CHAPTER Q MINNESOTA REGION E. April 2017 Newsletter. Puzzles Galore. Cards. March Social. Chapter Q Meltdown Puzzles, Cards and Fun, Oh My!

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1 CHAPTER Q MINNESOTA April 2017 Newsletter Puzzles Galore Chapter Q Meltdown Puzzles, Cards and Fun, Oh My! Where did that piece go? Cards March Social Returning Friends, Martin and Lisa and they brought another prospect! Dave & Elaine getting their Wings? Page 1

2 CHAPTER Q MINNESOTA Chapter Q News April 2017 Chapter Director s Babble Open Houses, OPs meetings, Planning and Fun Oh My! In March and April, everything is turning greener, flowers / trees are sprouting and our Planning is in full throttle. Everyone s calendar is filling up with rallies and events (part of the Fun in our motto Friends for Fun, Safety and Knowledge). We can t wait until the summer to jump on our bike see our GWRRA Family and Friends. Open Houses have alr eady started in March and there are many more on tap for April at dealers or independent shops. Unlike some other organizations, that get support from motorcycle vendors, GWRRA is a supported by its members. While that sounds good in principle Nobody is going to tell us what to do it also has some down falls, tepid support membership enrollment or not understanding our organization. We can get the local shop support by working with local vendors. We work with the local Honda Motorsports dealers and the local independent accessory shops. We have a good relationship with all; they all know our organization and assist us by passing out literature and information about us to perspective folks. Everyone should support are local vendors and the local shops will support us in help make our events a little more successful. st Moon Motorsports Open House is on April 1 no fooling either. We will be having an in- formational table, along with many of our other friends. Drop by, see what Moon s has on sale and how the progress is on the building addition (~ 80 feet out to the west of the showroom). It may be cramped, but it will be fun! st nd Chapter R Mall Show - If you are in the Albert Lea area on April 1 or 2, Chapter R has a Mall Show on Saturday and Sunday (mall location is the on the Ch R web site). This weekend would be a two-fer; go to Moon s Motorsports on Saturday and then the Mall Show on Sunday. nd Osseo Powersports Open House is on April 22. We will be hosting a information table and sharing desserts treats. Osseo Powersports is under new management folks that know and understand motorcycles. The owner even bought an F6B. Drop by and talk to the new management. Big day on Saturday May 6th, there are two open houses; one Dr. Mudspringer s Open House and the other at Carousel Motorsports Open House. We will be supporting both locations with informational booths; try to make to both to double the fun! OPs Meetings (Operational or Planning Meetings) are open to all members at our District level. The meetings are held in the Spring and Fall, with the Spring meeting looking forward to planning the District Summer Rally and Fall meeting a wrap up of how the season. The meetings are known far in advance and on many calendars. If you want to know what is happening, drop by the OPs meetings at the Holiday Inn in Owatonna on April 29th. Planning our summer trips is ramping up. We have made the hotel and sent in the registra- tion; now comes the extra fun part the ride to and from the event. Since Bob is still working (L), we need to balance the ride with the time we have like most other folks. Page 2

3 Wing Ding 39 Planning - This year, we will be in the selection process for International Couple Of the Year at Wing Ding 39 in Grapevine, Texas this year. The International Couple Of the Year selection is done on the Tuesday before the official start of Wing Ding 39 on Wednesday. We want to invite all to attend and support us as the Region E Couple Of the Year at the International Couple Of the Year, held on the Tuesday before the official start of Wing Ding 39. We have been at many rallies and events throughout the Region and will attend many more. Our official and we hope to see lots of gold shirts at the selection process. April events: Social 12th Ch Q Social, Angeno s, Maple Grove 6:30pm Foodstuff 1 st Ch Q Breakfast Emma Krumbee s, Albertville 9am 15 th Ch Q Breakfast, Emma Krumbee s 9am + Ride 20 th Lunch, Theresa Mexican, Maple Grove 11:30am 22 nd Ch Q Dinner, Mad Jack s, Brooklyn Park 4pm Bob & Renae Hicks Chapter Directors GWRRA Chapter Q (Bob) (Renae) Chapter Q document repository (for the latest documents) - Future Events April 6 th Ch Q Breakfast, Carols, Blaine 9am 6 th Dr. Mudspringers Open House 10 th Ch Q Social Angeno s, Maple Grove 6:30pm 18 th Lunch, Olive Garden, Maple Grove 11:30am 19 th - 20 th Iowa Safety Weekend 20 th Ch Q Breakfast, Golden Coral Maple Grove 9am + Ride 21 st Ch Q Round-Up, HANOVER CITY HALL 11am Social, noon Lunch 27 th Ch Q Dinner, Roasted Pear Brooklyn Park 4pm 29 th Ride to the Highground Veterans Park, 8am Page 3

