Are you a member of your local club?

[BradfordBenn]

I am just curious if other people are members of their local clubs as well? I know that there are a few "biggies" around like the Yankee Beemers, but I am curious if other people join both the MOA and their local club.

The reason I ask is I am currently on the fence about renewing my membership for my local club. I realize that not every club is going to be as rewarding and have as many perks as being a member of the BMW MOA, but since the membership for my local club was $35, I guess I expected to get something out of it more than just a few meetings.

[naddy100]

I'm a member of a local (statewide) club. We have at least three features of the club that I enjoy: (1) a mailing list, (2) monthly lunches, and (3) a recognized ride around the state. There are other good things as well.

The mailing list lets me know about regional stuff.

The monthly lunches are on the second Saturday, at different towns around the state. BMWs from around the state converge on a cafe, BBQ, or (this month) a catfish place. (I think) we have some interesting members worth visiting with.

Other clubs have recognized rides, and I'm glad somebody championed the idea around here. Ours is a ride to all the counties in the state in a year. I haven't done a lot of traveling around the state since I moved here. I plan to learn a bit more about the region this year.

Noel

[einnar]

Biggest reason I'm not a member of my local club.. most of them meet on the first weekend of the month, and I have army drill those weekends. :P

[The_Veg]

$35??? Geez Brad, what kind of crack are they smoking? Lone Star BMW Riders (my club) only wants $12 from me. Monthly dinner meeting, two or three organised rides a year (which I've never been able to go on), and a pretty nice door prize each meeting (stuff like torque wrenches and H2W bags). And yes, it's even a good bunch of folks.

[BobFV1]

I am a member of both local clubs inthe Phoenix area - PITS (Phoenix International Touring Society) and AZ Rim Riders. I have not been to a singl emeeting of either one because I just don't have spare time, and I have a group of buddies that I ride with - and to be honest don't really like group rides.

I don't mind supporting my local groups and getting their Email newsletters but I probably won't renew. I greatly value my MOA membership because of the site and the magazine and the Super 8 deal. And the anonymous book. And the cool stickers. Etc, etc, etc.

[SNC1923]

I'm a member of my local club. Really lucky to have one in this relatively small town.

No officers, no dues, just meet once a month for food and conversations. Go on rides several times a month. Lots of friendly advice when asked for, buying and selling used parts and accessories from each other, help working on bikes from senior members. Don't know what I'd do without the men and women in our club.

[jdiaz]

I let my various local memberships lapse this year while we are out of the country, but have otherwise been a member of my local club for 15 years. They were the first people I met when I first moved to the midwest, and I've stayed with them.

However, I have noticed that new membership has fallen off since we started putting pictures of members and events on the club website. Coincidence? :stick

[dancogan]

I am just curious if other people are members of their local clubs as well? I know that there are a few "biggies" around like the Yankee Beemers, but I am curious if other people join both the MOA and their local club.


I just joined the BMW Touring Club of Detroit. They have a breakfast meeting every Sunday, and other scheduled rides, some for the day, some for a weekend. They seem quite active. Many of their meetings are in the northern suburbs of Detroit, and I tend to avoid such high traffic areas, but my ride to the meeting place last Sunday, in Bloomfield Hills, was much more pleasant than I anticipated. We'll see how easy it is to assimilate. Dues are $25, or $20 if you receive the monthly newsletter electronically.

[MarkF]

I was a member of the Connecticut Club for one year (two if you count the other year over a decade ago) but it wasn't a good fit for me. Now I am a member of the Mass club. It has a much larger membership including all of New England and members all over the country. I can't usually make meetings because they start early and are a couple of hours away. Maybe I would make the effort if it was for lunch instead of breakfast. But their forum allows me to still feel like I'm part of the group. There are a few other local clubs way too far away that I am not a member of but occasionally read their newsletter on-line or visit their forum and attend their rally. BMWBMW is a great club I wish was in my backyard. $20 is about the max I would pay for local club dues.

[Gizmo]

I am a member of one of two local clubs The Arizona RIM Riders. Best deal in town $5.00 life membership and a great group of folks.

[Hodag]

just a MOA member, got a newsletter for a few months from the local club. didn't really do much for me. Not much of a joiner. Don't care for group rides, and have no time for group dinner's. (an occasional Forum breakfast is fine by me)
also since becoming a advid forum user, its like I am a member of a club.

