[zendan]

O.K. I am going to throw this out there and see where it lands. I am fairly new to riding (3 years so far) and new to Burgerville (bought mine a month ago) and I have loved every minute of riding. :lol: Now I am thinking of a new venture. There are very few biking clubs for scooters, and none for the Burgman that I could find. Now, I am a fairly busy fellow (as I am sure many of you are as well), but I have been serously thinking about starting a Burgman Club.

This could be a HUGE under taking, and I may be biting off way more then I can chew. :shock: I really do not know how much time I can devote to this. But I think that it would be a great idea. There is already a web forum that we could POSSIBLY use (smiles @ Greengoose), and the number of members here is growing. So it would seem that there may be an interest.

I am not sure what all is invovled, or to what level this coould go, but it was an idea. Burgmen Scooter Club International. What do you think? Long story short, I would like to know what the interest level is on this? Is there anyone out there with club organization experience? And would any of you be interested in helping me out with this? I am more of a follower then a leader, so I have no problem with letting someone else take the reigns or coleading. You can reply to this thread, or get ahold of me at [email protected]. Let's see where this goes! :thumbleft:

 

[Randy]

What would your definition of a scooter club be .( And believe me I am not trying to be "smart" here,) I just kind of think of a club the same way I think of this forum , after all this is cyber space and if you can not meet for "real" what's the difference. :?

 

[zendan]

That is a legit question, and I will be honest when I say that I am not entirely sure how to answer that. I, too, feel that this forum has a club, or group feel to it. And, I was merely thinking of expanding on this. I suppose by making an "official" club, we can possibly sponser events such as Toys for Tots, Brest Cancer Awareness and the like as other clubs do. Or maybe even be sponsered by others. Perhaps getting discounts for advertising or something of the like.

This is all new to me, and I am thinking out loud here. Any thoughts and suggestions are more then welcome. Besides, if we become and official type club, we can make patches, decals, t-shirts and stuff to display how proud we are to flaunt our independance, our boldness and our uniqueness!

 

[TWEETYPI58]

burgman club

I FOR ONE WOULD LOVE TO SEE A RIDING TYPE CLUB WHERE MORE RIDERS COULD POSSIBLY MEET AND FORM A GROUP RIDE OF SOME SORT? :idea: DIANA

 

[Stormsteed]

Never mind.

 

[Randy]

Well it seems we have a club, but the idea of expanding it somehow is a good one, if we can come up with ideas I would be open to going the next step, I am not all that sure there is a next step,after all we can make patches / sponser events (although I think we are a little spread out for that) .

Or maybe even be sponsered by others. Perhaps getting discounts for advertising or something of the like.

There you may have a problem, lets remember we are really only guests here. BurgmanUSA.com is the only one who can make those decisions ..
Well that puts the ball back in your corner
By the way, you do know this is The Burgman Scooter Club. :wink:

 

[burg650]

I was thinking of starting a club in the New Jersey, New York area also. There are so many other Bikes club out there that having a Burgman club sound like a great way for us owners to get together not only for riding but to be able to share the sport together.

 

[wasions]

This is sort of like Deja Vous. Several years ago, some SVX owners got together on YooHoo and began an interest group. Later, one (talented) individual got http://www.subaru-svx.net going and we all started meeting there. Things went on, others from around the world (except, it seems from Japan, which had it's own SVX club) joined in and eventually we decided to get organized in the official sense. Bylaws were written, disputes were aired, officers were elected, dues were collected, cyber-meetings were held, and 'official' meets started popping up. (Until then, the meets, and there were many, were unofficial.) The greatest was in Lafayette, Indiana, where some 100 cars (the most ever gathered in one place outside of Japan) showed up. We toured IRP, toured the Subaru Manufacturing Plant in Lafayette, banquetted and gave out awards, and basically had a great time.

The thing is - IMHO all of this would have happened anyway, without the bylaws or the electing of officers (which, by the way, are still in office after over two years because nobody's all that concerned about having another election - which happen to be required by the bylaws).

I say as long as the good Goose is willing to support this Forum, let's do it this way - unofficially. Plan the meets, make the t-shirts, patches, pins, mouse-pads, ad infinitum. It really doesn't matter. We gots ourselves a club here anyhow. 8)

 

[abm]

Club

A virtual interest group is good as far as representing the interests of the Burgamn owners to the mfr. But if there are'nt any local chapters for practical meetings and shared activities, like fixin and tunin', ther is limited utility.

One good use for a national on-line organization, with dues, registered membership, etc., is that the club can disburse some limited resources for the benefit of the membership. For instance:

If there was a great deal of interest in a mod or upgrade, such as a monorack for Givitrunk and bags, or a decel sensor, or a replacement chip for the EFI/ECU, that is something that no one owner is going to finance.

