April 2012 Newsletter

Spring is here!  (Okay, maybe Spring arrived here a month and half ago and the calendar is just now catching up.)

Now that Spring is here and we have switched to Daylight Saving Time, we are resuming our monthly club meetings on the second Monday evening of the month.

April  Club Meeting

Our next meeting will be held on Monday, April 9th, 6:30 p.m., at P.T.s Olde Fashion Grill in Leland.  P.T.'s Olde Fashion Grill is located at 1035 Grandiflora Drive, Leland.  The GPS coordinates are N34.21187 W78.02910.


View Meeting Locations in a larger map

In case you missed our March club meeting at The Front Porch Restaurant in Elizabethtown, here are some photos.


The New BMW Scooters

BMW has decided to enter the high-end mega-scooter market with their new C650GT and C650 Sport.  Of course, BMW does not refer to to these as scooters, but rather as Urban Mobility Vehicles.

The folks at Cycle World magazine recently had the opportunity to test drive these new machines in Spain.  You can read the full review at Cycle World's web site.


Ohlins Open House

Did you know that the shock maker Ohlins has their US headquarters in Hendersonville, NC?  If not, here is a great chance to visit them.  Ohlins will be hosting an open house at their offices on Saturday, May 12th, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.  Ohlins is located at 703C South Grove Street, Hendersonville, NC [GPS coordinates N35308795 W82.451035].


GPS Tip-of-the-Month

This month's GPS Tip-of-the-Month is mapping and mobile phone tip for those of you who use an Android-based phone and Google Maps. If you are an iOS phone user, and you the Google Maps app installed, this tip should also work for you.

Then you take a trip, motorcycling or otherwise, it's always a good idea to have a list of the hotels where you are planning to stay, along with their phone numbers. This tip makes it easy to take this information with you on your mobile phone.

Before you take your trip, use your desktop computer's web browser to visit Google Maps (https://maps.google.com) and log into your Google account (you do have a free Google account, right?). This tip only works if you are logged into your Google account.

Next, use Google Maps to look up your hotels, restaurants, and other points of interest that you might be planning to visit and for which you would like to have contact information readily accessible during your trip. Many of these hotels, restaurants, businesses, and places of interest will probably have a "Google Places" page that looks something like this:

As you locate each one, mark the hotel/restaurant/etc. by clicking the star symbol next to the place's name  (it will initially look like the outline of a star). After you click the star, it will fill in like this:

This means you have marked that location. Marking a location adds the location to your list of "Starred Items" in your Google Maps account.

When you are finished marking places, click on the My Places button on your Google Maps page.

You should now see each of your starred items in your "My Places" listing.

Now, get your Android phone and open the Google Maps app. From the menu in the Google Maps app, select "My Places." Two "tabs" should be shown – one labeled "Starred Places" and the other labeled "Recent."

Selecting the "Starred Places" tab will now display for you a list of all those locations that you marked from your desktop computer. If you decide that you need to call one of your starred places, like a hotel or restaurant, the Places page should list the location's address and phone number, and if you look closely, their phone number should be displayed as a link that you can select to immediately dial with your mobile phone. Pretty handy, right!

Special thanks to Daniel Zimbrich for sharing this helpful tip!


2012 World SBK, MotoGP Calendar

In case you missed the Phillip Island World Superbike races, BMW posted a second-place finish in one of the two races -- BMW's best finish thus far!

Here are some of the upcoming World Superbike, MotoGP, and AMA Pro Racing events that are currently scheduled to be shown on SpeedTV):

April 1, 2012 - WorldSBK - Italy (broadcast 4/1@2PM and 3PM, 4/3@1PM and 2PM)
April 1, 2012 - WorldSupersport - Italy (broadcast 4/3@12PM and 4/9@2PM)
April 8, 2012 - MotoGP Moto2 - Qatar Grand Prix (broadcast 4/8@2PM and 4/10@1PM)
April 8, 2012 - MotoGP - Qatar Frand Prix (broadcast 4/8@3PM and 4/10@3PM)
April 10, 2012 - Moto125 - Qatar (broadcast 4/10@12PM)
April 21, 2012 - AMA ProRacing - Atlanta (broadcast 4/21@8:30PM and 9:30PM, 4/22@11PM, 4/23@12AM)
April 22, 2012 - WorldSBK - Netherlands (broadcast 4/22@5PM and 6PM, 4/24@1PM and 2PM)
April 29, 2012 - MotoGP - Spanish Grand Prix (broadcast 4/29@8AM and 5/1@2PM)
April 29, 2012 - MotoGP Moto2 - Spanish Grand Prix (broadcast 4/29@12PM and 5/1@1PM)
May 6, 2012 - MotoGP - Portugal Grand Prix (broadcast 5/6@8AM and 6PM)
May 6, 2012 - MotoGP Moto2 - Portugal Grand Prix (broadcast 5/6@1PM)
May 6, 2012 - WorldSBK - Italy (broadcast 5/6@2PM and 3PM)



Newsletter Contributions 

With the riding season finally beginning again, many of you will be taking trips in the coming months. When you return home, please take a few minutes to write a short trip report to share with your other club members. Trip reports (or any other kinds of articles) are welcome!

