ISSUE 227 SEP -OCT 2019

PREZ Notes- Page 2

Club Calendar - Page 2

Top of the Rockies- Page 3

All About Windshield Cleaning - Page 4

BMW’s Electric Supercharger- Page 5

Café Racers - Page 6

Camping Chairs - Where Does Your Ass Go - Page 7

Bikes For Sale/Special Interest - Page 8-9

While we are sweating out here in Texas, our Prez was relaxing at the Woodstock Café, in Wood-stock, VA, at the RA Rally this last weekend. Jealous, why yes I am.

Greetings from the road fellow members and friends Another month has rolled by, no pun intended of course. Writing this sitting by my tent at the RA Rally in Woodstock,VA in the Shenandoah Valley amongst a lot of folks wearing tie-dye everything as the theme seems to be retro having the same name of that NY gig. The picture of the rally guide says it all... groovy! The Airhead Club is in their groove here for sure.Smells funny over there! The riding in this part of country has you chasing your tail often and two hundred mountain miles will take awhile and make you dizzy, I love it.

Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park and the Northern start of the Blue Ridge Pkwy are close by. Anyways, add to your list of places to go or return to as one of the premier riding locations east of the Mississippi... which I crossed from MO-KY on a ferry! Tom Sawyer style! Safe travels and see y’all soon, the second TX riding season has started and hope to see you on the road . Prez Steve

Page 2

PREZ Notes

SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Club Calendar ACTIVITIES – This calendar does not include every Thursday social and Sunday breakfast ride. Events will be filled in as they are planned.

*Every Sunday there is an informal breakfast ride (weather permitting). The destination for the Sunday breakfast ride will be determined by participants un-less previously announced via e-mail. The ride de-parts at 8:30 a.m. from the Starbuck’s at 1604 and NW Military Hwy (Shavano Park).

2019 Events Calendar -Date in bold is a club activi-ty, dates not bolded are simply items of interest to members. NOTE – Everything is subject to change so remember to check the club calendar, http://www.sabmwra.org/html/calendar.html for the latest.

September

5th-8th – BMW RA rally in Woodstock, VA. Details and registration at https://bmwra.org/events/the-bmw-ra-national-rally/

6th-8th – 35th Bavarian Mountain Weekend, Sipapu, NM Details and registration at https://loebmwr.org/TheRally/AboutTheRally.aspx

21st – Saturday - Third Saturday ride TBD

28th – Club Meeting at Alamo BMW. Details TBD

October

18th-20th – Alpine ride – We have 20 rooms on hold until Oct 1. Call Sam at 432-837-5811 for the rate of $55 tax included. More later on departure time and route.

25th-27th – BMW MOA Getaway in Kerrville, TX. Details and registration at https://www.bmwmoa.org/event/texas

26th-27th - Alamo BMW Open House and Off Road Training. Details at https://alamopowersports.com/

November

2nd – Saturday 9am – Trash pickup along our adopt-ed hiway.

3rd – Sunday – Daylight Saving Time ends. Set your clocks back 1 hour.

16th – Saturday – 3rd Saturday ride. Details TBD

23rd – Saturday – Club meeting at Alamo BMW. Details TBD

Page 3 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

I have been itching to take a trip on my "new" 2008 GSA after my boom boom with a 4 wheeler in Hou-ston last January, so I decided to make the trek to central Colorado for the Top of the Rockies Rally in Paonia, CO, back in July. I just had to make a quick pit stop in Luckenbach on the way out of the Hill Country.

It was a very warm ride out through west Texas. Spent a couple nights in Lubbock doing some business and visiting my son at TTU. Met my Iron Butt friend, Christopher Ross there and we rode from there to Paonia, CO. Just crossed the high bridge over the Rio Grande River from NM into Colorado.

Downtown Paonia at the city park where the rally was held. Lots of shade on a soft grassy park.