4 Future Events (cont.) May 1 st -3 rd Missouri District Rally, Branson, MO 3 rd Ch Q Breakfast, Minnie s Rogers 9am 14 th Ch Q Social Angeno s, Maple Grove 6:30pm 10 th Ch O s Fundraiser, Dr. MUDSPRINGERS 15 th Lunch, Irish Pub, Maple Grove 11:30am 17 th Ch Breakfast, Minnie s, Rogers 9am + Ride 18 th Ch C s Picnic HERMAN THE GERMAN PARK, New Ulm 23 rd 24 th NE/SD District Rally, Deadwood, SD 24 th Ch Q Dinner, Davanni s Pizza & Hoagies, Plymouth, 4pm Chapter Q Round Up Flyer Page 4

5 How to Clean and Maintain Your Motorcycle Helmet The riding season is just around the corner so I thought this might be the time to start thinking about getting your gear and bike ready for the summer ride. My first in the series is about cleaning and maintaining your motorcycle helmet. Keep in mind that in the process of cleaning your helmet you also have an opportunity to discover any defects or damage which might indicate it is time to look for a new helmet. If your helmet has been dropped or hit the pavement hard you may find cracks or scratches which will affect its integrity. You may have spent last season cleaning the bugs and dirt off the outside of the helmet so it looks good but this is the time to clean out the dirt and grime which may have accumulated on the inside. Make sure you consult your owner s manual, which should have been included with the purchase, for specific instructions on how to clean your helmet. You don t want to do anything which may void the manufacturer s warrantee. These comments are only intended to give you a general idea of what can be done. Equipment you should have available for the cleaning is Johnson and Johnson s Baby Shampoo not a petroleum based shampoo; a tooth brush one with soft bristles to reach those hard to get to places; some clean microfiber rags they don t need to be new, just clean and free of dirt and grease; and finally a large tub of warm water. You don t want to use anything that might damage the helmet and warm water is great. Having access to compressed air is great for being able to clean out the vents you want to avoid using canned compressed air because the aerosols can eat away at the liner can affect the safety of your helmet. First you want to remove any electronic equipment you have installed for your radio, CB, or intercom system. Next you want to remove the chin curtain, cheek pads, and internal pads. You should consult your owner s manual on how to do this because they are all connected in a different way. It should be a fairly straight forward process since the pieces generally just snap into place. Before you go over to wash the internal dip the microfiber cloth in the warm water and wring it out so it is not dripping wet. Place the clothe over her helmet and face shield to let it soften any bugs or dirt which me be on the exterior of the helmet. Let this sit while you are washing the pads. Take the internals to the kitchen and fill the sink with warm water. Put in a small amount of the shampoo. The reason you use shampoo is that you want to remove all the oils and dirt which have accumulated on the pads. Submerge the pads in the water one at a time and massage the parts like you were washing your hair. Then rinse the pad with warm water you don t want any soapy residue in the pad. After you rinsed the soap out squeeze the pads to remove excess water and set them aside to dry. Don t use any electrical equipment (hair dryer, oven, microwave, etc) to dry the pads. Put them on a towel and let them dry overnight. Do this about 8 hours before you intend to use the helmet so the pad get a chance to really dry naturally. Page 5

6 Go back to your helmet and remove the wet clothe and it should have done a good job of removing any dirt, dust and debris. Remove the face shield (consult owner s manual on how to do this). Set the shield aside and then using a warm wet clothe give your helmet nice wipe down with a generous amount of water. Go over the entire exterior of the helmet making sure you get into any tight spots. Rinse the rag as you go along and here s where you will see the benefit of the warm water soak while you were washing the pads. Wet the toothbrush and use it to get into the vents and the edges of the gaskets this is where the bugs and dirt tends to get in during the riding season. A quick blast of air in the vents will remove any bugs which may have become lodged blow the air from inside the helmet so you push the bugs back out make sure you have the vent covers open to prevent any damage. Then wipe down the helmet with a dry cloth. Next clean the face shield with a cloth dipped in warm water. Be careful about using any chemical solvents because some shield come with a coating which can be damaged. As you wipe the shield dry hold it up to the lightly so you can look for any fingerprints or other stains on the shield. If you see any scrapes or scratches you might think it is time to replace it. If your helmet has an internal sun visor pull it down and spray some warm water on it and then wipe it dry with your microfiber rag. Don t try to remove the sun visor because it may be very difficult and most of the time it doesn t have the same dirt and grim your face shield has. It is now time to re-install the internals. Start by re-installing any electronic equipment you had removed. Then start by installing the comfort pads, next the cheek pads, making sure everything is nice and snug, and then the chin curtain if you have one. The final step is installing the face shield. Hold it by the edges so you don t get your grimy finger prints all over the shield. The shields all snap into place, some being earlier than others. At this point you should have a nice clean helmet ready for a summer of riding. You can watch a step by step video of these instructions at: produced by Drive Safe! Bob Frazee, MN-Q, GWRRA Member # Chapter Educator Page 6