Chattanooga Riders

[01RedRider]

I would like to hear from Chattanooga area BMW riders to see if anyone is doing or if there is any interest in a fall color ride in late September or October.

[JOHNQUEEN]

I go up to the mountains every chance I get and always try to take a long weekend in the Smokies during the Fall. Let me know what you're interested in and I may join you.

[Norwood]

Got a BMW owners/riders from Southeast meeting up at Ironhorse Lodge Oct. 23, 23, 24, 09

www.ironhorsenc.com


Informal gathering... ride, eat, kick tires, lie, eat, ride, kick more tires....repeat!

all are welcome.

[Norwood]

Chattanooga (Harrison) getting BMW/Ducati dealer, coming this Dec 09....:clap

http://pandorasmotorsports.com/

[warredon]

Man that is good news, we need a local dealer. Do you know exactly where in Harrison?

[Norwood]

Man that is good news, we need a local dealer. Do you know exactly where in Harrison?

Hwy 58, near the Honda dealer....toward 153.... the vacant building is former boat dealer, next door to a Taco Bell...

Web site says Dec. 15th target date

[01RedRider]

I may be able to do my Christmas shopping at a BMW shop in Chattanooga :clap I hope they are going to be active in promoting events in our area.

[warredon]

I was out for a short ride a few days ago on my K1 and thought I would stop by the new shop just to see how far they had gotten. The building still looked empty and still had the "For Lease" sign in the window. I'm sure it won't be long and they will be busier than a beehive in there.

About two weeks ago I went to their temporary website and made contact with him via email. He responded quickly with a newsletter attached to let me know their timetable, and said that their new website should go live within a week (and it did).

It will feel strange to have a local dealer again, I don't think we have had one since the late 70's or very early 80's. That one was also a Honda dealer and was located on Hwy 153, I think it's a pawn shop now. After they shut their doors I started going to Rees BMW in Shelbyville TN. I really liked Clyde Rees and his son David, but I think they finally closed up shop some time in the mid 90's. Since then it has been BMW of Atlanta (120 miles) or the Internet. Clyde died about three years ago and his son David died in a house fire along with his wife maybe 8-10 years ago.

[01RedRider]

I met the owner of the new shop today, they were in the parking lot. I just welcomed them to Chattanooga and told them we were glad to have them open up here.

[JOHNQUEEN]

I've got to say, I'm very excited about the new dealership in Chattanooga. The owner is a nice, extremely approachable, experienced guy who has been with BMW corporate for years. He knows his stuff and you can just tell he's going to do his best to be an exceptional dealership.

I took a break from my work on Tuesday and rode over to the store just to see what was going on. In the 30 minutes I was there, I met three other riders who had done the same thing. In the midst of trying to open his store, Justin was out in the parking lot talking to all of us.

Let's do all we can to support the new store. Obviously, he's taking on a lot of risk and liability opening a new motorcycle store in this economy. I am thrilled I don't have to ride to Knoxville, Atlanta, or Birmingham for service. I intend to give him my full support.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

JQ

[Norwood]

Good to meet you John at our new dealer yesterday,

In talking with the owner, the target date is still the 15th of December, with a rider's get together and some food on the 19th..... Understand the GRAND opening will be held in early spring....but looks like the doors will open this year and by the 15th...

I certainly intend to support our local dealer, Like John said....quite a challenge in today's economy....

I really like Justin's attitude toward future customers and wanting to get the area BMW riding community united with some rides and events.

[01RedRider]

I am very happy to hear that they are interested in putting together local events, I work Saturdays but will do all I can to help.

[01RedRider]

I saw Justin yesterday and he told me he is running behind on the opening. Looks like the new date is the 19th of December.

[Norwood]

I was going by this week to check thing out again.... I understand, getting all the ducks in a row is kinda hard this time of year too!... But will be there on the 19th.

[saddleman]

I was going by this week to check thing out again.... I understand, getting all the ducks in a row is kinda hard this time of year too!... But will be there on the 19th.
Hi Don: I might just take a ride over there on the 19th what time are you thinking you might be there?.

[Norwood]

Hi Don: I might just take a ride over there on the 19th what time are you thinking you might be there?.

Dave, I should be there by 9:30 AM or so... I am in Chattanooga this week, so may get by to check on progress Monday or Tuesday...

Have a good ride over.... I get an updated posted this week.

[JOHNQUEEN]

Hey Guys,

I talked to Mike who is the service writer at the new BMW store in Chatt. He told me the delay was due to some unfinished computer issues with BMW but they should be ready to open their service department by the 19th.

Unfortunately for Justin, he can't get his hands on any new bikes until BMW gets their act together so I'm sure he's a bit frustrated. But I had a great conversation with Mike and am very impressed with the team of folks Justin is putting together to serve the area. I'm so glad I will not have to be spending entire days going out of town to get service done.