This is definitely a rally worth the grind of leaving TX and travelling to. We had a blast. Bert Whitaker

Top Of The Rockies Rally By Bert Whitaker

Page 4 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

All About Windshield Care and Cleaning Brian MacLean posted Oct 10th, 2014, MC Garage

The happy-motorcyclist, wind-in-your-face, bugs-in-your-teeth thing sounds great on paper, but by the time you can identify the particular species of insect parts in your toothbrush, a windshield starts to sound pretty good. But whether it’s a see-through barn door sparing your face and eyes from flying debris or a stubby sport screen you crouch behind on a trackday, if you can’t see through it, a scratched or dirty wind-shield can be worse than no screen at all. Here’s how to avoid trading wind-in-your-face for crash-in-the-weeds. Start with the right cleaning products. Never use any cleaner on acrylic or polycarbonate windshields that’s not designed specifically for the application. Common window-washing fluid works great on glass, but the alcohol or ammonia in it can damage the plastic and chew through the scratch-resistant hard-coating like a bulldog through a butcher’s shop. The milder the better is the rule here. If you can’t find an approved cleaner, mild soap and warm water will do. Often that’s what your owner’s manual will recommend anyway. Your cleaning supplies should be squeaky clean right from the get-go. No paper towels—they can scratch the plastic—no shop rags, not even new ones, and for the love of all that’s good and holy never use that filthy squeegee in the tank full of pond water attached to the gas pump. Get a cleaning cloth made of terry-cloth, cotton flannel, or microfiber, turn it often as you clean, and run it through the washing machine frequently. While it might not show up on a painted surface, the tiniest bit of dirt trapped in the cloth can ugly up your clear windshield with astonishing ease. Park the bike in the shade so the windshield is cool before you start. The cleaner will work better—specifically, it’ll dry more slowly—and it’s easier to see scratches and dirt in soft light than in bright sun-light. Using plenty of clean water, rinse off as much dirt as you can as gently as you can; the biggest risk of scratching is when the windshield is dirtiest. Re-move welded-on bug carcasses by laying a wet cloth or wet paper towel flat on the windshield. Give the

water a while to loosen the worst of the goo then pull the towel off without wiping across the surface. Then get after what’s left with your fingernail. The more you remove this way the less pressure and cleaner you’ll need later and the less likely you’ll scratch the plastic. Dry the windshield by dabbing the water with a clean towel and apply the cleaner according to the direc-tions on the container. Use too much and you’ll make a gooey mess; use too little and you risk scratching the plastic. You don’t get extra points for finishing the job sooner, but you’re more likely to inflict some battle scars if you rush. It doesn’t matter much if you use a circular motion or up-and-down motion as long as you don’t press too hard. Pretend you’re rubbing the tummy of a sleeping alligator. Turn the cloth fre-quently so the side facing the windshield is always clean. Stop and pick out any big bits the cloth picks up. The last step is applying a plastic protectant, essen-tially a see-through version of the wax you use on your paint. It does the same thing, too, by providing a layer of protection against future dirt accumulation and insect impacts. Most aerosol plastic cleaners like Plexus and Meguiar’s are also polishes and protect-ants. A note of warning about rain treatments: Just about every windshield manufacturer warns against using Rain-X, a popular treatment that makes water stream off car windshields in wet weather. Instead use a product such as RainZip from National Cycle. You can remove existing scratches with products like Novus or Meguiar’s M17 Clear Plastic Cleaner (and M10 Clear Plastic Polish). Take it slow to avoid go-ing too far too fast, and don’t use one that’s too gritty or you’ll cloud the area around the scratch. The large, milky-white areas that won’t polish out are typically caused by tiny internal cracks in the material itself—called crazing—caused by chemical contamination or stress resulting from improper mounting of the wind-shield. Small cracks can be temporarily stopped by drilling a tiny hole at each end, but by this time the structural strength of the material is compromised enough that you should replace the windshield.

