Praise for Max BMW Motorcycles

[Rob Nye]

Actually I am willing to bet it is a typo, as in I was busy riding so I didn't attend the GS ride. My jab at the Statdawg is probably off base.

Anyway, the Max Rides are always well done and everyone comes back smiling.

If you want to see how they really work come to the Damn Yankees Rally in a few weeks.

 

[Unregistered]

Wrong again.

Ownership ? I had a source that says differantly. Oh well lied to by BMW again dang ? Still a bunch of rich rider's showing off.

Go directly to the source. Ask Doug. Ask Steve. Until then, don't make ASSumptions and broadcast them based on what other "sources" tell you.

Thanks for being such a man of the people and looking out for all of us who shouldn't let the "rich guys" make us break our bikes and steal our money. You're doing a great public service here.

 

[Unregistered]

Knowing Doug, I have no doubt that he prepped all the riders prior to the start of what to expect. I also believe it was recommended that the ride NOT be run on anything but knobbies.

Everyone had a choice here to either go or not. If it was beyond your capability, then maybe you are not man enough to admit that and ask for help in certain areas or a way to bail out. That's your problem not the organizers or all the other riders that seem to have enjoyed the ride.

 

[EMOTO]

I would like to offer a differant point of view. I bet two of those bikes were from the GS ride "HE" sponsored ? Another I know will be going to their dealer this week. I enjoyed the GS event very much. Thank God, I had to take care of my machine since I was'nt riding a Max machine. I guess I need to learn the definition of GS riding since their version and Horizons Unlimited conflict ?

Here is how I saw it. Max provided an GS event so GS rider's can see how well their machine is built, and can endure a great challenge. His staff equiped with "HPs and endros" lead and followed the GS group. The riders made the challenge, some faired better than other's with the heavy non-enduro bike which I based on individual experience. Perhaps next time check what the rider's know it will decrease your service demands and provide a great product. Also was it street tire friendly as advertised ? I have ridden internationally for years and never had some F650 running up my back, yet fortunate to have the guy crash 4 times behind me to give me space. I never had a problem with the course, but I did'nt want to "Max out" my expensive machine since my dealer was'nt providing it to me. After all I had to ride home. So did the young rider with the new GS, that at one point dangled over a Vermont rocky stream gorge, what an impression ? I know if you don't dump it you are'nt riding it ? That is the psychology here ? Should have been a bail out instead of HP in your face thinking........which were'nt owned by the rider's. In Europe I went on a GS ride and in points you had coaches helping the new GSer through the pace's.......but that could have been a marketing ploy don't you think ? Max's event could have done this but the supervisor's acted the same as if they were all tied to a sled or something. But then again maybe it was best not to follow their lead.

I still enjoyed the GS ride but question the psychology of taking a expensive machine on an enduro road made by a log skidder. The roads were better in Peru, and Bolivia but I guess that is not GSsing ? What I felt was a bunch of non-GS riders showing off like a bunch of rich brats on Daddy's ( Max's) HPs leading a few inexperienced rider's to damage of their hard earned machine's. After all Max is here to make things right.

For me this Rally was riding.Tuesday, and Wednesday Vermont MOA Big Puppy ride, Thursday I did the Gaps, Friday the Great GSsing with the Daddy owned HP Guys, Saturday was off to Montreal. For the whole trip 3500 miles in 6 days including to and from home. No time for the rally but a cheap place to sleep.

WOW at the rally I had 2 beers, 4 sausage sandwiches, bought a Vermont MOA T-Shirt ( only vender opened when I was there), received my pin, patch, and worked the Beer Tent 4-8 friday with the 8 that showed up out of the 30 that signed up. Had my picture taken with Brad. Thought I saw Bob at Al's Fries on Thursday doing serious face time. I never attended a seminar, or saw another vendor besides Max's and Vermont MOA. Nor did I attended the Closing Ceremony which I am glad since I might have been mad that the my POA Tour friends were not recognized for the hype event. I guess they were not GSsing 3,000 miles in all that heat, so it did'nt matter ? But I enjoyed the place to the MAX. Please don't get angry at my observation's. After all I just hated seeing people victumised in hype psychology. Kind a like bringing a Dealer Farkled bike to a Club Rally then parking it for everyone to google over then yell at the observer's if they get close...............I saw that kind of thing as well. Great impression for our young rider's. So I will keep riding my pig GS because my parents (Dealer) did'nt buy it for me. The ride is still on soon to be adventure riding/ GSsing in Utah....I think ? Sleep tight.

