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

[Visian]

OK, maybe there are just a bunch of n00bs here!

On the right is Turkey Tom and on the left is Ed Culberson.

They're at Tom's High Country Motorcycle Camp in western NC and the event is a meeting of the first dual-sport BMW motorrad club in the USA: The GS International. (I was the newsletter editor )

"From the end of the highway to the international byways, the GS experience is a way of life" - GS International's slogan. Tom was the club's founder and totally understood the then-new "G/S thing."

Ed Culberson rode his G/SPD, named "Amigo", the entire length of the Pan American Highway and wrote a book about the experience: Obsessions Die Hard. I have an autographed copy, Ed was selling them off the back of his motorcycle (they were in the orange box in the pic below) at my first MOA rally in Duquoin, IL. Ed was a Space Coaster (early BMW motorrad local club) and iirc, so was Tom.

 

[Ed_Jorgensen]

Amigo

Ed Culberson's Amigo in my garage being prepped for Barber.

 

[oldcamper]

Turkey Tom’s campground was near the Blue Ridge if i recall correctly. We stayed there and he was a very accommodating host. I also remember Ed Culberson selling his book at Paonia. He was very proud of his accomplishment. Did he haul his bike through the Darien or ship it around? I read the book but it was a long time ago.

 

[kbasa]

 

[Visian]

Turkey Tom’s campground was near the Blue Ridge if i recall correctly. We stayed there and he was a very accommodating host. I also remember Ed Culberson selling his book at Paonia. He was very proud of his accomplishment. Did he haul his bike through the Darien or ship it around? I read the book but it was a long time ago.

Ed was a great man and a mentor of mine. He lugged it through the Gap... and the whole story is in his book. It's one of great dedication and.... persistence!

Helge Pedersen also performed this feat, on the same model of bike. Being a photographer and a superb multimedia creator, he recently published a video about the experience.

Here he is at the MOA National in Missoula, 1998... when he started out with his book and his multimedia presentations.

 

[Visian]

Ed Culberson's Amigo in my garage being prepped for Barber.

View attachment 85768

This. Is. Awesome. Thank you for posting it, Ed. I had followed Ed Culberson's bike from the Zentrum in South Carolina, down to your club in Daytona, and was delighted to see the exhibit at Barber... which is the best place in the world (imo) for it to be.

It must've been so cool to have Ed as a member of your club...

 

[Ed_Jorgensen]

Ed was the best. He was all in with the club scene back in the day. His Darien slideshow was a fixture at our Bullow Bike Week Rally. He was also my chief instructor when I received my MSF certification in 1983. On our way back to FL from the MOA York, PA Rally, our first stop was to overnight at Turkey Tom's. Good times.

 

[Visian]

His Darien slideshow was a fixture at our Bullow Bike Week Rally.

Have attended that... unforgettable! Wouldn't it be great if it were captured on video?







Completely side detail about the Spacecoasters' event at Bulow... one year I saw a very young (like, 12 years old) Derek Trucks, of southern rock/Allman Bros. fame, absolutely shred on a guitar... live. Again, unforgettable. Bulow was such a great rally.

 

[oldcamper]

There was truly something very special about the Spacecoaster’s Bulow event.
The big multicolored balloon along the entrance road set the stage for a very pleasant atmosphere there. 800 BMW riders in the overflow area of a campground packed with 5,000 Harley riders, separated by a white rail fence. In the evening one could wander to the Harley cantina for a beer and watch the bikes in the burnout pits, but watch out for alligators that might be in the canals! Everyone got along and we all had a great time. In the morning, the piles of empty beer cans in front of the 1%’ers club sites were impressive!

 

[Voni]

Have attended that... unforgettable! Wouldn't it be great if it were captured on video?

Completely side detail about the Spacecoasters' event at Bulow... one year I saw a very young (like, 12 years old) Derek Trucks, of southern rock/Allman Bros. fame, absolutely shred on a guitar... live. Again, unforgettable. Bulow was such a great rally.

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Voni
sMiling

Susan Buckland wrote:

What this is.....
This is Ed Culberson's Slide Show Presentation that he shared with so many motorcycle enthusiasts...all of whom will remember it fondly no doubt. It's the story of his epic adventure riding the entire Pan American Highway on Amigo, his1981 BMW R80 G/S motorcycle. Ed's ride was the first!!!

The Story behind the video....
I first met Ed after watching his slideshow at a local rally,..... It was MY first rally (Gator Rally, Tampa Fla). I had just bought my 84' R80RT from Joe Katz's BMW in Daytona.....I'd had it all of 2 weeks! No Lessons, No Experience....I was still learning how to ride the thing. But I wanted to meet other BMW riders so I went in search of camaraderie.

