Bike of The Month

Gary Nixon's 1971 Triumph

Photo courtesy of Harlan Hock

President’s Corner April 2012

This is the last message to you as EMU President.  The terms for President and Secretary are up as of the June Meeting in even numbered years, and I will step down as of the June meeting.  Our constitution does not cover the officer nomination procedure so we have only had nominations from the floor.  I needed to refresh my memory so I checked with Roberts Rules of Order.  In this regard they state the following:

            1)  any member can make a nomination

            2)  a member can nominate themselves

            3)  no second is needed for a nomination

            4) members can rise and decline a nomination

            5)  a member can’t nominate more than one person for an office

It also recommends that you contact the person you’re going to nominate in advance to make sure they will accept the nomination.  Organizations I have belonged to in the past have had nominating committees which I think is a good idea but that is for future officers and the club to decide.

I feel good about what the club has done during my tenure.  We have found a new meeting place. We have a revised constitution. We have had many excellent presentations by members and others. We’ve had a tech session (hopefully there will be more in the future).  We’ve had good rides put together by our club members and hopefully the liability issue has been resolved with the waiver release form.  I started the Bike of the Month feature which we can continue but I hope it will include member’s bikes rather than the ones I came up with.  I hope the future newsletters will continue to include member profiles.  I put mine in this month and I’ve asked Mark Bosworth and Eric Miller to be working on theirs.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my fellow officers, Dale Knaus, Leo Weisman, and Mark Bosworth.  I also thank all of our presenters including Mark Oldham, Steve Smith, Tom Dutton, Neville McNaughton, Mike Kiernon, Dan Murphy, Dale Knaus, Bob Howard, Mark Bosworth, the representatives from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and Pete Hall.  We saw everything from a Scott Flying Squirrel to an MV Augusta, a 125cc Aprilia to a Triumph Hurricane.  Frosty, John Mosir, Dennis Spencer and Mel Heffron put together good rides.  Last but not least, I want to thank Moto Europa and Pete Hall for providing excellent cooperation and an excellent facility for our use.  Pete and Mark Oldham have bent over backward in our behalf.  They have not turned down a single request that we’ve made of them.  If I failed to mention anyone, my sincere apologies because my memory is not what it used to be.  I also want to thank you all for your friendship past present and future. 

Thanks for letting me serve.

Harlan Hock, President

EMU Minutes - Meeting May 1, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Harlan Hock, President

18 people were in attendance

Old Minutes:  The April 3, 2012 minutes were read by Harlan Hock.  The minutes were approved as read.

Treasurers Report:  There was no treasurer’s report.  Mark Bosworth was out of town.

Membership Report:  There was no membership report.

Old Business:   

Harlan Hock reported that Bruce Poehlman of the Poehlman and Prost law firm reviewed our proposed Release and Waiver of Liability and Indemnity Agreement.  He made minor revisions and returned same.  As a fellow motorcyclist, Bruce provided his service at no charge to the club.  I told Bruce that we all appreciated his time and sharing his expertise  If anyone wants to have club members sign this release for any club event it is available (see final version forwarded with this newsletter).  Harlan said that he hoped this would put the liability issue to rest.

      

Mel Heffron said that he had seen John Mosir,  and that John is doing better than expected.  John is recovering from rotator cuff surgery and we hope he will be riding again soon.

Mark Bosworth confirmed the details regarding his “Old Timers” ride.  See this information under New Business.

New Business:

Mark Bosworth’s first EMU Old Timers Ride will be Saturday, May 19^th.  The rules are you must ride a bike 1980 or older or if the rider is 65 or older you can ride what ever bike you want.  Meet at 9:30 am in Chesterfield.  Take exit 16 off highway 64/40 and assemble at the McDonalds/BP gas station.  The ride starts at 10:00am. and it will cover 70 miles.  First stop will be in Labadie, then to Pacific, House Springs, Barnhart, Imperial, then cross the Merimac river and end at the Bosworth house where we will put burgers and dogs on the grill.

 If the weather is foul we will not do the run but food will be available at Mark's house, which is off Telegraph Road in South County.            IMPORTANT!!  E-mail Mark or call  if you plan on going on the ride.  Mark needs to know if you plan on going so he can know how much food to buy and so he can contact members if the weather is bad and he has to cancel.

A representative from Motorcycle Safety Foundation provided information on the  Advanced Rider Course being sponsored by St. Louis Community College-Forest Park Campus.  The course will be Sunday June 3^rd.   The curriculum is one day with three hours classroom and five hours riding time.  A valid license with a motorcycle endorsement is required.  Riders must provide their own street-legal motorcycle and proper riding gear.  To enroll call St. Louis Community College @ (314)-984-7777.  The cost is $139.00.

Mel Heffron invited all members to join a ride to the AMA sponsored Springfield Mile flat-track races Sunday, May 27 at the Springfield Illinois State Fairgrounds  The races will feature the AMA Pro Single class and the AMA Grand National Twins class.  Last year there were seven different motorcycle manufacturers represented in the GNC races.  The group will meet at The Ranch House restaurant 3330 Godfrey Road, Godfrey, Illinois at 8:30 am and depart at 9:00 am.  For some, this is the most exciting form of racing there is.

Harlan Hock reminded members that dues will be due next month.  Individuals are $20.00 and Business Members are $30.00.

Visitors/New Members:

 Courtney Sullivan attended as a visitor and will be joining the club next month.

Raffle

           

There was $24.00 in the pot.  Sorry but I didn’t get the winner’s name.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 pm.