Your trip report or article can be one paragraph, or it can be a page, or it can simply be a few photos. It's a great way to share your motorcycling experience with everyone, and perhaps inspire some us to take the same trip sometime. Send any contributions to ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com.


Video-of-the-Month

This month's video is an interesting "confrontation" involving two racing bikes.  You may enjoy watching their very unique "dance."

Video-of-the-Month Link


That's all for this month. Ride safe and Ride far!

April Fool's Day Ride

This is not an April Fool's joke! Really!

Weather permitting, we will hold an April Fool's Day Ride to Southern Exposure Restaurant in Faison, NC on -- you guessed it --- April 1st.  April Fool's Day falls on a Sunday this year, so this will be a great opportunity to enjoy a morning ride and a delicious brunch at Southern Exposure.


View Larger Map


The ride will depart from the Buy & Go Exxon, 808 North College Road in Wilmington, at 10:15 a.m. This should allow us to arrive between 11:30 and 11:45 a.m., just before the after-church crowd.



View Group Ride Rendezvous Locations in a larger map


The route for the ride, which is one some of you have enjoyed before, can be viewed on this Google Map.

A GPS file for the routes to-and-from and the waypoints for Buy & Go Exxon and Southern Exposure will be loaded on the club's Dropbox account a few days prior to the ride.  (Availability of the club's Dropbox account was announced in the February newsletter -- contact us at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com if you would like access.)

If you are planning to join us (either riding with us, or riding separately and meeting us at Southern Exposure), please let us know by sending an email to ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com, so we know to expect you.

We'll see you on April 1st for our first-ever April Fool's Day Ride.

March 2012 Newsletter

March Club Meeting

The weather looks uncertain for the previously announced March meeting, so our plans are changing!

Our next meeting will now be held on Saturday, March 10th, 12 Noon, at The Front Porch Restuarant in Elizabethtown.  Please note this is a change to both the meeting date and the location.  The Front Porch Restaurant is located at 1100 West Broad Street in Elizabethtown, NC.  The GPS coordinates are N34.63212 W78.61679.


View Ride-to-Eat Locations in a larger map

RSVPs are not required, but would be helpful.  Please respond to ccbmwridersclub@gmail, if you believe that you may attend.

Rain Date:  The rain date for the March 10th meeting will be Sunday, March 11th at 12:30 p.m.  An email postponement will be sent to club members, if needed.

This March meeting will be the last of our "winter meeting schedule."  We will resume our second Monday evening of the month meeting schedule in April.  Mark your calendars now for the April 9th meeting date.

Anyone who is interested in joining a back road ride to the March 10th meeting is invited to meet us at the Buy & Go Exxon located at 808 North College Road, Wilmington [N34.26022 W77.87006].  A ride back to Wilmington, via roads other than I-40 is also planned, for anyone who wants to join in.  Check the Announcements page on the club web site for further details on the ride.


Chartered Club Status

Thank you to everyone who responded by providing your BMW Motorcycle Owners Association and/or BMW Riders Association membership numbers.  We are now officially re-chartered with the BMW-MOA as Chartered Club #306 and with the BMW-RA as Chartered Club #346.  You can view our chartered club certificates online in our club's Picasa web albums.


CRADAR

I recently discovered a really interesting smartphone app for those of you who are Android phone users (sorry, iPhone users).  The app is called CRADAR, for CRash Detection And Response).  You can find CRADAR in the Android Marketplace.

CRADAR is a man-down app that senses when you fall (using the phone's built-in accelerometer), waits between 30 and 120 seconds (whatever you set it for), and if it does not see you move at least 8 feet, the app sends a text message to one of your contacts telling them you might be hurt.  This gives your contact a chance to call you to see whether you are okay.  The text message includes a link to Google Maps with your GPS coordinates, so if your contact cannot reach you, they have your GPS coordinates so other people can find you.

A more detailed description of the CRADAR app, which includes a couple of screenshots of the app in use, can be found at the developer's web site (ActionXL).  This app may not be a perfect replacement for having a SPOT personal tracker unit, but the CRADAR app is free!


GPS Workshop

Our first of (hopefully) a series of GPS workshops was held on Sunday, February 11th. The four  participants (Jerry Dockery, Jody Hudson,  Bob Thomson, and me) each came with a different GPS units (Jerry with a Garmin 276c, Jody with a Zumo 550,  Bob with a Garmin 60csx, and me with a Montana 650) and unique sets of questions. During the approximately two-hour workshop, we spent time discussing how to load map sets when the GPS no longer has sufficient space to hold the entire map set, how to download new map updates to your PC and transferring them at a later time to your GPS, the new Garmin BaseCamp software (see below) and how it differs from Garmin's venerable Mapsource software, and briefly talking about Point of Interest (POI) files.

We will be holding another GPS workshop sometime in the Spring, probably after mid-April.  If you have a question you want to cover in a future workshop, we can still add your question(s) to our GPS Workshop Questions document, hosted on Google Docs.  (Note:  A free Google account is required to access the document, and editing access is currently limited to those who have expressed interest in the workshops).

