BMW Warranty failures

[2Wheelz]

This is an interesting video about how BMW screws over their good customers and have very lousy customer service:

After my experience with all the niggling electrical problems with my 2022 BMW CE 04, and also learning how they treat high end ICE customers terribly, I won't even consider another BMW product, EVER.

And after learning how they screw over their customers with lousy warranty service and misleading warranties they will not honor, I'm fine with my decision.

Ducati has so much better customer service and it shows they really value their customers much more.

 

[wspollack]

@2Wheelz :

You may be correct in your opinion, and you're certainly entitled to it. And I've never even owned a Duc.

The flip side of this -- and I also read a LOT of the comments to that video -- is that a lot of manufacturers were dissed by a lot of its viewers, from H-D on up. Another flip side is that the MotoMillion folks seemed to have disregarded break-in procedures and otherwise voided the warranty. It's one thing to assert that the engine failure wasn't related to anything they did, but it certainly clouds the issue ... and certainly gives BMW an easy out; I suspect that most other manufacturers would also take that easy out.

Now, from personal experience here:

1) I've purchased, from brand new, and kept through their respective warranty periods, bikes from BMW, Honda, Suzuki, Victory, and Royal Enfield (well, I'm still under warranty on that one).

2) I've had minor warranty issues addressed and resolved on many of them, without incident. But the only bike I had a major failure with was my '22 C 400 GT ... and BMW replaced the bike for me, free, with a brand new '23 C 400 GT.

Oh, sure, it took four or five months (depending on when you start the clock: at failure time, or after the service department's van picked up the scoot), which was frustrating, and it took a fair amount of nagging on my part, both at the local and corporate levels. But it got done, i.e., they came through.

You can read the events and their timeline in this post of mine from last October. I made it agonizingly long as a mechanism to help readers get into the proper mood:

BMW Swapped Out My Used '22 C 400 GT For A Brand New '23 C 400 GT ... Free. [Part I of II]

Today, My Used 2022 C 400 GT Was Replaced By BMW With A Brand New 2023 C 400 GT. Free. What's In Your Warranty? If those statements pique your curiosity, and you have some free time, here's the tale, in chronological order. Note that it starts LAST year, almost a year and a half ago. [Note...

www.bmw-scooters.com

And, no, I didn't mess with the engine, drivetrain, anything that makes it go. And, yes, I strictly adhered to the stipulated break-in procedures. (In fact, I just finished those same procedures -- do lots of hills, no constant speeds, keep it under 7,000 RPM until 621 miles -- on that replacement C 400 GT in the middle of a ride last Thursday.) And both bikes had their initial service performed by the local BMW dealership, and that first scoot had its first routine service also performed at the dealership.

My experience -- a sample size of, um, one -- may not be statistically significant, but it's all I've got to go on so far.

 

[2Wheelz]

@2Wheelz :

You may be correct in your opinion, and you're certainly entitled to it. And I've never even owned a Duc.

The flip side of this -- and I also read a LOT of the comments to that video -- is that a lot of manufacturers were dissed by a lot of its viewers, from H-D on up. Another flip side is that the MotoMillion folks seemed to have disregarded break-in procedures and otherwise voided the warranty. It's one thing to assert that the engine failure wasn't related to anything they did, but it certainly clouds the issue ... and certainly gives BMW an easy out; I suspect that most other manufacturers would also take that easy out.

Now, from personal experience here:

1) I've purchased, from brand new, and kept through their respective warranty periods, bikes from BMW, Honda, Suzuki, Victory, and Royal Enfield (well, I'm still under warranty on that one).

2) I've had minor warranty issues addressed and resolved on many of them, without incident. But the only bike I had a major failure with was my '22 C 400 GT ... and BMW replaced the bike for me, free, with a brand new '23 C 400 GT.

Oh, sure, it took four or five months (depending on when you start the clock: at failure time, or after the service department's van picked up the scoot), which was frustrating, and it took a fair amount of nagging on my part, both at the local and corporate levels. But it got done, i.e., they came through.

You can read the events and their timeline in this post of mine from last October. I made it agonizingly long as a mechanism to help readers get into the proper mood:

BMW Swapped Out My Used '22 C 400 GT For A Brand New '23 C 400 GT ... Free. [Part I of II]

Today, My Used 2022 C 400 GT Was Replaced By BMW With A Brand New 2023 C 400 GT. Free. What's In Your Warranty? If those statements pique your curiosity, and you have some free time, here's the tale, in chronological order. Note that it starts LAST year, almost a year and a half ago. [Note...

www.bmw-scooters.com

And, no, I didn't mess with the engine, drivetrain, anything that makes it go. And, yes, I strictly adhered to the stipulated break-in procedures. (In fact, I just finished those same procedures -- do lots of hills, no constant speeds, keep it under 7,000 RPM until 621 miles -- on that replacement C 400 GT in the middle of a ride last Thursday.) And both bikes had their initial service performed by the local BMW dealership, and that first scoot had its first routine service also performed at the dealership.

My experience -- a sample size of, um, one -- may not be statistically significant, but it's all I've got to go on so far.

Bottom line is that an engine bearing is suspect and also the assembly is suspect because the engine had error problems at 9 miles BEFORE Modifications and said so with a warning on the Instrument cluster in this video.

And after reading the comments like you suggested (which I had already done), there were many other similar bikes with problems with that engine failing. On one comment one BMW technician noted 17 similar engine failures. There were also many comments about how difficult it was to deal with BMW customer service. I still will never buy another new BMW anything because the way they treat customers under their warranty is totally unacceptable.