Submitted by Harlan Hock, President

April's Bike of the Month

From Harlan Hock:  This is a 1962 BSA Rocket Gold Star. In my opinion the most beautiful motorcycle ever made. I owned one and sold it. The dumbest of all the dumb things I've done in my life. This bike was intended to simply use up parts in the parts bins before BSA went to unit construction. It was a 650 cc twin. Mine had the RRT2 gear box and was set up as a touring bike. The one I had was restored by Brian Slark who most of you know from the old days. Brian now has the dream job of working for the Barber Museum in Birmingham, Alabama. As you can imagine the bike I had looked as good as this one. Like I said, it was the dumbest thing I ever did.

Photo by Harlan Hock 

President’s Corner April 2012

Hate to begin on a sad note but I must tell you that Ed Leamon, one of our members, passed away after suffering a massive stroke. If you remember, Ed rode the black Triumph Thruxton to meetings. The club sent flowers to Ed’s memorial service. When I introduced myself, as being from the Euro Motor Union, to Ed’s family they all expressed appreciation for our thoughtfulness. On a happier note, John Mosir is recovering well from his rotator cuff surgery but won’t be riding again for a while.

On the subject of riding, Mark Bosworth, our Treasurer/Membership Chairman will be hosting a Old Timers Run on May 19. Consult the club minutes for details. Other events coming up include the following. Gateway BMW will be offering the GS Challenge at the Range Creek Adventure Camp in Potosi, Missouri, April 27-29. The objective of the camp is to teach you how to ride off road and on gravel safely and competently. Check the Gateway website for further details. Gateway will also be hosting a 5 year Open House May 12, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. There will be food, door prizes, and test rides. Vintage Bike Night has returned at Moto Europa on the first Monday of each month. Festivities get under way at 6:30 p.m. The first one, April 2nd, had over a hundred bikes in attendance. The next will be Monday, May 7. On Friday, April 27 Moto Europa will host a launch party for the 1199 Ducati Pannigali. It’s got to be one of the most exciting new bikes this year. We got to see one at the Cycle Show in Chicago and if it rides as good as it looks it should be fantastic.

The Bike of the Month feature returns this month. Check it out elsewhere in the Epicurean. I encourage you to submit your own candidates for this feature in the future. I also encourage you to submit articles for the newsletter. I know some of you are working on restoration projects. Why not take some photos as the work progresses and give us some details as to what has been involved. Classic Bike, a British magazine, has been featuring month by month articles, with photos, on two restoration projects covering what has been accomplished month by month. The coverage includes many creative solutions and some of the mistakes made as well. There is something else I need your help with.

Every meeting I get questions regarding names of members. It usually goes like this “I know I should know the name of that guy over there but can you tell me who he is”. I’d like to solve this problem by having everyone wear a name tag. So I’ll try to remember to bring tags to the next meeting. The St. Louis Norton Club includes a club member profile in each of their newsletters and I think that’s a good idea. If you remember, Dennis Spencer suggested we do something similar when we were meeting in Dupo. In fact he gave us a brief summary of his background in motorcycling. The only problem with that is that those not attending the meeting will miss out so I’d like to have that information in the newsletter. We’ll start that feature next month with a member of the Executive Board’s profile as an example to get things started.

In the mean time submit articles please! Also volunteer to bring a bike to a meeting for show-and-tell. At some point in the future, Merlin Libby may bring in his Vincent Rapide but no specific date was selected and Toby Gossett is going to bring one of his project bikes when he can but again no specific time has been set. We haven’t had a tech session for some time and we’re due for one soon. Our club is full of mechanics so tell me what you’d like to talk about and we’ll schedule you for a meeting. It seems I do a lot of arm twisting to get participation so let me have a willing volunteer for a change. That will do it for now. In the mean time ride safe and hope to see you May 1.

Harlan Hock, President

EMU Minutes - Meeting April 3, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 7:42 pm by Harlan Hock, Pres.

22 people were in attendance

Old Minutes: The 3/6/12 minutes were read by Leo Weisman

Treasurers Report: Balance of $1,085.23. Everyone is reminded that dues are due in June.

Membership Report: Mark Bosworth reported that there are 92 signed up members though a few have not paid their dues.

Old business:

Frosty Dale Frosch was our first old business, who is just 80 years new. A rousing round of Happy Birthday was sung in his honor.

Ed Leamon, who was reported last month as having a serious stroke, passed away. Ed had recently reconnected with his first wife and had just moved in together and then had the fatal stroke. Flowers were sent from the club to the memorial service.

John Moser had a rotator cuff surgery and repair, is in therapy and doing well.

Club responsibility and liability discussion continued: We are continuing to look into incorporating and insurance.

New Business:

Moto Europa Vintage Bike Night is back! The first Monday of the month starting around 6:30. The first event on April 2, 2012 had more than 100 bikes, both young and vintage riders and some vintage music.

On Friday, April 27th, Moto Europa will have a Ducati 1199 Panigale launch party at 6:00. The shop has already presold 3 of the bikes. From April 23 through 28 they will also be having a Ducati demo week for the 848 Street Fighter. Call the shop to make appointments for demo rides.

Mark Bosworth suggested have a club Old Timers Ride. The ride is focused on riding bikes that are 1980 or older if you are younger than 70. Those that are 70 or older can ride any modern bike. Mark offered to have the ride end at his house where we will have a barbecue. Liz, Mark’s wife, gave the okay to this plan. Mark was reminded that the club would reimburse the meal expenses. The ride will be May 12th; the alternate rain date is May 19th.

