Hunter Mtn & Max bmw

[nytrashman]

went up to hunter today (sunday) and spent all day there. i was quite suprised that max bmw was not there. i heard they were there on sat, but what happened to sun? no bmw demo truck either, not that i wanted to demo a new bike but i thought the demo fleet was supposed to be there? maybe i have this event confused with something else. anyway, for the 2nd year in a row i had a good time, left some of my hard earned cash with some of the vendors, and ate way too much German food. if the MOA rally in Johnson City was a 10 this rated a solid 8.5 and once again i am looking forward to this event next year. i'll post some pics tomorrow after work, i'm too tired (and full) to do it now.

[nplenzick]

went up to hunter today (sunday) and spent all day there. i was quite suprised that max bmw was not there. i heard they were there on sat, but what happened to sun? no bmw demo truck either, not that i wanted to demo a new bike but i thought the demo fleet was supposed to be there? maybe i have this event confused with something else. anyway, for the 2nd year in a row i had a good time, left some of my hard earned cash with some of the vendors, and ate way too much German food. if the MOA rally in Johnson City was a 10 this rated a solid 8.5 and once again i am looking forward to this event next year. i'll post some pics tomorrow after work, i'm too tired (and full) to do it now.

The Demo truck was there just for Saturday, I too was surprised that Max wasn't there Friday or Sunday. The biggest problem with this event is that it seems not to get advance notice until late July. This really hurts the planning process when people need to schedule their time off. I was also disappointed with the the MOA national office as I didn't even know that they were there! They left Saturday night. This event has the potential of being the fall version of Americade. If BMW MOA national doesn't want to step up to the plate then I think someone else will do it.
It was a very good event and it's a shame more people didn't show up as the weather Saturday and Sunday was just about perfect!

[azgman]

I was there last year and again this year. I would say that people "stayed away in droves" this year. I am guessing it was due to the weather forecast. We had two minor showers from Friday AM until Sunday noon... so much for the forecast!

Had a great time, and great riding with friends. BTW the music was great too!

[PAULBACH]

Sunday was a picture perfect days and the riders just keep arriving, arriving and arriving. Favorite seminar on Sunday was John Colandrea who put on one great riding seminar.

[sibud]

The Demo truck was there just for Saturday, I too was surprised that Max wasn't there Friday or Sunday. The biggest problem with this event is that it seems not to get advance notice until late July. This really hurts the planning process when people need to schedule their time off. I was also disappointed with the the MOA national office as I didn't even know that they were there! They left Saturday night. This event has the potential of being the fall version of Americade. If BMW MOA national doesn't want to step up to the plate then I think someone else will do it.
It was a very good event and it's a shame more people didn't show up as the weather Saturday and Sunday was just about perfect!

Check out the date of the first post in this thread.

Not saying it could not have been promoted earlier, but forum members here had a heads up in March. Forum membership has it's privileges.

[BUBBAZANETTI]

i think, unfortunately, this rally suffers from the same problem that most weekend rallies do; everyone gets up and leaves at 7am, so nothing happens on Sunday. this affects vendor and corporate willingness to stay Sunday since a majority of the rally has already packed up and left. i was out of there by 10am or so myself and personally wasn't sure if there was much going on, i figured maybe it was just a continuation of octoberfest with less emphasis on motorcycle stuff by the time Sunday rolled around.

[Friedle]

Thanks for coming Bubba, good to see you there.

You should have stuck around on Sunday, shortly after you headed out the bikes started rolling in.....about 1200 of them on Sunday alone. The vendors were very pleased witht he new crowd, many of them new customers on bikes other than BMWs. This event is somewhat different in that only some of the crowd comes for the entire weekend to either camp or stay in the local lodging. Many of the attendees are day trippers on BMWs and other marques. Since this event is FREE, we can expose many more riders to the BMW MOA style of event, educational opportunities, riding opportunities and entertainment than we can at the National where we do not permit day trippers.

Yes it is too bad that the demo truck was not there on Friday or Sunday. It was MAX BMW who arranged for the truck to be there on Saturday, not BMW Motorrad USA. MAX BMW paid for the truck to be at Hunter instead of paying for the demo truck to be at his dealership. Max also brought down many of his people from the dealership to help staff the event and the demo truck...in addition to bringing in TEAM MAX members to run the FREE off road clinics on Saturday. Max went WAAY beyond the minimum effort level to help insure the success of this event! The look on the faces of those people coming away from the off road clinics said it all.

It would have been nice for corporate BMW to contribute something to this event which is open to ALL BRANDS to help expose other riders to BMW motorcycles and riders, but I guess they have yet to see the value in doing so. Perhaps next year they will be able to participate in at least a limited fashion, if not offering full support.

