The BMW Club JOURNAL August 2011 £2.50 25% OFF all Travel Books in August! 2 BMW Club Journal • August 2011 The Journal CONTENTS August 2011 Regular/Occasional items The Official BMW Club within the UK and Republic of Ireland From The Editor’s Desk .................4 www.thebmwclub.org.uk Club Officers..........................6 General Enquiries: 0800 0854045 FREEPOST: THE BMW CLUB President’s Platform ....................7 The BMW Club is the Trading name of The B.M.W. Motorcycle Club Ltd; Registered in England; Registration Number 4261129 whose Registered Office: Charter Court, Midland Road, Hemel Torque Reaction .......................9 Hempstead, Herts, HP2 5GE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The BMW Club Mileage Trophy . 19 For problems regarding distribution of The Journal, please contact German Jottings ......................21 your Section Secretary. Should there still be a problem then contact the National Membership Secretary whose contact details are on page 6. Members Discounts . .32 The Editor reserves the right to alter/amend any item or image submitted to The Journal. Such amendments will usually only be to make an item Mutual Aid (Club member ads)...........84 more readable or easier to understand. Submission of items/images will be taken as acceptance of this condition. Small Business Advertisments ...........87 EDITORIAL TEAM The BMW Club - Out and About .63 Correspondence on any Journal matter not covered by Articles/Features the officers listed below should be sent to the Editor. For general Club administration and membership matters please see the list of Club officers on Page 6. The proposed A4 Journal ...............23 Editor: Stewart Lowthian, 29 Wagg Street, The Sierra de Gredos. .................27 Congleton, Cheshire CW12 4BA. 01260 279 126 [email protected] Europe End to End ....................33 Features/Articles: Peter Wright. [email protected] The Vintage Register NewsLetter.........47 Torque Reaction: Paul Nadin, 49 Berkshire Drive, Congleton, Cheshire CW12 1SB. 01260 279 443 The Midland Section 50th Birthday........55 [email protected] Marketing/Commercial Sales: Brian Johnston, A Terrier among Greyhounds ............58 10 Saffron Road, Tickhill, Doncaster DN11 9PW. DISCLAIMER 01302 743 032 / 07950 319 197 The BMW Club Journal accepts for publication articles and letters written in good faith; however, [email protected] the views expressed in articles and letters which are published are not necessarily those of the Editor of The Journal or those of The BMW Club or its officers or members. Mutual Aid: Maurice Weldon, 21 Lawnwood Drive, The information, including advice and suggested modifications published in the The BMW Goldthorpe, Rotherham, South Yorkshire S63 9GD Club Journal has not been approved, tested or otherwise checked by The BMW Club Journal 07752 904 334 [email protected] or The BMW Club. Before acting on information, advice or suggested modifications published in The BMW Club Journal you should always obtain technical advice, and if appropriate have Commercial Display Advertisements: Jim Bruce, a professional motorcycle engineer carry out the work for you. The Firs, Bayview Crescent, Broadford, Isle of The BMW Club Journal and The BMW Club cannot accept liability for any loss, damage or Skye IV49 9DB claims occurring as a result of any modifications or work or other action carried out on the 01471 821 017 [email protected] advice or based on the suggestions given in any article or letter published in The BMW Club Journal and (save for death or personal injury arising from The BMW Club Journal’s negligence) Small Business Advertisements: Charles Knight, all such liability is hereby excluded. 4 Homelands, New Road, Porchfield, Isle of Wight, The BMW Club Journal is published for and on behalf of The B.M.W. Motorcycle Club Ltd. PO30 4LS ,01983 520 847 The BMW Motorcycle Club Ltd, The BMW Club Journal, it’s Editor and Officers accept 07521 695 992 [email protected] no liability in respect of loss or damage occasioned directly or indirectly as a result of the publication of any advertisement in The BMW Club Journal or Website. Section News: Steve Foreman 01536 722 048 [email protected] This month’s cover photo from Don Hall Diary of Events: Ian Caswell. [email protected] features a K1200GT pictured against Around The Compass: Ian Caswell (see above). the pilgrimage shrine of St. Brigid at Faughert, near Dundalk in County Louth, Club/Section Display Ads: Piers Kurrein. [email protected] close to the border with Northern Ireland. BMW Club Journal • August 2011 3 From The Editor’s Desk The Free Advertisement to allow members to decide whether to stay with the present A5 page size for The Journal Just after the July edition or to change to