The Gateway Motorsports Park is in operation and held an open house event. They will be having NHRA events, autocross, and ChumpCar Races. MCRA will host 4 motorcycle track days May 26 & 27 and Oct 13 & 14. See the track’s full schedule at www.gatewaymsp.com

The Swinging Bridges ride route is posted on Adventure Rider. The target weekend is May 5th & 6th for the event. The route is posted at http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=758281. It is the same route as last year though it is run in reverse.

A San Jose Norton dealer is having a vintage bike ride that will come through St. Louis in September to ride Route 66 from Springfield to St. Louis. It was suggested that we host them at the Moto Museum. This will require additional planning and is contingent on the museum not being booked for another event. More details will be forthcoming.

It was confirmed that the EMU Christmas party will again be held either in Moto Europa or the Moto Museum and catered by the Triumph Grill.

Shameless Plug: Gateway BMW will be having their 5th annual open house on May 12. BMW stunt rider Keith McNeill will be there as well as the usual fine food and improved giveaways!

Bob Honz will be hosting another GS off-road riding school at his place outside of Potosi April 27-29. He will bring lots of shop demo bikes: come on down and hop on a bike. If you want to stay the weekend, it is $75.00 for camping and 5 catered meals.

Efforts were made to draft Merlin Libby as a presenter for the May 2012 meeting. We shall see but we are hopeful.

Visitors/New Members:

Bob Brock joined us. He has a VRod and a 1973 Norton Commando.

Warren Sleep has had a long line of Triumphs and Tridents, has a collection of Vespas and is a self identified Rocker.

Raffle:

There was 20.00 in the pot for the 50/50 rally; $10 was won by Dave Gries

The meeting was adjourned promptly at sometime that evening.

Submitted by Leo Weisman Secretary.

President’s Corner March 2012

Our meeting was well attended with 37 members, two guests and one visitor.  Toby Gosset was there to tell us about the Antique Motorcycle Club of America (I went to their last meeting at Mungenast’s, had a great time and joined the club).  Toby has a fascinating array of old motorcycles that he will be bringing to club meetings at some point in the future.  He has seven projects underway at present.  One bike he is restoring is one of only two in existence.  He showed me a picture of what he had to work with.  It’s hard to imagine launching into such project with only bits and pieces and tons of unobtanium (new word) to fabricate.  Knowing Toby,  it will get done at some point and hopefully he‘ll share it with us.

We also had a representative from the Midwest Café Racers Association (MCRA).  He gave us information about MCRA upcoming events, of special interest were the track days, and their need for corner workers to work at events.  The compensation is $50.00 for a day’s work.  See the club minutes and the MCRA website for further information on all their activities and to volunteer.

I’d like to thank Pete Hall for bringing his immaculate MV Augusta F4 Senna.  It is one unbelievably beautiful motorcycle that would have a place of honor in most of our living rooms.  If it were mine, I don’t think I’d have the nerve to take it out on the street.  Thanks to Pete for sharing it with us and filling us in on the details of this remarkable bike.

On a sad note, I’m sorry to inform you that Ed Leamon, our fellow, member and friend, passed away this past weekend (Ed rode a black Triumph Thruxton if you remember).  I mentioned that he had had a massive stroke and was in intensive care at our meeting.  I mailed the card you all signed and I hope it got to his Family.  His obituary was in the paper last night but there were no details regarding a service or memorial.  I know our thoughts go out to Ed’s fiancée and his Family at this sad time.

On a brighter note, riding season is upon us (Did it ever end this winter?).  We set a high temperature for the day today.  It was great to be out on a bike.  I just hope we don’t have to pay for this warm Spring with triple digit temps in July.  We’ll just have to wait and see.  In the near term, there are a couple of events worth considering for the month of April.

Please see the club minutes for information on Bob Honz GS off-road riding school scheduled for April 27-29.  Also, don’t forget Michael Kiernan’s open house on April 14 at the Classic Motorcycle Company on 3537 Chouteau Ave., St. Louis.  At this point, there is no one scheduled for a program for the April meeting.  I think I’ll take the club’s advice and omit the program for April.  It will be a good chance to visit and see the new bikes and accessories acquired by the membership over the winter.  That’s all for now.  Ride safe and hope to see you April 3.

Harlan Hock, President

EMU Minutes - Meeting March 6, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Harlan Hock, Pres.

37 people were in attendance

Old Minutes: The 2/7/12 minutes were read by Leo Weisman

Treasurers Report and Membership Report: No report; Mark Bosworth is in Colorado.

Old business:   

The photo album that had been missing from the Annual New Year’s Day event at the Mosir’s has been found. By the way, Kris Tucker Lowe was this year’s recipient extensively because he has ratted out for crashing and not speaking up in a previous year. He made an ineffective attempt at defending his honor.

Club responsibility and liability discussion continued: Toby Gosset, a member of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America AMCA, spoke of their national organization with between 10,000 and 11,000 members had incorporated and also reported that their club has many assets. He stated the benefit of incorporating is the individuals in the club cannot be served and a law suit would only be against the assets of the club.   Gerry Jacobi and Dale had nothing to report at this time.

Supercross March 3^rd was a smashing success as was the open house at MotoEuropa. Pete Hall said that there was a film crew there that filmed Brad Lackey and a Speed Channel Host. Some of it was played on the Speed Channel.

Gateway BMW Jambalaya Cook-off 2/25/12: Bob Honz reported that a lot of jambalaya was consumed.

New Business

 Ed Leamon had a severe stroke and is in the hospital. A card was circulated amongst the members to wish Ed well and a speedy recovery.

