Touring - but with pillions

[The Red Baron]

Hi all,

Anyone have recommendations for an Auckland based bike club that is touring biased, gentler paced for the older set and with pillions in mind. No disrespect intended but the Ulysses culture is not for me.

[FJRider]

Hi all,

Anyone have recommendations for an Auckland based bike club that is touring biased, gentler paced for the older set and with pillions in mind. No disrespect intended but the Ulysses culture is not for me.

This lot might be a start.

https://triumphriders.co.nz/home

[caspernz]

It's a bit hit and miss with groups, your take on Ulysses is similar to what I've seen and heard, yet some members are safe and sensible riders.

You can do worse than having a look at NZ Social Riders on Facebook.

If it's disciplined riding that appeals, have a look at the crew I belong to: http://iam.org.nz/
Plenty of mature and sensible riders in this lot.

[The Red Baron]

Thanks for your advice guys, :done: much appreciated :niceone:

[rustys]

Just go and do your own thing, far more enjoyable. Stop when you want to stop, explore places you want to go, and a lot safer.

[Navy Boy]

Thanks for your advice guys, :done: much appreciated :niceone:

Yep - I'd second what's been said above. The IAM is as good a group as you're likely to find if it's thoughtful riding you're after.

Sadly my own Ulysses experience was much the same as yours by the sounds of it. Stupid riding, people stuck in their ways and no means of looking after their own when out on a ride. A shame but there you go. :wacko:

[Laava]

Just go and do your own thing, far more enjoyable. Stop when you want to stop, explore places you want to go, and a lot safer.
Plus one!
unless you're into swinging!
I have ridden with our local Ulysses extensively over the last few years. Been on a couple of away trips that were great but groups change with the wind anyhow. We have met people there we ride with regularly and others we would never ride with, outside of the club.
We have had members from other branches move up and ride with us and say that we have totally different dynamics. For instance, apparently in the canterbury branch you cannot overtake the leader in charge and they never go over 100kmh. That does not suit everyone, if you know what I mean.

[The Red Baron]

Just go and do your own thing, far more enjoyable. Stop when you want to stop, explore places you want to go, and a lot safer.

sound advice rustys and at least I could keep up and not annoy the TEC :laugh:

[The Red Baron]

[QUOTE=Laava;1131160210]
I have ridden with our local Ulysses extensively over the last few years. Been on a couple of away trips that were great but groups change with the wind anyhow.

I'm hearing you Laava :nono:

[The Red Baron]

Yep - I'd second what's been said above. The IAM is as good a group as you're likely to find if it's thoughtful riding you're after.

Sadly my own Ulysses experience was much the same as yours by the sounds of it. Stupid riding, people stuck in their ways and no means of looking after their own when out on a ride. A shame but there you go. :wacko:

Appreciate your honesty Navy Boy :drinknsin

[rustys]

sound advice rustys and at least I could keep up and not annoy the TEC :laugh:
No pressure on either you or your pillion, ride at your own pace that you are comfortable with, don't be pushed, I agree with Lava, i have had 30years riding with Ulysses, in the early years good, great Club, lots of Rallies to ride to all over the country, and good times socializing, thats all changed, new ones now keep introducing rules and requirements for rides , found people became to addicted to Coffee stops unfortunatley.

[Murray]

check out the fat bikers in the group section, They try and ride once a month and caseye will look after you.

[Stylo]

[QUOTE=Laava;1131160210]
I have ridden with our local Ulysses extensively over the last few years. Been on a couple of away trips that were great but groups change with the wind anyhow.

I'm hearing you Laava :nono:

Remember riding with the Ulysses once on a charity ride. The cock in front told me off for overtaking him at the end of the ride.

He was riding a CX500 and I'm on a '11 Hayabusa. And, I'm only a young fella too. 58

[Stylo]

No pressure on either you or your pillion, ride at your own pace that you are comfortable with, don't be pushed, I agree with Lava, i have had 30years riding with Ulysses, in the early years good, great Club, lots of Rallies to ride to all over the country, and good times socializing, thats all changed, new ones now keep introducing rules and requirements for rides , found people became to addicted to Coffee stops unfortunatley.

Thanks for that . I'm too young at heart at this stage to join but wish you all the best. Age 58.

