Black Gold Beemers History part 1

Black Gold Beemers Motorcycle Association

History – Part 1

The Black Gold Beemers motorcycle club was founded in Edmonton, Alberta in 1984 by Deryl Thompson. Thompson had arrived in Edmonton the previous year, having left Saskatchewan government’s public service.

“I arrived in Edmonton with a rental car and a 1969 BMW R69S in parts”, he recounts. “I thought, a city the size of Edmonton should have a BMW club.” Thompson says he was looking for help to put the R69S back together.

In 1984, Edmonton’s sole BMW dealer was Parthenon Motors, located in downtown. Parthenon Motors was primarily a BMW automobile dealership, but as was typical at that time, it was a dual purpose dealership, also selling BMW motorcycles. According to Thompson, Larry Rawlusyk (then Parthenon Motors’ owner) and Larry Rosenchuck, one of the dealership’s salespersons, helped Thompson start the club by providing a customer list – something that would be impossible today due to privacy legislation.

As Thompson recalls, after contacting people on Parthenon Motors’ customer list, the Black Gold Beemers’ first ‘official’ club ride took place in May, 1984. Within a year, the Black Gold Beemers motorcycle club was up and running, with some “twenty-five or thirty” members, and the first BMW Motorcycle Owners of America (MOA) chartered club in Alberta.