Meet Peter from Alberta, Canada!

Peter dropped by Ride West on his fully loaded Triumph in the midst of a lengthy adventure.  His mission was  to pick up a 'redverz' tent, as the tent he left home with proved unable to cope with the severe storm he endured in the Cascades in the middle of September. We sell a LOT of redverz tents, and customers rave about them!

It may be raining but hey - there is now a lot less traffic on the weekends, particularly if the Huskies or Seahawks are playing at home! Put on the good rain gear, crank up the heated grips, and enjoy the back roads of fall!

Dear MotoAdventureGal: I've just fallen in love with motorcycles. Are there any shows I can attend to learn more about what's out there for motorcyclists?
 
MotoAdventureGal Says: Well, I have good news for you. Show season is starting, and there's a new show this year, the AIME Expo. It's located in Orlando, Florida, October 16-20 this year. In my opinion, it's the perfect time of year to take a riding vacation in Florida. What's cool about this show is that it's a blend of interests-and the only motorcycle show for both consumers and the motorcycle industry and the media at large.

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 Now at Ride West BMW 

The Team Ride West ride to Bellingham is a perennial favorite, featuring great roads and spectacular scenery.  We had a small mishap at the Smokey Point rest stop when Kevin reported that he needed fuel. I thought I gave him easy directions - ride to the next exit, turn left at the light, and we would pick him up as we cruised by. Never saw him again and I don't know what happened!   Perhaps a reminder that when you join any group for a ride, be sure to arrive with a full tank. Stuff happens...

On a gorgeous sunny day we meandered up the back roads, including an "extra" winding byway I added because it was a small group, and arrived at a scenic rest overlook on Chuckanut Drive. After a pause for pics and chat we motored on to the lunch stop.

After lunch we took a route I was not sure of that somehow managed to get us to Highway 9. It's always a little more fun to follow the route directions when I'm not sure they are correct!  The last time we did this ride Paul Fison led us on a merry way after lunch, because he used to work in the area. Once back at Ride West I tried to replicate the route using a book of maps and my memory, which is always a bit chancy!

A terrific day, and here are those who went:

PARTS MANAGER | DARREN THACKERAY | DARREN@RIDEWEST.COM

I was tearing up the grassy meadow of our three and a half acre farm, about age 12, back tyre slinging mud as I bounced off berms roughly, having a blast on a Briggs & Stratton-powered minibike. Weeks earlier my father had sternly told me not to buy it because he'd imagined I wouldn't get it running, or worse, maintain it. The bike had been sitting in front of a neighbour kid's house, rusting and dejected-looking, left out in the weather. I pushed it home one afternoon when I got off the bus and kept it hidden in the darkest recesses of the barn. Each night after school I'd tinker with it using the basic set of tools my grandfather had gifted to me. I filed the ignition points, replaced the spark plug, drained the stale fuel, cleaned out the carbie, and had a local machinist whip me up a replacement centrifugal clutch bushing ­-- just tinkering with it to get it running properly. It was a steep learning curve as at that time I didn't know much about internal combustion engines beyond changing the oil and sharpening the blades on the family lawnmower, but this was as good a place for an eager teenager to start as any. I loved anything about two wheels and devoured the information contained in the dog-eared monthly motorcycle mags of my school library. I craved the feeling of being drawn into a new-to-me world of action and adventure.

How would I know my father was to come home a day early that week from his traveling job? His car appeared, tyres crunching over the gravel and rolling to a stop, as he turned to give me the dreaded thousand-yard stare. I continued riding round the meadow, with less enthusiasm now, a hundred metres away from the house, my teenage joy fading quickly. I sensed I was in trouble of my own making. In the old days we didn't defy our parents, at least in my family. Slowly he walked through our large vegetable garden, pausing, taking his time, pulling a few errant weeds, causing me to sweat with his deliberate pace. When at last he reached me, wearing no obvious expression of anger, his demeanor not giving me any clues, he stood back and spoke.

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SERVICE MANAGER | BEN SEMER | BEN@RIDEWEST.COM

This month, I'd like to discuss BMW's warranty and the cost benefits of extending the warranty beyond the standard. BMW Motorrad has the best coverage in the motorcycle business; three years or 36,000 miles. Under normal usage that is a long time, but we're BMW riders, and are known to ride the wheels off our bikes! Before you know it, the warranty period is over. 

This isn't the worst thing in the world, but if you have owned anything mechanical for a long period of time you know that sometimes things happen and the costs seem to be unavoidable. I'm here to tell you that these costs can be avoidable with some foresight and investment in an extended warranty. Speak with our F & I expert David Lenton to extend your warranty before you pass that 3-year or 36,000 mile mark though.  

A recent cautionary tale: one of our customers realized this week that he wanted to extend his warranty but was just 124 miles beyond his factory warranty after two years and is now unable to extend it. We have options for you if you are planning to keep your bike for the long haul and, like myself, have cycles over 40,000 and even 50,000 miles and no plans to park or sell them anytime soon. 

We mentioned in the last edition of this newsletter that Dave Preston will be retiring from his position as marketing manager at Ride West BMW at the end of October.  Dave has done a wonderful job spreading the word about Ride West, organizing and promoting our events and the myriad of other tasks associated with his position.  And as Dave prepares to leave us it gives us an opportunity to rethink and reposition the job.

What a difference ten years makes, and particularly in the case of the marketing and advertising world.  At the beginning of the new century Ride West was spending several hundred thousand dollars a year on advertising mediums that no longer work.  We were mailing out about 10,000 fold-out flyers to our customer list on a monthly basis.  The cost of preparation, production and mailing through the post office was substantial.  We were also producing a full color, four page insert that was distributed to about 250,000 homes in the Seattle Times.  We did this several times a year, and that was truly expensive.  Additionally, we were in no less than 16 yellow page editions throughout our marketing areas.  Now, all of those mediums are mostly irrelevant at a substantial cost savings to us.  However, new advertising vehicles have come in to existence that replace those cost savings.