[rmg08057]

Hi guys & gals

I am moving across to Mountain View, near San Jose, at the end of July. I have a couple of questions.....
1. I assume the appropriate dealer is SJBMW?
2. Licence - is it a straight swap or is there a written and/or practical requirement?

The family are staying until Christmas (we'll have it back in Sydney with family, before settling then back into Auckland). I'll be staying on another year, so 2008 I am hoping to give the bike a real caning...maybe do 40k+ miles in the land of year-round-riding. They tell me the 36 is the numero uno ride (well, according to Pashnit).

Any locals have suggestions on a good apartment complex for up to 2k/mth in the Mountain View area (2Bed2Bath)?

Hoping to be riding with youse guys soon. I have just had a 12k done and the Wilbers rebuilt - ready to rumble.

 

[Ted Shred]

Hi guys & gals

I am moving across to Mountain View, near San Jose, at the end of July. I have a couple of questions.....
1. I assume the appropriate dealer is SJBMW?
2. Licence - is it a straight swap or is there a written and/or practical requirement?

The family are staying until Christmas (we'll have it back in Sydney with family, before settling then back into Auckland). I'll be staying on another year, so 2008 I am hoping to give the bike a real caning...maybe do 40k+ miles in the land of year-round-riding. They tell me the 36 is the numero uno ride (well, according to Pashnit).

Any locals have suggestions on a good apartment complex for up to 2k/mth in the Mountain View area (2Bed2Bath)?

Hoping to be riding with youse guys soon. I have just had a 12k done and the Wilbers rebuilt - ready to rumble.

Cal BMW is in Mountainview...

Your license should transfer as long as you don't get a grumpy person at the DMV That never happens though

 

[ConspiracyofOne]

When I moved here from Colorado two years ago, I only had to take the written test.

 

[RowdyGirl]

I lived in Mt. View a large portion of my life - where is your work located and I can give you a better idea of apts that would be nice for you - I'm assuming you want a garage? Commuting is a totally different world there. Or, would you prefer to be close to the downtown area where there are nice restaurants and pubs within walking distance?

 

[rmg08057]

Thanks for the help.

Hey, Rowdy Girl.....work is over in Milpitas, but we want to live near to downtown. The Park Place appts are perfect, 'cept the price at 3200/mth for an 8 mth rental is a bit steep. Some of the cheaper ones like Maplewood etc back towards Palo Alto look promising, its just getting a 6 monther thats tricky. I went to the Birch Gardens? today and they only had one coming up, had to put a deposit (non-refundable) on the unit, couldn't see a sample and min 12 months. Arrrgghhh.

Anyway, if you have a suggestion for something reasonably close to downtown that have 6 month leases, please let me know, pretty please.

 

[DavidTaylor]

Hi guys & gals

I am moving across to Mountain View, near San Jose, at the end of July. I have a couple of questions.....
1. I assume the appropriate dealer is SJBMW?
2. Licence - is it a straight swap or is there a written and/or practical requirement?

The family are staying until Christmas (we'll have it back in Sydney with family, before settling then back into Auckland). I'll be staying on another year, so 2008 I am hoping to give the bike a real caning...maybe do 40k+ miles in the land of year-round-riding. They tell me the 36 is the numero uno ride (well, according to Pashnit).

Any locals have suggestions on a good apartment complex for up to 2k/mth in the Mountain View area (2Bed2Bath)?

Hoping to be riding with youse guys soon. I have just had a 12k done and the Wilbers rebuilt - ready to rumble.

Welcome to the 'hood! We'll have to go for a ride and a beer!

I think you're in for a little sticker shock on rents around here. $2000 a month will get you something OK, but not fantastic, and probably not with a garage for the bike. Mountain View is one of the more expensive cities in this area. If you're working in Milpitas you may want to look around there, North San Jose, and parts of Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. Southern Fremont may not be a bad choice, either.

As for dealers, San Jose BMW is further from Mountain View than Cal BMW (which is in Mountain View). But if you want good service and less snobbery then SJBMW would be the place. I used to do business with Cal until I got tired of teir crap, and have dealt exclusively with SJBMW since 1998.

As for Wilbers rebuild, if you do it out here Lindemann Engineering is a great shop for that. Only downside is he'll be really busy with race suspension work until around September. He can still get them done, but it will just take a little longer.

 

[RowdyGirl]

Mountain View is very expensive. My 1 bd. apt, that was (no joke) about 380 sq ft, with a carport was 1100 per month, and that was in '05. Milpitas is waaaaay cheaper.

But - the Avalon at Creekside is walking distance to Castro Street, the cool downtown strip (about 2-4 blocks worth of shops like an old main street) as well as Cal Train (ok - you're very close to the tracks depending on the apt you get.) It's a non-ghetto complex, though I've never known anyone living in them, and it looks to me like you can get a 7 mo lease for $2100: http://avaloncommunities.com/avaloncore/nfloor.asp?comm=22

The Avalon Mt View is on the other side of Shoreline, nicer complex, but even closer to the tracks, but still walking distance. I think they have furnished corporate type apts there, though. (My company used to put folks up there)

The Park Place apts are the best in the area, and where numerous friends of mine have lived. Great community and quiet. Walking distance to everything.

