Picture Of The Month! Norwegian Beauty! (Click Image for a Larger View)

Every month customers send us killer photos and I see no reason to keep them to myself so what better way to say thanks for sharing than to post them in this Picture of the Month spot..

Our August POTM was contributed by my good friend Trond of Oslo, Norway. . He says of his contribution .." The picture of my K1600GT was taken July 11th, 2011 at 1100 hrs The location Steigenis which is north in Norway. Partly clouded with the sun shining through a thin cloud. About 16 degrees Celsius if I recall and some fair wind. Taken with a Canon EOS 7D at 24mm with a Sigma DC 18-200, 1:3,5-6-3 Specs is f/10, 1/200 sec, on ISO 100. I was actually just doing some recon for a fishing event with my daughter later that day. I was all by myself with no other people around and only the sound of my engine mixing in with the cries from the seagull and waves hitting the dock. Really peaceful! Kind of liked the way the low clouds were hanging down on the mountains and some remains of morning fog on the coastline on the other side of the fjord. "

If you would like to contribute your own"worthy" shot for our newsletter, here's what I'll need. First.. just email me 1 or 2 of your best digital shots. It'll need to be at least 1024x768 in size or larger and preferably A. Of a BMW K1200S or K1300S, K1200RS, K1200R, R Sport, S1000RR, K1600GT, or any model year K1200GT or K1300GT and B. In focus.

Kawasaki Concours 1400 Stealth Backrest! Saddle Up Kaw Boys and Girls!.. They're Heeeere!!

Somebody alert the media! As per the holy prophesiers, our Kawasaki Concours 14 Stealth Backrests are finally in stock. I have to admit.. I'm really happy as to how this project has turned out. Look for advertising spots in various magazines soon..ie.. Rider, Backroads, Big Butts, etc.. Our first production run is already close to selling out which is a good sign.. Yippee Ki-ya!

Install of the Concours 14 stealth rack is chimp easy taking all of 10 minutes with no mods. It's a simple bolt on. Here's the install. The backrest's polished stainless steel slide bar will slide on and off the bike in mere seconds (just like all our other specialty backrests) for a sleek and sexy look.. The backrest material is a dead-on match for the stock seat. Price is $365US delivered inside the US which puts it in line with all our other offerings. For our customer images page.. Click Here.

Product Review: Turtle Wax "ICE" Synthetic Liquid Polish!

After hearing the positive spewage over at my favorite chat site.. www.I-BMW.com, I had to try Turtle Wax's "Ice" Liquid Polish.. I'm a sucker for waxes like women are for shoes or cops are for donuts.. Must be in my DNA as my father was the same way. Last week I picked up a bottle of "ICE" at the local Advance Auto which fortuitously had it on sale for $3 off.. Karma..Sweet.

Anyway ...Yesterday I washed and dried both my all black Ducati and my all white BMW.. Each has it's own problems with standard waxing. Standard wax is hard to see on the Beemer which makes applying and taking the wax off difficult. Waxing a black bike is generally a pain in the ass with all the white powder standard wax generates. The white build-up gets in the cracks and crevasse' and is hard to get out or on the black plastic parts which is a pain to remove. FYI... I've been using Crystal-Glo Acrylic Motorcycle Polish (a Canadian product) for the last few years.. It's the best I've seen although while it's easier to apply than most waxes, it's no easier to remove than a Maguires Carnuba paste wax, Zaino, Zymol, Mothers, etc...which are all first rate waxes, BTW... and my former favorites.

I have to admit.. I was so convinced in my doubting mind that the "Ice" wouldn't deliver that I made sure I didn't tear up the plastic box it came in as I was prepared to pack it all up and return it for a refund if I wasn't happy. The stuff ain't cheap and I ain't easily impressed. In fact... in some circles... notably the planet earth.. I've been accused of being "anal" when it comes to maintaining my bikes.. It's a curse until it comes time to sell a bike.. then it all pays off.. but I digress.