BMW Final Drive Investigation by NHTSA

For those of you who do not closely follow the BMW motorcycling email lists or web forums, here is some important news.  Apparently the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has finally opened an investigation into reports of BMW final drive failures.  It is currently limited to K1200LT drive failures. However, it will be interesting to see where this leads.  Here is the post that is appearing in various web forums:

After over 145 individual complaints filed between April 2001 and August 2011, the NHSTA has finally opened its first official investigation into the failure of crown gear bearings on BMW models equipped with the Paralever style final drive. NHSTA investigation DP12001 opened 1/20/12 is centered on 1999-2005 K1200LTs for now. But, if the findings are what we all believe they will be, the scope of the investigation should be expanded. I found the only way to get NHSTA to listen and focus was to pepper its director, David Strickland, with repeat letters as well as inquiries from WA Senator Patty Murray who chairs the subcommittee over funding for the NHSTA. If you have had a final drive failure on your Paralever equipped BMW, and have NOT already reported it to the NHSTA, I urge you do it now.

You will need your VIN, (est.) date of failure and mileage. State your model as well. While they should be able to identify from VIN, their data was wrong 50% of the time. Specify if gear oil leaked.or call (888) 327-4236.
www.safercar.gov

or mail to:
NHSTA
Office of Defects Investigation (NVS-210)
West Building
1200 New Jersey Ave SE
Washington DC 20590

In your complaint, select "Power Train" as the component and reference that you have had the same failure as described in ODI No. 10439549, and currently being investigated under Campaign DP12001.

If you have experienced a final drive failure, you want to consider filing a report with NHTSA.

Send an email to your Congressman and US Senator to follow up on your behalf as well.

No Ethanol Gas

Club members Bob Thomson and Bill Traina has provided a really useful tip for everyone. Are you are one of those riders who prefers to use no-ethanol gas, if it is available?  If so, you may want to visit the Scotchman Store located at 7111 Wrightsville Avenue, Wilmington.


View Larger Map

According to Bob and Bill, this location carries both regular and premium grades no-ethanol gas!  If you want to see this no-ethanol source remain available, try to support this vendor by purchasing some of your motorcycle fuel from them.

Do you know of another gas station in our area that sells non-ethanol fuel?  If so, pass along information on that business (GPS coordinates would especially be appreciated) and we will share this will the rest of the club.  A Google Map has also been set up to show these non-ethanol gas stations in our area.

Thanks, Bob Thomson and Bill Traina!


GPS Tip of the Month

This month, we have two related tips.

First, if you are a Garmin GPS user with a Lifetime nuMaps subscription, Garmin has another update for the City Navigator North America (CNNA) map set. The latest edition CNNA map set is now 2012.40.

Second, Garmin has finally released the latest the BaseCamp v3.3.1 mapping software update. Garmin has made a number of significant improvements in this version of BaseCamp. Among these are:

• Added collapsible list folders and sub-lists for improved organization.
• Added shaping point support for Zumo devices like done in MapSource.
• Added explicit support for shaping points. These will be transferred to supporting devices.
• Added support for transfer of waypoint categories on supporting devices. These are displayed in BaseCamp as lists.
• Added more activity profiles, with improved activity routing on supported maps.
• Added custom activity profiles.
• Changed to make GPX files on a memory card directly editable.
• Changed to read all GPX files on a memory card, similar to how devices behave.
• Added display of lists that contain this data item to properties.
• Added support for importing waypoints and tracks from KML/KMZ files.
• Added more map details for higher detail setting.
• Added data filters to map view.

The complete list of the improvements in the latest version of BaseCamp can be seen on Garmin's web site.  The BaseCamp v3.3.1 update is available from the Garmin web site as a free download. If you were using their beta version of this software update (i.e., Version 3.3.0.3), you will need to uninstall the beta software from your computer.  The new update will not remover the beta version.

IMS Trip Report

The International Motorcycle Show was held February 24-26, 2012 at the Charlotte Convention Center.  A couple of club members (Tony and Jill Barcia, Ed O'Neil, Bob Thomson, Bill Traina, Dick Williams) rode together to Charlotte to enjoy the IMS.  While there, we also saw fellow club member Jerry Dockery.    A few photos from the show are now available online for anyone who did not have an opportunity to attend.

The 2013 show will supposedly be held again in Charlotte, so start making your plans to attend next year.


Events and Rallies Updates

Spring is coming. On some days, Spring feels like it is already here. With the weather improving soon, it's time to start planning some of your weekend rides and rally trips. A number of Spring upcoming rallies are listed on the club's Google Calendar and you can also see when and where these events are scheduled to be held on our 2012 Rallies and Event Google Map.

And if you attend any of these events, send us a brief report summarizing your trip (including any photos you would like to share) so your fellow club members can vicariously enjoy the experience and hopefully be inspired to attend some of the other scheduled events. Send your trip reports to us at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com.

As always, if you know about an event that is not on our calendar, send us whatever information you have and we will add to the club calendar.