Page 5 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

ing instantaneous boost, instead of waiting for the engine to spin up. The result is more immediate pow-er gains. Of course, BMW’s patent application is no guarantee of commercial availability. Suzuki has been teasing the Recursion turbocharged concept bike for years, but still hasn’t brought it to market; there have also been strong rumors of an upcoming turbocharged Hayabusa, but nothing’s appeared in concept form yet. However, there’s definitely interest in forced induc-tion technology across the motorcycle industry at the moment, as manufacturers puzzle out how to make power from an engine while dealing with tightening emissions standards. Kawasaki’s currently the only manufacturer making a supercharged motorcycle, with its H2 series. But it’s likely we will see more of these designs in the next few years, as the OEMs adapt existing internal combustion engines to meet anti-pollution measures.

BMW appears to be working on an electric super-charger system, intended to be fitted to the S1000 RR. BikeSocial (a UK Motorcycle blog, benetts.co.uk/bikesocial) has uncovered technical drawings (filed with a German patent office, allegedly) that show what appears to be an electronically-activated super-charger system that’s designed to mount on BMW’s liter bike engine. Most supercharger systems are run mechanically, by some connection to the engine. Electronic super-chargers have been available for years, but haven’t gained the popularity of their mechanically-activated counterparts. While properly set-up electronic superchargers do have some advantages (ease of installation, lower cost, adaptability), they tend to be less efficient than a mechanical supercharger, unless their electronic pow-er is drawn from a source other than the engine, something like a regenerative braking system. Elec-tronic superchargers do have the advantage of provid-

Check it out: BMW is working on an electric supercharger Zac / @kawazacky , ADVRIDER.COM/Forum8/20/2019

BMW Recalls G 310 GS and G 310 R For Faulty Brake Calipers

By Mike Botan, Advrider.com, 8/30,2019

BMW of North America has recalled certain motorcy-cles and scooters due to corroding brake caliper pis-tons. BMW says that the front and rear brake caliper pistons may corrode.

The corrosion may in turn possibly cause the piston to stick or drag in the caliper’s bore. There were at least two reports of crashes in Great Britain from sticking brake caliper pistons. Not only have the bikes been recalled but new sales have been stopped until the problem is corrected. A total of 5,938 motorcycles/scooters are affected.

BMW will notify owners of affected machines and will replace the front and rear brake calipers free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on October 4, 2019.

Owners of affected machines may contact BMW Customer Service at (800) 525-7417. They may also contact the NHTSA Vehicle Safety Hotline at (888) 424-9153 and cite recall 19V593000.

Page 6 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Café Racers: a motorcycling revolution

By Paolo Inez, 9/6/2019 advrider.com

Over the past decade, we have witnessed the re-awakening of a category of motorcycles that has probably caught most of us by surprise. By “surprise”, I mean all of a sudden seeing flocks of these old motorcycles, which had been rusting in somebody’s garage, being ridden by extremely cool bearded guys in tight expensive clothes, and show-ing a somewhat excessive area of tattoos. Where are all of these bikers coming from? What happened to the motorcycling world to bring shoals of these un-derdogs bikes to the surface, possible decimating the market for the pretty new ones? Well, first of all, this new wave of bikes and riders is clearly part of a “fashion trend”; a movement that focuses on a specific style, outfit, accessory and more and makes it look cool and desirable for all the potential fashion followers of society. This explains why a lot of the people who became involved in the motorcycling world and got passionate about it with-out knowing much about it. The café racer movement is not entirely identical to the old British style. It blends different types of mo-torcycling together, including custom, flat track, classic and dirt bikes along with the original café racer concept. With this new generation of bikers, the design, the aesthetics, the noise and the attitude of the bike you have is absolutely fundamental. Why would you oth-erwise put knobby tires on an old Suzuki two-stroke that will only be used to commute to your office? No matter how we define and what we call these new toys, Café Racer motorcycles are basically “old looking” bikes refurbished, repolished (sometimes) and customized to look cool; not precisely for rea-sons of basic functionality or ergonomics, like for instance reliability, comfort and safety, but just to look great with your new flannel shirt. Some of these motorcycles even transcend the logic of practicality, lacking some basic accessories that modern bikes nowadays pretty much require as a standard. Some don’t have fenders, blinkers, rear-