It usually takes me a full 1.5 hours to do a first class wax job on the Beemer and about 2 hours for the sissy twin.. With the Ice it took about 15 minutes total to do the BMW. White, IMHO is the easiest color to maintain... Most think it's the hardest. They're wrong. The ice went on super fast.. came off super fast..No streaking that I could tell. The time saving alone is worth the price of admission. It seemed to work exactly as advertised.. I immediately learn that a little Ice goes a long way. This bottle will probably last until the year 2070. The black sissy twin was next.

Amazingly...From start to finish it took about 18-20 minutes to do the 1098 .. compared to 2+ hours of any hard coat wax.. I wouldn't have believed it if someone hadn't told me. The fact that you can get the "Ice" on rubber parts without discoloring them is a huge plus. Not having the white powder residue afterwards made me want to weep with joy. Being able to do all this in the bright sun is down right scary amazing. There was virtually no streaking on the black paint. Both bikes look damn good. I'm a believer. I am impressed....

30,000 Miles On The Blue Ridge Parkway... Yet Another Pirate's Tale

While riding a high altitude ridge recently I got to thinking about all the time and miles I'd spent on the BRPW.  I did some quick Jethro Bodine cipherin' and realized that over the years I'd easily put in over 25,000  miles on this one road.. Probably closer to 30,000. Could this be true? This fact actually took me by surprise. Most of these miles I'd obviously put on in the last 8 years since Amber and I moved to Asheville as I ride the parkway almost every time I throw a leg over the seat, but even before that I'd been making regular trips since I bought my first motorcycle back in 1972.  Truth be told, my love affair with the BRPW goes back even further to a simpler time when gas was .29 cents a gallon, the "fab four" were just conquering America, and color TV was still a luxury.

I think .. no.. I know I got my love of traveling from my father. He took my mother, my younger sister, and I all over the country when I was a kid. Always by car. Never by plane, boat, or train. Our 4 wheel adventures took  us from coast to coast .. border to border .. and cheap motel to cheap motel. By the time I was 10 I'd seen dozens of national and state parks, beaches in almost every coastal state, both Disney parks, scenic water parks, not-so scenic water parks, cold wet caverns, bat infested caves, Indian reservations, and a myriad of low budget tourist attractions that would make Clark W. Griswold giddy. 

For the complete story with lots of pretty pictures... Click Here.. For my Tips for Riding the Blue Ridge Parkway .. Click Here.

Product Review: Arai Quantum II Helmet

OK.. I finally get it.. I now understand the  zealot-like devotion to the brand ..even with their inherent shortcomings. Today the weather cooperated and I got to do some decent riding with the new Arai Quantum II helmet. I  was waiting to opine until I could test the helmet on BOTH bikes as a helmet that may work spectacularly on one bike might not be so praise worthy on another. On the Ducati 1098 or any other pure sportbike, a helmet being leaned forward more so will  catch a completely different angle and direction of wind than on a more upright seating bike like the BMW K1200S...  Today I put 60 miles on the sissy twin then 60 on the Beemer and came to some easy  and surprising conclusions.

First I should point out that I've had as many helmets in my life as women. Don't remember the names of all of them.  Most were forgeable.. A handful were true love affairs like my first Nava or the exotic Porsche Design. Some were bad ideas from the get go (like the air-conditioned helmet I bought in the early 80's which must have weighed 6 lbs), but you generally don't realize your mistake until you've taken them home with you. All were attractive.. on the outside.  Most were just stepping stones until a newer model came along. This is my first Arai.

