1975 August

My thanks to Paul Lewis for his past two articles on hacking here in Europe. Paul and his family live in Heidelberg where he works for the US Army as a lawyer. Besides his 66 R69S with a 54 Steib S500, Paul runs around on a 72 R75/5 a la cafe. His machine is equipped with a gargantuan Muench tank and Ka-Be fairing. It is known to eat up Mercedes on the Autobahns and usually retains a semi vertical position on curvy roads except when its rider is very tired and mistakes a curb for part of the road… then it’s not so vertical.

After giving it some thought, I tried mounting my typewriter behind my fairing as suggested by Paul, but found that the carriage kept sliding to the right everytime I made a turn to the right – so much for that idea!

Back in April, the second annual BMWMOA Schmittburg Treffen was held. And a success it was, with about 35 people present and good weather. Two runs were held. A Telephone Booth run on Saturday (Rosie and I managed to come in last) and a Hound and Hare run on Sunday morning. No incidents except Mike Mastromonaco managed to knock over his space heater which burnt his sleeping bag, ruptured his air mattress and burnt a hole in the floor of his brand new tent. Have you ever smelled a smoldering goose down sleeping bag? Horrible! I didn’t get the names of all the members who attended, but my thanks to all of you and I hope you had a good time. Special thanks to Tim Shaffer who did most of the work. Tim designed the fliers, arranged with the landowners for the rally site, organized the runs, and with the help of Mike Broadstreet and Mike Mastromonaco, constructed an outhouse and cleaned up after everyone had left. Thanks also to Mike Krauser for the loan of the four large BMW banners, the many small paper BMW flags and the brochures. I think now the stage is set for the successful continuation of the Treffen, and with the increasing growth of European members we’re now experiencing (33 as of June), the next one should be considerably larger.

Possibly the last of the famous Isle of Man Tourist Trophy races was held during the first week of June. I believe I was the only member from Germany to attend. Paul Lewis had planned to go, but his wife became ill just prior to our departure. Instead, I went with Rick Mundy whom I’ve mentioned before, and Herr Moroso who has designed and manufactures one of the finest monocoque motorcycle frames I’ve seen yet. At the International BMW Assembly, sponsored by the BMW Club of Great Britain, I met members Fred Secker and Dave Loomis – both from England. It’s too bad more members couldn’t have made it. Besides the good racing on nearly 38 miles of public roads, the Isle of Man TT affords the cyclist a tremendous opportunity to meet other cyclists from all over Europe… just imagine seeing thousands of motorcycles of all makes and models lined up along the two mile stretch of the Promenade in Douglas, the capital. Everywhere one rode on the 227 square mile island, motorcyclists were to be seen.

Ed Kane dug into his archives again and came up with what he believes is a 1929 or 1930 BMW, model unknown, and which he claims is in good running condition. Anyone interested in purchasing it should write to Ed directly: Ed Kane, Heidelberg Community Club System, APO NY 09102.

Auf Wiedersehen