Friedle

[nplenzick]

Check out the date of the first post in this thread.

Not saying it could not have been promoted earlier, but forum members here had a heads up in March. Forum membership has it's privileges.

It wasn't put on the MOA calendar until August. There were lots of people asking about it but no offical notice until after the national. If the MOA wants this event to be the success that it can be it needs to be announced by the first of the year.

[nytrashman]

i saw too many of the motorcycle vendors packing up and leaving around noon on sunday. i know on the octoberfest side if you were a vendor you were required to stay until 6pm sunday. maybe this is something that should be implemented for the MC vendors as well.

[BUBBAZANETTI]

Thanks for coming Bubba, good to see you there.

You should have stuck around on Sunday, shortly after you headed out the bikes started rolling in.....about 1200 of them on Sunday alone. The vendors were very pleased witht he new crowd, many of them new customers on bikes other than BMWs. This event is somewhat different in that only some of the crowd comes for the entire weekend to either camp or stay in the local lodging. Many of the attendees are day trippers on BMWs and other marques. Since this event is FREE, we can expose many more riders to the BMW MOA style of event, educational opportunities, riding opportunities and entertainment than we can at the National where we do not permit day trippers.

thanks Mike, good seeing you as well.

glad to know you had a busy day Sunday as well. i saw bikes all over the place as i meandered the back roads heading home to the city, i'm sure many of them were heading to hunter!

[Friedle]

i saw too many of the motorcycle vendors packing up and leaving around noon on sunday. i know on the octoberfest side if you were a vendor you were required to stay until 6pm sunday. maybe this is something that should be implemented for the MC vendors as well.

Most of the Oktoberfest vendors are local people and can stay to the very end of Sunday evening.

Many of the motorcycle vendors were from out of state, ie: PA, RI, MA, MI, Long Island , and had a distance to travel back to their home bases. If I required them to stay until 6 pm on Sunday, many of them might have to reconsider coming at all. A far better solution would be to have more attendees come and stay for the duration of the event. I want the motorcycle vendors to come to the event, but I do not want them to feel like they are handcuffed to their booth. I told them all to make their own judgement about when it was time to leave for them. The only major vendor to bail out Saturday night was the BMW MOA membership renewal and T shirt sales booth.

Unfortunately the weather down the mountain did little to convince people that everything was fairly nice at the summit on Friday and Saturday. Many riders waited until Sunday when the weather greatly improved to make the ride up to Hunter. The vendors opened at 9am on Sunday and really didn't start packing to leave until around 3pm, not noon.

Hopefully the "Weather Gods" will treat us more kindly next year, like they did last year. It is the one major factor that can't be planned in advance, or even predicted off location in the present, as this weekend perfectly illustrated.

Friedle

[SNOONE]

Michael, did you say? (The only major vendor to bail out Saturday night was the BMW MOA membership renewal and T shirt sales booth).

I did think it was a little strange that there was no official MOA presence there on Sunday. In fact i was planning to renew my membership there, which I just did online a couple of minutes ago..... Wasn't this an MOA sponsored event?.. I saw a lot of BMW motorcycles there on Sunday and I'm sure not all of them were members.

[BUBBAZANETTI]

lol, did i pass you on Rt 28 Mitch, between Phonecia and Boisville?

[Friedle]

Michael, did you say? (The only major vendor to bail out Saturday night was the BMW MOA membership renewal and T shirt sales booth).

I did think it was a little strange that there was no official MOA presence there on Sunday. In fact i was planning to renew my membership there, which I just did online a couple of minutes ago..... Wasn't this an MOA sponsored event?.. I saw a lot of BMW motorcycles there on Sunday and I'm sure not all of them were members.

To paraphrase the old saying, "From your keyboard to the StL Home Office"



Friedle

[PAULBACH]

If a Colors In The Catskills 'Adversity Award' existed, these two might be our first candidates! Kevin Greenwald (MOA # 124358) and his son Brad endured riding over 1,000 miles thru continuous rain in just 22 hours to attend the event, which also qualified Brad for Iron Butt consideration. In addition, Kevin was tomahawked by a malfunctioning toll gate in Ohio (fortunately wearing a helmet, as the blow was described as 'skull-fracturing force') and upon arrival in Hunter Friday night around midnight, they discovered their reserved room at a local lodge had been mistakenly given away, forcing them to settle for accommodations 60 miles away in Oneonta, NY. Still they ventured over to the Rally both Saturday and Sunday and had a good time.

Thanks for coming all the way from Wisconsin. I personally saw plates from

• Ohio
• CT
• NY
• VT
• MA
• ME
• RI
• NJ
• VA
• WI
• FL
• NC
• AL
• SC
• PA 15 States

• Ontario
• Quebec

Espana

Did I miss anyone?