BMWMCQ JOURNAL SEPTEMBER 2016

www.bmwmcq.org.au

September 2016

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE BMW MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF QUEENSLAND INC.

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OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE BMW MOTORCYCLE CLUB OF QUEENSLAND INC.

The Committee President - Paul Hughes

Ph: 0409 814 633 president@bmwmcq.org.au R 1200 RT (90th Anniversary) + R 1200 GS (Wethead)

Vice President - Richard Maher Ph: 0415 111 454 vpres@bmwmcq.org.au R 1150 R

Secretary - Andy McLeod Ph: 0447 370 496 secretary@bmwmcq.org.au R 1200 GS

Treasurer - Bill Carson Ph: 0474 979 315 treasurer@bmwmcq.org.au K 1600 GTL (US of A model)

This Issue - September 2016 Contents:Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Sub-missions Deadline & Policy. . . . 4 Committee Reports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Club Venue & GM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 General Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . 11 Monthly Ride Reports . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Articles Stories and Reports . . . . . . . 14 Extended Touring Home and Abroad. 16 Future Event The Long Ride . . . . . . . 22 Product Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Future Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 BMWMCQ Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Members Abroad Overflow. . . . . . . . 29 BMWMCQ 2016 Events Calendar. . . . 30 Warrego Riders Events Calendar . . . . 31 Cupla Adverts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Journal Advertising Rates. . . . . . . . . 32 Special Event November. . . . . . . . . . 33 Warrego Riders Admin . . . . . . . . . . . 34 BMWMCQ Christmas function. . . . . . 35

Editor - Dave Hepburn Ph: 0422 080 524 editor@bmwmcq.org.au R 1200 RT

Records Officer - Craig Brennan Ph: 0422 907 934 regalia@bmwmcq.org.au R 100 RT

Regalia - Julia Townsend Ph: 0416 112 620 regalia@bmwmcq.org.au Triumph Sprint GT SE

Tools/Spares - Geoff Hodge

Ph: 0413 180 101 tools@bmwmcq.org.au F 800 GT + R 51/3

Tools/Spares - Bill Luyten Ph: 0438 123 747 tools@bmwmcq.org.au R1150 Rockstar - R1200 GS LC

Advertisers Cafe2U - P10 Good Wool Store - P.32 HydroTac(R) Lenses - P.28 Motorcycle Adventure Products P.28 Morgan and Wacker- Inside Front Cover

Munich Motorcycles - P.32 Northside Motorcycles - P.11 Motorline Motorrad- Back Cover

On The Cover...

Tony and Jane negotiating road space with a Road Train....give them plenty of room as they sway a lot.....

Events - Cindy Bennett

Ph: 0401 610 671 events@bmwmcq.org.au F 700 GS

I T Officer - Garry Hilton

Ph: 0412 045 356 admin@bmwmcq.org.au R 1200 GS & Honda Cross Tourer

Sub Committee • Dealer Liaison / Advertising - Don Grimes Ph: 0411 601 372 • Forum Moderator - Garry Hilton

Club Details BMW Motorcycle Club of Queensland Inc.

ABN 30 351 243 651

Address all correspondence to: The Secretary PO Box 3669 South Brisbane QLD 4101 Monthly meetings are held on the first Thursday of the month at the:

Moreton Bay Sports Club, 175 Boundary St., Tingalpa

A Club Ride is usually held on the first Sunday after the monthly meeting.

BMWMCQ AIMS The objectives of the BMWMCQ are to increase the enjoyment of motorcycling by: 1. Improving the opinion of the public towards motorcycling in general and associated members particularly, by careful, courteous, considerate riding, especially when riding with the Club, and rendering assistance to all road users in difficulty.

2. Improving the service and availability of spare parts for BMWs in Queensland using the advantage of a united effort.

3. Decreasing maintenance and running costs by mutual assistance on mechanical problems.

4. Organising day trips, tours and outings.

5. Encourage and support Regional Ride Groups 6. Affiliation with other clubs/associations where such affiliation would be of mutual benefit.

DISCLAIMER The views and opinions expressed in this Journal are those of each contributor and are not necessarily shared by the Editor, management, and / or membership of the BMWMCQ. The Editor reserves the right to refuse any advertising or delete any material which could be considered or interpreted as questionable, libellous or offensive, without consultation.

WEB SITE Visit: www.bmwmcq.org.au

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Editorial

SEPTEMBER 2016

Dave Hepburn

W

e have been blessed with great weather and a number of events that has made August one of the busiest months of the year for BMWMCQ. There was the showing of our pride and joy at Reddacliff Place on the 20th in conjunction with the BMW Car Club to celebrate BMW’s 100 year. We had our monthly ride, which was Maggie and Georges much loved Biscuit Run to various Dams for morning tea and BBQ lunch.

I joined the Sunny Coast riders for an overnight gathering at Dalby which was undertaken in glorious weather with a great social dinner at the local pub. Not sure what the Dalby locals do on a Saturday night; you could have fired cannons down the main street and not hit anyone. On the way home from Dalby, Tracy and I dropped in to have morning tea with Des and Keran Finch at Kaimkillenbun and enjoyed great country hospitality along with Des and Keran’s passion for all things motorcycle. Des is a long standing member of the BMWMCQ but gets little time to travel to Brisbane. Des and Keran would love you to drop in and say G’day if you’re in the area.

The event at Reddacliff Place on the 20th was 6 enjoyable hours in good weather displaying our bikes

Editor’s Report to an enthusiastic crowd and socialising with the BMW Club. The local amenities, Coffee Brisbane for good food and a bar and close amenities made for a pleasant day. Photos of the event are scattered throughout the journal, mostly to fill out the white space but hey…they are our bikes on show.

We have great articles on travel abroad and around Australia and of course the Frigid Digit. My thanks and appreciation to all who have contributed to this month’s Journal.

After all that it’s time for a nana nap.

Dave Hepburn editor@bmwmcq.org.au

Policy Regarding Submissions

Submissions to the journal should be relevant to BMW motorcycles and or to the BMWMCQ and its activities. Articles or Letters to the Editor may or may not be published if space does not permit or if the content of the submission and or letter is not considered to be of interest to members or not in the interests of the Club, our sponsors or advertisers.

Members are encouraged to use this, our journal; to express views, float ideas or make inquiries of other Club members on technical, organisational or other matters which may benefit the Club and its associates.

Submissions should be kept to a reasonable length and maybe edited or published in part only, if the Editor considers it necessary.

Note – submissions close on the 15th of each month!

BMWMCQ Committee

Submissions for the next journal (OCTOBER‘16 Edition) close on the 15th SEPTEMBER 2016 - just soes y’all know.......

Committee Reports

SEPTEMBER 2016

Paul Hughes

S

omeone very bright once said; “Working is a lousy way of making a living”. I concur with that. Work is taking up valuable touring time. Oh well such is life…. For the moment.

Club activities have been crazy busy.

We had a great weekend in Killarney at the Bonfire night. Great night out and the pub is a wonderful place to stay. Rumour has it the club is entering in next year’s competition for the most unique bonfire.

The Frigid Digit (our signature BMW 100 year event) was a huge success. A very big thanks to Gary and Graham for great organisation, wonderful location and fun ride. I really enjoyed this camping weekend. I am looking forward to the next one.

The biscuit ride was, as always, a huge success and our thanks go out to Maggie and George for a wonderful day. Those ginger cookies are to die for. Great to see so many more senior members coming out of the woodwork back into the activities. The more the merrier.

The joint exhibition in the city with the BMW car club was an interesting day. We were a little hamstrung by space and red tape, but the show was excellent and the venue easy to spend a day in. Thanks to Richard for all his hard work on this. Not the easiest thing these inter club events. Well-done Richard.

Of course the usual social nights are still very well attended and we hope more people will come along in the future.

Looking forward, we have moved the club ride for September to the Saturday (Sept 3) to avoid Father’s Day. It will be a Morning Ride with a difference, starting at the Pitt Stop for breakfast.

We then have the first rendition of our “Long Ride” the following weekend, centering around a finish on the Saturday night at Tenterfield. Hope lots of members will visit the event even if they can’t be involved in the Long Ride challenge. Les and Kelly are putting a lot of good work into this and it promises to be a great weekend.

A little bit further out, we have our back to the Bush in late October. Saturday night in Hervey Bay will be a blast. Great riding and socialising on these events is guaranteed.

After that, the Christmas Party is shaping up to be bigger than ever. We recently inspected the venue (Wine College… Hard work story here…lol). We are going to have a great night. Bookings and the collection of monies are currently taking place. Make sure you get in by the closing date (Oct 18), as we will not be able to extend this. Not paid, can’t come unfortunately. Rumour

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President’s Report has it our Life members are putting together a ride to this special event. Stay tuned.

Dave our Editor continues to excel and some new features of our EBook version are about to be released.

Will be interesting to see how this progresses. The visuals, graphic and all round presentation are far superior to anything we have had before. Well-done Dave.

The committee is working on a couple of new ideas and events and I hope next month to be able to announce one of them at least. More activities, more choices, more fun.

Hope to catch you at least one of next month’s many activities.

See you all on the road. Ride safe.

Cheers Paul

Paul Hughes president@bmwmcq.org.au

BMWMCQ - General Meeting First Thursday of each month at Moreton Bay Sports Club

T

he MBSC is located at 175 Boundary St., Tingalpa. Boundary Street has a set of traffic lights at its intersection with Wynnum Road to allow an easy entry and exit.

MBSC is a short distance from the Gateway Motorway, North or South. The MBSC is at the very end of Boundary Street so keep going until you see the sports fields and the parking areas.

Web address for the Moreton Bay Sports Club is - www.mbsportsclub.com.au

I look forward to seeing you all there for our next General Meeting on Thursday 6th October 2016

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SEPTEMBER 2016

Richard Maher

I

have discovered the best way to keep the motorcycle you are riding clean.

Use someone else’s motorcycle!

Someone who is happy to keep their motorcycle clean and tidy and wash it on a regular basis will always be a friend of mine!

Enter BMWMCQ Life Member Noel Sopeer.

