Whether Weather: Ten Steps to Intelligent Ride Choices 

The weather is definitely turning - perhaps not a rotation all the way to the summer axis we prefer, but at least to where riding most days becomes a possibility- trending toward a probability.

True, a percentage of motorcyclists ride through the winter months in the Northwest. That group tends to include a very high percentage of BMW riders, but even as a whole is still a small slice of the motorcycle enthusiast pie. 

There are several expressions quoted often by motorcyclists who ride all year round that are variations of "There is no bad weather, just bad gear."  It's quick and glib, but alas, only mostly true.

The reality is that at any time of the year in the Northwest almost everyone who rides deals with the question of "whether" to ride due to the "weather."  Most people in our culture who ride also have the luxury of choice of vehicle - perhaps several choices if you include various forms of public transportation.   How to apply that luxury so as to maximize your enjoyment of motorcycling?

April is a warm up month, and May is actually the start of the serious riding season for the majority. This may be because of a distaste for cold and wet weather, or because other sporting passions are pursued in winter, or due to owning vehicles felt to be more enjoyable for use in slop and mud.  Imagine!

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Our Sunday Demo Ride series is not copied by any dealership that we know of.  We have 4 or 5 of these a year. All are held on Sundays, when the store is not open.

For each one, riders sign up ahead of time to sample one, two, and possibly three new BMW models on a ride that covers about 90 miles and has stops along the way for participants to swap bikes if desired. 

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Our biggest event of the year, the Spring Parts and Apparel Swap is on Saturday, May 11 from 9am to 5pm.  For buyers, it's a chance to find incredible deals on other peoples' lightly used apparel, accessories, and parts... for sellers, it is the best way to clean out your garage or gear closet, and make great money in the process.

Motorcycle Parts & Apparel Swap

NOW is the time to start thinking about what you'd like to sell... our rule of thumb is that if you haven't worn it or installed it on your bike in the last year... it would probably be better off as cash in your pocket!  We'll be accepting check-ins the week before the event, so take stock of what you have, think about what you'd like to get for it, and get those items ready for sale now!

 

 

*This video from a few years back will give you an idea of what goes on at our Parts & Apparel swap! 

Join the fun!   

Jeff Conlin  |  OEM Parts Manager  |  Parts@ridewest.com

Updates are also coming to the venerable Allround boots, ProSummer gloves, ProWinter gloves, and more.  Stay tuned for more info!   

BMW pretty much invented the genre call "Dual Sport."  Some choose to go further and call such machines "Adventure Bikes."  Those of a cynical disposition who see riders kitted out to the max on paved roads near a populated area sometimes sneer of "Starbucks Adventure Riders." 

Whatever your personal opinion, there can be no question that this type of motorcycle altered the perceptions of many toward BMW motorcycles, and that dual sports have been a slam bang success for the company and its dealers in almost every area of the world.  No surprise that the current line-up comprises 5 to 7 dual sport models, depending on whether or not you want to count the Sertao as separate from the G 650 GS and the "waterhead" R 1200 GS as separate from the air and oil cooled version.

All would be bliss, but in recent years other manufacturers have decided to climb on this bandwagon, albeit an unusual bandwagon with long travel suspension and an appetite for mud and dirt.  It has amused me (and others) to no end that the motorcycles aiming to claw away some of BMW's market share deliver the best sort of ironic compliment to BMW. Most of them look almost exactly like the BMW's whose sales supremacy they seek to usurp!

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Wayne Johnson took this picture of his BMW G650 GS on the Mountain Loop Highway last summer.  It just has to make you want to go for a ride! 

As you know,  President Keith Thye is on a several month ride in South America replicating the ride he took there... in 1963.  How is he doing 50 years later?   Here's what he has to say:

It's been an interesting month.  The six of us had our bikes serviced in Bogota, Columbia so we were there a few days.  Dave had spent some time there recently so the city was not completely foreign to us, and he knew people that helped us get around.  That helps, because Bogota is huge and the traffic is impossible.  Leaving there going west, is "The Line" a long, twisting road that is so full of trucks creeping along that they create a line of trucks bumper to bumper.  Autos are in trouble as it is nearly impossible to pass.  Those of us on motorcycles truly tested our passing skills.

At this point four of the group headed for a coffee plantation for a few days of culture.  Jim and I did the opposite and headed for Cali to take on what is billed as one of the longest and highest ziplines in the Americas.  The zipline was great---Cali was not.  As in all big cities here, the traffic was awful.  Three lanes with six cars across, pedestrians crossing everywhere, vendors milling about the traffic lanes, cabs vying for the same space.  It's crazy.  I tried squeezing between a bus and the curb:  who was the guy that planted that big steel pipe right o the edge of the curb?  My leg swelled up but Dr. Jim insisted it was not broken.

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