Re: BUNNY: Cleveland Cycle World Show

[Bob Hadden <kbhadden@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert.  Great report.  I don't go to the bike shows for exactly the 
reason you describe.  There is usually not enough interesting stuff for 
me to justify the trip.  But making a gathering out of it would make it 
a fun event.

About your Front drive cage, I have one word for you - Quatro.  Plus 
it's German and so qualifies as BMW friendly ;-))

Bob Hadden '05R12GS, '62R27

On Jan 31, 2005, at 12:11 AM, Robert W Munday wrote:

> Presidents,
>
>
> I attended the Cycle World Show in Cleveland, Ohio this Saturday.  From
> Indianapolis, it was a four hour trip through Dayton and Columbus on 
> the
> icy Interstates to Berea and a lunch gathering of the Cleveland BMW 
> Club.
>  The club met at The Station restaurant on Depot Street in Berea, which
> is located next to some active railroad lines.  Trains speed by just 
> feet
> from the building making for some interesting sights and sounds.
> President Jim Shaw was there as were a number of the membership who
> regularly attend the Rocket City Rally in Alabama.  The Cleveland Club
> has the honor of attending Rocket City one year and camping next to 
> "the
> dead guy"... a motor home camper unrelated to our rally who expired
> during our rally.  They still have the pictures to prove it.  I also 
> met
> President Roger Pivonka for the first time.  Some members bought raffle
> tickets from me before the group headed to the International Exposition
> Center (they call it the  IX Center).  I could see why they met for
> lunch... they formed car pools to help defray the $7.00 cost to park at
> the IX Center.  The Center was also the site for a home improvement
> exposition so traffic was doubled from what we would normally expect.
> Once inside, I could see that the Cycle World show got the better end 
> of
> the Center because the indoor Ferris Wheel was on our side.  For $2.00 
> a
> ride, one could take a spin on the wheel, the enclosed top half of 
> which
> protruded above the roof for an outside view of the parking lot and the
> airport.
>
> I was there to meet with Eric Simon, Mike May and Doug Grosjean and 
> with
> careful planning and exchanges of cell phone numbers, I found all 
> three.
> My lunch crowd descended upon the BMW booth to view two examples of the
> new K1200S in the blue and white paint.  There were other 2005 models 
> to
> be viewed, but no R1200RTs, no R1200STs and no K1200Rs were at the 
> show.
> I spent the next few hours wandering amongst the various brands and
> vendors, but didn't see much new and didn't buy anything other than
> raffle tickets.  The AMA was raffling a 1953 Vincent Black Shadow 
> Touring
> and there was a Norton 952 in its own area.  I was able to get the AMA
> folks to buy one of my BMW raffle tickets but didn't have the same luck
> with the Norton folks.  Doug Grosjean and I found the newly-announced
> Harley-Davidson Street Rod... a V-Rod with a more standard (and sane)
> riding position.  The footpegs are under the rider instead of out 
> beyond
> the front wheel (sure, I embellish... but not by much).  Honda had a
> gorgeous blonde spokesmodel on a platform saying something about a Gold
> Wing model with flat paint and blacked-out bits and a short windscreen
> much like a H-D Road Glide (and I didn't get around to seeing the name 
> of
> the Honda on the card).  This Cleveland show was much larger in
> attendance than the Atlanta show that I usually attend.  Since I missed
> the Atlanta show, the shows in Cleveland and Detroit were my closest
> alternatives.
>
> After an afternoon of seeing and drooling over new machinery, Mike, 
> Eric
> and I headed out for a Presidential Dinner at a Mexican restaurant 
> which
> was chosen for its available parking.  Two-thirds of the attendees were
> IBMWR Plateholders and we own almost 100% BMWs (Eric recently bought a
> Buell with the see-through blue plastic "tank").  Our waitress first
> addressed us as "gentlemen" and we had to quickly correct her to have 
> her
> address us as "motorcyclists", which she did for the rest of the 
> evening.
>  The food was great and the conversation covered lots of topics... BMW
> and otherwise.  When we left, Mike and Eric had 70 miles to go to get 
> to
> their home areas and I had 300 miles to go to return to Indianapolis.
> The temperature was between 25 and 30 degrees and the snow was falling
> heavily.  Having a front-wheel-drive Volvo comes in handy in winter 
> and I
> was passing all of the slow traffic content to travel 30 mph in the
> plowed lane.  The Ohio salt trucks were out and did a great job of
> clearing the roads, but on the flip side there's nothing like being
> pelted with salt while traveling behind the big trucks.  It was pretty
> hairy most of the way, but once I got close to Columbus, I only had
> wetness to contend with.  Approaching Dayton, the snow was falling in 
> my
> direction and it looked like I was traveling into the Windows "Space"
> screen saver.  You can't see and you can't use the high beam as that 
> only
> brightens the snow in front of you.  Things calmed down as I approached
> Indianapolis.  My return trip was only thirty minutes longer than my 
> four
> hour trip to Cleveland.
>
> Thanks to all who attended and participated.
>
>
>
> Robert Munday...   Montgomery, AL    `98 R11CHP    `95 R1100RSL
> Village Idiot    Rolling Broccoli Rider    BOOF #131    SR#2
> Nebraska Nightriders    Big Sioux Riders    Indy BMW Club
> Beemer Hill Riders    EC Riders    Trustee, BMWMOA Foundation
> Keeper Of The List    *Iron Bunny*
>
> Back Home Again In Indiana...

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End of oilheads-digest V2 #27
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