BMW didn’t even want to inspect the engine to see what the problem was, which leads me to believe that they know what the problem is and they’re just dodging the issue, for now.

Even your own experience with your failed 2022 C 400 GT waiting 5 months for warranty replacement and all your personal time and frustration to get to that is unacceptable IMHO.

I’ve been riding motorcycles for over 59 years and I’ve had many new motorcycles from a lot of different brands like yourself and I’ve never had a worse customer service experience than with BMW Motorrad.

That linked video has had over 233,000 views and in the comments it’s already affecting BMW sales from people not wanting to risk this unacceptable warranty coverage over a $40,000+ motorcycle with a $15,000+ questionable engine.

It will be interesting to watch how this story continues at MotoMillion because they are going to do a full engine tear down to see what exactly failed and why it failed.

 

[Delray]

"My experience -- a sample size of, um, one -- may not be statistically significant, but it's all I've got to go on so far."

Do a little digging on this very forum and you'll find tales of woe about the timing chain tensioner failing and killing engines -- and BMW replacing those entire engines, many times not even under warranty. I've owned eight BMW's and never had an issue beyond normal maintenance.

"Ducati has so much better customer service and it shows they really value their customers much more."

Then you might feel better posting rhapsodic comments on Ducati forums instead of bile about BMW on this one. I have half a dozen BMW Motorrad t-shirts that I wear proudly. Best motorcycles in the world.

 

[2Wheelz]

"My experience -- a sample size of, um, one -- may not be statistically significant, but it's all I've got to go on so far."

Do a little digging on this very forum and you'll find tales of woe about the timing chain tensioner failing and killing engines -- and BMW replacing those entire engines, many times not even under warranty. I've owned eight BMW's and never had an issue beyond normal maintenance.

"Ducati has so much better customer service and it shows they really value their customers much more."

Then you might feel better posting rhapsodic comments on Ducati forums instead of bile about BMW on this one. I have half a dozen BMW Motorrad t-shirts that I wear proudly. Best motorcycles in the world.

Oh I do post rhapsodic comments on the Ducati forums (specifically the Monster forum if you really want to know, I which I doubt).

Seems I have your little bmw “feathers” a little ruffled?

Best motorcycles in the world? Hardly.

Lousy customer service & lousy warrantees? Definitely.

I see in your profile you’ve never owned any Ducati’s. Figures.

“Self-complacently is the companion of ignorance.” - Solomon Schechter

If you don’t like what I write, ignore me like triangletom did after I traded in my 2022 CE 04 albatross of an electric scooter for my beautiful 2024 Ducati Monster SP after I answered his question about the Puig windshield that he never acknowledged.

By the way, I don’t give a hot damn about what kind of T-shirts you wear “proudly” and I’m sure nobody else here really does either as it really has no bearing whatsoever in a motorcycle forum IMHO.

So take your fanboy BMW BS somewhere else. I’m not interested. Ignore me. I really don’t care.

I’m interested in seeing how many others bail on this terrible electric scooter and what kind of money they’ll get for a trade-in down the road as I think I bailed out on mine at the most opportune time. 😎

 

[Delray]

My only point was, people like BMW bikes here. I can't think of anyone who'd welcome a steady diet of negativity. You exercised a clear need to hate, hurl insults, and whine how hard life has been on you. That's behavior best expressed elsewhere. Nothing more to say to you (or read from you) but good luck with that attitude.

 

[2Wheelz]

My only point was, people like BMW bikes here. I can't think of anyone who'd welcome a steady diet of negativity. You exercised a clear need to hate, hurl insults, and whine how hard life has been on you. That's behavior best expressed elsewhere. Nothing more to say to you (or read from you) but good luck with that attitude.

Whatever…

 

[mzflorida]

BMW is not in this boat alone. I've owned a few brands over my riding life. Though I've never had a warranty problem myself, there are stories of owners unhappy with every brand's warranty service, whether related to a cosmetic defect or catastrophic failure, budget bike or Goldwing. But having only kind of sped through this video, and considering the number of views, this is not a good look for BMW. If you look over at my local dealer, Gulf Coast, you'll see that there is a "new" RR with a few miles on it. I was there when the owner who purchased it returned it. They shipped it with alloy wheels, as opposed to carbon fiber. You would think that BMW would want to keep that owner on the brand and find the wheels, or a suitable replacement. Yamaha owners have bikes sitting for weeks or months waiting for warranty repairs if we are to believe the forums. Goldwings had a ton of issues with this latest iteration that were eventually resolved but not until sales started to slow. They all have their issues.

 

[2Wheelz]

BMW is not in this boat alone. I've owned a few brands over my riding life. Though I've never had a warranty problem myself, there are stories of owners unhappy with every brand's warranty service, whether related to a cosmetic defect or catastrophic failure, budget bike or Goldwing. But having only kind of sped through this video, and considering the number of views, this is not a good look for BMW. If you look over at my local dealer, Gulf Coast, you'll see that there is a "new" RR with a few miles on it. I was there when the owner who purchased it returned it. They shipped it with alloy wheels, as opposed to carbon fiber. You would think that BMW would want to keep that owner on the brand and find the wheels, or a suitable replacement. Yamaha owners have bikes sitting for weeks or months waiting for warranty repairs if we are to believe the forums. Goldwings had a ton of issues with this latest iteration that were eventually resolved but not until sales started to slow. They all have their issues.

