I will give the club leaders a nod of thanks for bring Brook Reams into the Club to write about his forte in restoration and repair of airheads .  I follow Brook on the BMWMOA site and gladly go to his website for information.

I am currently active in the MOA, Vintage, Adventure rider and BM forums

I can truthfully say I am not 100% the best forum participant, can be strongly opinionated, sometimes controversial and argumentative.   This the ONLY forum in which I am regularly insulted, worse yet by the so called Moderator

Currently in two forum threads I have been called a teenager who knows just enough to be dangerous.

 I have been told that my lifetime of wrenching and participation in repair and restoration of BMW airheads does not mean a thing because Mr. Whatley has far greater experience.  

I will concede to the second comment with the question is his thousand of hours been dealing with just BMW airheads?  I really could care less if he has a thousand hours of repair and restoration of British or Japanese motorcycles.  Those are far different than BMW with their own quirks and repair issues.  Some of the very basic mechanical items can indeed carry over to BMW.

I don't have thousands of hours as I never worked in a motorcycle shop as an employee however my knowledge is strictly with BMW bikes and I am constantly at a shop that specializes in said repair and restoration of only 1950 to 1995 airheads.

IF Mr. Whatley was a regular member of the club and was so insulting, I would let his snide remarks pass.  He is not a regular member he seems to somehow forget what the task of a moderator should be. It is not to insult shops or persons who do not totally agree with him nor should it be a shill job for No Ox or whatever product he constantly pushes as a miracle fix, 

Bottom line, I wasted my money re joining the new improved Airhead club because the same attitudes exist that caused me to quit the last time.  Same old stuff in a new package and when my membership expires this time I will not be back.  

Even the British Bike forum which gets pretty rowdy from time to time with various opinions does not have a moderator who insults as in the Airhead forum.   St.

The May 2023 Airmail is at the printer and you should see it show up in your mailboxes around May 1st. This marks issue number four with the new format and I sincerely hope you have liked what you have seen so far. Please consider sending in your submissions for the next couple of issues. There is overflow content that will be in the June issue, but still please consider sending in your articles with high resolution photos to editor@airheads.org.

Please note the following changes to the magazine:

1. Events will only appear in the magazine that are posted to the calendar on this site. This helps in gathering from one place all the upcoming ABC events that can be broadcast in print. The May issue has been rethought out to accommodate more events in one issue, where the detailed information will be on the website. This was done to allow for a longer forecast of events past the typical 45 days that was in the February, March and April issues. You can see the difference in the May Airmail versus what came before.

2. Airheads Marketplace: Ads submitted will run for two issues and then be removed to allow for newer ads to appear. Within that two issue run, you can notify me that your item has sold so that it does not repeat unnecessarily in month two. Or if you have any changes to your ad in month two. Your ad will be removed after 60 days. The only exception to this is if there is not enough new ads to fill out the section in month three. This will depend greatly on the number of ads submitted to the Buy and Sell portion of the website, where the ads are pulled from. This will solely be the discretion of the editor if some ads run a bit longer. It is not anticipated that this will occur often though.

As an aside, tweaks under the hood have been made in the last two issues and I welcome your feedback on Airmail. It has been because of member's feedback that these items were addressed. Remember, it's your club magazine and it only works each month with your submissions and constructive criticism. You can always reach me at editor@ariheads.org to talk about what you like or don't like regarding Airmail.

Thank you,

Chris Parker

editor@airheads.org

I have also passed along a slightly different version to the editor of the new Airmail magazine, but I doubt it will ever be published.

Why Buy the Cow When the Milk is Free?

(Or how three guys wrecked the Airheads Beemer Club)

There’s been quite a bit of controversy within the Airheads Beemer Club (ABC) lately, all of it coming from recent decisions made by the ABC Board of Directors (BoD). In the space of a few months, the BoD banned material written by Orlando “Oak” Okleshen from both the new electronic and traditional paper versions of Airmail. Then the BoD doubled down by firing ABC founder and forever Airmail editor B. Jan Hoffman. Both actions were taken with zero input from ABC members and Airmarshals, even though plans were made many months before the decisions were revealed in the BoD minutes as published in Airmail. The only foreshadowing of these events was a mention in the October 27, 2022 BoD minutes of “Disputes during Board meetings”, which apparently had become “unprofessional”, characterized by “name calling, unfounded accusations, temper outbursts and abruptly leaving the meeting before adjournment”. No wonder, as the banning and firing strike at the very heart of the Airheads Beemer Club, and will change the nature of the ABC’s purpose and spirit. Let me tell you how.