2012 SBK, MotoGP, and AMA Sportbike Events

The 2012 MotoGP season starts this month, with the first GP in Qatar on March 9th. The 2012 World Superbike season began on February 26 with the first race in Philip Island, Australia, and AMA Superbike racing events are scheduled to begin with the upcoming Daytona 200.

Here are the major WSBK, MotoGP, Moto2, and AMA Superbike race events scheduled for March and April 2012:

Mach 15-17 -- AMA Superbike Daytona 200

April 1 -- World Superbike and Supersport Round 2 at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari

April 8 -- Qater MotoGP and Motot2 Grand Prix

April 20-22 -- AMA Superbike at Road Atlanta

April 22 -- World Superbike and Supersport Round 3 at TT Circuit Assen

April 29 -- Spanish MotoGP and Moto2 Grand Prix

The latest race schedules are available online.  Many of these races will be shown on SpeedTV, so check the SpeedTV.com web site for the latest programming schedule updates.

Be sure to watch the World Superbike events and cheer for the BMW racing teams that are participating this year.

To get your enthusiasm started for the upcoming season of MotoGP racing, check out this sequence of photos showing Valentino Rossi (aka "The Doctor") sliding his MotoGP bike during recent testing at the Sepang Circuit.  Don't try this yourselves!


Video of the Month

As BMW riders, I hope many of you will enjoy this month's Video-of-the-Month – Hitler Wants a Harley for Sturgis.  Be forewarned -- there is some vulgar language in the video.  I hope you will laugh at this one as much as I did.  And thanks to fellow club member Ed O'Neil for passing along this video suggestion.

Hitler Wants a Harley for Sturgis Video


That's all for this month.  Ride safe and Ride far!

February 2012 Newsletter

With the mild winter weather, thus far, I hope everyone has been able to enjoy some riding.  I have encountered a number of interesting items to share with everyone this month, so I apologize in advance for the longer than usual newsletter this month.  Here we go!

February Meeting

Our next club meeting is scheduled for February 4, 2012, 12 Noon, at the Boundary House Restaurant in Calabash, NC.  Many of you will remember that we have enjoyed some great seafood at The Boundary House.  If you plan to join us, please send an RSVP by February 2nd to help us ensure we have sufficient seating for everyone.


View Ride-to-Eat Locations in a larger map

Be sure to check weather reports and monitor your email for a rescheduling notice if rain is forecast for our meeting date.  The "rain date" is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, February 5th, 12 Noon.

January Club Meeting Photos

A few photos from our January club meeting at the Front Porch Restaurant in Elizabethtown, NC are available in our Picasa web albums.

Club Charter Renewals

For those of you who are BMW MOA and/or BMW RA members, I need your help.

This is the time of the year when our club charters with the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (BMW MOA) and BMW Riders Association (BMW RA) must be renewed.  By being a chartered club, our club is listed on the BMW MOA's and BMW RA's web sites, thus helping new potential members find us.  This really works – several of you have contacted us after finding our club listed on one of these two web sites.  I am taking care of the fees for renewing these club charters.

For our BMW MOA renewal application, we are required to list at least five individuals who are current BMW MOA members (i.e., names and MOA membership numbers).  For our BMW RA renewal application, we are only required to list one individual who is a current BMW RA member.

I have already sent an email to those of you that have previously indicated you are BMW MOA and/or BMW RA members and asking you to confirm your membership number(s) and membership status.  If you have not yet responded to the email, please take the time to do so.  If you did not receive the email and are a member of either the BMW MOA and/or the BMW RA, please send me an email at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com and provide your name and membership number(s).

Thanks for your help!

2012 International Motorcycle Show

Here is another reminder that the International Motorcycle Show, sponsored by Progressive Insurance, is being held at the Charlotte Convention Center on February 24-26, 2012.  These shows are a great way to see all sorts of motorcycle from all the major manufacturers, and all in one place.  The shows also host a number of major accessory exhibitors.  Need a new helmet?  Their will be helmet vendors (like for example my favorite Arai dealer, The Service Pavilion).  Need a new jacket?  There will be vendors selling those too.    Be sure to attend this show and get equipped for the next riding season.

Club-Related Maps

Last year, for our club members who use Google Earth, I provided a link for displaying the locations and information about many of the year's BMW-related rallies and events.  This was done by creating a network link in your computer's Google Earth program.

For 2012, I am trying something that will be easier for everyone to use.  (I still plan to update the Google Earth link soon.)

I have created several Google Maps that anyone can access.

One map shows you the locations of the Wilmington-area restaurants where we usually meet.  If you know someone who wants to attend one of our meetings, but is new to the area and does not know some of the restaurant locations, this map will be one you can refer them to.

A second map shows you the locations of some of the restaurants that we have visited as part of our ride-to-eat events.  This map will help you find these restaurants, if you want to try them during one of your own rides.  Our usual rendezvous locations for these rides are also available on a different map.

The third map shows you the locations of a number of events and rallies of interest to BMW motorcyclists.  Many of these events are also listed in our club Google calendar.  If anyone has information about an upcoming rally or event that is not shown on our map, please send a short summary and location information to ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com.