Steering clear .... Ulysses , best of luck .

[Laava]

[QUOTE=The Red Baron;1131160224]

Remember riding with the Ulysses once on a charity ride. The cock in front told me off for overtaking him at the end of the ride.

He was riding a CX500 and I'm on a '11 Hayabusa. And, I'm only a young fella too. 58
Charity rides are the worst tho. All charity rides are organised like that and there is reasons but it is a pain in the arse and I avoid them for that reason. The Far North branch tells the riders every time at the get go, ride your own ride. And that is as it should be.
But I don,t go 2up with others, just me and the wife. Cos we stop and do walks and things or visit mates and it gives us flexibility.

[caseye]

Wifey has banned us from riding with the U's, she rides her own bike and is sick and tried of being lost, doing, 20K's ph one second and 160 the next, had riders simply stop dead in front of her, etc etc,
I;ve never had a run with them without some sort of misshap, sad to say.
Turning a bit older next month, have had the membership application for them for over 15 yrs now, still can't bring myself to fill it in.
The concept is good, most of their admin and general membership are good-great, but there are too many with a point to prove, still.
The FBMC welcomes anyone who feels they like pies and riding, regardless of fat content, our only advice to riders is as already mentioned above, "ride your own ride".
Course we have a ride leader and a TEC and on overnighters we also have a support vehicle.
Charity rides are a thing of the past for us, when we first started going to Ak's charity rides the Toy Run meet up at Western Springs, wifey was my pillion then, we parked up next to a beautiful Trumpy and then had an Hardly Davis pull up on the other side, thought we were in for it, cause the Trumpy was a patched up Mungy and the Davis was a BP, they acknowledged each other, took their stuffed (Huge they were) toys off their bikes and walked to the meet point together, they rode in front and behind us and made sure we didn't get collected by any of the 3-4 Thousand bikes that had attended. Seriosuly, we had a ball, those guys were bloody amazing, never saw either of them again though.
Now days the Helicopter Rescue ride, the Cambridge Christmas ride, the South Ak Sally's run, the The AK toy run and numerous other charity runs are just getting smaller and smaller and the riders are not there for the event, just the excuse to ride like idiots, seen too many crashes involving inocent riders taken out by fools, who even after having caused grief, simply pick up their bikes and continue riding like arseholes.
So, no more group rides, cept'n of course those that involve long time bike riding buddies,the FBMC,(Fat Bikers Motorcycle Club) the BFTP (Blast From The Past) and the group that get out and makes life difficult for those Govt officials who want to get rid of bikes from our roads.:weep:

[The Red Baron]

[QUOTE=Stylo;1131160268]
Charity rides are the worst tho. All charity rides are organised like that and there is reasons but it is a pain in the arse and I avoid them for that reason. The Far North branch tells the riders every time at the get go, ride your own ride. And that is as it should be.
But I don,t go 2up with others, just me and the wife. Cos we stop and do walks and things or visit mates and it gives us flexibility.

I have been a past member of the BMWOR and a few years back had a lead rider who was very accommodating to those of us with pillions. He kept the speeds legal and was sympathetic to the needs of our pillions needing stretch and potty stops that didn't involve trees and bushes. Our girls appreciated that but with him moving on speeds increased, stops were shorter and the fun of a family group waned. Don't get me wrong, there was still fun aplenty for the solos but "mum" enjoyed it less and her fellow ladies drifted off. I take on board everyone's great comments and advice and will touch base with the clubs spoken of and check out their culture.

[pritch]

My experience with charity rides is similar to others here. The first one, an Easter egg run, was a real eye opener. I did one more, a Christmas toy run, and that was enough.

The local Ulysses group gained a couple of relatively inexperienced riders and catered to them which was entirely reasonable, but the pace didn't suit me so...

The Honda Riders Club used to do a South Island tour every year, you didn't need to ride a Honda, they were excellently organised and had a sag wagon.
Sadly missed.

Others have been organised by one or other of the local bike shops. Organisation was ummm flexible(?). Basically you found someone who wanted to run at the same speed as you and away you went.

[Gearup]

My experience with charity rides is similar to others here. The first one, an Easter egg run, was a real eye opener. I did one more, a Christmas toy run, and that was enough.

