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The history of BMW Motorrad clubs in the USA...

Visian

look out!!!
... is a very interesting story. While this thread is not intended to be comprehensive or linear, I hope it provides some perspective on clubs in our early years, and some entertainment. Feel free to chime in with any info or pictures you may have. I am also looking for contacts at clubs that can help me in telling this story.

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Below is a page from a magazine that sheds a little light upon how and why BMW clubs started here in the USA. This magazine, For the Joy of Riding Motorcycle Journal, was published by the second company to import and distribute BMW Motorrad in the USA: Butler & Smith.

There is (at least) one well-recognized named mentioned, it being associated with the winner of the first American Superbike race... :nod ... and here is a great article on Udo Geitl, the man who built the bikes.

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(I was in the stands at this race...)

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One pressing issue of the day, back then...

... was governmental actions being taken against motorcyclists. From grooves in pavement to helmet laws, motorcycle bans on the New Jersey Turnpike, pollution/emission regulations and no-fault insurance, this article called for a united front.

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A word that many things turned on...

the schlimmerverbesserun

(a different thread in the same fabric)
 
10 million points...

... to anyone who can identify these two beemer peeps. Hint: the G/S International Club and the Darien Gap. Additional hint: western NC.

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From the meeting people who ride BMW article:
“2/3 are under 35 years old”?

What?

Thanks for posting those old photos and articles.
 
From the meeting people who ride BMW article:
“2/3 are under 35 years old”?

What?

Thanks for posting those old photos and articles.

You're welcome... more to come over time. You caught the point of why I posted that story. :nod

I started riding BMWs at 23 years old... saw the factory BMW dirt bikes at the ISDT in 1973 and had to have one. I bought this one in 1977... the Windjammer was great at pushing tree branches out of the way!

Ian_R90-X3.jpg
 
That was a fun read. Thanks for sharing. I started riding at 29…am 35 now. There’s a lot of reasons why I started riding but I had never ridden a bike until I took my MSF. I am seeing more younger people in our clubs though…slowly.
 
Thanx for sharing some of the Butler & Smith history.

I was an early adaptor to the technological advances that arrived in 1975 {when I was able to afford an R90S on an Airman's salary}.
Still riding it to the weekly North Alabama Vintage M/C Club's breakfasts here in Huntsville. :nod

Here's a copy of the Jan 2001 Owner's News cover. My Aerostich orange jacket matched the m/c along the right side.
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Additionally, I crossed John Hermann's path at the Red River NM RA Rally after his seminar about "Riding in the Alps." He autographed the new 'color-edition' of his book "The Alps and Corsica" on page 205, Trip 50, titled "I Dare You; 17 Passes in One Day." It did inspire me and my future bride to Ride His Challenging Dare across northern Italy back in May of 2007. Certainly a very memorable trip as it was during that Adventure around Southern Europe that I proposed and Mrs-HSV accepted my Proposal!

Fourteen years later, the AlaBeemers promoted me to 'el Presidente' and Mrs Karen to 'la Secretary' of MOA Club #5. We just held a 50 year Anniversary Bash at our scheduled October meeting at the Lake Guntersville State Park Lodge. The founders regaled us with some of their stories regarding the organization of various clubs into what became the BMW Motorcycle Owners Association [BMOA back then]. I'm sure Mr John Harper was introduced to John Hermann when he rode his R750 /5 to San Diego for a club coordination meeting. Here are the AlaBeemer founders just last Saturday with John Harper second from left. Sure hope that John Hermann's still kicking around the SoCal breakfast meetings [although it was mentioned he no longer is riding BMWs].

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Be safe & Be seen!
Ciao!
HSV-Phil & HSV-Karen

USAF-Ret'd -&- USN-Ret'd

'14 K-GT -- '09 650GS-twin
'75 R90S -- '82 R100CS
- - - - - - - -'16 R1200RS
 
Additionally, I crossed John Hermann's path at the Red River NM RA Rally after his seminar about "Riding in the Alps." He autographed the new 'color-edition' of his book "The Alps and Corsica" on page 205, Trip 50, titled "I Dare You; 17 Passes in One Day." It did inspire me and my future bride to Ride His Challenging Dare across northern Italy back in May of 2007. Certainly a very memorable trip as it was during that Adventure around Southern Europe that I proposed and Mrs-HSV accepted my Proposal!

Fourteen years later, the AlaBeemers promoted me to 'el Presidente' and Mrs Karen to 'la Secretary' of MOA Club #5. We just held a 50 year Anniversary Bash at our scheduled October meeting at the Lake Guntersville State Park Lodge. The founders regaled us with some of their stories regarding the organization of various clubs into what became the BMW Motorcycle Owners Association [BMOA back then]. I'm sure Mr John Harper was introduced to John Hermann when he rode his R750 /5 to San Diego for a club coordination meeting. Here are the AlaBeemer founders just last Saturday with John Harper second from left. Sure hope that John Hermann's still kicking around the SoCal breakfast meetings [although it was mentioned he no longer is riding BMWs].

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Great post! :clap

The Alabeemers were my favorite club and I was a member and went to lots of Chicken Rallies. Even when I was Prez of the Georgia Club I preferred Alabeemer meetings because they were far less dramatic! :ha I really wanted to go to the 50th at Lake Guntersville but I was out of the country riding.

