Mid American Museum of Aviation Spring Fly-In 2012

Doug Shonley forwarded this message.  The Mid American Museum of Aviation here in Sioux City is having their annual Spring Fly-In & Pancake Breakfast next Saturday, May 6th.  Includes a car show too, so there may be some motorcycles there as well.

Regarding Pure Stodge 2012 PSTA Iowa Rally

From Barbara McFarland - April 25, 2012:

We appreciate your previous commitment to the Pure Stodge Touring Association Iowa Rally.

So please come and join us at the Iowa Rally June 7-10, 2012.

We will be partying in the Middle Amana Community Park in the midst of the historical Amana Colonies. Enjoy the grassy, shady camping. Share a campfire with old and new friends. Good food, music, tasty beverages, prizes – who could ask for more?!

Check out our flyer. Then fill out and send us the pre-registration form to guarantee your part in the fun at the 36^th Iowa Rally!

PSTA Web Site:

http://purestodge.org/

Flyer:

http://purestodge.org/images/rally/2012rally/PSTA_Rally_2012.pdf

Pre-Registration:

http://purestodge.org/images/rally/2012rally/PSTA_Rally_2012_PreRegisterForm.pdf

Hope to see you there!

Pure Stodge Touring Association

2012 Gina's BMW Ride to Dine Motorcycle Grand Tour

Sent to Gina's BMW Mailing List on Jan 31 (thanks for forwarding Doug):


Greetings!


I hope that 2012 is off to a great start for you!  Although this Winter has been mild, it really feels great to have the days getting longer.  I am excited to announce that we will be sponsoring our first riding contest this year, and hope that you will participate! The contest will kick off on Groundhog Day - let's hope he doesn't see his shadow, because we are all ready for some beautiful riding weather!


Sincerely,
Gina Dusterhoft
Gina's BMW Motorcycles, Inc


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The 2012 Gina's BMW Ride to Dine Motorcycle Grand Tour is a self-paced contest meant to encourage motorcycle riders of all makes and models to see more of our beautiful state of Iowa, while supporting small businesses.

The contest begins on Thursday, February 2nd, 2012 and ends on Saturday,October 6th, 2012.

To sign up you must submit an entry form, along with a registration fee of $5.00 at Gina's BMW. For your registration, you will receive the 2011 Our Iowa Magazine's "Directory of Iowa's Best Ma & Pa Restaurants", and a bumper sticker. Unfortunately the coupons in the directory have expired.

In order for a restaurant visit to be valid, you must have a receipt with date and restaurant name printed or stamped on it. A business card along with receipt, or photo of your bike in front of the restaurant with receipt may be substituted if a printed name or stamp are not available. Signatures to verify visits will not be accepted. Only one receipt per restaurant will qualify. No duplicates allowed. Only visits to restaurants listed in the directory are eligible.

100% of registration fees collected will be donated to the grand prize winner's local food bank.

The rider with the most restaurants visited will win the grand prize of a set of Metzeler tires (mounted and balanced), donated by Gina's BMW. In the event of a tie, the winner will be determined by a drawing.

But that's not all! There will be many other prizes raffled off on a tiered system. More restaurants visited = better prizes in that tier. A full list of prizes will be made available at a later date.

Level 1: Under 15 restaurants visited.
Level 2: Visit 16-25 restaurants, be a Blue-Plate Dine-o-rider.
Level 3: Visit 26-50 restaurants, be a Touring Dine-o-rider.
Level 4: Visit 51 plus restaurants, be a Grand Dine-o-rider.

Completed entries must be submitted to Gina's BMW no later than 12:00 noon on October 6th for validation. Winners will be drawn at 4:00 pm on that date. YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN.

Any questions, call us at 319-338-1404, or e-mail us at ginasbmwparts@aol.com.

Gina's BMW will not be responsible for any weight gain as a result of your dining experience. Rules are subject to change at the discretion of Gina's BMW. 


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Received From Gina's after requesting more information how riders from Western Iowa can participate:


Thanks for your e-mail.  We would like for everyone in the contest to visit us at least twice this summer.  We realize it's a bit tough this time of year to ride all the way to the "other" side, , so we will mail out directories after receiving the registration fees, but to qualify for prizes we will need to see each rider at least once before the October 6th deadline.


Don't forget, we have really cool event t-shirts on sale for only $15.00!


If you have any other questions, just let us know.


Sue Smith
Gina's BMW, Inc.
Phone: 800-598-4462
www.ginasbmw.com

9th Annual Big Sioux Rider Spring (Mother’s Day Dam) Campout

The 9th Annual Big Sioux Rider Spring (Mother’s Day Dam) Campout will be Saturday and Sunday, May 12th and 13th (Mother’s Day weekend). This is an informal campout. Though we can’t guarantee it won’t snow, friends and fellow riders are invited to join us at Randal Creek Recreation Area near the Fort Randall Dam, Pickstown, South Dakota.

For more details click your mouse here.

Members receive new 2012 K1600GTs

Doug Shonley sent the following story about his first ride this past weekend on his K1600GT.


So far I have 350 miles on the new K1600GT.  Thought I would give you an update that others could read.  This is a wonderful motorcycle.  This is also probably the most complex motorcycle I have ever ridden.  I have not got all the electronics figured out yet.  Reading on the forums I will probably go with the BMW Nav 4 GPS because there are a couple things that are proprietary in the connection with the bike.  I will probably have to change to the SENA blue tooth headsets also.  I will probably keep my Cardio head sets because of the advantage with them for group riding.

