september 2013

Motorcycle TourM

agazine

Motorcycles, Travel & Adventure

SEPTEMBER 2013Volume 19 No. 9

BMW MOA RallyBeemers

BigfootBlue Skies

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September 2013 - Covers_2011 Cover Template 8/5/13 5:18 PM

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W H A T ’ S I N S I D EMONTHLY COLUMNS

FREE WHEELIN’.................................................................................4

WHATCHATHINKIN’..........................................................................6

POSTCARDS FROM THE HEDGE .................................................7

ON THE MARK ..................................................................................8

THROTTLE BLIP.................................................................................9

BACKLASH .......................................................................................10

INDUSTRY INFOBITES ...................................................................11

GREAT ALL AMERICAN DINER RUN.........................................14

BIG CITY GETAWAY........................................................................16

MYSTERIOUS AMERICA...............................................................18

WE’RE OUTTA HERE......................................................................21

THOUGHTS FROM THE ROAD ...................................................23

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE .......................................................39

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR ..............................................45

MOTORCYCLE MARKETPLACE...................................................46

FEATURESSHIRA’S ICE CREAM RUN............................................................25

INDIAN MOTORCYCLES RE-EMERGE IN STURGIS................27

REVERSAL OF FORTUNE .............................................................30

BMW MOA 41ST INTERNATIONAL RALLY .............................34

CARTAGENA - THE FORTRESS CITY ........................................50

MOTORCYCLE REVIEWS3,500 MILES WITH THE NEW R 1200 GS .............................40

PRODUCT REVIEWSPRODUCT SPOTLIGHTS................................................................42

BAJA DESIGNS ONX LED LIGHT BAR ......................................53

Brian Rathjen • Shira Kamil ~ PublishersContributors: Jeff Bahr, Mark Byers, Bill Heald,Tony Lisanti, Terry Peters, Dr. Seymour O’Life

BACKROADS • POB 317, Branchville NJ 07826Phone 973.948.4176 • Fax 973.948.0823 • email [email protected] • web www.backroadsusa.com • For Advertising Sales Information: 973-948-4176

BACKROADS (ISSN 1087-2088) is published monthly by BACKROADS™, Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. BACKROADS™ may not be reproduced in any manner without specific writtenconsent from the publisher. BACKROADS™ welcomes and encourages submissions (text and photos) and suggestions. Include phone number with submissions. BACKROADS™ willonly return material with enclosed sufficient postage. The written articles and opinions printed in BACKROADS™ are not necessarily those of the publisher and should not be con-sidered an endorsement. The Rip & Rides® published are ridden on the sole responsibilty of the rider. BACKROADS™ is not responsible for the conditions of the public roadwaystraversed. Please respect the environment, read your owner’s manual and wear proper protective gear and helmet. Ride within your limits, not over them.

Motorcycles, Travel & Adventure

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The LisT

Each time Shira and I go on tour I inevitablyleave something important behind. Extra cam-era battery, USB cord, toothbrush – anythingcould be forgotten and I usually discover thisat the least opportune time.

Many times this happens because I wait tillthe day I am leaving before packing for thetrip. In the mad rush to get going things willalways fall through the cracks, often withreally bad results – such as the time I gotto a Backroads Fall Fiesta and immedi-ately had to go in search of a toothbrush- the most basic of necessities.

Every now and again I make up a listof “must have” items to be brought longfor the ride. But this can get out ofhand as well; as sometimes it seemsmy list has a list.

So with less than a week to go before we headed to Greece, I gotup one morning determined to have everything I needed for this trip to East-ern Europe. And, this time – instead of using pad and pencil I would keepthe list on my computer.

Yeah, I know, but sometimes pad and pencil are very convenient. In thepast I was always going to type it all into the computer – but it never cameabout – and paper lists always disappear with time.

Realizing that I indeed needed two lists, one for touring on my own ma-chine here in North America and a second for when I got on a jet to ridesomebody’s motorcycle elsewhere on the planet, I sat down with steaming

coffee cup in hand and started working on the latest lists. Then, being thelazy one I am, I figured I’d just make one big one and have Shira format itinto a check-off sort of thing and print a few dozen to keep handy for eachtrip or tour we did.

I would start with the basics in no particular order, with some personalthings that I always seem to need that you might have no use for what soever. The things I knew I would be using all the time and hoped – if I keptthis open on my desktop – I would add other essentials in the next few days.

The List • Riding Gear:

Helmet w/ New Shield, Riding Jacket & Pants, Waterproof Riding Boots,

Gloves, Rain gloves, Ear Plugs, Neck Warmer, Wind Stop Jacket, Electric

Gear Liner, Gloves & Thermostat, CamelBak – Hydration System

Essential Tools of the Trade:

Wallet – Credit Cards, Fun Tickets (cash), License, etc…Airline Tickets/Itin-

erary, Passport, Toiletry Bag (check contents), Apple Laptop /w Charger,

Backpack for Laptop , pens, paper, highlighters, etc…Small Digital Camera,

Extra camera Batteries w/ Charger, Nikon D100 Camera, Extra Battery and

Charger for Nikon, USB Cable, DSL Cable, Altec inMotion Speakers, Cell

Phone /w Charger, Garmin GPS V, Maps/Holder, Guitar Picks, Communica-

tion System, Cork Screw, Back-Up Cork Screw, Good Book, Six Current Is-

sues of Backroads, Leatherman, Pocket Knife, Plexus and Micro Towel,

Handful of Sacagawea Coins for Street Kids, Reading Glasses, Small Flash-

light, Tank Bag to carry all this crap

Clothing:

Socks & Underwear, 3 Pants, 6 T-Shirts, 2 Tailored Shirts, Sweater, Bathing

Suit, Baseball Cap (Star Gate SG-1 or NY Mets preferred), Watch, Walking

Shoes, Belt

The bulk of this list came easily, but things did get added over the weekendI kept this up on my computer - such as the back-up cork screw when I re-membered busting one, one evening, in Morocco and having little chance ofrunning out to the store in a Muslim nation to pick up a replacement.

Remember the Boy Scouts motto.Remember also that, although the list seems lengthy, it really isn’t and

(Continued on Page 20)

F R E E W H E E L I N ’

BRIAN RATHJEN

Page 4 SEPTEMBER 2013 • BACKROADS


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Where ya gonna go When the volcano bloWs

Motorcycle Touring. It’s an interesting life, full

of excitement, travel and socializing. Sometimes

you ride with strangers; many times with folks you’ve come to know over

the years.

For me, it’s usually with Brian, gathering fodder for

these pages. We’ve developed a very good system of

taking images on the road. Brian is quite proficient at

pulling out the camera while riding and snapping

some action shots. My attempts at this most often end

up with blurry, distant garbage. Every once in a while

I’ll get lucky.

On our most recent sojourn out west to participate

in the BMW MOA Rally in Salem, Oregon, we man-

aged to put some good mileage on two brand new

bikes and see a great deal of the northwest. Invariably,

when you pull into a parking lot on new motorcycles,

there will be at least one person who will come over

to admire, ogle or just plain gawk. This is hardly ever

a problem, as being a spokesperson for said bike is

part of the job of motojournalism.

On this trip, we were hitting some beautiful national parks and amazing

scenic highlights that we wanted to capture as best we could. We would find

the perfect setting, away from any tourists, traffic and parked cars and set up

our shots. This is a difficult thing to do in the middle of July at places like

Crater Lake or Mount Saint Helens, but we did our best.

So, here we were, our bikes pointed at each other, with a clear blue sky

above Mount Saint Helens and a relatively empty parking lot. Brian had

moved our gear to a nearby wall to get it out of the shot and was getting out

his camera when HE came sauntering over (let’s call him Tim). Tim was full

of questions and excitement, as he used to ride ‘in the day’ and had an old

something or other back home ‘that he really should try to get started again’.

Tim was certainly nice enough, and just wanted to strike up a conversation

about motorcycles, which would otherwise be a great thing to do. However,

we were trying our best to get these shots done before the inevitable tour bus

pulled into the parking lot. He kept bending down to look over the bikes and

ask questions. He would lean against the bike while we answered and at-

tempted to lure him away from the motorcycles. At one point I gave up and

went to the bathroom, hoping that losing one set of ears might send him on

his way. I exited the bathroom to see him still bend-

ing Brian’s ear, frustration starting to show in his

eyes. Upon my return, he turned his attention and

conversation to me and I kept him talking while

walking over to the viewing sight for the volcano.

Luckily, he followed me and Brian was finally able

to get his shots done.

So, how do you tactfully and politely discourage

the further conversations of someone who is deter-

mined to keep you talking all day? Depending on my

mood, which is usually light and cheery, I’ll talk for

a little then start shooting my pictures. Mostly folks

will get the hint that you’re done talking. If they

don’t, I go for blunt directness and ask them to please

move out of the way as I’m trying to get my picture.

If this just gets them into the ‘photo bomb’ position in the background I will

physically move them to a spot completely out of sight line. As I’ve always

heard, it’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission, and if laying hands

on someone offends them, they should learn how to get out of my space.

This scenario doesn’t just apply to photography. Some times you’ll just be

in a beautiful, serene spot and want to enjoy the moment when a Tim wanders

along and ruins the moment. I guess I have that look about me, but I seem to

attract those folks who feel I’d make a great listener to their problems of the


W H AT C H AT H I N K I N ’

SHIRA KAMIL


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There can be onLy one (buTTon)

One of the things that fascinates me about the two-wheeled conveyances we cherish is how differentOEMs tackle a common control interface. There are certain things that aremandated by governments to insure some standardization, such as placementof key operational controls like the brake, throttle, etc. But as you no doubtknow, there are some controls that are differentdepending on the whims of the manufacturersuch as the turn signal switch. If you want tostart a lively debate, bring up the oldHarley/BMW two-switch design and compare itto the single switch approach everybody else hasalways used. Each side will have proponentsthat will swear one design is natural, intuitiveand brilliant, while others will claim it’s idiotic.That said, you will certainly hear some interest-ing arguments on both sides, and to be honestyou tend to get used to what you ride anyway.

The reason I bring this up is I recently encoun-tered a type of control I’ve not experienced be-fore, and as I’m always interested in how designers approach things I thoughtI’d share the experience. That, and these things are always important to talkabout because we live in a time where the microprocessor is changing howjust about everything works, and this even includes the things we use to op-erate our bikes. In this case, I encountered a cruise control that was rathernovel in its simplicity. The bike was Moto Guzzi’s quite entertaining Cali-fornia 1400 Touring, and this able road-muncher comes standard with a verycompact cruise unit that consists of one button. That’s pretty amazing whenyou think about typical cruise control units that have all kinds of switchesand such and all need to be mastered before you take to the highway and useit. I should point out that some other OEM may be using one-button cruise

too, but they haven’t in the past and this is my first encounter with one.Speaking of which, I know many who don’t like cruise control at all on mo-torcycles and I respect this position. But I like having it for no other reasonthan just resting your wrist on long days in the saddle, when you hit an ap-propriate stretch of road.

Anyway, one button. To quote Michael Palin, “wonderful what you can donowadays.” This lone button is used to turn the unit on, then set your speed,cancel, etc. Couldn’t be simpler, and yet I had trouble getting it to work easilyat first. I think part of it was how I expect to operate such a unit, based onmy experience with a small boatload of the devices. But it’s all a matter ofjust understanding how it works, and as it turns out with one button the crit-

ical operation you must master is how long to push thething to get it to do what you want. A long push turnson the unit and an icon blinks in the speedo cluster, thenwhen you reach desired speed a quick push locks inyour speed and the icon glows steadily. You have to bein at least third gear, and you don’t touch the brakes orthe clutch. If you want to speed up, just twist the throt-tle and when you release it returns the preset speed. For“coast” functions you touch the brakes and it disen-gages, and then you reset your speed again. Simple,yes? One button, no worries.

All this simplicity is made possible because electron-ics have become so compact and smart, and in manyways this is a big advancement over the original cruise

units especially if we go all the way back to throttle locks. If you rememberthese simple “cruise control” units, they basically just held the throttle at afixed point through mechanical friction. Very simple, to be sure, but verylimited in how they could help you and potentially problematic (although ifit gets stuck there’s always your friend the clutch lever). Then as manufac-turers started building electronic cruise control units, they were (dependingon the make) larger and even larger modules, with controls based on the de-sign found on their automotive counterparts. They tended to work well, al-though there was no interface with traction control because there was notraction control. This is a very critical feature in my view, because when trac-


P O S T C A R D SF R O M T H E H E D G E

BILL HEALD

BACKROADS • SEPTEMBER 2013 Page 7


http://www.rider.com

The Long ride

I didn’t really jones to do it. I’ve always looked with disdain upon longsuperslab drones – rides designed to cover distance rather than to celebratethe miracle of motorcycle maneuvering. But fate intervened, as she is knownto do: I had a wedding to attend in Wisconsin. Consulting the oracle ofGoogle revealed that Madison is just over a thousand miles from my abodeby Eisenhower’s autobahns and a memory floated to the top of my cerebralcesspool about an “Ironbutt Saddlesore 1,000,” so I figured “What the hell.”

I’m no stranger to long days in the saddle. In my other life as a bicyclerace referee, I’ll spend 12-14 hours on the moto in a day, traveling to racesand chasing lycra-clad competitors around. When I was a bicycle racer, onmultiple days I covered more than 100 miles on a bicycle, but despite myhours on a moto, I didn’t have that may miles in one day. The longest rideI’d done was a one-day trip to Vermont from Southern Maryland, a distanceof about 650 miles. The absence of a thousand-mile moto ride hung therelike a smudge on my bucket list.