As I listened to his stories I imagined that I would be riding up to Alaska and having adventures on one of Ed's Poncho Via tours. I was so incredibly excited at my new life direction spreading out before me. Little did I know then, that I had also just met a man that I would marry and start raising a family with....go figure....Different Adventure.

I came to know Ed personally because he and I ended up belonging to the same BMW club (Space Coast BMW Riders/SpaceCoasties). When he was diagnosed with ALS, I offered to record his presentation so we'd always have it, so Nell his wife and his children would always have it. We thought that maybe it could be sold with profits donated to the ALS Foundation. Nothing ever came of those efforts to my knowledge.

I recorded Ed in his home on amateur equipment over a weekend with his family around us, and then enlisted Caribiner Chicago & Tapestry Sound along with many others who volunteered their time to help put it together.

Ed's health deteriorated very quickly after this was recorded . Ed and his family felt that it was important for this story to live on and perhaps inspire others to "Find Adventure", to follow their passion wherever it leads.
Ed passed way in 1995.

Epilogue....
I raised that family, have moved back to New England and I still own and ride BMW motorcycles....Most recently I went on MY FIRST SOLO ADVENTURE....riding from Santa Monica CA to Cabo San Lucas and back!

Thank you ED, you are missed.....still XO

 

[Visian]

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Voni
sMiling

 

[Visian]

Logo, oh no!

A brief story heard from someone who was there. He was a 26 year-old "outrider"... which is somewhat the equivalent to an Ironbutt rider today.

In 1971 the outrider crossed the country on his /5, showing up at daybreak on the porch of Bill Harmer's house in San Diego. Bill was a leader in the San Diego club and one of the Californians calling for the formation of a national BMW motorrad club.

The outrider was responding to an article describing that very idea, written by Harmer and published by Roger Hull in Road Rider magazine.

But first, a big to Vince Winkel, who led a large number of volunteers in publishing this book 15 years ago.

At the front of this book we see....

... The BMW Owners of America's first logo.

Interestingly, the outrider played a key role in this logo's design. You see, it turns out that the logo that Harmer had been working on looked exactly like Japan Airlines' logo (of all things)... so it could not be used.

The outrider had seen the logo for the newly-formed BMW Owners of the UK... and suggested to Harmer that the American club could follow suit. And he sketched with a pencil the map of the USA over the BMW's Roundel / Tank Badge.

Back then, there was no such thing as Corporate Identity... or, um, the willingness of a BMW club to actually pay a real graphic designer!

Ian

ps -> another part of the story is that Harmer's advice to the young outrider was to go back home to Alabama and start a state-wide BMW motorrad club. The outrider was so enthusiastic... he became one of the founders of both the Alabama club and the Vintage BMW Owners Club.

 

[oldcamper]

I wonder why they chose the word “owners” rather than “riders”.
Do you suppose they thought of including car owners in the original club?

FWIW, that hand drawn logo might look better to some than the one used now ...

 

[Visian]

I wonder why they chose the word “owners” rather than “riders”.
Do you suppose they thought of including car owners in the original club?

Well, there's a story in that....

FWIW, that hand drawn logo might look better to some than the one used now ...

In large part, logos are a matter of taste. As a marketing guy, I like logos that are an expression of the brand.

For example, the Roundel is both a stylization of the Bavarian flag and a symbol of precision. Both are key aspects of BMW's brand.

 

[oldcamper]

I believe the Ural logo is also a roundel …
Fiat too?

The BMW logo does look like registration markings.
Probably not a propeller after all.

 

[drneo66]

I believe the Ural logo is also a roundel …
Fiat too?

The BMW logo does look like registration markings.
Probably not a propeller after all.

Inverted Bavarian flag - the propeller connection was from a 1929's ad

 

[Visian]

I believe the Ural logo is also a roundel …

The Ural logo (or at least the tank badge) is a stylized mountain, as in, the Ural Mountains.

 

[vetbmwrider]

I wonder why they chose the word “owners” rather than “riders”.
Do you suppose they thought of including car owners in the original club?

FWIW, that hand drawn logo might look better to some than the one used now ...

That is subject matter that a founding fathers of the MOA only know, and is only talk about in dark ally ways between the chosen few.

 

[Visian]

The BMW Touring Club of Detroit

As I research this subject, I am coming up short on info/contacts with The BMW Touring Club of Detroit. It would be so cool to hear some stories about the club's founding and early days. I would love to know if Vern Hanson is still around and if he can be contacted.

Reading about the club, I see they're pretty active in advriding, too. Good for them!

Tried contacting them via their web site but no answer yet. afaik, it could be in a spam bucket.

If anyone reading this has any contacts, please PM me.

Ian

ps -> and THANK YOUT HSVPhil!

 

[Visian]

I wonder why they chose the word “owners” rather than “riders”.
Do you suppose they thought of including car owners in the original club?

So here is part of the story, this is dated March 23, 1972