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Mid-South ride, eat, and meet

Last Dam Rally

Most of what you have heard about the RAMs upcoming rally at Pickwick is true. We will be moving on from our rally home after 2012. Please come help us celebrate on October 5-7th, the last dam rally. There is no rally fee! The club is picking up the tab for pins, refreshments, music, awards,ect, and we have a slew of door prizes to give away. You pay for camping and Tim will be there to serve his famous BBQ dinner for $10 a person. There is no good excuse to miss this one!:clap
 
I havn't riden in over 9 months, until yesterday. I've had my '71 R50/5 over at the West Memphis Airport hanger for a basic service and fix a few issues. Spline lube, all fluids changed, new center stand springs mounted. I had taken the bike over on a trailer without a seat. I found some old tent material, shop rags, and cardboard and made a quick copy of a Daylong seat and rode the bike home. Thx guys for all the help. They took some pics of my creation, maybe they will post them. Felt good to be back in the wind.
 
The flyboys just called from the hanger. Fixxin to head over and see what's on the 'itenery' for today.
 
No-Mar

Was just reading karlfitt's nomar rant in Campfire. A couple of months ago the Flyboys over at the hanger got word that the old owner of the Coats tire changing machine was inquiring about whether he had given the machine to them or was a loan. It was a loan and the machine was leaving. Good. That machine could do the job, but a person could lose a finger or hand in the process. What a contrapton. Anyway, about that same time I got a call from my bud Don Quales about a nice deluxe Nomar machine for sale over in Martin, Tn. Had him send fotos and pertinent info over to the flyboys. That weekend a secret mission was inacted and the machine was retrived and is now ensconced at the hanger. We all chipped in a C note, to cover the cost. The first Friday we had it, Rick used it for a tire change and I missed the inauguration . Hopefully, now worrying about expensive, dangerous tire changes are a thing of the past. :heart
 
Bikes on Beale St. Memphis, Tn. 2013

If your in Memphis,Tn. on a Wednesday night, Bikes on Beale is going on till Oct. Starts about 5:00pm till around 10:00 pm. Traffic is one way from 2nd to 4th., Eastbound. Pull up and park your bike Main St. Daytona style. Plenty of good restaurants, bars, and good ol Blues, Rock, Rockabilly music.This is a Bikenight not to miss. Do a web search For Bikes on Beale 2013, or Beale Street Merchant for more info and pics. Nice way to end hump day. Usually lots of ELVIS sightings. :laugh
 
RAMS August meeting

RAMS Aug. meeting this Sat. Aug. 10 at Our Favorite Place, A Mexican bar and grill. 880 N Germantown Pkwy Cordova, Tn. 38018 Lunch at noon and the meeting follows about 1:30. Guests are welcome. If you ride a R100 Exclusive Sport, R100 RS JPS, or have access to the one and only R7, bring it over so I can see it. :thumb
 
Perfect weather for August

Last night at Bikes on Beale, the weather was mauvalous. To have temps in the high 70's, no humidity, and a light northern breeze was somethin special. Sure beats the usual. My first ride over to Beale this year on two wheels and the R50 ran like a swiss watch. Life is good.
 
Rode alittle further Sunday, north on Hiway51 to the winery. Got there and kept heading north on the backroads up to the old ShakeRag store/bar&grill. Pretty much only a concrete slab. Kinda sad to see it like that. Rode back to the winery, and got a bottle of white wine. Weather was perfect, but I was the only customer. Drank one glass, then was joined by about 10 bikers on new H/D's. They were a funny bunch, we finished off a couple bottles of wine, then We took off for Hadley's in Bartlett. Hadley's was the biker bar of choice for Wendesday bike nite in Memphis 10 years ago. The band was too loud for me so I sat ouside on the patio and enjoyed a cigar. The R50 was the only non Harley in Bike row in front of the bar and it drew a fare about of attention. I rode over to Ron's, and picked up a 27m socket he had turned down to fit an airhead Beemer swingarm nut. The flyboys will be happy. Then it was off to the house. About 75 miles of riding for the day total.
 
