BMW Club Oxford Section Report for March 2015
And so as I write this on the 1st March winter is officially over! In spite of the dark days and the rather cold and damp weather, the last month has had some excellent events for the Oxford Section.
Following on from the talk by Ian Mutch of the Motorcycle Action Group (MAG), I noted that we got a mention in the latest copy of their magazine, ‘The Road’. Ian pointed out that by the time he left the talk at the Sun Inn half of those attending were signed up members of MAG and that if the country’s bikers could sign up at the same rate we would have a fantastic voice in the corridors of power. I make no apologies for suggesting that all of us should be members of MAG and if you are not, go to http://www.mag-uk.org and join up now!
BMW launched the F800R, R1200R and R1000RR new models on the 7th February and the section joined in the fun with stands at both North Oxford Garage (NOG) and at Bahnstormer, Maidenhead. The added attraction of bacon rolls and hot drinks at Bahnstormers, Maidenhead and a hog roast at NOG brought in a good selection of prospective customers. The Club did well with signing up new club members with John Wheeler signing up 6 at Maidenhead and Rosemary & David Hicks another 10 at NOG; well done to all those who helped as well plus our thanks to both dealers for their excellent hospitality.
Over the winter the section has been meeting at Uffington Village Hall and on the 8th February a talk on the history of oil technology by Guy Lachlan of Classic Oils kept a full house fascinated with loads of questions. Some of the answers were quite surprising as Guy explained the logic for all those numbers on the containers and chemicals added for various reasons. As Guy pointed out, if you ride an old bike you need to know which type of oil works best in your machine. If you don’t know or have doubts, give Classic Oils a ring on 01296 488927 (www.classic-oils.net) for a definitive answer and sales of a suitable oil; they are based at 10A Bessemer Crescent, Aylesbury, HP19 8TF.
What the cold and miserable days do encourage is the sort of social gathering that took place at the Sudbury House Hotel on the 22nd February. This annual “Sunday Lunch”, ably organised by Bob Mack, had around 60 members and friends tucking into some fine food and wine. The section Chairman, Steve Moxey brought us up to date in his after dinner speech on a number of Club issues but with the confidence that the Section will have a good future. Prior to everyone sitting down, the treasurer, Geoff Clough had gently convinced everyone that it was in their best interests to buy some raffle tickets! There were lots of donated prizes including an SDoc100 cleaning kit donated by NOG with our thanks. For those who didn’t have the right tickets you do have the good feeling that you helped support the Air Ambulance, the charity the section is supporting this year. Geoff said “we raised £93.19 for the Air Ambulance from this raffle, so well done to all”. This makes the total £465 so far and you can donate by clicking on the helicopter on the Club website.
As this was a motorcycle club event I must mention in despatches that John Dillon braved the storms to be the only one to travel to and from the event on his bike. He did say it was rather wet and stormy on the ride home!
The last of the indoor meets will take place at Uffington with a presentation by Richard Millington on “The World of BMW” touring. Should be interesting and I’ll report on this next month.
Towards the end of March Rob Allin’s infamous Hotel Weekend in Bournemouth will be underway. I look forward to hearing about the fun and games from those attending. I seem to remember it snowed last year!
The natter nights should start to have more bikes appearing as the days get longer and the weather improves (?!) It was hoped that the 6 who joined at the Maidenhead event would pop along to the Dashwood Arms, Piddington on the 3rd March; maybe we’ll see you there next month? While on the subject of natter nights you need to know that the meetings on the 2nd Tuesday of the month that used to take place at the Harcourt Arms will now be at The Wagon & Horses, Southmoor in future as the Harcourt is being refurbished.
The first ride out this year will be to the sea side led by Terry Barrett on the 12th April and his plan sounds like it will be fun ‘so get those bikes fettled and ready.
As the weather forecast is good for the first weekend of Spring it reminds me of the old saying:- “Spring has sprung, the flowers is ris, I wonder where the bikers is!”
John L Broad
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