The best search you can do is on Craigslist.org - (everything is done on craigslist in the bay area) Narrow your search by southbay and then again with the keyword mt view. If you want to PM me any locations you're not sure on, I can tell you if they're yucky or not. You may want to go with a personally owned home or townhouse??

 

[rmg08057]

Thanks for the welcome.

I am not wedded to Mountain View, but having lived in central Philly for 4 years now, having moved from the antiseptic, dead NJ suburbs, I am looking for a town with a real, genuine center with some life. My family are really keen on buses and trains as well, so all of these things pointed to somewhere like Mtn View. Places like Milpitas (no center), Sunnyvale (maybe, small), Santa Clara (hideous fake expensive)....didn't immediately move onto the list. Maybe San Jose, but from what I had seen it seemed a bit off-putting for some reason.....I did make a snap judgement there.

Anyway, suggestions are really welcome. The $'s will drive me one way, and the relatively short stay (6 months for the family) will drive me another.

 

[kdog]

Mountain View is a good choice Ralph. Even better, if you could swing it would be Palo Alto. Both of those towns have a small-town feel, with little downtown areas that you easily walk around. Lot's of coffee and ice cream shops, book stores, ethnic restaurants, and microbreweries. Both towns have Caltrain stops so that you can step on a train, and zip up to the next town, or go all the way to San Fran or San Jose. I'm partial to Palo Alto because it's a college town (Stanford), and I like the beer better at Gordon Biersch better than the Tied House (in MV).

In addition to apartments, look for condo or even house leases as well. A lot of folks in that area are pretty transient and want to keep their foot in the door, if you know what I mean.

Good luck, Ralphie. And don't forget to plan your route out via Kingman.

Cheers,
-joel

 

[rmg08057]

Thanks Rowdy Girl, David and Joel

We got a place on California St, cross with Escuela - Maplewood. Seems like Spanish only spoken, but thats all part of the fun. 1750/mth, pool and secure parking for the bike is good. The Park Place was beautiful, ideal even, but almost exactly twice as much just so couldn't justify it for the 6 months. I need to be paid Valley wages to live in the Valley. Craigs List turned out to be good advice thanks.

So, hope to see you all around sometime....am off to CCR this year and the ride out and back should be fun.....will I be picking you up on the way thru Joel? The 2 x 1000 mile days to get there should suit you Joel...I'll do it, but what a pain. Anyway, I am going to try for 150k miles on the bike before I take it back to NZ at the end of 2008. Am at 103k now.

Thanks again for the welcome.

 

[kdog]

Right on, Ralph! That's great. You guys work fast.

I'm probably going to miss the next 10 CCRs until the girls get a little older. Something about family vacations taking priority over motorcycle trips. (Although I was fortunate to sneak in a 2,000 mile ride last week under the guise of a business trip.

).

-joel

 

[RowdyGirl]

Yeah, those apts are almost entirely latino resided. There's a few of those complexes right there - but there aren't any gang fights or drive by's so don't worry - totally decent working class folks - not gangstahs. That miniature house I lived in was on California & Chiquita, which by the way has THE BEST little Mercado EVER on that corner- they make handmade tamales every morning, and you are a block down. Who knows what the name of it is, everyone calls it the Tamale Place.

Congrats on your impending move!!! The next time I head down you'll have to come have a pint with me at Molly McGees!

 

[rmg08057]

Just letting locals know that they have a new LT'er in the area. Arrived Friday lunchtime. Comcast on by Saturday afternoon.

Loved western Colorado, Utah and eastern Nevada on the 50...all new stuff for me.

Philly seems a long way away now....... Well, hot tamale's for me for lunch from the Tamale shop....thanks for the advice Rowdy Girl.

 

[tlash]

Welcome to Spanglish speaking California, Ralph. Hope to meet up with you sometime soon.

 

[zippy_gg]

Bienvenido en California del Norte!

 

[DavidTaylor]

Just letting locals know that they have a new LT'er in the area. Arrived Friday lunchtime. Comcast on by Saturday afternoon.

Loved western Colorado, Utah and eastern Nevada on the 50...all new stuff for me.

Philly seems a long way away now....... Well, hot tamale's for me for lunch from the Tamale shop....thanks for the advice Rowdy Girl.

Welcome to the 'hood! A group of LT riders (and a few other brands) get together for lunch from time to time. Not as frequent as the HDDC (now them boys can eat! ), but it's still a nice gathering to chow and chat. Send me your email address and I'll let you know when the next one is.

 

[waycoa]

Welcome and enjoy

Best wishes. You didn't bring any steak and cheese, eh? I used to live and work over there in Mtn View & Palo Alto...but kind of like it over here in the Republic of Santa Cruz. Since you've seen Pashnit, you'll be amazed buy all the fine riding in our general vicinity, i think.