• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

Rally Locations

Slablog

New member
Can someone remind me of a few of the past Rally locations that I don't have listed:

The ones I can remember:
2008 Gillette
2007 Wisconsin
2006 Vermont
2005 Ohio
2004 Spokane

TIA
 
Here's something from a previous post of mine.

By states, the frequency of rallies breaks down as follows (Yup - retired guy and way too much time on my hands. Besides, killing a few minutes until warm enough to go outside and attempt replacement of my low beam bulb on the R1200RT...God help me!):

Wisconsin - 3

California - 2
Colorado - 2
Michigan -2
Montana - 2
New York - 2
Ohio - 2
Oregon - 2
Tennessee - 2 (incl. 2009)
Vermont - 2

Arizona - 1
Connecticut -1
Florida - 1
Illinois - 1
Indiana - 1
Minnesota - 1
Missouri - 1
North Carolina - 1
Pennsylvania - 1
South Carolina - 1
South Dakota - 1
Texas - 1
Washington - 1
West Virginia - 1
Wyoming - 1

Canada - 1

25 of our 50 states have seen a BMW rally (plus one in Canada....have we annexed them yet?!).

No pattern showing up yet, Robert, but somewhere out in cyberspace a UFO conspiracy theorist is entering this data into a matrix. The truth is out there.
 
Filched from WBIEL

2008 Gillett, Wy
2007 West bend, Wi
2006 Essex Junction, Vermont
2005 Lima, Ohio
2004 Spokane, Wa
2003 Charleston, Wv
2002 Trenton, On Can
2001 Redmond, or
2000 Midland, Mi
1999 Rhinebeck, Ny.
1998 Missoula, Montana
1997 Fredricksberg, Tx
1996 Morganton, Nc
1995 Durango, Co.
1994 Moodus, Ct
1993 Oshkosh, Wi
1992 Ducouin, Il
1991 Flagstaff, Az
1990 Rapid City, Sd.
1989 York, Pa
1988 Madison, In
1987 Escanaba, Mi
1986 Laguna Seca, Ca.
1985 Lake Wales, Fl
1984 Missoula, Montana
1983 Lake Placid, Ny
1982 Shreve, Oh
1981 Hurricane Mills, Tn
1980 Prineville, Or
1979 Brainard, Mn
1978 Rutland, Vermont
1977 Colorado Springs
1976 Oshkosh
1975 Branson, Mo
1974 Tablerock,Sc.
1973 Morgan Hill, Ca
 
Lotsa rallies and lotsa memories

2008 Gillette, Wy
*2007 West bend, Wi
*2006 Essex Junction, Vermont
*2005 Lima, Ohio
*2004 Spokane, Wa
*2003 Charleston, Wv
2002 Trenton, On Can
*2001 Redmond, OR
*2000 Midland, MI
*1999 Rhinebeck, NY.
1998 Missoula, Montana
*1997 Fredricksberg, Tx
*1996 Morganton, NC
1995 Durango, Co.
1994 Moodus, Ct
1993 Oshkosh, Wi
*1992 Duquoin, Il
1991 Flagstaff, Az
1990 Rapid City, Sd.
*1989 York, Pa
*1988 Madison, In
1987 Escanaba, Mi
1986 Laguna Seca, Ca.
1985 Lake Wales, Fl
1984 Missoula, Montana
*1983 Lake Placid, Ny
*1982 Shreve, Oh
*1981 Hurricane Mills, Tn
1980 Prineville, Or
1979 Brainard, Mn
1978 Rutland, Vermont
1977 Colorado Springs
1976 Oshkosh
*1975 Branson, Mo
*1974 Tablerock,Sc.
1973 Morgan Hill, Ca

WOW!
I just counted the National Rallies that I have attended--I have been at 18 of them, from 1974 to 2007. I hope that I can make many more of them!
See you in Tennessee in '09--look for me in the Beer Tent! :drink
 
Interesting we've never had a rally in some of the most pleasant places to ride in my opinion, such as Va, NH, or ME. Yet we've had three rallies in Wisconsin. Not to rag on dairyland, I had a blast In West Bend!
 