Noel keeps his motorcycles clean and he was the obvious choice when I was thinking about what vehicle to take to the Joint BMW Car and Motorcycle Show. Clearly it was not going to be my motorcycle!

Polished wheels notwithstanding, an R1100R covered in various dust/bug biological samples representative of Central Australia, wouldn’t fit the criteria for show or shine.

Noels very clean ’86 K100 is far more appealing, so I made the call and the offer was accepted. I did offer Noel the chance to take the 1100R home for a few days, strangely the offer was politely declined. Oh well, plenty of room in the garage to fit another ‘bike for a few days.

The first time I threw a leg over the K bike was on the morning of the show. I have not ridden a K for quite a few years and I forgot how smooth they are and so easy to ride. This one sounds great as well. The exhaust has been modified, and the note is perfect to keep the brain dead in their cars looking around to see where the noise is coming from. I reckon K’s are a great dirt road cruiser and they are the perfect bike to cover a lot of miles in a short time.

My 1100R is a bit of a thug and the urge to give it the “berries” on a regular basis is always lurking close to the surface. Noel’s K is just happy to whistle along quietly. You are aware when riding the K ‘bike that it will quickly get motivated if you give it a fistful of throttle, motivated enough to annoy the youngsters on Jap sports bikes.

With the K, the urge to cruise along is greater than the urge to be a lunatic in the traffic.

Noels K only has 153k on the meter so it should see him through to the middle of this century without any major issues.

Clubbie Geoff Hamon picked up a beauty recently, a K1100LTSE for not very much money.

Geoff’s new bike is clean and took very little to get on the road and he has a very satisfied look on his face.

Perhaps I’m getting older and more mature; I found the K bike strangely appealing again. I really enjoyed the day out on Noels bike. It was so easy to see out of the mirrors on the motorway I could see hundreds of metres behind me. Can’t do this on the

Committee Reports Vice President’s Report 1100R, everything is fuzzy from idle to triple figures.

This is a big bonus on a K bike as you can see who is lurking back there ready to throw on the flashing lights and lecture you for speeding safely.

Its comfy, and economical, it handles well.

The plain K100’s wheel-stand really easily.

You’d have to have a big dose of protein powder to stand a K100RT up on the back wheel and I’d sure as heck like to see someone give it a go! I try not to wheel-stand motorcycles anymore since a clubbie rang and left a message on my home phone cheerily saying how he’d seem me roost the front wheel through an intersection one evening. The Missus was not impressed!

With both of them sitting in the garage next to each other, the K bike is really putting the R bike to shame in the neat and tidy stakes.

I wonder if BMW make them like an oven, with a self-cleaning option?

That would save me hearing the same old crap from you guys!

Richard Maher vpres@bmwmcq.org.au

Committee Reports

SEPTEMBER 2016

Bill Carson

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Treasurer’s Report

H

i everyone. Everything is looking good from a finance point this month. For July, we received $2,926.18 in income and had $2,824.11 in expenses.

Our accounts in July ended with $3,276.83 in checking and $18,461.93 in our BOQ

Investment account.

We discovered in July that we could no longer take credit cards written on application forms and deposit them directly into our BOQ account. We believe that by adding the CVV number on the back of the card to our form, we will be able to accept credit cards using PayPal here. We are in the process of purchasing a PayPal here device to be able to take credit cards directly.

I’ve had some people mention difficulty with paying for their membership on our website. I have to admit, it’s not intuitively obvious where to use PayPal to pay for it. After you logon to the website, if you select ‘My Details’ under Member Menu on the left side of the page, you can then select ‘Subscription’. This will bring up the area to renew your membership.

That’s all for this month…

Bill Carson treasurer@bmwmcq.org.au

T

Photo Competition

here will be a photo competition as a part of this year’s BMWMCQ Christmas Party. Prizes are on offer in the following 3 categories and the photos must include a BMW bike of course!

1. Best photo taken on a Club Ride or at a Club Event 2. Best travel photo

3. Funniest/quirkiest photo

The Rules: Maximum of 3 photos per entrant

• Please include a description of the photo when submitting • Closing date is 30th November 2016

• Committee members are not eligible to enter • To enter, email photos to events@bmwmcq. org.au preferably in high resolution

• An independent expert judge will decide the winners.

All entries will be displayed on the night on a rolling screen presentation.

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Committee Reports

SEPTEMBER 2016

Cindy Bennett

Events Officer’s Report

W

ell Spring is here, prime riding weather! Hopefully you have all seen the invite to the Christmas Party on 3rd December and please note that payment is due by 18th October. It will be a fun event out at Stanthorpe and this year a Photo Competition will be a highlight – please see the flyer in this month’s Journal for all the info and start snapping!

September events include a “city meets country” monthly club ride out to Blackbutt being led

by Bruce. Then the Long Ride to Tenterfield organised

by Les and Kelly on 10th September as well as our coffee morning, German Club and Hamilton Hotel social events. Also there is the opportunity join the Warrego Riders at the Go Karts at Nanango on the 18th September. For all the up to date information please keep an eye on the Facebook page and Events calendar on the Club website.

The final B2B for the year is to Hervey Bay (Back to the Beach!) on 22nd to 23rd October. Dinner on the Saturday night is at the Hervey Bay Boat Club, and accommodation options are Quarter Decks Retreat or Mantra Hervey Bay. Please come and join in the fun!

Cindy Bennet events@bmwmcq.org.au

Julia Townsend

H

Regalia Officer’s Report

ello Everyone, As I have suspected for a long time, riding in the dirt is a lot of fun.

I have just enjoyed and introductory lesson to dirt riding organised by our fantastic events coordinator, Cindy Bennett. The implications are of course, enormous. Not only will I need another bike but a whole new set of riding gear.

Surely it’s not too soon to write a letter to Santa?

As usual, I will have my display at the monthly club meeting so come and see me or send me an email. regalia@bmwmcq.org.au or phone me 0416 112 620.

Julia Townsend regalia@bmwmcq.org.au

NAME BADGES $15.00 LADIES MAGENTA VIBE TEE (Embroidered with club logo) $30.00

MEN’S ELITE NAVY POLO (Embroidered with club logo) $40.00

MEN’S ELITE GREY POLO (Embroidered with club logo) $40.00

Committee Reports Bill Luyten & Geoff Hodge

Spares Sale at Cost Price

T

he Committee has decided to not continue selling spares so when our excisting spares are gone they will not be replaced. Tools however will contiue to be made available.

The Club would like to hold at least 2 Service Days in the coming year subject to finding a suitable venue with the space and facilities to perform maintenance on our beloved motorcycles.

If there are any suggestions for a venue, please contact me or Geoff Hodge and we will follow it up.

Contact Tools Officers: Bill Luyten 0438 123 747 (wluyten@bigpond.net.au) or Geoff Hodge 0413 180 101 (ggilps2@optusnet.com.au)

Club Tool Loan: $25 deposit. Tools and spare can be picked up or brought along to the next meeting or Club ride.

Below is List of the club’s special tools and Repair Manuals, if what you need is not listed please check the website for a complete listing.

Bill Luyten and Geoff Hodge spares@bmwmcq.org.au

Tools Hire / Spares / Sales Special Tools Twinmax electronic carburettor balancer (Twin BMW engines) Vacuumate (electronic synchronisation of throttle valves up to 4 cylinders) Throttle Valve synchronizing gauges up to 4 cylinders (vacuum mechanical) Clutch alignment shafts (3 sizes) Compression gauge (cylinder pressure) Steering head bearing puller and seating tool Gearbox output flange puller GS-911 Wi-Fi Diagnostic tool (Wi-Fi and USB Version)

SEPTEMBER 2016

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Tool’s Report Repair Manuals Workshop manual - K75/100 (Haynes) Workshop manual - K100 BMW Workshop manual - R1100 Haynes Workshop manual - R45, R65, R65LS BMW Workshop manual - R45, R65 BMW Workshop manual - R60/7, R75/7, R80/7, R100/7, R100S/RS BMW Workshop manual - R60/6, 75/6, 90/6, 90S Workshop manual - R80GS BMW Workshop manual - R50/5, 60/5_6, R75/5_6, R90/6, R90S (Haynes) Workshop manual - R45, R50, R60, R65, R75, R80, R90, R100 (Haynes) Workshop manual - K1200RS/GT/LT, ‘98-’10 (Clymer) Workshop manual - K1200LT DVD BMW Workshop manual - R Series Oil Head DVD BMW

Spares (Cost Price Sale)

Bearings K Series front wheel x2 $8.00ea R Series Wheel/Swingarm (Not Mono) x6 $14.00ea Filters - Air K Series K1200 (LX628) x2 $16.00ea

Filters - Fuel K & R Series in line (KL145) x4 $20.00ea

Brake Pads 520HF - R60, R75, R80, R100 x1 $27.00 ea G391ST - K1/100RS/1100LT, RS/1200RS, LT R80R, C/850/100/1100/1150 x6 $43.00 ea Spark Plugs XR5DC (K/R1100) Bosch Super x2 $10.00ea

Tools/O Rings Oil filter removing tool - (OCS 1) K/R4V x5 $13.00ea K Series Oil Filter ‘O’ Ring x6 $2.00ea R Series Airhead Oil Filter Cover ‘O’ Ring R80/100 x3 $2.00ea R Series Oilhead Fuel Sender ‘O’ Ring x3 $3.00ea

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SEPTEMBER 2016

Craig Brennan

M

ore changes are going on in Records. The credit card payments issue is well underway towards a resolution and we expect it to be up and running in the near future. Thank you to the Committee for this, and especially to Bill for his enormous efforts here.

I must also thank Bill with his help with the Records laptop and reports which have greatly helped in improving our record keeping and emailing processes to help to keep you all informed as much as possible. I highly recommend that everybody have a Bill at home, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without one.

On the magazine front, could you all please ensure your email addresses are up to date so that we can send you the link to the E-book version of the club magazine. We would like all of you too have access to the e-mag to check it out and let us know what you think of it. The feedback to date has been very positive.

I’m certainly enjoying it.

Committee Reports Records Officer’s Report

More Frigid Digit Photos

Time for me to go now, I’ve got bike riding to do.

