Tires at the rally

Unregistered said:

It's not a rumor--but fact. Read the letter.

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Oh, The Letter

Tyrntz

The "TYRNTZ" put an Avon on the front of my '78 Airhead last year in Lima and I learned more about my tire options from him, then the last 3 tires purchased from the now defunct St. Louis BMW dealer (Metzler according to them, my only option). And the wheel spoke weight was way more cool lookin' then the dealer's glue-on fishing lure.

If you are going to need a tire soon, my suggestion is to get in line early and enjoy the show!

BradfordBenn said:

He might be smart and intelligent, but I still think the name is in poor taste and I will not do any business with him. Just as he has the right to have the name he chooses, I have the right to think less of him and to not do business with him.

I will defend to the death someone's right to be an idiot; but it doesn't mean I have to like them

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His clients gave him that name, sort of like how the soup nazi got his name on Seinfeld.

He calls himself Arizona Motorcycle Tires, I believe.

Azmc

Dave,
That's correct. He prefers Captain Blasto or just "Robert." Check my earlier post.
Breeze

PS Ask him why he moved from Arizona to Boston. It's a typical Robert story.

I will give him a fair shake, but I still think that the term is offensive. I never quite got how it equates with fanatical or crazy.

I am amazed at how me making a statement that I took offense to a name resulted in such a fire storm. People who in other contexts were taking offense to the term bitch session seemed to think that this term was appropriatte. Once again connotation versus annotation.

Eh?

So either way

Everyone just likes to pick on you it seems.

mike cousino said:

Oh, The Letter

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I did a search and came up with nada, so I'll ask the obvious question. Why was the letter from Franks BMW removed from the rally homepage?

My apologies in advance for the hijack.

Mike Cousino posted the letter link on this thread.

Unregistered said:

Mike Cousino posted the letter link on this thread.

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Yes, but it only had Mike's reply, and why it was removed was not clear.

Motorcyclist said:

Yes, but it only had Mike's reply, and why it was removed was not clear.

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Before we send the black helicopters of conspiracy to VT.
1. The Forum does not allow advertising. Even that which may seem harmless and appropriate.
2. We have had a number of in-appropriate posters take advantage of the ability to post to the Rally page as unregistered guests. The moderators have been vigilant about removing those posts.
3. Black helicopters are cool but you are suppose to ride to VT.

M1ka said:

Before we send the black helicopters of conspiracy to VT.
1. The Forum does not allow advertising. Even that which may seem harmless and appropriate.
2. We have had a number of in-appropriate posters take advantage of the ability to post to the Rally page as unregistered guests. The moderators have been vigilant about removing those posts.
3. Black helicopters are cool but you are suppose to ride to VT.

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Makes sense, but for the record I purposely never mentioned anything about a conspiracy, nor was my question asked in an accusatory tone. I was just asking for an explanation, there is a difference.

How about all the ads from organzations offering breakfast, BBQ, etc. and the lodging threads on the Rally forum. Are they considered advertising?

Motorcyclist said:

Makes sense, but for the record I purposely never mentioned anything about a conspiracy, nor was my question asked in an accusatory tone. I was just asking for an explanation, there is a difference.

How about all the ads from organzations offering breakfast, BBQ, etc. and the lodging threads on the Rally forum. Are they considered advertising?

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Fair response. You are right and in a glib way I was trying to give an explanation.

The line appears to be thin between advertising and recommendation. My understanding is to bring information that might be interesting to the group is acceptable. Where to eat on the road, announcements of auctions that could go unnoticed get posted (and I have done that in a couple of cases myself.) fund raisers for non profits etc. The people doing this are making recommendations for things that they do not have a personal monetary interest in. They are bringing them to the readership because they think there may be interest in them.

The other side of the line seems to be populated by various posts that promote things that the person who is posting has a direct interest in and is soliciting the membership to use their product or services directly by the post.

There are many ads that are cleverly disguised in posts and get by all the time.

I hope this helps. It is only my perspective from carefully watching these things unfold. Again I was kidding around about the black helicopters and apologize if I offended.