Totally agree that all brands of popular makes can have warranty issues, but you’re right about that RR owner returning his bike because it didn’t have the spec carbon wheels on it. That is totally unacceptable and it’s actually a ham-fisted bait and switch tactic and I don’t blame the buyer for returning it at all. I would have done the same.

My 2022 BMW CE 04 had way too many niggling electronic problems along with that frustrating fragile rear turn signal issue and my dealer was 150 miles away one way and I’ve seen recently how used electric vehicles are tanking in prices in the used market. BMW dealers in the Twin Cities are having trouble selling these electric scooters and are sitting on inventory that hasn’t sold in many months. I’m glad I was able to trade in mine and get a decent deal on an excellent ICE motorcycle. My experience with customer service trying to fix some of these electronic problems with BMW corporate was less than ideal to be kind.

By the way, and I know this is just a one man survey, but I’ve had excellent warranty service from both Yamaha and Honda motorcycles over the years FYI.

As what started this thread, MotoMillions has over 276,000+ views on their video about this failed engine in the RR and you can bet that many people that were considering this RR bike are now not going to consider it or if they ordered it they’re going to cancel their order and not take delivery. At the very least, perspective buyers are going to wait and see if BMW does the right thing. I know I’m interested to see how this story ends up for MotoMillions. It will also be interesting to see what their research finds on the failed engine bearing if that was the cause and if it will sway BMW corporate to do the right thing.

One thing I can’t understand is that some of these manufactures have no clue what is written about them in their own forums or demonstrated on popular YouTube content providers. One would think their marketing department would at least check in on these forums and popular YouTube content providers for product feedback, but apparently they don’t at BMW so far. Or they are aware, but for whatever reason cannot do anything about it at this time.

Something occurred to me from the 1999 movie “Fight Club” wherein Edward Norton gives his excellent soliloquy about how car companies determine if a product recall is warranted, or it’s cheaper just to pay off the survivors/injured in future lawsuits. BMW corporate may be willing to divest some customer goodwill for saving more profit retained by the bean counters in marketing. Who knows what kind of internal pressures to save money are going on in their corporate culture?

 

[mzflorida]

Totally agree that all brands of popular makes can have warranty issues, but you’re right about that RR owner returning his bike because it didn’t have the spec carbon wheels on it. That is totally unacceptable and it’s actually a ham-fisted bait and switch tactic and I don’t blame the buyer for returning it at all. I would have done the same.

My 2022 BMW CE 04 had way too many niggling electronic problems along with that frustrating fragile rear turn signal issue and my dealer was 150 miles away one way and I’ve seen recently how used electric vehicles are tanking in prices in the used market. BMW dealers in the Twin Cities are having trouble selling these electric scooters and are sitting on inventory that hasn’t sold in many months. I’m glad I was able to trade in mine and get a decent deal on an excellent ICE motorcycle. My experience with customer service trying to fix some of these electronic problems with BMW corporate was less than ideal to be kind.

By the way, and I know this is just a one man survey, but I’ve had excellent warranty service from both Yamaha and Honda motorcycles over the years FYI.

As what started this thread, MotoMillions has over 276,000+ views on their video about this failed engine in the RR and you can bet that many people that were considering this RR bike are now not going to consider it or if they ordered it they’re going to cancel their order and not take delivery. At the very least, perspective buyers are going to wait and see if BMW does the right thing. I know I’m interested to see how this story ends up for MotoMillions. It will also be interesting to see what their research finds on the failed engine bearing if that was the cause and if it will sway BMW corporate to do the right thing.

One thing I can’t understand is that some of these manufactures have no clue what is written about them in their own forums or demonstrated on popular YouTube content providers. One would think their marketing department would at least check in on these forums and popular YouTube content providers for product feedback, but apparently they don’t at BMW so far. Or they are aware, but for whatever reason cannot do anything about it at this time.

Something occurred to me from the 1999 movie “Fight Club” wherein Edward Norton gives his excellent soliloquy about how car companies determine if a product recall is warranted, or it’s cheaper just to pay off the survivors/injured in future lawsuits. BMW corporate may be willing to divest some customer goodwill for saving more profit retained by the bean counters in marketing. Who knows what kind of internal pressures to save money are going on in their corporate culture?

I agree. I’ve had good luck with all warranty services on every two or four wheel vehicle I’ve owned. I think Honda might have the loneliest techs, except for those working on 18 and 19 wings! Kind of bullet proof.

I can tell you with 100% certainty the BMW is monitoring social media. I work for a Fortune 50 and we monitor in-house and also pay for corporate reputation monitoring. We don’t always act on what we find but it is always reported out to the decision makers.

I doubt BMW NA is going to make Moto millions whole. They have taken their position that the root cause is the removal of the rev limiter. Until they get their report back from the engineer on the bearing condition they’ll do nothing. Even then, they’ll cite shared responsibility and only meet him maybe halfway, unless they would lose in litigation…then they’ll cave.

 

[2Wheelz]

Thanks for your insight and your perspective from your corporate world. Been retired for many years, but I worked for a Fortune 500 company that has been on the listing for 68+ years and today is listed in the lower bottom third of the Fortune 500. My position was managing institutional sales calling upon the largest restaurant chain headquarters and institutional wholesale food distributor headquarters like Sysco Corporation, for example.

