BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria

BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria

Clubs are usually formed where and when a group of enthusiastic people with a common interest get together to do their thing as individuals, yet collectively to achieve a specific goal.  Such a goal can be to serve, to strive, to retain, maintain, produce, prevent, protect, preserve, collect, destroy, enjoy or whatever other verb the reader would care to conjure up.  Motorcycling people can be said to serve any number of these goals, including wanting to destroy the bad image associated with two-wheeled powered vehicles on the part of the ordinary and motoring public.  To this end we are committed to do our utmost.

BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria - Members

The BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria is of recent origin, a product of the middle of the last decade.  For many years Pretoria-based BMW bikers wishing to participate in Club activities had to do so through Club Central which is the name of the Johannesburg motorcycling equivalent.

BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria - Members

But eventually big clubs tend to break up into smaller clubs, for whatever reason.  There was a time when travelling the odd 120 km round-trip to JHB was not the hassle that it is today, what with the price of petrol, crowded roads, drunken drivers and the multitudinous criminal acts encountered all over.  Also, we wanted to establish an own biking culture, which is difficult to describe accurately, yet is all pervasive in a ‘local’ area.

Beginnings

The Club started off as a monthly after-work social held for friends and customers at Bruce Meyers` previous bike shop called Frates Motors, in a road by the same name in Rietfontein.  The idea caught on and soon bikers from all over Pretoria were popping in for a drink and a chat and looking forward to the next get-together.

BMW Motorcycle Club Pretoria - Extreme Riding

When Bruce moved to his new premises in Ockerse Street, the crowd naturally followed suit and that was when the idea of our own Pretoria club, (initially affiliated to ‘big brother’ in JHB) was hatched.  Our first problem was: What do we do for a club house? But Bruce and Wendy showed the way out by kindly offering, without obligation, part of their premises for this purpose, plus free food at the monthly first-Friday socials every other month (since changed to every month).  We naturally accepted with gratitude, convened a general meeting where guys and gals offered their services for free, and before long we were in business.

Vision and mission

The Club’s vision is also its mission, namely that of ‘fostering fellowship, through safe, supportive and responsible riding, and enjoyment of BMW motorcycles in a courteous manner’.  Its motto is ‘Shared Riding Pleasure’, borrowed partly from the BMW slogan of ‘Sheer Riding Pleasure’.

Grand opening

Under the heading ‘BMW Bike Club for the Jacaranda City’, the first Club newsletter, a two-pager (it had no name then but after some experimentation, has become ‘Spoke `n Piston’ ), announced that 7th July 1995 was an auspicious occasion for BMW bike aficionados in Pretoria.  This was when some forty guys and gals gathered after work at Bavarian Motorcycles in the heart of the city to celebrate the birth of the first BMW motorcycle club in Pretoria.  The late Barry Brody, (then) Manager- Motorcycles at BMW, opened the evening’s proceedings by congratulating the many Pretoria and environment BMW bikers on the Club’s formation, adding that BMW motorcycle clubs seem to be blossoming throughout South and Southern Africa, even as far away as Windhoek in Namibia.  This is good news for BMW bikers and all clubs should work towards establishing strong ties with one another, for the common good.

The Committee

The first Club committee comprised James McClelland: Chairman; Kim O’Connor: Secretary; Lodewyk Steyn: Treasurer; Francois Swanepoel: Events; and members Vic Alloway, Rob Hughes and Max Youngleson.

Since then, we have had four other chairmen, being: Adriaan Scheepers, Richard Hussey, Mike Hennessy and sitting presently, Deon Gericke.  Committee meetings were held at the Club House during the hour immediately preceding every Noggin.  This was fine with a small-membership club but nowadays these meetings are held over an entire evening every month, showing what intricacies are involved in running a club of this nature.

Growth

The list of paid-up members of this newly formed Club numbered seventeen on opening night.  (Of these only five are still members.) By 1st August, it had grown to 32.  By the end of 1999 with a membership of 160, the Club exceeded the minimum requirement of 100 members to enable it to earn a seat on the BMW Clubs Africa Management Committee.  A proud day for Pretoria BMW bikers indeed!

