Tell us about yourself and your bike!

bluestune - nice looking pile of parts you got there. congratulations.

intro

Hello new to the board. I started riding in the 1960's on British bikes. The fist one an Ariel red hunter 500cc single enduro bike. I now ride an old R65 around town beauty black of course and a 2001 1150 GS silver streak. In a couple of years hope to retire and do some long distance traveling on the GS. I work in the construction field and build custom houses. Hope to see some of you on the roads won't be able to make the rally this year but next year? Alan

Welcome aboard Snorfer!

New R1200RT Rider

I traded in my R1200C on a new R1200RT a week before the BMWMOA Rally in Lima. I rode the RT from NC to Lima. This was my break-in and getting acquainted ride with the new bike.

I enjoyed the Rally tremendously! I went on one of the mapped rides to see the covered bridges and eat the the Der Dutchman restaurant.

On my trip back to NC, I stopped at the Air Force Museum in Dayton. I was like a kid, running from one hangar to the next to see the vintage planes.

I look forward to reading this forum and especially learning more about the RT from the more experienced riders here.

welcome aboard. how about sharing with us some of the differences you experienced (good and bad) between the two bikes???

It's getting a little crowded in the garage

I now have 3 decades of K bikes in my garage.
Pay no attention to the chrome in the corner, it's not mine. (but goes a long way to explain the title under my avitar )

Life is good.
Gail

I thought I had already posted in here, but after reading HOW MANY posts? I noticed I haven't. Anyways, I'm Bob, 42 (look 27 so I think) and am the daddy to four kids.. They start at 21 and decrease by three until you reach my youngest daughter 12... I live in Southern MD where the Potomac Empties into the Bay. Having moved here two years ago, after graduating from college, I learned to sail and race occasionally. I retired from the Army after 20 years in November 2000, and actually got paid to drive Bradleys and M1's around, well for the first ten years, then they made me a recruiter, and tried to convince all these kids that being cold wet and miserable was FUN.. which leads me to my BMW!!

Well, there I was surfing the internet.. it was a warm day in June. My brother sent me a link to a local BMW Dealership in Columbia MD, he's been on a Beemer for a few years now, FINALLY trading up from his 850 Suzuki I believe..
SO, I haven't been on a bike since the early 80's at Ft Knox, (you want thrilling.. dodge M1 tanks on a motorcylce on a tank trail!!) and I go to this link.. and there it is.. a sign from GOD.. well the motorcyle God anyways.. a 2002 Silver R1150RS gleaming in the sun, with the message from god behind it in 6 foot tall letters.. Bob's BMW.. well being one not to ignore messages from supreme beings I hightailed it to Bobs in my truck with the Vanity plate that reads "itsbob".. Damn I love myself!! I get there, and they ALMOST had me talked into a red 2004 1150R.. but everytime i looked at the Silver RS I swear I could hear Angels singing... So after much debate, I travelled back to Bob's, it was 50 degrees and raining .. so not only did they get to sell me a bike, they also got to sell me $500 worth of riding gear, and then after the warm up ride down the street and back another $35 for gloves.. But I tell you what, the 100 mile trip back home in the cold rain, I was IMPRESSED.. not a sniffle from the bike, I was toasty warm.. and kept looking for steam to be rising up from the heated hand grips. Well, it's been 2.5 almost 3 months, 6000 miles.. and we're inseperable. OF course I do have to give credit where credit is due, my truck gets 13 MPG when it moves, gets a LOT better when it's parked in the driveway, that does have something to do with it.. But I've joined BMWBMW, BMWMOA.. and am always shopping for stuff (I think I see this referred to as "Farkle"), and will be on my way.

I'm a little off of the beaten path.. end of the world you could say.. only one way to get here, and only one way out of here, but am looking forward to meeting some if not most of you, on a ride, at a rally.. at lunch?


Her's my Baby all decked out for the ill fated trip to Lima Ohio!!




See the unearthy glow around the bike?? Can you hear the angels too??

Just wondering how long I'm going to last before I trade up(?) to the RT.. damn that is one pretty bike!!

itsbob said:

... (you want thrilling.. dodge M1 tanks on a motorcylce on a tank trail!!)

Click to expand...

Ha! I actually did this once, out at Ft. Hunter-Liggett in CA. Somehow I managed to come in a back way on the G/SPD and found myself in the middle of about eight tanks that looked like they were on their way to somewhere in a big hurry.