We just need to be patient. I think Christmas will come a bit early this year -- around the 19th to be exact. Looking forward to seeing ya'll on the big day.

[Norwood]

Hey Guys,

I talked to Mike who is the service writer at the new BMW store in Chatt. He told me the delay was due to some unfinished computer issues with BMW but they should be ready to open their service department by the 19th.

Unfortunately for Justin, he can't get his hands on any new bikes until BMW gets their act together so I'm sure he's a bit frustrated. But I had a great conversation with Mike and am very impressed with the team of folks Justin is putting together to serve the area. I'm so glad I will not have to be spending entire days going out of town to get service done.

We just need to be patient. I think Christmas will come a bit early this year -- around the 19th to be exact. Looking forward to seeing ya'll on the big day.

John and others, I dropped in today and met some of the staff, did meet Mike and Justin's father as well..... they are working very hard to get things together, but like you mentioned...they got it together, where they have control....but the getting of bikes and parts is in the hands of corporate BMW...and that wheel is moving slowly..... I plan on being there on Saturday to see and meet new BMW folks, it will be a good day and good welcome for area riders/owners to come by and say Welcome and enjoyed the fellowship..

I am sure by the Grand Opening in the Spring....the house will be in order!

I have my 05 GS for sale, so going to carry it to have a Used on the floor for sale.
See you folks on Saturday....

[saddleman]

I think I'll wait until the grand opening this spring. I've got a lot to do before my next trip.

Don let us know how it went saturday.

[Norwood]

I think I'll wait until the grand opening this spring. I've got a lot to do before my next trip.

Don let us know how it went saturday.

Dave, did you get any of the White stuff?

The riders welcome went well...large turnout for the lousy weather...but several where able to ride in from the local area.

The Offical Grand Opening will be this Spring, should have all the BMW stuff by then ....but a good showing of riders/owners....Mayor of Chattanooga cut the ribbon, cool guy...he hung around for long time and talk to the riders....we showed him the LT and all the goodies...moving wind screen and all....

BTW, Hwy 64 along the Ocoee River is still closed and may not reopen until last of January.....think are are going to build a rock shelter bridge over the road or at least they are talking about it....

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

later

[JOHNQUEEN]

Don,
Great to see you at the gathering. It was very encouraging to see so many folks who were willing to come to an empty building just to meet and greet the new staff. I sure hope the store goes well.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

[saddleman]

Dave, did you get any of the White stuff?

The riders welcome went well...large turnout for the lousy weather...but several where able to ride in from the local area.

The Offical Grand Opening will be this Spring, should have all the BMW stuff by then ....but a good showing of riders/owners....Mayor of Chattanooga cut the ribbon, cool guy...he hung around for long time and talk to the riders....we showed him the LT and all the goodies...moving wind screen and all....

BTW, Hwy 64 along the Ocoee River is still closed and may not reopen until last of January.....think are are going to build a rock shelter bridge over the road or at least they are talking about it....

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

later

Yes we had plenty of the white stuff here. It would have been rather dumb of me to head that way. I was planing to ride Hwy 64 home. I don't guess that would have worked out very well either.

I was able to get the wife's 55 chevy ready for her to go to church in it tomorrow though by staying home:thumb.

Have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year Yourself.

[01RedRider]

Merry Christmas to all, I hope to ride with all of you in the coming year. I think the new shop may be the key to the gathering of the Chattanooga area riders.

[Norwood]

Hope so 01, did you make it Saturday..if so ... I missed you...

Merry Christmas and Hope we can endure the New Year!

[01RedRider]

I have the office by myself this week and next week, 05:30 till 18:00 Monday through Saturday, by the time I can get by it's to late. My son went by and had nothing but good things to say about the staff he met.

Merry Christmas,
Steve

[01RedRider]

