Joining a Bike Club

[Kwaka-Kid]

Who to join is my question.. my old mans part of the VJMC.. and i was going to join up then thought whats the point.. the auckland VJMC NEVER go on rides.. its like, maybe once a year, so who else is out there?

/better idea, what about turning KiwiBiker into a small/form of bikeclub? or is that what we kinda are already?

Im all keen for anything, but if any of you others are part of a bike clubn that does frequent runs and posts newsletters etc.. im keen.. altho im more keen on the idea of making kiwibiker one.

[MikeL]

Kwaka
I'll put your name forward as an honorary member of Ulysses, on the grounds that you are wise beyond your years...
Seriously, though, I get the impression that this forum is evolving into a sort of club - at least as far as Auckland members are concerned. Why not take it further?

[wkid_one]

I agree that formalisation in to a club is not a stupid idea..........I also agree that it does appear Auckland centric (notice my abrupt change of tune in accordance with my change in location)....however this shouldn't limit the effectiveness of the 'club' south of the Bombays.....membership then equates to subs - which then equates to cash reserves, which then equates to betta organised meetings/races/events/promo gear etc......

Issues:

1.  A club formed off the website without any formalisation is nothing better than   the website itself - by this I mean, in order to be effective you need the introduction of subs as a form of commitment to the 'club'.  Just changing the name to a club doesn't effectively accomplish anything or change the interaction or contribution by members

2. Collection etc of any said subs - who would do it? etc

3. Making the club effective nation wide - you would need chapters in the regional areas and people appointed to 'organise' the geographic areas.

4. The website is already the forum to reach the wider 'members' - it is in essence up to the members to take it to the next step.  Many rides are organised by people on this site - the trick is actually getting people to turn up to them.

5. There are 262 members on the website, of which some are casual users - the penetration of the site also includes riders who are active members of other bike clubs - is another club viable

I'm happy to contribute where ever is needed/wanted to Kiwibiker.......

Just my thoughts - shit I need a job

 

[merv]

Hey Wikid good to hear you are trying some different scenery.

As far as clubs go I tend to be one who sees no sense in all this stuff about subs, chapters, etc if in the end you can get together as required to have fun. I ride with one group like that down here being the e-riders group which has tended to be a by invitation group. It started out as the Sawyer Motorcycles Executive Riders group but has since expanded to include friends of Motorad as well (Carl moved to Motorad) and friends of friends etc etc. We now see e-riders to mean that all contact other than when we get together is e (as in electronic) contact.

The formula works fine and as we are all busy people we go to what we can. There is a website at http://www.e-riders.co.nz but this hasn't been updated for a while. I do include photos of rides I do with the group on my site at http://bikemerv.topcities.com/ and there was a breakfast ride to the Wairarapa last Sunday but unfortunately I couldn't make that one so no new photos.

As you are a Honda man, if you are interested I suggest you drop into Sawyers and talk about riding/clubs etc with them. They get involved quite a bit with rides at Manfield as well as racing.

I presume you are too young for Ulysses and you might be better suited to the more sports oriented groups.

[wkid_one]

Merv - email/text me re rides - keen for a ride anytime - 021 411 814 or daniel.symons@paradise.net.nz...

Heading to Manfield this Sunday for the Open Day and next Friday for the Testing Day (finally got trailer)..... 

My riding style tends to be scratching pretty hard (knees on tarmac punting), but am not adverse to cruises to Martinborough for Brekkie (provided some scratching can be had and the 'Taka's are always good to get the bike on full lean - rode it 3 times consecutively yesterday)...

I have ridden with Andrew and crew to Martinborough a couple of times when I was in Wellington previously......include me in the contact list.

 

[What?]

For my sixpence (yes, I am old enough to remember pennies, but only just...), this forum is fine as is. There are myriad clubs to join already, and some are struggling simply because there are so many. As a place to bounce ideas and experiences around, this site is just what NZ needs. That it also acts as a contact point for riders is a wonderful bonus, but to formalise it into a club may spell its' demise, and may also be injurious to some other clubs already in existence.

Of course, I could be wrong.

[SPman]

You could be wrong   but actually I think you are right.

As another old git, there are heaps of clubs out there, but only one site like this. If the site brings people together for rides or whatever, thats great. Once you become a proper club, all sorts of shit gets in the way which would, IMHO, be counter productive to the site.

[merv]

Wkid_one if you are into scratching (sounds a bit more than us Ulysses, e-Riders guys generally do - we are all getting old eh!) maybe Doug Green will pop up on here again and get you involved.

When you mention Andrew are you talking Andrew Templeton?

As I said in my earlier message too, probably worth you dropping in to see the guys at Sawyers if you haven't done so already.

If you are wondering why I'm not out riding now I'm getting a bit tied down with property at the moment selling my house, but it will all be sorted soon.

[mr womble]

Ok I am in the UK but over here the club scene is very big.

I run a chapter of a club over here called the CELTIC WARRIORS BROTHERHOOD we are a well known club in the UK & put on a good few parties during the year ( our last one was attended by just under 3000 !

A club is only what the members make it the same as this forum

Celtic Warriors
check out the club site