.moore@bmwmoa.org
Adam Chandler, Secretary (415) 894-0857; adam.chandler@bmwmoa.org
Jon Kurtz (859) 338-9801; jon.kurtz@bmwmoa.org
Doug Peters (478) 747-4718; doug.peters@bmwmoa.org
Louise Powers (805) 598-1529; louise.powers@bmwmoa.org
Michiael “Roc” Shannon (812) 322-1378; roc.shannon@bmwmoa.org
Phil Stalboerger (612) 616-2445; phil.stalboerger@bmwmoa.org
OUR MISSION Building a vibrant community, inspiring enthusiasts to connect, sharing our passion for motorcycles.
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BMW MOA FOUNDATION HEADQUARTERS
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The BMW Motorcycle Owners of America Foundation is dedicated to to building a vibrant community, inspiring enthusiasts to connect and share their passion for motorcycles.
Tom Gary, President tgary@bmwmoaf.org
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BMW MOA FOUNDATION DIRECTORS
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CONTRIBUTORS
Cover
Courtesy of Continental Tire
Table of Contents
Jeff Talbot #227778 Mark Haaland #223043
Big Picture Ivan Vicenzo #216384
Postcards from the Road Mark Arola #210388 Ekke Kok #71698 Bob Mihalics #199029 Gabriel Kern #218091 Jon Lipp #227498
News Bill Stranahan #217669
Wes and Paula Fitzer #170126, #199561
Member Tested
Mark Barnes #222400
Mark Thompson #218859 Charles Buchanan #209848
Tech Matthew Parkhouse #13272
Features
Dustin Silvey #224778
Marc de Angelis #217644
Skills
Rik Lewis #217253
Lifestyle Jack Riepe #116117
Bill Shaw #70903
Mark Barnes, PhD #222400 Ron Davis #111820
David Cwi #28490
Tailight
Courtesy of Continental Tire
Jim Low (608) 347-5910; lowjim09@gmail.com
AMBASSADOR LIAISON
Jason Olson bmwjiggs@gmail.com
CONSUMER LIAISON
John Gamel john.gamel@bmwmoa.org
FORUM LIAISON
Kurt Schrader Forum Administrator - Steve Henson Forum Moderators - Gary Nelson, Lee Fulton, Voni Glaves, Don Eilenberger
Wes and Paula Fitzer rallychairs@bmwmoa.org
Jerry Barron - South Carolina (313) 587-2740; jerry.barron@bmwmoa.org
Charles L. Buchanan IV - Virginia (920) 574-0170; charles.buchanan@bmwmoa.org
Joe Burns - Pennsylvania (814) 229-0896; joe.burns@bmwmoa.org
Doug Christensen - Florida (561) 536-3663; doug.christensen@bmwmoa.org
Joe Dawson - Arizona (480) 721-4412; joe.dawson@bmwmoa.org
Ken Decroo - California (909) 961-7762; ken.decroo@bmwmoa.org
Jean Excell - Colorado (719) 650-6215; jean.excell@bmwmoa.org
Frank Florio - New York (518) 369-8339; frank.florio@bmwmoa.org
Karolina Francis - British Columbia, Canada (604) 657-7351; karolina.francis@bmwmoa.org
Johnathan Gifford - Oklahoma (484) 919-7277; jgifford@bmwmoa.org
Vince Kelly - Pennsylvania (610) 7047611; vince.kelly@bmwmoa.org
Ben Lower - Georgia (469) 831-1021; ben.lower@bmwmoa.org
Bruce McKelvy - Pennsylvania (215) 872-4605; bruce.mckelvy@bmwmoa.org
Pete Mikolaitis - Indiana (401) 924-2526; pete.mikolaitis@bmwmoa.org
Thomas Moe - Montana (916) 919-6770; tom.moe@bmwmoa.org
Stephen Rome - Florida (850) 479-2701; stephen.rome@bmwmoa.org