[cruisin]

Our local (Texas Panhandle) club, The Palo Duro Riders, is very loosely organized. So loose in fact, that we don't really have any way to join as an official member. Our only requirement is to be able to spell "BMW". That is our way of saying, "we don't really care what you ride of even if you ride, come join us for some fun, food and comaraderie." There are no dues, no officers, no regularly scheduled meetings. We generally meet once a month from March thru October for a Ride-Eat-Ride or RER. The RERs are usually either lunch or breakfast at a pre-detemined restaurant somewhere in the Panhandle. That just gives us an excuse to ride, as if we need excuses. There is one guy (me for now) who writes a monthly newsletter to keep the group informed about the location of the next RER, list a few things members have for sale, share members' ride tales, and list a few of the rallies from the ON that are within a 1000 miles of our central area, Amarillo, Tx. Occasionally three or four of them will slip me a few dollars to cover expenses of writing the newsletter and buying stamps and other supplies for the hard-copy to send out to the members who choose not to get the electronic version. Right now there are about 65 locally, (living within the Panhandle), and I have about 120 in the e-mail & hard-copy list due to including some folks whom I've met on trips or on the net and they asked to be added just in case they happened to be in our area on the day of an RER, usually the 3rd or 4th Saturday of each month of our "season."

So, in sticking with our club motto/membership requirement, "if you can spell BMW,come ride with us."

[MarkF]

Our local (Texas Panhandle) club, The Palo Duro Riders, is very loosely organized. So loose in fact, that we don't really have any way to join as an official member.

I thought CT was gonna get that kinda club. The new dealer was sponsering rides and such. There was talk about elections and chartering. But, I think they took a few steps back and are just an email list and dealer stuff.

It's hard to find a group that is between a full blown club and almost nothing.

[cruisin]

I thought CT was gonna get that kinda club. The new dealer was sponsering rides and such. There was talk about elections and chartering. But, I think they took a few steps back and are just an email list and dealer stuff.

It's hard to find a group that is between a full blown club and almost nothing.


I wouldn't mind if our group got just a little more organized, but it is OK the way it is now. Our RERs usually have from 10 to 20 when the weather is nice. The guys (and gals) usually arrive in small groups from all directions, we eat, tell a few lies, plan the next location and occasionally head out somewhere else as a group. Most times though each little group goes away the same way they came in. Once in a while several of us might get together to take the long way to and from the RER together. And when we get really organized (like once a year) several will go to a big national rally together or at least meet at one and ride togheter after getting there.

[DLilah]

Found the information for our local club on this site, but haven't done anything about contacting them and not sure if/when we will. Mainly because they meet on weeknights, which we are unable to do (although we like the place they meet at), and our schedule is so busy that it would be hard to commit to anything anyway. Maybe some day.

[jdiaz]

I was a member of the Connecticut Club for one year (two if you count the other year over a decade ago) but it wasn't a good fit for me. Now I am a member of the Mass club. It has a much larger membership including all of New England and members all over the country.
I had lunch with the president of the Yankee Beemers last Saturday. Thanks to all the club members who paid for my lunch!!

[Pat Carol]

I have been a member and past VP of the BMW Touring Club of Detroit. I have been with them for about 20 years. I now live 250 miles away in Northern Michigan but, still participate. They are a most definately my extended family. The club means a lot to me.
I have chartered a new club in Northern Michigan. In speaking with Helmut Haus, he helped me name it. We are the Rolling Broccoli Michigan Lodge BMW Motorcycle Grand Touring Club. I am still working on organizational stuff but, soon to put adds in the papers across the tip of the mit and the U.P. of Michigan.
Now even though I have chartered a club up here. I will always remain loyal to the Detroit club.


Take Care & Ride Safe
Pat Carol

[Rob Nye]

I had lunch with the president of the Yankee Beemers last Saturday. Thanks to all the club members who paid for my lunch!!


Craig is in deep trouble when he gets home. ;)

Best,

Rob Nye
YB Prez 99-01

[Cliffy777]

the adventures of cliffylocks:
well, i was all excited at the thought of joining the first club, but the initiation process was kind of wierd. the first club i tried was the Road Boyzz. they insisted i take illegal drugs, allow all the current members to hit me and urinate on me, told me i had to get tattoos and trade in my full face helmet for a little beanie kind of thing and that my motorcycle was toooo quiet and that i had to force myself sexually on a woman i didn't know and wear lots of leather. gosh, i thought to myself, what an odd way for guys who are insurance actuaries and attorneys to act.
then i tried a bmw club. they insisted i get an $1800 seat, gps, a cd changer, heads up display, a self-erecting titanium tent and all the gear, 16 driving lights, new tires every 12 days, gain alot of weight at all the restaurant stops, completely silence my motorcycle, buy a "kermit chair" and go to every rally within 2,500 miles of me. yipes - i don't have the cheese to pull off all the mods and i don't like highways. no thanks.
then i found the rounders. no rules and regs, no meetings (well, except for once a year or something to check that we weren't dead), and no bike add-ons or take offs were required.
this was just right.