Country membership is also provided for at a reduced fee because of the impracticability of such members` travelling long distances to attend functions and to participate in rides.  Bona fide students also form a sub group at a reduced rate.  We have six honorary members;  Hennie de Beer has been with us from the beginning and fullfilled the function of barman for many years, Henri Heyns, long time editor of our club newsletter, Spoke & Piston, and Allie Scheepers, who performed the unenviable task of club secretary for many years.  Bruce and Wendy Meyers, as well as Simon Pilfold, as owners of Bavarian Motorcycles, have supported the club in numerous ways since its inception, and were therefore also unanimously nominated as honorary lifetime members.

Membership is open to anyone interested in motorcycling and/or BMW products.  This means that you don’t even have to own a motorcycle to be allowed into the Club, but there are enough enthusiasts around who will do their best to get you mobile on a bike marque of which many types and sizes exist, making a decision on which one possibly the most pleasurable but difficult exercise in one`s existence.

It has been said that your motorcycle is a placid and exciting friend, yet a treacherous and vicious companion.  It waits until you’re careless or drunk and then turns on you.  Enjoy your biking but take care so that you will arrive at where you wish to be.

www.motorbikehub.co.za

Baehr Motorcycle Communications

Dear Motorcycles

Communication is important part of our life. Baehr products will give possibility to spend time together interractively, wether riding two-up or in a group.

Riders who have never experienced communication on a motorcycle, will propably not miss it. Riders, who experience improved motorcycling technology never go back. And riders who experience Baehr technology ? They wouldn’t do without sopfiscation and convience of their Baehr intercom or bike-to-bike radio systems ! Communication is the most important part of our life. Baehr products will give possibility to spend time together interactively, whether riding two-up or in group!

Make those long highway trips a lot more enjoyable. Give yourself and your passenger some musical entertainment for more smiles per hour. Any standard audio device with a 2.5mm or 3.5mm jack will work with your Baehr system – MP3 players, MiniDisk players, CD players, AM/FM radios, satellite radios, and even your old cassette player. Just plug it in, turn it on, and ride into the sunset!

A Motorcycle Intercom System is designed for conversation on a motorcycle between the rider and the passenger; Experience clear voice communication with living room quality audio and no external wind noise.

A Motorcycle Radio (Bike to Bike) System is designed for push-to-talk conversation between two or more individual motorcyclists. Now you can easily communicate with other riders for greater safety and convenience.

Baehr Communication Systems work with any helmet style: full-face, flip-up, or open-face.

Balanco Motorbikes

At Balanco Motorcycles we strive to deliver you the best quality motorcycles available from China. Owner, Tony Balanco, who has over 30 years of motorcycle experience personally

visits China on a regular basis to hand-select only the best-quality motorcycles available from various factories in China. “If we are willing to put our family name on it, then we have to trust the brand to be only of the highest quality”. The name “Balanco” was chosen to give the brand a personal touch, which our customers in South Africa can easily identify and associate with.
When the motorcycles arrive from China semi-assembled, they are put through a strict quality controlled assembly process at Balanco’s headquarters in Cape Town, designed to ensure that the motorcycles are properly assembled to meet quality standards. All the finest details are inspected before the motorcycles are sold. Once the motorcycles are assembled one of each model of motorcycles is road tested and driven by Mr. Balanco personally to ensure that the motorcycles meet all quality criteria. By test driving the motorcycles after assembly, Balanco can also continuously monitor the quality and performance of the motorcycles.

At Balanco we strive to deliver high service levels to our customers. We know how important back up service and spare parts are, and therefore we pride ourselves in knowing that Balanco has got one of the best back-up parts divisions for Chinese motorcycles available. Balanco imports large quantities of back-up parts directly from China, to ensure that we can deliver only the best service to our customers.

So whether you are purchasing a Balanco motorcycle to zip around town with, to beat the traffic, to save you on fuel costs, or simply to have fun, with various models to choose from, whatever your needs are, we at Balanco will surely be able to offer you the best quality, best value motorcycles available.