Thank GOD they weren't actually shooting because the area had many trees that were all wrenched and gnarly... looking like they'd had the ever-loving crap blown out of them.

Ian

BMWBeauty said:

Hi Donna.....I Share Your Passion For Riding As Well..... ....Like You I Started Riding On The Back Of A Bike...... I Thought I Looked Good On The Back Of A Bike.....BUT I Look Better On The Front Of My OWN Bike......
I Have A K75RT And I LOVE That Bike......I Took The MSF Course, And I Am Definitely Glad I Did.....I Don't Have Husband....And I Am Definitely NOT Looking For One......Nursing Is My Chosen Career..... Not Being Dependent Waiting On A Man To Ride With......Priceless.....My Bike Was A Challenge For Me At First...I Am 5'1" And Weigh 115....But I Was Determined....
Best Of Luck To You.......

Click to expand...

So how many miles do you have on that bike this summer?

Very New Member

John Williams_ I got my first BMW 17 days ago. R1200RT. This bike is even better than I expected. I'm getting old. I wanted a light, agile bike that would be suitable for touring. The first service was done last Thursday. After some good weekend riding my only question is: Will I ever want to ride my Harley again?

I still don't have a digital camera, but I have been getting disks. I finally got a picture of me with my bike. This is before I took off to Chico, Ca. via Lassen park, last week. (Pre-helmet head).

Nice shot

Visian said:

Ha! I actually did this once, out at Ft. Hunter-Liggett in CA. Somehow I managed to come in a back way on the G/SPD and found myself in the middle of about eight tanks that looked like they were on their way to somewhere in a big hurry.



Ian

Click to expand...

When we had the Old M60 tanks and M113 APC's they only could go 35MPH, and were fairly uncontrollable at those speeds (the 113 would actually start to "float") the road march speed was limited to 15 - 20.. The M1 and the M2/3 are comfortable at 50 MPH (M1 has been clocked at 108 MPH), and are controllabe at any speed, so they basically get up and go.. They are ALWAYS in a hurry to get wherever it is they are going.

Greetings fellow Bmer lovers!

My name is Mark and I drive a 04 1150 RT, it's my 1st Bmer. I live near the Missippi river near Red Wing, MN. I am a potter by trade. I'm 49,have 3 grown children, and have been divorced for a few years. I got into cycles again about 5 years ago after riding them as a kid. Now I'm a big kid and want to stay that way as long as possible. Most of my friends are married and don't ride so I'd love to hear from ya if you need a riding buddy, especially if you be female.

a motorcycle history of a Brooklyn boy



click on link for the whole story = a motorcycle history of a Brooklyn boy

My Story:

Born and raised California boy, currently living in exile in Virginia. I left California in March '99 with Cinedra (K75), Katrina (KZ750... broken) and all my belongings for a new job at the top of my industry, UUNET, working as a shift unix systems adminsitrator. Long move, but worth it financially. I spent 3.5 years there, then learned about the hard parts of a "trickle-down" economy when Bernie Ebbers' "trickle-down" layoffs for his loans cost me my job. I went to Raytheon and have been there doing much the same thing ever since, for different people.

I got into computers in '95, starting off as "Belg" with internic whois to boot; taken from "Belgarath" who was a character created by David Eddings who shifted form man to wolf; in an online chat room called "#wolfspirit" on undernet IRC. I was a founding member. I've lived with wolves for years at that point. For the past 7 years, I've also been known as "Hawk" and "Lyra-Hawk" due to volunteer GameMasterring and Systems Administration for Lyra Studios and their online roleplaying game Underlight for whom I am senior staff.

Hawks and Wolves have both played a major part in my life, ("Did you know that hawks and wolves mate for life?" - Rutger Hauer, Ladyhawke) I've always been around Hawks. They've kept me out of trouble. I can't explain it, so don't bother asking. Wolves... I've always had a very special bond with. Never met one who didn't like me, wouldn't answer to me, or didn't bond with me. Within a week, I can countermand commands from owners. The wolves just treat me as Alpha.

Needless to say, I've spent years answerring to Wolf, Hawk, and Belg, and even occasionally, my given name... Mark.