Ok, now about the bike.  It is very much like the K1200GT.  In fact I have a hard time telling the difference.  It has the BMW feel in the corners.  Just very solid and predictable.  I started a ride up Vanocker Canyon but the road was too ice covered and sandy so I decided to do a u-turn.  Being icy I decided to just baby walk the bike around.  What I did find is that the handlebars really crank a long ways to the side which made the turn quite easy.  Some bikes hit the stop way too soon.  I believe this bike probably has the best seat of any BMW that I have had.  I sat for a full three hours on it and it was noticeable, but not painful.  Had an interesting experience with the fuel on this bike.  I was driving out on the plains where the roads were dry and found this lonely road.  In fact it said next services 33 miles.  I looked at the fuel range and I had over 90 miles so no problem.  Also there was an intersection at 66 miles.  So off I go.  I'm trying to vary my speed a bunch and not just sit at one set speed.  Often dropping down to 1st and then blasting through the gears running it up to about 4000 rpm in each gear.  Oh, what a wonderful sound this six cylinder bike has.  I was bucking a wind and I was impressed with the windshield as it was really giving me quite good protection.  If I raised it all the way up the wind would actually push on the back of my helmet.  I normally have it set about an inch down from the very top.  I get up to the 33 miles and being a Sunday afternoon everything was pretty well shut down.  I didn't see any gas pumps either so I thought, well there has to be something up at this intersection which is only another 33 miles.  So I continued having fun with the bike hitting any sweepers with a high amount of energy and loving how the bike feels.  I check the fuel range and it has gone down a bunch.  If fact when I get to the intersection all that is there is just the intersection and the fuel remaining is 19 miles.  Hmmm.  The sign says Buffalo 24 miles.  This is not good.  I pull into the wind and set the cruise at 52 mph.  Had not used the cruise yet other than to just check that it worked.  I figure that it was better to run at a constant speed rather than run out of gas.  This bike has two fuel consumption meters.  I had been getting 36.4 mpg doing my running up and down through the gears.  I found that against the wind, strong wind at 52 mph it would usually get about 44 mpg.  Calculating in my head I'm thinking well this might work.  At least get me close enough I can get cell service so I could call AAA if I do run out.  I keep watching the remaining miles and it drops off and show me the temperature.  It had dropped below the 37 degrees and I got the snow flake on the dash.  The hand grips and the seat now have five levels of heat.  I had the hand grips all the way up.  I had the seat on the third level.  The fifth level of the seat I couldn't keep my butt on it.  Too hot, which can be a good thing.  I had my Gerbing jacket on over a long sleeved T-shirt and a jean shirt.  I only had my Stitch on over that.  Had I planned on going so far I would have dressed warmer.  Finally I come over a hill and can see Buffalo in the distance.  Maybe 5 miles.  The fuel range is done to 4 miles.  I pull into the gas station at Buffalo with 1 mile remaining on the fuel remaining.  I promptly fill with gas.  I put in 6.876 gallons of gas.  Hmmm that is interesting,  I didn't think it had that big of tank.  Now with a full tank a gas,  a call to the wife telling her I'm going to be late, and a potty break I head back home.  This time the wind is more behind me.  The temperature drops to 32 degrees, but the grips are warm and my seat is hot and my Gerbings is doing the job.  When I meet a car I slow down and then I hit it.  Now running the bike up to 5000 rpm. This thing really pulls without even getting close to full throttle.  Can't wait till I can do full on.  Anyway, passing a car it doesn't really matter what gear you are in it just goes.  By now I have most of the menus on the bike figured out and got things set how I think I am going to like them.  When I have a passenger I will probably mostly run in the rain mode.  I found in the dynamic mode if you hit a hard bump you will turn the throttle enough that I'm sure the passenger would probably complain.  The middle mode Road is probably the best all around.  I still have some things to work out with the electronics.  I am making a new version of the FarkleBar just for this bike and really missed having some of my gadgets with me.  This is really a great bike.  Did I tell you how great a sound it has...

Ride Safe,

Dougals

Doug on his new K1600GT

Here is a photo of Jim waiting for his new K1600GT to be un-crated and setup.  Of course it is red:

Jim with his new bike, not quite ready to ride.

Doug found a new feature on his bike (Spoiler Alert: Honda VFR fans need not watch this):

Christmas Party Survey and Nominations

We are trying to finalize our Annual Christmas Party plans. We are asking for everyone's input to get it right.

Please answer the following simple survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q2RGBTZ

We are planning on a gift exchange. I'll send out details later but basically you will need a $10 to $15 gift if you want to be in the exchange. The party is free for paid club members. Non-paid members will be welcome, but there will be a modest fee to cover their meal expenses. All brands and new and returning members and riders are welcome to celebrate with us.

We need nominations for the Annual Big Johnson Award in honor of its first goofy winner – “Big” Jim Johnson. The award is voted on and given at the Annual Christmas Party to the funniest silliest faux pas or mistake during the year. Nominations should be related to motorcycles or camping and hopefully no one was seriously injured. In 2008 the club decided that people should be eligible to win this award more than once - so everyone is eligible again!! You don’t have to at the party to win, heck you don’t even have to be nominated to win. Good luck and remember, the more people you can nominate, the better your chances of not winning this award. Everyone is eligible to win!! You can send your nominations to jimj@urban-inc.net and dalenordlie@sio.midco.net or enter them in on the above survey.

Updated BMW

Doug Shonley sent this to share with the group.  Looks like a R1100 or R1150 engine.