Monday, February 22, 2010

Doesn't Anybody Realize It's Winter?...

Busy, busy weekend, five different events had BMWOCSD and SDBMW folks scattered all over. Doesn't anybody realize that it's winter? Give 'em a rain suit and heated grips and nobody seems to care.

Speaking of heated grips, Gary Orr and his heated grip R1200S tore up The Streets of Willow this weekend with 3 first places in the heat races and a second in open superbike. Not bad for a novice........

Meanwhile yours truly, Mike Lynch, led the New Members Ride over all the name brand roads close and low, Highland Valley, Wildcat Canyon, La Cresta, Harbison Canyon, Dehesa, Japatul, Lyons Valley, Honey Springs and Otay Lakes. T'was good to stay close and low as the roads were wet most of the way. And we actually had one genuine new member.

Desert Dash folks included Gary Kepple, Sean DeAngelis, Rich Amitron, Ron Spicer (for awhile anyway) and more, some beautiful scenery.

Another large group was at Death Valley, Rich Kapushinski, Andrea, Dick Sackett, Gene Calbow and more!


And finally our own SDBMW Santee City Councilman, Brian Jones, was at the Lakeside Off Road Exposition.


Congratulations to all for showing the BMW spirit and all weather capability. Wait'll the sun comes out!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Bob Shellum: 400,000 Mile Man


Congratulations to our good friend and loyal San Diego BMW Motorcycles client Bob Shellum. Bob just clipped off mile 400,001! A little "small world" background on Bob. About three years ago Bob stopped in for a routine service on his K100RS. Our then newly hired service advisor Stan Lundeen and Bob got to talking and it turns out Bob Shellum is a retired Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps (Stan and I were Marine Corps sergeants only a few short years ago). Furthermore, Bob was close friends with one Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Harold G. Overstreet (a name very familiar to Stan and I from our active duty years). Needless to say Stan and I have been terrified of Sergeant Major Shellum ever since.

Bob has since started racking up the miles on a beautiful 2003 K1200GT and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we're handing over a 500,000 mile award in a few years. Congratulations Bob, beers on us tonight!

-Thanks for reading,
Sean DeAngelis

We FINALLY Got Em!! The BMW G450X!!



Hello Everyone and welcome to the best blog post of 2010. Today we have officially received the 2010 BMW G450X! We received 3 and to my chagrin one of them is a DEMO BIKE! Just in time for the Desert dash this weekend and I got the go-ahead to bring it with me. Of course, I'll be riding most of my favorite dual sport ride on my trusty G650X/Ch (now the 2nd best dual sport bike man has ever created). I'm psyched that BMW finally put the factory blue, white and red graphics on the bike for 2010. All new ignition and fuel mapping, updated fork cartridges and a slew of other minor mods made the extra year wait for us California residents WELL worth it. OEM tires are Metzeler Competitions which I'm not familiar with but the knob spacing looks ideal for sand (no shortage of that in Anza). I'll have a full ride report on Monday after the dirt session but my initial impression is this bike will easily wheelie from the corner to FBC's driveway after 6pm on a Tuesday.


-Thanks for reading
Sean DeAngelis

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Kevin Stevens, You Win, Epic Ride!

That's right kids, Kevin Stevens wins hands down. Picked up his new S1000RR on Wednesday, goes riding today, 37 miles on the odometer and:



Trade In of the Week

Hey Everyone and welcome to another "Trade In of the Week" segment here on the San Diego BMW Motorcycles blogosphere. This weeks contender a great condition, 47,000 mile, 2002 1150cc Moto Serpico! The ultimate commuter: A retired CHP motorcycle. Why does everyone in front of me keep slowing down?!?!? I'll tell you why, because when you ride an RT-P motorists everywhere lift the foot off the accelerator, hands at 10 and 2, hang up the cell phone and pray to the wallet gods that you're headed to Krispy Kreme.




A few more of the perks:
New Clutch Installed Here at SDBMWMC
Factory Police Model (RT-P)
Nicely Equipped Inlcuding
* ABS
* Heated Grips
* Throttlemeister
Easy BMW Financing - Terms to 66 Months
Use For Work, Escorts, Funerals, Parades
Or Just Have People Move Over
40 + Smiles Per Gallon!

So if you're looking for an affordable way to enjoy San Diego County's great roads while spiking the heart rates of car drivers everywhere come on down and take this beauty for a ride.

-Thanks for reading,
Sean DeAngelis

Saturday's Featured Product, 905's Race Armor

Stunt, Track or Tip-Over, 905 Racing has developed an incredibly useful bolt-on accessory for the S1000RR in your life. Made from durable 4130 Chromemoly tubing and rigid mounted to the main frame member of the bike, these function over form bars protect your motorcycle from "rubber side down" fails. San Diego BMW Motorcycles in conjunction with the sport bike enthusiasts at 905 Racing have developed this slim cage kit with the bikes best interests in mind. Retails for an affordable $189.00. Mounted on the outer most bend of the bars are two replaceable nylon sliders.






"Slim cages" like these were first made popular in the late 90's when stunting was starting to gain momentum among sportbike riders. Just like the cylinder protectors on your boxer or the frame slider kit on your K-bike these bars are intended to keep those acid green fairings in pristine condition should you find yourself sliding along the tarmac alongside your motorcycle. Had to hop off the high side after landing that 100 foot stoppie-180? No problem! Neighbor failed to look in the rear view before backing into your S1000RR? No problem! Tucked the front exiting turn 9 at Big Willow and sent your S1000RR into the dirt tumbling and cartwheeling gracefully toward the concrete pit wall at over 100mph? You're gonna need a LOT more than some Race Armor.

Nonetheless 905 Racing's Race Armor kit for the S1000RR is cheap insurance should you tip over sensor find itself activated at some point.