If you find these maps useful, or have ideas for additional maps, please let me know (at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com).

The Water Cooled Boxer

There has been much recent discussion on BMW motorcycling forums and mail lists about the water-cooled BMW boxer engine rumored to be slated for release in 2013.  Some good "spy photos" have also been posted online.  If you have not seen the development bike (which BMW will neither confirm nor deny exists), this Motorcycle.com article may be of interest.

Motion Induced Blindness (Safety Tip)

The title of a  forum post on the BMWSportTouring.com web site recently caught my attention.  It was called "Motion Induced Blindness."  The discussion was very interesting and included a link to a demonstration of motion-induced blindness on the Motorcycle Safety Foundation web site.

Most motorcycling safety books and classes teach you  to scan the road ahead and to keep your eyes constantly looking for new hazards.  This MSF demonstration shows what happens when you fix your attention on something and do not keep your eyes scanning,  This is an amazing effect to see.  Once you try the test as directed, try it again while keeping your eyes and/or head in motion.  You will immediately understand motion-induced blindness.

I urge you to take the time to view this demonstration.  It will clearly show you the value of keeping your eyes constantly in motion, scanning the road in front of you, while you are riding.  Practicing this technique  may help you avoid a future accident!

Racing News

Former Yamaha World Superbike Team Manager Andrea Dosoli has been named the head of race operations for BMW Motorrad Motorsport.

http://moto-racing.speedtv.com/article/wsbk-dosoli-moves-to-bmw/

Leon Haslam will be back with the BMW Motorrad racing team for the 2012 WSBK season, while Marco Melandri has replaced Troy Corser, who retired after the 2011 season.

2012 BMW MOA International Rally

It's not too early to begin making your plans to attend this year's BMW MOA International Rally in Sedalia, Missouri.  The rally will be held July 19-22, 2012.  The BMW MOA Rally web page (http://www.bmwmoa.org/rally12) has some initial information about the rally.  Be sure to also monitor the BMW MOA Forums (http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/) as additional information about the rally is announced.

Another Bites the Dust

Eurotech Motorsports (http://www.eurotechmotorsports.com) has closed as of December 28, 2011.  They are still selling closeouts of their inventory.  If you are in need of any of their specialty parts and accessories, act quickly.

GPS Tip-of-the-Month

This month, we have a really handy utility program for anyone who uses maps.  How many times have you been given GPS coordinates and they are not in the right format for what you are trying to do?  Here is an example.  If you look at Capitol BMW's home page, their masthead includes their GPS coordinates in the format N35 50.437 W078 36.116.  Those coordinates will work in Google Maps or Bing Maps (and Bing Maps will even show you the coordinates converted to a pure decimal values), but what if you need them in HH MM SS (Hours-Minutes-Seconds) format?

This is where GPS Sway comes in handy.  GPS Sway is a free utility for Windows PCs that can be downloaded from GPSFileDepot.com.  You can place the executable file wherever you like (no installation program to run!).  This program keeps it simple -- it only does GPS coordinate conversions.

Check out GPS Sway -- I think you will find this to be a handy utility.

Club Dropbox Account

If you are not familiar with Dropbox, it is a really good way to share files on your computer with others.  Any files you save to Dropbox are also instantly save to your other computers, mobile phone, and the Dropbox website.  Accounts for up to 2 Gb of storage are free.  Dropbox works with Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iPad, iPhone, and Blackberry.

A club account has now been set up with Dropbox.  This will provide a way to publicly post and share files like GPS routes, etc.  The idea of setting up a club Dropbox account came to me after seeing this being used by some folks on the ADVRider.com website.

The club can obtain more free storage for the club's Dropbox, if anyone wants to setup a Dropbox through a referral from the club.  The club will receive an additional 250 Mb of storage for each peroson who signs up through the referral!  If anyone is interested in setting up a free Dropbox account, send an email to  ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com and put "Dropbox Request" in the subject line of your email.  Be sure to specify your email address that you want to use for your Dropbox account.

I think that you will find Dropbox to be a great way to share photos, files, and such with your family and friends.  Give it a try.

Myrtle Beach Marathon

Club member Jeff Mense has reminded me that the Myrtle Beach Marathon will be held the weekend of February 17, 18, and 19, and we have been asked to again provide escort and support on our motorcycles.  As usual, the Fun Run and 5K will be Friday evening with the full and half marathon on Saturday. The bicycle ride will be Sunday morning in Conway.

The marathon route and the bicycle routes have changed. The marathon route is posted on line at www.mbmarathon.com; Jeff Mense is working on getting us the bicycle route.

Please respond to Jeff Mense by email if you are interested in participating this year.

Road Rage - The Rest of the Story

Back in the August 2011 newsletter, you may remember an article about Road Rage which included this YouTube video link showing how pickup truck tried to run a motorcyclist off the road in rural Kentucky.  The truck driver was arrested and has now been convicted of  two counts of wanton endangerment, one count of menacing, and reckless driving, according to a story published in The Ledger Independent of Maysville, KY.