I'm single, have a beautiful house out in the hills on a nice, quiet acre 200 feet or so from the appalachian trail, 4 miles from the top end of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park, and have a great orange cat named officially "Tangerine" but answers to Cat, Kitty, and dumb*ss

My story with Motorcycles:



All stories have a beginning, and mine started in a back field in a small "town" called Latrobe, CA on the back of a two-wheeled lawn-mower powerred scooter. Much fun was had, but at the ripe age of 12, you don't get to go very far on two wheels.

Parallel to yon road you see was railroad tracks, and my best friend (who still lives there) was at the other end of those tracks, past a couple of one lane bridges. At the manly age of 14, I discoverred that my uncle had an old one-banger bike called a Jawa rusting away behind his shed. I immediately enrolled in a "shop primer" course in my freshman year contingent on the teacher letting me rebuild the bike for a project. After many gasps from my family (We're all computer people) I ended up coming out with a running, stripped to the bone dirt bike,

I spent the next year or so tearing up the fire breaks along the tracks, in any weather, muddier the better. 75 foot long mud powerslides. Hitting puddles at 50. Found myself 15 feet in the air a couple times on the back dirt roads, and in general, tried everything in my power to injure myself or break the bike, and couldn't. So I bought another one.. a Kawasaki KD-175 from my neighbor, who'd bored it to 190 and had it decked for motocross. Rode that one out too, and eventually sold it to a neighbor kid who wanted to learn to ride. As far as I know, it's still riding...

I managed to surivive to graduate high school, mucked about for a bit in college, and moved to Santa Cruz shortly after Loma Prieta. My best friend was loving down there at the time, and after I went down to help clean up two days after... I stayed. He picked up a Kawa KZ-650, but didn't know how to clutch (He'd had a 3-wheel honda) so I rode it home.

Boy, what a door THAT cracked open. That ride was from a shop on River St in Santa Cruz (blue building, I south side, forgot name) up to our place in Ben Lomond, up Hwy 9. If you've ever ridden it, you know why I fell in love with riding. Once I figured out that a 650 can pass cars like noone's business, I never went back.

I saw a BMW driving down the road and thought man, what a pretty bike. So, around March of '90, I went by Plam BMW in Aptos to look at bikes. I saw this pretty, Cobalt Blue K75S and tried and denied financing. I sighed and went home.

Not 3 months later, my other housemate, Peter, found a Kawa 750 LTD in a field. We rebuilt it from the ground up, and when he left for summer tour (Grateful Dead, man) he sold me the bike. I raced that thing all over the SC mountains in all weather, all levels of sobriety.

Eventually ('94) I soberred up (mostly), moved back to Sacramento, and started looking at real jobs. One problem I had was that I was throwing 600$ every 6 months keeping the Kawa on the road, so I got it in my head to go get a Harley. I drove down to the Harley dealer in Orangevale, California.. where I was told that there was a waiting list, yadda, yadda, found the salesman not rude but curt... and had passed a A&S BMW on the way there... so I drove up a block and figured I'd have a look.

Salesman there was very nice, was showing me around the bikes, and we find something in my price range, a BEAUTIFUL red K75, C fairing. Used, 14k on it. I look at the speedo, notice it was at about 14 miles. It had been in an accident he said, and they mic'd the whole bike out for the repair, the original owner wanted it gone (wife maybe?). It used to be a K75S, but they decided that it was cheaper to put a C fairing on it, paint it red, and sell it for $1k less. Seemed like good logic in my book. So I looked at the back of this '90 BMW... and sure as the morning sunrise, was the plate frame that sits on there still.. PLAM BMW. I asked him "What color was it orginally?"

"Cobalt Blue."

Needless to say, the bike I'd tried and denied, was to become my ride. I put what was left of my college savings down on the bike and rode it off. The way she handled was so smooth, I had to give her a name. She was christenned Cinedra that very day.

That bike and I have been through a lot, I did lay it down once (fog, left turn lane, 20 on oil, slid into curb) and had to have it repainted. My buddy with the 650 (GPZ 750 now, after I crashed his 650) did the paint job, he's one of the best antique restorations specialists in the world. He did the false marbleization on my luggage rack.



Alas, UPS scratched the tank and some other parts on delivery, and I had to have the tank repainted.. but never quite made it. I ended up replacing the tank this spring with some fancy computer color matching.