Being a baby boomer in the corporate world was much different than today of course, with you having much more detailed marketing data available. When I retired I concentrated on family, friends & hobbies rather than follow closely business trends other than precis of various industry analysis from my Merrill Lynch broker and mainstream news sources. In general from your perspective, monitoring corporations reputations must be revealing some higher levels of consumer frustration with many large corporations making massive record profits while shrinkflation, for example in food products, are occurring at the same time along with general inflation that doesn’t totally describe all the raising of prices across most categories. Are large corporations engendering more avarice in your opinion or is competition for market share just that cutthroat today or both?

Back on the subject of this engine failing on the BMW RR, I agree with your assessment that they’re just going to sit on their hands until their sales falter like your previous Honda Goldwing example or a losing litigation is eminent.

 

[Fullum]

Hello everyone, here a link of a Fortnite video where they explain the relationship between the dealer and the compagnie who produced the motorcycle.
As for my experience I've try to get info from BMW motorrad Canada on technical questions or warranty and they always send me back to the dealer who doesn't have the answer for me.
Cheers
Yves

 

[mzflorida]

Thanks for your insight and your perspective from your corporate world. Been retired for many years, but I worked for a Fortune 500 company that has been on the listing for 68+ years and today is listed in the lower bottom third of the Fortune 500. My position was managing institutional sales calling upon the largest restaurant chain headquarters and institutional wholesale food distributor headquarters like Sysco Corporation, for example.

Being a baby boomer in the corporate world was much different than today of course, with you having much more detailed marketing data available. When I retired I concentrated on family, friends & hobbies rather than follow closely business trends other than precis of various industry analysis from my Merrill Lynch broker and mainstream news sources. In general from your perspective, monitoring corporations reputations must be revealing some higher levels of consumer frustration with many large corporations making massive record profits while shrinkflation, for example in food products, are occurring at the same time along with general inflation that doesn’t totally describe all the raising of prices across most categories. Are large corporations engendering more avarice in your opinion or is competition for market share just that cutthroat today or both?

Back on the subject of this engine failing on the BMW RR, I agree with your assessment that they’re just going to sit on their hands until their sales falter like your previous Honda Goldwing example or a losing litigation is eminent.

Interesting question on consumer frustrations. How I have developed some knowledge regarding social media monitoring is that I lead a program in enterprise risk management in the health insurance industry. We use sentiment (statistical) to design our products and also create the models we choose for the annual enrollment periods. We're definitely pretty greedy but also highly regulated; the government sets rates, and we see where we can best use our efficiencies to make as much money as possible while giving the consumer as much as we can to entice them and remain profitable. Customer acquisition is everything and that is where the greed comes in. You know how it is; we say the customer is everything but really it is the investor who drives decisions. I really don't know if greed is the motivator in other consumer products. My gut says yes, but I'm jaded.

Personally, I'm a foodie...I don't mean that casually and I have been cooking since I was 7. Anyhow, I enjoy Latin food and use this cheese, queso fresco (it's like Latin parmesan), a lot. Just two years ago it was about $4.00 whereas today it is just shy of $10.00. I can't for the life of me think where that increase comes from. Less cows? Can't be more demand. Manufacturing was already in place. Regulations did not change significantly. Wages in the sector have only risen marginally. Like I said, I don't have knowledge on consumer product pricing, but this certainly raises flags. Occam's razor tells me it is greed driving that. Can't be a ton of people looking for $10.00 queso fresco driving up prices.

Back on topic again...my wife cut her teeth on sport bikes. She even rode her cruiser with those same tendencies (sound familiar @wspollack...pretty sure that's you too!), though she only rides scooters today. My daughters also rode but don't anymore, but they are now looking at getting back into it...they picked up her riding style which I wish they hadn't. My wife would dig her heels in on "no" if I wanted to buy that bike. I'd wind up dead or in jail and she knows it. When I bought the C400GT, she hardly remembered that I ordered the thing.

 

[wspollack]

Back on topic again...my wife cut her teeth on sport bikes. She even rode her cruiser with those same tendencies (sound familiar @wspollack...pretty sure that's you too!), though she only rides scooters today. My daughters also rode but don't anymore, but they are now looking at getting back into it...they picked up her riding style which I wish they hadn't. My wife would dig her heels in on "no" if I wanted to buy that bike. I'd wind up dead or in jail and she knows it. When I bought the C400GT, she hardly remembered that I ordered the thing.

Well, I'd post some pics like this, but some might object to the thread drift:

 

[2Wheelz]

Interesting question on consumer frustrations. How I have developed some knowledge regarding social media monitoring is that I lead a program in enterprise risk management in the health insurance industry. We use sentiment (statistical) to design our products and also create the models we choose for the annual enrollment periods. We're definitely pretty greedy but also highly regulated; the government sets rates, and we see where we can best use our efficiencies to make as much money as possible while giving the consumer as much as we can to entice them and remain profitable. Customer acquisition is everything and that is where the greed comes in. You know how it is; we say the customer is everything but really it is the investor who drives decisions. I really don't know if greed is the motivator in other consumer products. My gut says yes, but I'm jaded.

Personally, I'm a foodie...I don't mean that casually and I have been cooking since I was 7. Anyhow, I enjoy Latin food and use this cheese, queso fresco (it's like Latin parmesan), a lot. Just two years ago it was about $4.00 whereas today it is just shy of $10.00. I can't for the life of me think where that increase comes from. Less cows? Can't be more demand. Manufacturing was already in place. Regulations did not change significantly. Wages in the sector have only risen marginally. Like I said, I don't have knowledge on consumer product pricing, but this certainly raises flags. Occam's razor tells me it is greed driving that. Can't be a ton of people looking for $10.00 queso fresco driving up prices.