Video of the Month

You REALLY need to watch this month's Video-of-the-Month.  This video features a demonstration of a very helpful, hidden K1600GT feature for dealing with problematic drivers. And you were wondering why you you should upgrade from your K1200LT to the K1600.



The next time you are the recipient of another driver's road rage, you will wish your motorcycle was equipped with this K1600GT accessory.  Thanks to club member Ron Manley for passing along this video.


That's the news for February.  Ride safe and ride far!

January 2012 Newsletter

Happy New Year, everyone!  Hopefully you are ready for another great year of riding and adventures.


January Club Meeting

For January 2012 (It's hard to believe 2012 is already here!), we will be meeting for lunch at The Front Porch Restaurant in Elizabethtown on Saturday, January 7th, at 12 Noon.  The Front Porch Restaurant is located at GPS coordinates N34.63212 W78.61679, can be seen on this Google Map, and is shown on the map below.

As is our normal procedure, monitor the weather forecast and check your email on Friday evening for a postponement message if the weather is in question.

If you are interested in joining me for the ride to Elizabethtown, you can meet me at the Mobil Station (aka Maco Depot) located at the intersection of Highway 87 and Highway 74/76, just west of Leland (GPS coordinates  N34.28554 W78.13919 ).  Be fueled and ready for a departure at 11:00 a.m. for the 49 mile ride.

The February meeting date and location are now posted on the Club Calendar, as well as the March meeting date (the March meeting location has not yet been established).

Follow-up on Etymotic Ear Buds

After last month's article about converting the Cardo Scala Rider G4 to use ear buds, I received some interesting feedback from club member Ron Manley.  Thanks for the contribution, Ron!

I noticed on their web that they have a Custom Fit option. Since the little foam thingys are a compromise, I decided to try out a custom fit set.

I am pleased to report that they work very well.

Went to an Etymotic selected hearing center to have the molds made. They send them off somewhere where the final product is made. Since you must specify which headset you will be using, when the molds are returned to you, your headphones, in this case ER 6i's, fit into the mold perfectly and as an added benefit, the volume level seems to be louder. If you have not yet looked into the Custom Fit program, I can report satisfaction.

The only hitch was that Etymotic's 'approved' dealer knew nothing about the program. It took them about a week to get the paperwork and read how it works.

My cost was $100 plus tax and shipping.

Ron also recently informed me that Etymotic is currently holding a sale (through January 15th) on some of their ear buds.  Information can be found on the Etymotic Research web site.  You can also order Etymotic ear buds through Amazon.com.

Ride to Pittsboro Trip Report

As some of you know, there used to be a gathering of motorcycles every Sunday at a grill named Michael's in Chapel Hill. These gatherings were a great way to several hundred different kinds of motorcycles in one location. Typically you would see bikes of all makes. Models, and ranging from latest to many interesting classics. Unfortunately, Michaels closed a few years ago and these gatherings disbanded.

A few weeks ago, club member Bob Thomson called with word that the Sunday morning bike gatherings were back and happening at the Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro (GPS coordinates  N35.74406 W79.16465). On Sunday, December 4th, Bob and I made the ride to the Pittsboro to check out the action. We enjoyed a nice back road ride from Benson to Pittsboro, using a route shown to us many years ago by fellow club member Chris Wilcox.

Because the weather was a bit cool, attendance at the Pittsboro gathering was light – perhaps two dozen bikes at any one time. According to folks there, the gatherings are larger when the weather is warmer. Nevertheless, we got to see several interesting bikes, as can be seen in these photos.

For these gatherings, the Carolina Brewery is open for coffee and breakfast and Bob and I both enjoyed their breakfast burrito. While there, we even bumped into Jon Ross, the service manager from Capitol BMW, riding his R1100S.

All told, Bob Thomson and I enjoyed a great ride, and I hope some of you will be able to join us for a future trip to the Pittsboro gathering.

2012 Dakar Rally

If you are interested in the Dakar Rallies, be sure to visit the Dakar 2012 web site in the coming days.  The 2012 rally is a route nearly 9,000 kilometers in distance, starting in Mar Del Plata, Argentina and ending in Lima, Peru.  The rally starts January 1st.

GPS Tip

In our November newsletter, I mentioned that Garmin is focusing their mapping software development efforts on BaseCamp, rather than Mapsource.  Garmin recently released a beta version of BaseCamp that offers a number of new features.

This beta is a pre-release of the forthcoming Version 3.3.1.  They have already updated the beta once, to version 3.3.0.3, to fix some of the shaping point issues for Zumo 4x0 and 5x0 units.

If you have been a devoted Mapsource user (as I was), I encourage you to give BaseCamp a try. You can download BaseCamp from the Garmin web site.  A link to the beta version of BaseCamp can be found in the Garmin BaseCamp forum.

International Motorcycle Show

Another reminder that the 2012 International Motorcycle Show, sponsored by Progressive Insurance, is being held in the Charlotte Convention Center on the weekend of February 24-26, 2012. If you have never attended an International Motorcycle Show, you owe it to yourself to do so at least once. You find more information about these upcoming shows, including ticket information, at http://www.motorcycleshows.com.