Craig Brennan records@bmwmcq.org.au

Want to serve award winning coffee at your next event ?

Book a Cafe2U mobile cafe today by calling Kieran Doyle. #1093

Cafe2U Australia Redlands 0409 815 984

Remember members, if you ‘log-in’ to our Club’s Web Site you’ll find our journal is in full colour -take a moment and have a look @ www.bmwmcq.org.au ‘Viewing Tips’ - PDF is best viewed as a Two Page Spread - Click on ‘View/Page Display and tick ‘Two Page Scrolling’Be sure both - ‘Show Gaps Between Pages’ and ‘Show Cover Page In Two Page Vew’ Are Ticked

Committee Reports Andy McLeod

SEPTEMBER 2016

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Secretary’s Report

Minutes of the BMWMCQ General Meeting Thursday 04/08/2016 Meeting Opened: 7.34pm Attendance: 31 Apologies: G & L Healy, Howard Wilson, Bill Carson, Greg Gaffney Minutes of Previous Meeting: Accepted D. Hepburn. Seconded Mark.

Visitors: Matt from Eagle Rider will give a presentation on their tour packages.

Returning Members: Tony Cuffe & Mick Stokes Events: Biscuit Run this Saturday.

BMW 100yr Exhibition on the 20th

Coffee Morning on the 20 Aug at Indian Motorcycle Museum, Geebung.

Xmas Party numbers needed for final arrangements.

Life Members ride to Stanthorpe on the 1st weekend in Dec.

Les Fitzpatrick’s long ride.

October/November: Back to the Bush @ Hervey Bay

November 11 - 14: National Rally in Bright.

Regalia: There is a sample of a long sleeve T shirt for viewing. See me after the meeting for any more regalia.

Secretary: Members renewal forms, Magazines from NWTC. Records: Credit card payment slips are no longer accepted by the BOQ. They won’t accept C.C. payments without the CVV number. Reminders for overdue fees will be sent out. New payment methods are outlined on the new membership application form.

Editor: The magazine is on the web and as an E-book. The hard copy of the mag has had some printing hiccups.

Will someone who goes on the biscuit run, please send me a report.

Treasurer: We have cancelled our DDH Graham Account and moved the money into a BOQ 6 month fixed term account. P & L for the last month, $2926 Inc. $2824 exp, $102 in the black.

Vice President: Australia Post is still a pain to deal with. Extra mags from last month to records. Three club banners have been made.

Tools: Left over spares are available for sale. We’re looking for an under-cover venue to hold a service day.

President: Frigid Digit: We all had a great time. Many thanks to Ian Healey and Richie Benaud.

The E-book link for the mag has been sent out. You don’t have to down load it. The National Rally is on 11 -13 Nov in Bright. Our accounts have been audited and lodged with fair trading. Aug 20th 100 years of BMW Display in Brisbane City.

Maggie: Biscuit Ride this Sunday. Lake Baroon 10.00am. It’s the last turn on the left before Montville. Bring a container for leftovers. Then it’s a picnic lunch at Lake Boramba, near Imbil. Bring a Thermos of hot water, a cup and spoon.

General Business: Toddy has a friend who wants to sell their riding gear. See Toddy for more info. German Club – week after the Coffee Club. Killarney Bonfire night was so good that perhaps the club could have its own bonfire display. Toddy is investigating designs. The Ellespeed Dust Hustle is on the 3rd Sept.

Raffle: 1st – Tony Cuffe, 2nd – Mark Gilbert, 3rd – tall guy with specs, 4th – Howard Wilson.

Closed: 20.34 Eagle Rider presentation followed.

Advertisers - Do

you have any unusual or difficult service stories to tell? Remember the Dirty Wheels column that used to be in Wheels Magazine? You do! Great, send them in. Have any new products to tell people about? If you send me a short editorial style article simply listing the product and benefits, I will (space permitting) publish as close to your ad as possible with a pointer to your ad. Keep it brief and informative is all I ask. Ed.

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SEPTEMBER 2016

BMWMCQ The Great Biscuit Ride!

Monthly Ride Report August 2016

ugust is the highlight for many ... the EKKA comes to town, Spring is close, and it’s Biscuit time!

Maggie and George have a well-deserved reputation for their annual biscuit ride that they have been organising, and baking for, for about a decade.

This year heralded a few changes, with Maggie selling her Cake and Icing business after 40+ years, and not having access to her commercial kitchen!

Also, the ride is always really, really, really well attended. 50 plus motorbikes following George became a bit cumbersome.

So George chose not one, but two dams, for the morning, and lunch venue, all BYO, and it was up to each of us to plan a route to get to morning tea at North Pocket, Lake Baroon which is around the back of Maleny, pardon, North West of Maleny, south of Flaxton.

Finding your own way there worked relatively well for those of us who have a GPS, but proved a little challenging for those without. Lucky for Don and Kate, they arrived just in time to get a few biscuits as they were being packed away.

The tide was out at the dam which was a pity.

I expected dams in the vicinity to be brimming, given the high rainfall of late. A young magpie was well trained in securing dropped crumbs!

It was excellent to see quite a few people we have not seen for months and years come along to the morning tea. Please keep attending rides, peeps.

The photographs posted on FB attest to the range and volume of biscuits, slices and all things yummy. Question: Did George fit this all on his 98 Premium GS? The mind boggles.

A special thanks to Maggie for including a range of low sugar, GF baked goods, much appreciated.

Many people managed to squeeze themselves back into their jackets and head for home on a sugar high. The rest of us rested our groaning tummies on the tank and headed for the second dam of the day, Lake Borumba. For those who like statistics, it is classified as a reservoir, with a rock-fill embankment dam with a spillway over Yabba Creek. And where is this 5km dam that is 34metres deep ... it’s in Conondale National Park, north of Jimna.

There was a lovely big area for us to make ourselves comfortable and use the free BBQ’s. And guess what? There were still some treats left over from morning tea, so just to be helpful to George and Maggie; we emptied all the containers, so George needed less of his Premium 98 fuel to get home. The rest of us used more fuel and rubber getting our bodies home.

The ride home was exhilarating and I was pleased as punch to overtake Bernie and Gerry “as if they were standing still” but my joy was dimmed when I found out later that Gerry was very uncomfortable

and unwell! Hope you are completely well and recovered, Jerry. It was pretty exciting overtaking Bernie!

Once in a lifetime experience me thinks.

Many thanks to Maggie and George for the planning and baking effort.

Bring on 2017 Biscuit Ride!

Alison Sayce Photos by Jimmy Campey

Monthly Ride Report - Photos

SEPTEMBER 2016

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R51/3 Article from Geoff Hodge R51/3 Data from the BMW Historical Archives in Munich Production period: 1951 - 1954 Power output: 24 PS bei 5800 U/min Maximum speed (km/h): 135 Displacement (ccm): 494 Engine: flat-twin engine Price: 2,750 DM Units: 18, 42 In todays $ 3489.20 That would be nice if so

Photos below by Anita Wyndham

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SEPTEMBER 2016

2016 FRIGID DIGIT CAMPING

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t was dark when my alarm went off and not very cold, which is not very good if you have organised a camping weekend on the historically coldest weekend of the year, but the weekend was to eventually get far better. I already had my panniers packed, so it was just a matter of eating breakfast and mixing up a Beer Damper to take with me in an effort to raise the bar on my camping experience.

Club members started to gather at Mt. Coot-tha and there was a good mix of familiar faces and newbie’s to the Frigid Digit. With a few formalities out of the way, we were soon on our way to Kilkivan Bush Camping. The journey had a lot of twisties, straight stretches and great scenery.

We set up camp, hoisted the club banners and got the fire ready for the evening to follow. I’m always amazed with the ideas that people come up with in regards to cooking when motorcycle camping and that is what inspired me to make a damper. After the last FD Camping I decided to make a damper at the next camping event and spent the last 12 months perfecting the process of cooking a damper on a BBQ plate over a fire with great success. It turned out to be a bit more of a challenge as the campground had no BBQ plates over the fire pits, just gas BBQ’s. I rose to the challenge and the damper turned out fine.

Now Liz Healey surprised a lot of people also by making Chocolate sponge cakes in Jaffle irons. Both the sponge cakes and the damper were a big hit and were devoured by the group in no time flat. There were Marshmallows being toasted, the outer shell was then carefully removed from the inner of the marshmallow, which remained on the toasting rod. The shell was filled with some Rum or the like, and then eaten.

I tried a marshmallow toasted then dipped in some Baileys Irish Cream, but it wasn’t all that nice, but well worth trying. Next time I’m going to cook some Brownies in the hollowed skin of an orange, yum yum.

Motorcycle camping doesn’t mean you have to eat basic food.

The awards ceremony was next on the agenda, with “oldest attending BMW Motorcycle” award going to Ian Elliot with his 1964? BMW Airhead. Other awards presented were for the “longest distance travelled by a pillion” which was won by Jenny Goodwin and an award for the member who has attended the most Frigid Digits (excluding Graham and myself) was won by (life member) Noel Sopeer, who has attended more than 12 Frigid Digits.

New participant to the Frigid Digit, Trent Smyth took on the responsibility of Fire Meister and he did a fine job. He also plans to raise the bar at the upcoming Cane Toad Rally with some spectacular fire lighting, nothing dangerous he assures me. It was

Articles Stories and Reports a beautifully clear night with a heap of stars above.

There was a bit of a nip in the air, but the campfire did its job well.

We woke the next morning with the temperature showing about 2~3 degrees. A pancake breakfast was put on by the campground owners, with no shortage of bread and butter plate sized pancakes on offer with a choice of golden syrup, maple syrup and fresh cream. We all assembled outside the camp kitchen under the new ‘Club’ Banner and the ‘100 years of BMW’ banner for a group photo. I had a fantastic weekend and look forward, as always, to the next one.

Gary Bennett #509

Frigit Digit Photos - more on page 10

SEPTEMBER 2016

• BMW trained technicians; • BMW national service technician of 2006 (metro winner), Adrian Cash; • Log Book Service followed by BMW Motorrad Maintenance Schedule; • BMW software used for diagnosis; • Re-set service light, time & distance; • Great deals on the leading brands of motorcycle tyres.