Dave and Mark reported that Gateway International is having a free open house on March 10^th. Many of the local car clubs will be there, a few of them are the Corvette Club, Audi Club, Viper Club and Drifter Club. The complete schedule is posted on http://www.gatewaymsp.com/en/

Mike Kearnon will be having an open house on April 14^th. Dan Murphy will be riding the bikes up and down Chouteau. To see the bikes he has for sale, look on the internet at http://michaelsmotorcycles.com/, 3537 Chouteau Ave, St. Louis, MO, 63103

Shameless Plug: Gateway BMW will be having their 5^th annual open house on May 12. BMW stunt rider Keith McNeill will be there as well as the usual fine food and improved giveaways!

Bob Honz will be hosting another GS off-road riding school at his place outside of Potosi April 27-29. He will bring lots of shop demo bikes: come on down and hop on a bike. If you want to stay the weekend, it is $75.00 for camping and 5 catered meals.

Midwest Café Racers Association MCRA representative Jim Probst spoke at the meeting about their track day program and the need for volunteers to work as corner and flag and radio workers at the events plus paid $50.00. Several members signed up. The schedule is as follows:

Putnam Park - April 21-22

Gateway - May 26-27

Gateway - Jun 16-17

Heartland Park - Jul 7-8

Gateway - Aug 4-5

Putnam Park - Sep 8-9

Heartland Park - Sep 29-30

Gateway - Oct 13-14

For more information, go to http://www.mcraracing.com/track.htm

Visitors/New Members:

Toby Gossett spoke about the AMCA; the club started in 1954 in Pennsylvania. Lee Cowie (an ornery, confusing cuss) got local club meetings started. There are some 20 local clubs. They host 8 events a year locally including the fly-in at Columbia airport, the Belleville swap meet, a spring and fall ride. He has many bikes, currently is reporting a 1965 r69 BMW with side car, Harleys, Indians and Excelsior’s.

Chris Duranowski was also in attendance. Foolish Leo didn’t get the details of what he rides.

Raffle

There was $34.00 in the pot for the 50/50 rally, $17 was won by Mel Heffron

The meeting was adjourned promptly at 8:00pm

Program

Pete Hall brought his beautiful 750  MV Augusta F4 Senna for us to drool over.

Submitted by Leo Weisman Secretary.

Bike of the Month - Morbidelli

The 1995 Morbidelli 848cc V8 was a steal at $60,000.00 (in 1995 dollars).  It was liquid cooled, 32 valve, miniaturized Cosworth V8.  It produced 120 hp at 11,000 rpm that enabled it to achieve 230 kph.  It had Weber-Marelli fuel injection, Marvic alloy wheels, Brembo brakes, and shaft drive.  With all this going for it and the reasonable price tag it's hard to understand why it wasn't a best seller.

Photo courtesy of Harlan Hock

February Program Pictures - Triton

Mark Bosworth provided a great program on his three cylinder Triton.  Here are few pictures of Mark and his machine.

All pictures courtesy of Leo Weisman.

President’s Corner February 2012

I want to thank Mark Bosworth for bringing his Triton to this month’s meeting.  Mark indicated it was a work in progress but what he’s done so far is very impressive.  Most Triton’s have Triumph parallel twin engines but Mark decided to take his a step further by installing a triple.  I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing the finished project.

While I’m expressing thanks I need to include Gerry Jacobi.  Gerry took the time to check with legal counsel regarding the club’s exposure to litigation involving club sponsored events.  While Gerry’s information provided some insight, I felt the matter needed further study.  I appointed Dale Knaus to chair a committee to do some more research and come up with recommendations for the March meeting.

On the subject of the March meeting, we can look forward to seeing, hearing and learning about Pete Hall’s MV Augusta F4 750 Senna ( Ayrton Senna was the 3 time F1 champion killed at the 1994 San Morino GP).  The F4 750 Senna was built to raise money for the Ayrton Senna charity to aid young children in Brazil.  The production run was limited to 300.  The bike turns the quarter in 10.7 @ 135 mph.  It has a 136 hp engine with a 13,900 redline and a top speed of 175 mph.  Pete will share much more info on the bike at the March meeting.

Also in March will be Moto Europa’s annual Supercross party on March 2.  The special guest will be Brad Lackey.  As you probably know he was the first American to win the 500cc Grand Prix Motocross World Championship.  He won that in 1982 and he had previously won the American Motocross national championship in 1972.

In addition to Brad, the KTM satellite team including Malcom Stewart and P.J. Larsen will also be there.  Check Moto Europa on Facebook for further details. 

Another upcoming event that may be of interest is the Classic Motorcycle Company Bike Show and Open House on Saturday, April 14.  The location is 3537 Chouteau Ave. in St. Louis (it‘s just East of Grand Ave.). If you have never been to one of Michael Kiernan’s open houses you’ve missed out.. You never know what will be there. The really neat thing is they all run and Michael’s mechanic Dan Murphy runs them up and down Chouteau Ave. for your amusement during the open house.  You may remember that Dan brought a Triumph Hurricane that Michael had for sale to a meeting last year.  The only way to know what will be on offer will be to check their website Sales@Michaelsmotorcyles.com. before the open house  You will find a listing of all the bikes for sale with many photos of each bike and on occasion a video of the bike in action.