-Thanks for reading,
Sean DeAngelis

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

More S1000RR Deliveries! Christmas in February

Today the Motorrad Santa dropped off 7 more S1000RR's! These are all pre-sold as well as the next 11 that arrive. BUT, just as soon as those deliveries are handled you yes YOU can have the very next one that arrives.

Even as the driver was setting the parking brake our highly skilled technicians were sprinting out the doors, crowbars in hand, ready to pry the lids off these sweet machines. Like Oprah Winfrey devouring a plate of Swiss Cake Rolls the crates were reduced to sniveling piles of wood scraps and plastic. The pain barometer in my shoulder is predicting rain so we wanted these 1000cc beauties under safe cover of our sales floor as soon as possible.







-Thanks for reading,
Sean DeAngelis

Monday, February 8, 2010

Congratulations to Gary Orr!

Hey Everyone and welcome to another update to the San Diego BMW Motorcycles blog. Today we're congratulating Gary Orr on completing his first ever marathon in 4 hours, 28 minutes, 8 seconds. This all started just over a year ago when Gary went on his weight loss mission and dropped 75lbs. Stew King and Todd Hockensmith, our resident Iron Man, Triathalon and Century runners (yes that means a 100 mile trail run) started after Gary about running a marathon. Gary refused time and time again until finally, in August of last year we all threw in 10 bucks and entered the bossman in the Huntington Beach "Surf City" marathon. The final selling point on his participation was that Rob Danner, Todd Hockensmith, Stew King and Myself would pace and encourage him on the final 13.1 miles.

The old man set a blistering pace the first half of the run and rounded the halfway point in just over 2 hours. This is where we met up with our fearless leader, still in good spirits, stepping it out toward the finish line. From 13.1 to mile marker 16 laughing and joking abounded! We had a raw nipple situation arise that required Teddy to sprint ahead a mile and score some vaseline. Chaffing handled we pressed on. At mile 18 Gary mentioned some discomfort and numbing in his left foot at his 2nd toe. Quick stop and removed his shoe confirmed there was some swelling but no popped blisters or bruising. Shoe back on, quick hit of water and we were underway again.

Now, the 4 minions (Tedd, Stew, Rob and I) have run several marathons. We're all pretty familiar with the "mile 19 wall" that a runner hits. EVERYONE hits said wall and the success of your run depends on how you handle it. I believe in the existence of 3 possibilities:

1 - You impact the mile 19 wall with the grace of a Pontiac Fiero, smash the front clip clear into the rear axle, call the wrecker and leave the race at the local junk yard.

2 - At mile 19 you convince your self that you can walk 1/4 of every other mile and not loose too much time. This in fact will add at least 1 hour to your overall and is considered an epic fail.

3 - A few of your friends climb the wall, anchor down, toss over a rope and drag your ass kicking and screaming over the top and along the last 7.2 in a respectable amount of time!

We chose option three. At mile 19 the pace slowed dramatically and the bossman was running out of steam. The 4:10 pacer passed us and the 4:20 pacer was rapidly approaching. We hit the next fuel table and forced Gary to chuck 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a Cliff bar, cup of gatorade and a cookie and started off again. A few mentions of "How the $@*& did I let you &*#@'s talk me into this?" in between dry heaves but otherwise he was a trooper. Finally, after passing mile 22 the calories found their way into his system and he was back in the zone. Todd and Stew at the front of our formation yelling back words of encouragement, Gary a few paces behind them putting 2 thumbs way up in the air and Me bringing up the rear yelling "grind it out!" periodically. Mile 23, 24 and finally 25 took us right through downtown Huntington Beach and thousands of people had gathered to watch the runners enter the final 1.2 mile stretch. Left, right, left, right, left, right, to the country sounds of his ipod as Gary entered the final mile long, taped off corridor to the finish line. Todd, Stew and I had to duck out and let the boss handle the final half mile on his own. We sprinted along the boardwalk toward finishers corral just in time to see Gary get his award for completion and throw his head back in relief. Exhausted, sore and limping slightly he proclaimed: "This is my LAST marathon ever! Where did you clowns park the car?"

So that's our story and unless North County BMW Motorcycles excepts our challenge to run the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon on June 6th man for man I'm not sure we'll be seeing our fearless leader hammering out another 26.2 miles in the NEAR future. And yes that's me calling out the "other guys" in front of everyone reading. Loser buy the other shop pizza and beer! Bring it!

Thanks for reading
-Sean DeAngelis

Thursday, February 4, 2010

First S1000RR Deliveries #2

Kushan Peykarian Come On Down!


Now this is a little more like it. Not to say Hugo's reactions were dull but come on! Our friend Kushan here has been waiting 4 months for his S1000RR.

Congratulations on your new S1000RR Kushan!

The First S1000RR Deliveries

Hugo Schreiner, come on down!


Just look at the excitement on this mans face! Tim Geithner isn't this excited on April 15th. Pure anticipation oozes from his every pore. A full acre of cowhyde leather covers his freakishly tall physique. Track scuffed tires mounted in place of the OEM Metzeler Racetech K-3's.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

They're Heeeeeeeeeeere

Hey Everyone and welcome to another exciting addition to the San Diego BMW Motorcycles Blog. Today I'm pleased to announce that our first S1000RR's for sale to the public JUST arrived. The truck had barely set the parking brake before Gary was on the forklift trying to unload em! Alan Jackson isn't this fast capitalizing on world crisis events via bad pop-country music. Of course these two bikes, as well as the next 18 that arrive are pre sold. HOWEVER, just as soon as those 20 sales are fulfilled YOU yes YOU can have the very next one that arrives!









Thanks for visiting!
-Sean DeAngelis