I started freshening up my '74 R90/6 over 10 years ago. I did a good engine upgrade, bored the cylinders, installed new 1st over pistons, reworked the heads, new valve guides, seats, dual plugged the heads, etc. Job changes, family illness, lack of funds etc. all delayed getting the bike together. All the usual distractions we all have. I decided to start doing a few small things to move the project along,till I can get going on it in a more pronounced fashion. I'm converting the bike from a bench seat to a solo springer seat. Since the bike will be a solo seat most of the time, I wanted to do away with the passenger foot pegs for a cleaner look. I'm running Wixom bags with nerf bars around the bags. One of the mounting points is the passenger pegs. If the pegs are removed only the round serrated tangs remain. Hard to mount to that. I had an old wrecked airhead frame with the serrated mounting points. I had a round metal hole saw that fit over serrated tang. I mounted the hole saw to a drill motor and in short work the serrated tangs were in hand. The back side was rough and jagged, so I gave them to Ron to put in a lathe to face off and chamfer, probably a year ago. Yesterday,Ron handed both tangs to me along with the socket. These 2 pieces will be powdercoated along with the frame. These 2 pieces will mount to the serrated tangs on the bike so I now have a flat surface to mount the nerf bars. I have now succeeded in a very small step to move the bike along to completion. I have learned to be patient. I have some more projects, that I farmed out and their close to completion. This will allow the pace of the project to pick up at a faster pace.
 
Years ago I acquired 2 used Teutonic touring saddles. Both may be knockoffs. One was pretty much the standard set up, but the other was raised about 1 1/2 inches higher. Both mounted to the frame in the usual manner, the oval shaped tube that slipped in the oval shaped backbone of the main frame and the back which sat down on the cross member of the subframe. Hose clamps straped them down in the back. All of this is visable and it looks really cobbled to me. They work, but I wanted a more finished factory look. My buddy who's dong the fabrication agreed that the look was not acceptable. He's converting one to be adjustable to several heights, with a better mounting system. So as soon as I get them back for inspection and approval, hopefully the build will pick up steam. Patience bah, humbug.
 
Another job I have to address is engine. The part with the problem is the timing chain cover. I'm kind of a self taught mechanic and I can be a little hamfisted at times. I got a little rough changing the points seal out and I think I created a leak at the end of the cam at the seal. I had an old airhead head engine so it donated it's timing chain cover. I think that a new cover will stop the leak at the seal . The timing chain cover has been bead blasted and steam cleaned and is ready for install. I think I'll let my engine building bud do the job, I really don't want any more oil weep around the points area. I won't be running points, but that's another story.
 
I missed last week's Old Bike Club ride. They rode out to the Shelby Forrest Store, then north to Randolff and John's Boatdock overlooking the Mississippi River. Can't believe I missed that ride. The Flyboys are out of town so I didn't go out to the hanger. I guess it's out to the shop and work on something.
 
Took a freight load down to Larado a couple of weeks ago. Then did a couple of mini freight runs down to Brownsville and back to Larado. Didn't want to sit in the heat of south Texas, so I headed north. Stopped in for a visit to Alamo BMW. Allways neat to see some cool old cars they work on. Headed home. Took the R50 out last Sunday for a ride. Did the usual. Lunch at the Shelby Forrest Store, rode over the bluff to Shake Rag, hung out with the bikers. Backtracked on the backroads to Old Millington Winery. Big crowd due to the band. Met some new friends and shared a bottle of Delta Blush. Headed back into metro Memphis and stopped in Hadley's in Bartlett. Hung out with the bikers I met at shake Rag. Riding home I noticed had no free play in the clutch. Gotta adjust it out before the next ride. Really feels good to get to do a little riding.
 
Got the R50 out and did the clutch lever adjustment. The right mirror gave a good view of the local cotton fields, after a quick adjustment I had a proper rear view. Off to Beale Street to see the bikes, hear some blues and watch all the pretty ladies walking on Beale. Our usual crowd was there enconsed for the night. Nice night to be out; hopefully the event will continue till November. When I left, I could feel the sidestand dragging down the street. Stopped and retracted it, gotta get my rider skills back up to speed. Oh well. :brow
 