The planning was ridiculously easy: I made sure I had a 24-hour gas stationnearby to get a receipt with a date and time for the start, printed some formsfrom the Ironbutt Association’s web site, read their tips, and looked at internetmaps. I planned an all-slab assault on the Midwest, carefully avoiding thespiderweb of roads around Chicago in favor of a less congested route throughBloomington, Illinois. A five-in-the-morning departure insured I’d miss thetraffic in all the enroute urban areas (DC, Columbus, Dayton, Indianapolis,and Bloomington), plus it gave me daylight for almost the entirety of the trip.Although I couldn’t count it for the ride time, travelling East to West gainedan hour’s clock time.

And so it went. On the assigned day, I pushed the starter button at 0500hours sharp, departed the gas station at 0515, and the next time I stopped wasin Morgantown, WV five hours later. Two more stops, one in Springfield,OH and one in Urbana, IL, insured my intake and output of fluids allowedcontinued progress. My log and dated/timed receipts were kept as evidence

of my journey and I pulled into Madison, WI sixteen-and-a-half hours and1,048 miles later. I even had time to have celebratory beers with the weddingparty on the shore of Lake Mendota.

Was it “fun?” Not really. It was neitheragony nor ecstasy. It was…an “accomplish-ment.” The cruise control made the trip bear-able for my throttle hand and judiciousstand-up stretches kept my bum happy. I de-liberately did it without any audio – no radioor MP3 player or books on tape because,frankly, with everything going on in thecountry, I just wanted a long period of mov-ing meditation. It was just the sound of thebike coupled with the wind to accompanymy thoughts. It reminded me of when I used

to run in college to clear my head. Paradoxically, by the time I got there, Iactually felt psychologically energized in the absence of the cacophony ofmedia voices by which I’m normally bombarded via radio and the internerd.That may be the real value of long, straight moto rides.

Would I do it again? Perhaps, if similar conditions arose wherein I had tobe somewhere distant and needed an efficient, economical means of travel.It sure as hell beat any contact with an airline or groping by the TSA. Am Igunning to do the whole, 11-day Ironbutt Rally? Hell no! I allowed a re-covery day between the ride and the wedding and I’m glad I did. Continuouslong-distance riding is an athletic undertaking that requires a special kind ofconditioning and fitness that I do not presently possess. I did, however, sat-isfy myself that a 1,000-mile day is within the grasp of a mere mortal with amodicum of riding acumen and with a minimum of planning.

I do not consider myself a particularly tough motorcycle rider. When I gotback from the trip, it was with great sadness that I read of the passing of oneArdys Kellerman. Ardys, an 81-year-old great-grandmother from Lexington,TX, rode multiple Ironbutt rallies and once clocked 100,000 miles in oneyear. She earned a BMW million-mile award too. Ardys liked to sleep onthe ground in horse stalls while she was doing end-to-end 1,000-mile days.Now THERE was a tough motorcycle rider. RIP, Ardys: light a fire for us inthe campground at the end of the universe.

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going iT aLone

I was riding with some friendswhen I encountered a problem thathas dogged me for as long as I’vebeen riding. After reaching ourdestination we grabbed a quick biteand then left the restaurant tomount up. It was there in the park-ing lot that the beast reared its uglyhead.

“Which route do you guys wantto ride back, the one we came outon or this squiggly new delight thatI just threw together?” asked oneof the riders.

Another fired back as if on autopilot. “I don’t really care whichway we go. It’s a great day; theskies are sunny, what’s not tolove?”

Then the third man chimed in. “Personally I preferthe new route, but whatever you guys decide is fine withme.”

Now all eyes were on me. With a measured breath Istarted to speak in the same uneasy tone that I have usedcountless times before. “You know, guys, I really haveto get home so I think I’ll say goodbye here and hop onthe super slab.”

Silence.Had this been the first or second ride that we had

shared, no one would have thought anything of my an-swer. But our little gang has been riding with each otherfor years. They knew full well I was lying through myteeth. I had no intention whatsoever of taking a boringinterstate back home. And I was in no rush.

If I had any pluck at all I simply would have answeredtheir question with honesty as screen goddess GretaGarbo famously did. “I want to be alone.” But I didn’t.Instead, I timidly bid my friends adieu and rolled out ofthe parking lot. What a coward.

It’s been said that men are social animals; creaturesthat require companionship as surely as they require air.I won’t argue this point on the whole. But if we breakmen into that curious subcategory called “motorcy-clists” the dynamic can change drastically.

Almost by definition motorcyclists stand apart fromthe pack. With cars available, why would anyone wishto expose themselves to the potential risk and undeni-able hardships (ever ride through a hailstorm?) that arepart and parcel to the motorcycling experience. Theshort answer? Beats the hell out of me - it is what it is.

The lack of logic reaches deeper into our sport. Manymotorcyclists are renegades who could care less if theyever ride with someone. Hollywood loves this type andplays heavily on their steely independence. It’s no mis-take that the TV show was named “Then Came Bron-son” and not “Then Came Bronson and Johnson.”America so loves its independent types.

But what about motorcycle gangs and clubs? Doesn’tthis prove that riders like to stick together? Again,there’s no clear answer. Within these organizations thereare those who never ride alone or rarely ride alone andthose that almost always do. In fact, the latter sometimesjoins up just to do some bench-racing after they’ve gonefor their solo ride. It’s crazy I tell you!

So where does this leave me and my little predica-

ment? Near as I can tell, I’m some strange hybrid type that fancies ridingwith and without people, often during the same day. Here’s my best expla-nation as to why.

When I ride with the pack, I enjoy all that this experience has to offer.Things like shared moments in decreasing-radius turns (oh s—t!); a riderpointing out a scenic gemstone along the way; gas stops where we one-up

each other with improbable BS stories - you get thepicture.

But when I ride alone I ride with no such distrac-tions – as entertaining as they can be. Call me nutsbut I’ve never experienced Zen while hugging theass of a sport bike in front of me, or worrying aboutthe fate of a slowpoke rider behind me. And I neverwill.

So for the time being I must live in this ratherbizarre half-world of lies. Don’t get me wrong, Iwould never bail on a fellow rider if it was just thetwo of us out for the day. But when I’m riding witha group, and we’ve reached our destination, is it re-ally so bad that I wish to stray and go it alone?

I’m sure there’s a tactful way to extricate myselfwithout hurting anyone’s feelings, but I’m equallysure that I haven’t found it yet.

Ideas? I’m all ears.

T H R O T T L E B L I P S

JEFF BAHR

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Hi GangI know you are partial to the BMW motorcycles over their at Backroads

Manor and I currently ride a Yamaha Star Stryker which I love but I am con-sidering another bike somewhere along the lines of adventure bike, sporttouring. (Honda NC700, V-Strom 650, BMW F800GS). The Honda was apleasant surprise although maybe a little low on the power end. The V-Stromis very popular and time tested. I have not had the pleasure of riding BMWever. I was wondering if you might be able to give me a little insight from anowener’s POV.

I have sat on several BMWs but all seem too tall (I am 5’6” inseam 30”). Thank you for a great mag every month. If you are ever in the area of Vails

Gate you must visit Brothers BBQ on Route 32, 1/3 mile south of the 5 cor-ners of Vails Gate.

Roger Parliman

Roger,

All the mentioned rides are great options for an adventure/sport tourer.

The Suzuki V-Strom is, as you said a tried and true machine which will give

you dependable service and enjoyment at a great value. The BMW is a great

workhorse and can carry you around the world. This, of course, is at the pre-

mium cost and may have the most expense in upkeep. As Shira has a similar

inseam, we can say the V-Strom and Honda are a bit high in the seat, but

that should not be a difficulty. Hope this may help with your decision and

we’ll see you on the trails.

Brian/Shira,Thanks for a great publication. I just took delivery of a 2009 BMW

G650GS to try my hand at dual sporting. I have 25 years of road riding ex-perience but have never been off road. Now that I have the bike I’m lookingfor some fun dirt trails and scenic points to explore with the GS and start get-ting comfortable riding some trails. Any recommendations? Mild stuff. Jeeptrails, fire roads that sort of thing is of most interest to me until I can get anoff road riding course under my belt. Any info you can share would be ap-preciated.

Thanks,Tom Adamo - Parsippany, NJ

Tom,

Congrats on the purchase. As you may know, Jersey has limited ‘legal’ off-

road riding. That said, there are still plenty of unpaved traveling to be ex-

plored. First that comes to mind is the Walpack area in Sussex/Warren

County. Head north on Route 206 and bang a left into Stokes State Forest.

You can meander along paved/unpaved section for quite some time with little

interference from other traffic. Find Buttermilk Falls or head to Crater Lake.

Just explore and have fun.

Another suggestion is getting in touch with Bergen

County BMW. They have a group call the GS Riders of

Bergen County who take ‘adventure’ rides and can give

you some direction.

If this sounds like what you are looking for, you can

contact Rich via email at [email protected]

Dear Shira and Brian,What a lovely surprise we found in our mailbox this

morning!! Thank you so much for including the inn inyour magazine. The article is so complimentary tous! And the pictures are great. We’re so glad you en-joyed our place and love the way you describe the innand everything about the area for your readers. Givingthem exact directions is something we have never seendone before, but it certainly makes it easy!

We hope you are having a good summer. If you everget down this way again, we’d love to see you!

Ed and Ellen Markel,The Inn at Narrow Passage, Woodstock, VA

It is interesting to note that two of your editorials in-volved my pet peeve. Groups of more than six riders area hazard to the enjoyment of riding. The obvious prob-lems of navigating the roads are only a part of it. Fuelstops become a very long and arduous affair. Selectionof a rest stop or a restaurant is a project and often leadsto issues with the wait staff and proprietor of a diningestablishment. Overnight accommodations and reserva-tions are limited. The egos of the Road Captain andRoad Marshals can also create disharmony. The Zen ofmotorcycling dictates that it is an activity designed forindividuality. In summary, “If I wanted to be in a parade,I would have joined the circus”.

As always, warmest regards, Byrd

Just finished my August issue. Great job! I hate toadmit this, but I even found myself reading some of theads. I can assure you this I do not do with publicationsI receive like CYCLE***** and MOTOR*******, orRI***, or ROAD RU****. Some of those mags take me5 minutes to thumb through and toss. The only reasonsI subscribe is they are cheap (well, two are) and to seewho in my world of moto-journalist acquaintances isflogging what to where.

Unsigned

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2013 RECIPIENT OF THE BACKROADS LAME AWARD

It took nearly half the year but wefound a suc…er, we mean a worthymember of the motorcycling communityfor our LAME (Lifetime Achievementin Motorcycling Excellence) award.This year’s honoree is the venerable Dr.Gregory Frazier. Dr. Frazier has riddenhis motorcycle around the world fivetimes and is the author of many enter-taining and informative books on motor-cycling. He has contributed muchknowledge and plain old neat stuff tothose who like to consider themselvesriders, travelers and/or adventurers.

We were able to personally hand Dr. G his beautiful piece of fancy glassat a dinner commemorating the culmination of the Clancy Centenary Ride,a recreation of the first ride around the world done by Carl Stearn Clancy in1912-13, in Newburgh, NY. His acceptance words were, “I was/am trulyhumbled by your anointing me with your “Lifetime Achievement” award. Itnow resides at Ft. Frazier, prominently in the black and white kitchen.”

You’re welcome, Dr. G. Ride on.

BIG 4 MOTORCYCLE EXPORTS DOWN 26%Following several months of declines, motorcycle exports from Japan’s

Big Four motorcycle brands fell again in June 2013, according to the latestdata from the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).

The Big Four — Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha — exported25,831 units in June, compared with 35,306 units recorded for the samemonth of the previous year. This is a decrease of 9,475 units, or 26.8 percent,and a decrease on the same month of the previous year for nine consecutivemonths.

PASSING OF A CHAMPION…Bill Warner, 44, of Wimauma, Fla., was clocked at 285 mph before he lost

control but it was unclear how fast the motorcycle was traveling when itveered off the paved runway and crashed, said Tim Kelly, race director ofthe Loring Timing Association, which hosted “The Maine Event” at LoringAir Force Base.

Warner was conscious and talking after the crash, but he died about anhour and 15 minutes later at a hospital in Caribou.

“No one will touch Bill’s achievements or be the type of racer he was. Hewas a personal friend and the land-racing community is less for his loss,”Kelly said.

Riding his modified turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa, Warner previouslyhit 311 mph on the same course in 2011, using 1.5 miles of pavement. That’sconsidered to be the world land speed record for a conventional motorcycle.

This time he was trying to hit 300 mph using just a mile of pavement, andhe’d made several passes before the one in which he crashed, Kelly said.

On Sunday, about 400 spectators watched as Warner began veering rightafter passing the 1-mile mark, traveling upright for another 2,000 feet beforeexiting the runway and crashing, Kelly said.

The remainder of Sunday’s event was canceled. The Limestone Police De-partment and Maine State Police were investigating the crash.

SENA TECHNOLOGIES JOINS MOTORCYCLE INDUSTRY COUNCIL

Sena Technologies Inc. has officially become a member of the MotorcycleIndustry Council (MIC). Through the use of education on government rela-tions, industry statistics, technical support and relationships with other MICmembers, Sena will be able to support the industry through active participa-tion in industry issues and conversations as well as support motorcycliststhrough events, outreach and product experiences.

