BMW Club Oxford Service Day at Bahnstormer BMW, Thames Valley Maidenhead – Short Report

Bahnstormer have recently renovated their dealerships at Alton and Thames Valley (Maidenhead) which created a great opportunity for a BMW Club event! As it is early in the year we thought a focus on ‘servicing’ would be a good idea and Bahnstormer agreed. Servicing is a topic that always arouses interest and for some members is a love hate relationship – ‘you can’t live with it (sometimes) and you can’t live without it! To steal from a well known saying.

Saturday January 23rd was the chosen day and Dean Buck, Terry Merritt – Service Manager and Rob Smith – Workshop Foreman were kind enough to host the event and provide access to the workshop and technical staff for questions. The Oxford Section contributed to the event with a recruitment desk, new Oxford Section section video, GS 911 demo and expert members to answer questions about the club and motorcycles.

The day started with some excellent bacon butties, provide by Bahnstormer, which went down very well at an average of 1.9 consumed for the 39 members who registered for the event. In defence of everyone’s waistline we think the actual attendance was 50+ so ‘butty’ consumption was better than the official figures show.

The heart of the event was the Bahnstormer workshop tour which was very popular and was restricted by time to about 20 people. Terry the service manager and Rob the workshop foreman led the tours and answered the questions about BMW service and warranty.

There were K1600 and R1200 engines partly disassembled so there was a good chance to look inside them. Both engines look like the insides of beautifully engineered mechanical watches and were a joy to see for those interested in the finer details.

Technicians were on hand to be able to answer any specific questions from the members. One of which concerned the availability of parts for older machines and the servicing of these machines. Bahnstormer assured us that they do have an extensive stock and they have technicians skilled in the workings of the older types of BMW who can service the machines to the high standard required. They also have the ability to source any parts they might not have from the extensive dealer network.

The workshop tour and talk proved to be really popular and informative. Bahnstormer Thames Valley staff really put their heart and soul into it.

While all this was going on Steve Moxey demonstrated the value of the latest computer based GS911 diagnostic tool that has been developed in South Africa by a third party. Steve explained the benefits of the latest version that can be read through a smartphone, on the road side, if necessary.

If all that wasn’t enough we had the latest Section Video Creation, by Brian Garforth, running on TV screens around the dealership and mingling amongst us Michael Dore was available with technical tips for the older bikes. Mike Delacoe, who runs the Club Tool Hire Service, was also on hand to answer questions on what was available and how to obtain the equipment. Thanks to Brian for his efforts and to Michael and Mike for joining us for the day.

Our recruitment drive continued with Rosemary, David and Eddie doing a fine job; welcome to the new members who joined during the day.

On the day Bahnstormer Thames Valley made available Event discounts of 20% on goods in stock, 10% on clothing in stock and special deals on bikes, which many took advantage of.

In summary a great day that really enlightened those who joined us. Thanks for your support. For those who couldn’t make it we will try and do it again. Meanwhile please watch out for the next joint Event, with Bahnstormer Thames Valley at their Maidenhead showroom, SL6 7NG, which will be a Touring Themed Day on the 23rd April 2016 starting at 11.00. There are planned to be presentations from a BMW Mottorad Tour leader, A Garmin technical expert available to answer questions, Oxford Section display of past tours. Bahnstormer offers on clothing, accessories, etc. Food, tea and coffee will be available. All are welcome.

A special thanks to those involved in organising the Service day, to Tim Bolderston for his work behind the scenes and to everyone at Bahnstormer Thames Valley, especially those who came in on their day off, the effort and enthusiasm helped make the event a success.

Oxford Section report compiled by Steve Moxey, Bob Mack and John Broad

PS:Watch out for the full article in the Next Journal