[IronMike]

I'm with Cliffy. The best club is one where the members share interests.

1. Crazy enough to ride year round in the Midwest.
2. Like to go the distance
3. Enjoy just hangin' out

Hey Cliffy, I am going to be in your neck of the woods in a couple of weeks...

[kbasa]

Joining a local club revolutionized my motorcycling life.

So, I belong to the Yankee Beemers and have for a decade or so now. Recently, I joined the Central Cal and NorCal BMW clubs. Good folks in both, they have entirely different approaches to being a club.

I'm also a member of a few other clubs that started as email organizations, but have bloomed into more or less real clubs. The Genuine Village Idiots, Robietech and IBMWR are those organizations.

The real benefit is that I know folks all over the country that ride BMW motorcycles. When it's rally time, there's almost always someone there that I know. That's why I'm in all those organizations - the people.

[Bigrider]

Had to move a couple of years ago. Joined the local club at the new location, but still keep my membership with the old club. Too many friends made to just drop connections.

Dave H

[jmerlino]

Yankee Beemer here. This would be my second season with the YBs but last year because of scheduling conflicts I was not able to make any rallys. I did do a couple of rides with them. This year, I'm doing the Pemi River rally for sure. Looking forward to it.

[lorazepam]

The MOA forum is my local club. I like riding alone most of the time, but I have found folks here that I like to ride with, and most certainly enjoy spending time with as well.

I guess the midwest clan, the rounders and beemer hill riders would be considered local clubs for me

[JetDoc]

In any group, the energy and activity of the group is only as good (or bad) as the members of the group want it to be. I am an active member and elected officer of a local group that was officially formed just six months ago... The Inland Northwest BMW Riders, based in Coeur d'Alene, ID.

In the past six months we have recruited more than 60 dues-paying members. We have organized and successfully completed our first rally with more than 80 participants representing seven states and one foreign country. We are planning several more group activities for the rest of the summer and into next year.

Our members come from Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and British Columbia. We hold a monthly dinner meeting on the first Thursday of each month which averages more than 30 members attending. During the summer riding season, our monthly meetings rotate locations to give members in outlying areas a chance to participate in the group and to recruit more local riders.

We have been featured in an article in the BMW Owners News magazine (May 2005), and have the support and sponsorship of two excellent regional BMW motorcycle dealers, Beaudry Motorsports of Post Falls, ID., and Mac's cycles in Clarkston, WA.

If you'd like more information on our group, you can check out our web site at www.inbmwr.org, or contact me at JetDoc@JetDoc.net.

[naddy100]

Everyone knows this, but I'll remind us that we get more out of a local club if we invest a bit in it. Volunteer for something. I volunteered to help with the web page. I'm remote from the heaviest geographic density of members. The web page is something I can do that doesn't require being at an officers' meeting, or physically toting the club trailer from the rally site back to it's storage.

I was thinking of the Areostitch list of reasons people don't ride to work (you might be thinking: What? Where'd that come from?). Volunteering doesn't necessarily deal with the club having dinners or rides on days that you can't make (though it might), or any of the other reasons, but it helps you to catch a sense of what that group's strengths are and where they are going. Volunteering helps plugs you in to the group.

Noel

[r1dinman]

My yearly dues to the Gateway Riders BMW Club, an outrageous $14.00 per year, is the best bargain in my budget. We have club rides almost every weekend, 6 parties, a progressive dinner, tech sessions, B & B weekends, and the famous Falling Leaf Rally. Thanks to our outstanding Pres. Marilyn, and mutual respect between the members, our monthly dinner meetings usually take about 30 min. for the business. The Gazette and web page are first rate. Best of all are the friendships I've made. The key to a great club is to get off the couch.

Jay

[Jim Shaw]

The key to a great club is to get off the couch.I joined the (then, about two year old) Cleveland Club as soon as I discovered it. We had some great times. Oh yeah, we seemed to go through all the usual growing/shrinking pains, but the events (seemingly congenitally plagued by rain and cold) were always fun.

When I went to work in Ann Arbor, I kept my place in Ohio (the inimitable (?) Shaw Towers), and had another place in MI. I was going to join the Detroit Touring Club, but they met on Sunday mornings, and I was generally out of the country on business, or in Ohio. The Cleveland Club had meetings on Thursday nights, and I was generally out of the country or in Ann Arbor. Also, some slight preoccupation with MOA kept me sort of busy. So, I let the Cleveland membership lapse, and never joined Detroit. It's been my loss.