Back on topic again...my wife cut her teeth on sport bikes. She even rode her cruiser with those same tendencies (sound familiar @wspollack...pretty sure that's you too!), though she only rides scooters today. My daughters also rode but don't anymore, but they are now looking at getting back into it...they picked up her riding style which I wish they hadn't. My wife would dig her heels in on "no" if I wanted to buy that bike. I'd wind up dead or in jail and she knows it. When I bought the C400GT, she hardly remembered that I ordered the thing.

One has to become a foodie with my background and my experience working with some of the finest master chefs in the world like for example, Ferdinand Metz, CMC who did a lot of work for our food company for 15 years in product development. It’s just corporate greed that’s fueling shrinkflation in the food industry it appears and that’s something that the consumers have to push back on to have real change. It may be cyclical and maybe it will come back as we’ve seen this before.

But then again, it may not be as cyclical anymore because of increasing scarcities around the world and so much competition for products, ingredients and raw materials. Obviously, population growth is contributing greatly to these scarcities and it will probably be more & more competitive in the future. Paraphrasing the old Chinese proverb, we do live in interesting times indeed.

Have a sister-in-law that works for a very large health concern in upper management so I’ll have to ask her what her take is on this issue of corporate greed.

Thanks for the tip on queso fresco as you piqued my interest. I’ve never seen it offered in the food markets in my area, so I’ll have to probably order some from Amazon. Any brands you would recommend?

Also started cooking at an early age like yourself as both my parents were gourmands and entertained a lot.

Back on the two wheel subject, … my local climate sure sucks compared to yours for riding but it is certainly beautiful around Lake Superior as for some consolation. Most of my favorite riding has been on dual sport bikes (my favorite being a highly modified Yamaha WR250 R) in the last 20 years along with having as well some kind of scooter and for most of those 20 years, it was a Vespa GTS 250 ie, which I never should have sold (but don’t we all have bikes or scooters that we wish we never sold?).

Your wife’s riding “style” sounds somewhat similar to my own. Wheelies and catching air “with my hair on fire 🔥 ” are things I cannot do with this old body anymore, but it sure was fun at the time. Catching huge air on snowmobiles was one of my big things as well. There’s nothing like hitting a compression fracture on a snow covered frozen lake @ say 75+ mph and catching 25 to 30 feet of air vertically, landing it smoothly in drifted snow, then just smiling from ear to ear in your helmet. Good times! 👍🏼😎

Started racing snowmobiles professionally when I was a junior in high school which apparently helped create my aggressive riding style, but now my body is too old to aggressively ride a dual sport bike anymore, hence the Ducati Monster SP compromise. My ventures “off-road” will probably be on mostly gravel roads now.

I’ll probably end up purchasing a newer Vespa GTS like the one below eventually because I really liked the feeling of how that little short wheelbase went around corners, it was just wonderful. Perfect size for urban use and filtering around the massive traffic jams we get some times of the year here for example our Bayfront Blues Festival and Tall Sailing Ships events, etc. Ideal for getting a couple items at the grocery store as well. Miss having a scooter for quick rides.

How do you like your C400GT?

 

[mzflorida]

Well, I'd post some pics like this, but some might object to the thread drift:

Bill you know my position on thread drift; bring it!

 

[mzflorida]

One has to become a foodie with my background and my experience working with some of the finest master chefs in the world like for example, Ferdinand Metz, CMC who did a lot of work for our food company for 15 years in product development. It’s just corporate greed that’s fueling shrinkflation in the food industry it appears and that’s something that the consumers have to push back on to have real change. It may be cyclical and maybe it will come back as we’ve seen this before.

But then again, it may not be as cyclical anymore because of increasing scarcities around the world and so much competition for products, ingredients and raw materials. Obviously, population growth is contributing greatly to these scarcities and it will probably be more & more competitive in the future. Paraphrasing the old Chinese proverb, we do live in interesting times indeed.

Have a sister-in-law that works for a very large health concern in upper management so I’ll have to ask her what her take is on this issue of corporate greed.

Thanks for the tip on queso fresco as you piqued my interest. I’ve never seen it offered in the food markets in my area, so I’ll have to probably order some from Amazon. Any brands you would recommend?

Also started cooking at an early age like yourself as both my parents were gourmands and entertained a lot.

Back on the two wheel subject, … my local climate sure sucks compared to yours for riding but it is certainly beautiful around Lake Superior as for some consolation. Most of my favorite riding has been on dual sport bikes (my favorite being a highly modified Yamaha WR250 R) in the last 20 years along with having as well some kind of scooter and for most of those 20 years, it was a Vespa GTS 250 ie, which I never should have sold (but don’t we all have bikes or scooters that we wish we never sold?).

Your wife’s riding “style” sounds somewhat similar to my own. Wheelies and catching air “with my hair on fire 🔥 ” are things I cannot do with this old body anymore, but it sure was fun at the time. Catching huge air on snowmobiles was one of my big things as well. There’s nothing like hitting a compression fracture on a snow covered frozen lake @ say 75+ mph and catching 25 to 30 feet of air vertically, landing it smoothly in drifted snow, then just smiling from ear to ear in your helmet. Good times! 👍🏼😎

Started racing snowmobiles professionally when I was a junior in high school which apparently helped create my aggressive riding style, but now my body is too old to aggressively ride a dual sport bike anymore, hence the Ducati Monster SP compromise. My ventures “off-road” will probably be on mostly gravel roads now.