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Duncan & Cindy - Canada & USA Part 1

IPA in the USA

he reason for our two week riding holiday in western USA and Canada actually began 100 years ago on the 1st July 1916 in Picardy, north eastern France. At 7:30 in the morning, the battle of the Somme commenced after a week of intense bombardment of the well-prepared German lines just east of Albert, with around 600,000 Empire soldiers going over the top.

It became infamous as the worst day in the history of the British army because at the end of that first day, approximately 60,000 men of the British Empire were killed or wounded or missing. My grandfather was fortunately not one of them, but with over 70% casualties in his 15th Battalion (Leeds Pals) of the West Yorkshire Regiment on that first day, and survival in front line duty for the remainder of the war, it seems that all his descendants won the existence lottery.

It had been our plan to attend the 100th anniversary for a very long time, and we were fortunate to obtain tickets to the commemoration service on 1st July 2016 at the huge Thiepval Memorial to the 73,000 missing Empire soldiers with no known grave. A who’s who of the British was in attendance for the service, as is fitting for such a major event that changed the course of history and affected so many lives.

Prince Harry describing to his brother and sister-inlaw what a BMW boxer engine looks like

After several very emotional days on the Somme, with visits to sites well known to Australians such as Pozieres and Mouquet Farm, we were back to England to continue the UK tourism experience that had commenced in Edinburgh in late June. Highlights had already included a lot of walking and sights around Edinburgh, and a tour of HM Yacht Britannia which was de-commissioned in 1996 and is now at permanent anchor in the Firth of Forth.

HM Yacht Britannia flags suitable for use on BMWMCQ rides

We did an England tour mainly around Bath and London, before resuming the circumnavigation with a two day stop-over in Iceland. A few years ago we’d seriously considered a motorcycle tour up there, however Chile won out in the end. Around Reykjavik the scenery is fantastic but the tourists were absolutely swarming and the tourist infrastructure is under serious pressure in summer, although I suspect that once out into the northern parts and away from the cruise ships it would be very spectacular. The 19 hour days mean that even late risers could put some serious kilometres on the road on a riding holiday.

After two and half weeks of travel with the only exposure to motorcycles being a visit to the Barbour motorcycle clothing shop in London to each get a new riding shirt (besides a failed attempt at hiring bikes in Edinburgh), we finally arrived in Vancouver to start the real holiday. After a jet-lagged dinner on the Vancouver waterfront of seafood chowder, which would come back to haunt me in the early hours, we spent the remainder of the evening trying to focus enough to get our riding and non-riding gear separated. Up early but not necessarily bright after significant time was spent expelling whatever dodgy ingredient was contained in the chowder, it was off to Cycle BC to pick up the hire bikes. The taxi ride provided some key knowledge deficiencies – why were some green traffic lights flashing and others not? What are the rules at 4-way stop sign intersections? It also gave us a taste of an infrastructure design that would confuse us later; roads in North America are often divided into East and West, and have the same numbers in both directions starting from a midpoint.

The atmosphere at Cycle BC was busy, with other patrons deciding that Monday morning was the best time to pick up their conveyance, with everything from bicycles to fully kitted 1200GS’s getting ready to head out. It is always fun getting that first look at the holiday home, with Cindy inevitably choosing a 700GS, and me going for an 800GS as the closest thing to my Triumph Tiger, both complete with crash bars and luggage. Cindy’s bike was 2016 and only just past its

Duncan & Cindy - Canada & USA first service, while mine was a 2013 model and had nearly 60,000km on the clock. Cycle BC also provided the jackets, wet weather gear, helmets, Sena helmet communicators, and a Garmin Zumo 550 GPS, so all we really needed was a positive attitude. And pants. The induction process was very short, we both claimed thousands of kilometres on BMW GS bikes so Cycle BC saw no reason to labour the point, and in no time at all we were sacrificing our future on the altar of Garmin to get us to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal to get out to Vancouver Island.

In hindsight, the plan for riding day one was a bit ambitious and highlighted a common sense deficiency; it is unlikely that a ferry will be there revving its engines just waiting for you to show up, and ferries are not manufactured by the same company that built the Millennium Falcon so lack hyperdrive and won’t arrive 2 seconds after leaving. A reasonable ferry ride typically adds at least two hours onto the riding day, and sometimes longer. As a result the trip to the west side of Vancouver Island was abandoned, with Cindy desperate to get to downtown Duncan as early as possible for the planned overnight.

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in a self-conscious and increasingly paranoid crowd outside the office. Finally our passports were stamped, and we re-joined the growing group of motorcyclists lined up and waiting. One advantage of travelling by motorcycle on ferries is that it gives all the gathered riders a chance to compare bikes/plans/accessories and get information. Stories, maps and advice on the best roads to travel in the USA were swapped with Cindy handing out Australian flag stickers in payment.

Now finally the reason for the article title, up to this point in the holiday in Scotland, France, England, Iceland, and the two nights in Canada there had not been a single evening when a boutique brewery selection wasn’t available during aperitifs or dinner, so the theme of my trip had become a different India Pale Ale every day. This is just a small variation on the last trip to Chile when it was a different Pisco Sour every day, and all our other trips when alcohol coincidentally works its way into the theme. I did not believe the theme could last long in the USA.

Having crossed the invisible border somewhere on the water and disembarked in Port Angeles, the riding plan was a simply to find an ATM and get to the only booked accommodation of the planned two weeks, in Seattle. Unfortunately ATM’s are like petrol stations, toilets, and all other services where the availability is both inversely proportional to the urgency of the need and always the other side of a busy highway, so no luck there. Naturally we were blessed with credit cards to pay for the lunch in Port Gamble village, with no mention made to the waitress that it would be tipless to avoid possible pre-contamination of the chosen seafood chowder and a repeat of the night in Vancouver.

Duncan BC (before Cindy), now Duncan AC

After seeing Duncan in the harsh light of day, Cindy preferred a night at a nice waterfront hotel in Cowichan Bay a bit further south and admittedly it was closer to the next day’s ferry from Victoria BC into the USA. Cowichan Bay is a small but pleasant town, and a meal at the pub watching a seal frolic amongst the yachts was a neat ending to day one. We fortunately arrived nice and early into Victoria the next morning, as the border crossing over to Port Angeles created about two hours of inspection and queuing and stamping of passports, while immigration officials really didn’t care if the ferry left without passengers.

Not since our crossing into Argentina from Chile last year has immigration taken so long, with US and Canadian citizens whisked through while Australians and other potential troublemakers were left corralled

Land of the free and home of the large Pick-up, in the USA at last

After lunch it was a quick trip to Kingston, where the third ferry of the trip was revving its engines and waiting for us to show up to take us to the suburbs 15km north of the Seattle city. We disembarked, and

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with an address considered close enough to the hotel in Aurora Avenue in the GPS, we headed off. The street name of Aurora Avenue created a mental picture of a quiet, tree-lined street in a suburb with wealthy young families frolicking on neatly mown front lawns, so the reality that it was a raging three lane 50mph freeway with a concrete divider for 10km that prevented access to the hotel on the other side of the road was unexpected. As we were nearing peak hour, the slow movement of the traffic luckily allowed some re-programming of the GPS accompanied by some voice commands to release tension, but having missed the first opportunity to U-turn and having to go right into the city to get into reverse, it was a couple of sweaty riders that eventually got to the hotel an hour after having first sighted it.

Fortunately the Staybridge Suites as recommended on www.bike-stay.com are a self-contained oasis in the light industrial landscape of Aurora Avenue, with free services including laundry, food, and a scheduled shuttle bus to the city. Maximum points were awarded for the free boutique IPA on offer at the happy hour drinks and dinner; I was off to a good start. Our only excursion outside on the arrival day was to Altrider next door in the hope that Cindy could find a pair of waterproof pants to replace the pair she thought she had picked up at Cycle BC but turned out to be a jacket. Altrider don’t do clothing but we had fun looking at the adventure riding gear, of particular interest were the RotoPax lockable fuel containers.

The next day was our first official rest day, we had put in two solid days of riding and sitting on ferries so it was well deserved. Rather than just rest and laundry, we did break the rest day rule and rode out to the Boeing factory to see the largest building in the world and the Boeing jets assembly lines currently producing 747s, 777’s, and Dreamliners. There are 35,000 employees at the factory and surrounding areas so the car parks must also be close to the biggest in the world. The tour was excellent and very well organised, with a very strict rule of no cameras or telephones repeated twenty times before we were allowed onto the tour bus. Fortunately the Seattle Triumph and KTM dealer was located on the return road to the hotel, so the Cindy waterproof pants issue was resolved while I got to compare US and Australian prices for new bikes with the conclusion that they are quite similar. The evening’s entertainment was a trip into the city which included a meal at a boutique brewery pub with at least four IPAs on tap, before a wander around looking at the major sights and the Space Needle.

Seattle is famous for its irony, no such thing as a fat German Motor owner

Duncan & Cindy - Canada & USA

Day three arrived with intense anticipation; finally the real riding was upon us with civilisation to be left floundering in our wake. The GPS was water-boarded until it agreed to take us to Highway 2 to the north east rather than straight east to our planned overnight destination of Ellensburg. The Washington back roads discovery route from Cashmere to Ellensburg was memorised. Our laundry was done. All was ready.

All went well in the morning and Highway 2 was a treat through Gold Bar and the picturesque mountains. We stopped for coffee at Stephens Pass (where the Harry and the Henderson’s Bigfoot movie was filmed in the 1980’s) in the shadow of a spectacular abrupt peak swirling with cloud, which made a perfect backdrop to a spectacular cappuccino swirling with milk froth. The stop was our first exposure to the drive-thru coffee concept popular in the US, somewhat challenging to motorcycle riders, with an email sent through to BMW to suggest their engineers get cracking on solving the problem of where to put a 16oz cup and how to get cup to lip at 100km/h. The coffee lady mentioned that Leavenworth a bit further up the road was a good place to stop, but didn’t elaborate. When we arrived to find a full-costume Bavarian village it seemed odd that they hadn’t changed the town name to Leavenoberdorf am Wenatchee to warn people, it looked that authentic. Tragically we were too early for lunch or to stop for the night, so a walk along the river and around the town was the only option available. Regretfully moving on to Cashmere where it was no longer too early for a romantic lunch adjacent to a homeless man’s dwelling on the Wenatchee River bank, we mentally prepared for the section of the Washington back country discovery route (WABDR) to Ellensburg.

