The BMW Club Journal July 2012 £2.50 2 BMWClubJournal•July2012 The Journal CONTENTS July 2012 Regular/Occasional items The Official BMW Club within the UK and Republic of Ireland From The Editor’s Desk .................4 www.thebmwclub.org.uk General Enquiries: 0800 0854045 Club Officers..........................6 FREEPOST: THE BMW CLUB The BMW Club is the Trading name of The B.M.W. Motorcycle President’s Platform ....................7 Club Ltd; Registered in England; Registration Number 4261129 whose Registered Office: c/o Veitch Penny LLP 1, Manor Court Torque Reaction .......................9 Dix’s Field Exeter Devon England EX1 1UP ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Star Letter......................15 For problems regarding distribution of The Journal, please contact German Jottings ......................45 your Section Secretary. Should there still be a problem then contact the National Membership Secretary whose contact details are on page 6. The Editor reserves the right to alter/amend any item or image submitted Mutual Aid (Club member ads)...........75 to The Journal. Such amendments will usually only be to make an item more readable or easier to understand. Submission of items/images will Small Business Advertisments ...........79 be taken as acceptance of this condition. The BMW Club - Out and About..49 EDITORIAL TEAM Correspondence on any Journal matter not Articles/Features covered by the officers listed below should be sent to the Editor who will forward it as appropriate. What’s in a Bolt.......................23 For general Club administration and membership matters please see the list of Club officers on Page 6. Book Review . 26 Editor: Stewart Lowthian, 29 Wagg Street, Obituary . 27 Congleton, Cheshire CW12 4BA. 01260 279 126 [email protected] Press Release .......................28 Features/Articles: Peter Wright. [email protected] Euro-Hopping in 2009..................29 Torque Reaction: Paul Nadin, 49 Berkshire Drive, Congleton, Cheshire CW12 1SB. 01260 279 443 Product Review . 38 [email protected] DISCLAIMER Mutual Aid: Maurice Weldon, 21 Lawnwood Drive, The BMW Club Journal accepts for publication articles and letters written in good faith; however, the views expressed in articles and letters which are published are not necessarily those of the Goldthorpe, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S63 9GD Editor of The Journal or those of The BMW Club or its officers or members. 07752 904 334 [email protected] The information, including advice and suggested modifications published in the The BMW Club Journal has not been approved, tested or otherwise checked by The BMW Club Journal Commercial Display Advertisements: Jim Bruce, or The BMW Club. Before acting on information, advice or suggested modifications published The Firs, Bayview Crescent, Broadford, Isle of in The BMW Club Journal you should always obtain technical advice, and if appropriate have Skye IV49 9DB 01471 820 408 a professional motorcycle engineer carry out the work for you. The BMW Club Journal and The BMW Club cannot accept liability for any loss, damage or [email protected] claims occurring as a result of any modifications or work or other action carried out on the advice or based on the suggestions given in any article or letter published in The BMW Club Small Business Advertisements: Charles Knight, Journal and (save for death or personal injury arising from The BMW Club Journal’s negligence) 4 Homelands, New Road, Porchfield, Isle of Wight, all such liability is hereby excluded. PO30 4LS ,01983 520 847 The BMW Club Journal is published for and on behalf of The B.M.W. Motorcycle Club Ltd. 07521 695 992 [email protected] The BMW Motorcycle Club Ltd, The BMW Club Journal, it’s Editor and Officers accept no liability in respect of loss or damage occasioned directly or indirectly as a result of the Section News: Steve Foreman publication of any advertisement in The BMW Club Journal or Website. 01536 722 048 [email protected] Diary of Events: Bob Barker. [email protected] This month’s cover photo shows Paul Around The Compass: Bob Barker (see above). Nadin’s R80/7 in Hartington on a sunny Club/Section Display Ads: Piers Kurrein. Sunday morning in May. [email protected] BMWClubJournal•July2012 3 From The Editor’s Desk We’re back accelerating away, as if someone wants me to admire their rear bumper, still puzzles me. I’m typing this a couple of days after our return from a holiday in France. With the GS I’m impressed loaded we went from Cheshire to Hampshire to stay with Gillian’s parents before catching There has been a great deal of recent an overnight boat to Le correspondence in Havre. It was then a