I’ll probably end up purchasing a newer Vespa GTS like the one below eventually because I really liked the feeling of how that little short wheelbase went around corners, it was just wonderful. Perfect size for urban use and filtering around the massive traffic jams we get some times of the year here for example our Bayfront Blues Festival and Tall Sailing Ships events, etc. Ideal for getting a couple items at the grocery store as well. Miss having a scooter for quick rides.

How do you like your C400GT?

View attachment 4530

This is the brand I try to get. https://www.caciquefoods.com/products/queso-fresco/ I like the crumble and the flavor the best. It is not a melting cheese at all.

Honestly, I could not be happier with the C400GT. It is an incredibly well engineered machine. There are minor shortcomings and one big one with the lack of storage. I've had this one for about 9 months which is when I typically sell my bikes. Zero intention of getting rid of it. I'll ride the wheels off of it. Well, if the Tmax comes here, I'd buy that and probably get rid of the C400 and buy that.

Funny, I'm not generally a fan of Vespas (for me to own...love all things two wheels). That one looks really sharp! I saw a similar one at Naples Vespa but in gold. Holy smokes, that thing was gorgeous!

I had a home in Wisconsin (can't call yourself a Chicagoan until you have a second home in Wisconsin). I did ride snowmobiles up there. I never really jumped them intentionally but dumped them a few times. Funny, I was always more fearful of snowmobiles than motorcycles, especially when riding across lakes.

And yes; I should NEVER have sold my VFR1200X. About as dumb as going to Costco on Saturday during tourist season.

 

[2Wheelz]

This is the brand I try to get. https://www.caciquefoods.com/products/queso-fresco/ I like the crumble and the flavor the best. It is not a melting cheese at all.

Honestly, I could not be happier with the C400GT. It is an incredibly well engineered machine. There are minor shortcomings and one big one with the lack of storage. I've had this one for about 9 months which is when I typically sell my bikes. Zero intention of getting rid of it. I'll ride the wheels off of it. Well, if the Tmax comes here, I'd buy that and probably get rid of the C400 and buy that.

Funny, I'm not generally a fan of Vespas (for me to own...love all things two wheels). That one looks really sharp! I saw a similar one at Naples Vespa but in gold. Holy smokes, that thing was gorgeous!

I had a home in Wisconsin (can't call yourself a Chicagoan until you have a second home in Wisconsin). I did ride snowmobiles up there. I never really jumped them intentionally but dumped them a few times. Funny, I was always more fearful of snowmobiles than motorcycles, especially when riding across lakes.

And yes; I should NEVER have sold my VFR1200X. About as dumb as going to Costco on Saturday during tourist season.

Thanks for the link on Cacique® brand Queso Fresco.

Yes, if the Yamaha TMAX 560 ever comes back, I’d be looking again at that one too. Years ago I test rode one and I really liked that scoot but didn’t buy it. Ended up finding a deal on that Vespa that was two years lost in a warehouse crate somewhere and I negotiated a great deal on it.

There’s just something about that Vespa feeling going around tight corners. It’s hard to describe. If you ever get a chance to test ride a new Vespa GTS 300, do it. You will see what I mean by how it feels so wonderfully different going around tight banked corners. You have to ride one to experience what I mean. It’s a different feeling from other scooters.

One thing I didn’t like about the Vespa was the infamous front suspension wobble because of the one-sided suspension on the front wheel. You can’t ride one without having at least one hand firmly on it or you can get the infamous wobble @ certain speeds and it gets worse the higher the speed and sometimes outright dangerous. It’s just something intrinsically Vespa one has to get used to. Vespas do hold their resale value very well though.

One thing that held me back getting another Vespa are our Duluth, MN roads are getting so bad from massive frost heaves and huge potholes over the years from a lot of extreme temperature changes the city doesn’t seem to be able to keep up & fix. My GTS 250 ie would bottom out a lot here the roads were so bad. The CE 04 would bottom out worse, interestingly enough.

Last year we were buried in nearly 12 feet (139.9”) of all-time record snow for the season and this year we’ve received hardly any snow at all. Snowmobiler’s and snowmobile salesman up here are really bitching up a storm about the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snowfall and I don’t blame them. ATV sales are probably going to skyrocket this year. Crazy climate change weather eh?

That’s one of the reasons I went with the Öhlin suspension on my Monster SP to handle better & safer on our terrible roads.

Funny you mentioned Chicago, as I used to live in Hoffman Estates in the northwestern metro and went to James B. Conant high school my freshman year in Schaumburg, near the new big mall they were building in 1969. We then moved to the western suburbs of Minneapolis (Chanhassen) and instead of having a cabin up north then, my folks had a second home down in Fort Myers on the water canals in the Town & Country Estates subdivision. Great beaches around Sanibel Island & Christmas Key near their home, but the best beach was at their previous place, a three bedroom condo right on the beach on Siesta Key. Loved walking that sugar sand beach. Destin, Florida has a great beach too. Used to trailer my Force 5 sailboat that was similar to a Laser sailboat to Destin for vacation from Houston, Texas back in the mid-80s. Once sailed a broad reach along the shore following carefully a pod of dolphin families with newborns, which was truly a magical experience I will never forget.

BTW, did you have DCT on your VFR 1200X and if you did, how did you like it?

No engineering results so far on the MotoMillions RR engine bearing failing saga…

 

[mzflorida]

Thanks for the link on Cacique® brand Queso Fresco.