 

[Unregistered]

Max

Although this may seem like a skewed perspective, I too had a time issue getting my dead airhead looked at/repaired. At the time it seemed like the staff in the Max's tent were more interested in installing Remus exhaust systems than fixing broken bikes. I was told by the short-haired service guy they would get to it ASAP. Great! That was at 8:30 AM on Friday. I talked to Max at 5:15 PM and asked why my bike hadn't been looked at. He apologized for the oversight and said my bike would be good to go by 10:30 Saturday morning. Voila! it was. It was a minor electrical problem (dead Odyssey), why couldn't they have done treage, then let me know that they would get to it later? I realize that airheads are not in the majority anymore, but they are quite easy to work on, and if I had brought my VOM I would've fixed it myself. Long and short, thanks Max, and your staff for being there, but don't be afraid to tell customers that you can't get to it right away, they're probably more understanding than you think.
Dave Woodman

 

[EMOTO]

ASAP stands for "As soon as possible". It does not mean "right away".

From a couple of the posts here, it seems that Max's could have done a better job of managing customer expectations, but it is also clear that they were completely overwhelmed with the amount of business. Seems like overall they did a pretty good job. Max is a very intelligent fellow, so I imagine that he will take some lessons away from this experience, and that the customers will benefit from those.

I like Max and his shop and would use them if I lived closer to them.

 

[Unregistered]

Y'all have to keep in mind that the shop embarked on something never done before at a rally. 5 techs, what parts to bring, BMW computers, staff etc. I am sure it was a learning experience and having done business with Max, I know he wanted to personally help everyone that he could.

I'd say given the circumstances, environment and unknowns of what to expect they did an unbelievable job. I doubt any one of us could have dine things better, different or more efficiently.

 

[BELG]

The GS ride went a bit faster in some parts than I thought was prudent given conditions on the surface in some areas.... but overall I thought that given the 1000 or so GS's that must have shown up, the 60-80 or so that showed up must have had some dirt experience.

I had never been THAT Gelande on the GS before, although I have ridden many dirt roads out here in Virginia on it. Part of my philisophy was "I grew up riding on dirt, and if the bike in front of me can make it, I can make it."

I think that perhaps splitting the groups into 2 or 3 levels would have been appropriate given the narrowness of some of the tracks and areas you could have taken, but doing so would have encouraged people to ride over their abiilities, and robbed the less experienced of the ability to watch the more experienced traverse a couple of the areas.

I know that by following people who -could- that I would relearn a bunch of things about my skills, and learn a ton of new things about my bike. I'm really, really impressed at what the bikes can do.

I went out on Annakee's and only went down once, in the ugly mudbath.... I'm not sure TKC-80's would have made a difference, either. My only damage to the bike came from the rocky traverses.... my headlight failed when I fired the bike up the next day. A new H7, good to go. Either in the pickup of the bike from the mud crash, or the pounding I took in the rocks, I sprained my left wrist... hurt like hell, but I not only finished the ride, I rode 700 miles back home...

All that being said, we did have several pauses to go gather crashers, and that is part and parcel with the territory. It's not to be sought out, ever, of course, regardles off the gusto of "If you haven't laid it down, you're not riding hard enough" that typifies most of the forums posts :=)

I would do it again in a minute (after my wrist heals a bit).... but pick my way through the woods on a couple of those sections.... of course, I'm stubborn enough to keep trying that same section over again till I stayed upright!

PS... wrist is okay, no major damage, off the bike for a week in California anyhow, so I'll be riding when I get back.

Speaking of California, I need to get packed, showerred, and run by the apple store on the way to replace a dead power supply...

 

[AC798]

GS Ride

Sounds like the GS ride was a lot of fun - my only complaint is that it was advertised for the saturday and went out on the friday. By the time I made it up the ride was already long gone. Otherwise Max's rides are always a good time - although I'm 0 for 3 on the rides so far this year. No worries - I still had a good ride on saturday - just no GSing.