Tony Barcia Plays Santa Claus

Club member Jill Barcia forwarded some recent photos of her husband, Tony Barcia, as a scuba-diving Santa Claus at the North Carolina Aquarium.  Tony's efforts were featured on the 6 o'clock and 11 o'clock news on WWAY-TV3, including film of Tony in the tank.  I thought everyone would also enjoy seeing these photos.  Well done, Tony!



Video of the Month

And for the video-of-the-month, we have a short YouTube clip of a stunt rider performing on a KTM 125.

Video Link


I look forward to seeing everyone at our January 2012 meeting.  Until then, ride safe and ride far!


Bill Murray

December 2011 Newsletter

Club Meeting

UPDATE REGARDING DECEMBER MEETING
Please come join us for second annual club holiday gathering and meeting at The Harp Restaurant on Saturday, December 17th, 4:30 p.m.  The Harp Restaurant is located at 1432 South 3rd Street in Wilmington.  We have previously enjoyed several great meals at The Harp, so I hope you have marked your calendars and will be able to join us.

Unfortunately, The Harp Restaurant could not accommodate us due to other large party bookings.  We will now be meeting at The Mad Boar Restaurant in Wallace, NC on Sunday, December 18, at 12 Noon.  The Mad Boar is also expecting several large parties in our meeting date, but has said they can accommodate us.  To ensure they set aside enough room for us, if you believe that you will be attending, please let me know by sending me an email at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com, so I can give the restaurant an idea of how many to expect.

View Larger Map

Upcoming Meetings

Here is list of the dates for our upcoming club meeting in January through March.

• January 7th, Location to be determined (Changed)
• February 4th, The Boundary House Restaurant in Calabash
• March 3rd, Location to be determined

If you cannot remember the date for the next meeting, remember that our upcoming meeting is always posted on the Announcements page of our club web site and also on our club's Google Calendar.

2012 BMW RA National Rally

The BMW RA Chartered Clubs Coordinator, Michael Johnson, has sent me a document with information on  lodging at the 2012 BMW RA Grand National Rally site that is located at Cooper Mountain, Colorado. This rally site is above the 6,000 foot elevation in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado for cool night sleeping with pleasant days to go exploring the surrounding area. The BMW RA has three designated camping areas. The main one is at the base of the resort. It is a soccer field and totally flat.  At the soccer field is also a big parking lot for RVs or trailers that do not require electrical hookups.  Bathrooms are located there.  Camping will be allowed there no earlier than the Wednesday before the rally.  On Thursday of rally week, available camping will also be available inside the ski resort.  The document that the BMW RA provided is available here on our Google Documents page.

International Motorcycle Shows

The 2011-2012 Progressive International Motorcycle Shows have begun!  The closest show for our area will be held at the Charlotte Convention Center during the weekend of February 24-26, 2012.


View Larger Map

This will be a very location convenient location for many of us, being only a three and half hour drive from Wilmington.  I have already been asked by several club members whether we will arrange for a group ride to this event.  As the show date approaches, we will look into whether the weather will cooperate and if there is still interest in doing this.

If you will be unable to attend the Charlotte show, other nearby International Motorcycle Show will be held in Washington, D.C. on January 13-15, 2012.

Web Site Changes

Speaking of our club web site, if you have recently visited the web site, you probably have noticed that it looks a little bit different. I have been working on renovating the club web site to give it a "cleaner" look -- larger fonts and narrower columns to make the everything easier to read, reorganizing the information pages, and restructuring the overall site to make it more usable on mobile devices (i.e., smart phones).

This remains a work-in-progress, so let me know if you would like to see a specific feature changed.  I hope soon to try creating a photographic header for the web site.  If you have some good panoramic-style BMW motorcycling photos that you want to share, send them to me and maybe you will be able to see them there!

The web site is also now linked to our Google+ page for the club.  If you are a Google+ user, I urge you to begin following our club Google+ page to see the most up-to-date information.

Cardo Scala Rider G4 Mod

I have been using a Cardo Scala Rider G4 Bluetooth headset for a few months, but was never completely satisfied with the volume of the helmet-mounted speakers.  Here is a link to a short article I have written describing a modification that I had made to my G4 headset to allow me to use ear buds instead of the standard speakers.

Graphic Artist Needed

Our club needs a logo!  If any of you have graphics skills and want to create some sample club logos for us to use, please consider contributing a little of your time and talent.  We need a rectangular-shaped logo that can be used within the BMW's guidelines for officially chartered BMW clubs (which we are by being a BMW MOA chartered club).  If you are interested in trying your hand at the project, please contact me at ccbmwridersclub@gmail.com for information on the dimension guides that must be used.

GPS Tip of the Month

If you are a Garmin nuMaps Lifetime Subscriber, it is map update time again.  The City Navigator North America NT 2012.30 update has been released and can be downloaded from Garmin.com.  Once again the map update is too large to load the entire lower 48 states into a Zumo 550, so be prepared to free up some space on your GPS receiver before you update.