Loaded with food, water and other off-road essentials, we headed south along a pleasant dirt road which became increasingly steep and sandy as it climbed into the mountains. As it always seems to do on our off-road trips, the temperature decided to jump up about 20°C just to make it slightly less pleasant. After about 50km we stopped at a 5-way intersection which

Duncan & Cindy - Canada & USA I couldn’t recall from the maps, and the GPS suddenly seemed to have an anxiety attack and decided it didn’t want to go any further.

At WABDR 5 way intersection two weeks before realising we were no longer on the WABDR

Fortunately a National Forest ranger showed up while we were rehydrating, unfortunately she had no idea where the road we were looking for was. She mentioned that there are lots of signs on National Forestry trials which are all numbered, but some of the more culturally nuanced local individuals regularly express their emotion toward the signs with firearms.

She did however know which of the five roads headed toward the nearest town of Wenatchee, because she had just come from there. So with dreams of continuing on the WABDR shattered, off we went down a road that was comparable with the Duck Creek Rd except with loose big rocks, in other words pretty nasty, but we made it into the town without major incident thanks to the sure-footedness of the BMWs. A bit of a loop back was then required through Cashmere to Highway 97 and onto Ellensburg for the night.

Those familiar with USA towns will sagely nod when I mention that finding accommodation near a town centre can often be a bit of a challenge. The town planning rules apparently dictate that all reasonably priced chain motels and fast food restaurants and service stations must be strung along a main road strip at least 1.5km away from anything with local flavour. Ellensburg was a challenge to even find the town centre due to a large number of main roads, eventually we stopped at a fast food restaurant on the strip to get McWifi, which solved the immediate problem of where on earth we were. Then a random cruise about the town eventually led to a budget motel close enough to the centre, and most importantly within walking distance of a likely looking establishment called Iron Horse Brewery. The wifi password of drinkbeer inspired confidence that we were in the right place. An excellent dinner of bone marrow and

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a selection of tapas-like edibles washed down with a superb IPA kept the record intact, and provided a good accompaniment to the total silence as exploits of the 360km day were posted onto Facebook by Cindy, while I checked spam emails and pretended that they were cries for help from work colleagues that only I could resolve.

Day five had been officially classified as a “commute” day as we were out of the first mountain range and onto the plains, so it had looked pretty flat and boring from 10km up on Google Earth. We’d decided on an early start with transit on a boring highway to breakfast in Yakima to the south of Ellensburg, when discovery of one of the scenic road gems of the state occurred. Canyon Road is one of those original USA roads which follow the rivers and terrain, it was later paralleled with a brand new interstate highway which speeds up the travel time but misses the awesome riding and viewing. Geologists should be heavily sedated before travelling Canyon Road to avoid over-stimulation by the spectacular rock formations carved by the Yakima River.

Cindy nails the artistic shot on Canyon Road south of Ellensburg

The Yakima breakfast stop provided an opportunity to hoover up a kilo of corned beef and hash browns while checking the day’s route and marking it on a Washington state map, as the GPS was still grounded after its disgraceful performance on the WABDR. After yet another failed guess of how much petrol to pre-pay for at the servo, we progressed nearly due east along the quiet Highway 24 to Hanford Reach national monument. We had no idea what the Hanford Reach national monument was, however one of those forbidding un-signed security check-points on a side road not on the map gave an inkling. We crossed the Columbia River and reached a lookout with a sign board, which described the fact that the old building in the distance was the Hanford nuclear reactor that had produced the plutonium for the Fat Man atomic bomb

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dropped on Nagasaki on the 9th August 1945.

We continued east along rural roads through irrigated farmland with only minor experiences of getting lost until we reached the small town of Kahlotus, slightly too late for coffee and slightly too early for lunch, but we had both to average it out.

Duncan & Cindy - Canada & USA Snake and Clearwater River junction did appear to be first socio-economically, an observation that did not crystallise until we had checked into a budget motel in Lewiston and read the notice in the information folder that the hotel would co-operate fully with the authorities in relation to drug offences on the premises.

To intense riding group relief, a natty little restaurant and bar up the road kept the IPA in the USA record intact for one more day. After a long walk with longing looks back across the river at the now affluent town of Clarkston where we assumed they probably don’t even bother having a police force, it was back to our budget motel to fully co-operate with everyone.

Our route planning for the next day didn’t need a GPS or even a map; it was all Highway 12 across Idaho to Missoula, Montana. But then, Cindy discovered a road nearby called the Old Spiral Highway…...

End of Part One

Duncan and Cindy Bennett USA and Canada 2016

Suddenly a mouth full of petrol doesn’t seem so bad

Some light reading in the Kahlotus shop explained why we had been riding through what appeared to be river valleys carved through the rock, but with no rivers. During the melting of the last ice age, huge floods beyond anything imaginable had actually cut new channels which are today’s Snake River and Columbia River which forms the border between Washington and Oregon states. A quick and random detour via Palouse Falls highlighted one of the attractions of riding in the USA, here in the middle of nowhere with only a handful of tourists and little fanfare was a spectacular waterfall and canyon, the Gullfoss waterfall in Iceland had a lot more water but with about 10,000 tourists and traffic jams which tends to make the experience a little less special.

After crossing the Snake River and passing through the town of Starbuck which is probably the only town in Washington without a Starbucks, we hit Highway 12 for the run out of Washington across the Idaho state border into our planned overnight destination in Lewiston. Our feelings of being in a rural backwater were somewhat dispelled by some little kid at the very friendly service station (which allowed us to fill up then pay) in Pomeroy telling us that his parents were at that moment on a safari in the NT shooting crocodiles and buffalo. We were now following in Lewis and Clark’s 1807 footsteps as they marched back from the Pacific having crossed the continent from east to west in 1806, and every place suddenly seemed to have Lewis, Clark, or Lewis and Clark in the title. Never Clark and Lewis, that would be just weird.

The town of Clarkston on the Washington side of the

Tony & Jane Around Australia Part 1

W

WE ARE ON OUR WAY

ell D Day had finally arrived. Departure Day Monday 4 July when Jane and I hopped on board the fully laden Grey Ghost and set sail north for an anti-clockwise circumnavigation of this great continent we proudly call home.

The genesis for this trip was the number of times when traveling overseas that we were asked questions about parts of Australia that we had never visited. Top among these gaps in our travels were the Queensland Gulf, Kakadu, the Kimberly, Nullabor and Uluru. Our plan was to fill in all of the gaps in one big trip. The first part of the plan (as much as we do plan) was to head north, initially inland to Rockhampton then follow the coast as far as Mossman before backtracking across the Atherton Tablelands and setting a

Tony & Jane Around Australia course west through Georgetown and the Gulf to exit Queensland into the Northern Territory.

The prolonged farewells and final checks guaranteed a late departure. We crossed the familiar territory of Mt Mee with lunch at Woodford Bakery then onto Kilcoy, Nanango, Goomeri and Gayndah for our first night. Gayndah was also to set the theme for this trip – BIG local icons. Gayndah is the citrus capital of Queensland and as such boasts the BIG ORANGE and BIG MANDARINE. Day 2 started under heavy rain which gradually abated enabling us to remove our wet weather gear at our coffee stop at Monto. We resisted the temptation to venture into Cania Gorge which is undoubtedly a beautiful place. Unfortunately our one stop here on a previous trip to Gladstone resulted in me becoming violently ill and shall we say that it has left a bad taste in my mouth. We passed through Biloela and stopped for a look around historic Mt Morgan.

The place is hardly booming but I was pleased to see that it has improved somewhat on the semi-squalid state I had witnessed some years ago.

The beautiful range road between Mt Morgan and Rockhampton was spoiled by road works – reclamation of collapsed banks damaged in the 2011 flood year – things move slowly in these parts. We snapped the mandatory photos in Rocky including the Tropic of Capricorn then headed down to Yeppoon for a very pleasant stay at a motel on the beach. Yeppoon has got its act together and now has an attractive waterfront and nice eateries. We even found a good coffee shop.

Back to Rocky at the commencement of Day 3 and then onto the Bruce Hwy and the start of the infamously boring Marlborough stretch. I would like to understand the reasoning of the bureaucracy that dictates 100km speed limits on roads like this that send more people to sleep causing more deaths and injury.

Raise the speed limit and stay alert I say. Anyway back down off my soapbox. We were ‘enjoying’ our ride when we pulled over to offer assistance to a rider in distress just outside Marlborough.

Col and partner Chrissy were astride a Yamaha 1200 Tenere towing a single axle trailer. The outside wheel of the trailer had hit a large soft bitumen wave buckling and displacing the tow coupling. The trailer remained attached to the bike via the crossed safety chains. What became apparent from damage to both sides of the trailer and the twisted safety chains was that the trailer had rotated a full 360deg after impact and landed back on its wheels. Some great bike control and a minor miracle had saved their day. Col had capably beaten the coupling back into shape and got the rig back to Marlborough for some more repair before continuing their trip home to Brisbane.

For us it was smooth sailing north into rich sugarcane country leading into Sarina where the BIG CANETOAD was snapped then into Mackay at the end

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of day 3. After the rain out of Gayndah we had been enjoying near perfect bike riding weather. We could not understand why we were not seeing more bikes on the road. Our southern cousins must have put their steeds into hibernation for the winter. From Mackay we turned inland along the Pioneer River Valley and climbed the tight range road to enjoy the beautiful views from Eungella (pronounced Yun – galah). There is a turn into Finch Hatton Gorge which has been well reported by Ron Durkin as the site of earlier Cane Toad Rallies. We did not make it in however as the causeway was running too much water for us to risk the fully laden Ghost. We took a leisurely back roads ride onto Proserpine then down to Airlie Beach for a 2 night stop that allowed us a day off bike to savor the beauty of the Whitsunday Passage and Islands by boat.