“Becoming a member of the Motorcycle Industry Council will allow Senato build stronger relationships with motorcyclists and other members as wellas be up to date on all news and information affecting the motorcycle indus-


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HARLEY-DAVIDSON 2013 Q2 FINANCIAL REPORT

Harley-Davidson released its second-quarter report, reporting that motor-cycle sales were up across all markets.

Harley reports that 90,193 new Harley motorcycles were sold in Q2, com-pared to 85,714 from the same quarter of 2012, an increase of 5.2 percent.

In the U.S., dealers sold 58,241 new Harley-Davidson motorcycles in thequarter, up 4.4-percent compared to the year-ago period. In international mar-kets, dealers sold 31,952 new Harley-Davidson motorcycles during the sec-ond quarter, compared to 29,953 motorcycles in the year-ago period, withunit sales up 12.3-percent in the Asia Pacific region, 1 percent in the EMEAregion, 39.2 percent in the Latin America region, and 3.6 percent in Canada.

Keith Wandell (Harley-Davidson CEO, Chairman and President) says:“Harley-Davidson again drove strong financial performance in the secondquarter, reflecting the many improvements in operations we have madethroughout the Company over the past few years as well as our brand strengthglobally.

“Our employees, dealers and suppliers continue to do an outstanding job,working as one team and moving in one direction, to deliver a great experi-ence for our customers.”

“All summer long we are celebrating our 110th anniversary with Harley-Davidson enthusiasts from around the world, including one of our biggest-ever international consumer events last month in Rome and the upcomingcelebration in Milwaukee on Labor Day weekend. And less than a monthfrom now, we will launch an exciting lineup of new 2014 motorcycles.”

EDELWEISS FALL FESTIVAL INFO

Fall is coming, and while many motorcycle riders worldwide will be win-ter-proofing their bikes, Edelweiss is getting together again for an unforget-table ride. Come join Edelweiss for the annual “Edelweiss Feschtl” at

Sequoia National Park in southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, Calif fortwo nights.

If you’ve already toured with Edelweiss Bike Travel, you’ll likely enjoy areunion with some of your tour buddies. And, even if you’ve yet to travelwith the world’s #1 motorcycle touring company, this event provides a greatopportunity to visit with our Edelweiss team, learn about its touring pro-gramsm and services and get answers to any questions you may have.

For our Edelweiss Feschtl there is a limited number of tickets available.Reservation can be send through the Edelweiss website at edelweissbike.com

MOTORCYCLE SHOW ROLLS INTO NEW YORK WAY EARLY

From New York to California, the 12-city nationwide tour of the Progres-sive® International Motorcycle Shows® offers an all access pass to view atthe new 2014 models and hundreds of the hottest street bikes, dirt bikes,cruisers, UTVs and ATVs for both new and experienced riders. From the lat-est gear and aftermarket accessories to informative seminars and interactiveentertainment, this event is the place to experience the latest in the world ofmotorcycling. This motorcycle extravaganza will also feature live music; theUltimate Builder Custom Bike Show featuring hundreds of the hottest custommotorcycles dripping in eye-popping chrome, wild paint jobs and dazzlingrims; the return of The Podium that will host motorcycle racers, celebrities,DIY seminars; and much, much more.

New York City @ Jacob K. Javits Convention Center : Friday, Dec 13-Sunday, Dec 15, 2013

Washington, D.C. @ Washington Convention Center: Friday, Jan. 10-Sun-day, Jan. 12, 2014

New model lineups and representatives from several manufacturers includ-ing BMW, BRP| Can-Am, Ducati, Harley-Davidson, Honda, Indian,Kawasaki, KTM, Star, Suzuki, Triumph, Victory, Yamaha, Zero and morewill be on site to answer questions and provide information on the latest mo-torcycles, products and education.

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The souThern KiTchen

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A great thing about life on the backroads is we getto eat out… a lot.

Although this might not be the best in some man-ner, as the wallet gets thinner and the waistline ex-pands, it is something that needs doing for thismagazine and we take this job seriously and do ourbest to bring you guys and gals the “special places”when we run into them.

This month we will head to the south and the greatcommonwealth of Virginia. This stop on the GreatAll American Diner Run was originally brought tous by our friend Dale Conyer. Dale has written anumber of great motorcycle travel books (which youcan find at whitehorsepress.com) and years back hemade mention to us about New Market’s SouthernKitchen.

New Market has a colorful and storied past, mostespecially during the Civil War, but these days it isa peaceful little burg nestled atop the ShenandoahValley and just a quick ride from our host hotel oneBackroads Spring Break, the Mimslym in Luray,Virginia.

Since we were down here in the south we ex-pected to be getting some serious food and we werenot disappointed at the Southern Kitchen.

The Southern Kitchen has been a long time iconin New Market and it first opened its door back in1955. Lloyd and Ruby Newland moved to NewMarket after working at a torpedo factory during

World War II and got into the construction business in New Market. Seeingthe need for a good restaurant and meeting place he built the SouthernKitchen in just 30 days and filled the menu with Ruby’s own recipes.

Today the restaurant is run by their son Randy and his wife Rebecca and,in truth, things have not changed much over theyears. The atmosphere is right out of the 1950’swith wide booths, original soda fountains, wall-mounted juke boxes and murals depicting local his-tory and the nearby Luray caverns.

Another reason for the continued success of theSouthern Kitchen is that much of there staff havebeen around for decades creating their famed piesand delicious peanut soup named by USA Today asone of the Top 25 recipes in the world. That’s cer-tainly noteworthy – delicious too. So, we were righton board for a cup of that.

We had also heard of their incredible friedchicken and I, for one, was not leaving town witha few pieces of golden poultry.

If you get there early, breakfast is sure to pleasewith some delicious Virginia Ham (yep, the saltytype), eggs, oatmeal, chicken fried steak, chip beefgravy over biscuits and, of course, grits – it is Vir-ginia.

We got there for lunch so we got to see some ofthe other offerings that make the Southern Kitchenfamous.

A bunch of different burgers were to be found onthe menu and some other serious sandwiches are tobe found – Reuben, sirloin steak and an offeringcalled the Trailblazer which is their version of acheese steak sandwich.

It all looked good to us.


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As we mentioned there was that won-derful fried chicken, which our friendsKate and Gena made small work of aswell; and Shira also ordered some friedchicken livers, which I had never seenbefore, but hope to again.

All the portions were large, maybe toolarge, but they do offer “small appetites”for all ages so not to worry that you willfall of your diet.

It is hard to go wrong here in NewMarket, Virginia when you take a seat atthe Southern Kitchen and why we werehappy to make it a stop on the Great All

American Diner Run.We’ll have some local fun with today’s ride and recreate the little jaunt we

did this day from Luray north along the Skyline, then south through theGeorge Washington forest and over the mountain road to New Market.

A great ride for some great food.


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saraToga auToMobiLe MuseuM

110 ave of The Pines, saraToga sPrings, ny

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Saratoga Springs is known for a number of things.Every summer the ponies come up to play and in

years past they have seen a Backroads Rally and yearsbefore the area was known for its healing springs.

Thus the name Saratoga Springs.On the Avenue of the Pines you will find the old

Bottling Plant. After the bottling stopped the townused the big building as a garage but, in 2002, a won-derful thing began and the Saratoga Automobile Mu-seum opened its doors.

We have visited the museum a few times before andwere always amazed at the wonderful vehicles andparticularly enjoyed the second floor that houses apermanent exhibit of the New York State Stock CarAssociation Hall of Fame and overlooks the first floor.

At this year’s Americade we rode south to SaratogaSpring, one soggy afternoon, on a special two-wheelmission, as the famed Saratoga Automobile Museumhad a limited exhibit that caught our eye.

From May 6, 2013 to November 3, 2013, theSaratoga Automobile Museum will focus on “BMW,the Ultimate Driving Machine.” This will be a seven-month major exhibition of significant BMW cars andmotorcycles from the 1930s to the present. The Bavar-ian Motor Works began as a motorcycle producer thensegued into automobiles, and remains one of the fewmarques you’ll find competing successfully on bothtwo and four wheels. (Know the other two? It’sHonda, of course, and VW Group, who recently ac-quired Ducati.)

Historic BMWs on display will range from thesporty pre-War 328 roadster – one of the most suc-cessful competitors of its day - to the supremely ele-gant postwar 507, the winged CSL of the 1970s, notedBMW racecars and much more. BMW Classic is an-ticipated to provide cars from the BMW Museum inMunich and the BMWNA Collection.

The 2-wheeled BMWs are compliments of the Nettesheim Museum inHuntington, NY, ranging from the first R32, R62, an R12 and many more.

For us lovers of these German machines we were all very pleased with thehistory, stories and quality of this exhibit.

The history of the BMW was all there from the past till the present andeven a few myths were dispelled. You mean the BMW Roundel is not a spin-ning aircraft propeller? Oh, well I will have to change that story.

The only other argument was between ourselves as we all thought versionsof our own machines, RTs and GSs, should have been represented.

The BMW cars were impressive, with me trying to decide which oneshould come home with me - the 507 or the newer version Z8.

Their gift shop had some great racing history as well and a lithographpainting of a Porsche 917 from the movie LeMans came home with me asdid a DVD on the great Chris Economaki, who helped us start Backroadsyears back.

If you are riding anywhere near NewYork’s Adirondacks and Saratoga Springsplease stop into the Saratoga AutomobileMuseum; it is an impressive place and theyhave some serious BMWs to show you.


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To give you some impetus to plan a trip, here’s a little Rip & Ride from Port Jervis, NY that will bring you there in style. Since it is a 275-mile ride, you mightlike to spend the night and explore the lovely town of Saratoga Springs.


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friday The 13Th

LooKing for caMP cLearWaTer

Dr. Seymour O’Life

Does the name Jason Voorhees mean anything to you?Well, if you were a fan of the great slasher films of the 1980s then

it probably does.Did any of us ever look at hockey goalies the same way again? The original Friday the 13th was written by Victor Miller and was

produced and directed by Sean S. Cunningham. However, neither re-turned to write or direct any of the sequels.

Did they have to? The film cost just $550,000 to produced butgrossed some $37,465,200 worldwide.

I call that a nice profit.The first film was created to cash in on the success of Halloween

and has had a total of 12 movies (not 13?) that have brought in nearly$465 million dollars.

Although none of the sequels were, the very first film was New Jer-sey born.

In fact Camp Crystal is still found in the woods of northwest New Jersey– not far from Backroads Central.

With that in mind publisher Rathjen and I went searching for the elusivecamp.

In 1979, when the film crew was looking for a suitable camp to film Fridaythe 13th they came upon a Boy Scout Camp, near Blairstown, New Jerseycalled Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco (short for North Bergen Boy Scouts)

The 380 acres camp has been the summer home to thousands of scoutsfrom Bergen, Passaic, Essex and Hudson counties.

The camp was not being used at the time so the Boy Scouts let No-Be-Bo-Sco be used by the filmmakers, receiving about a month’s worth of rentalfees. Looking back on the profits made by the film they should have askedfor more.

The Camp has also been used for filming MTVs Fear.For the two of us, finding Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco was easy, as they aren’t

hiding the camp. But, many Friday the 13th aficionados mistake other localcamps for the real thing, such as Camp Nejeda located not too far away.

We’ll show you the real thing. But, be foreward.Although you can ride up to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco, pay attention to the

sign DO NOT ENTER THE CAMP!!! The Boy Scouts have a love /hate re-lationship with their ties to the movie. Arguably the most popular of theslasher films, Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco has far too may “fans’ trying to get infor a peek and the camp is privately owned property and should be treatedas such.

We do know that at one time the camp officials had a Friday the 13th daywhere they gave a tour, with all donations going to Camp No-Be-Bo-Sco up-


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keep. If that happens again you can be sure we’ll letyou know.

If you ride into the property you will be stopped andthe police called. Don’t ask us how we know this.

After finding the camp we took a ride to anotherprominent location from the film – the town ofBlairstown itself.

Home to the Blair Academy, and quintes-sential old north New Jersey town, thearched walkway running along Main Streetis instantly recognizable as a part of themovie.

Somehow it didn’t look so scary in thebright sunshine.

What was impressive was the great foodat the Blairstown Diner, another locationfrom the film where the camp owner SteveChristy whiles away the evening as hishappy band of counselors is being sliced anddiced by the unseen killer. We found it theperfect place to grab lunch after a bit of pok-ing around the woods of northern New Jer-sey in search of Jason Voorhees’ favorite camp.

From there we had one more stop to make on our Friday the 13th questand that was where the character Annie was dropped off on her way to Clear-water.

If you remember it was in front of, what else, a cemetery.That final resting place is the Moravian Cemetery, located just outside

Hope, New Jersey.From Blairstown this was a quick ride down County Road 521 into the

quaint village of Hope and making a right where 521 and 519 meet the ceme-tery is just a few blocks down.

As I said this one movie has spawned so many others, plus novels, comicbooks and made the name Jason somewhat dastardly.

But, I think what we really have here is a grand little ridearound some superb slasher-movie history, a bunch of greatroads and just a little bit of Mysterious America



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Rip & Ride® • FRIDAY THE 13TH - LOOKING FOR CAMP CLEARWATER

free WheeLin’ (Continued from Page 4)

most of the stuff gets packed in my tank bag or back-pack. And, almost all of it, if we are traveling by jet -sans backpack – gets carried in an Ogio 9500 bag,specifically designed for motorcyclists, with separatecompartments for your helmet, riding suit and boots.