2012 Motorcycle Racing Season

The schedule for the 2012 motorcycle racing seasons for MotoGP, World Superbike, and AMA Pro Racing are starting to be established.  The latest provisional schedules have been published on SpeedTV.com.  It looks liek we have another exciting racing season ahead as we cheer on the BMW Motorrad and Italia BMW racing teams in World Superbike, as well a BMW-powered race team in MotoGP.

Challenge Rides

Our club continues to hold several ongoing challenge rides, as an inducement for everyone to ride and explore the state.  If you are in need for an excuse for a nice day ride, or perhaps seeking ideas for a weekend trip somewhere, take a look at these challenge rides.  These challenge rides include:

• The North Carolina State Historic Sites
• The North Carolina State Parks and Recreational Areas
• The 100 North Carolina County Courthouses
• The Four Corners of North Carolina

I have set up a Google spreadsheet to keep track of the progress of each club member who has submitted their results thus far for the North Carolina State Historic Sites Challenge Ride.  This Google spreadsheet can be viewed here.

Watch soon for similar Google spreadsheets for our CountyCourthouse Challenge Ride and NC State Parks and Recreation Areas ChallengeRide.

Membership Directory

I am also working on migrating our membership listing from a document-style list to a Google spreadsheet.  My hope is that everyone will find the new format easier to quickly browse when you want to find information on another club member (like their email address or the type of bike they ride).  You can see the draft Google membership spreadsheet here.  This is a work-in-progress and it is available, in its current state, for you to see here.  If you see any of your information that needs to be updated, please let me know!

I welcome any suggestions or comments that anyone may have.

See you next month.  Until then, ride safe and ride far!

Ear Bud Modification for Cardo Scala Rider G4 Headset

A few months ago, after performing considerable online research and talking with club members, I purchased a Cardo Scala Rider G4 headset to have a wireless connection to my my Garmin Zumo 550 GPS receiver.  For some time, I had been using a wired hookup between my GPS and my favorite ear buds (Etymotic ER-6i's, which are unfortunately no longer being made), but I really wanted to "cut the cords."  If feasible, I also wanted a headset that would also allow me to receive phone calls while riding.  One week out of every five, I am on-call for work and have been very hesitant to ride for fear of missing one of these work-related call outs (missing one could result in time off-without pay).  After considering both the Sena SMH-10 and Cardo's Scala Rider G4, I settled on the G4 headset, especially after positive recommendations by fellow club member and G4 user Paul Winter.

The G4 kit consists a base unit, which you attached to your helmet using either a clamp fit, or if necessary, with an adhesive mounting pad.  The standard base includes a boom-style microphone and two small speakers with Velcro backing to mount inside the helmet.  

The standard base unit should work well in most full face and three-quarter face helmets.  For those with very tight –fitting full-face helmets, an optional base is available with a wired microphone instead of the boom mic.  The transmitter/receiver (shown below) mounts to the base by sliding into the base.  

The transmitter/receiver uses a Bluetooth connect with your GPS or cell phone.  Unlike many older Bluetooth headsets, which are mono audio, the Scala Rider G4 supports stereo Bluetooth.  This is a great improvement if you are a rider who likes to listen to music or XM radio from your GPS, while riding.

Placement of the base unit's speakers inside your helmet is critical if you want to have sufficient volume for clear communications.  The speakers need to be mounted such that they are directly over your ears when the helmet is being worn.  Speaker placement is probably less of a problem if you do not wear ear plugs while riding, but is very important if you do wear ear plugs and this is something that I always do.  I was never completed satisfied with the speaker volume and began to explore ways to use ear buds with the Scala Rider G4.

I saw a post on ADVRider.com where an individual, Eileen Kelleher (aka JetGrl), had modified her G4 base to replace the helmet-mount speakers with a 3.5mm stereo plug for ear buds.  I learned that the base unit, which you mount to your helmet, includes a small circuit board to which the speaker leads are soldered.  It turned out that Eileen Kelleher had been offering her services to make the same modification for a few other ADVRider inmates.  (Members of the ADVRider forum are referred to inmates in this asylum.)

Not being an experienced user of a soldering iron and not being inclined to destroy my base unit's circuit board, I contacted Eileen, shipped her the base module, and in slightly more than one week, I received my modified base module.  If you are soldering-challenged like me, her $35 charge (which included the return shipping) seems very reasonable.  Installation of the 3.5mm plug makes for a very clean configuration, as you can see from this photo.

Having tested the modified unit using my Etymotic ER-6i ear buds, the output volume is significantly improved.  The only initial criticism was that the volume adjustment increments were not quite incremental as I would like when using the ear buds versus when using the speakers.  Fortunately some experimentation with setting the audio output level on my GPS versus the audio output setting on the Scala Rider G4 eventually arrived at very satisfactory sound output level and the level control desired.

The Scala Rider G4 is an excellent Bluetooth-type headset that I can strongly recommend.  If you have been less-than-satisfied with the G4 speaker volume, of if you prefer using ear buds while riding, making the ear bud modification to the base module can significantly improve the headset's functionality.