Iron run

[ratusratus]

Whos going to the IRON RUN in Queenstown March next year?
Im looking forward to the ride down
Havent been down south for a while :-)

[Flip]

I am thinking about it.

I was very dissapointed when Hog decided to cancel the NZ Nationals. That and the issues moving to a small town after the Canterbury earthquakes meant I was very much on the outside, and felt I was on the outside of the local Hog group which was run from Dunedin. To cut a long story short after the first year I did not renew my Hog membership.

I am thinking seriously about it.

[Big Dave]

H-D are trying to take it international too.

If they get enough bookings for the Heavy Duty Mag tour I'm leading it. At the mo they don't but I'm rattling the tin hard.

[lakedaemonian]

Iron Run Schedule of Events:


https://www.dropbox.com/s/ninz7d7i6o...EMAIL.pdf?dl=0

1700 registered and the HOG Event is sold out(General Registration is still open and FREE)

The new format seems to be gaining a lot of traction.

[lakedaemonian]

4 weeks to go.

Over 1700 registrations.

Not long now.

[ratusratus]

yep looking forward to the ride......going to 75Th Sturgis so have a good year in front of me hopefully

[ratusratus]

H-D are trying to take it international too.

If they get enough bookings for the Heavy Duty Mag tour I'm leading it. At the mo they don't but I'm rattling the tin hard.

Any updates Dave?

[Flip]

I havent really forgiven Hog for cancelling the "Nationals". Outside the imediate area of a dealer it was the only reason I was remaining a member.

[lakedaemonian]

Any updates Dave?

If you're on Facebook, we've got copies of Iron Run calendar of events loaded a few posts down:

https://www.facebook.com/ironrun.co.nz

An Iron Run goôgle map of where everything is happening will be posted at 12pm today.

If you're registered HOG or General Registration(FREE), emails have gone out weekly with PDF copies of both.

Hope it helps.

[lakedaemonian]

I havent really forgiven Hog for cancelling the "Nationals". Outside the imediate area of a dealer it was the only reason I was remaining a member.

Sorry to hear that.

It's a change, but what we've done is really just open it up to all other Harley riders(and the odd non-Harley mate at the invitation of some Harley riding attendees) while retaining an exclusive HOG VIP component to it.

The response has been overwhelming with a 50%+ increase in previous registration records, so we think we are getting a positve response from the overwhelming majority of HOG and Harley riders.

We see it as a shift from the NZ HOG Nationals that have had declining attendance to a kick in the ass towards a hybrid model that tries to shape a Kiwi experience along the lines of Sturgis/Hollister while retaining that VIP HOG component.

For the first tme, all six NZ HD Dealers and all six NZ HOG Chapters are deeply involved in making this a success for riders attending.

Two lessons we have learned are:

We can't sit still forever, change is necessary(see previous declining attendance)

If we try to make everyone happy, all we will do is piss everyone off.

We sincerely hope you will rejoin us someday.

[Flip]

Sorry to hear that.

It's a change, but what we've done is really just open it up to all other Harley riders(and the odd non-Harley mate at the invitation of some Harley riding attendees) while retaining an exclusive HOG VIP component to it.

The response has been overwhelming with a 50%+ increase in previous registration records, so we think we are getting a positve response from the overwhelming majority of HOG and Harley riders.

We see it as a shift from the NZ HOG Nationals that have had declining attendance to a kick in the ass towards a hybrid model that tries to shape a Kiwi experience along the lines of Sturgis/Hollister while retaining that VIP HOG component.

For the first tme, all six NZ HD Dealers and all six NZ HOG Chapters are deeply involved in making this a success for riders attending.

Two lessons we have learned are:

We can't sit still forever, change is necessary(see previous declining attendance)

If we try to make everyone happy, all we will do is piss everyone off.

We sincerely hope you will rejoin us someday.

I might do one day we will see.

Given there is no money required to register I am surprised that regd is only up 50%.

[lakedaemonian]

I might do one day we will see.

Given there is no money required to register I am surprised that regd is only up 50%.

The sold out paid VIP HOG Event tickets alone are enough to get us to the threshold of largest Harley event yet in NZ

The free general registrations are puttung us well over the top and shows we are putting our money where our mouth is.

And there are a number of groups we've spoken with who are attending, but don't care about registering.