The backpack is carry on, and usually ends up in achase van or, in a pinch or if we’re winging a tour onour own, on my back. Whatever it takes to bring a smalloffice with me.

I am sure you have your own system to ensure youhave everything you need while on the road but writingthis killed two birds – it hopefully gave you some foodfor thought and, even more hopefully allowed me toavoid the “Ah frack” moment 5,000 miles from home!

WhaTchaThinKin’ (Continued from Page 6)

day. Case in point: I was running errands the other dayand simply had to pick something up at the local phar-macy. I handed the young lady behind the counter mypaperwork and she replied to me, ‘Looks like it’s goingto be one of those days.’ Not wanted to encourage herto go into details, I simply said, ‘Yup, we all have them.’I guess this worked exactly opposite, as she began togive me COMPLETE details on why it was one of thosedays. Inwardly rolling my eyes, I silently listened andhoped that she could multitask and tell me her tale ofwoe while filling my order. Lucky for me this apparentlywasn’t the first time she’d shared her life history with arandom stranger and did just that. The pills were still rat-tling in the vial as I made my hasty exit into the silenceof the outdoors.

When you feel that your serenity and Zen may be injeopardy, don’t let the volcano blow – just take a deepbreath and let it roll off your shoulders. They can’t keeptalking forever (or can they…)

FRIDAY, SEPT. 6 +SATURDAY, SEPT. 7

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LaKe fronT hoTeL

10 fair sTreeT, cooPersToWn, ny 13326

607- 547-9511 • WWW.cooPersToWnLaKefronThoTeL.coM

words: Brian Rathjen • images: David Erfer

When we look for a place to hold any ofour Backroads rallies it usually comes downto location. We are always open to sugges-tions as well.

Last year, contributor and all around greatguy Tony Lisanti mentioned we should takea look at a small hotel he came across onthe southern end of Otsego Lake, in the vil-lage of Cooperstown, New York.

That being the case we moseyed on upthat way in the Fall of 2012 and instantlyunderstood why Tony was edging us to theLake Front Hotel. Few places offer such acommanding view of such a stunning lake.They pretty much had all we could ask for.

The rooms numbered 43; which was per-fect for us, and they had their own restau-rant and bar. A big boat for a lake cruise during the season and the mostwonderful northerly view of the lake which, by the way, is the headwatersof the Susquehanna – the longest river east of the Mississippi.

We booked the entire place for three nights in mid May.As you would think, we want to tell you about the Lake front Hotel, but

let’s talk about Cooperstown a bit first. Famed for the creation of our nationalpast time and the Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown was founded by JudgeWilliam Cooper and was purchased in 1785 from Colonel George Croghan.Cooper was the father of noted American author James Fenimore Cooper,author of The Leatherstocking Tales, a series of novels, which includes The

Last of the Mohicans. Contrary to popular belief, the village was named afterJudge Cooper, and not his son.

During the late 1930’s, when the region was suffering economically a localhotel owner named Stephen Clark created the Baseball Hall of Fame, which

was dedicated on June 12, 1939. The rest is base-ball history.

These days the Hall of Fame is the major drawin the village and the surrounding areas; but theFarmer’s Museum and the Fenimore Art Museumare well worth visiting as well.

The town has a number of superb restaurantsand the entire region is surrounded by some of themost beautiful mountains and valleys in the north-east.

The perfect place to ride a motorcycle.When we booked the rooms at the Lake Front

we were a bit taken back by their rules and toughcancellation policy, but when you realize that aplace in such an interesting tourist destinationmight occasionally bring in some rough crowdsyou can understand their concerns.

Fortunately we know our Backroads readers arealways the cream of the crop and total gentlemen and women from the getgo – so no worries here.

To be truthful the staff and owners were as cordial as can be and any trep-idation we had was quickly cast away by the smiles and courtesy Paula,Rosey, Tulsa and crew showed every one of us during the stay.

Anything they could do for us they did.Bill, who we gather is the patriarch of the Lake Front, came by each day

to make sure all was well and to simply chat like every excellent host shouldand so few do.


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The modern and recently refurbished rooms ranged from smallish to largersuites, and they have a second property called Visions that is around the cor-ner and was once an 1800’s Brewery, that has been totally renovated into aluxurious modern-day Country Inn. The folks staying there said it was mostexcellent and the rooms really, really big and close enough to enjoy all theLake Front has to offer.

The rooms were clean and comfortable and the views from the upstairsdeck were grand. We particularly like the way the owners had the ceilings ofeach of the rooms swirled with great designs. Waking up each day it looked

like a sunny day above my head.The restaurant and outdoor deck is the place you want to be each evening. While we were there the bar was kept hopping and the restaurant had an

excellent menu with some awesome specials as well. Some of the seafoodentrees included “Jail Island” ancho chili salmon, steamed whole Maine lob-

sters and sunset scallops. The breast of duck was awe-some – as was the sauce it lived in. We heard the cumin& lime marinated chicken was yummy as well. Theyalso served up a bunch of great pastas.

In the morning their breakfast was the perfect way tostart your day.

The Lake Front Hotel in the village of Cooperstownwas the right place for our Spring Break Rally and amost excellent lodging for you and yours for a twowheel escape or, as we have seen, an entire riding group.

However you end up at the Lake Front you will notbe disappointed.

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a cLassic MisTaKe

The low steady thumping of the 650’s twin pistons was a joyful reminderof my teenage years. The source of this wonderful note was my older brotherJohn’s 1968 BSA Thunderbolt and, for the first time, I was riding this classicpiece of British metal. This was the bike he bought at 17 and then sold mehis 1966 Suzuki 250 X6 Hustler. It was his baby and while I had ridden onthe back before he had never handed over the keys.

The big difference and reason for his generosity was that more than 30years had passed. We were now middle-aged men and although my attemptsto purchase his stored motorcycle had been unsuccessful what I had donewith my inquiries was rekindle his interest in riding. There was anotherBritish beauty in his garage and that was the Thunderbolt’s replacement, a1969 BSA 750 Rocket Three that he had bought in the mid-seventies still inits original crate.

Needless to say he was a classic enthusiast through and through and nowafter many years of sitting idle the two BSAs were seeing the light of day. Iwas visiting Ontario from my home in Vancouver, B.C. and some very spe-cial brotherly bonding was taking place.

The morning sun had warmed the soft seats and it glinted off the polishedchrome as the two bikes idled in his driveway. Always very careful with hisbikes, John did not let others ride them; in fact I couldn’t remember anyoneever taking one for a ride. Maybe that is overprotective but it only made thisshared moment all the more special.

I had returned to my motorcycle roots the previous year. When it was ap-parent he would not part with the Thunderbolt I went out and found myselfa 1969 Triumph Bonneville and had a great summer with it. Then Triumphbrought out the 2001 Bonneville and I sold my classic to upgrade to the newmodel. Perhaps it was my new British connection or just the often referredto mellowing that comes with age but now I was set for my first ride on thebike I had longed for as a teenager.

Leading the way on the Rocket Three John steered us out of the Barrie city

limits and into the surrounding countryside. For the next couple of hours weenjoyed the fun of riding together, a connection we had cemented on a cross-country journey as teenagers. After stopping for lunch we began the returnride. Having saved this particular road for later John turned onto a twisty al-though somewhat neglected side road. A long time favourite for him, thisrural route passed through pine forests and alongside rocky outcroppings.The two of us pushed the old bikes through the corners and into the straight-aways having a great time.

Following at a reasonable distance I was tracking John’s line into a sharpleft hand corner as I nudged the 650 down a gear. When I released the clutcha lot more than the normal increase in engine noise reached my ears. The en-gine continued to roar as the revs climbed. The throttle was stuck and I was


THOUGHTS FROM THE ROAD Terry Peters


http://www.woodstockharley.com

picking up speed not slowing down. I pulled in theclutch and applied the brakes but on a vintage bikethey were more like the promise of stopping thanthe reality of it. Things were getting complicatedfast. I could see there was sand on the road andwith the brakes having almost no effect I was cal-culating my options quickly. I knew the sand onthe corner was going to prevent me from havingany chance of leaning through the nearly right-an-gled corner so I decided to take the bike into theditch instead of dropping in on the pavement.

In a matter of seconds I was past the corner and into the undergrowth be-side the road. As the front tire dug into the sandy soil I was thrown off thebike landing several feet away just missing a tree. I was on my feet in a flashand over to the now prone motorcycle. With the strength of adrenalin in myveins I stood the bike up but with it came the discovery of the damage. Acouple of minutes later John was back having noticed my absence behindhim. To his credit his first words were asking about my well being althoughhis eyes were not leaving the carnage.

The two of us maneuvered the bike back onto the road. A quick inspectionadded up to a dented gas tank, broken headlight and taillight, all of which

was minor compared to the bent front forks.It was obvious that we were not going to beriding the bike anywhere. We pushed it to thefirst driveway, which fortunately was not toofar away and were lucky enough to findsomeone home. A call to a local towing com-pany got the bike picked up and moved to asafe location.

The ride home felt much longer as I rodeon the back of the 750. It was more than justthe extra passenger load that seemed to slow

us down. The weight of the accident bore down on both of us. John remainedgracious that evening and the next day I was catching my return flight toVancouver. Back home my first purchase was a new taillight lens that I foundat a bike shop dealing in Vintage British bikes. I packaged it up, wrote acheque for the repairs and put it in the mail.

The ride had turned into a Classic mistake but fortunately the damage waslimited to the bike and not my friendship with my brother. I moved on to aKawasaki ZRX1200R and he later got himself a BMW K1200 and we haveenjoyed some great riding moments together since then and have evenswapped bikes without hesitation.

PosTcards froM The hedge (Continued from Page 7)

tion controls encounter slippery substrate very bad things can happen. Manyyears ago a very close friend of mine and his wife went for a spin in a carthat ended badly for the car, as the cruise couldn’t deal with a freakish westTexas wind and bad things happened. They where unharmed, fortunately, butwe all learned a valuable lesson that day.

The Moto Guzzi in question does have cruise control, and it is tied into thecruise control so if the traction gets compromised and the Traction Controlengages, the cruise disengages. I still would never use the cruise in the rain,though, but judging how good the electronics work on the bike you wouldprobably be safe to do so. It’s interesting to me that this is about as sophisti-cated as the most modern motorcycle cruise unit can get, yet this is an amaz-

ingly compact design that (oh yes) is controlled with just one button. Likeeverything else that is becoming electronically invaded we have to trust thesenew overlords with everything from engine management to braking, and myoverall feeling is so far, so good. Most computers seem to behave themselvesmuch better than they did a few years ago (although there are always excep-tions), but if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that it’s critical to run throughthe operation of all these new devices and operating systems well before youhit the road, so you don’t find yourself trying to figure it out on the fly. I didthat with the cruise control initially (the fly part) and it was a very distractingand unsatisfactory enterprise until I told myself to stop and deal with it whenparked. Consulting the literature explained all functions.

One Button. How hard can it be? Sheesh.



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It’s coming on September – where the helldid the summer go? I know I’ve been busy gettingon the bike and hitting my favorite ice creamhaunts, but seriously; we wait six months for ourtime to ride and then it’s over in a flash.

Alright, I know that the upcoming months are re-ally the best time of the year, but it takes those hot,sultry summer days to really get you jonesing for thatperfect scoop of ice cream. The first spoonful or lickthat makes your eyes roll and your mouth water.

This month I’m not taking you to a specific spot to get yourfix. Rather, I’m sending you in search of the ultimate ice cream.This, of course, is almost an impossibility. It’s as subjective aschoosing the best pizza or pasta restaurant. Opinions and taste,that’s what it comes down to.

But ice cream does have its certain base requirements. Butterfat, creami-ness, natural ingredients and flavors and freshness all make up what will be-come the best of the best. July was National Ice Cream Month (I’m sorry, Iwas remiss in not having more fanfare in the July issue – I won’t let it happennext year. I WILL have an ice cream run during July next month) and therewere many lists out praising the BEST ice cream shops in the US. I happenedto look at the one put together by Tripadvisor and found one that I’d alreadyvisited and many more in the vicinity that were easily accessible. Coinci-dently, there were a couple in the northwest that could be fit into our trip tothe BMW rally.

So with the list below, let’s see how many we can get tobefore the end of the year and compare notes. As much as Ilove to enjoy my ice cream, I really do like hearing back fromyou with your input and comments on my choices.