I’ll wrap things up with a report of the Cycle Show in Chicago February 10-12.  All the major manufacturers were represented either with factory displays or displays by local dealerships.  I picked up catalogs, flyers, and brochures from almost all the vendors and  I’ll bring them to the March meeting if you want to check them out.  I went with Dale Knaus, Charlie Mills, and Jim Palmer so you can quiz them about their personal favorite bikes. My favorite by far was the new Norton Commando 961 Café Racer.  I know you can buy faster and cheaper bikes but the looks alone sold me.  Also, for a café racer it had a comfortable riding position to go with the dynamite appearance.  The magazine pictures don’t come close to doing justice to this bike.  When you see Ohlins top of the line suspension, Brembo brakes front and rear, CNC machined alloy fork crowns, etc., etc. you know it’s not going to be cheap.  The only question is does it ride as good as it looks, is there dealership within 300 miles, and can you buy one without selling your house?  In any event it was a fun way to spend a February weekend.  That’s all for now and hope to see you at the March 6 meeting.

Harlan Hock, President

February Meeting Minutes

EMU Minutes - Meeting

February 7, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Harlan Hock, Pres.

33 people were in attendance

Old Minutes: The 1/3/2012 minutes were read by Leo Weisman

Treasurers Report:  No treasurers report

Membership Report: No membership report.

Old business:   

It was noted that the News Year’s Day Trophy was missing one of the photo albums (the one with photos of most recent gatherings).  If anyone knows the whereabouts please bring it to the next meeting.  Harlan asked John Mosir to have Mary forward the group photo she took on New Year’s Day.  By the way, the trophy was awarded to Kris Tucker-Lowe this year for the usual reasons.

The Cycle World International Motorcycle Show will return to Chicago (actually Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois). The show will last three days, February 10 - 12.

Club responsibility and liability.  Gerry Jacobi looked into what the club can do to limit liability and risk. His daughter said as a non-profit it is perhaps beneficial to incorporate and obtain insurance. There was some discussion: Mark road SCCA and stated that he always had to sign a release before any event. Tony Keonen stated that for the Concours Owner Group event he puts on annually, he had every attendee sign a release. Jerry and Dale will form a committee to look into the matter further.

Adopt a Platoon: Dave Gries reported that Marsha is still sending magazines to Afghanistan. Items are being sent to a number of units including a hospital where the soldiers/patients are very bored and are particularly appreciative of our sending motorcycle magazines.  Marsha has raised some $4,000 to pay for the shipping of her boxes of needed items.

New Business

Harlan reported for Gene Ronchetto who manages the EMU website that due to SOFA regulation, he must post photo credit with all photographs. Please be sure to include the photographer information when sending him photos.

Ice Races were held at the Family Arena in St. Charles. Ross Keesal attended. An array of races including the traditional ice racers, motocross bikes with studs, four wheelers and ATVs with studs. 

Neal Keens 3rd annual 75th Birthday Party was held at Donelson Cycles. Dick Mann was present as was Reese Weber. Carl put on a good spread of food. There were over 100 riders and tuners and managers in attendance including members of the Indian Wrecking Crew and an engine builder for some of Jay Springsteen’s bikes. 

It was mentioned that at Du Quoin State Fairgrounds they are holding indoor dirt track races. Per the internet, it is the KY-IL Winter Indoor Short Track Series. “American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) amateur dirt-trackers can keep their skills sharp this winter at the eight-round AMA Indoor Dirt Track National Championship Series. Promoted by Steve Nace Racing Promotions, the series will feature short-track and TT competition from Nov. 12, 2011, through March 31, 2012, at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds' Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin, Ill.” Southern Illinois Center, Du Quoin, Ill. Round 7: Feb. 25, 2012, Round 8: March 31, 2012”

February 25, Gateway BMW will be kicking off the Mardi gras season with a Jambalaya contest.

The Antique Motorcycle Club meets at Munganast's Museum on Feb 18 at 12:30 or 1:00. It was reported that Munganast has purchased the building across the street from the museum which will be a Honda Car Museum.

March 3rd, Supercross; MotoEuropa will have Brad Lackey at the MotoMuseum on Friday. In Pete Hall’s words: “We have still at this time 8 seats open I believe for the dinner with Brad Lackey, it is Friday March 2nd from 5:30-7:00pm then he will enter the Moto Museum for the duration of the party, at least 10pm maybe later. There will be other prominent figures from the motorcycle world showing up and there will be 30 vintage motocross bikes filling the large gallery in the museum where we host the EMU meetings. Lots of bench racing and good fun!!!!! “

Visitors/New Members:

None

Raffle

There was 32.00 in the pot for the 50/50 rally. Pete Hall won and very generously donated the money back to the club coffers.

The meeting was adjourned promptly at 8:00pm

Program

Mark Bosworth brought in his Triton project which is a Triumph triple mounted in a Norton frame. Mark has done a beautiful job building this project bike. Everyone admired the weld quality on many of the fabricated parts. We’ll have to ask him back when the machine is running. Thank you Mark for a great program.

Submitted by Leo Weisman Secretary.

 New Years at the Mosir's. Photo Courtesy of Mary Mosir

President’s Corner January 2012

Many of us spent the first day of the new year at John and Mary Mosir’s and a good day it was.  Mary prepares the food and John preps his bikes.  We owe them both a debt of gratitude.  In addition to John’s bikes, Dennis Spencer, Gary Highfill, Kris Tucker-Loewe, Bob Honz and others brought their own bikes and most everyone took turns riding all the bikes.  There were no serious mishaps so Kris Tucker-Loewe got the trophy for a previous accident.  Speaking of the trophy, Brent Jones, if you read this, the trophy needs another tier to accommodate future additions (Brent made the original trophy in case you didn‘t know).  As usual, John and Mary used their influence with the powers that be to provide beautiful weather one more time.