ride these pages regarding down N and D roads to BMW products failing Chinon for a prebooked to meet their owners overnight stop before the expectations so it’s last few hours to the gite appropriate to redress we rented near Cognac. the balance a little. The I’d looked at a weather last paragraph referred to forecast for the time we rain. Lots of it. Neither were away and it was less Gillian’s Belice not my than promising, however, Santiago leaked. I know apart from the occasional that something sold as sprinkle to keep the dust waterproof should be under control, the rain held off until half-way just that, but, as Gershwin’s song title says back to the port. We had lunch in Saumur, “It ain’t necessarily so”. What did leak were revisiting a restaurant that we’d liked when my boots, bought at the end of last year with we stayed there a few years ago, then set off ”waterproof” on the label inside. I’ll report for Le Mans for the night. An hour’s rain further once I’ve contacted the company I wasn’t welcome but didn’t cause too much of bought them from. a problem. The next morning was something else. Le Mans to Le Havre is driving rain was as Ethanol unpleasant as it sounds, as was Portsmouth to Birmingham the following day. Birmingham It might well be one of my vices but that’s to home was dry, the difficulty of riding in not why I’m writing about it. It is now a the rain being replaced by the excitement of common additive to petrol. This is apparently foreign lorries ignoring speed limits while to meet the government’s Renewable overtaking on the nearside. Transport Fuels Obligation announced in France was usefully cheaper than last year, 2005, which has given us petrol containing the falling Euro bringing costs down a little. up to five per cent ethyl alcohol (aka ethanol). It’s also a much easier country to ride in than It’s an emotive subject for a number of reasons England as it’s so less crowded, although the which is probably why facts, rather than French practice of overtaking slowly and not opinions, are hard to come by. I first took 4 BMWClubJournal•July2012 an interest in the subject when realised that seats makes me believe that either comfort I lost 20 miles per tankfull when I filled up is considered unimportant or hardly anyone at a particular supermarket. My immediate rides any distance nowadays. reservation about it, running as I do only relatively modern vehicles, is that I’m paying The Star Letter for petrol but buying ethanol, which has a lower energy density, which I assume accounts This is sponsored by Nippy Norman, who for the reduced range. For owners of classic posts out the prize to the winning contributor vehicles with fuel systems not designed for each month. This was won in May by a ethanol, a powerful solvent, there are potential member in Australia. Yes, Nippy Norman can problems with seals, hoses and the like. There post things there. is also the moral issue of growing biomass for fuel for export replacing agriculture for An updated advertisement local food production. As soon as I can find an authoritative article on the subject I’ll be The Footman James advertisement has printing it. been updated to better reflect the services that they offer to Club members. The wording The Diary of Events has been changed to exclude members living outside the United Kingdom as current Bob Barker of the Ulster Section has legislation apparently precludes offering cover to customers resident there. The photograph volunteered to take over from Ian Caswell. has also been changed, as they no longer Having already met Bob at the last two AGMs offer cover for modern motorcycles on an and at National Committee Meetings, where individual basis. he is his Section’s representative, I’m confident The advertisement appears every month as that the position is in safe hands. I’d like to the Club has, in common with many others, thank Ian for his contribution over the years. an arrangement whereby members who insure with them generate income for their club by A pain in the bum? mentioning their membership when taking I mean this quite literally: I’ve done too out cover. As such, it gives us an additional many motorway miles in the last couple of income at no cost to the membership. months and my bottom hurts. The problem seems to be that, being long in the leg, all my Photographic Competition weight is supported in one place rather than being shared between saddle and footpegs. It has been proposed and seconded by a Something that I would be extremely grateful number of Club members who use the Forum for is the short-term use of a high seat for my that we hold a photographic competition R1200GS to see if it’s any better.