I've always chosen my helmets by looks, comfort, features, and yes.. with cost considerations in mind. In all my years of riding I've never paid more than $350 for a helmet.  Call me cost conscious.. call me a cheap bastage.. whatever. Even when I was pulling in six figures (pre-Obamanomics) I wouldn't even consider spending more than $350 for a helmet no matter what reviews were claiming about the high end helmets.  It just seemed so unnecessary with all the great helmets available in the sub-$400 range. Two weeks ago I went off the reservation and paid over $600 for the Arai Quantum II. Why? It was pretty... er.. I mean..  the graphics were bad-ass. There I admit it. My shallowness knows no bounds. I had fallen in love with the graphics of the "Jolly Roger" edition Arai from the first time I saw it almost 3 years ago, but never thought I'd pull the trigger on one.. As they've now been discontinued with only a handful left in the country and figuring in the fact that I'd been wanting a lighter helmet due to some neck problems I've been having,  I had  to (as Woody Harrelson so eloquently put it in Zombieland..)... "Nut up or shut up."

On The Road: When I was test fitted for the helmet a few weeks ago, I never noticed that the helmet uses D-rings to secure...What up wit dat? I didn't know any manufacturer still did that. I would have assumed that for $600 they could at least use quick-release snaps like other modern helmets. That's kinda cheesy, but I'm no diva!! I can deal with that. With the helmet on and fastened, I took the 1098 out first.. My first impression on the Aria caught me off guard. It has the best peripheral vision of any helmet I'd ever owned. It's like looking out a plate glass window rather than the narrower scuba mask view offered by other helmets. I don't recall this aspect of the lid being mentioned in any reviews I'd read. This one factor was on my mind all day... This is especially important when changing lanes as you can see better without turning your head so far.  Shield quality is excellent.. As good as I've ever seen, but for $55+ each.. it should be. I had asked my peers if the shield would stay up while in motion as to let cool air in like helmets with ratcheted visors and for the most part... it did. The visor seemed to stay in any position up to at least 60mph and that's as good as I could expect.

The next thing I noticed was that this helmet has the best ventilation of any helmet I've ever owned.. With the 2 visor vents open, you can actually feel a breeze coming through unlike the placebo vents on other helmets. It makes the aforementioned question about  the screen staying up a non-issue. I was shocked at how good the vents work. Shocked. The helmet offers plenty of air flow.

As for the oft mentioned helmet noise  I'll say this.. The helmet is NOT noisy, but it's also not the quietest helmet I've owned. In fact my Reevu is quieter.  You are aware of an increased sound of moving air in the Aria, but it's not offensive. It's not the typical annoying low rumble of some helmets, nor is it whistling in any way.. You just hear more moving air.  If the neck roll were thicker on the sides I think the helmet would be quieter. A few have suggested that with great ventilation comes more wind noise. I think that's partially true, too. During today's outing not once was I thinking about the noise  (while on either bike) although it was slightly louder while on the more upright BMW. Not once did it bother me, but I admit I wear great earplugs, I never got over 70mph, and my hearing is just slightly better than Pete Townsends. Essentially.. my fears of it being noisy were unwarranted.

Pre-purchase, I spent almost half an hour being fitted for the Aria at a local shop. What a concept. There's a scene in Casino Royale where Bond is questioning Vesper about a tailored jacket she has laid out for him.. She turns to him and says.. "There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets." The Aria's fit is absolutely phenomenal. There are no pressure points.. There is no movement once on.  It feels like it was created from a mold of my head.  On most new helmets there's a break-in period where it's all too tight and you usually have a headache for the first few rides due to the pressure in various areas. Not with the Arai. It felt perfectly comfortable from the first ride. I'd never had a helmet custom fitted before, but now that I have... the benefits are obvious after the first ride.

Webbikeworld's helmet weight page puts an XL Arai Quantum at # 79 on their list, but my size medium weighs in at 3lbs 6oz which would put it at # 27 out of 170  full face helmets tested. By comparison my Reevu is ranked #151 and my Nolan N-103 Flip-Up is ranked #153 so as you can imagine.. the Arai feels very light. Mongo say.. less weight feels good.