Speaking of weather, we’re getting paid back for a lousy fall and winter from last year.  There has hardly been a day that wasn’t a pleasant day for a ride.  I kept filling up the tank and adding Seafoam thinking this may be the last riding day for a while.  This past week I’ve quit wasting the Seafoam. 

This time of year the motorcycle related events are few and far between.  We’ve got the Ice Races at the Family arena in St. Charles the 28^th of this month and the Cycle World show in Chicago next month.  In between there is an event you will not want to miss.  Donelson Cycles is celebrating Neil Keen’s 3^rd annual 75^th Birthday Party on Saturday, February 4, starting at 10:00 am.  I talked to Carl Donelson this past week and he told me there will be around 100 motorcycle dignitaries attending.  These include flat trackers, road racers, tuners, builders and more.

In case you younger members don’t know anything about Neil Keen, he was a 1960’s and 70’s dirt-track racer.  He contributed to advances in chassis and engine design.  He was a member of the “BSA Wrecking Crew”.  Neil won Ascot 11 times in a row.  In addition to a successful racing career he helped make important changes in racing rules and regulations.

He along with Al Gunter and Dick Mann proposed new rules to the AMA Competition Committee.  One of the rule changes adopted resulted in the AMA imposing a 250cc limit for the Novices.  This brought down fatalities significantly.  Previously, Novices had raced 500cc and 750cc machines.  Improving rider safety wasn’t the only thing he did to help riders.  His efforts with Gary Nixon brought about better purses and medical insurance. His influence on racing didn’t end there.

Keen’s knowledge of chassis design led to the development of racing frames.  First his frames went under the name of Sonic Weld and later changed to Trackmaster.  As if that wasn’t enough, Neil turned to two cycle Bultacos and developed them into successful short track racers.  This brought him to the attention of Yamaha.  While there he combined Yamaha engines with his Trackmaster frames to propel him to his high point seasons of ‘69 and ‘70.

There is much more that could be said about his successful career  but his contributions as racer, technical innovator, and his influence on regulatory processes governing racing all combined to qualify him for induction to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2000.

So take advantage of this opportunity to help Neil celebrate his 3^rd 75^th birthday and mingle with living legends of motorcycling at the same time.  Also, be sure to check out the Donelson Museum while you’re there.  The party will take place at Donelson’s St. Ann location at 9851 Saint Charles Rock Road.  Hope to see you there.  That’s all for now.

Harlan Hock, President

EMU Meeting Minutes - January 3, 2012

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm. by Harlan Hock, President.

Old Minutes:  Read by Harlan Hock, no exceptions were noted and they stand as read.

Treasurer’s Report:  Mark Bosworth reported our balance is $1,274.29.

Membership Report:  We presently have 91 members.

Old Business:  There was no old business.

New Business:  The officers and members of the club commended John and Mary Mosir for hosting the annual New Year’s Day gathering.  As always, the food was great, the weather cooperated and a good time was had by all.

It was noted that the News Year’s Day Trophy was missing one of the photo albums (the one with photos of most recent gatherings).  If anyone knows the whereabouts please bring it to the next meeting.  Harlan asked John Mosir to have Mary forward the group photo she took on New Year’s Day.  By the way, the trophy was awarded to Kris Tucker-Lowe this year for the usual reasons.

Bob Fleming and Dale Frosch had volunteered to contact members who had not paid their dues for the current year.  Reasons given included the following:  problems with the new meeting location, lost interest, no longer riding, health problems, etc.  There were no real surprises and there is nothing the club needs to do to bring these former members back to the fold.  Thanks to Bob and Frosty for taking on this task.

Concern has been expressed regarding the legal responsibility that the club might have regarding club sponsored activities.  Gerry Jacobi volunteered to consult legal counsel in order for us to determine what, if anything, the club needs to do regarding this matter.  Gerry will give us a report at our February meeting.

Dave Gries made an appeal for “Adopt a Platoon”.  Dave said that, although troops have been withdrawn from Iraq that organization is still sending magazines to Afghanistan.  He also noted that the motorcycle magazines sent were the troop’s favorite.  So please save your old bike magazines and bring them to the next meeting.

Ice racing will return to the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri on January 28.  Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and racing begins at 7:30 p.m.  See www.familyarena.com for more details.

Gateway International Raceway will reopen in 2012.  The lead investor announced a full season would kick off in March.  Of what that season would consist was not disclosed.  Bob Howard said he heard that the only thing set was an NHRA event.  For more information see www.racer.com

The Cycle World International Motorcycle Show will return to Chicago (actually Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois). The show will last three days, February 10 - 12.

Visitors:  There were no visitors.

New Members:  Tim Rathert joined the club.

Raffle:  There was no 50/50 raffle.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Program:  There was no program this month.  Mark Bosworth will bring his Triton to the February meeting.  Just in case you may not know, a Triton is a Triumph engine in a Norton Motorcycle.

Submitted by Harlan Hock, President.

President’s Corner December, 2011

Since this was the last meeting of the year, it’s time to reflect on what the club has done this year and what you think we need to do for 2012.  Thanks to Mark Bosworth we now have updated business cards and counter cards for display at dealerships both of which help spread the word about or club.  Mark has also had new sew on patches made up and we can now have the club logo embroidered on clothing as well.  We have added quite a few new members.  We’ve had programs at every meeting this year except for the December meeting.  I asked the membership their opinion about having programs at every meeting and  the consensus was that most enjoyed the programs but we don’t need one every month.  I’ll keep that in mind for the future.  In regard to the programs, I’d like to thank all the presenters this year.  You all put much effort in preparation for your presentations and the favorable response of the membership was a good indication that your time was well spent. 