So, now I'm early retired, and I think it's past time to join both of these clubs - get off the couch, as it were.

For me, while useful for communications, virtual clubs :type have never been as satisfying as meeting others in person on an ongoing club relationship. :hug YMMV.

Jim

[lorazepam]

while useful for communications, virtual clubs :type have never been as satisfying as meeting others in person on an ongoing club relationship. :hug YMMV.

Jim
I see the folks from the website fairly often. Not every one but we do get together. I hope the solstace ride can grow as more folks are able to make it, and I can work out something with a local campground. I plan on making a rounder meeting at least once a year.
If the rally is half as much fun as an octoberfest, I will have a great time in Lima for sure. That is an event that I will go through Chicago in the rain for.
I can say that everyone that I have met, that rides a BMW, is a direct result of this forum.

[MCRyder]

I'm a member of the BMW MOA, the East Texas BMW Plus Club and the Lone Star BMW Riders. The ETBMW+ and the LSBMWR only charge $15 and $12 yearly dues respectively so it's not much $ to belong.

[Pat Carol]

I joined the (then, about two year old) Cleveland Club as soon as I discovered it. We had some great times. Oh yeah, we seemed to go through all the usual growing/shrinking pains, but the events (seemingly congenitally plagued by rain and cold) were always fun.

When I went to work in Ann Arbor, I kept my place in Ohio (the inimitable (?) Shaw Towers), and had another place in MI. I was going to join the Detroit Touring Club, but they met on Sunday mornings, and I was generally out of the country on business, or in Ohio. The Cleveland Club had meetings on Thursday nights, and I was generally out of the country or in Ann Arbor. Also, some slight preoccupation with MOA kept me sort of busy. So, I let the Cleveland membership lapse, and never joined Detroit. It's been my loss.

So, now I'm early retired, and I think it's past time to join both of these clubs - get off the couch, as it were.

For me, while useful for communications, virtual clubs :type have never been as satisfying as meeting others in person on an ongoing club relationship. :hug YMMV.

Jim


Hey Jim, If your in Michigan, come on up for the Lighthouse Run. It will be held this year August 6-7-8. Location is just 15 miles south of Alpena. I haven't picked the campground yet. Me and the wife may hold the event at our new house.
You can call me for information (989)-727-3813. Our computer at home will be down for the move into the new digs.


Take Care & Ride Safe
Pat Carol

[Fritzc]

I pay dues to:

BMWRA
BMWMOA
West Michigan BMW Riders
BMW Touring Club of Detroit
Airhead Beemer Club
:brow :type :stick

[Pat Carol]

Hey Fritz, We are finally closing on the new house and land tomorrow. 41 acres of rolling hardwoods and bigger house. I am looking forward to deer season.

Take Care & Ride Safe
Pat Carol

[menloe]

For me, while useful for communications, virtual clubs :type have never been as satisfying as meeting others in person on an ongoing club relationship. :hug YMMV.

Jim

Jim, I totally agree but will throw out a different perspective. My club, BMWBMW is huge, one of the largest in the country with 400-600 members depending on who you ask and when. But we couldn't find a dozen people to run for the officer positions. We redesigned the website and started a forum. It took a while to get it rolling but we started getting some regular use. Then I posted a note about having a Ride To Eat. Two people showed up to eat with me (it was Feb or Mar and really cold). The next month we had 10. The month after that we had 12 and some folks in MD wanted to do their own. Now, a year later, we have at least two Ride to Eats every month on regularly scheduled days at rotating locations and are talking about starting a 3rd. Our forum usage has skyrocketed. We have tech days nearly monthly. We have people planning weekend long trips together as well as day trips. Our clubs breakfast rides which were languishing have started picking up and even thrive. All because people are talking about them, planning them, and reporting on them on the message boards.

I attribute all of this new life in our club to our message boards introducing people electronically, then those people meeting in meatspace, then going back online and talking about how much fun it was, then repeating the cycle.

I was a member of IBMWR and until I started meeting the folks in life I didn't get much out of it other than a full mailbox. But I made some pretty good relationships there and really enjoyed the electronic meetings. Unfortunately a lot of the folks I liked moved on and I followed. I have started posting a lot on ADV Rider and am really looking forward to their rally this weekend.

You get out of your local club what you put in. If you put nothing in, you'll get nothing out. Even if you don't like to ride in groups, which I don't, there is still a lot to be gained from getting involved.