With the mention of the Alabama club, John Harper and San Diego, you are touching on where I am going with this.

In addition to Alabama, there were numerous local clubs popping up, the Detroit Touring Club, the NorCal club, BMWBMW, Chicago Region, BMW Riders of Western New York, the Wisconsin club, San Diego, Indianapolis and even a BMW Owners Association in Pennsylvania with their Four Winds Rally.

There were also some crazy issues in motorcycling, such as Ralph Nader's safety push, grooved highways, no-fault insurance, motorcycles banned from the NJ turnpike/Garden State....

Your mention of John Harper riding to San Diego is part of the story involving the formation of a national club. It gets pretty crazy... more to come in a bit!

Ian

ps -> I had a conversation recently about John Hermann... he is now 90 years old, not riding but still going to club meetings. I, too, read his books. Turns out that a lot of the roads he references came from him riding on BMW tours led by Bob Beach! (I would like to try his "17 passes in one day" challenge!)

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One weekend I rode down to Southern Cal, spent the night in Big Bear, then started for home. I was on Highway 101 near King City, on a clear, breezy day, traveling 15-over, about 85mph. The road was lightly brushed, not grooved. My R75/5 began slowly shaking its head, then wobbled itself to full steering lock and pitched me over the bars into the highway. As I rolled and flopped, I could hear the road grind away the side of my helmet. I watched my bike flipping behind me, sparks flying, bags breaking apart, their contents scattering over the road. Wasn’t big fun, any of it. Without sounding overly dramatic, I believe I was never the same after that crash. I’d always trusted the machines, never doubted that my bikes were stable and on my side. Now, if a bike shakes its head even a little, I get spooked.

This is one of hundreds of anecdotal stories about early /5 speed wobbles. I personally witnessed one event myself... my friend's dad's brand new 1971 R75/5 did this on the way to Daytona and I was riding right behind him. Fortunately he was able to roll off and back out of it, but it sure scared the poop out of him, and me! :eek

The quote is from Maynard Hershon, and he was talking with well-known beemer expert, Duane Ausherman, who was a BMW dealer in California's Bay Area at the time. Duane's site also has an extensive discussion of speed wobble, along with tons of other interesting reading about the bikes we love. At the time, very few people knew why the /5s were wobbling and Duane was one of them. The Distributor, Butler & Smith, denied that these motorcycles wobbled. The whole issue was surrounded by a confusing cloud of legal liability and technical uncertainty.

You'll notice the words "lightly brushed" in the quote, that is a reference to California's decision to put grooves or other texture on the roads, which was causing motorcycle handling problems. Add to that helmet laws, federal laws, Ralph Nader, Harry Reasoner and a number of other issues causing motorcyclists great concern. The question in some minds was "how can we, as riders, do something about all this?"

Above in this thread is an article by Roger Hull of Road Rider Magazine (known as Rider today), calling for the entire motorcycling community to align to do battle. (as if that will ever happen!) Turns out that Road Rider was somewhat peripherally involved with the formation of a national BMW motorcyclist club, more about that later.

This article in the "BMW New-O-Gram, dated March 23, 1972 spells it out:

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The name "Bill Harmer" is new to me until this week, and I have been a member of the BMW motorcyclist community for over 45 years.
 
About this time, 50 years ago...

There were guys in California -- Bill Harmer & Mike Randall of SoCal clubs and John Moore of the NorCal club -- A fellow named Chuck Smith in New York, who began writing and distributing the inter-club newsletter called BMW News, -- a magazine editor, Roger Hull of Road Rider, who published a story about Harmer & Moore's planned meet-up at King's Canyon NP for the purpose of exploring ideas for a national BMW motorrad club -- Frank Diederich, Vern Hansen, Jeff Dean and T.J. Sheridan of various local clubs in the east all read the article and responded with letters (one assumes to Harmer and Moore). According to Frank, they were the only people that responded to Bill Harmer and John Moore's ideas.

After the event, the word went out regarding membership and a "Guidance Committee," there would be no formal titles. Everyone who had responded to the original call was in.

So, which way? Is this club about representing BMW riders wrt motorcycling issues, technical/warranty support and community representation or is it weighted more toward socialization? How would leadership be determined? How would club decisions be made?

Membership cards, newsetters, letters between leaders, the Anonymous book(let).... things were on the move! :burnout




The founders regaled us with some of their stories regarding the organization of various clubs into what became the BMW Motorcycle Owners Association [BMOA back then]. I'm sure Mr John Harper was introduced to John Hermann when he rode his R750 /5 to San Diego for a club coordination meeting.

Phil - do you know when John Harper rode out to San Diego?

I am dealing with relatively incomplete info, so anything you can add would help.
 
The AMA was supportive, as well.

As mentioned in a previous post, there was something of a coordinated effort to overturn the state of New Jersey's ban on motorcycles riding the Garden State Parkway, and the AMA was trying to align the efforts of clubs, in an effort to generate the biggest political bang.

The image below shows one event that was part of this long-running effort, it's a little ahead of the story, but it's being shown because John Harmer and John Hermann are both in it. Ben Harroll is the AMA's "traveling Ambassador of good will."

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