To the moon and back I have a 1999 BMW K12 LT that I bought new
in 1999 at the BMW shop in Modesto, Cali- fornia. I used it occasionally on weekends and such until 2004 when I decided to ride it daily to work from Modesto to Oakland and back, a distance of 160 miles round trip. As of this morning I have 332,000+ miles on this bike and have never touched the engine other than plugs, oil changes and air filter cleaning. That, to me, is amazing and it runs just as well today as the day I bought it! It has never left me on the side of the road other than a flat some years ago. That, to me, is what a BMW is all about. Its longevity, not so much speed or cornering ability. These bikes are incredible. I show people my odometer and I think half of them don’t believe it’s real. It is! As a side note, I have ridden my bike the
distance to the moon and am headed back to Earth. Think about that. I even wrote to Commander Jim Lovell from the Apollo 13 adventure and told him that. To date he has not responded. Actually, I am known as the Asphaltronaut to the folks at Cycle Specialties. Anyway, I just wanted to get this thought out about recognizing the machine, not the person who rides it. It’s all about the bike.
Michael Shelton #146301 Modesto, California
A rider in need In mid-September, with my son and a friend,
I took a trip from Michigan to Carlsbad Cav- erns in New Mexico. We took the long way going across Michigan’s upper peninsula, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyo- ming, Colorado and New Mexico, traveling mostly U.S. designated highways. While stopped on the return trip in north-
ern Texas, we noticed a bulge in the tread of the rear tire. Not noticing any tire noise or irregular handling, we decided to keep an eye on the tire as we rode. We ended the day’s ride in Chouteau,
Oklahoma, and pulled into the Days Inn along U.S. Highway 69. After settling in for the night, we checked the tire to find its condition worsening and another bulge in the tread. It was now time to pull out the BMW MOA Anonymous Book and find the nearest BMW dealership. We were surprised to find that we were about 75 miles from
Bentonville BMW in Arkansas. First thing in the morning we headed
for Springdale, Arkansas and while fuel- ing up we called Bentonville BMW and talked to co-owner Bob May. After explaining our situation, Bob told us he could fix us up with a tire and if they didn’t have one he would take the one off his K 1200 LT and put it on ours. Twenty miles later we were at the dealership and even though all of their motorcycle lifts were occupied with other cycles, they pulled our motorcycle into the service area and changed the tire while the motorcycle sat on the center stand. In the mean time, Bob offered us coffee
and entertained us with stories of his rac- ing days and his spirited riding of the local roads in the area. As we departed, Bob suggested a route
on U.S. 62 that would take us back to U.S. 412. The route was a nice twisty route through the Ozarks and Eureka Springs which turned out to be one of the high- lights of the trip. I’ve been riding BMW motorcycles and been a MOA member for many years. I have read many stories of BMW dealers saving the day for travelers. This time a BMW dealer saved my day and I’ve got a story to tell. Thanks to Bentonville BMW.
Phillip Thick #106908 Lapeer, Michigan
Leaning to the outside Referencing BMW Owners News, October
2015, “Teach’s Tricks.” “...riding slowly...or just turning around...
are easier when you lean to the outside of the turn.”
I am looking at dozens of motorcycle
racing photographs with the riders drag- ging elbows and knees to the inside of the turn. Shouldn’t someone explain to them (and me) what they are doing wrong? I know they are riding really, really fast and aren’t turning around, but does this mean physics is relative too? At what speed do things change?
Henry Tyszka #14367 Harrison Township, Michigan
Hi Henry, Bill forwarded your email to me, so I
thought I’d try to answer your question. The biggest difference between what I was
talking about (leaning to the outside of the turn) and racing (leaning the to inside of the turn) is speed. When cornering at high speeds, you lean
INTO the corner because the energy of the bike wants to go straight, or to the outside of the turn, and to combat this, the bike must be leaned over. Riders lean to the inside to coun- ter balance the weight of the bike, which allows the bike to be more straight up and down, consequently giving the tire more con- tact patch. At slower speeds, there is little to no force pushing the bike to the outside of turn. Instead, there is so little force pushing out- ward that the bike will fall down to the inside of the turn, which is why the rider needs to lean to the OUTSIDE of the bike - to counter- balance the bike. If a rider leaned to the outside of a fast turn,
it would be very difficult to actually make the corner, so he leans to the inside to counteract the bike’s desires to move to the outside. If a rider leaned to the inside of a slow speed turn, it would be very difficult to keep the bike from falling over, so he leans to the outside of the bike/turn to counteract the bike’s desires to fall down to the inside. Your next question asked about the moment that the bike moves from “slow speed” to “fast speed.” I cannot give you a spe- cific mph, as it is more about feel and other circumstances than a specific number. It is not a sudden change either, and there is some period of “neutral” riding in-between slow and fast speeds. If you are going slow enough that the clutch is required to prevent you from stall- ing, then you will likely need to lean to the out- side of a turn. If you have let the clutch out and are creeping along at idle speed, you are prob- ably just above the “slow” speed and into the “neutral” speed, as you start to open the throt- tle, you are entering “high” speed territory. That said, it is absolutely NOT a requirement to lean in or out of the turn to accomplish your goals, but it does make things a bit more controllable. I hope that clarifies your understanding a
bit. Sometimes it is hard to communicate rid- ing techniques via words with no hand motions, so if you have any more questions, please don’t hesitate.
Chris “Teach” McNeil #198724 Westbrook, Maine
December 2015 BMW OWNERS NEWS 17
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