In another misguided decision, the BoD decreed that there would be no difference between the paper version of Airmail and the new electronic version. One of the reasons given by the BoD for dropping Oak’s material was the stipulation Oak made forbidding any electronic publication of his material. Oak felt that once his material became available in electronic form, the ABC would lose control of how it was accessed. By insisting that his information be available only in a paper version, and knowing that only paying ABC members have access to the paper version of Airmail, Oak ensured that control of his material would be maintained, and that it would continue to be successfully monetized for the benefit of the ABC.

Why is Oak's information so important? One of the key distinguishing aspects of Oak’s articles was that they were written by someone with demonstrated technical competence that had been involved with the BMW Type 247 engine and the motorcycles that used it for a very long time. Airheads could rely on Oak’s words for accurate guidance while working on their bikes. The consequences of following bad advise when it comes to motorcycle mechanicing include broken parts, injury, or even death. It’s one thing for members to share their latest airhead hack by submitting it to Oak for comment, but it’s quite another when these hacks get published without someone like Oak reviewing them first for accuracy and completeness.

Another of Oak’s strengths was that his writings were easily understood, as they discussed not only the nature of problems confronting airhead owners, but they clearly outlined the reasons and methods to effect fixes for those problems. Indeed, most of Oak’s material came from members writing to him, asking for help in remedying one kind of trouble or another. His solutions were validated in his own workshop, and on the motorcycles he worked on for his customers.

Out of this came another of Oak’s strengths, that of categorizing information so that it could be easily found and used. The result was Oak’s Airtech Index, which grouped Airmail articles and answers together under the same topics BMW still uses to organize the parts found in its motorcycles and cars.

Apparently the BoD unsuccessfully attempted to secure licensing rights from Oak’s family. Predictably, the family chose to respect Oak’s wishes. I'm not aware of anything in Oak’s restrictions that prevents publication of Oak’s tech articles in paper form, as long as it is maintained and distributed by the ABC. Sadly, Oak’s material is a finite body of work, but fortunately there is nothing stopping the publication of a paper book that would encompass all of his writings. Oak himself already established the format of such a book when he laid the framework for his Airtech Index; an editor of said book need only fill in the blanks by organizing Oak’s articles under the AirTech topics. Such a book would provide access to ALL of Oak’s technical knowledge, access that is currently limited to those members that have a complete library of Airmail magazines. Recall that as part of the last rogue BoD’s edicts the price for Airmail back issues doubled from $3 to $6, and there’s no way a new member could afford to acquire a complete library. A book would solve that problem, and would continue to provide financial support for ABC activities by encouraging airhead owners to join the ABC to get access to the book. All the while respecting the wishes of Oak and his family.

Instead, the BoD chose to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and discontinue publishing Oak’s writings even in the paper version of Airmail. When this was originally proposed, B. Jan told the BoD that producing two versions of Airmail, a paper one with Oak’s content, and a digital one without, was easily accomplished. Unfortunately, this fact only intensified the BoD’s clandestine efforts to replace B. Jan.

There are further complications resulting from the “no differences” edict. One is that some members hosting Tech Days and Rendezvous would rather not publicize the events on the World Wide Web. Instead, they ask their Airmarshal to forward the event notice to the Airmail editor for publication only in the paper version of our club magazine. That will no longer be possible with the new rule, and will likely force these members to either discontinue their event, or make them known only by word of mouth.