Places we’ve been:

owowcow creamery, ottsville, Pa – this little shopwas found on a detour some years ago. If I remember cor-rectly, Brian and I had gone for a ride along the Delaware tosee what damage had been done by the last storm that came

through. We were detoured up and around the risingwaters heading into Pennsylvania and, at one

intersection, there happened to be an icecream shop right in front of us. Never one to

pass up ice cream, we stopped to get our bear-ings and partake. This was, perhaps, one of thebest ice cream stops I have ever had. I only wishthey were closer.cowlick’s, fort bragg, ca – On our way south

after the BMW Rally, we planned onhugging the coast for most of the trip.A quick peak at the map showed wejust could not miss Fort Bragg.Cowlick’s shop is big and bright, withlots of tables and friendly staff. Theywill gladly give you tastings of any fla-vor and as many flavors as you’d like.It seems that the flavor-tasters are thereason for the long lines. On the daywe visited, I guess all the patrons knewwhat flavor they wanted as there wasno line and we were able to get ourcreamy goodness right quick. Brianwent full on with an ice cream sundaemade up of mushroom and yellow cakebatter. Mushroom, you say? Yes – it re-

ally tastes like maple syrup and the yellowcake batter was delicious as well. I optedfor a cup of Ginger and StrawberryCheesecake. OMG is all I can say.

salt and straw, Portland, or – Wehad stopped to visit my cousin who livesin Portland. We went to his house and wererelaxing and catching up. After some time

Shira’s Ice Cream Run



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we thought it best to head out for dinner. I told him I firstneeded to stop for some ice cream. ‘Oh, Salt and Straw, Isupposed,’ was what he said. Seems it’s the ONLY placeto get your ice cream in Portland. He asked if we wantedto eat dinner first and I emphatically said no, I need icecream first. Again, there was no line where there normallyshould be one down the block – lucky us. And, again, theywill give you as many tastings as you like. Good thing, asthey have some of the most unique flavors I have everseen. Strawberry with Cilantro Lime Cheesecake, GoatCheese Marionberry Habanero, Arbequina Olive Oil, Cof-fee and Bourbon and Pear with Blue Cheese to name justa very few. Another thing that they do, which ALL icecreameries should adopt, is giving half scoops. When youjust need a taste of something (I’m not sure when that is)you can get two and not feel guilty.

They produce only small batch ice cream, so you justnever know what flavors will be available on the day you

visit. With all these to sample, my cousin swears bytheir vanilla. I did taste his, and it was about as good asit gets. I had to put a leash on my ordering, as dinnerwas in my future, so I opted for the half scoop each ofCoffee and Bourbon made from Stumptown’s single-origin Sumatra coffee, mixed with a little of Portland’sHoly Kakow chocolate and a lot of Burnside Bourbonfrom their local Eastside Distillery and Goat CheeseMarionberry Habanero. I wish I could melt this downand take a bath in it, it was that good.

Here are the remainders on the list (in our area, any-way). I hope to have them all done before the snowfalls. Look for them in next season’s Ice Cream Runs.

ice cream smuggler, dennis Ma

holy cow, red hook, ny

Leo’s ice cream, carlisle, Pa

broom’s bloom dairy, bel air, Md



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A good thing about plans – all plans – is that they can be adjusted,

scrambled or simply replanned.

When you have a bit of time it is sometimes best to rethink the sched-

ule to better fit the need and environment. Especially when the environ-

ment is a cold, stormy day in late May and you need to be in the

Commonwealth of Virginia, on the border with North Carolina, for a few days

worth of high performance motorcycle riding with one of the best teachers on

the planet.

The original plan was to mosey down backroads-style to a lovely B & B outside of Woodstock, Virginia and thencontinue on the next day to Danville and the Virginia International Raceway.

The bands of reds, orange and yellows laying on from New York State to West Virginia made us consider hangingtight at home and making the long charge to VIR the following day.

So that is what we did.But, now with a few days to kill and no particular plan in mind we thought we’d simply reverse the

trip and explore the backroads of Virginia from the south to the north.We’d start this trek north through Virginia at the border with North Carolina, just outside Danville.Danville has a deep history, especially when it involves the Civil War.The truth is that the Civil War has long been memorialized and remembered here and as we rode north we could

see individual states with historic ‘Civil War Trail’ signs from North Carolina to Pennsylvania.Danville became the last headquarters of the Confederate States of America within the space of a few days.

Jefferson Davis stayed at the palatial home of William T. Sutherlin on April 3, 1865. It was in the Sutherlinhome that Davis issued his final Presidential Proclamation.

Reversalof FortuneOr Virginia is for Riders

words and images: Brian Rathjen


It is also the home to the AAF Tank Mu-seum, founded in 1981 by present museumcurator and director, Mr. William Gasser.AAF Tank Museum has the most extensivecollection of Tank and Cavalry artifactsfound anywhere in the world. The Mu-seum facility is 330,000 square feet on89 acres and the only military museumwith all artifacts under one roof. The Mu-seum relocated in 1999 from Mattituck,New York to Danville, Virginia, with thefacility donated to the Museum by a NewJersey Corporation, Sandvik, Inc.

If you are an aficionado of big ma-chines of war then the Tank Museum isa must stop. Expect to spend a few hoursexploring the museum.

Our route brought us north and westalong farmlands and across small riversand streams. By mid morning we hadreached Appomattox.

It being late mid-morning, and withnothing to eat since the previous day, we

were famished and found a great local place called Grandma Bees thathad some of the best grits we have had in a long time. Thick and heartyand not the least runny like you sometimes find north of the Mason /Dixon Line.

Down the block we stopped by the visitors center and learned thatAppomattox, Virginia is not where the famed courthouse that endedthe Civil War is located, but a few miles away – and the war didn’t endat a courthouse. Appomattox Court House was a small village and thecounty seat of law, just a few miles away.

We finished breakfast and then we went to head over to where theCivil War finally came to an end.

Arriving at the famed site we removed our helmets to hear an eerieand deep drone. It seemed to be all around us. It sounded not too dif-ferent from those ‘giant ants’ from the sci-fi flicks of the 50s.

We have cicadas in New Jersey every year, but nothing like the 17Year bugs that had invaded this part of Virginia. Earlier on the road wehad spotted a number of hand-made signs demanding to stop local ura-nium mining. Hmmm? Maybe that had something to do with this?

The little monsters were everywhere! Hanging off the trees by the hun-dreds and flying drunkenly down the road and we had to sometimes duck toget away from them while riding.

The National Park at Appomattox Court House is one of those solemnplaces. Like the Alamoor Gettysburg to thenorth – you know some-thing historic and mo-mentous happened here.

After years of fighting,things were not goingwell for the ConfederateArmy. Lack of food, dis-ease and plain exhaustionwere as dangerous asYankee bullets and can-non balls. With his armysurrounded, his men


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weak and exhausted, Robert E. Lee realized there was little choice but to considerthe surrender of his Army to General Grant. After a series of notes between the twoleaders, they agreed to meet on April 9, 1865, at the house of Wilmer McLean inthe village of Appomattox Courthouse. The meeting lasted approximately two andone-half hours and at its conclusion the bloodiest conflict in the nation’s historyneared its end.

The strange part was thatWilmer McLean had movedhis family to the village toget away from the battles;only to find himself and hisfamily at its most importantmoment.

This morning we toured

the grounds of the old village andit is hard not to be impressed bywhat had occurred here in Aprilof 1865; just a few days laterPresident Lincoln was killedadding yet another sorrowfulchapter to this horrible conflict.

We mounted back up and continuednorthwest towards the Blue Ridgemountains. Now in the foothills theroads began to rise and fall slowly.

The flatter lands to the south were leftbehind and now the bikes were in theirown element. A short time later the riseand fall picked up and one road was lit-erally like riding a roller coaster forabout 10 miles through a deep pine for-est.

Following along these tiny roads thatsprinkle this part of Virginia we rode byboth wonderful estates and ramshackletrailers – sometimes just a few miles

part. Across one bridge we spieda good sized dam and waterfalland the ruins of an old aban-doned factory, with water stillrunning through where there wasonce waterwheels.

Wild life seemed to be every-where, whether it was rescuing aturtle, clipping an unseen andsuddenly very angry black snakeor seeing the local authorities try-ing to deal with a large blackbear caught in a culvert, Virginia has plenty of wildlife.

Heading up towards the Shenandoah on Route 33 the road turns into a twistingMamba! We have ridden33 many times and itnever lets us down with itsperfectly cambered turnsand great road surface.

This also leads to thefamed Skyline Drive,which runs 105 milesalong the peaks and isconsidered by many to bethe beginning of the BlueRidge Mountain Parkway.



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As it was time for both fuel andfood we dropped down to a favoriteof ours, and most of the locals, theBlue Ridge Country Store – you doknow it helps to find where the lo-cals go, dontcha?

The Betts have a humble placewhere you can get fueled and fedand their fried chicken could just besome of the best in the regionknown for fried chicken. Shira tooknotice of their baked goods, in par-ticularly fried cherry pie, whichfound a place in her bags for anevening snack.

With both bikes and us topped offwe ran down into the valley thennorth towards Luray where we tookanother valley forest road and thenheaded back west over the EdinburgGap and eventually up just south ofWoodstock, Virginia where we fi-nally arrived at that B & B I was talk-

ing about a thousand words ago– The Inn at Narrow Passage.

Laying just above theShenandoah River the inn’soriginal house was built back in1740 and today they offer 12great rooms and superbgrounds.

With the town of Woodstockjust minutes away it was theperfect place to call it a day andhang up the helmets.

The next morning, Ed, theinnkeeper, served up a deliciousbreakfast of pancakes, hot (as inspicy) sausage, fruit with syrupand applesauce.

The meal was perfect that

morning as was thecompany of the otherguests, one a former AirForce pilot and riderhimself.

We wanted to mean-der a bit as we headingnorth and also scout outsome locations for a fu-ture Spring Break orFall Fiesta Rally, so wetook Route 11 north intothe neat little town ofStrasburg and then fol-lowed the roads east.

Shira had spotted a very twisty candidate on the old “ManuallyAcquired Positioning System” called Old Blue Mountain Road,just north of Ashby Gap on Route 50. We were not sure what wasmore impressive… the road itself, the homes along its way or thatFEMA has a huge and very secure complex atop the peak calledMount Weather. According to FEMA the mission here is: “Fromits inception as “High Point” in the 1950s, Mount Weather hasbeen the emergency-operations headquarters for the federal civil-ian agencies and officials of the Executive Branch. That mission,originally part of the federal Continuity of Government program,continues to this day. Its details are highly classified.”

So nobody is talking about why this is “really” here. We willhave O’Life look into this.

From here it was more or lessa straight shot across the Potomac, out ofOld Dominion, and into Maryland, where we would continue north towardshome.

But, Maryland will have to wait for another issue.This month it was all about the Commonwealth of Virginia. Whether you

ride north to south or have a “reversal of fortune” and head south to northyou will find a part of the United States that has a deep and lasting history,phenomenal scenery, wonderful little towns, great locals and some of the bestriding in the east.

Virginia truly is for riders!

A.A.F. Tank Museum

3401 U.S. Highway 29B, Danville, VA 24540

434-836-5323 • www.aaftankmuseum.com

Inn at Narrow Passage B&B

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http://www.twistedthrottle.com/nighteye

Brian Rathjen

When the BMW MOA announced the 41st International Rally was to beheld in Oregon this past July we began to make plans right away.

Our trip to the rally was most excellentwith some 2,200 miles of superb backroadsthrough California, Nevada, Oregon andaround the Olympic National Park in Wash-ington before looping back to the fairgroundsin Salem, Oregon.

We arrived early on Thursday and, know-ing our room would not be ready till at least3, we rode straight to the fairgrounds andwent to get our registration, door prize tick-ets, wristbands and whatnots.

It was only minutes before we began to runinto friends and acquaintances.

With our door prize tickets deposited we parked the bikes, two new 2013BMWs - an F800GT for Shira and R1200GS for myself - and began the strollthrough the outside vendors.

Like most real ‘riding’ rallies (compared to a trailering rally), the vendorsat the BMW MOA event are top notch. You won’t find ‘biker crap’ here, just

helpful, interesting and useful products to enhance your ride and yourtravels.

The outside vendors mostly were already filling up with rally-goers. No-Mar Tire changers were packed with a line early the firstday, swapping tires for those who burned theirs out on the ride in,

and after-market saddle maker Rick Mayer was dealing with alarge crowd at his tent. We still managed to play a few chords onthat sweet Taylor guitar he brought along. Givi, Twisted Throttleand others was there to help in any way they could. Many had theirplates already full with installations and repairs. The outside ven-

dor area took about an hour of easy walking and talking to get through andthe large food court had plenty of varied chow – all good by the way – tochoose from.

After lunch we moved inside to the air-conditioned pavilion to see the restof the vendors and displays. Chock full of great purveyors of all things mo-torcycle from widgets to world tours, we took our time to examine many newitems as well as say our hellos to folks we don’t see nearly enough.

This took the rest of the day as there was so much to see and purchase and


The BMW MOA41st International Rally

We ran into Barley and Pete, who we

met in Sedalia eating ice cream.


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there was one or two items I really wanted to grab thatI knew I could only get here.

We wandered around Tent City to see how peopleset themselves up. The MOA does a good job of mak-ing things as comfortable as possible for the campers,with showers and bathroom facilities. You can evenrent your whole set up if you don’t want to take upspace on your bike on the long haul.

Come 4’ish we were about done searching outfarkles, toys and doodads and so we rode over into thecenter of town and found our hotel and home base forthe few days.

By this time the main roads around Salem were fill-ing up with Beemers, although it would be hard to tellas, for the most part, they are fairly quiet machines.

That evening we had been invited to dinner with theON Magazine folks, as Vince was kind enough to in-clude us, and we looked forward to seeing other moto-journalists and friendsfrom the industry.

How surprised were we when we received an award called the “Good Lordthat’s a Great Magazine” (That is not the BMW ON). We’re humbled.

Also on hand were Bigfoot, who made a quick showing and Mac McMath,the director of sales for BMW North America, whose comments seemed loston many of us and, we think, got a few just a tad upset. I don’t think he reallymeant Garmish was more upscale than this rally, but rather larger. Or, maybehe meant to insult the group - who knows? If he is goingto stay he needs to be more Americanized and less Eu-rocentric.