view mirrors, rear shocks, front shocks, brakes or even real seats. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been to a few motorcycle shows and the way that people have customized these bikes can simply be phenomenal! Some of the bikes are literally pieces of art. The amount of time, work and money that have been put in to change the aesthetics or the look of a bike, are absolutely incred-ible. What this movement is all about is really allowing the standard concept of motorcycling to be modified and plasmated to each individual, transforming the motor vehicle into a canvas on which the owner ex-presses himself/herself by creating a machine that reflects personal style. In this way, café racer bikes introduced a new con-cept into the motorcycle industry. We no longer de-pend on the manufacturers to create our next dream bike; we are now able to transcend that and explore new horizons in our way of seeing things with the creation of a motorcycle. And what this movement has emphasized is that ulti-mately, whether you ride a bunch of scraps put to-gether with a shaky welding torch or the latest $50k Ducati, what really makes a biker…”a biker”, is a passion for a motor and two wheels.

Page 7 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Camping Chairs…Where Does Your Ass Go? By RTWPAUL, Advrider.com 9/5/2019

Packing light is an art, or is a state of mind, or does it even matter, do YOU take what YOU need to be comfortable! Do you like to camp to keep costs down, but what do you do once you are set up? If you’re that rider who doesn’t like to spend money on gear that rarely gets used I guess you sit on the floor or go find a log to sit on, or borrow hard panni-er if you don’t have your own…but what about eve-ryone else? Even if you are a light packer is a chair still a re-quirement, how minimal or comfortable do you go? comfortable do you go? Just enough to get your ass off the ground

or maybe you like to be closer to earth but still comfortable by convert-ing your sleeping pad into one of these

or are you the, “screw that tiny stuff” I have a big ass and it needs its own zip code

or are you a music lover, a ‘rocker’ could be more your style

ok, yes I’m a rocker, but I need something a little more, stealth…I rocked one of these for a few years

with my 250lbs, not an is-sue…except after a long night next to the campfire and downing multiple adult beverages it was pure en-tertainment for EVERY-ONE ELSE to watch me try and get vertical

You thought I forgot, if none of the above work for you, you are the king of the camp-fire so you need your throne!

Page 8 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Bikes For Sale FOR SALE: 2009 GSA. $7,000. Dan Burfield

(210) 875-6147

FOR SALE: Odyssey Extreme PC680 battery,

"twice the power, triple the life," fits many BMW's so

do your homework, sealed AGM - Absorbed Glass

Mat, manufactured October 2017. Battery app search

tool: https://www.odysseybattery.com/

battery_search.aspx

Battery’s date code shows it was manufactured Sep-

tember 2017, and shipped to a dealer October 2017.

Battery was in a slash six BMW for a very short time,

but the slash six charging system is incompatible for

Odyssey type pure lead battery plates. Battery tests

and charges and looks like new, $60.00. JPG's freely

sent, just call or text.

Rex Wright - mobile & text # 210-328-5412

FOR SALE – I’ve decided to sell my 2014 R1200RT. It is Ebony and is equipped with the Com-fort, Touring, Dynamic and Luxury packages. I’ve added Nav V, Clearwater Darla front lights and auxil-iary brake light along with the Clearwater CanO-pener. It comes with an aftermarket windscreen as well as the factory screen and both the standard seat and factory low seat. I’ve also added an Ilium bar ris-er. As of this writing it has 29,494 miles. The tires are in great shape with less than 7500 miles. I’m ask-ing $10,000. You can call or text me at 210-846-3137 for more information and pictures. Rohm Thompson

Page 9 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Bikes For Sale

2002 K1200RS converted to K1200GT with GT han-

dle bars and comfortable foot peg lowering

plates. Price reduced; $4,500. Recently serviced,

recent tires. Somewhat rare color. One of BMW's

best looking bikes ever in my opinion. Runs flawless-

ly. 130 HP, Electric motor smooth engine, ABS

Brakes, Heated Grips, Adjustable windshield, Elec-

tronic Cruise Control, BMW System cases (Luggage/

saddle bags) in excellent condition. A few scratches

that have been touched up that most folks never see.