Yes, if the Yamaha TMAX 560 ever comes back, I’d be looking again at that one too. Years ago I test rode one and I really liked that scoot but didn’t buy it. Ended up finding a deal on that Vespa that was two years lost in a warehouse crate somewhere and I negotiated a great deal on it.

There’s just something about that Vespa feeling going around tight corners. It’s hard to describe. If you ever get a chance to test ride a new Vespa GTS 300, do it. You will see what I mean by how it feels so wonderfully different going around tight banked corners. You have to ride one to experience what I mean. It’s a different feeling from other scooters.

One thing I didn’t like about the Vespa was the infamous front suspension wobble because of the one-sided suspension on the front wheel. You can’t ride one without having at least one hand firmly on it or you can get the infamous wobble @ certain speeds and it gets worse the higher the speed and sometimes outright dangerous. It’s just something intrinsically Vespa one has to get used to. Vespas do hold their resale value very well though.

One thing that held me back getting another Vespa are our Duluth, MN roads are getting so bad from massive frost heaves and huge potholes over the years from a lot of extreme temperature changes the city doesn’t seem to be able to keep up & fix. My GTS 250 ie would bottom out a lot here the roads were so bad. The CE 04 would bottom out worse, interestingly enough.

Last year we were buried in nearly 12 feet (139.9”) of all-time record snow for the season and this year we’ve received hardly any snow at all. Snowmobiler’s and snowmobile salesman up here are really bitching up a storm about the unseasonably warm weather and lack of snowfall and I don’t blame them. ATV sales are probably going to skyrocket this year. Crazy climate change weather eh?

That’s one of the reasons I went with the Öhlin suspension on my Monster SP to handle better & safer on our terrible roads.

Funny you mentioned Chicago, as I used to live in Hoffman Estates in the northwestern metro and went to James B. Conant high school my freshman year in Schaumburg, near the new big mall they were building in 1969. We then moved to the western suburbs of Minneapolis (Chanhassen) and instead of having a cabin up north then, my folks had a second home down in Fort Myers on the water canals in the Town & Country Estates subdivision. Great beaches around Sanibel Island & Christmas Key near their home, but the best beach was at their previous place, a three bedroom condo right on the beach on Siesta Key. Loved walking that sugar sand beach. Destin, Florida has a great beach too. Used to trailer my Force 5 sailboat that was similar to a Laser sailboat to Destin for vacation from Houston, Texas back in the mid-80s. Once sailed a broad reach along the shore following carefully a pod of dolphin families with newborns, which was truly a magical experience I will never forget.

BTW, did you have DCT on your VFR 1200X and if you did, how did you like it?

No engineering results so far on the MotoMillions RR engine bearing failing saga…

I was not too far from you. I lived in Edison Park my whole life. That is the farthest NW neighborhood in the city; my backyard backed up to the border of Park Ridge.

I'm very familiar with Town and Country and we just took the boat to Sanibel on the weekend! Siesta Key is absolutely gorgeous. If you have not been there in a while, they've built an infrastructure with parking, showers, snack shack, places to sit, etc. They did a nice job and really did not impact much of the beach at all. We have a lot in common; I had a 32 Pearson in Belmont Harbor and just might buy a new Laser for around here. The problem with the Laser, maybe the problem with me is more accurate, I don't like cold water and the best winds down here are in the winter. Not sure I want to wear a wetsuit. Funny you mention the dolphins...we had dolphins showing off this weekend right off the coast of Sanibel. You never forget it when you see it that close.

I did have the DCT on the VFR and loved it. So did my wife; so much so that she bought a CTX700 with DCT and I now have an NC750 with DCT. I don't miss shifting one bit. Honda may be phasing out DCT on their smaller bikes (guessing...nothing written suggesting that). They came up with this e-clutch design that is like a quick shifter, but the rider cannot stall the bike and also has full use of the clutch for feathering, uturns, etc. It is a lot cheaper, and lighter, than the DCT. However, I would bet that it is less reliable than the DCT.

 

[2Wheelz]

I was not too far from you. I lived in Edison Park my whole life. That is the farthest NW neighborhood in the city; my backyard backed up to the border of Park Ridge.

I'm very familiar with Town and Country and we just took the boat to Sanibel on the weekend! Siesta Key is absolutely gorgeous. If you have not been there in a while, they've built an infrastructure with parking, showers, snack shack, places to sit, etc. They did a nice job and really did not impact much of the beach at all. We have a lot in common; I had a 32 Pearson in Belmont Harbor and just might buy a new Laser for around here. The problem with the Laser, maybe the problem with me is more accurate, I don't like cold water and the best winds down here are in the winter. Not sure I want to wear a wetsuit. Funny you mention the dolphins...we had dolphins showing off this weekend right off the coast of Sanibel. You never forget it when you see it that close.

I did have the DCT on the VFR and loved it. So did my wife; so much so that she bought a CTX700 with DCT and I now have an NC750 with DCT. I don't miss shifting one bit. Honda may be phasing out DCT on their smaller bikes (guessing...nothing written suggesting that). They came up with this e-clutch design that is like a quick shifter, but the rider cannot stall the bike and also has full use of the clutch for feathering, uturns, etc. It is a lot cheaper, and lighter, than the DCT. However, I would bet that it is less reliable than the DCT.

