OTL – don´t get much feedback

[Bobs98]

Looking forward to my first issue after rejoining recently.

[chewbacca]

[QUOTE=Bobs98 »]Looking forward to my first issue after rejoining recently.[/QUOTE]
So am I!!! Didn’t rejoin, just joined. When IS that next one coming???? It was supposed to be Mar/Apr and we almost into May.

[JACOBS KAREN]

It should be in the mail within a week. I think you’ll like it.

[HardFarFast]

QWIK Q:

are there “Day Passes” at the Biltmore National Rally to be purchased? If so, for how much$?
I’m housing with a friend near by and have no need to camp on the Biltmore/Rally grounds.

[HardFarFast]

I mean to purchase a “Day Pass” at the gate, at the entrance to the estate? I seem to remember there was such at the last National there.
anybody know? who can I ask for a definitive answer?

[JACOBS KAREN]

Good morning HardFarFast. I forwarded you question to our Rally Committee. You should get the answer posted here sometime today.

[Bobs98]

My March -April copy of OTL arrived yesterday. It looks FANTASTIC! A major improvement over what I remember from several years ago.

Now I have a lot more reading to do. Thanks!

[JACOBS KAREN]

[QUOTE=HardFarFast »]I mean to purchase a “Day Pass” at the gate, at the entrance to the estate? I seem to remember there was such at the last National there.
anybody know? who can I ask for a definitive answer?[/QUOTE]
The answer is; [B]There will not be day passes.[/B]
Regular non-rally admission to the Biltmore is $59 at the gate.
Pre-registration to the Rally, which includes unlimited access to the Biltmore mansion and grounds is $65. For $6 more than the regular estate admission, allows you all the benefits of the Rally. Vendors, seminars, entertainment etc. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

[chewbacca]

Got my copy yesterday. Ooooooooooh SHINEY! Great pics.

[FISCHER MARTIN]

HI, saw the post about number of issues, there were originally 9 or 10 issue of 82 pages. It was reduced to 6 issues due to the effort required to create each individual issue. Since there are now 6 issues, the editor has been increasing the page count to 112 pages. This allows for a more flexible publishing and printing scheduale. It has also reduced the costs of of mailing and printing.

[CREASMAN CAROL]

To those of you who have newly joined (or rejoined) the RA, I want to use your comments about the lack of activity with postings to the Forum and questions about the frequency of OTL issues as a vehicle for my comments about the club and its magazine. The RA is in the middle of a major change period. When the previous Editor of OTL died, it obviously set off a giant power struggle within the Club that produced a lot of fall out – from top to bottom. People who had been deeply involved in the RA were pushed out or dropped out and there was a struggle for control of OTL.
Change is always hard, both for individuals and for Clubs. Major changes are most always very intense. This change within the Club has been particularly difficult and lasted longer that it should due to several factors. The 2 primary factors, as I see them, have been a lack of leadership from the Club President(s) and the attitude of the new Editor of OLT.
The new Editor decided to change everthing about the magazine, announcing that the main focus of OTL would be the new BMW S1000RR bike and Racing Coverage. He also announced that complaints against BMW corporate or BMW bikes would not be allowed. That upset many members, who complained. Those who dared to speak-up in “Letters to Editor” were dealt with harshly. They were basically told that if they didn’t like it – stuff it. This is where lack of leadership by the Club President came into play. The Editor should have been reminded that OLT was not his personal magazine to do with as he pleased, but that it was “The Club” magazine and that there needed to be a place for everyone in it. But above all, respect had to be shown to members. That did not appear to have happened. Consquently, participation by members has simply stopped.

Now, having said that – RA riders tend to be just that, riders, and not talkers. They tend to be experienced riders with their bikes pretty well sorted out the way the want them. So you will not see alot of questions about “How should I do this” or “What kind of farkel should I get” and you are simply not going to see a lot of postings.

As far as OLT goes, the jury is still out. The Editor is having a very difficult time making the transition from being a “Contributing Editor” to “The Editor”. As a “Contributing Editor” one is free to focus in on whatever floats your boat. But as “The Editor” you have responsibility for the whole magazine and it becomes your job to seek out contributors that you think might (might) appeal to a number of members and ask them to submit something. An Editor has to go out and look. They can not just simply sit back and wait for submissions to come in. Contributors have to be nurtured. It is rare that a Peter Egan comes along – a fully developed writer right from the get-go. Putting out a magazine is hard work, commercial or Club, and it becomes Mt. Everest when one tries to do it all by oneself. Right now, we are a very good picture book. Hey, my bike was pictured in the Jan/Feb and that was pretty cool.

So hang in there and keep riding and post when you can.

[chewbacca]

Thanks for the info Sammy. I hope you are right about RA just in a temporary condition. Racing and the BMW crotch rocket are interesting but definitely not the only game in town. That goes for a GS only orientation. I joined both MOA and RA primarily for the magazines. My observation about the MOA magazine is that it is pretty, well put together, but there just isn’t enough BMW specific stuff out there for a “monthly.”

