RIDERTORIDER Send your letters and comments to:
editor@bmwmoa.org
One man’s opinion It is fun to read opinions about the aging
of BMW owners and their/our motiva- tions. I have listened, watched and felt that the atmosphere I enjoyed 14 BMWs ago is nearly gone. Having liked wrench- ing and maintaining the old airheads, I felt a part of the fraternity of happy owners of reliable, quality bikes. The evolution of Motorrad has forced us
to buy complex bikes of questionable reli- ability that have to be returned to the dealership to be fixed at huge cost. So, effectively you are buying a dealership which may not be user-friendly with the bike—they will not even mount a tire you do not buy from them! Young riders cannot afford to buy into all this and will go Honda or Yamaha instead. The MOA has evolved with the market, as is evidenced by putting prod- uct reviews at the front of the magazine. These accessories are proof that older BMW riders are driven by disposable incomes and the resultant farkles that younger riders do not want and cannot afford.
I am young at heart, but an older rider
and expect soon to part with my three BMW’s because I no longer can fit or want to fit the expensive image that BMW has created. I will continue to dream of blue highways, zen, motorcycle maintenance and the roundel I have depended upon for many miles and years. And no, I do not care to drive a Buick either!
Steve Shauger #61579 Cooperstown, New York
A friend in need I’ve always said that there are two ways
get things done: one is with time and the other is with money. If you don’t have one it will take the other. Now, after our first rally in Billings, I have to add people to
16 BMW OWNERS NEWS October 2015
that equation. Our K75 had been acting up for some time before the rally. Being unwilling to pay BMW’s exorbitant price for the replacements, I bought a set of Chinese made units for 1/10 of the price. The tyr- anny of the urgent prevented me from making the change before we left for Bill- ings, so I took them along “just in case.” After several heat soaked “no starts,” the bike refused to start on Saturday morning. My wife, Judi, ran into Paul Glaves and picked his brain. He said it was time to find a soldering iron. Now the fun began. How to acquire the
necessary drill press, riveting tools, and soldering iron? A stop at the Billings info booth put me in contact with Gary Smith who put me in touch with a friend of his who gave me access to his shop. My friend Ross Isaac gave me a ride to the shop where we cut wires, drilled and riveted the new sensors into place. Three sets of hands make light work. Then we took a ride to his hosts to do some soldering. Several other people offered their help when they saw me wrenching on the bike: David Valentine and Stephen Jefferies, and Gary Berens. Once it was running I was up until midnight getting it all together. One of our campground neigh- bors, Eric Duguid, helped until it was done. We rode the Beartooth on Sunday and then rode 800 miles home. We had phone calls and emails to see if made it home okay.
None of this could have been done without the help of many amazing MOA people. They gave freely of their time, knowledge and expertise. When we regis- tered for this, our first, Judi asked what it would be all about and what we would do? When it was all done she and I were amazed at the quality of the people who attended. They were friendly, helpful and interesting. The answer to Judi’s question is that the rally really is about the people. The bikes are just an excuse to get them
all together. It seems that quality bikes attract quality people. Thanks to all who planned the event and made it work as well as those who made our problem less strenuous.
Al Peterson #193957 Kleefled, MB, Canada
Where were the roundels? The best thing about the 2015 rally was
getting there. It took us 3,500 miles from New Mexico since we went the scenic route. The biggest disappointment at the rally was the lack of BMW representation. Okay…we had the bike test rides avail- able, thank you very much BMW! But where was the BMW apparel? Not even the official rally T-shirt had the BMW roun- del displayed. Your corporate push seems to be away
from BMW and all towards the MOA. Hun- dreds of square feet of MOA apparel were displayed, none of which showed much apparent correlation with BMW. BMW has some of the best apparel on the market. Pricey yes, but very attractive, youthful looking and something that I would have brought home for my wife and kids.
Axel White #76616 Sandia Park, New Mexico
Now that’s great service! Great products and exceptionally good
customer service are rarely found—and almost never found together. Legal Speeding Enterprises very definitely has both. Several years ago, I bought from Aaron Zimmerman a heads-up display for my Valentine radar detector. The display flashes a small light mounted inside my helmet whenever the Valentine senses a
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