the arrived, I had a telephone larger A4. Later in this call from a gentleman edition is the result of asking about the first my research into the paragraph of my editorial. cost implications of He introduced himself changing as well as as Kenny McLennan, my personal opinions. the proprietor of Scotia The voting forms will Sidecars, a business that, be counted by Peter until that moment, I Dunn and the result had no knowledge of. will be announced The reason for his call in the October was that he, like one of edition. Please note the putative advertisers I referred to, sells that the address given on the form is not a sidecars and some of his customers were Freepost so you will need to put a stamp on asking if he was the culprit. Scotia Sidecars, the envelope you post the form in, and that whose advertisement appears in this edition, your membership number (this is not a secret have never sent me disguised advertisements. ballot) is on the wrapper The Journal arrives We discussed my policy regarding what is in. currently called “advertorial”, which, as I said The Summer National last month, I am happy to publish as long as it is clearly from a commercial enterprise and he The latest advertisement for this event will, in due course, be sending me something includes the words “Fully Booked” and “Sold which clearly says who he is and what his Out”, which is why the booking form isn’t on business does. the centre pages of this edition, despite the In between typing the above paragraph and wording of the advertisement. Also, Steve placing it in The Journal, I received an email Foreman has asked me to advise attendees that from a gentleman who was concerned that towels and bedding are supplied in the rooms. Kenny’s reputation might be inappropriately The Star Letter tarnished. He also suggested naming and shaming the sender of the feature I took My criteria for awarding the Star Letter exception to. Whilst his suggestion is each month are very simple. The letter that attractive, the potential consequences are such I think best encourages people to ride their that a discreet silence is appropriate. motorcycles or to be friendly to each other will The Journal Voting Form almost certainly win it. This month’s award goes to Barry Brown who summed up the Included with this edition is a voting form challenge of writing about a good day’s ride 4 BMW Club Journal • August 2011 far better than I did a couple of months ago. boxers and I hope it continues. Although my Scientific testing own (and only) motorcycle is of an age to have the dreaded servo-assisted brakes, I have, like Some months ago I tried to review an many others I suspect, an interest in machinery aftermarket screen as thoroughly as possible from an earlier and simpler era. There is a on the grounds that an accurate description of significant attraction to a motorcycle that can it would either convince another rider that it be maintained by a competent owner without was worth the money or, just as importantly, the use of eye-wateringly expensive special tell him why it wasn’t the right one for him. tools. The other side of the coin however, I found that it was immensely difficult to be which needs to be taken into account, is that objective about something as subjective as the modern computer-controlled vehicle can a screen on a windy day. I have considerable recognise faults as they develop and warn respect for the staff ofMotorrad , whose accordingly, allowing accurate diagnosis and diligent testing is brought to us each month by repair without the trial-and error that was John Bentall. This month’s German Jottings once required. The electronic diagnostics on mentions a test of after-market exhausts, with the GS remembered the rear brake pressure the conclusion that many of them were down problem that triggered the red triangle of on power compared to the standard and some death, allowing a dealer to determine the were heavier. Quite why anyone would spend exact repair required (as well as the goodwill 2600Euro on the Akrapovic Evolution, even gesture from BMW for the parts required). if it does only weigh 5.1kg, escapes me. Paying that much money just to make a noise seems Club or business? entirely wasteful as well as being antisocial. I’ve had two recent instances where people I still have memories of the embarrasment have failed to grasp that we are a club run of sitting in the breakfast room of a B & B by volunteers rather than a business. In in Wensleydale some years ago with me in full leathers and the Tiger safely parked in both cases someone had sent something to a the proprietor’s garage when half a dozen member working for the club expecting an unsilenced sports bikes wailed past the open almost immediate reply without taking into window.