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greetings from the Chicago Northwest burbs

W

wakedawg

Guest
Hi everyone,

I'm a longtime lurker and new BMW rider. My stepdad is the one who I can thank for getting me into BMW bikes. As a kid he had a mid 1970s R75/7 I believe and he traded it on a new '97 R1100RT. My mom also had an F650GS at some point. I learned how to ride on both bikes back in high school but never really got into biking until now. During college I did have a Honda Ruckus that was a hoot on campus. I took the Illinois MSF course, and that was one of the funnest weekends Ive ever had!

I had been searching for a ride that would be fun for my 3mi commute to work (if thats even possible) and something that would be good for day trips around the Midwest and something that would be tour-ready for trips out west. My parents now live in Colorado and I plan on riding out there at some point in the Fall. I was searching for a nice R1100R for a while and finally found a great example (a 1999 R1100R) at BMW Countryside and purchased through Mike Abt, a really great no-pressure sales manager over there. Now I just have to wait impatiently until riding season.

Anyways I hope to see some of you around the Chicago area and thanks to everyone here for the great wealth of knowledge on these forums.


Ryan W.
 
Ryan -

Welcome! It's got to be tough to wait until you can see pavement again, huh? Sounds like you have a nice bike. You're going to have great fun in Colorado...very nice country to ride in...at least the western half is! :stick
 
Hey man!
Nice choice on the bike, I'm thinking you'll enjoy.
Mike Abt and Carey Caldwell are good guys, I wish BMW of Countryside well.
Very familiar with Palatine, grew up in AH.
Welcome aboard, see you down the road.
 
Feel your pain

Hi Ryan,

I know what you're going through. When I purchased my LT it was February and had to wait until April to ride it. Almost killed me since I hadn't owned a bike in 25 years and finally got upper managements OK. :brad
Since then I've had miles of smiles and don't look back.

Hang in there,
Jer
 
Welcome!

Great having you in the MOA. Anyone who wants to ride Colorado has their head on straight. Get yourself a Butler map of CO and start planning your trip, there are dozens of world class rides here.
 
Welcome to BMWMOA!

Welcome Wakedawg! Let me know if you ride up to Door County, my home turf!:thumb

Mike Horne
76 R90/6, Candied Red Metalic
93 R100R Legend, Pearle
 
Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

It was 57 degrees here today which is unheard of and saw some bikes out riding, sure makes it hard to wait. I just got my new issue of ON and an aerostitch catalog, so I've got some reading to do!

I really do hope to meet some of the Chicago folk , I just sent in my registration for Chicago Region OA.


Ryan
 
The Chicago Region club has Hot Dog Rides every Monday night starting in the spring, which are a good way to meet fellow BMW riders - everybody collects at a designated hot dog joint and talks motorcycles and life for a couple of hours.

Another hangout you might want to check out is the Full Moon restaurant on Sunday mornings. It's on US 41 just south of IL 137 in North Chicago. In warmer weather, a good number of motorcyclists show up to hang out, drink coffee, and ogle bikes. There's usually a good BMW contingent, and there are some regulars with weirdly exotic bikes, like the rider with the Bimota collection (who even has one, let alone more than one?). If it's actually 41 degrees and not snowing this Sunday as predicted, a bike or two may actually show up.
 
Welcome to the forum,there is a many places you can meet other BMW riders in Chicago area.I'm not that far from you,I'm in Indian Creek, Rt83/Gilmer Rd.Feel free to drop me a line if you want to take a spin this way.I organize rides in summer on weekends (I'm a organizer for motorcycle riding group),we do tech days and other events.In end of May I'm hosting a BBQ at my place for motorcycle riders and BMW demo rides are in the works.

Martin
 
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