With respect to firing B. Jan, I admit to not being a fan of some of his most recent missives. He has said in the past that he sees creating controversy as part of an editor’s job, and as such there are bound to be people that disagree or dislike some of his content. While some of B. Jan’s stories seemed to have little airhead content, he was very good at weaving threads from the ABC Canons into the story lines. He is, after all, the author of those Canons. If you find yourself upset with some of B. Jan’s writing, have a quick read through the Canons and you’ll see the connection. The Canons pretty much define the Airhead lifestyle, and B. Jan did his best to embody that lifestyle in his articles and in the format and content he chose for Airmail. Anybody with a word processor can compile material into a magazine, but it takes someone that lives the Airhead lifestyle to breath that spirit into Airmail. Now that we’ve lost both B. Jan's influence and Oak's technical expertise, Airmail holds no more attraction for me than do other magazines that cover the broad based motorcycling scene. In other words, none at all.

Now it’s March of 2023, and last month we saw the publication of two different versions of Airmail. The first, edited by B. Jan, was made available by then BoD member Tim Roberts via a .pdf file that Tim emailed to most of the ABC membership including the BoD. It contained Tim’s version of actions taken by the BoD that resulted in Oak’s banning and B. Jan’s firing. Later Tim resigned from the BoD as a result of these actions. It also contained several articles by B. Jan himself telling his side of the story, citing the ugly truth behind the actions taken by the BoD. This material was originally intended for the January issue of Airmail, but by BoD decree had been censored at the printer’s facility, leaving large areas of blacked out space in the January issue. This blatant act of censorship by the BoD is unprecedented in ABC history, and shows the deceitful lengths the majority of the BoD members at that time would go to hide their actions from the membership. If you’d like to see the B. Jan version, it can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/Feb23AirMailBJan

BTW, when I posted that link to the Forum at the ABC website, I was told by BoD member Tim Hille to take it down. His stated reason was that the issue contained copyrighted images of the ABC logo, which were being used without BoD permission. B. Jan is the artist/designer of that logo, and if he doesn’t have the right to use it, who does? Mr. Hille’s demand was in fact a further attempt at censorship aimed at covering up the behind closed doors BoD activities, plain and simple.

The other version of the February 2023 issue of Airmail wasn’t edited by B. Jan at all. Instead, a company called Roadwolf Design produced a slicked up version of Airmail using more color and larger photographs, but without any of Oak’s content. A new column called “From the Board” authored by BoD Chairman Duck Koch passed off the omission of Oak’s articles as being “due to licensing issues with reprinting in a digital version”. There were also minutes from two BoD meetings, one of which mentioned an “Executive Session for personnel matters”, none of which were detailed in the minutes. The other minutes recounted the decision to fire B. Jan, and that Roadwolf Design would produce the new AirMail for $2000/month (up from B. Jan’s $1200/month fee).

The new Airmail format still contained letters from the membership, now titled Head to Head, the majority of which contained opinions unfavorable to the BoD decisions to fire B. Jan and omit Oak’s material from Airmail. It also contained a new column called Workbench, which had an unreviewed article siphoned off Brook Reams’ website that had been condensed from Brooks’ more lengthy version. This, along with an interesting travel article by David and Emy Woodburn, were seemingly efforts from the “Airmail staff” to fill the vacuum created by banning Oak’s usual content. That left me wondering how an unreviewed website reprint with technical detail insufficient to complete the job could seriously be considered a replacement for Oak’s Q&A.

Another problem comes from the format of Airmail itself. Old eyes like larger type sizes, and up until now the paper version of Airmail has remained legible. The new Airmail is difficult for many (most?) of us to read without a magnifying glass. That’s no problem for the online version because the text can be upsized with a few mouse clicks. But why was the text downsized to begin with?

I was left with the impression that the BoD had ignored the old axiom that “Content is King” in favor of a pretty but dumbed down and hard to read version of what was once my favorite magazine. One that was now subject to BoD censorship. A pig with lipstick is still just a pig.

Speaking of farm animals, I recall another axiom: “Why buy the cow when the milk is free?” Now that the digital and paper versions of Airmail will be identical, what’s to stop an ABC member from emailing copies to all their non-member friends? Or even some unscrupulous somebody from publishing every issue on the World Wide Web for anyone to download? Why would anyone join the ABC when they can get the same content on the Internet for free?

