www.dhpmoto.com (David H. Park)

About this web site...

Download AOL Instant Messenger

Hi.

Welcome to my personal site dedicated to motorcycling and traveling. I first started motorcycling in 1991 upon graduating from college. Like many people, since I was a little boy I have always been fascinated by anything that had to do with transportation: planes, helicopters, bicycles, cars, and motorcycles.

My first memories of seeing "cool" motorcycles were the BMW police bikes in use in Europe. Ever since then I lusted for the freedom and experiences that motorcycling can uniquely bring. Prohibited by concerned parents from owning a motorcycle (Dad is an eye surgeon), I waited until free of college to make my move. Since then I've owned a variety of bikes (current bikes are a '91 R100GS PD, '01 Honda XR400R, Honda '01 XR100, '98 F650ST, '01 F650GS Dakar (TT39 specification w/WP USD suspension), and a '01 F650GS Touratech Schalber Rallye).

I've been fortunate enough in my life to have traveled to most foreign lands by plane but now prefer to make most of my trips by motorcycle. So a few years ago I decided to start learning how to ride off-road by going to BMW's enduro school in Hechlingen. This was lots of fun and has definitely improved my overall riding skills as well as brought much more enjoyment through my active participation in dual-sport rides.

Currently, I'm training with Jimmy Lewis for the '05 Dakar Rallye and other rallies such as Morocco, Dubai, and Tunisia. Most of the modification come from Touratech in Germany but I'm also designing and fabricating some parts which are not yet available. The basis for durability will be BMW's F650RR and R900RR desert rally bikes. Just about the only serious modification that we won't be making is taking off the fuel-injection system for racing carbs and different cams/valves.

I love my new bike! So far I've taken the F650GS Dakar on a 2800 mile shakedown through Baja California.(and since then on some rides through the S. California and Las Vegas deserts) Details of modifications, damage resulting from various spills, and overall comments (including a trip report) are part of this site. As time goes on I'll be adding to this site with detailed photos of modifications made, comments, and general stuff regarding my motorcycling activities.

After the rallies are over, if my schedule still permits, I'm planning to do a 3 year round-the-world trip with the BMW F650 TT39 bike.

Right now I'm pretty lucky that I have the time and ability to concentrate on these activities. In general, once we put modifications in place I generally take the bike out right away (same day) to test it at a local enduro park. It's been fun to talk to the various people in the industry to gain new contacts and knowledge as to how to set up the bike properly - and I hope to share this knowledge with the rest of the motorcycling community through this web site. I don't plan to change this opening letter but the site itself will change so keep tuning in.

Since March of 2001, I was trying to get BMW to listen to customer issues and made many recommendations to improve their business. You can read for yourselves what this was all about on the links titled BMW-problems. BMW rejected my proposal and offer to assist them (which is fine) but still hasn't changed in any way their insular and somewhat arrogant way of doing business with their dealers and customers (which is not fine). I continue my efforts therefore as a motorcycle consumer advocate - contact me with your stories and experiences good or bad as these need to be part of the public record IMO for BMW to start to change.

Feel free to drop me a line anytime for exchange of information, ideas, or just to chat.

Regards and happy trails.

David H. Park
david@dhpmoto.com

PS - many thanks to CalBMW Triumph of Mountain View and Touratech of Germany who are working with me on all of the modifications and a big thanks to Jimmy Lewis for training me for rallye racing! Please see my Dakar Rallye pages as well as visit my sponsors.