Anyone planning on attending the McDonald's L.A.T.E. ride along Lake Michigan on July 11-12???

I just sent in my volunteer registration forms and found out that MINI USA is one of the event sponsors. Representatives from the local dealerships will be in attendance. I also heard there's going to be a MINI display booth and several MINIs participating in this annual lakefront bike ride. The MINIs will help lead out each wave of bike riders.

I'm driving a relief van again, but I'll try to put something MINI on the mini-van give a shout if you're coming out to ride or check out the display! It's quite a sight to see 10,000 bike riders making their way through the streets of CHGO at midnight!

 

This may be kind of cool! I am a new Mini Clubman owner and looking to meet other owners. I will be at the Sonic in Aurora tonight for an event, but may have to put this one down as well. Thanks.

 

If anyone is going to be near Buckingham Fountain tomorrow after 9pm, stop by the MINI USA booth and say HI! I'm going to be hanging around with the people from MINI to talk about my "MINI experience" with event attendees.

The best part is I get to drive a new MINI Cabrio for the weekend So I'll have first-hand experience driving both versions of the Cabrio. Can't wait to pick it up on a few hours.

 

Are you giving rides?

 

before and after during it's going to be used for display only. there's no way you can drive around there once the bikes start to show up.

I picked up a Cooper Cabrio, Horizion Blue, Black top, manual trans... 600 on the odo. the always open meter on the pod is kinda funny. Drove it straight home though (Top down of course..). initially, I like the way it shifts. Its really quiet too (without a windscreen). I'll probably drive it a bit more tomorrow to get a better feel for it. I was hoping to get an S. but it didn't have a plate when I got there and I think it was auto...

 

Hey Anthony!! thanks for dropping by to chat at the tent. The pic with you and Jeff from MINIUSA came out really nice! it was a long night, pulling double-duty... but it was worth it. Hopefully with MINIs new "Green" campaign, they'll be at the LATE Ride again next year. If so, I'll be there if they need us again

so I dropped off the Cabrio today.... here's my final observations...

Drove the entire time with the top-down.. so I don't know if the blind-spots have been improved. When we drove to the Ride SAT night, the wind in the cockpit was almost non-existent. the temp was very comfortable. But the next morning, going home at 7am, the cockpit was very windy and cold at 69F. a windscreen would have been very helpful I think. rolled up windows and heat helped a little.

The two big gripes I had with the new Cabrio was no PDC and reduced rear-view with the top-down. I've was so used to PDC on my '05 Cabrio, I assumed all new ones have it. I guess its not the case. Its a great feature for the Cabrio and I think it should be standard equipment. I'm not that tall (5'6") so I usually raise the seat pretty high. in the new cabrio, the seat doesn't go very high at all. so when looking out the rearview mirror, the view is very poor IMHO. if a car pulls up behind me, I can only see the very top of the windshield. the retracted roof sits pretty tall in back. I think I have a better view with the original rollbars. because of the reduced visibility and no PDC, parallel parking or reversing into a space was a challenge.

If I had to choose between a new Cabrio or a Clubman (which I drove for a month).. I think I might choose the Clubman... guess I'll just keep my Cabrio

 

I did not have a chance to stop by and say hi before the ride, but I met Jeff with MINIUSA at the tent afterwards. I thought the MINI pacers were a brilliant idea! I look forward to seeing them on LATE Ride in the years to come.

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Hey Jon! Sorry we didn't meet. which wave were you in??? I was the support van for the 3rd wave. We got overrun by the 4th wave when we got to Greektown. Its all good.. its not a race. I wasn't sure when they left the tent. By the time I finished with the van, everyone was gone.. except for the Cabrio on display, which I took home.

Since MINI has its "Green" programs, the L.A.T.E. Ride falls right into their campaign. I would expect them to be back again...