BMW MOA Rally & BMW RA Rally

[Rob Nye]

Hex, you may want to start smaller for your first rally. What about Finger Lakes over Labor day weekend? It's about 1,000 bikes (I think) so it's one of the larger rallies, but yet small enough to feel "intimate". And it isn't far from us here in South Central PA! Just a thought...

Great idea.

FL is a great rally. I celebrated my 40th there and I'm looking forward to going back for the big five O.

[39520]

Yes, Paul, after all I dealt with on the first Rally Train in '01, I can see that the railroads do not like people and do not want to try "new ideas".

Interesting. I take the train from Virginia to NYC every few months. It's $120 R/T - about 25% of the airfare cost, plus I end up downtown, and I have don't have to take off my shoes or have people go thru my stuff. The train has wifi, plugs for your chargers, and a quiet car where people can't talk on cell phones. The Crescent is awesome for me.

[RevWillie]

I am a big supporter of rail travel, and I am very proud of NC rail and their daily service from Raleigh to Charlotte. I still love and recommend runs on long-distance routes like "Empire Builder". I just wish Amtrak could be flexible enough to load motorcycles on their Express Freight Cars and hook them up to regular routes, such as the"Empire Builder". That would attract a lot of motorcyclists to parts of the country that needed some exploring. It's been done before, in July,2001.

[Rod Sheridan]

All,

I was unable to make it to Sedalia and most likely won't be able to go to the 2013 in Oregon for a whole host of reasons, mainly because it is too far and I have little kids...blah, blah. I have been following the rally threads and it looks awesome, so thanks to all the people who posted pics and descriptions of the rally.

So then I saw that BMW RA has a rally in June 2013 in Asheville, NC, which is 8-9 hours ride for me and I am starting to get the itch. I have never been to a motorcycle rally to I have nothing to compare my own experiences to. I have done some organized rides, but it ain't the same I am sure.

For those of you in the know, how do the two rallies (MOA & RA) compare?

(I searched, nothing came up.)

Well for 2013 you can go to the little clubs rally (RA) and camp at Biltmore, or you can go with the big clubs rally (MOA) and camp in a fairgrounds......LOL

OK, so it's not quite like that, however I'll be returning to Biltmore this year as we really enjoyed our rally there in 2007..

RA is a much smaller rally, without as much of everything, however it does Biltmore, which is kind of hard to beat..........Rod.

[Polarbear]

I attend mostly MOA Rallies and done a few RA ones too. My bottom line is, they're all a blast and you get out of them what you put in. If your a social, easy going person and like the bikes, you'll be fine and enjoy both types of rally. They are certainly different, RA vs. MOA but that's just all fine. Pick and chose yours and keep on smil'in. We'll miss ya'll in Oregon this year, those with less time to ride the USA. Meet later someday. Randy