 

[Rob Nye]

Come to the Damn Yankees Rally for another Max GS Ride.

 

[bws1bfd]

I like Max and his shop and would use them if I lived closer to them.

Max picks up and delivers for free within a 100-mile radius. That covers Portsmouth to Boston.

bws

P.S. Could someone teach that complainer guy what an apostrophe is for? Hint: You don't use it to make plurals.

 

[EMOTO]

Max picks up and delivers for free within a 100-mile radius. That covers Portsmouth to Boston.

Yeah, I know. I am a bit south of Boston, and could conceivably use him (and did for a large job on an old bike a few years ago) but for small stuff, it is just easier for me to deal with someone local that I can easily drop in on without killing 2/3 of a day.

P.S. Could someone teach that complainer guy what an apostrophe is for? Hint: You don't use it to make plurals.

 

[Unregistered]

I had Saturday lunch with the "young rider on the GS" that almost went over the 20 foot embankment during the GS ride. He mentioned that he was mad with himself for a riding error that he made (think we've all got a bunch of those T-shirts hanging in the closet). To my mind everyone has to accept that there is some element of risk in a GS ride (hell, in any ride), and that the outcomes can be unpleasant. It's important that the fallen young GS rider did not blame the organizers or event guides for the fall. He took full accountability and has my admiration for that. Even though his R12GS is his first beemer, I suspect he will be in the fold for the long haul. His first rally and he attended solo - hope he made some friends for future rallies. Scott

 

[BELG]

I had Saturday lunch with the "young rider on the GS" that almost went over the 20 foot embankment during the GS ride. He mentioned that he was mad with himself for a riding error that he made (think we've all got a bunch of those T-shirts hanging in the closet). To my mind everyone has to accept that there is some element of risk in a GS ride (hell, in any ride), and that the outcomes can be unpleasant. It's important that the fallen young GS rider did not blame the organizers or event guides for the fall. He took full accountability and has my admiration for that. Even though his R12GS is his first beemer, I suspect he will be in the fold for the long haul. His first rally and he attended solo - hope he made some friends for future rallies. Scott

I know there's 60-70 other riders on that trek that were all real happy he came out okay.... that could have been so much worse.

 

[Unregistered]

I've never had a dealer like Max. He rocks.

And he really did work until 0530, then run back to the hotel for a shower, and come back right away to work the whole day. I know this cause I was working the gate and watched him leave and come back.

He had to forgo being at the the ceremony to give away a complete set of riding gear (with helmet) because he had to rent that truck before the rental place closed, and he had to be present there to sign for it. From what I understand he did it that way so that those bikes he had parts for back in the shop he'd get on the road as soon as physically possible.

He's the real deal. I'm sorry that you had a less than satisfactory experience, but I'd venture to say that you were a rare exception.

He'll get my business.

 

[OUTBACKUFO]

after reading this whole post.. It does not matter if i was nto able to make the VT rally... AK i see was more worth it now even if i was solo the whole time...

it is a sad thing to see the bickering going on... every GS ride suffers from these problems... too many show offs... too many in over there heads and not able to admit it... too many unwilling to help and teach the less expereienced a thing or two.. too many in a group riding...


after helping organize and set the route for the first of the Dirty Dozen ride three summers ago... it was easy to see how the **** starts to fly... i set a route i could to in 8-9 hrs solo at 300 total miles and 100 of dirt across... after consulting the Rally head we agreed on the route would be fine with a couple places for people to back track if daylight was running out to get tothe camping site...most made it in after dark... i spent 1.5 hrs on Weston Pass helping and assisting lesser abilty riders down a section of road that washed out the week prior to the rally and a week after i went up with road tires. there was only a couple of bikes with minimal damage (most cosmetic)... there was no complaints about anyone even those who had it rougher... they where happy with the assistence on the couple rougher areas, and learned a lot.