The local Ulysses group gained a couple of relatively inexperienced riders and catered to them which was entirely reasonable, but the pace didn't suit me so...

The Honda Riders Club used to do a South Island tour every year, you didn't need to ride a Honda, they were excellently organised and had a sag wagon.
Sadly missed.

Others have been organised by one or other of the local bike shops. Organisation was ummm flexible(?). Basically you found someone who wanted to run at the same speed as you and away you went.


It usually boils down to people en masse = crazy things happening, just like some of the drama that goes on in threads on here.

[Laava]

My experience with charity rides is similar to others here. The first one, an Easter egg run, was a real eye opener. I did one more, a Christmas toy run, and that was enough.
.
Lols! My first experience was the Kamo xmas parade, about 12yrs ago in which one of the local bikie clubs organised a ride through at the front of the parade followed by a toy run to Whangarei Base Hospital which is probably about 10km, part of which is on the 70kmh bypass, the rest is all 50kmh zone. So we start off, no helmets and ride through Kamo, clutches in and revving the fuck out of our bikes until we get thru to the residential area. I stopped and put my helmet on as did most of the people on jappas. Then off we go, down to the pypass where the cops had blocked the intersection for us to go through, down past kensington stadium and most people are doing about 80 in the 59 zone. Then onto the bypass where it is 70kmh. I made a token effort and was doing about 100kmh but everyone was passing me like I was standing still. One of the organising bikies went past me helmetless and I would say he was doing a minimum 160k's. On it went till we got to the hospital where another huge racket was made pulling up and parking right outside the main entrance. I didn't bother going again.

[Old Steve]

I had a bad experience with Ulysses as well. Rode with them for about a year and a half, but a number of things made me cancel my membership and return my 60 year badge.

My wife, who didn't ride or pillion at that stage, found the women members very aggressive, if you don't ride we don't want you around even for a cup of coffee before the ride.

On a charity ride on my 250 cc learner bike, I stopped at a stop sign and got run over from behind by a Honda Valkyrie rider who hadn't thought that I'd actually stop.

Finally, I changed up from my 250 cc learner bike to an 800 cc Suzuki Boulevard M50. On my first ride on my new bike with a small group I was subjected to a ten minute tirade by a sports bike rider on why did I buy that piece of shite, his bike had the braking system of a racing bike and my bike only had a single front disc (this in front of a couple of Harley riders who's bikes both had only one front disc). No-one spoke out, they just let him rant on. Thoroughly unenjoyable experience.

There are some good people in Ulysses though, but I feel that there's a disproportionate amount of dickheads. I started riding on my own after that, and when we moved to central Queensland my wife started riding on the back.

Best of luck finding a group you're happy with.

[Laava]

I had a bad experience with Ulysses as well. Rode with them for about a year and a half, but a number of things made me cancel my membership and return my 60 year badge.

My wife, who didn't ride or pillion at that stage, found the women members very aggressive, if you don't ride we don't want you around even for a cup of coffee before the ride.

On a charity ride on my 250 cc learner bike, I stopped at a stop sign and got run over from behind by a Honda Valkyrie rider who hadn't thought that I'd actually stop.

Finally, I changed up from my 250 cc learner bike to an 800 cc Suzuki Boulevard M50. On my first ride on my new bike with a small group I was subjected to a ten minute tirade by a sports bike rider on why did I buy that piece of shite, his bike had the braking system of a racing bike and my bike only had a single front disc (this in front of a couple of Harley riders who's bikes both had only one front disc). No-one spoke out, they just let him rant on. Thoroughly unenjoyable experience.

There are some good people in Ulysses though, but I feel that there's a disproportionate amount of dickheads. I started riding on my own after that, and when we moved to central Queensland my wife started riding on the back.

Best of luck finding a group you're happy with.
which branch were you riding with, out of interest?
The guy ranting about the brakes, sounds like kiwibiker!:lol:
To reiterate though the group riding thing is not the issue, it is when you are riding in a mob or a "swarm" if you like.
Touring with a group is very different again and not my thing. I still ride with the far north Ulysses occasionally and have no problem with them. But we string out a bit and every week it is a different ride...