I hope that more of you will volunteer to share your knowledge, your projects or your experiences in 2012.  Right now there are two volunteers for 2012.  Mark Bosworth on his Triton and Eric Miller with either his Puch or his Matchless depending which he finishes first.  You also attend rallies, shows, etc. so take some pictures and bring some literature to share with the club.  I think programs of this nature would be of interest.  We’re still short on tech sessions.  There are plenty of experts in the club that could cover a variety of topics so don’t be shy.  Other members have mentioned friends and colleagues who are possible presenters  as well.  Please ask them to see if they would care to share their expertise with us. 

Speaking of 2012, the club always starts the New Year at John and Mary Mosir’s on New Year’s Day.  This year is no exception.  John and Mary have agreed to host this event again on January 1, 2012.  If you’ve never participated before this would be a good time to start.  John and Mary put a lot of time and effort into this event and I guarantee you’ll enjoy yourself.  Club members spend their time riding John’s motorcycles, and those of other members as well, over the Mosir’s property which includes hills, ravines and creeks to cross.  If your not the off road type, there is plenty of excellent food, drink and tales of days gone by.  If your lucky John will show you his collection of all things BSA.  He has more BSA’s and parts for them than my dealership had where I grew up.  Try to take advantage of this opportunity.  Check the map included elsewhere in this newsletter to help you find your way.  For your information, the event is automatically cancelled if there foul weather (snow, sleet, freezing rain, etc.).  Just being cold doesn’t count.

Finally, please let me know what you think needs to be done to improve the club.  New ideas are always welcome and constructive criticism is as well.  That’s all for now.  It’s warm enough for a ride outside so I’m off.  See you at the Christmas Party December 17.

Harlan Hock, President

EMU Meeting Minutes, December 6, 2011

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm by Harlan Hock, President.

27 members and guests were in attendance

Old Minutes: Read by Harlan Hock, no exceptions were noted and they stand as read.

Treasurers Report: Mark Bosworth reported our balance is $1,620.

Membership Report: We presently have 89 members.

Old business:     

The EMU Christmas party will be on Sat, Dec 17^th, 2011 in the Moto Europa showroom. The dinner will be buffet style with a menu of fried chicken, roast beef, smashed potatoes, gravy, desert, dinner salad and dinner rolls and nonalcoholic beverages for $12.00 each. Doors open at 6:00 for social hour, dinner served at 7:00.

A discussion was held of whether the club will pick up the tab for meals.  The membership voted to pick up the meal for paid up to date members only (including those who pay up at the door) and meals for spouses and guests will be $12.00 each payable in advance or at the door.

Counter cards were distributed to dealers in the area by Mark Bosworth.

New business:  John and Mary Mosir will once again host a New Year’s Day gathering at their place, Members have a map to the Mosir’s with this newsletter.

A discussion was held on members who are not paid up or who have quit coming to meetings.  Frosty stated he will contact these past members, Mark will get a list to him.

Distributing membership lists to those outside the club was discussed.  Motion was made and passed to distribute to members and corporate members only.

Per John Mosir, Cynthia – the waitress from Sports Page who took care of us at meetings for many years – is doing well in her fight with cancer.

Dan Huff, service manager for Moto Europa, announced past EMU member Russ Roberts has signed on as a service tech for them.

Visitors/ Visitor : Dan Huff, service manager for Moto Europa.

New Members:

Marty Pollvogt – Dennis Kuntzler’s brother-in-law.  He rides as new VStrom.

Lynn Frosch

Gina Kessal

Raffle:

There was $34.00 in the pot for the 50/50 rally. $17.00 was won by Lynn Frosch.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 pm.

Program:

No program presented this month.  Mark Bosworth volunteered to bring in his Triton for a presentation at a later meeting.

Submitted by Dale Knaus, Vice President.

Lost In Translation: A Triumph over BMW By Kris Loewe

I have two friends who ride big K1200LT BMWs.  I’m partially to blame for their choice of steeds.  Both Eric and John started out on some older Japanese bikes and suffered the ills that affect older machines.  Owning stuff made in this century, I figured their bikes would no longer migrate to my work bench.  I was wrong.

I don’t know what it is about large touring machines, but many of them seem to find their way to me.  Goldwings.  I’m sick of Goldwings, but the owners write good checks.  Venture Royals thankfully have not followed me from my days at RPM Motorwerks, nor have Kawasaki Voyagers.

John’s LT came to me first.  It had burst the rear master cylinder brake line and bled out its brake fluid.  Part in hand, he and Eric pulled in one lazy Sunday and it was replaced after much fiddling and consternation.  Removal of the plastic or “Tupperware” body parts was done by him.  I replaced the line and bled the brakes mechanically.  BAM!  Done.  Sage advice was given to John by me:  Forget the BMW badge, don’t be afraid to work on it yourself.  He has since bravely moved forward with other repairs.

Eric brought his 2002 K1200LT by for the very same problem in late October 2011.  It was the same brake line and the system had bled dry.  Unfortunately his bike has intergrated ABS or iABS brakes.  Undertaken on a Sunday morning, I had soon backed myself into a corner with this one.  It won round one and I drove Eric home with his whale of a motorcycle beached on my Handy Lift.

