View of downtown Pittsburgh’s three rivers from Mount Washington. The Allegheny on the left and Monongahela on the right form the Ohio River at Point State Park; home to one of the earliest BMW rider associations.
© 2013 Ron Janoski
Welcome to the Four Winds BMW Riders club, founded in the early 1960's by a small group of BMW enthusiasts in western Pennsylvania. The first annual Four Winds Rally was held in 1967 giving us the distinction of hosting the longest consecutively running BMW rally in the country, predating the existence of any national BMW clubs.
We are located in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area and enjoy excellent riding roads here and in nearby Ohio, West Virginia and Maryland. Browse around the site to learn more about us or scan some of the back issues of our monthly newsletter. What you'll find is that our club consists of riders just like you. And, like you, we appreciate an occasional helping hand, bit of advice or equipment tips and reports on great roads discovered.
We are excited to finally debut our new website -- explore and enjoy!
The goals of this all new design are to provide rich depth of information and resources to new and prospective members of the club, improve the social networking aspects of our club through a secure Forum and exclusive Members-Only section, and to feature timely current events information in the Headlines and Calendar as well as Newsletter. You'll find things in our Links sections that you never knew existed. We stand on the shoulders of many former members and hard-working club officers before us who created a vibrant club with lots of rides and information. Many wrote stimulating articles about their rides and escapades and we have links to as many past Newsletters and "In The Press" articles as we could find. Meeting minutes, as always, are in the newsletters. Keep an eye on the History sections as we track down some Old Timers in search of our "roots" – or better yet, help us fill it in. Bookmark this site in your Favorites, come back often to see what's changed, and please overlook any mistakes we may make during our growing pains.
See the new GS air-/water-cooled boxer engine with vertical flow coming together and being ridden like you've never seen before.
More general info on the new GS introduction from last year's Intermot show in Germany.
OK, Riders... In 2013, if you want to ride, but lack a destination, or are out riding and want to contend for Visa cash card prizes, go hunt for diners. That's right—those neat eating places in town or country where you often find good food at reasonable prices in a friendly hometown atmosphere the exterior of which looks like one of the old Railroad Diner cars, or which has a sign that says it's a diner.
To get credit for finding a diner, you have to a.) take a picture of the place and/or its sign* (if not convenient to get both and your bike in the picture) with your motorcycle prominently appearing (and you too if you wish), and b.) e-mail the picture, with your name and the name of the diner and date taken to our newsletter editor, Ralph Meyer, at: Ralph Meyer To see form and full instructions click Here
The AMA Outstanding Road Rider Award recipient, Eric Trow, was selected for his progressive work with motorcyclists at Stayin' Safe, an on-road rider coaching school that introduces advanced riding techniques in real-world environments. Winners of the award are significant contributors to the promotion of the motorcycling lifestyle and the protection of on-highway motorcycling, core tenets of the AMA mission. Trow is also author of the Rider Magazine "Riding Well" motorcycling proficiency column.