Introducing Pandora’s January 2010 STREET vs DIRT Capture the Flag event.
This will be the first of many Pandora’s events designed to provide customers the opportunity to use their
machines as they were designed by the manufacturers. All bike make and models are welcome.
Secondary purpose of this event is to dial in suspension of customer bikes (I will explain further below).
There will be two teams, ‘Street’ and ‘Dirt’. Both teams will depart from the parking lot in the same wave, we
will all ride together to and up Suck Creek until our routes fork, at which time the Dirt team will split off into
Prentice Cooper, and the Street team will continue on around the mountain to find their flag. This is not a race,
but the winning team will be the one that makes it back to the shop with the flag first…. In the name of
competition I have designed the routes to be near equal time-wise (2.5 hrs.) All team members must be in the
parking lot before they are considered to have ‘returned’ with the flag. Each member of the winning team will
be entered into a raffle for a free Scorpion helmet.
I will have a flag hidden on each route, the object is to locate and take possession of the flag, one rider from
the team must ride with the flag displayed back to the shop… again all riders from each team must be in the
shop parking lot in order to have fully ‘returned’.
The flags can only be located by GPS Coordinates, which I will provide the morning of the event. I know most
of you have GPS Units; we will also have Pandora’s Demo bikes in each team that are equipped with such
hardware.
As a complimentary feature we will be offering to set up suspension of customer bikes from
8-9:00am before we depart the parking lot. After the event Customers are urged to provide our Tech team with
feedback so we can further adjust settings to your liking. The purpose of this is to help Customers not only
improve their riding skills but also extract the most potential out of their machines.
Note this event is a fair weather event, if Saturday the 23rd is poor weather we will reschedule for Sunday the
24th…..if the weekend is a wash then we will push it to another weekend.
Event Itinerary (please arrive at the shop gassed up):
8:00-8:30am Event registration at Pandora’s European Motorsports
8:30-8:45am Route review, communication of GPS Coordinates for flags.
8:45-9:15am Wrap up suspension jobs, Saddle up, Departure
12pm Burgers and soda at the shop, raffle drawing for winning team, beleaguering of losing
team
Registrations the morning of the event are welcome, though I am compiling a rider list. If you would like to
participate please send a note to justin.prann@pandorasmotorsports.com containing the following info:
Name
Phone number
Make and model of bike you will be riding
Team you wish to ride for (Street or Dirt)
There is no entry fee for this event, however there is an optional $5 donation bucket to offset costs of hosting
and burgers


4784 Highway 58 – Chattanooga, TN 37416
ph (423) 468-4104 fax (423) 468-4089
www.pandorasmotorsports.com
THE ULTIMATE RIDING MACHINE™

[Norwood]

Hope to be there, will have to be cheerleader, off the GSA for a couple of weeks. Having a 'scope' on knee this week...the "GS two step" was getting harder to do.

Hope to see you folks there...

[JOHNQUEEN]

Don, Great to see you at Pandora's today for the event. You're a real trooper coming up even though you couldn't ride. Hope the knee mends well and you're back on your bike soon. We've got to catch some roads together.

See ya soon,

JQ

[Norwood]

Thanks John, was good to see you and great crowd to come and to support our new dealer and meet and ride together.

Hopefully I will be back in the saddle in a couple weeks and we can hit a few roads.

I think that we should look into getting all our area riders together for some type club or group.... Chartered or not....but have a good database of local riders.

[JOHNQUEEN]

I think that we should look into getting all our area riders together for some type club or group.... Chartered or not....but have a good database of local riders.

Justin and I were talking about the same thing. I think something is going to happen. I suggested he start putting together a data base of those riders interested in networking together. He agreed and talked about starting a club.

[alabeemer]

Ya know...I think something is about to happen too! :thumb Great to see both of you yesterday too!

[JOHNQUEEN]

Vance,

Great to see you and meet your wife. We're so glad to have you and your buds travel up to Chatt. I know the road travels both ways and I'm looking forward to seeing you in your neck of the woods.

[01RedRider]

Would have been good to meet you guys but I had to work Saturday. My son and I did ride in to work that day and came to the shop for a hamburger. What a great turn out..I do hope a club or some sort of group forms from this.

[warredon]

Steve, it was nice to meet and talk to you and Derek last week. I'm certain that we will be able to do some riding together this season. I hope that the new shop will help support some type of group rides, even if it is some sort of once a month dinner ride after the shop closes.

We have not had an organized BMW motorcycle club in the Chattanooga area since the mid 80's. We may not need a chartered club, but it sure would be nice to get together once in a while for a group ride, tech session, cookout, etc.

Here are a few pictures you asked me to post that I took last weekend at the shop. I had to post the pics of the Nortons because it strikes a familiar chord in the harp strings of memory of the one I had over 35 years ago.

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/warredon/Pandoras/P1030830Custom.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/warredon/Pandoras/P1030834Custom.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/warredon/Pandoras/P1030831Custom.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/warredon/Pandoras/P1030835Custom.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/warredon/Pandoras/P1030828Custom.jpg

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm291/warredon/Pandoras/P1030818Custom.jpg

[JOHNQUEEN]

Hey Guys,

Can someone turn "winter" off. Seems like it's been going on forever. I got out for a little while today just to get the bike warmed up and feel a little wind in the face but didn't last for long. Hopefully, things will warm up soon and we can get out of hibernation.

[Norwood]

yep John this Global Warming thing is awful....

I am hoping that it will be warmer this next weekend, I am supposed to head down to Big Bend with some folks for a week ride.