Tires at the Rally

My experience with buying tires at previous rallys has been the following:

You will need to get in line early the first day or two to ensure a spot and that they have your tires. Plan on tying up your bike for most of the day.
Unfortunately there seemed to be some price gouging at the Spokane rally, so do your home work ahead of time. Know what you would pay at home so you can compare the rally specials and see if the numbers really add up. For example at the spokane rally the metzler guys were selling you a rear at full retail and giving you the front for free. Sounds great but then they were charging you $100 bucks to mount and balance the tires. Also, if you don't mind many of them will give you a break if you can pull your wheels off and just have them mount and balance the tires and re-install yourself. May save time and some expense.
My advide would be, if you can, put on a new set before you leave home so you can enjoy the ride through VT. If you have a chance, spend a night down the road from Mount Washington in New Hampshire and make a run up to the top before heading to Burlington.
So many great little back roads and towns to explore in Vt. that it's ashame to have your bike sitting at the rally for too long.

Have fun and ride safe,

Steve

MaxBMW is down the way a bit in Troy, NY. Have heard nothing but good things about them. Hope this helps someone needing new shoes while they're in the area.

And no, I'm not affiliated with them in any way.

Drif10

Motorcyclist said:

Makes sense, but for the record I purposely never mentioned anything about a conspiracy, nor was my question asked in an accusatory tone. I was just asking for an explanation, there is a difference.

How about all the ads from organzations offering breakfast, BBQ, etc. and the lodging threads on the Rally forum. Are they considered advertising?

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The letter you mention was at one point linked from the rally home page.

While I can't begin to thank Frank's for all they want to do for us by inviting us to their dealership we have a very firm advertising policy. We also have many other dealers who are spending real money to offer you similar services at the rally site.

M1ka said:

Fair response. You are right and in a glib way I was trying to give an explanation.

The line appears to be thin between advertising and recommendation. My understanding is to bring information that might be interesting to the group is acceptable. Where to eat on the road, announcements of auctions that could go unnoticed get posted (and I have done that in a couple of cases myself.) fund raisers for non profits etc. The people doing this are making recommendations for things that they do not have a personal monetary interest in. They are bringing them to the readership because they think there may be interest in them.

The other side of the line seems to be populated by various posts that promote things that the person who is posting has a direct interest in and is soliciting the membership to use their product or services directly by the post.

There are many ads that are cleverly disguised in posts and get by all the time.

I hope this helps. It is only my perspective from carefully watching these things unfold. Again I was kidding around about the black helicopters and apologize if I offended.

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Mika,
Did someone appoint you to the post of Inspector General of the Forum?
The facts are that indformation should be put in play unless BMWMOA wants to charge for ad space. Most of us can figure out who has a personal agenda from those just putting the information out there. We can see through the disguise. I for one don't need a self appointed inspector,editor or watchdog to filter what I should see or read. I thought Lester's letter was straight on.
Breeze

M1ka said:

Fair response. You are right and in a glib way I was trying to give an explanation.

The line appears to be thin between advertising and recommendation. My understanding is to bring information that might be interesting to the group is acceptable. Where to eat on the road, announcements of auctions that could go unnoticed get posted (and I have done that in a couple of cases myself.) fund raisers for non profits etc. The people doing this are making recommendations for things that they do not have a personal monetary interest in. They are bringing them to the readership because they think there may be interest in them.

The other side of the line seems to be populated by various posts that promote things that the person who is posting has a direct interest in and is soliciting the membership to use their product or services directly by the post.

There are many ads that are cleverly disguised in posts and get by all the time.

I hope this helps. It is only my perspective from carefully watching these things unfold. Again I was kidding around about the black helicopters and apologize if I offended.

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M1ka,
Thanks again for another reasonable explanation. I was not trying to be a PITA with my follow on question, just pointing out there are many forms of advertising. And you rightly mentioned it is very difficult to police it all. For the record I have no connection to Frank's, never even set foot in the shop.

I took your comment about the black helicopters in jest, just as you intended. However, with the firestorm over the ME position I did not want to be perceived as being a conspiracy theorist by the casual reader of this thread! It's all good, and thanks for taking the time to explain things to me.

Frank's is on the 2006 vendor list. Don't see Arizona Motorcycle Tires on the list.

Now Frank's has donated a motorcycle for the drawing.