T- Shirt XL; Zip, Zero, Nada

I keep laughing to myself about a funny incident back at Alamo BMW. Since I travel all over the country hauling freight, I find myself in towns with BMW dealers or related shops . One of my pass times after I tour the shops is look for neat stuff, parapheralia, trinkets, etc. with the BMW logo and the maybe the shops logo on it. T-shirts, caps, coffee cups etc. Something with a cool factor. I think it's neat to have stuff that no one else has or wears. Any way, Alamo had a sign up, new T- shirts on sell. Two designs, one with the new vasserboxer and one with the the vintage R32 on the back. The R32 met my cool criteria, so I flipped through the t-shirt stack. Small, medium, xxl, xxxl were all in abundance. No L or XL to be had. :nono Sid Rodriguez the long time parts Mg. was off for the day. I went over to and met Suzanne Oneal, who's one fine lady, and I informed her of the L and XL shortage. She went over and checked it out and sure enough there were none. She got up on the counter and checked the display T- shirt and it was not a L or Xl. A little futher discussion and she asked the question, how many BMW related T's do you have. I was taken aback ,but smiled and answered; I don't know probably 25 to 50, maybe alot more than that. 'Well there you go, your not going to miss one t-shirt'. And that pretty much settled it. I'm still laughin to myself when I think about it.
 
Sat. Ride Eat Meet Sat.

There is a ride eat and meet this weekend sponsored by the Old Bike Club, and Fred Bradley. Tom Race has agreed to lead the ride. Sat. Sept. 28 meet at the Shell Gas Station on Collierville-Arlington Rd. Memphis 10:15 leave 10:30 to the venerable Phillips Grocery store at 541 E Van Dorn Av. in Holly Springs, Ms. This is the stop for lunch. the old grocery store is famous for their juicy cheese burgers, RC cola's and moon pies.:laugh I really mean it.A lot of the riders will be BMWRAMS members, hopefully if I'm home this weekend I will be leading the ride for the western contingent to the store. This usually amounts to a group ride of 1.
 
Civil War sites.

Holly Springs played a prominent role in the Civil War. It was the site of Van Dorn's raid into Holly Springs Dec. 1862. A large amount of General US Grant's army supplies were destroyed. battles and skirmishes were fought all over the town as all the historical markers will attest. This raid along with NB Forrest's raid in west Tenn. cultimating in the battle of Parkers Crossroads effectively ended Gen. Grants overland campaign thru central Mississippi. The Rams Rally in about 2 weeks is nextto the Parkers's Crossroads battlefield. If your interest is in Civil War history there are markers all over town. Start at the Marshall County museum 220 E College Av. Holly Springs. 662 252 3669 info.
 
Yesterday, I did the ride over to Holly Springs. Going thru W. Memphis on I40/55 I saw a cool sreet rod ahead of me speeded up and ran beside it. It was a totally cool old style rod. They gave me thumbs up on my little Beemer. Rolled into Holly Springs and on to the Phillips Grocery Store. Got my burger/fries/moonpie set on the front porch and waited on the rest to ride in. Probably 10 bikes already there not part of the club. Nothin like oldtimy ambiance; you definitely get the fill of pre WWII here. They rolled in, about 20 riders and bikes. Good comraderie, neat to check out some of their bikes. The '78 MG Lemans stood out to me. Tom Race told me about the Eric Hughes new CD release party downtown at the Warehouse downtown Memphis. 7:00 PM. Had some till to kill, so I rode over to the Sidecar Cafe to watch some college football. Rode west to downtown Memphis, got my instructions messed up and went to the Spagetti Warehouse. Gotta call and the Warehouse was 2 blocks south next to the Blue Monkey. Rode up, a lady behind the fence said I could park behind the fence on the other side; the code was xxxx. Got the bike over there, I couln't get the cable lock unlocked. I guess I'm a wuss. Fortunately Steve rode up on his R100, He Houdini'd it open and we parked our bikes behind a locked gate. . This place was over the top I guess a couple of hundred in attendence, had a geat nite of Memphis Blues. Eric Hughes, Guy Venable, Leo Goff, Walter Hughes, Brian Alor, many more. Eric's cd is titled
'Drink Up'. Left early as I was totally whipped.
 
2013 rams rally

The RAMS are headed to Parker's Crossroads, Tn. for their 1st annual RAMS RALLY. This will be just like the Return To Shiloh Rally, only different. Friday, Saturday, Sunday Oct. 4-6. Parker's Crossroads RV Park and Campground. Exit 108 I-40 north 1.5 miles on Highway 22 to RV park. I think $40 gets Ya in. Several meals offered, swapmeet, all the usual rides, thrills, spills, at a BMW rally. Go the the BMW RAMS web site for more info on the rally, download the rally flyer for even more info. :groovy:dance:thumb:hug:wave
 
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