1975 April

The Elephantentreffen was bigger and better this year. Held on the 13^th through the 16^th of February, the rally in its 20^th year drew an estimated crowd of 20 thousand bikes and over 50 thousand people from all over Europe. Let’s let “BMW Miles” Reichenbach #1838 tell the story.

“Alas, it was time for the German Elephantentreffen at the Nurburgring – right after work we rushed home to change into our riding clothes (except, of course, Pat Thomas, who brought all his riding gear along with him to work). Pat and Bill Van Wyck #4085 came up to my home and there met up with Bill Heggarty #1530 and his partner Brian Casey who came over here from St Louis especially for the rally. Bill Heggarty runs ‘Sidecar Restorations’ in St Louis.

“Time to go! Heggarty entered the TR-500 sidecar attached to my R-69S – with a Rikter Kabine mounted to keep him warm and dry; Pat with all his camping gear, plus a case of German beer on the back of his R-75/5 for medicinal purposes; and Brian on the back of Van Wyck’s R-90/6. We were on our way!

“The weather didn’t look too good, and since we were going into a mountain area, we were a bit concerned. On the road to Trier we encountered snow, rain, heavy fog and lots of mud. After a hard and cold ride, we finally got to Trier and immediately went to BMW Jackie’s Gasthaus for coffee to keep us awake and alert for the mountains north of Bitburg.

“Six hours after departing Kaiserslautern, we arrived at the Nurburgring with enough traffic to make it second to Times Square. Everywhere there were motorcycles, people, activity and campfires. Pat left us to pitch his tent in the bitter cold by some of his friends (as pre-arranged, I camped with Mike Mastromonaco #3601, Mike and Char Broadstreet #3516, Paul Lewis #2924, Ed Kane #2496, Tim Shaffer #423, and a mutual friend, Rick Mundy: Pat), while the rest of us were invited by an American m/c club to sleep in their large U.S. Army tent warmed by an Army oil heater.

“Up at 7 A.M. and Bill Heggarty went to see his friend, Horst Briel, editor of the new German motorcycle magazine, ‘PS’. After that it was great meeting old friends at one campsite or another, visiting the exhibits, and looking at the thousands of motorcycles present – also the new 1975 models – Honda 1,000, Suzuki Rotary, Laverda, plus the BMW motocross sidecar machines, and other special built side-cars attached to the R-90/6 and R-90S but with special built frames – very interesting. For further information on these machines, drop a line to Sidecar Restorations.”

The following weekend, most of us rode up to Hammelbach in the Odenwald to see the Schwarzpulver (Blackpowder) Rally. This year we didn’t participate as the time was too short between the two rallies. Next year?

The second annual BMWMOA Schmittburg Treffen is to be held on 26 and 27 April. The 12^th century Schmittburg castle ruins lay near Bundenbach village, about 80 kilometers north-west of Kaiserslautern. We hope to have a bigger turnout this year. Fliers have been sent out to those of you here in Europe. So try to make it!

Auf Wiedersehen