We just finished two days onsite of final planning with local partners today. Things are looking really good after two years of getting buy-in from everyone at every level.

It's new, it's open format(bar the HOG VIP function), so there are some people on the fence or opposed to change.

Some might think glass half empty, we're pretty confident the glass is half full.

We know Arrowtown's Main Street will be full of bikes after the ride there, finally giving us our own cool visual that so many travel so far to see in the US in places like Hollister and Sturgis.

We sit still, we die. So we're moving. Change is good.

There's lots of change, including us paying a photographer well to take 4000 photos, rather than the old model of a rally photographer hoping to sell the odd photo to cover their time and costs.

We will be posting all the photos for free to add to attendee memories, and to hopefully get folks at home to join us next year

[Flip]

Well good luck with the event.

It doesent really push my button, it not really a Hog event is it?

[lakedaemonian]

Well good luck with the event.

It doesent really push my button, it not really a Hog event is it?

Hi Flip!

It is and it isn't.

Let me explain in detail.

The whole process started 5 years ago when I viewed the HOG Rally from an attendees perspective as we were putting together the HOG Rally in Christchurch.

Since it was so well run and managed by a great team, I didn't really have much to do....except think(which is pretty dangerous).

At that time the cost of HOG Rally attendance was escalating too high and too fast, so we hit the reboot button, financially, so to speak.

But it just continued to escalate and ratchet up every year since, and didn't really solve the problem, it just allowed us to delay a solution.

At the core of it, the HOG Rally is an annual opportunity for folks to catch up with both old and new mates.

And my concern was with future blowback from attendees directing their anger at rising costs towards us. Being charged a significant amount of money just to catch up with their mates.

This was verified at the Raglan HOG Rally a few years back. The free street party in Raglan town went all day and all night, while the actual HOG venue on the domain languished. it validated the need for us to cater to attendees changing wants and needs.

So we have worked hard to lobby for a change.

A change that includes:

*ALWAYS having a premium HOG event(within an event, think behind the velvet rope in the VIP lounge of a nightclub) to appeal to our HOGies.

*Vastly increasing the depth and breadth of potential attendees in the form of inviting everyone on a Harley-Davidson via General Registration.

*Vastly changing the financial structure of the event to include FREE General Registration this year as many people like to just go on the Thunder Ride and spend time with their own small group doing their own thing.

*Affordability is a big one. People work hard for their money and we need to work harder to offer great value. There are a surprising number of affordable walking distance accommodation options in Queenstown(we've really done our homework on that one), cost of entry is either FREE or $60 per person for HOG Members for the premium experience, and it's cheap to buy a 12 pack at the supermarket and pre-load at your walking distance accommodation before heading to the Genuine Parties with good value drink specials(user pays).

*A solid chance at developing a Harley-Davidson lifestyle event that really makes it on the global radar.

*A great, inclusive chance to shed the elitist image HOG and Harley-Davidson riders are often unfairly tagged with.

In a nutshell, we now have a VIP HOG Event on one evening, and an open Harley-Davidson Event for the remainder of the weekend.

A huge amount of money has been sunk into this event by Harley-Davidson, HOG, HD Insurance, Freightliner(bringing the Harley Custom Shop), and the 6 NZ Authorized Harley-Davidson Dealers(also setting up a "pop up shop").

Queenstown Lakes District Council believes in it so much they have also invested considerably via "services in kind" to a pretty substantial value.

I'm sure we'll make some mistakes, but we've been working hard for 2 years to offer the best experience we can(including 4000 free photos of the weekend and paraglider videos of the thunder ride on Saturday).

And mistakes we make will be covered thoroughly via a robust after action report process incorporating an email survey to all attendees to help us learn and make it better.

I just want to see New Zealand's answer to Hollister and Sturgis, not in terms of size/scale, but in terms of fun.

Much bigger numbers, riding much farther, having more fun, wearing out bikes a lot faster.

[ratast]

Excellent report. I'm going and registered which wasn't always done at HOG rallies I rode to. One item I noticed advertised that was good advice was pay for your drinks on the Fri. night venue by cash rather than by card. I hope you let sensible people buy more than 2 beers at a time after waiting in a queue if busy.
Choice venue with great riding there and a chance to catch up with many biker mates.