Mike Secor - Texas (214) 557-4577; mike.secor@bmwmoa.org
Gary Shuman - Massachusettes (617) 513-2053; gary.shuman@bmwmoa.org
Phil Stalboerger - Minnesota (612) 616-2445; phil.stalboerger@bmwmoa.org
Thomas Van Horn - Wisconsin (608) 695-6784; tomvanhorn@bmwmoa.org
Gerry Weninger - Saskatchewan (306) 221-3787; gerry.weninger@bmwmoa.org
Bryan Whitehead - Illinois (312) 804-2293; bryan.whitehead@bmwmoa.org
Charles Buchanan
Paula Fitzer
Ivan Vicenzo
Dustin Silvey
David Cwi
Bill Stranahan
1 1/13/2023 – 1/15/2023
BMW MOTORCYCLE OWNERS OF NORTHEAST FLORIDA’S 40TH ANNUAL WINTER RALLY
LOCATION: Live Oak, FL
CONTACT: James Allen, Rally Chair rallychair.bmwnef@gmail.com
2 4/14/2023 – 4/16/2023
HILL COUNTRY HANGOUT 2023
LOCATION: Kerrville, TX
CONTACT: Mike Makowski makowski.michael@gmail.com
3 4/16/2023 – 4/30/2023
BMW MOA & IMTBIKE CELEBRATION TOUR OF SPAIN LOCATION: Madrid, Spain CONTACT: Scott Moreno (412) 468-2453 tours@imtbike.com
4 5/5/2023 – 5/7/2023
GEORGIA MOUNTAIN RALLY LOCATION: Hiawassee, GA CONTACT: rally@bmwmcoga.org (678) 838-7515
5 5/18/2023 – 5/21/2023
EUROPEAN RIDERS RALLY LOCATION: Burkesville, KY CONTACT: Ken King ridersrally@bmwmcon.org
6 5/19/2023 – 5/21/2023
OVERLAND EXPO WEST LOCATION: Flagstaff, AZ
CONTACT: BMW MOA (864) 438-0962 membership@bmwmoa.org
7 6/2/2023 – 6/4/2023
46TH HIAWATHA RALLY
LOCATION: Houston, MN
CONTACT: Mike Murdaugh murdaughm@gmail.com
8 6/8/2023 – 6/11/2023
50TH ANNUAL BMW MOA NATIONAL RALLY LOCATION: Doswell, VA
CONTACT: Ray Tubbs (864) 438-0962 ray@bmwmoa.org
Map courtesy of
For complete details on any event listed, please visit bmwmoa.org and click on the Rallies & Events tab
9 6/23/2023 – 6/25/2023
MOTOMO RALLY 2023
LOCATION: Crane, MO
CONTACT: Steve Kronberger (801) 597-1678 kronie12@gmail.com
10 7/7/2023 – 7/9/2023
OVERLAND EXPO PNW
LOCATION: Redmond, OR
CONTACT: BMW MOA (864) 438-0962 membership@bmwmoa.org
11 7/20/2023 – 7/23/2023
TOP O’ THE ROCKIES RALLY
LOCATION: Paonia, CO
CONTACT: Norm Wright torrallymaster@bmwmcc.co 303-478-8203
12 8/25/2023 – 8/27/2023
OVERLAND EXPO MTN WEST
LOCATION: Loveland, CO
CONTACT: BMW MOA (864) 438-0962 membership@bmwmoa.org
13 9/6/2023 – 9/10/2023
WAILIN’ WAYNE WEEKEND
LOCATION: Nelsonville, OH
CONTACT: Chad Warner (864) 438-0962 chad@bmwmoa.org
14 9/8/2023 – 9/10/2023
52ND ANNUAL WISCONSIN DELLS RALLY
LOCATION: Wisconsin Dells, WI CONTACT: Robert Preuss barnrazer@yahoo.com (262) 391-0550
15 10/6/2023 – 10/8/2023
OVERLAND EXPO EAST
LOCATION: Arrington, VA CONTACT: BMW MOA (864) 438-0962 membership@bmwmoa.org
April 14-16, 2023 Kerrville, Texas Kerrville-Schreiner Park in Kerrville, TX
• The rally camping will be in the Fawn Hide-a-Way loop
• Dining hall and mini-cabins in the Midway Mini-Cabin loop
• Rally fee of $40 includes 2 nights tent camping, Friday and Saturday night dinner, and door prizes and awards.
• Poker run is an additional $5 entry fee
• You will be situated in some of the best riding in Central Texas, - minutes from Hwy 16 and the Three Sisters.
