BMW National Rally Redmond, OR

[DeeG]

Beautiful weather, lots and lots of bikes, met a bunch of great people, had too much Belgian Ale on Friday night (thanks to my friend Rolf, the Rok Strap guy) went to lots of cool seminars (learned four different ways to pick up a bike, learned how to use my GS-911 diagnostic tool, learned more than I ever wanted to know about oil and got to see a 1920's era BMW get fired up woo hoo!!!)  discovered that the 45 is burning a half liter of oil every 100 miles (ugh!!!), but that she'll do 75 mph on the flats and even passed a semi truck going up hill!!  

I had a SUCH a great time, and meeting all the 65 folks was just icing on the cake.  We really need to do this more often.

I took a boat load of pics, and hopefully the video stuff came out OK.

Bummed out because I didn't win anything.  I was looking forward to a European riding trip.  

Now I get to clean the bike up and start reading up on engine rebuilds.  Oh well.

[darrylri]

Hey, DeeG, did we meet at all?  Because I drank a fair amount of Rolf's beer as well, and I'm the one who gave the demonstration on starting a 1920s era BMW -- my 1928 R52.  The old bikes were my excuse for not having the R65 there; I drove up in my pickup with the R52 and a 1953 R51/3 in the back.  

I also ran into Melena in the beer garden a couple times and we had a very nice chat!  

[DeeG]

Hey, DeeG, did we meet at all?  Because I drank a fair amount of Rolf's beer as well, and I'm the one who gave the demonstration on starting a 1920s era BMW -- my 1928 R52.  The old bikes were my excuse for not having the R65 there; I drove up in my pickup with the R52 and a 1953 R51/3 in the back.  

I also ran into Melena in the beer garden a couple times and we had a very nice chat!  

I do recall seeing you at Rolfs as I was wandering around.  The spouse and I were there on Friday evening. Left the R45 at his place that night, his Belgian Ale ....yikes.....  

And when you fired up the R52, it left me speechless.  What a BEAUTIFUL bike!!!  And I was thinking the same think as one of the other observers...how the heck to you find time to look up while your riding?  I'd probably run into something.  

We were camped just behind Melena and Larry.  

[Ed Miller]

Maybe somebody with pictures (Dee?  Melena?) could start a thread in the ride reports section.  

One of my sometimes riding friends, John, won one of the European tours.  He went from being woke up by sprinklers on his tent that morning to winning a tour that evening, all in one day.  I think he got tired out.  I was camped by him but he didn't ride with us this trip.    

[darrylri]

And I was thinking the same think as one of the other observers...how the heck to you find time to look up while your riding?  I'd probably run into something.

You're right, the controls do keep you busy, and when I first started riding it, I spent a lot of time looking down at them.  

Look at my hands in the photo above.  Both are manipulating those thumb levers while I'm also doing the usual riding stuff.  I rode the bike a fair amount on quiet roads around here before I dared to go out into any real traffic.  The most difficult moments were when I had to go get gas -- I had to deal with a block's worth of traffic to get there.  

I hung out at Rolf's Sprinter Friday afternoon, trying to stay out of the sun for a while.  I was camped immediately next to the Vintage Display, where I spent most of my time.  I barely got to see any of the vendors (which is probably a good thing).  

I did win a Spot on Wednesday at the "Leadership Summit" for club leaders.  That's probably the best thing I've ever won in a raffle.

[darrylri]

Hey, Melena!  I hear you met some friends of mine who were riding down here from Seattle at a rest stop.  It's a small world out there!

[Red_Hen]

Hi - the Rallly was great for me - Matthew Parkhouse did a Q&A session on the Airheads.  Lots of good stuff and lots of airhead enthusiasts in attendance.  I got to meet Melena, which was great but did not stick around Saturday - I bugged out on my K75 and took a detour through Glacier National Park in Montana - didn't get back home to MN until Wednesday afternoon but took time my time enjoying the sights.  

Saw a bunch of R65's at rally including a real beater that had been up and back from Alaska and down into Costa Rica and back.  This showed me why so many people are hot on the BMW brand - reliability, longevity, quality.

[Melena]

Hey, Melena!  I hear you met some friends of mine who were riding down here from Seattle at a rest stop.  It's a small world out there!

   Yeah!  I did.  That kind of thing happened to me all weekend.  We were just chatting about things and they said you were going down to Santa Cruz to see you.  I about fell over when he said your name.  What a small world indeed!

I hope they had a good time with you at MotoGP!!.  I'm sure they did.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Howdy,Howdy,
Got back from Redmond yesterday afternoon and back at work (bummer).  
Here is a shot of Helge standing in back of Junior.
 

Do you have any other pictures of your bike?  I'd love to see them!

[darrylri]

Hey, Melena!  I hear you met some friends of mine who were riding down here from Seattle at a rest stop.  It's a small world out there!

   Yeah!  I did.  That kind of thing happened to me all weekend.  We were just chatting about things and they said you were going down to Santa Cruz to see you.  I about fell over when he said your name.  What a small world indeed!

I hope they had a good time with you at MotoGP!!.  I'm sure they did.

I think they did.  I led them a merry chase around the Santa Cruz Mountains on Saturday.  I rode the R65 and they had a hard time keeping up.  I took them up to Alice's Restaurant and out to Pescadero and Bonny Doon.  

Funny thing, though:  one guy kept worrying about the oil level in his Kwacker and my friend on the GS, who is a BMW tech, looked and said it was fine, but he was still concerned.  In the evening after the ride, this came up, and it turned out that everyone was concerned about their oil, because they could smell it occasionally during the ride.  Well, my free bike weeps oil out of the cylinder bases and the pushrod tube seals, and it can be a bit ... aromatic ... when it gets warmed up.  

I guess I will have to do a top end job on that bike sooner rather than later.  But I'm having too much fun with it right now.  

[Melena]

Do you have any other pictures of your bike?I'd love to see them!  

I have pictures from the rally, Rob.  I'll be posting them later today in the ride report section.

[professorfate]

Do you have any other pictures of your bike?  I'd love to see them![/quote]

Here's a shot at the top of Steens Mountain in South Central Or. just before the national.  9500 ft.!

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

Thank you, professor.  I really like your tank panniers (brand?).  If I weren't so enamored with my Krauser leg shields, I would have a set.  I really like yours!

[professorfate]

  I really like your tank panniers (brand?).  

I made em.  Along with most everything else on it.

[Rob Valdez 79 R65]

So, are those aftermarket frame braces beneath them, or are they part of the support structure?

The exoskeletons - did you weld them up and dip in plastic?

(BTW, a big  [smiley=thumbup.gif])