Just some observations from pushing 50 years of riding. Certain personality profiles gravitate to particular bike manufacturers and particular models within that companies production line. That is a general statement and can not be taken to be absolute. I gravitate toward Triumph triple riders, but love my GS. So it is a bit fuzzy. HD riders enjoy a less than admirable reputation with the general motorcycle populace. Gold Wingers are, well Gold Wingers. Guzzi guys are different. When I got my BMW, old rider friends playfully made a series of remarks about me changing my attitude now that I was a BMW rider. When discussing types of riders with a friend, who has had several RT’s and GS’s, he said “wait till you start running with the BMW crowd, now those guys are really different.” What you are seeing may be a part of that phenomenon. Talkers have a tendency to be self centered and riders have a tendency to just blow off the talkers and go their own way. Kinda makes recovery in a situation like this difficult.

[NYKTAS GEORGE]

Sammy-Joe,

I am traveling in California for a few weeks so I only have internet access with this tiny screen.

When I am home I will answer in more detail but for the moment let me say you have quite a vivid imagination.

There was no power struggle. There was only a need to find an editor who was willing to take on an enormous task.

Will Guyan stepped up and has done a magnificent job. The magazine content has certainly changed but that is only logical.

There is a unique style for an editor. We have not tried to replicate Robert Hellman. That would be wasted effort.

George Nyktas, President BMWRA.

[bill42]

Sammy-Joe, You may have been riding for 40 years and you may miss the old black and white newsletter that OTL used to be, but I can tell you for sure as someone who volunteers dozens of hours a month to OTL that the editor, Will Guyan, absolutely does not sensor members who have complaints about BMW! In fact, Will is one of the most active critics” of BMW Corporate in the magazine, and he raises important points every issue that certainly raise a few eyebrows over at BMW Corporate. I can only conclude that you don’t read the magazine and simply glance at the nice glossy photos. While you may miss some of the writing styles and the articles of the past, it is not at all a fault of the Editor who spends 100 hours a month searching, networking, and yes begging others to contribute just a small, short little article. It is people like you, Sammy, who have given up on the BMW community, and you are not interested in contributing anymore like you may have in the past. Personally, I hope the editor runs your post in the next OTL so you can see how many people point out how wrong you are. I personally track down 3 or 4 new interesting people each month and half of them come through and send us a decent new article. And I am just a photo retoucher. WIll spends far more time searching for interesting stories. He runs what he can find. Do you know how many people there out there who think they can do a better job than Will Guyan, and have asked for a chance to prove it? ZERO! I personally focus on old airhead cafés, and we have run photos and articles of a dozen of them overt the last year along with lots of vintage airheads. In fact, we run more photos of vintage BMWs than the vintage BMW magazine ever did, which seems to have disappeared by the way. Yes, we run articles on the S1000RR as well. ANd the F800, and even BMW scooters. We don’t take sides. We publish any interesting BMW material we can get our hands on. Thanks for taking the time to voice your opinion, but your beliefs are wrong. If there is an article you want to see, why not write it and submit it? We would love some help from the older RA members rather than only complaints.

[WILL GUYAN]

Back a few years ago, OTL was Editorless, so the bosses tapped the dumb Racing Editor for the job when nobody else was willing; maybe that should read “when everybody else was too smart.” In his position, what was a clueless, bereft of direction (there were no blueprints left for OTL, nor did any of the former “staff” stick around), barely literate rider to do but to make a magazine where there was only a black & white, tarnished, and neglected newsletter? He knew naught of the former Editor’s glories, nor the club’s history and politics. So, forth he cluelessly forged, creating his own idea of a BMW moto mag that was entertaining, thought provoking, informative and colorfully illustrated. As the faux wordsmith forged ahead, printing larger images so he could enjoy the various bike details despite his myopia. Perhaps even the rare glimpse of a customized BMW, way more hip in Europe than here in the USA.
There was no power struggle at all; every mother’s son and daughter had flown the coop, got out of Dodge and ran for the safety of blessed anonymity. Not even a blueprint was left behind, although Mr. Boltz did his best to direct the new guy before he, too, disappeared.
And now this mystery Sammy appears out of nowhere with the Holy Grail of clarity after the fact! What a great and wondrous bunch of hooligans and hangmen lurk in the souls of men! As far as I can see, the Editor is doing a pretty damned decent job where before there was, for example, a large photo of a dorm room bunk bed representing the new rally site, and a feature article on a cable lock. Sammy, I don’t know what universe you spin your wheels across, but it’s certain you either have your head in the sand or you’re just another anonymous critic. Your bike was in the Jan/Feb issue! You must live among the cacti… Where do these latter day Merlins come from, 3 years and 8 months worth of OTLs later, with their pontificating and ramblings on about things of which they are clueless?!
Thanks, Sammy Joe, for yet another interesting read from one of the old school OTL intelligentsia. I know the editor too, and he thrives on the hate mail he gets regularly, but mostly from RA members not afraid to give their names. I certainly can see all he’s done for this club via its magazine. OTL is nothing at all like the thing left in the wake of Hellman’s rocket ship to the other side of the Milky Way. And I, for one, approve.

[Author]

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