But, if the club has say, 500-1000 memebrs and a few grand in dues collected, then the org can take a vote to pay an FI programmer to mod the chip, and the rest of the membership can get a benefit as far as discounts on the eeprom upgrade. That's just an example.\

A good national org, the the GWRAA, negotiates for discounts on all kinds of products, road services, etc.

2 cents worth. This is one reason why I am interested in the national sales figures for the 650. Knowing that would give one a feel for the prospective membership potential.

 

[zendan]

I just want to state for the record that I am in no way trying to step on anyone's toes or take away from what we have here. Greengoose, I LOVE this forum! It helped me make my decision to buy my Burgman.

I am all for expanding this officially or unofficially. I hope I did not offend anyone. I like the idea of regional chapters or meets. And I like to be as proactive as I can, so I really like the idea of sponsoring events or helping out those in need.

Perhaps we could expand this forum somwhat to include regional threads. Just another thought. I still like the idea of expansion, in what ever form natural occurs. And I will just hush if that is what I need to do.

And P.S. I really didn't know this was called The Burgman Scooter Club. Honest!

 

[minnmax]

...I am not sure what all is invovled, or to what level this coould go, but it was an idea. Burgmen Scooter Club International. What do you think? Long story short, I would like to know what the interest level is on this? Is there anyone out there with club organization experience? And would any of you be interested in helping me out with this? I am more of a follower then a leader, so I have no problem with letting someone else take the reigns or coleading. You can reply to this thread, or get ahold of me at [email protected]. Let's see where this goes!

First off, if someone wants to establish a more formal Burgman specific organization, I wish you the best of luck. It would be a hugely ambitious undertaking, with potentially serious responsibilities both financial and legal. The reward maybe worth the effort and one must consider all that is involved and the level of commitment and time it would take to make it a success. Also, as pointed out already, it is vital that parameters and goals of such an organization be decided early on.

To look at where you want to go and what you want from such an organization, let’s look at some examples of other U.S. scooter/motorcycle groups.


Starting with my own group, ‘Minn-Max, Minnesota Maxiscooter Riders’ is not a club and limits what it does as far as meetings and events. This reduces our legal liability and expenses compared to an official club. Although our talk list has over 260 registered participants and welcomes all, the emphasis is pretty much on riding big scoots in the Minnesota and western Wisconsin area. The active people locally ride a variety of machines from Vespa 200’s to Burgman 650’s and the turn out for a run fluctuates between four or five people up to nearly twenty. If we limited ourselves to one specific model or even brand, the number would be much smaller. Honda is the biggest brand around here and the Reflex the most numerous model in our group. (http://www.maxiscooters.org)


‘Scoot-Tours’ is a national organization that has been around since the time that the Honda Helix was only game in town. They are a club and do not focus on one single brand or model of machine. A newsletter is part of their membership deal, as well as, access to a Scoot-Tour’s only talk list. Besides being around for a long time, their biggest claim to fame is that they hold an annual maxiscooter rally. However, because of the legal ramifications, there are tight controls on use of their name and there are no local chapters or sponsored events. (http://www.geocities.com/scoottours/)


‘Maxiscooter Riders Association of Washington’ is a local riding club that also holds an annual maxiscooter rally, even though they haven’t been around as long as Scoot-Tours. Besides the rally, they have regular meetings, local group rides, and a talk list. The last time I checked, they were working on their legal status to reduce the liability of the club organizers. (http://www.maxiscooter.org)


‘Goldwing Road Rider Association’, or GWRRA for short, is an international motorcycle club with many local chapters, events, rides, and rallies including a large scale national rally. Originally a Honda Goldwing only club, the GWRRA expanded by including Honda Valkyries owners as full members, and by allowing all other motorcyclists as associate members of the club. At this point the significant differences between full and associate membership is the associate membership cost $5 more annually and they cannot hold certain offices within the organization. The difference in the memberships was once greater and seems to be fading away. Anyway, besides the aforementioned things the GWRRA does, it also offers its members a monthly magazine (with a strong focus on the Goldwing), a private online discussion forum, roadside emergency service, patches, pins, specialty items to purchase, and discounts on all sorts of things from hotels to motorcycle insurance. This is a huge organization with many benefits for its members! (http://www.gwrra.org/)

These are just a sampling of groups and all of these fine organization provide a valuable service to the people who participate in them, as does this discussion forum, BurgmanUSA.com. The role each plays differs, but if you look at them it may help in deciding on what direction you might want to go if you move forward with a new organization.


As a side note, I joined the GWRRA this year and they seem to be very welcoming to all motorcyclists including those of us who ride big scoots. As we are in a northern clime, the riding season has just really started and I look forward to joining for the first time my local GWRRA chapter next Wednesday for an evening ride.

 

[zendan]

Thanks for that info Minn-Maxx. That was very helpful and certainly gives one a great deal to think about. I may not have the time to devote to making a full fledged club, but I would still be willing to help expand this group if there were any interest in that.