Lastly.. the infamous visor system.. The visor mounting is every bit as pathetic and dare I say.. prehistoric as I've been hearing for years.. I actually watched a s%#* load of videos on youtube showing how to do a shield change in preparation of the deed. Even the experts, while touting how chimp easy it is, fumbled here and there. Not a good sign. First of all... any time you have dozens of how-to videos showing nothing but how to change a freakin shield, it should give one pause. It made me think of an old Seinfeld joke where he says.. "You know the Chinese have actually seen forks...*pause*..yet they still choose to eat with sticks." You know Arai has been hammered about this issue for years and you know they've actually looked at their competition, and they must have replaced a gazillion broken visor parts, yet they refuse to go to something easier and cheaper to manufacture. It's befuddling. The Antikythera mechanism is simple in comparison. Aria's visor mechanism appears to be designed by a congressional subcommittee made up of non-riders who've never seen or worn a helmet.

Anyway.. I got the clear shield off in about 15 seconds... Took a full 5 minutes of sweating, fumbling, cursing, and sheer paranoia that I'd break something to get the new tinted one on and I eventually got it on by accident. There's nothing intuitive about the process. It's basically like a virgin trying to f@*k in the dark having never seen EXACTLY where the vagina is located although you've seen porn on the web. You're just trying to shove it in any place it'll go. Stupid, stupid design.. er.. the helmet.. not the vagina. My tinted shield is on now and I pray to Allah that I never have to change it again.. I'll probably suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome.

I never would have thought I'd pay this much for a helmet and actually think it was worth the price of admission, but I now have and I do. It'll probably become my "primary" helmet due mainly to the weight and my neck problems, but I'll sure miss the rear view mirror of the Reevu. Once you've used that helmet a while you get spoiled by the feature. Imagine buying a brand new, high end car and it's everything you'd wanted, but it doesn't come with a rear view mirror.  Yes.. it's a better car than you've been driving but trust me.. you'd miss the mirror.

With that said... the Arai Quantum II is the best helmet I've ever owned. It's not perfect.. it's not the quietest.. and the shield system sucks like a Vietnamese tramp, but I've seen the light. I now understand. 

1. The guys at Rhinewest Performance, Inc... makers of the legendary Rhinewest Performance Chip have just produced one last production run for the BMW K1200RS, 2002-04 K1200GT, and early K1200LT. They actually were NOT gonna produce any more, but using an old Jedi mind trick, I talked them into producing this last batch ..Pirates Lair is the exclusive source.. as it should be. If you've been procrastinating on getting one.. now's the time to pull the trigger. In all my years selling these.. I've never met someone who didn't love the results. Me included.

2. Looking for a slipper clutch for your BMW K1200S? Have a fat wallet and understanding wife? Wunderlich carries one.. Price is (are you sitting..) a sphincter busting $1699US, but their quality is generally second to none. I think a bottle of Astroglide comes with the purchase... the warming kind. Sweet!

9. Verholen of Germany now has 50mm bar risers available for the K1200S & K1300S. The K1200S version is a simple bolt on install. The K1300S version comes with a clutch cable extension like the 85mm version, but it will NOT require a longer brake line, unlike the 85mm kit. These will be a nice compromise option for those who want their bars only a little higher (about 2") and a little closer (about 1") to the rider.

10. We just got word that Chicago BMW has closed their doors after almost 20 years of serving riders in the windy city... Geezz.. Yet another victim of Obamunism? Guess we'll never know. I've met and hung out with those guys and sure hate to hear this.. Sorry to hear it guys!!

11. While one dealer closes.. another opens.. BMW of Asheville is scheduled to open on August 3rd!! I'm scheduled to be one of the first customers for some recall work on my K1200S! Woohoo!

9. In my never ending quest to keep youz guyz and galz informed.. we just got word that ZTechnik has 2 new VStream windshields out for the S1000RR.. A Tall Touring Screen (comes in clear only) and a Sport Touring shield (dark tint only). I've already got them on our menu with full specs. Customer comments are just starting to trickle in....