To register, visit www.sabmwra.org
Advanced online registration of $40 ends March 25th. Registration after that time is onsite only - $50 at the gate, cash or check only.
Mike Makowski makowski.michael@gmail.com
BMW OWNERS NEWS STAFF
Bill Wiegand, Managing Editor bill@bmwmoa.org
Karin Halker, Art Director karin@bmwmoa.org
Wes Fleming, Digital Media Editor wes@bmwmoa.org
Ron Davis, Associate Editor ron.davis@bmwmoa.org
Jose Abiles, Associate Editor iridertp@gmail.com
Chris Hughes, Director of Advertising chris@bmwmoa.org 509-921-2713 (p) 509-921-2713 (f)
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.
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.
Membership in the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America is open to all riders, regardless of brand affiliation. Although we are united by the BMW marque, adventure-minded motorcyclists will find a home here.
Join today by visiting bmwmoa.org or call one of our friendly membership associates at 864-438-0962.
Primary Annual memberships are available in one year, two year or monthly options. Additional membership options include Primary Membership with Basic 25/100 Roadside Assistance, Primary Membership with Platinum Roadside Assistance, Digital Membership with Basic 25/100 Roadside Assistance, Digital Membership with Platinum Roadside Assistance. We also offer Roadside Assistance without an MOA Membership.
For a complete listing of membership options, please visit bmwmoa.org or call 864-438-0962.
Change of address notification and membership inquiries should be made by calling the BMW MOA office or via email at: membership@bmwmoa.org. BMW MOA membership is $49/year and includes the BMW Owners News, which is not available separately. Canadian members add $16 for postal surcharge.
2PerfectWheels LLC.............................. 79
Admore Ligting...................................... 79
Adriatic Moto Tours 5
Adventure New Zealand Tours ........ 82 AeroFlow .................................................. 85
Aerostich-Rider WearHouse 75
Alaska Leather ........................................ 82 Beemer Boneyard ................................. 77 Beemer Shop, The 88 Best Rest Products/Cycle Pump ...... 75 Black Box Embedded ........................... 87 Boxer Works Service 5
Capital Cycle............................................ 31
Colorado Tourbike Rentals ................ 73 Edelweiss Bike Travel 35 Euro Moto Electrics .............................. 85 Geza Gear ....................................................5
Helmet Sun Blocker 21 HEX ezCAN 5
Hill Country Hangout Rally................ 93 Ilium Works 9
IMTBike Tours 31, 73 Kermit Chair Company........................ 85 Knopf Tours 21
M4Moto .................................................... 88 MachineartMoto ................................... 31
Max BMW 1 MOA Gear Store ..................................... 89 MOA Platinum Roadside Assist........ 43
Morton’s BMW 9
Moto Bike Jack ....................................... 21
Moto Bins ................................................. 31
Motonation BC MotoDiscovery ....................................... 94
Motorcycle Relief Project ................... 83
Mountain Master Truck Equip 5, 79
Overseas Speedometer .........................5
Progressive Insurance ........................ IFC Redverz 77
Re-Psycle BMW Parts 5
Rider Magazine....................................... 87
Roadrunner Magazine 88
Rocky Creek Designs 21
Ron Davis - Rubber Side Down ........ 87
Russel Cycle Products 73 Sargent Cycle Products 35 Vanson Leathers .................................... 73
A rider at the recent Continental ContiRoadAttack 4 launch at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina, gets a little too familiar with a cone.
“
I’m from Medellín, Colombia, and am currently living in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while I work on my PhD in Biomedical Engineering.
I’ve always loved motorcycles but this is my first big bike. I decided to join the MOA to enjoy even more experiences on my motorcycle and share with the community that surrounds it. Since getting my motorcycle and joining the MOA and the Touring Club of Detroit, my life has changed! Getting to discover Michigan and to make new friends was something unexpected and I’m grateful it happened.
My motorcycle is simply perfect; I take it off-road and also visit small towns. Every riding mode provides a great experience. I feel happy and more importantly, I feel safe. I can say that I’m married to BMW now and that I will enjoy my F 750 GS until I jump onto my dream R 1250 GSA.”
Scan the code and give them their first year of membership free. Enter the activation code 50YRSON.
* First year free membership offer available to new MOA members only.
Do you know someone who would like to join?– Carlos Urrego #230551