Interesting we've never had a rally in some of the most pleasant places to ride in my opinion, such as Va, NH, or ME. Yet we've had three rallies in Wisconsin. Not to rag on dairyland, I had a blast In West Bend!

And no insult was taken, either.

Wisconsin has some interesting areas to ride in (lived here all my life - been there, rode that), but it pales in comparison to other regions of the country I have visited on two wheels, and I have no doubt you have named some good ones in your post.

But many of us are annoyed with the rally site process (Gillette!), and have bemoaned the fact that "pleasant places to ride" does not receive the respect and weight in the selection equation it should......but beer sales does?!

For a group of motorcycle enthusiasts that pride themselves on 'seeing the world and challenging their riding abilities,' seems odd that our rally prioritites are so skewed.

Hope to visit your 'neck of the woods someday.'

See you in TN.

Ride Safe and ATGATT.
 
Interesting we've never had a rally in some of the most pleasant places to ride in my opinion, such as Va, NH, or ME. Yet we've had three rallies in Wisconsin. Not to rag on dairyland, I had a blast In West Bend!

If you like congestion. Find a large enough venue surrounded by enough hotel rooms to serve 7 or 8 thousand people and you find congestion.
 
If you like congestion. Find a large enough venue surrounded by enough hotel rooms to serve 7 or 8 thousand people and you find congestion.
Yeah, but the real question is what you find once you're 5-10 mile outside of the area of congestion. Vermont was some great riding. I agree with the thought that too much emphasis is put on beer sales.
 
Yeah, but the real question is what you find once you're 5-10 mile outside of the area of congestion. Vermont was some great riding. I agree with the thought that too much emphasis is put on beer sales.

Hey Dan.....I'd be THRILLED if it was only 'emphasis' that was placed on beer sales. One need only monitor the 'chatter' about a rally site or scan the Campfire Forum to realize that beer is the hinge-pin of rally selection under current leadership.

I'd gladly settle for just 'emphasis.'

As for the arguement that scenic riding doesn't have to be tied to a rally site and could take place within, say an hour or so of rally central, hmmmm.........views of the beautiful Susquahana River....H-D's manufacturing tours in York...the Hershey amusement park......the rolling hills near historic Gettsburg.......YUP.....sounds like flawless 'Gillette' logic to me. Only problem: Ground Zero for rally central under this scenario is Three Mile Island, PA.
 
2010 and Beyond

Any way to predict where the 2010 event will be? Even a region would be helpful in making plans. What about beyond; is there a rule as to regions of the country?
 
As for the arguement that scenic riding doesn't have to be tied to a rally site and could take place within, say an hour or so of rally central, hmmmm.........views of the beautiful Susquahana River....H-D's manufacturing tours in York...the Hershey amusement park......the rolling hills near historic Gettsburg.......YUP.....sounds like flawless 'Gillette' logic to me. Only problem: Ground Zero for rally central under this scenario is Three Mile Island, PA.

It was a nice place - when we had the rally at York. Very hot - especially on Thursday - we survived with plastic blow-up swimming pools, stock watering tanks, and sprinklers. But a good location nonetheless.
 
Any way to predict where the 2010 event will be? Even a region would be helpful in making plans. What about beyond; is there a rule as to regions of the country?

A few years ago there was a fairly concrete rotation intended through the several regions. Then a couple of regions got out of sequence for venue booking reasons. I think the rotation intent is still there but it seems easier said than done. Some of the difficulty may be self imposed - except for Fredericksburg the mid-July season is fairly well held to. And except for one rally (I already forgot which) the Thursday-Sunday schedule is failrly tightly held to. Leaving about two weekends a year that work. And lots of competition for those two weekends at many potential locations.

We're spoiled now. Some of the early venues were real losers - but to hear the attendees talk about those rallies they were the times of their lives.
 
I've never been to a rally; intended to get to Gillette but couldn't make it. I heard from a local that was at WY that the 2010 rally would be in the Northwest. I hopeful that it is indeed somewhere in the northwest so we have reasonable chance of attending. British Columbia or the Yukon would be nice. The Western Canadian Harley riders held their rally in Whitehorse last summer, why not us?
 
Back
Top