Be glad to had 64 open again on the Ocoee River as well.... I understand it will be March 30, last word I heard..

[warredon]

yep John this Global Warming thing is awful....

I am hoping that it will be warmer this next weekend, I am supposed to head down to Big Bend with some folks for a week ride.

Be glad to had 64 open again on the Ocoee River as well.... I understand it will be March 30, last word I heard..


It will be nice to have Hwy 64 open again after that nasty rock slide. I just keep getting this feeling that it won't happen by March 30 like they say, and I'm usually the optimist.

[gmenglhart]

Hey guys, I joined in the Capture the Flag run the other weekend and enjoyed the gathering back at Pandora. I get to ride most weekends and would like to cruise around with some other BMW riders. I'll check back on this thread in a few days.

[01RedRider]

I am with you guys we have had enough winter. I hope you know about the track day Pandora’s European Motorsports is having on March 15th, 2010. That should warm things up. I was planning on going and the Dr. moved my wife's knee surgery up to the 6th, so there is no way I'll be able to make this one.

[JOHNQUEEN]

Hey guys, I joined in the Capture the Flag run the other weekend and enjoyed the gathering back at Pandora. I get to ride most weekends and would like to cruise around with some other BMW riders. I'll check back on this thread in a few days.

Hey Gary,

Look forward to riding some together when it gets a bit warmer (some day). I ride very chance I get and will be running down to the "chicken" gathering on Memorial Weekend. I live on Signal Mountain and usually am drawn to Tellico and that neck of the woods.

Feel free to get in touch when you want to roll.

[JOHNQUEEN]

yep John this Global Warming thing is awful....

I am hoping that it will be warmer this next weekend, I am supposed to head down to Big Bend with some folks for a week ride.

Hey Buddy,

Hope the leg is better and the weather breaks for you. I would love to be going with you. Hope you send some pics and let us know how the trip is rolling. This will be a good test ride for you before Alaska this summer.

We need to get together soon and compare notes on the BIG trip coming up. Five months from right now, I'll be getting my last night's sleep in the lower 48 before heading to BC. I can't wait!!!!

Take care and keep in touch.

jq

[JOHNQUEEN]

Hey Guys,

We've got the first great riding day of the year tomorrow--Sunday 2/21. I'm going to head out about 10am. I don't have any specific route in mind, just looking forward to some wind in the face, and plan to be out most of the day and afternoon. I'll check back Sunday morning to see if anyone wants to ride. Let me know....

[01RedRider]

Hello Everyone,

This is a copy of an E-mail I received from Justin at Pandora's European Motorsports. I am stuck doing yard work but this would be fun for sure. If the weather is bad I'll be there.

John Queen, sorry I missed your post, my son, a friend and myself took about a four hour ride Sunday we would have enjoyed having you ride with us. It sure felt good to get out.

Ride safe,
Steve



BMW Motorrad’s Motorsport team returns to World Superbike racing in thirteen countries on five continents in 2010, with the first race taking place this Sunday at Phillip Island, Australia.



The Ducati has not only been the most successful manufacturer in the series over the years, but their passion for racing has shaped their bike line up.



For some interesting reading on the Phillip Island Circuit please go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillip_Island_Grand_Prix_Circuit



This Sunday let’s show our support for the racing community and get together at Bud’s Sports Bar (www.budssportsbar.com) on Brainerd Rd for some food, drink, and racing entertainment. We are securing a section for race fans in the smoke free dining room, all TVs will be directed to the action on Speed TV. There will be two races, details below:



* Sun. Feb. 28, 2010 3:00PM ES

* FIM World Superbike

* Phillip Island - Race 1

* Sun. Feb. 28, 2010 4:00PM ET

* FIM World Superbike

* Phillip Island - Race 2

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Phillip_Island_Grand_Prix_Circuit.svg/800px-Phillip_Island_Grand_Prix_Circuit.svg.png

Justin Prann

Pandora's European Motorsports

shop: 423 468 4104

cell: 423 991 5003

fax: 423 468 4089

[01RedRider]

The next meeting of the BMW Riders of Chattanooga will take place on Tuesday, June 1. The location will be the Fox Cay Restaurant, which is in the Island Cove Marina located at 6701 Highway 58 in Harrison, about 5 miles north of Pandora’s European Motorsports. Stay to the left as you enter the marina. The restaurant is only a few hundred yards off of Rt. 58. There is a private section of the restaurant that is to the right as you enter the front door. We have a reservation at 6:00 pm for dinner and socializing, to be followed by the meeting at 7:00 pm. The phone number for the restaurant is 423-648-2800.

It would be greatly appreciated if you would RSVP Rob @ rdm14@att.net and let him know if you will be attending, so that he can give them a count for dinner.

If you have yet to return your membership application, please bring it with you to the meeting.