A group even made a mistake and took the 'short cut' from Aspen to Taylor Park

But at the end i remember thinking that i did not care much for the 'additude' of some of the riders the first pass road trying to out race each other at dangerous speeds..


i give credit to those who give it a try to see what it is all about, and those trying to share the fun... but the egos need to be taken out and then there is more fun and great times...


everyone should think about GSing the toughest section they did SOLO and seeing how they would fair

 

[soffiler]

Knowing Doug, I have no doubt that he prepped all the riders prior to the start of what to expect. I also believe it was recommended that the ride NOT be run on anything but knobbies.

Your belief about knobbies is plain wrong. Considering the fact that I was running a 12GS on Tourances, I was *VERY* careful to check this fact ahead of time. A thread appeared in the Rally forum announcing the schedule change from Saturday to Friday, and I inquired there... got a response back from Rob Nye who'd pre-ridden the course for Doug. Yep, Tourances OK.

Here are links to the information:

http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showpost.php?p=133607&postcount=5
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showpost.php?p=133641&postcount=9
http://forums.bmwmoa.org/showpost.php?p=133652&postcount=12

 

[soffiler]

I know there's 60-70 other riders on that trek that were all real happy he came out okay.... that could have been so much worse.

Speaking as one of those 60-70 other rides, Belg's got it right on the money (Hi Belg).

The drop-off, elsewhere estimated at 20', was more like 40' in my book. As I came around that off-camber downhill righthander, I observed pretty much nothing but a license plate down the embankment, and a small group of unhappy-looking people. The only thing that stopped the bike from plunging the whole 40' was a couple of trees and fallen logs it got lodged on, as near as I could tell from above.

Aside from the rider and his bruised ego, the bike came away with only cosmetic damage to the beak, tank, valve cover (of course) and a couple other rather small areas.

Looking down that embankment, yeah, it coulda been SO much worse...

 

[Unregistered]

Did you read the MOA Rally Book

"Ok, but kind of cowboy acting, and show off for the inexperienced, but not me ? Ownership ? I had a source that says differantly. Oh well lied to by BMW again dang ? Still a bunch of rich rider's showing off. Great rider thingy doesnt matter. You are representing something here, a product ? A service ? A dealer ? A Rally Chair ? An event ? I guess they left a bad taste in my mouth..............DUST ? LOL"

Ok, after working my ass off for 5 weeks setting this event up it's to fire back.

Doug Mo here GS rally Chair, My HP is bought and paid for by myself, I am a professional Geologist, I restore, race and build vintage motorcycles and have been supporting my motorcycle passion for years by doing this. I do not work for MAX BMW but I support he and his staff as they are the best thing to happen to the BMW community in a long time for the North east market.

That was a very easy ride, showing off, please, I won't even go there. If you were intimidated by that ride, then you should of read the discription to what to expect in the rally book, I was very clear about that day. All of you did great, and if you listened to me at the riders meeting you would of made it through, a very manageble section without harm. You ride a GS, thats what they are for.

If you want a demostration on what a HP-2 can do off road, I'll be glad to school you anytime, you may like what you learn.

The GS Ride at Heath then Ascutney are a level above that ride, come on out and lets have some fun.

Thanks Again Doug Morrison

Oh ya one last thing. who's your source? Being a Gentleman, I won't go there.

 

[iambob]

I'm coming in on the side of Max..

I developed an oil leak on my R-RS and showed leaking oil on my final drive and rear wheel. He personaly told me that he would take care of it, but to keep on eye on him, if he forgot, and hadn't looked at my bike in 10 minutes to come find him. He looked at it, told me final drive seal, got the parts we'll fix it. Then he got a second opinion checked the level in the final drive which was a little high, and said good enough to make it home.

ALL in all they did great, did it in great time considering how busy they were.

Now a caveat for anyone else that sees this problem.

It wasn't the final drive. I did the 700 mile ride home on Sunday, still leaking, but no change in the oil level in the FD.. checked the transmission it was real looooooow.. the oil is leaking out of the transmission, down the drive shaft cover then leaking out of the boot at the final drive. I knew I should have checked the transmission, I had lost a lot of oil for the FD to still be overfull, but I didn't, and I don't blame Max nor his mechanic for the mistake. I thought the same thing, and I still will give them praise for trying to take care of me as quickly as he/they did.

Now I'm still waiting word from him for a possible trade for the decked out GS demo bike he had sitting in front of his tent.