That night the Beer Tent was flowing and the bandCanned Heat was on stage and a rocking time was hap-pening.

In addition to all the great informational activities atthe rally, the muscical offerings are terrific too, fromlocal talent to nationally known. Starting each eveningaround 6pm you could sit, with drink in hand, and beserenaded by the likes of Canned Heat, Jonny Lang andPaul Thorn Band. There was a decided bent towardblues and country, and it kept the party going.

Much like Americade there is an early morning Cof-fee Club, here hosted by famed safety writer and AMA

Hall of Famer Dave Hough, with special guest Fred Rau. When these twoget together you know it will make for an interesting two-wheeled conver-sation and it was to a standing room only crowd.

Dave even had a case of his trademark bananas brought it for the crowd.The rally was in full swing and with the best BMW Rally weather in years,

sunny and mid-80’s with little humidity.But, we had been off the bikes for nearly a day and felt the need for a blast.Salem has a good number of destinations and interesting routes surround-

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ing her, so Shira plotted a ride to the nearby town of Silvertonand the Silver Falls.

The park was green and lush and the falls impressive. Whatelse we found impressive was the amount of flowers thatyou’ll find in this part of the nation. Even the most humbleOregon house will most likely have some colorful flowers inthe garden.

Some flower baskets in town were enormous and wepassed a number of fields bursting with colors of blue, yellowand reds.

We stopped in Silverton and strolled around taking in theirimpressive murals and taking particular notice of the NormanRockwell murals depicting The Four Freedoms spoken of byPresident Roosevelt during WWII.

Shira had spotted a local farm on the way out and westopped on the way back to buy some fresh cherries, boysen-berries and triple black berries. We would have lots of fruitfor the next few days.

Right along this time I spied a sign stating we were on the45th parallel – halfway between the Equator and the NorthPole. I love signs like that.

We headed back to the State Fairgrounds to sit in on a sem-inar or two before heading back for showers and getting ready


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for a few dinners we needed to attend. We spent some time with our friends

Matej and Martina from Adriatic Motorcycle Tours. They were hosted by some

friends and tour members in their very lovely home in the hills above Salem,

where a perfect barbeque was thrown and stories were exchanged with new

and old friends. We then stopped by for a nightcap with Scott and crew from

Iberia Moto Tours at a local dive bar, Magoos, where pool and shuffleboard

were the hot item of the night.

Trying to make time for all those folks we wanted to see, we caught break-

fast with Fred and Cherie Rau, who were at the rally with John and Allison

Raines, the good people who run Te Waipounamu and the tours of New

Zealand. If you’ve ever thought of heading ‘down under’ these are the people

you want to do it with. They have a tour coming up in February of 2014 – give

‘em a call and go visits some Kiwis.

The MOA Rally is known for its great events and informative seminars and after breakfast we sat in on one about Garmin

GPS, routing and the new Base Camp program. The presenter, Dan Townsley, was incredibly well informed and had a great

and funny style and we learned a lot of things that even Dr. Knowitall could learn.

After yet another spin around the vendors we had a quiet moment with friends of Ardys Kellerman, who held a remembrance

gathering. Ardys was killed earlier this year, struck by a truck while exiting a fuel station. At 81 years young she was one of


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only two

women that have

logged more than

one million miles

on BMW motorcy-

cles. She was a treat

to be around and will be missed by many.

Looking to brighten up the mood after the ceremony we searched out the

River Front Park and Salem’s great carousel. We even took a ride and col-

lected nearly a dozen rings, but not the elusive brass ring.

By this time, with almost 2500 miles on the clock, we figured it was time

to give the ponies a bath. The BMW MOA rally, which has a volunteer staff,

always has a spot for oil changes and bike washing at their rallies. These are

staffed by wonderful folks who will assist and offer up information. We rode

over to the bike wash area (usually occupied by dirty horses and livestock)

and gave the miles of road grime a good blasting. It’s always a good idea to

rinse off the bugs and grit and get into the nooks and crannies while on the

road to make sure that nothing has gone awry. Luckily, all was good today

and the Oregon farm bugs were now a thing of the past, although there was

one particularly stubborn bee in Shira’s fairing that needed some coaxing.

The MOA had their closing ceremonies early that evening with some great

prizes awarded – Tours of Europe and Africa, motorcycle gear shopping

sprees and the grand prize of a 2013 BMW F800GT –

the same machine Shira was riding on this adventure.

We did not win any of these but we think we are

pretty fortunate with our lives regardless. (speak for

yourself, Brian, I wanted that bike – Shira)

With ceremonies finished and the location for next

year’s rally announced – St. Paul, Minnesota – we re-

treated to the beer tent for a libation and to drink in the

last evening of one very successful MOA Rally.

The location, the people, and most important after the

last few years, the weather all combined to make this a

super event.

The next day we’d start heading south along the coast

but we were all ready planning next year’s adventure.

If you own a BMW, or even if you don’t and are just

a well-traveled rider in need of great information and

product, you should consider attending the rally in 2014.

It’s always a great time and we hear St. Paul and the sur-

rounding area is terrific riding.

Going to Minnesota? Oh sure, you betcha!



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Tired Tires

Things tend to creep up on us. Tire wear for instance.Many of us are guilty of tire abuse and over the years I know we have bit,

or rode, off more than our tires could chew.I was in Alaska a few seasons back when I got a text and picture from Shira

who had ridden down to the Honda Hoot in Tennessee. Two things shockedme at this moment. The first being I had a Verizonsignal north of Fairbanks and the second was thepicture of her rear tire that had been ridden downto the core, with the steel belt plainly visible.

Uh oh.She left for the rally a week before and I had

looked at her tires and thought she was more thangood for this trip.

Well, I was way wrong here. Luckily for her thegood guys at Dunlop had tires at the rally and a fewhours later she was wearing a fresh set of high-endrubber.

In the riding world nothing feels better than newhigh-end rubber.

But did we learn from this? Heck no.The next year, at the same rally in Tennessee –

an ungodly hot place in late June – we were head-ing out and crossing the great state of North Car-olina heading towards the ferry to Ocracoke Islandand the Outer Banks.

We stopped at the one restaurant chain that Ienjoy – Cracker Barrel – for Grandpa’s Breakfast.We were now fueled and fed and ready to make thecharge across the Tar Heel state to the sea.

But, as I walked out the sun, at a most peculiarangle, threw its light acrossmy rear tire, illuminating thenarrow band of tire belt thathad appeared as we haddone a 1,000 or so miles insome real heat.

Whoops. I was in a pickleof my own creation.

A check of BMW dealersshowed me the closest oneon our route north was inChesapeake, Virginia. Manyhundreds of miles furtheron.

The front tire was stillrunable, but I would have toride gingerly with the rear socompromised.

For the next two days weeasily snuck up to OuterBanks, well aware that I wasriding on borrowed time. Wegot to Chesapeake City on aMonday and I left my GS atthe front door of the BMWdealership and walked backacross the road and enjoyedthe summer day at the pool.

In the AM I did not haveto tell them what wasneeded. By the time I gotthere the bike was on the liftand new tires were beingspooned on.

Crisis averted.

This brings us to those who truly never even look at their tires (yes, I wasguilty too). Let’s take a rider at our Spring Break rally. Today we will callhim Brad.

Unlike both of the above examples of paying less than stellar attention tothe tires, this time round the front tire went south.

Yes, I said the front tire.99.9% of tire failure along this line happen in the rear. But, noooooooo

Brad burned away his front tire, as he said he onlyhad 9,000 miles on it.

?! Yep, I know.Truth is that front tire failure is a far worse sce-

nario than the rear. Front tire failure will almostcertainly cause a washout, crash and general may-hem.

At our rally I heard there was a tire issue, but Ididn’t pursue it. If I did I would have made a hugedeal about this tire going south. As it was Brad,who hails from a bit south of us, made it homeokay, but incredulous that his tire died with “just9,000 miles” on it.

Nine grand is to LA and back and back to LA.On a K1200, with all that horsepower, no tire willlast more than 7K.

So here is the deal. A little lesson to be learned;if you are even a little questionable on a set of tireswith over, say six thousand miles on them – justchange them. To go on tour or a long weekendwith questionable tires is just foolish.

When tires go, they go quick and silently. When was the last time you really looked at

your tires?Maybe it is time that you do.


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For those of you who have been reading this magazine you should knowwe enjoy BMW’s GS series of machines. So, it was with great interest thatwe spent a few weeks with the newest “water-cooled” version logging inover 3,500 miles and a boat-load of diverse terrain.

From the high deserts to the deep valleys to the Olympia Peninsula. Tem-peratures from 110+ to low 40s.

National glossy magazines get to do Press Intros in far away South Africaor Moab, Utah. We humble regionals are more than happy to settle spendinga few weeks ACTUALLY riding these machines.

A day or two can give you an idea on a bike’s capabilities; but live withone for 3,5000 miles and you know where the machine is really at.

The new BMW R 1200 GS is a serious improvement on an al-ready great machine.

Let’s be honest…BMW…Water-cooling? What part of thelate 80s did you miss? Welcome to the next century.

That being said this new power-plant for the GS isawesome. Up from a little less than 100 HP to125 it works incredibly well. The newmachine has a new modern-look and thefamiliar switch-gear has been totally re-done.

The new gear allows you to controlthe BMW (Garmin) GPS on the fly.

It also has way more information thanwe really care about.

The Multi-Controller on the left grip handles the BMW Navi-gator GPS (Garmin unit – don’t be fooled) and does… not much,but it was fun anyway. Why not log onto FaceBook?

The throttle on this machine is controlled by a‘fly-by-wire system’ that worked seamlessly. We hadno issue with this and the water-cooled engine gaveus 42.5 miles per gallon, which is excellent in thegas pricey northwest.

With the water-cooling the intake and exhaust havebeen swapped around vertically, allowing for a bit more

room for larger riders. The radiators are tucked in welland even at extreme temperatures the bike stayed cool and

happy.The new engine has a wet-slipper-clutch and as aBMW owner, that has had a lot of time with theolder BMW clutch, we can only say “Praise theLord!” Again… welcome to the 80s.

With a switch of a button you have a few dif-ferent drive modes - Rain, Road, Dyno and Enduro

– all very impressive. Road worked fine for me.I am having a love / hate relationship with this new elec-

tro-gadgets…. What do you think?

Some have said that the bike didn’t sound right. We begto differ… this machine sounds awesome! BMW Boxers


RIDDEN AND REVIEWED

3,500 Miles with

the new R 1200 Gs


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have grown up! Ducati what?On a bad note we could try to be pithy here, but the sad-

dle is God awful…Call Rick Mayer – NOW!The ESA – Electronically Suspension Adjustment -

worked brilliantly with all three main adjustments makinga difference. We weren’t a fan of this till we used it … it

is an excellent option. Nice to go from tight sport tobouncy SUV with a click of the button.

In the curviest roads we could find the new BMW R1200 GS excelled in every way. It feels light, tight andvery right! Far above our own 2012 machine.

Yes, the best just got better. In every way.The machine came with the new Metzler Tourance Plus

tires, a very road-worthy bit of rubber, but completely use-less off-road. A fire road is about all you will ever do withthis tire. Track days… for sure. Real riding? We’ll takesomething more knobby!

But, with the right rubber, the GS is still a great lightoff-road machine and one that will take you to the far endsof the planet.

And, that is what we are paying for, right?Our bike came with a list price of just under $19,000,

about what we paid for our last GS, so BMW has donewhat we had hoped it would… improved the breed, keptit price-reasonable and made the new 2013 R 1200 GS onemore machine we will probably spend a bunch of cash on.

There is a reason we love these Bavarian-bikes and thisin just another one!

~ Brian Rathjen



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and zip up the pockets, and they offer protection on impact by stiffing up in-stantaneously but are otherwise soft and pliable. When you get to your deskat the Stock Exchange, simple remove the pads if you desire and stick themin a drawer and you have very normal (but quite sharp) khakis to conduct busi-ness in. One word of advice: I’d go for a longer inseam size than your usualpants as they can ride up a tad if your bike involves a more sporting crouch,and regardless of your boots you can most likely slide the cuffs over the out-side of the boot (it takes a second but works-even over my thicker Alpinestars).These pants are soft and comfortable in a wide range of temperatures, and therear pockets have buttons to keep wallets on board while the front pockets arequite generous (with a small key pocket as well), and the belt loops can handleeven your larger alligator/leather beltage. Made in the USA and machinewashable, sizes range from 32 waist to 42, and inseams up to 36. Check withthem to nail down your size. Price: $127. (800)-222-1994, www.aerostich.com

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THE GOOD RIDER BY DAVID HOUGHReviewed by Brian Rathjen

Over the years I have had the wonderful opportunity to meet some of the most prolific writers in the mo-torcycle world.Every few years I find myself having coffee with David Hough… and bananas. That is another story.What I do have to tell is David, who has already written some of the best instructional motorcycle ridingbooks on the planet, has come out with one more…The Good Rider.So, David asked me who was a good rider? Looking over my cup of coffee and banana at an AMA Hallof Famer I tried to be smart, witty and intelligent.For those of you who know me you know how thatwent.One could say Valentino Rossi.Or, Clement Salvadori or Greg Frasier come to mind.A Pete Miller or Helene Darvick would fit that bill.All of these riders are excellent pilots of two-wheeledmachines.But David’s new book runs around so much more.It is a combination of skill, common sense and practi-cality.The original articles came from a monthly column ofan internet newsletter called Sound Riders, and excel-lent posting that we all should read. The book is packedwith useful thoughts, knowledge and information, allput in an easy to digest format.What it comes down to is not being as fast as Rossi, oras travelled as Salvadori or Frasier. We should all be aswonderful as Peter and Helene; but that goes withoutsaying.What this book is about, compared to all the other ‘tech-nical’ books on riding, is the question of what makes agood all-around Rider?One that you want to be on the road with.I have the pleasure of writing this review on a Power-book on the porch that wraps around Backroads Centralon a brilliant summer afternoon. There has been a pa-rade of motorcycles rolling past our home and I wonder,while reading David’s book, who I could actually ridewith?From spending some time with The Good Rider itseems that we all need to step up and be even better.Books like this are not novels and not meant to be readin one shot…but, rather, taken in small doses, so youcan think about what this sage has said. Invest some time and money in this book, it is wellworth it. You can find it at www.soundrider.com.