Comfortable, quick (these bikes pull like a freight

train up to the red line), very low maintenance and

very durable bikes that are known to go 300,000+

miles.

I have done a few 800 mile days on this bike and was

very comfortable (and I'm 68 years old). Great sport

and touring machine.

Brian Collins 512-593-0732

HANK ARRIAZOLA

Lost In Place And Time : Photographs From A Mo-torcycle Traveler Curated by Alfredo Avalos and Hank Arriazola UNAM San Antonio 600 Hemisfair Plaza Way, Building 333, San Antonio TX 78205 (210) 222-8626 | www.unamsa.edu Opening reception: Thursday, September 12, 2019, 7 pm Slide-show presentation by Hank Arriazola during the opening reception Exhibit on display: September 12 – October 18, 2019 Viewing hours: Mon – Thu, 9 am – 6 pm; Fri, 9 am – 2 pm Contact: Alfredo Avalos (210) 222-8626, Ext 232 | aavalos@unamsa.edu Free and open to the public ----------------------------------------------------------------- If you are interested in taking the off road training that is in conjunction with the Alamo BMW open house you will need to register. The open house is Saturday Oct 26 and the off road training is Sunday Oct 27. Registration for the training is here https://alamopowersports.com/Customer-Corner/Off-Road-Training-Course

Special Interest

Page 10 SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION

Steve & Helen have camping and cabins for rent & a web site - check it out at http://www.blancobeemerwerkes.com/cabin/index.html

SAN ANTONIO BMW RIDERS ASSOCIATION Page 11

SA BMW RA P.O. Box 15143

San Antonio, TX 78212 WWW.SABMWRA.ORG

Club dues are $15 single,

$20 w/associate(s).

President Steve Henson

(512) 413-5662 henzilla57@earthlink.net

Vice President Mary Putnam

(505) 220-2563 scous-er505@hotmail.com

Secretary

Bill Edwards (210) 410-9638

edwardsw@gvtc.com

Treasurer Gerard Lobosco (210) 349-1039

gslobosco@hotmail.com

Ridemeister Chuck Wetzel

(210) 410-5353 cwetzel@satx.rr.com

Newsletter Editor Dave Hoover

(210) 247-8821 ahbeemerdmh@yahoo.com

The San Antonio BMW Riders Newsletter is published bi-monthly solely for the use of its members. Any copying and/or duplicating is acceptable provided it is not done for profit. Classified ads are free to members Please call or e-mail the ads to the editor. Advertising rates for businesses are: One year - 6 issues Business Card $ 50.00 Quarter Page $100.00 Half page $190.00 Full Page $350.00

Editor Notes

Another hot summer has come and gone, if only the Fall here in San Antonio wasn’t so dang hot too. While writing this edition of the Newsletter, we still have folks out at Rallies. Prez Steve sent his Prez notes from the RA Rally in Woodstock, VA. He says he is having a “groovy”time. Other folks have headed off to the Sipapu rally in New Mexico. Hope everyone has a safe ride and brings back reports and photos of their travels. As the weather cools off (a little), maybe you will consider join-ing Chuck Wetzel in one of his Sunday led rides. Even through the summer the Sunday ride has been popular. Please refer to the club calendar for upcoming events. We have a club meeting at the end of the month that all are welcome to attend and more ride opportunities to go out west in the Annual Alpine ride in November. As always, get out and ride and be safe.

Hank Arriazola 201 N Commerce, Dilley Texas 78017 (830) 963-1203 info@motohank.com

Steve Henson

In The Heart Of The Hill Country

(512)413-5662 Henzilla57@earthlink.net

Call For an Appointment

Blanco BeeMerWerkes