October Meeting Minutes

EMU Meeting Minutes

October 4,  2011

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

There were 27 attending meeting, and 31 bikes on the street, including 11 Ducatis.

Old Minutes: 9/6/11 minutes were read by Leo; a motion was made and seconded to approve minutes as read.

Treasurers Report: Mark Bosworth reported

Starting balance          $1,742.82

Deposits          $   172.00

Expenses         $   748.00        shirts

            $     76.99        cards

Final Balance  $1,089.83

Membership Report: We have 89 members, 40 members have not paid their membership dues.

Membership recruitment: New EMU cards have been printed. Please pick some up and share with prospective riders. We are going to ask various dealerships to have cards available for those of interest.

Shirt Order: Mark Bosworth chided and pestered our printer until he made good on our shirt order. As previously stated, the cost was $748.00 for the shirts. Mark took the time to bag each shirt, identify the purchaser and the amount to be paid. Mark’s hard work made the distribution of the shirts run smoothly. Extra shirts were ordered for new members and if members would like to purchase an additional shirt.

Monograms: Mark can have your shirt monogrammed with the EMU logo for $5.00. He recommended something like a golf shirt, bring the shirt plus $5.00 and when Mark has 5 or more he will take them to the service provider.

Patches: Mark passed around a patch of the EMU logo. Patches will be $10.00 a piece. The membership was surveyed and about a dozen people were interested. The initial order will be for 20 patches

Old business:     

Club ride on 10/22/11. The ride will leave from the McDonalds restaurant in Alton at 9:30. Lunch will be at Mels in Hardin.  For those who want to break off from the main group Joe Brinkman will be taking the Golden Eagle ferry over to Smart Field for a tour by his father in law of the WWII planes of the Commemorative Air Force. 

The EMU Christmas party will be on Sat, Dec 17^th, 2011 in the Moto Europa showroom. There was a meeting with the Triumph Grill chef to determine the menu including salad, entre, sides and a desert and what the meals will cost. There is no deposit or minimum required though the restaurant will need a firm commitment on how many will be attending. It has yet to be determined the amount the club treasury will underwrite the meals, if any, and what the cost will be for spouses and guests

Harlan Hock has done an excellent job at providing advance notice to membership of the meeting. It was noted that the EMU Facebook page did not have the meeting information posted. This is something that will have to be explored.

Vintage Bike Night at MotoEuropa was held on the first Monday of the month on 10/3/11. It was well attended with about 80-100 bikes and people through the evening. A broad array of bikes were on hand to hold attendee’s interest. Beer and burgers were available as well. It is anticipated that the November bike night on 11/7/11 will be the last for the season.

New Business:

Missy from the March of Dimes spoke to the membership about taking part in the Biker’s For Babies event being held on 10/9/11.

Tony reported on the 19^th Ralph Wayne's Vintage Backyard Nationals he and Donna attended in Kansas City on 10/1/11. This is an event that has grown exponentially to the current event with approximately 1000 participants. It is held in a suburban neighborhood at Ralph Wayne’s house with the street closed off to car traffic. Ralph provides free food and beer and a vintage motorcycle contest in which everyone receives a first place ribbon. The story behind the contest is told that when Ralph would fix up a bike until he thought it was a winner and would enter it into a bike show, some other person perhaps from out of town would enter their bike, and having more money and time and a better finished bike would seize first place. Thereafter he determined everyone would win first place. Donations are accepted. No vendors are allowed though they do sell event t-shirts and paraphernalia which turns out to be a very slow process. See more about this event as well as photographs at       http://www.cycleconnections.com/articledetail.asp?TypeID=2&ID=435

Tony reported on the COG (Concours Owners Group) Rally he hosted the weekend of 9/24/11 at the Huzzah Valley Campground. 47 people attended from 12 states and an excellent time was had by all including Leo.

Announcements & Upcoming Events:

Joe Brinkman has put a lot of time and effort in his upcoming program in November on board track racers. He will also present some videos of board track racers in action. Don’t miss this program! Mark your calendar, 11/8/2011.

Falling Leaf Rally: the Falling Leaf Rally put on by the Gateway BMW riders will be held in Potosi the weekend of 10/8/11. Leo described the “Anvil Ringing” that takes place at the opening and closing of the event in which one anvil is placed upside down, a pound of black powder is placed in the hollowed out area of the base, the edge is smeared with peanut butter to create a seal and a second anvil is placed right side up against the upside down anvil base. The fuse is lit, everyone scatters, there is a huge boom and puff of smoke and out of the smoke an anvil is seen flying several hundred feet into the air and if everything is just right and the anvil doesn’t tumble, it vibrates and sends out a ringing sound. All brands of bikes and riders are welcome. See the information and event schedule on the internet at http://www.gatewayriders.com/frmGeneral/b1FallingLeafRally.php

Barber’s Fall Vintage Festival is being held this coming weekend in Birmingham Alabama. Several of our membership will be in attendance. This is a great event and should be attended by all at least once to see what it is all about.

Visitors/New Members:

Ken Henton joined us. He is riding a plethora of KLR 650’s.

David Hunter joined the club after the meeting.

Raffle

There was 33.00 in the pot for the 50/50 rally. $16.50 was won by Tony Koenen.

Program

Bob Honz presented a cool program on café racers and brought two examples, a 1979 BMW RT1000 and a XS650 Yamaha, both of which were highly modified. The BMW had been Bob’s father’s bike, and though significantly changed from its former life, holds a sweet spot in his heart and is not for sale. The XS650, (which is for sale) is set up like a flat tracker. Bob road the bike on a snowy and icy evening from his shop to Donelson’s where flat track great Gene Romero was a guest. (Bob is a bit of a crazy man for those of you who don’t know it). Bob was introduced to Gene and showed him his flat tracker, and with little prompting Gene proudly signed the motorcycles gas tank. As a grand finale, Bob started the bike after about 20 sweat provoking stokes of the kick-starter. The sharp, loud crack of the bike was appreciated by all; the smoke and exhaust less so.

Humbly submitted, Leo Weisman, Secretary.