That makes me wonder about all the members out there that don't frequent the ABC website, and don't use computers at all. When I was helping out with webmaster duties, I found that about 25% of the membership didn't even have an email address registered in their membership profile. The only information these folks have seen about these troubles have been what has been posted in the paper version of Airmail, so they know almost nothing of the underhanded tactics the BoD majority used to ram the firing and banning down our throats. Perhaps after reading this article they'll be better informed, and express their opinions to their Airmarshal.

There’s one more issue I need to mention and it involves yet another use of censorship. Many members are familiar with the articles I’ve published at gunsmoke.com that recount my trials and tribulations from riding and maintaining airhead motorcycles. Many years ago I agreed to let the ABC mirror those articles on the ABC website. I asked only that I retain the ability to add to, update, or delete that body of information.

When I learned that the BoD was making the above changes, I wrote to the BoD explaining that I did not support the new direction they were trying to take the ABC, and that in 30 days if Oak’s articles were not again present in the paper version of AirMail and B. Jan was restored to the editor position, they were no longer authorized to mirror my articles on the ABC website. Further, I would be resigning my membership.

I then tried to update one of my articles on the ABC website. I learned that I could still view the articles on the “back end” administrative side, but I couldn’t make changes to the text or add/delete images. Nor could I add a new article. At first I thought it was a bug and contacted one of the ABC webmasters for help. He wasn’t aware of the problem, but eventually got back to me with news that my privileges on the website had been reduced so that it was no longer possible for me to make changes to my own articles. When I asked why, I was told the change was made due to a decree by the BoD. Yet another example of BoD censorship, one taken behind the back of a formerly strong ABC supporter. After the 30 day deadline had passed it was apparent that the agreement I’d struck with the ABC was no longer valid. As a result, I asked the webmaster to disable access to my articles through the ABC mirror. I could have asked that the articles be deleted, but I still harbor hope that the current problems can be resolved, and did not wish to create a ton of work for the webmasters putting the material back on the website. At that point, new BoD member Ernie Baragar got involved, and not long after that, my editing privileges were restored. However, B. Jan is still MIA and Oak’s articles are still banned, so my material will continue to be available only on the gunsmoke.com website.

In closing, I cherish the friendships I’ve made with many ABC members, but I find no joy in being associated with a club governed by such dictatorial and destructive “leadership”. And since the CalendAir and the e-version of AirMail will be on the web, I’ll still be able to learn about and attend Rendezvous and Tech Days locally, the real world aspects of the ABC I enjoy most. After all, why buy the cow when the milk is free?

Sincerely,

Scot Marburger
ABC Member 8166 (for now)
Former ABC Webmaster
Author/Publisher, gunsmoke.com

By now you will have received your February 2023 edition of Airmail. The March issue was handed off to the printer this past Wednesday, February 15th and I anticipate it arriving in your mailboxes in the next 7 to 10 days. I, and the contributors in this issue, hope you like what you see and read.

I would like to thank those that have sent stories and photographs for the March issue and what is shaping up for the April 2023 Airmail. From feature stories to Airhead events, that magazine only exists with what the club members send onto me.

You may have noticed a page increase over what has come before. The club's magazine is now a 32-page edition that allows for more content and also an emphasis on your photos (see below on sending in your photos and the requirements for print).

Additionally, a hearty thank you to all who have taken the time to email me your thoughts and comments on the new design and direction. Some of that very feedback has contributed to changes in this latest issue. In essence, the overarching goal is for the magazine to improve with your input and suggestions. The logical hierarchy of the magazine and structure was carefully crafted to make it something that you would want to read and contribute to. But it is not set in stone and will be adjusted as needed as the magazine evolves with your participation via feedback.

About sending in content to editor@airheads.org: any text file (Word doc, text file, InDesign, pdf, Pages, or inline email text I can receive). Photos that are under a file size of 25 MB are pretty safe to send on via email (jpg, png, heic, TIFF, PSD). If you have something bigger than that, a file sharing service (like the free WeTransfer.com) is great to use. About the photos: highest resolution possible, and if you have access to a DSLR or Mirrorless camera, those are best. But if you use a smartphone, any late model iPhone or Google / Droid will work. Just be sure to send in the highest version directly from your phone (on an iPhone, you will see a pop up that will say Small / Medium / Large / Actual Size. Always send actual size). Typical print-usable (300 dpi) images are at least 10 MB or larger.