I've gotten 3 offers to sell it since I mentioned I was looking at a 1200GS, but there's a snowball's chance in the lowest pit of hades I'm going to ever part with this bike

Hello!

Steve Whittles, Minnesota. '01 R1200C Phoenix, current. '82 R100RT, previous. '06 R1200GS, next.

Welcome to the forum! Where in Minnesota are you from? Tell us more about yourself and what kind of riding you are in to.

I'm 46 years old and have lived with the finest woman on the planet-Dorothy-for about the past seven years now. We recently relocated from Virginia City/Reno NV to Nashville, TN for employment demands.

We currently rent out our home in the mountains and live in still another home we purchased in the heart of suburbia here on Percy Priest lake about 5 miles or so east of Nashville (but when it's time to return to our beloved mountains, we know this house will sell quick).

I, having recently finished my Masters Degree in Public Administration, took a job in a completely unrelated field and now provide loans for mortgages, refis,etc (Realty Mortgage Corporation (RMC) ).

We have three grown children who are all on various paths to healthy, successful and productive lives and lucky for us, we are still reasonably young enough to enjoy some of the finer things in our life besides flavored gruel at the nursing home.

I've been a lifelong motorcycle enthusiast and have owned a plethora of bikes over the past 30 years, the most notable-prior to my brand spanking new 2005 K1200LT-was the 550 Honda Nighthawk i purchased new in 1984 and subsequently drove to every state in the nation exept Alaska and Hawaii over the next 3 years. That bike died a painful death with 78,000 miles on the odometer--with me on it-when some kid in a camaro made a left turn in front of me and took me out at 50 miles an hour. One of the most memorably ugly sites i'll ever remember was seeing that bike, it's front end ripped from the frame, doing cartwheels towards me as i sailed through the air backwards.

Being of modest income for most of my life, most of the machines i owned have been used and i had, up until about 5 days ago, been dreaming of the day when i could actually afford to purchase the bike of my dreams, the K1200LT. I have been drooling over that machine since its introduction in 1998 and i am proud to say that i have finally achieved that goal.

We'll be enjoying touring on our new LT as we have friends and family in Michigan, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Nevada and California, as well as here in Nashville, and now that we're members of the BMW owners group, we hope to expand our circle of friends and adventures by participating in events, rallies and get togethers with all of YOU, too!

May you all ride free and far, living life to the fullest and treating everyone you come across the way you would like to be treated yourselves!

Peace, love and Bobby Sherman to all!

Well, I guess I'll join in this little exercise in ego. When I was 11 I wanted a m/c so bad I could taste it. I had a paper route in SF NM where I grew up and one of my customers had an ariel square 4. I would hang out with him and talk about motorcycles. My dad said if you want one save so I did and bought a used cushman eagle scooter. I delivered papers on it for two years and even rode it in the snow and ice in Santa Fe. I moved up to a harley davidson hummer, 125cc two stroke and when I was 16 got a BSA 441. After a tour of duty with uncle sugar I came home and sold the BSA and got a new 1970 Honda 750 4. I rode that all thru college, once going from Albuquerque to Boston and back on it. Rode all over mexico as well. I was a motorcyle cop for a couple of years on a harley police bike and my personal ride was by this time a 76 Honda Gold Wing. I also had a 1984 Harley sportster XLX. worst bike I ever owned! In 1992 I purchased a 1976 R90/6 to go along with my Kawasaki ZX-11. That was one great bike. I rode it to the 1994 GP races at Monterrey and to the BMWMOA rally in Durango. My brother wanted me to take the /6 as he had a /5 but I just couldn't resist having that rice burner around all those BMW's. I wasn't a member then and thought BMW riders were a little stuck up. Changed my mind after that rally though, what a great bunch of people. Currently I live in Rural Valley Pa. on a 72 acre farm and ride my 99 R1100R as much as possible. I try to comute to Pittsburgh on it as much as possible where I work as an investigator for the Federal Public Defender. My wife is a horse person so we have 4 horses, 3 dogs, six cats and a bunch of chickens. She teaches at Indiana University of Pa. and doesn't ride. I cant tell you how many (hundreds) of thousands of miles I've ridden but I've never been without a bike since I was 12 and I'm now 55. Right now it's snowing and the beemer is in the barn. I'll post pics later. I enjoyed the rally in Lima and plan to ride up to vermont next summer. It's nice to be a part of such a great group of people. Ride safe.