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EVERY MONTH - WEATHER PERMITTINGEvery Sunday • Eastern Suffolk ABATE Breakfast Run. Crossroads Diner - Calverton NY.10:30am. Eat and Ride After • 631-369-2221

Every Sunday • Biker Breakfast at Tramontin Harley-Davidson, Exit 12 I-80, Hope, NJ(GPS: 485 Hope-Blairstown Rd, Rte. 521) 9-11am • www.tramontinhd.com

Every Tuesday • The Ear - Spring St, NYC. Come meet some fellow riders and do somebenchracing or whatever. 8pm-ish

Third Tuesday • 7:30pm ABATE of the Garden State, North Jersey chapter. Black RiverBarn, 1178 Rt. 10 West, Randolph, NJ. 7:30pm. New members and all mc brands wel-come. Help fight for rights as a motorcyclist in NJ! Alex Martinez 973-390-1918

Every Wednesday • Chelseas Restaurant/Pub, 1051 Rte. 22 East, Lebanon, NJ 6-9pm,weather permitting all summer • www.chelseasrestaurantpub.com

Every Thursday • Bike Night at the Chatterbox Drive-In, Rtes. 15/206, Augusta, NJ.Tire kicking, good food and friends • www.chatterboxdrivein.com

Every Saturday • Stop by the dealership at 9am for coffee and bagels. Ride departs at10am. Return to the dealership for FREE food and music. Proper attire MUST be worn!No shorts or sneakers. • Bergen Harley-Davidson/BMW Motorcycle, 124 Essex St,Rochelle Park, NJ • 201-843-6930 • www.bergenbmwmotorcycles.com

AUGUST 201324-25 • Championship Cup Series at Summit Point Racetrack. Bob’s BMW will have ahospitality tent. Hang out with Jeremy Cook, riding Bob’s sponsored S1000RR. Compli-mentary snacks and beverages.

24 • Bob’s BMW hosts Product Tutorial: Apparel Layering with Klim! 11:00am-Noon. Klimrepresentative Jeff Nash will be at Bob’s to talk about the importance of layering for com-fort and safety in the coming fall and winter riding seasons. Learn the secrets of mixingand matching today’s textiles with their differing weights and capabilities to maintainideal body temperature. And what’s the real difference between water-resistant and WA-TERPROOF? Find out! Questions/RSVP to [email protected]. Visit bobs-bmw.com for more details. Bob's BMW Motorcycles, 10720 Guilford Road, Jessup, MD• 301-497-8949

24 • Bikini Bike Wash & BBQ • Bike dirty? Are you hungry for a ride and food? MotorcycleMall is the place to be to get your bike cleaned by our beautiful Bike Wash Team! Motor-cycle Mall and its beautiful Bike Wash Team will be hosting a Bikini Bike Wash with musicand BBQ foods • 12 - 4 p.m. There is no other place to be other than Motorcycle Mallon this date! $15 per rider/bike - includes 1 bike wash, food & drink, music, photos withthe Bike Wash Team and a discount card for great savings at the dealership! Plus, pro-ceeds go to the Ride for Kids! 655 Washington Avenue • Belleville, NJ • 973-751-4545• www.Motorcyclemall.com

25 • 1st Annual Poker Run to benefit the Harmony Lodge Foundation • Sign in: HarmonyLodge #8, 519 Rte. 206, Andover, NJ 9am-Noon • Endsite: Franklin Fireman’s Pavilion,137 Buckwheat Rd, Franklin, NJ. $20/pp incl. food and drink, top 3 poker hand prizes,50/50, raffles, vendors, live music by Morning Door • Info visit www.harmony8nj.com

24-25 • O’Toole’s Harley-Davidson hosts the Harley-Davidson Demo Fleet. Come ride thenew 2014 models and enter for a chance to win tickets to Kid Rock concert at BethelWood in Bethel, NY. Stop by for official entry rules. Entries only accepted in person be-tween 9am-2pm day of event • 4 Sullivan St, Wurtsboro, NY • 845-888-2426 •www.OToolesHD.com

29-Sept. 1 • Killington Classic Motorcycle Rally, Killington, VT • Rides, demos, vendors,contests, parade, music, dinners, fireworks and SO MUCH MORE! Registration opensMay 15 - DON’T BE SHUT OUT OF YOUR FIRST CHOICES. 518-798-7888 • www.killing-tonclassic.com30-Sept 2 • Finger Lakes BMW Rally @ Watkins Glen State Park, NY. Finger Lakes BMWClub hosts this great annual gathering of 800-1000 Beemerphiles. Great food, music,vendors and riding. Country Rode Motorwerks hosts charity tour of the racetrack on Sat-urday, Aug. 31 @ noon to benefit Alzheimer’s Research. $20/bike.

SEPTEMBER 20136-8 • 8th Annual Women’s Sportbike Rally, Deal’s Gap Motorcycle Resort, NC sponsoredby Draggin’ Jeans • www.womenssportbikerally.com

6-7 • Motorcycle Mall Yamaha Demo Days. 655 Washington Ave, Belleville, NJ • 973-751-4545 • www.MotorcycleMall.com

7 • Bob’s BMW hosts Product Tutorial: Helmet Safety with Schuberth! 11:00am-Noon.Why are some helmets safer than others? They’re BUILT that way! Schuberth represen-tative Randy Northrop will talk about the innovative technology and detailed care thatgo into the CONSTRUCTION of all types of Schuberth helmets – from the drawing boardto their final hand assembly at the German plant. Questions/RSVP [email protected]. Visit bobsbmw.com for more details. Bob's BMW Mo-torcycles, 10720 Guilford Road, Jessup, MD • 301-497-8949

8 • 7th Annual Rice-O-Rama Vintage & Custom Japanese Motorcycle Show and SwapMeet • Singletary Rod and Gun Club, 300 Sutton Ave, Oxford, MA • 10am-5pm rain orshine. Bikes that you just don’t see anywhere else, from 2-strokes to turbos, singles tosixes, scramblers and scooters. Trophies in over 20 vintage and custom classes. HugeSwap Meet with tons of hard to find parts • 508-344-4202 • www.rice-o-rama.com

11-14 • Trio Tour 2013. A sport-touring ‘scavenger hunt’ rally consisting of three consec-utive daily rides, averaging 350 miles/8.5 hours, which begin and end at base location.Day 1: Finger Lakes Day 2: Catskills Day 3: North Central PA. Sign in 9/11: Best WesternPlus of Johnson City, NY, 569 Harry L Drive, Johnson City, NY • 607-729-9194. $33/ppto benefit National Multiple Sclerosis Society NYC Chapter incl. closing buffet dinner,rally flag and prizes to top 3 finishers. Rider Cap of 33 participants. Registration CLOSES

August 28, 2013 or when cap met • http://tinyurl.com/TrioTour2013 • 914-328-7909

14 • Harley-Davidson of Long Branch Bikes, Blues & BBQ Open House. 9a-4p. See ad onpage 4 for full details • 671 Broadway, Long Branch, NJ • 732-229-8518 • www.HD-LongBranch.com

15 • Italian Motorcycle Owners Club 30th Annual Italian Motorcycle Meet. Hamilton Rod& Gun Club, 24 Hamilton Rd, Sturbridge, MA • 10am-3pm. Judging at Noon. This year’sfeatured bike: Ducati Bevel Bikes. Admission $5 per person. Refreshments and food avail-able • More info: [email protected] • ww.imocusa.com • 248-470-5788

15 • Lost Wheels MC 38th Annual Poker Run. Sign in: Canopus Lake Beach, FahnestockState Park, NY. 9-11:30am • $23-$25/pp includes 80-mile ride, hot buffet, live music,door prizes, 50/50, vendors and bike show. Pre-registration available online at lostwheel-spokerrun.brownpapertickets.com

12-15 • Catskill Mountain Thuder Motorcycle Festival at the Blackthorne Resort, EastDurham, NY featuring bike builders and artist, cash prizes, bike show, demo rides, rodeogames, vendor expo, pig roast, fireworks, tattoo show, bike painting, stunt jumpers, Wallof Death, antique bike museum and live music by Jackyl, Pat Travers Band and more.For more information call 518-634-2541 or email [email protected] •www.CatskillMountainThunder.com

17 • Zack’s V-Twin Victory Demo Days • 10am-5pm. 799 Violet Ave/Rte. 9G, HydePark, NY • 845-229-1177 • www.ZacksVTwin.com

19-22 • BACKROADS 15th Annual Fall Fiesta. Host hotel: Genetti Hotel, Williamsport,PA. To book your room, please call 800-321-1388 and ask for the BACKROADS GroupBooking. Rooms start at $115.95/night incl. breakfast and secure parking.

18-21 • New York Motomarathon • Hosted by the Celtic Motorcycle Club • Bronx-LakeGeorge-Ongunquit, ME. For more information and specific hotel and date information,visit www.motomarathon.com or call Caty Metzger at 303-621-5356

19 • Bergen County Harley-Davidson/BMW Ride-In Movie Night @ 7pm, What could bebetter than an old fashioned Drive-In Movie... A Drive-In Movie for Motorcycles! Ride-In,park your bike, grab some movie treats and watch the show. There's no charge, so saddleup and stop in. Bergen Harley-Davidson/BMW Motorcycle, 124 Essex St, Rochelle Park,NJ • 201-843-6930 • www.bergenbmwmotorcycles.com

20-22 • Montgomeryville Cycle Center Sale-A-Thon. Great deals on what you’ll need toget and keep you on the road • 2901 Bethlehem Pike, Hatfield, PA • 215-712-7433 •www.MontgomeryvilleCC.com

21 • Bob’s BMW Oktoberfest and Fall Open House • 9a-4p • Seasons change but there’salways fun at Bob’s BMW Oktoberfest and Open House. Food, vendors, product reps,door prizes and great one-day only specials • 10720 Guilford Rd, Jessup, MD • 301-497-8949 • www.bobsbmw.com

21-22 • National Vintage Flat Track hosted by the Tri-State MC at Oakland Valley Racepark, 305 Oakland Valley Rd, Cuddebackville, NY. Gates open 8:30am, Practice @ 10,Races @ Noon. $35/amateur/novice; $40/experts/pros. AMA membership required torace. $10 gate fee for viewing • www.tristateclub.com • 845-566-4956

22 • Bergen County Harley-Davidson Freedom Run Part 2. We’ve got good news! We’verescheduled and we’re going in for a Sunrise Run. No Vendors. No band. just a reallycool ride. We know it’s early... Really early but, it’s gonna be great! So help us raisemoney for the Feal Good Foundation and join us for this unique and heart-felt ride!Registration at Overpeck Park in Ridgefield Park, NJ 4am... Yes 4am. Kick Stands Up at5:20am SHARP! $25/Rider, $15/Passenger. FREE Event pin to the first 500 participants.Breakfast included! More info? 201-843-6930 • www.bergenharleydavidson.com

22 • 4th Annual Ride for Avi to benefit A-T Children’s Project. Sign in: Knights of Colum-bus, Shunpike Rd, Summit, NJ 10-11am; KSU11:15am. $20/rider; $10/passenter. Conti-nental breakfast, 60-mile escorted ride, BBQ, live music by Mudbelly Blues Band, rafflesand ‘Best In’ competition. More info at www.ride4avi.com

26 • 2013 Ladies Night Event hosted by The Motorcycle Mall Staff and some special in-dustry guests! If you're new to the sport, want to learn more or an experience femalerider that wants meet some new friends - this is the place to be! We'll have dinner, drinksand a night of education for women riders. Don't miss it or the special discounts! We'llhave open discussions about How to pick the right size motorcycle, General motorcyclemaintenance, Motorcycle safety & protective wear, Any questions you have. 655 Wash-ington Avenue • Belleville, NJ • 973-751-4545 • www.Motorcyclemall.com

27-28 • Woodstock Harley-Davidson Rock the House Open House. Live Entertainment byLex Grey Band, 2014 Demo Fleet Rides and More • 949 Route 28, Woodstock, NY •www.WoodstockHarley.com

OCTOBER 20134-5 • Victory Metuchen Victory Demo Days. Free Demo rides all day • 911 MiddlesexAve, Metuchen, NJ • 732-491-2900 • www.VictoryMetuchen.com

5 • Morton’s BMW Oktoberfest Open House. Enjoy demo rides, great deals, vendorsand product reps, food, music, limited edition commemorative t-shirt, even stuff for yourkids. Morton’s BMW, 5099A Jefferson Davis Hwy, Fredericksburg, VA • 540-891-9844 • www.mortonsbmw.com

6 • Liberty Harley-Davidson 15th Anniversary Bash. 10am-5pm. See ad on page 24 forfull details • 12 W. Milton Ave, Rahway, NJ • 732-381-2400 • www.LibertyHarley.com

DECEMBER 201321 • Bob's BMW annual customer appreciated day! Get into the holiday spirit at Bob'swhile we say THANKS to our amazing customers for what we know is going to be anothergreat year. Food, great company, door prizes and special holiday savings • 10720 GuilfordRd, Jessup, MD • 301-497-8949 • www.bobsbmw.com


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Knowing we would be jetting down to Colombia for a two-wheeltour with Mike and Motolombia, I let Shira know that we would begoing to the Caribbean city of Cartagena.