The policy of the editorial team at Airmail is to take your content and run it pretty close to as received. Save for grammatical issues and some clarity needs, what you send in is what runs. Be aware though, that I am still processing through a slight backlog of content received so far and unless your item is time sensitive (an event listing, a classified item or an event wrap up), it may take several cycles for a feature story to appear.

And a little about myself. Some of you have guessed my other work through emails sent to me. I am the editor and designer of two other motorcycle magazines, the RA's On The Level and the MSTA's STAReview. I am a 23-year veteran motorcyclist, with over 500,000 miles covered on mainly BMWs and three Japanese bikes. I absolutely love combining my love of two wheels and my three decades as a designer, grinning while sitting in front of my monitor doing my dream job. Other work in the two wheel arena has been as a designer for RawHyde Adventures and several BMW motorcycle dealerships. My current rides are a 1998 BMW R 1100 GS and a 2013 Yamaha FJR 1300. But soon to add to the garage a future acquisition.

I really am looking forward to meeting more of you at future Airhead events, starting with David Woodburn’s Magsama-sama event in Georgia early May. Already at the past three RA National events (Woodstock, Virginia and twice in Waynesville, North Carolina) I have shaken hands with some club members.

In closing, please help me make the Airmail the best club magazine that it can be by participating in it. It is your magazine to share your ideas, stories, photos and events to other club members. It succeeds only when you have a say in it.

Thanks,

Chris Parker
editor@airheads.org

1) Printed Issues: Consider going to 6 issues per year. Current issues are pretty thin anyways and should significantly reduce costs.

2) Oaks articles: Consider printing Oaks article in a print format (i.e. Guzziology by Dave Richardson) and sell it as a source of additional revenue for the club/Oaks wife.

3) Don't censor anything! This cancel crap from a bunch of old folks like us has blown me away on how crazy America has become. I dont know B Jan but read his stuff and it doesn't bother me. if it did I wouldn't read it. Consider a space in print or online like the ADV Rider site Jo momma forum

4) Transparency- BoD minutes should include member elections and how the airmarshals voted for board members. The current BoD has a lot of work to do to gain confidence in its membership.

Here's the link. Clicking it should start the download of the article. If that doesn't work for some reason, copy the link and paste it into the address bar of your favorite web browser.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NxR9yDQglvtdeBLBfNnOr6NcfjJqCY47/view?usp=sharing

Please feel free to share this link, not only with your fellow ABC members, but with anyone that has an interest in the current difficulties.

I also encourage you to share your opinions of the current situation with the ABC Board of Directors. They can't act in your best interest if they don't hear from you.

My question is that I have looked through the bylaws to find out about the election process. I find sections on the election of the Board of Directors and also about the replacement of same. I see how the president of the board is elected. I find a section about how Airmarshals are selected but it doesn't really address how to replace an Airmarshal in the event of malfeasance. It looks like if someone wants to be Airmarshal then you submit your bio and position statement then there will be an election in October or thereabouts. I also have seen reports that a person did the bio and position statement but never heard anything back from the BoD. If an Airmarshal wishes to resign and no one steps up then the board appoints someone to that position. If this appointing occurred enough times then you would have a BoD that was made up of a bunch of appointed people upon whom who the club never voted, selected by a bunch of people the members never voted upon. While I know this is going quite a ways down the side road of what if, it still bears examination.

That all being said, I realize that to find someone to volunteer or desires to be an AirMarshal can be a difficult task. I don't know an easy solution to this question and that bothers me because I don't like to present problems without proposing at least a partial answer.

Is there some way that a region could somehow petition for a recall or a "no confidence" vote? This could and would apply equally to any region and any AirMarshal be that person an independent, a member of a duo or a member of a trio, or the whole BoD. What might be the requirements to initiate this recall vote? 1/3 of the responses from members of a region, 40%, 50%?

It's just food for thought.

On another note I personally think the blacking out / censorship of the AirMail is total bullshit. This is not Nazi Germany of the 1930's. We are all thinking adults here. Let us have some dialog.