Ah life can be tough at times.

As we continued our journey north the landscape grew lusher and the weather warmer. Our collection of BIG icons also continued to grow with the addition of the Big Mango at Bowen and later the big Wellie Boot at Tully. We had arrived in Townsville on the Saturday of the Super Cars round – bad move.

The house-full signs were in abundance. This adversity brought about opportunity where we opted to take the barge across to Magnetic Island and spend a night there. The crossing for bike and two of us was only $20 each way. Even though there aren’t many roads on the Island it is well worthwhile taking the bike over. This is a top location and well worth an extended visit.

Back to the mainland and on to Cardwell.

Five years has passed since Cyclone Yazi did its best to destroy this section of the Queensland Coast. I am pleased to report that Cardwell has recovered to its beautiful best. Unfortunately we woke next morning to the sound of rain on the roof. A wet ride out to Tully Heads ensued and then onto South Mission and Mission beaches. Tully Heads had been the most devastated of the Coastal communities by Yazi and sadly

Continued on page 23

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Future Event BMWMCQ The Long Ride

The Long Ride

I

would like to invite all club members to join Kelly and I on a long ride on Saturday, the 10th of September 2016 to Tenterfield.

The object is to ride 1,000 kilometres in 24 hours. I have booked some tables in the dining room at the Royal Hotel in Tenterfield so that we can enjoy a post ride Dinner from 6.30pm on the Saturday night. I would also encourage those members that would like to come but don’t yet feel comfortable with a 1,000klm day to join us.

If you are coming to Tenterfield please contact me via email (lesfitz@bigpond.com) as I will need to let the Hotel know the final numbers for the tables in the dining room.

Please include your contact details and preferred next of kin emergency contact details. (I will delete this info after the ride).

The rules are simple: Plan your own route and complete it in 24 hours. Try to arrive in Tenterfield no later than 5.30pm on the Saturday afternoon. Each rider must collect a time and date stamped, signed fuel docket from a service station near your starting point with your Name, bike rego number and odometer reading written on it. Collect any other fuel dockets along the way when you refuel. Refuel when you arrive at Tenterfield and record your rego number and odometer reading on the fuel docket. Hand these dockets and a map with your route marked on it to Kelly or me at Tenterfield at the dinner. It would help if you have a plastic sleeve to keep all of your documents in for the ride and to give us when you arrive.

We will present all riders with a certificate of completion at the next club meeting in October or failing that will post them out to those that missed the meeting. We will return all of your maps and documents along with the certificate.

This ride is not a race; it is a navigation and endurance ride. You are only competing against yourself.

The most important thing is to have fun so I will mention a few relevant things.

• During your planning allow for an average speed of no more than 70klm/hr if you are travelling on highways.

• Allow for a much slower average speed if you come through the hills.

• If you are not certain how far you can ride in a day, then plan a “Clover Leaf” route where you circle out and back, then out again until you reach your goal.

• This way you can drop part of your route and still arrive safely in Tenterfield.

• The 1,000klms is only a target; it won’t matter if you can’t complete it.

Manage fatigue. This is really important. There are some great articles on the web about this so get on line and do some research, then prepare yourself and your bike properly. Travel with a buddy if that’s your thing and keep an eye on each other. Remember to ask if you’re OK.

Check on available fuel along your route, a club member on a far ride recently had to ask a passing Garbage truck driver for petrol at Charleville at 1.00am. The truck driver was kind enough to give him the fuel from her ride on mower. This cost him two valuable hours and meant that he missed a rest stop.

Don’t hesitate to stop if you get tired, Just let me know with a text message or phone call if you decide to stop somewhere so that we don’t worry about you. Please contact me on 0418197709.

Remember to arrange accommodation in Tenterfield before you leave home. We are staying at the Royal hotel, 130 High Street, Tenterfield, Phone 02) 6736 1833 but if that is booked out there are lots of other places to stay in Tenterfield.

Les Fitzpatrick

Tony & Jane Around Australia there are still many signs that the community has not, and may never fully recover. The great proportion of For Sale signs a sure indication that many residents have had enough. There are also many vacant blocks of land where presumably houses had stood before Yazi struck. The rain had abated by the time we reached the heavy traffic on the outskirts of Cairns.

We planned a 2 night stay in Cairns to enjoy a day’s riding sans heavy touring load. The day dawned bright and sunny with a ride along the beautiful Captain Cook Hwy beckoning. Unfortunately for us about 5km from our digs the Grey Ghost started to drag a sea anchor, then the smell of burning brake pad and almost immediately the brake failure warning light flashed. We were still in the built up 60kph zone and were able to quickly pull into a shady side road.

The rear brake pads had seized onto the disc. Being a cautious type I had thrown my tool roll and spares into the top box for the day ride. I removed the brake caliper and secured it to the frame with a zip tie so we could safely ride back to our residence albeit without a rear brake.

A close inspection revealed the master cylinder cap had been removed and partly cross threaded on replacement. Fluid had overflowed the cylinder. Fortunately there was a Repco store just up the road where I purchased a bottle of dot 4 drake fluid and a metre length of 5mm clear plastic hose. We flushed the lines and I was shocked to get dark green fluid out of the line rather than the honey colored fluid that had gone in only 2 weeks earlier. The slave cylinders pushed back into the caliper correctly and the sliders moved easily. New fluid replaced the contaminated muck and the job was complete. A test run confirmed all was well and as I write this some 3000km later there has been no further problem. The only conclusion I can draw is that some lowlife fiddled with the master cylinder and put something into the fluid. In all of our years of bike travel including many overseas trips this is the only time something like this has happened.

The later start did not destroy what was a great days riding along the coast to Port Douglas for lunch then onto Mossman before a spirited ride up the range to Mt Molloy. This is as good a bike road as you will find anywhere and we pretty much had it to ourselves. The day was completed with a traverse of the tableland and drop back down to Cairns via Kuranda along the twisting Kennedy Hwy.

Next day we headed south out of Cairns so we could pick up the coastal end of the Gillies Hwy at Gordonvale. The Gillies quite rightly has a prominent place among the pantheon of great Australian Motorcycle roads. It is an absolute delight but has many traps for the unwary. We stopped in historic Yungaburra for a coffee and travelled the few km out of town to visit the recently completed Avenue of Honour to the troops

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who fought and died in the war in Afghanistan. It is a beautifully done tribute to our troops and a must see if you are in the area. We continued on to Ravenshoe for lunch and realised as we set sail west that it would be months before we would see the Pacific East Coast again.

We were now on the Kennedy Hwy but more generally we were on the Savannah Way a network of roads that joins Cairns on the east coast with Broome on the west coast. The country was getting sparse and fuel planning more critical. The Ghost is good for 400km from her 20l tank with a steady hand but this was reduced to 360km with her touring load. We dropped into the Undara Volcanic NP just outside Mt Surprise for a quick look. This little known geographic feature is dotted with an extensive network of underground lava tubes that look quite spectacular. Well worth an extended visit but we were moving along.

Mt Surprise bought a surprise where we caught up with friends who were on their way up the Cape after having visited the Gulf. Note also there is no PULP available at Mt Surprise. I refer to PULP as 95ron. If your bike has an appetite for 98 then you will be disappointed. It is rarely if ever available in these remote parts. We pushed on into threatening weather through Georgetown, Croyden and onto Normanton. The town was full with many roads already cut and more rain imminent. The prospect of hoisting the tent in the high winds was not palatable so we rode the extra 70km onto Karumba where we secured a room for the night.

There was a 1200 GSA and 660 Tenere already at the hotel and we soon caught up with Rob and Col, two mates from cattle properties outside of Emerald.

That night Normanton had over 25 mm of rain and the extensive rain band stretched past Mt Isa that had its highest July rainfall in 30 years. It was also cold, very cold. Almost unheard of in these parts according to the locals. We had given up any idea of tackling the sodden dirt road to Burketown while Rob on the GSA was keen to press on to visit a son working on a remote cattle property. Col was undecided. We bade farewell and set off south on the Matilda Hwy into the teeth of a viscous cold southerly. At our first rest stop Col caught us up having opted out of the alternative dirty roads on offer. We were later to learn that Rob (an experienced enduro rider) had dropped the GSA 3 times in about 10km before being rescued by one of the station vehicles. We had traversed about 10km of wet red soil highway that was as slippery as a greased pig. Sections of this highway are single lane and road-trains use the route – not fun trying to keep on the bitumen. The road shoulders were treacherous with long lines of red mud see-sawing across the road from the caravans that had dropped off the edge.

Similar to our arrival in Townsville on the weekend of the V8 Supercars, our arrival in Cloncurry

24

SEPTEMBER 2016

at the southern end of the Matilda Hwy (Burke Development Road) coincided with a major camp-draft event. The town was full of ringers who were in town for an overdose of anything going. The associated noise didn’t make for a good night’s sleep.

Next morning under clear cold skies we turned the Grey Ghost west on the Barkly Hwy headed for the NT border. Mt Isa and Camooweal passed before we hit the border with 4,173km covered. We have never ridden a bike in NT before so a whole new adventure awaited. That, my friends however, is a whole new story.

Tony and Jane Gray Around Australia 2016

Tony & Jane Around Australia Photos of Queensland Heading for The Northern teritory

Tony & Jane Around Australia

Tony & Jane Around Australia

SEPTEMBER 2016

25

26

SEPTEMBER 2016

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

eBOOK VERSION BMWMCQ MONTHLY JOURNAL

W

E ARE PROVIDING AN ELECTRONIC VERSION OF THE BMCMCQ JOURNAL FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE THAT WILL GIVE YOU ACCESS TO A MORE COMPLETE VIEWING EXPERIENCE. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS WILL BE IN FULL COLOUR AND WE WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO INCLUDE VIDEO CONTENT. TO ENSURE THAT ALL MEMBERS HAVE ACCESS TO THE eBOOK, IT IS NECESSARY THAT WE HAVE YOUR CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS. FORWARD YOUR CORRECT EMAIL ADDRESS TO records@bmwmcq.org.au AS SOON AS POSSIBLE TO ALLOW US TO PROVIDE A LINK TO THE eBOOK Ed. Getting to know your Committee…..