Founded by Pedro de Heredia and the Spanish in 1563 the cityhas been built, fortified, bombed, rebuilt and refortified many times.

The Englishman Francis Drake comes to mind here.As for me, I had heard for years how intriguing and beautiful this

town was, especially its walled section.UNESCO has declared Cartagena “Patrimonio Histórico Cultural

de la Humanidad” (A Cultural and Historic Place for All Humanity).How could we not go?

So a few days before flying into Medellin we were landingunder the light of the full moon on the Colombian coast of theCaribbean.

I have always thought that the best flying adventures beginwhen you walk down a rolled up set of stairs and walkacross the tarmac under a tropical moon.

Jetways are for sissies.A short cab ride later and we were in the

comfortable Casa India Catalina, in the heartof the old city.

Unpacked for the next few days and ready togo, we headed out looking for one of the manysquares and outdoor restaurants we were sure wewould find.

A half hour later we were sitting at an outdoorbistro beneath the cathedral (one of many churches herein Cartagena) in a square lined with some of the manybronze statues you will find in this lovely town.

One statue, less humorous than the others, showed aSpanish priest converting a native Indian – perhaps Carib– with a shackle on his ankle.

We’d learn more of this the next day.We strolled around the old part of the city, trying to get our

bearings along the tight and narrow streets. Near midnight wefound another restaurant, in Plaza Santo Domingo, still doing abrisk business so late of a Wednesday night and we found Carta-gena seafood pizza was rather good, as was the people watching(okay, girl watching for me at least) this night.

A short time later we were back at the Casa India and lookingforward to exploring the walled city in the daylight.

Daylight also meant heat and humidity. Flying down duringthe middle of winter had us little prepared for this; but wemanaged.

We first passed the Plaza Bolivar and thenquickly found the Palacio de la Inquisicion.It was here that the church continued theSpanish Inquisition with locals and na-tives that did not meet up with thechurch’s standards or beliefs. Thestately palace was basically a torturechamber that did its evil work (in thename of God and his son, of course)

for more than 150 years. Here they hadon display some of the evilest and most nasty ma-

chines to crush the human soul and put on anyheavenly light.

Nearby we took in the Gold Museum and learneda great deal of the history of the region before andafter the arrival of the Spanish. It struck me as funnyhow the quest for gold and searching for Christ havebeen so woven together during the last few thousandyears; especially in Central and south America.

Along the long stone and coral wall overlookingthe Caribbean we spent some time at the Naval Mu-

seum and then, hiding from the heat and sun we took asiesta for a few hours.

Later that day we cabbed it over to the large castlecalled San Felipe. The San Felipe Castle is the largest


Cartag

ena

The Fo

rtress

City

on the

Caribbe

an

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Colonial Spanish forte in Colombia and an outstanding example of military

engineering from the Colonial Period. It was originally built between 1639

and 1657 and later enlarged in 1762. It is a mammoth place and took a good

part of the afternoon to explore.

We walked back to the Old City from San Felipe,

and while strolling through Century Park we saw

dozens of stands selling and repairing educational

and text books for younger student.

The Colombians are trying hard to move forward

after a fairly dark recent past and they know that

their children’s education is key to this future.

These thousands of books available right at the park

show their fortitude on this issue.

Walking around the old fortifications you could

see why this was such a strategic location, with so

much direct sailing to Cuba, Haiti and further on to

Spain. It is no wonder why this city was rebuilt and

held onto even to this day. On our way to another

late bistro lunch we passed the Las Bovedas which

was a prison built beside the walls between 1792

and 1796. Now it is a tourist shopping area for sou-

venirs.

Times change and so did Colombia.

When the sun faded away and the evening cooled

we went on the prowl again settling in on a small

table along a side street; away from the tourist and

amongst the locals in the best style of Anthony

Bourdain or Clem Salvadori. A bottle of wine and

some scrumptious olives later we sauntered to the

far side of the old city to a restaurant Shira had

searched out called Krioyo.

Eating al fresco under the wild trees and palms

we had a succulent meal of shrimp, rice, banana and

a fishy soup that couldn’t be beat.

After that it was a nightcap atop the wall above

the dark Caribbean, complete with a live local band,

before searching our way back through the tiny

streets to the Casa India.

The next day we walked most of the wall itself. The day before we visited

museums and forts; so it was proper this day to visit the Museo De Las For-

tificaciones or a museum about forts.

Later we walked through the city centro and stopped in at the local super-

mercado just to see what was to be had. I’ll tell you it’s plenty; and Shira and

I always think it fun to drop by local places and shop like the locals.

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Opposite: India Catalina statue

in the center of Cartagena

This page: Botero’s La Gordita,

full moon greets us at Casa

India Catalina, the restful

interior of our lodgings, sailor

statue outside the Naval Museum


023SE13_P053_Transfer Template 8/6/13 8:42 AM Page 1

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We continued window-shopping and, in a small shop on a smaller street, I bought Shira a nice light sundress incase we had a semi-formal night on the tour and sandals to go with it before we headed back to the hotel for siesta.

This day the hammock by the pool and a few chapters of Neil Peart’s “Ghost Rider” made for an enjoyable after-noon’s rest. That evening, with Shira looking lovely in her new dress, we took in a few local bars and found anotherdelicious meal at a small restaurant called Salou, across from the ancient wall. Run by a young Canadian-trainedchef named Juanma Restrepo, they offered a great combination of Cartagena cuisine with a slight Asian influence.Compared to some of the loud eateries you would find along the wall, Salou offered a quiet ambiance and wonderfulservice at very fair prices. Afterwards we strolled the town once again before calling it a fairly early night. The nextday we’d be flying down to Medellin to meet with the Motolombia crew and to begin the real adventure.

Cartagena is a bustling city that has volumes of history, its share of mystery and a promising future. For the mostpart we stayed in the old walled city and that was equally divided between beautiful narrow streets, echoing with


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Top Left: Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

Center: Gruesome images and devices

from the Palace of the Inquistion

Right: Luscious fruit vendor’s wares,

an evening out on the town in style

Opposite Page: Cartagena shines at night

Caribe Indian statue at the Inquisition

Proud of their sailing heritage, Cartagena

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the clip clop of horse drawn carriages and with the ever-present wisps of guitars ordrums in the air. Other parts are in need of a facelift and that seemed to be happeningduring the few short days we were there.

Yes, there are many street hawkers selling all the same things, but they are notall that intrusive and do take “no, gracias” for an answer.

Another thing that struck us was the total absence of flies and mosquitoes; some-thing nearly unheard of in the tropics.

For the most part all the people were cordial and friendly and if you are followingin our wake and riding Colombia with Motolombia then consider a few nights inCartagena, an excellent choice indeed; and being just a three-hour flight from Miamiis almost a no-brainer. Plan your escape from the winter cold now. Point yourbrowswer to www.Motolombia.com - whether one week or more, you’ll have agreat time, especially is you start your trip with a Cartagena sojourn.


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Tony Lisanti

If you’re looking for the guaranteed farthestprojecting LED light on the market, look no fur-ther. After years of engineering and advances inLED technology Baja Designs believes this is thefuture of lighting for off road racing. Adoptingmilitary grade technology, the new OnX LEDLight Bar is the only light bar on the market thathas the distance of conventional HID lights butwith the smooth spread of an LED. Countlesshours of testing and preparation have ensuredthat the OnX will be perfect for racers and en-thusiasts that need a vast amount of light atspeed.

Baja Designsknows a few thingsabout high quality offroad lighting productsand dual sport kits.They have been man-ufacturing high qual-ity off road kits sincethe company began in1992. They have been

the lighting sponsors for the Honda Off Road Team, which has collectedmany wins in the famed Baja 1000.

The OnX utilizes a Cree XM-L2 T6 Bin LED at with a light temperature5000 degrees kelvin (white light). All the LED kits are complimented by user

changeable optics that has been specifically de-signed for the OnX. This results in distance pro-jection previously only available with HIDlighting. The OnX light bar is available in widthsranging from 8” all the way to 58”. Each 8” sec-tion offers a concentrated beam of 4300 lumens.

Baja Designs offers two wiring harnesses spe-cific to the Yamaha. First is a plug and playwiring harness with PWM dimmer control allow-

ing adjustment of thebrightness in 5% in-crements. The secondis the Mode switchwiring harness that includes a two-position toggle switch and mode switch,which allows you to adjust the light between 100%, 50% and strobe. This isthe harness installed on the S10.

Mounting the light bar on the Yamaha Super Tenere was easy. Just removetwo bolts below the headlight and reinstall the assembled light bar andbracket with the included hardware. Mounting space for the switches on theYamaha is limited but I was able to find a suitable location on the cowling tothe left of the instrument cluster.

Once installed, the light bar can be easily adjusted with an allen key. Theoutput on the light bar is tremendous! The yellowish light provided by the

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PRODUCT REVIEW BAJA DESIGNS ONX LED ADVENTURE BIKE LIGHT BAR KIT


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stock high/low beam is dramatically over taken by the bright white LED lightspread. It easily throws several hundred feet and fills in all the distance inbetween. The OnX more than doubles the distance of the stock high beam.

The best part of an LED is the lamp life of over 40,000 hours, far superiorto an HID or any other conventional lamp. LED’s also draw less wattage andis less susceptible to premature failure due to vibration. The kit was also pro-vided with a snap on cover to protect the lens whennot in use.

Features:

Both Spot and Horizontal Spread Optics

can be combined in one lamp

Optics are user changeable

Tri-Level Heat Management system

Weight: 2.5 lbs.

IP69K Certified (Submersible to 9ft)

IK10 Compliant (Mechanical Impact Testing)

Vibration Rating: 7.7Grms

Operating Temperature: -40 Celsius to +80 Celsius

Hardcoated User Changeable Polycarbonate Lens

Lifetime Warranty

Dimming: Accessible Medium (Dust)

and Strobe Modes

Total Lumens: 4300

Housing: Extruded Aluminum, Anodized,

Laser Etched

Power Consumption: 42 watts

Emitter: CREE XM-L2 LED, 5000 Kelvin

8.0” Long, 2.25” High, 4.25” Inches Deep

49,930 hour LED life expectancy

The Yamaha 8” OnX Adventure Bike Kit for the Yamaha Super Tenere re-tails for $419.95. The available OnX Dimmer wiring harness (Part Number64-0236) retails for $89.95 and the Mode switch wiring harness (Part Number64-0237) for $59.95. Baja Designs offers a number of kits for the BMW GSline, Triumph Tiger, Suzuki V-Strom and for the KTM 950/990.


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Your Toy Store at the Shore

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Backroads is happy to announce the location of

our 15th Fall Fiesta ~

WILLIAMSPORT, PENNSYLVANIA

September 19-22, 2013We will be staying at the historic Genetti Hotel in downtown Williamsport, home ofLittle League Baseball and gateway to the Allegheny mountains. There are miles and

miles of great roads, paved and dirt, to explore during our visit and Williamsport offersa variety of activities for after the bikes are parked. Conveniently, the Genetti is acrossthe street from the Bullfrog Brewery, as well as next door to the Community Arts Center.

To book your room (which you should do RIGHT NOW), please call 800-321-1388and ask for the BACKROADS GROUP BOOKING. Rooms start at $11595/night(plus tax) which includes a great breakfast every day and secured off-street parking.

Backroads’ Baseball, Rivers & Riding Challenge

To combine the location of our Spring Break - Cooperstown, NY at the headwaters of the Susquehanna River -and our Fall Fiesta - Williamsport, PA on the Susquehanna River - both baseball superstars, we would like you to

think about and create one image that combines rivers, baseball and riding - the summation of a wonderful year ofBackroads’ rallies. What we want is a great picture. So go to it and we look forward to your submissions when we

gather in Williamsport. Of course, if you didn’t make it to Cooperstown or can’t make it to Williamsport, you can sendus your digital masterpiece – remember it has to be HIGH RESOLUTION – and we’ll throw it into the ring.

If someone gets a picture of Andrew McCutchen reading Backroads on a bike in front of Three River Stadium, well…

FEEL THE FREEDOM!

Ride New Zealand

February 2014

13 Nights • 2000 miles

of Fantastic Riding

Auckland to Christchurch

(North & South Islands)

Large selection of

motorcycles to choose from

Guided Tour with support van

There’s Plenty of Time to get your ducks in a row

and join us for a trip of a lifetime.

For more details and bookings please contact:

Fred Rau • 951-672-0239 • [email protected]

Visit Te Waipounamu Website for information

www.motorcycle-hire.co.nz

Choose from these bikes…


http://www.motorcycle-hire.co.nz

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september 2013

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