The evening was spent diving into the KLT owners’ group websites and some other polite well-meaning BMW owners’ musings.  Not arriving at anything definitive, I knew that there was a bleeding sequence I was missing as I was faced with (excluding the caliper bleed screws) seven other bleed screws for the ABS module.  Standard mechanical vacuum bleeding would not cut it.  The owner’s groups were helpful in learning how to “change” or flush the system, but there was no guidance on restoring a dry system.  Their advice was simply, “Put it together, limp it to the dealer, open your wallet, wait for them to call you when it’s ready.”  No offense to the dealers, but for something as simple as a hydraulic braking system, an owner with reasonable mechanical skills and a basic tool kit should be able to perform maintenance and repairs of this nature in a motel parking lot if necessary.  I should think that the kind Bavarian engineers and their lawyers are very aware of the thin network of BMW dealers worldwide and how risky it would be limping one of these things 100 miles without brakes to the nearest dealer only to find mechanics as bewildered as they are.

That Tuesday I put in a call to Shannon Logan at Gateway BMW.  It turns out this very problem had caused him much grief as the procedure is not in the LT manual.  Rather they found it by accident in the K1200RS manual.  The secret motorcycle mechanic handshake was shared when I visited, and I walked away with a 25 page printout, of which only two pages were relevant.

Armed with the proper sequence and an affirmation of what I’d already figured out, I set off to Sears, Lowe’s and Napa Auto Parts to gather my special tools.  The actual bleeding wrench from BMW costs $200 or so.  I made one by cutting an $8 Craftsman 7mm combination wrench then MIG welding the round end back on at 90 degrees.  I then welded a ¼ drive socket to the wrench handle the ground the outer diameter of the end so it would fit in the tiny spaces where two bleeder screws were hidden.  Then I bought a spare 10 x 1.00 mm bleeder screw at Napa.  While there I picked up a small funnel that did not have much of a taper.  Then it was off to Lowe’s to buy an assortment of vinyl tubing.

Home made brake fluid “Bimmer Bong”, bleeder tool and offending brake hose.

Eric had already removed the right side Tupperware on Sunday.  I commenced removing the left hand side.  This proved useful as I did not pay attention when Eric removed the right side.  This exposed two bleeder screws I could not otherwise access.  Even though the literature leads you to use the servo motors with the key on to bleed the system, the literature fails to tell you that you need to mechanically bleed an open system first.  This important step is lost somewhere in translation from German into English, or the legal department intervened and simply did not want to risk an owner carrying out this procedure.  Nevertheless, the “rear” reservoir (which on the LT is the front half of the reservoir under the seat) was topped by taking my $1.50 plastic funnel fitted with 5/8 OD vinyl tubing on the tip of the funnel…creating a sealed auxiliary reservoir ($234.00 from BMW, $34.00 from the Boneyard).

Because the reservoir is so tiny, it needs extra fluid on demand so the bleed procedure is uninterrupted.  After vacuum bleeding through the caliper (not in the directions, but necessary for the rear circuit), I placed my home-made bleeder wrench on the first bleed screw followed by yet another piece of vinyl tubing to direct the fluid down to my drain cup.  Push, turn, repeat….repeat…repeat….BUBBLES!  Yea!  Completing the sequence rewarded me with a firm foot pedal at last!  Now for the fun:  Flushing the circuit.

I topped off my “Bimmer Bong” funnel tool with half a pint of fluid, turned on the key, let the ABS circuit test itself, hooked up a tube to the rear caliper bleeder, cracked it with an 11mm wrench and pushed down on the rear brake pedal.  Weeeeeeee!   The servo really moved the fluid out and filled up my cup within two seconds.  Bleeding and flushing of the rear circuit was finally complete.

For grins, since I had all the Tupperware off, I decided to service the front brakes.  Since the front system had not been opened, the procedure is reversed.  Flush first, bleed the “front” ABS circuit manually last with the battery removed to access a hidden bleed screw.  This is a smart step as removing the battery resets any soft codes in the ECM.  After the battery is installed, the TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) is reset by turning on the ignition, slowly twisting the throttle to the stop and back twice, then switching the key off.

Anyone can do this in a motel parking lot right?  Well, yes actually if you carry your home-made bleeder wrench in your BMW tool kit and there’s a hardware store or a Walmart nearby.  I guess remembering the manual bleed sequence would be handy too.   I’d take a crack at doing it in front of the Comfort Inn sitting on a milk crate.  Of course I’d rather prefer the luxury of my Handy Lift and the accoutrements of my humble workshop.

An hour was spent replacing the Tupperware and wiping off greasy fingerprints.  Then I backed it off the bench and test rode it.  The ABS light dutifully winked out after the first twenty feet rolling forward completed its test sequence and it stayed out.  I’d never ridden an LT before, so I rolled down to Collinsville and back on Route 157 and found it a very capable machine.  The wind protection was superior…and disturbing.  It’s so good that 90 mph seems like 50 on any other bike.  I’d have a dozen speeding tickets if I owned one of these.

The servo assist takes a little getting used to, but I found the brakes to be excellent.  I tried putting out of my mind the fact that a computer was actually stopping me.  Rather than fight the technology, I quite marveled at it really.  At its heart, however, it is still a simple hydraulic system.  It just has more moving parts than a traditional machine.

I had won round two.  I looked at my Tiger sitting in the corner next to the LT.  It is four years newer, has half the technology….and mass… and I was trained by Triumph of North America to work on it.  It is a bridge machine that took me from the world of carburetors and points, to ECMs and fuel injection.  As sophisticated as it is, any problems I’ve had come down to basic mechanical intuition.  The LT is no different, it’s just on a larger scale.  I could not have fixed one without the other, though.  It could be said I had a “Triumph” over BMW.  Did I hear you groan?  Eric gets the last laugh because his bike is faster.

Copyright 2011- Kris Loewe. Used with permission by the EMU