Name: David Hepburn Position on committee: Editor of BMWMCQ Monthly Journal How long have you been a member of the Club? 18 months How many bikes have you owned over the years?

54 years riding 43 bikes What do you ride now? BMW R1200 RT Best thing you have done (apart from riding a motorcycle)? Three years in Singapore late 60s early 70s Security and Intelligence ANZUK Forces whilst enlisted in the RNZAF What is the most interesting road you have ridden?

West Coast Road South Island New Zealand Most handy piece of riding equipment you own? My bike

Favourite coffee stops location on a ride? MacDonald’s

Action shot........???? Naaah

Future Events

SEPTEMBER 2016

Munich Motorcycles Perth

27

28

BMWMCQ Supports

SEPTEMBER 2016

xplorer cutout

xplorer cutout our new adventure luggage setup!

Hepco & Becker have upgraded their Xplorer cases to accommodate selected large Adventure bikes which have upswept or high exhaust systems. Xplorer Cutout features a regular 40Lt Xplorer on one side, plus a special 37Lt version on the other. This setup combines carrying capacity with symmetry. Not only that but this new system uses a dedicated pannier frame manufactured in stainless steel! We’ve got your luggage needs covered, especially with our great prices!

serious about setting up your Bike? so are M.a.p. and hepco & becker Hepco & Becker are now offering Engine & Tank Guards for selected adventure bikes in Stainless Steel (as well as their proven mild steel).

The BMW R1200GSLC and the CRF1000L Africa Twin are the first up!

R1200GS LC Tank Guard has an updated design.

This stainless version is independent of the Engine Guard. It can also be fitted along with BMW OEM guards.

Increase your protection!

AUS & NZ importer

MOTORCyCLE AdvENTuRE pROduCTS (07) 3139 0387 www.Motorcycleadventure.coM.au/shop Order online from our webshop or through your local dealer

If one single donation can save three lives, imagine how many more could be saved if your group donated together. (Quote from Club Red web site.)

HydroTacÂŽ Lenses

www.stickonbifocals.com.au

Ph: 0418 573 677

If you have enjoyed reading the stories in this and previous editions, you may be surprised to know that they were written by members just like you. Therefore you can be assured others would like to hear your story.

Send your stories and pictures or requests for help to editor@bmwmcq.org.au

Extended Touring - Abroad WHEN ONE DOOR CLOSES – ADVENTURE BECKONS

W

hen redundancy and a subsequent cash windfall is on the horizon, the prevailing common sense approach would be, go along to outplacement support, start job seeking in earnest and make the cash last until a new role came up.

However, I decided to thumb my nose at this common sense approach. The post redundancy plan for me is to ride my BMW GS adventure motorbike from Cairo to Cape Town on an 80 day, 11 country odyssey. I have talked my husband into joining me on this adventure, and his company were OK (if a little bemused) with his time off for the sabbatical to Africa for 80 days.

We are not riding novices, having completed two lots of off-road training with Dakar race champ Simon Pavey (who trained Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman for their Long Way Round ride) as well as having ridden in South America and Canada/ USA - although on shorter trips. So this 80 day trip, while having support vehicle back-up will definitely be testing. I am keenly looking forward to improving my tenacity and the ability to just keep on going in the face of heat, crowds and the demands of riding in third world countries.

In fact I am of the strong belief that this challenging adventure can only make me a more valuable employee. Reasons include the popular notion of mindfulness – everyone is seeking it. When riding a motorbike, particularly an adventure style bike you have to be in the moment, your life depends on it. If your mind wanders too far from the here and now the consequences can be devastating. There are also the aspects of decisive and timely decision making, again of critical importance to staying upright and safe.

Constant risk assessment is also paramount, especially on gnarly gravel tracks where wash-outs and other obstacles menace the reckless and inattentive rider.

It is tiring after a long day in the bike saddle, but to understand the appeal I will steal some words from the iconic book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

SEPTEMBER 2016

29

“You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other.

In a car you are always in a compartment – you are a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a motorcycle, that frame is gone, you are in the scene and the sense of presence is overwhelming. The whole thing, the whole experience is never removed from immediate consciousness”

So in April 2017 when I get back from this adventure I will be in the market for a new job to which I am certain I can bring a fresh outlook and awesome lunch room stories!

Cindy Bennet

You go girl, and Duncan of course...what an awesome adventure... I am so envious...cant wait to see the photos and the write up for this one. Ed.

30

BMW MCQ 2016 Events

SEPTEMBER 2016

Ride Leader / Contact

BMWMCQ 2016 EVENTS SEPTEMBER Thursday 1 Saturday 3 Sat 10 to Sun 11 Saturday 17

7:30pm 8:00am 8:00am 9:30am

Sat 17 to Sun 18 Sunday 18 Wednesday 21

8:00am 6:30pm

Tuesday 27 OCTOBER Sat 1 & Sun 2

6:30pm

Thursday 6 Sat 8 & Sun 9 Sunday 9

7:30pm

Saturday 15

9:30am

Sunday 16 Wednesday 19

10:00am 6:30pm

Sat 22 & Sun 23 Tuesday 25 NOVEMBER Thursday 3 Sunday 6 Wednesday 16

9:00am 6:30pm

7:30pm

6:30pm

Fri 11th to Mon 14 Fri 18 to Sun 20 Fri 18 to Sun 20 Saturday 19

9:30am

Tuesday 22 DECEMBER Thursday 1 Saturday 3 Wednesday 14

6:30pm

7:30pm 6:00pm 6:30pm

Saturday 17

9:30am

Monthly club meeting Monthly Club Ride The Long Ride Saturday Morning Coffee Run Far Cairn Rally Nanango Go Karts Day Social Dinner - Hamilton Hotel German Club

Canetoad Rally Monthly club meeting Kosciuszko Rally Monthly Club Ride - Vice Pres Ride Saturday Morning Coffee Run Club Service Day Social Dinner - Hamilton Hotel B2B #12 German Club

Monthly club meeting Monthly Club Ride Social Dinner - Hamilton Hotel BMW Clubs Aust. National Rally Imbil Rally Horizons Unlimited Travellers Event Saturday Morning Coffee Run German Club

Monthly club meeting Christmas Party Social Dinner - Hamilton Hotel Saturday Morning Coffee Run

Tingalpa Pit Stop then to Dust Hustle Royal Hotel, Tenterfield Blue Sky Coffee

Cindy & Duncan Les Newstead

Racecourse Rd, Tottenham

BMW Touring Group NSW Nanango Warrego Riders Corner Kingsford Smith Drive & Racecourse Rd Hamilton Woolloongabba

TBA Ron Durkin - Classic Riders Tingalpa

Geehi Hut NSW BMW Club ACT TBA Richard Maher End of the Road Coffee Bar

New Farm

26 Mtn Vista Ct, Mt Crosby Bill Luyten Corner Kingsford Smith Drive & Racecourse Rd Hamilton Hervey Bay Cindy & Duncan Woolloongabba

Tingalpa

TBA Nigel Gill Corner Kingsford Smith Drive & Racecourse Rd Hamilton Bright, VIC

Imbil Jindabyne, NSW

Leisure Riders Horizons Unlimited

Harry’s Diner

Windsor

Woolloongabba

Tingalpa

QCWT, Stanthorpe

Corner Kingsford Smith Drive & Racecourse Rd Hamilton

Venue tbc

Italics font denotes event organised by other clubs

Warrego Riders Calendar 2016 Date

21 Aug

18 Sep

16 Oct

Time 8.00 am to 5.00 pm

Ride

Tambourine Full day

8.00 am to 4.00 pm

Nanango Go Karts Full day

7.00 am to 12.00 pm

Blackbutt Pie Run Half day

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SEPTEMBER 2016

Ride Leader

Description It’s getting a little warmer! Toowoomba, Laidley, Mt Walker, Boonah (smoko), Canungra, Beechmont, Mt Tambourine, Tambourine (lunch), Springfield, Glamorgan Vale, Atkinson Dam, Murphy’s Creek, Toowoomba – All bitumen and about 500 km for the day

A mornings ride up to Nanango via Goombungee, Hayden, Quinalow, Maclagan (smoko), Maidenwell (alternate smoko if required) Kumbia, Nanango Arrive just before lunch – an afternoon of non-competitive laps – no racing please ;) and then a leisurely ride back to Toowoomba. Home by 4.00 pm

A half-day ride with a dirt option. We’ll leave the North St BP together at 7.00 am and all meet at Blackbutt for smoko (NOTE – an departure hour earlier than usual).

Dirt loop will go via Murphy’s Creek, Ravensbourne, the Bluff and Blackbutt – Luke will add a few interesting detours – nothing too technical, but will be interesting none the less.

Road riders all bitumen via Esk, the Dams, Gregors Creek and Blackbutt.

Return will be back roads to the west of the smoko stop – great twisties, but there is 3 or 4 km of dirt – decisions can be made on the day and there will be options to avoid this if required

TBC

Reg – (TBC)

Ray (TBC) and Luke

In case you didn’t know – Ray likes pies

19-20 Nov

18 Dec

7.00 am Sat to 5.00 pm Sun

Weekender Narrabri

10.00 am to 2.00 pm

Christmas party

An overnighter into central NSW, staying at Narrabri. The ride will definitely include the Narrabri – Bingara Rd, Copeton Dam, Ashford Rd, Glenlyon Dam, Cement Mills and a whole lot more. A bitumen ride with roads guaranteed to blow your minds. Cabin Park accommodation (camping available if you’d prefer)

Keen for ideas here. One consideration is the Queensland Auto Museum at Hampton. The owner would be keen to host us and can put on a great BBQ with all sorts of salads and extras.

Can cater for BYO drinks and the museum is really well worth a look. Cars and plenty of bikes! It would be outside, but under cover. May be a bit warm, but think it could be a good option. Any other suggestions happily received and we can put it to the Coffee Night committee for a decision. Regardless, keep the date free. We’ll go for a ride for a couple of hours in the surrounding area – details to be provided.