10. R1150R Owners Wanting our Stealth Backrest: Yes.. we discontinued them 3 years ago. and No.. we're not gonna produce any more, but here's an idea for those who've been wanting one of our backrests... While I do NOT get enough requests to order another full production run (60 pieces) of these.. I still get a lot of random requests.. At least 2-3 a month and I always hate turning fellow riders down.. Especially regarding a backrest which will usually make their passengers lives a lot better and the ride more enjoyable. With that said.. last night I had an epiphany hence this note. Rather than me sit on the CNC plans for our R1150R Stealth backrest bracket and not use them, I'm gonna offer them for sale to anyone who might want to pursue producing some of these. A determined soul could probably come up with a few other R1150R owners who might split the cost of producing a handful. With that said.. I'm asking $800 for the plans which is a little less than it cost me to have our R & D people to originally draw them up. It's a proven design with at least 3000 sold while they were in production.. Plans would be complete CNC drawings and specs of our bracket on disk and and the sole owner of the purchaser. I'd be more than glad to furnish the actually backrests parts (which we do still produce) and/or advice as to what you'd need to make things happen. If interested.. email me

The Kentucky Hill Country Rendezvous : August 18-21st, 2011

Where: Lure Lodge, Lake Cumberland, KY
5465 State Park Rd Jamestown Ky 42629
When: August 18-21, 2011 (Arrive Thursday - Leave Sunday)
Reservations: 800-325-1709 or 270-343-3111
$71.95 for Wed and 80.95 for Thur and Fri. Plus tax. .. Be sure to mention that you are with i-BMW.
Agenda: The usual i-bmw tire kicking and general hooliganisms. "Safety" meetings optional. See you there!
Map: Lure Lodge, Lake Cumberland State Resort Park, Kentucky

Standard rooms have two queen beds. Rooms have a balcony with a Lake view. Five accessible rooms have one queen bed; four of these also have a sleeper chair. Main lodge has two floors with step access. . Parking areas are not adjacent to most rooms.

NOTE: I-bmw.com is not an official sponsor of any posted events. Event participation is the sole responsibility of the attendee. Motorcycle riding is potentially dangerous and can result in personal injury or death or lots of velocity awards. You and you alone are responsible for your own safety. Ride within your own ability.

The 12th Annual Deals Gap K12 / K13 Rally: October 6-9th, 2011

Where: Fontana Village Resort
Nearest town: Robbinsville, NC
When: October 6th-9th, 2011 [Thur-Sunday]
Reservations: Direct 800.849.2258

30 lodge rooms w/ 2 queen beds/ns: $85+tax 7-10 2br cabins with 1 queen and 2 twin beds/kitchen/ns: $120+tax When calling, specify room or cabin. Lodge rooms are in the Garden units with parking outside the door. Cabins will be either the Laurel or Hemlock cabins. Reservations for blocked out rooms will end 45 days prior. Saavy? Be sure to mention i-bmw group when booking. Thx to Bert B for arranging this event!!

NOTE: I-bmw.com is not an official sponsor of any posted events. Event participation is the sole responsibility of the attendee. Motorcycle riding is potentially dangerous and can result in personal injury or death or lots of velocity awards.. You and you alone are responsible for your own safety. Ride within your own ability. It's called.. "personal responsibility."

2012 Blue Ridge Parkway K12 / K13 Rally: May 17-20, 2012

Where: Wattstull Inn, just north of Buchanan, Virginia
When: May 17th thru 20th, 2011 (Thur – Sun)

Call Wattstull Inn for reservations.
540-254-1551 / Mention: i-bmw group
SPECIFY ROOM TYPE - single, double, king.. / Rooms are 68 (ish*) per night plus tax (*2011 rates)

Blue Ridge Parkway info and maps can be found here and here

Alternate Lodging (info only) : Super 8 – Bedford or Days Inn – Bedford or Peaks of Otter Lodge