Very interesting that our lives & interests have “crossed paths” in a few areas to be sure…

This may be a longshot here because this pizza joint was the best on the planet in its day, but my family used to go to a place called “Charlotte‘s Pizza” in Barrington, Illinois a lot that was right next to the railroad tracks there. They didn’t even take orders over the phone because they were always so jammed with customers. Baked the 🍕 pies in a huge gas fired ovens at 800+ degrees Fahrenheit and they were incredible. Not deep dish Chicago style, this was thin crust just jammed with great toppings with incredible dark caramelization of the cheese on the top. It’s been decades, but I still dream about how good that pizza was … ha ha ha ha. Have you ever heard of this place? Great Za❗️🍕

My dad had a business friend that lived in Arlington Heights that went to Charlotte’s Pizza at least once every week for over two decades. We used to joke about him about it, but the 🍕 was that good.

Dad and mom’s house was on a cul-de-sac lot on the street and also a cul-de-sac on the water canal in Town and Country Estates and had a large waterfront where they could park their two yachts: an older but well maintained 42’ Grand Banks trawler & a brand new custom ordered Albin 32 + 2 Command Bridge Cruiser that we were going to take a trip to Duluth, Minnesota (most of my family’s home town at the time) from Fort Myers via waterways, locks, canals, lakes, and rivers. We only got as far as a bit into North Carolina on the ICW as I injured my left knee about 5 miles off the coast of Daytona Beach, Florida earlier that week when a larger wave hit us broadside while I was securing the anchor on deck in building confused seas. Tried to tough it out, but I had torn my medial meniscus ligament and it just got worse and worse and I couldn’t help them complete the cruise because with the swelling I couldn’t easily get up the ladder to the command bridge and help navigate the boat which was required. Had to fly home for surgery while the folks took it easy and made their way back to Fort Myers. BTW, Navigation markers come up fast at 22 knots … hahaha. 😂

It was a bummer of a shortened and interrupted voyage and I’ll remember what a great boat that Albin was for going up the ICW. The 42’ Grand Banks was not reasonably fast enough to go up the Hudson River’s current without it taking forever, so that’s why dad ordered the Albin with a big single diesel engine (forget the make) that could cruise at 22 knots whereas the Grand Banks could only cruise @ 9 knots with the twin 120 hp Ford Lehman diesels. We took the canal cut across Florida through Lake Okeechobee to get to the Atlantic Ocean & ICW, and that was an interesting part of the journey as we hit a huge storm on Lake Okeechobee with a few other mostly smaller fishing boats waiting to go through the lock to a marina that was a bit crazy. That lake reminds me a lot of Lake Erie because it’s so shallow and at times really whips up some nasty storms with good size waves.

As for a small boat that won’t get you wet that’s fun to sail you’re probably going to have to step up a bit in size for that most likely. Lots of good used boats on the market right now, so you’re in luck there. Good hunting.

That Pearson 32’ you once had must’ve been a fine sailer. Reminds me a lot of the Tartan 34’ … a business customer friend’s boat that we raced every year on Lake Erie for the Mills Trophy Race from the Toledo Yacht Club to the Put-in-Bay harbor on South Bass Island overnight. It was so cool when racers came in throughout the day and arrived in the harbor at the Toledo Yacht Club, they fired off a small canon and announced over loudspeakers, so everyone could hear your boat name and the captain’s name. Then racing crews would all give a cheer !

When I was racing, we had fleets of over 400 boats racing in several classes and several booze manufacturers and beer brewers along with some sailing gear manufacturers gave that away free booze and food and sponsored the parties at the Toledo Yacht Club and two others on South Bass Island all with three different really great live bands were “crippling” to say the least after the weekend. 😁

Drives home from Port Huron, Ohio where my friend docked his Tartan 34’ for the summer to my home at the time in Granville, Ohio were brutal.

The starting times were near sunset the day after the arrival party day to give crews enough time to recover from boozing it up the day & night before and also rig their boats for racing. 🤣

Think my most memorable sailing adventure was when I bareboat chartered a C&C 41’ Racer/Cruiser that was rigged with all the “go fast gear” for the Trans Superior International Yacht Race for a week in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore out of Bayfield, Wisconsin. Terrific & fast cruising boat by the way, if you know how to properly adjust boom vangs, running back stays, etc. Incredible sailing there if you ever get the chance. The many island caves are awesome to explore from the water and so is eastern Outside Island for nice picnic on the beautiful sandy beaches with interesting driftwood best with a Bahamian mooring.

Back to the subject of motorcycles again…. It’s interesting about the DCT being phased out for quick shifters as quick shifters on performance oriented bikes seems to be all the rage now. My new Ducati has one and I can’t wait to give it a go more when the weather and the roads are much better. They need to break-in a bit when new too. I looked at the NC 750 with DCT and think that’s an excellent bike. The tank compartment is perfect for quick trips to the grocery or wherever.

We’re supposed to get 15” to 18” of snow that’s coming with this new snowstorm Sunday through Tuesday this next week so I’ve got “The Kraken“ model prepared for snow removal duty. Bought it last year when we had all that record breaking snow which was great but this year not so much as we’ve been mostly snowless. Lots of folks are really excited about this snow storm and so am I quite honestly. This is the biggest snowblower that Ariens makes and at my particular location on Spirit Mountain, I get a ton of lake effect snow off Lake Superior with these large snowstorms and usually receive the most snowfall in the area. Lucky me eh? ❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️

Apologize for the length of this reply dictating into my iPad Pro as I did a very strong 350 mg legal THC gummy for some severe pain reduction and it kicked in somewhere in the middle of the body of this response. 😵‍💫