Also, don’t forget the Brisbane Ride Group’s Xmas party in Stanthorpe – will be a beauty.

Dave

Dave

I’ve contacted the Nanango Go Karts and they would (of course) be pleased to have us. The perpetual trophy is up for grabs – won by the Warrego Riders last year. Two in a row is on the go!

Continued page on 34

32

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SEPTEMBER 2016

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GENUINE AUSTRALIAN

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Phone: 08 9317 3317 Fax: 08 9317 3359 email: munich@iinet.net.au

ADVERTISING SPACE AVAILABLE

From business card to full page, all sizes are available.

The BMWMCQ journal is distributed to members throughout Queensland and is also displayed in QLD dealerships. In addition, copies are sent interstate to other BMW affiliated Clubs.

Get your message out to people who own, ride and restore BMW motorcycles. Rates are below.

Phone your requests to Don Grimes - Ph: 0411 601 372 Colour - Back Cover

Good Wool Store Pty Ltd 49 Queen St BERRY 2535 P 02 4464 2081. F 02 4464 3344

www.goodwool.com.au

Advertising Rates 2015

$2,000.00

Colour - Inside Front Cover

$1,500.00

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$1,250.00

B & W - Full Page Inside

$800.00

B & W - Half Page

$450.00

B & W - Quarter Page

$250.00

B & W - Business Card $100.00 All advertising should be related to motorcycling in general. The committee reserves the right to reject any advertising that is deemed inappropriate, in any way. Advertising content can be changed at any time (monthly in the journal and any time on the web site) provided the advertisements reside on the advertiser’s server. All journal ad changes must be submitted by the cut-off date specified on the Events page. All journal ads are to be supplied by the advertisers in PDF format.

Special Event November 2016

B

SEPTEMBER 2016

33

BMW CA NATIONAL MOTORRAD RALLY BRIGHT, VICTORIA 11TH – 14TH NOVEMBER 2016

MW CLUBS AUSTRALIA (CA) is the conduit body, which encompasses all state car and motorcycle clubs in Australia.

Each year, through the assistance of one of its state clubs, sponsors a national event. Traditionally, this has been organized by one of the car clubs. However, in 2014, the ACT BMW Motorcycle Club offered to and ran a successful rally at Lake Cargelligo, NSW. Congratulations are due to the ACT Club for running an event that was enjoyed by all. Since that time, CA has indicated that this national event should be shared between the car and motorcycle clubs on a revolving biennial roster. So when nominations were called for the 2016 motorcycle event, our own BMWMCCVIC was quick to volunteer and offer Victoria as the host club. A small group of members convened to put this all together and this is their story (to date).

Whilst every state or territory in this great nation can boast of many fabulous locations for a rally, we in Victoria are specially blessed with options. When deciding on a destination for a National Rally, consideration was given to the following major factors; • • • • •

The options in the region for various top quality road and off-road (GS) rides.

The ride to the destination for not only our Victorian members but also for those of you travelling from all other states/territories. Remember, this is a national event.

The destination. Somewhere where there are many other attractions apart from great rides. A town that welcomes visitors and caters for them.

Adequate and attractive accommodation options for different requirements (camping, bunk house, shared cabins and motels).

In general, a fun place to visit and remember.

Bright, ticked all the boxes for our selection criteria and was favoured by all. The time of year was also critical and many factors had to be considered. Weather was critical and late spring is a wonderful time in the Ovens Valley, tucked up under the High Country. After the football season (whichever code) and before Christmas rush and school holidays. Mid November was an obvious choice.

To date, the organizing sub-committee has been hard at it with a lot of arrangements already in place. We have secured firm accommodation options and have planned out many rides, which will be offered as options, both on and off road. The traditional Rally Dinner will be held on Saturday evening and Sunday evening will see an adventure film night offered. In addition, for a limited number (based on first registered, best dressed), there will be an ‘off road training’ course offered on Saturday morning for those who wish to brush up on their skills. Part of this training will be an afternoon GS ride on dirt roads where the professional trainers will ride with the trainees and help fine-tune their techniques.

The main function of this early notice is to encourage those of you who need time to plan your workplace around dates, to plan for the rally timeframe. It is an “All weekend program”. Registration is in Bright, from Friday afternoon (11th Nov) to and including breakfast on Monday morning (14th Nov). For most, this will mean having the Friday and Monday made available for travel to and from.

We will be sending timely bulletins out to each club as well as using the BMWMMCVIC website, forum and Facebook page with notices and reminders of updates. Expect to see notices and flyers in your representative club notices and websites during April, registrations will open electronically on July 1st and close on September 25th.

A special note on accommodation. When registering, you will be able to elect to look after your own accommodation or to book accommodation being offered. We have secured accommodation based on motel and camping grounds. The camping grounds offer a range of options from tent sites, to shared bunk house sites, to various cabins that contain rooms for couples as well as shared single rooms. Some of these will be single beds and bunks but we will not be allocating anybody to a top bunk. That will be for gear.

We are looking forward to bringing you a wonderful event and very enjoyable time in Bright, in November. For those who have not been to Bright before, you will be amazed at what a beautiful and place it is and what it offers as a premium destination for a motorcycle rally. We encourage you to bring your partners. There are many activities available for non-riding partners such as golf, wine tours, walking, food and cheese tours etc….

Put the date in your calendar now. Book your workplace days off and start building ‘Brownie points’ on the home front. Bright, in November will be a blast.

Jack Schmidt 0414 460 295 Rally Co-ordinator, BMWMCCVIC.

34

K

SEPTEMBER 2016

Warrego Riders Calendar Continued

eep the following in mind for the rest of the year:

September – Nanango Go Karts – yeeeehaaaaa. A competitive favourite when it’s a little warmer.

October - An overnighter into central NSW, potentially staying at Narrabri. The ride will definitely include the Narrabri – Bingara Rd, Copeton Dam and a whole lot more. A bitumen ride with roads guaranteed to blow your minds.

November – Another Blackbutt pie run? Or a half-day ride elsewhere.

December – Brisbane ride group Xmas party in Stanthorpe, Warrego Riders function to be held as well – location and venue to be determined and advised.

There will be regular off road rides between monthly rides (as well as at least one camping overnighter) Luke and Dave will keep you posted on these.

Warrego Riders General Ride Information

All rides depart the BP service station on the corner of Ruthven & North Street at the nominated time – please be in attendance a minimum of 15 minutes early for a ride briefing.

The above calendar is a guide. Rides may be modified or changed – notice will be provided.

Members, associate members and guests welcome on any roadworthy motorbike.

Corner marker system used.

Gold coin donation for the RFDS encouraged.

All rides communicated and managed through the Warrego Riders Facebook Group – please feel free to join. An Event will be created a fortnight prior to each ride – we ask you to confirm attendance through this.

The monthly coffee night will be held at the Toowoomba Sports Club at 7.00 pm on the Tuesday prior to the ride.

All welcome to join for dinner, a drink, a chat and to discuss the next ride and general matters.

The next quarter’s calendar will be posted on Facebook, the BMWMCQ Journal and the Warrego Riders website in September 2016. If you have any ideas for rides, please let us know!

Please feel free to contact Danny Bemmerl – 0431 041 612 or danny.bemmerl@ergon.com; or Dave Pidcock – 0427 329 008 or r1200dp@gmail.com with any queries.

Look forward to seeing you on a ride.

Dave

MEET OUR SUPPORTERS MUNICH MOTORCYCLES PERTH

T

he Gray Ghost was in the need for some TLC by the time we arrived in Perth after 13,500 often very dusty kilometers. New air and oil filters and a drain plug crush washer were on the shopping list. This presented a great opportunity to visit and support one of the Club’s long term supporters and advertisers – Munich Motorcycles.

The shop is owned and operated by Sandy and husband Bruce ably supported by Brian. There is a small showroom and counter area with everything well ordered and presented in immaculate order – am I allowed to say it displays a woman’s touch? Brian took my details and presented everything I was after.

Bruce came out from the back of the shop to say g’day with an accent portraying his Scottish roots. Bruce is a BMW trained motorcycle technician and I dare say there isn’t much about the marque he doesn’t know.

BMW blood runs through his veins.

Discussion soon turned to bikes and we were invited out back past the racks of well ordered parts

to the workshop to inspect the current build. Sandy mentioned that they had sold off the service part of the business that still operates from the same premises. Bruce is working on a labour of love for Paul their silent business partner. The pictures tell part of the story of this bike that came into Bruce’s hands as an R60/7 wreck and is now 1070cc sporting Mikuni flat slide carbs and Ohlins suspenders front and rear. The attention to detail is exquisite and a credit to Bruce’s talents. The bike has been out on the road for test runs and Bruce said it performs well. Long term it is more likely to become a showpiece in Paul’s lounge room which would be a shame.

Also in the shop is Bruce & Sandy’s K100 based trike again displaying the same attention to detail as the R bike. It was now 5pm closing time on a Friday afternoon so we had to drag ourselves away. This is a shop run by real people with a love of what they do. It is very well organized and run and deserves support.

Give them a try next time you are looking for that hard to get or standard service part. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

Tony Gray

See Photos page 27

SEPTEMBER 2016

35

You are invited to the 2016 BMWMCQ Christmas Party!

Date: Saturday 3rd December 2016 Time: Bus pick-up 6:30pm for a 7:00pm dinner Venue: Qld College of Wine Tourism, Stanthorpe

Cost: 3 course dinner is $45 per head

A bus to and from the venue has been arranged and the cost is being covered by the Club!

Pick up from Top of Town and other accommodation venues in Stanthorpe.

Please rsvp by return email, payment options as per below: PayPal - payments@bmwmcq.org.au

Direct Deposit - Acct Name - BMW Motorcycle Club of Queensland Inc.

BSB 124 001 Account 10243020 Reference - First and last name

Cheque or cash – please see Cindy Bennett at a monthly club meeting.

PAYMENT MUST BE RECEIVED BY 18th OCTOBER 2016 SO WE CAN CONFIRM NUMBERS TO THE VENUE.