Ulysses - Pros and cons?

[Haggis2]

2.0 MEMBERSHIP
2.1 A person is eligible to be a member if the person:
(a) is 40 years old or more, and holds a current motorcycle licence, and has been nominated by a Branch Member and approved by the Branch Coordinator and one other Branch Committee member; or
(b) is 40 years old or more, and has a longstanding interest in motorcycles or is the spouse / partner of a current member, and has been nominated by a Branch Member and approved by the Branch Coordinator and one other Branch Committee member; or
(c) is 40 years old or more, and holds a current motorcycle licence, and is generally resident overseas, and has been nominated by two members who are generally resident in New Zealand; and
(d) having satisfied (a) or (b) or (c) above, has applied for membership to the National Secretary in such manner as may be prescribed from time to time; and
(e) has been approved for membership by the National Committee.

F - a huge grey/silver beard and missing teeth

[5150]

How much is it going to cost you to go from being a prospect to a patched member?

Few Cunning Stunts

or was that stunning cunts...

[5150]

F - a huge grey/silver beard and missing teeth

I am half way to F then

[duckonin]

So It seems that I am eligible to join Ulusses Club of NZ

Any pros or cons? Present and past members out there please enlighten me what are the advantages or disadvantages of joining this establishment?

I have tagged along on couple of their runs and actually enjoyed them. But was wanderring if I should go to the next step.

Simple you can take out of the system what you want or you can put some in for the benefit of yourself and others.

[duckonin]

I belonged to Ulysses for a couple of years, and one rider in particular mentored me as my riding skills improved. That was just what I needed.

However, when I bought my M50 and took it on her first ride with Ulysses, one of the sports bike riders started slagging her off and went on for about 10 minutes about what a piece of shit she was. None of the other riders there (all sports bike riders) asked him to stop either. Then I got left behind through some twisties, and no-one stopped at a major turn on the ride or at the end of the ride to check I had made it OK.

So I thought, I don't need that sort of sh*t from sports bike riders, and one reason I rode with Ulysses was for the safety factor of having someone check on me. So I resigned.

But, go on some of their rides and see if it suits you. Some of the larger branches divide the ride up into fast, medium and meandering speed groups - that's a good idea.

Not nice to hear of your experience with those clowns Steve, most of us do not have ego problems at all.

[sinned]

I dont like their club meetings, too formal for me. Sitting through the minutes of the last meeting, matters arising, treasurers report etc isn't what getting together as motorcyclists means to me.
.

This sounds like most other clubs - but not the usual Ulysses meet. The Welly branch meetings are very informal. No front table or minutes. When the meeting formal bit starts - that is never on time, but when members have run out of talk and the raffle is sold, the co-ordinator (Pres) shuts everyone up with a whistle. The business that follows is 90% about next months rides, rallies, events. Practically no administration or rules stuff. I have had my time in organisations with formal meetings - Ulysses is refreshingly different. The club quoted above needs to be sorted out.

The Ulysses rides are good events and run by experience riders. Experienced often meaning - have ridden motorcycles since their teens. Here is a blog of one of our members who is currently riding from ice to ice.

[GrayWolf]

How much is it going to cost you to go from being a prospect to a patched member?

don't you have to perform cunnilingus on a lady during her menses?

No Henry, I dont think smoke is old enough to 'bleed' yet

[Magnum Noel]

F - a huge grey/silver beard and missing teeth

Hey thats me

[Old Steve]

Well I was a member for over 2 years, and thought I matched the image of a Ulysses member



All I need is the banner around my head LOL

I got a lot out of my time with the local Ulysses Branch. I am especially thankful for the mentoring I got early on in my riding career. I thought that the local Ulysses Branch wasn't so much a motorbike club but a good eating club and the motorbikes were just the excuse to get from cafe to cafe

I contributed a lot too, planned some rides and even led a couple of rides, I was usually riding up at number 4 or 5 in the riding group, I was looking at taking on a committee job, and maybe becoming a mentor as well. Any way I could pay back the help I had received when I was a starter rider. What disappointed me was when one rider decided to verbally attack me, three other riders (small ride that day) said nothing.

I hope you enjoy the club 5150, go ahead and ride with them for a couple of months. And do get an application form and get your rides registered by someone on the ride. You need to go on 3 rides and attend 3 meetings to apply for membership.

[wysper]

An even more important question (to my mind) is what kind of person are you? Are you a club person or not?

I like the idea of clubs or groups but when it comes right down to it, I prefer to be on my own or with just a couple of mates.

So even though I think that the Ulysses is a good organisation, it is not for me. Nor would any organisation be.

Guess I am just too antisocial.

[nodrog:Me]

I dont think I could drink the Yardglass of Metamucil involved in the initiation.

[nzspokes]

Must admit to thinking about joining. Not sure yet though.

All I got.

[Stylo]

An even more important question (to my mind) is what kind of person are you? Are you a club person or not?

I like the idea of clubs or groups but when it comes right down to it, I prefer to be on my own or with just a couple of mates.

So even though I think that the Ulysses is a good organisation, it is not for me. Nor would any organisation be.

Guess I am just too antisocial.

Good call, my feelings exactly ....

Thinking about going for a ride in the morning...just me

[5150]

Well, I do enjoy organised rides, as much as I enjoy going solo or with just a mate or two. Balance ....... And that was the point of this post, to find out more about them, hopefully from people who are involved in the club, then work out what I want from it and then make my informed choice on whether to join up or just stay out side but join them on the social rides only. At the moment I am leaning to join up, but have to wait till my bike is back on the road anyway.

[Bass]

Well, I do enjoy organised rides, as much as I enjoy going solo or with just a mate or two. Balance ....... And that was the point of this post, to find out more about them, hopefully from people who are involved in the club, then work out what I want from it and then make my informed choice on whether to join up or just stay out side but join them on the social rides only. At the moment I am leaning to join up, but have to wait till my bike is back on the road anyway.

Ulysses has about 4000 active members nationally and as you would expect, they are a good cross section of NZ society; some complete arseholes, some really excellent people, but mostly somewhere in between. The same is true of the types of riders that they are and so it makes no sense to generalise about any of this.

Some things that can be said however: -

Group rides are USUALLY well organised - especially the larger ones.
As mentioned earlier, they have organised some really good deals for the members.
Ulysses was started as a SOCIAL club for those with an interest in bikes and although it has drifted away from this base to a degree, they still do the social thing quite well.
As the club has grown, they have come to realise that they can have some influence and so exercise that ability - in the rules, regs and safety arena to an extent but actually in the charitable area much more.

Hope that's some help.