Looking at a riding club

[Rabbit]

I’m thinking about joining a riding club locally to me but I’ve never really ridden with a group before. Does anyone have any suggestions about etiquette and making sure they’re a good fit for me? Please note this is a family style RC nothing more.

 

[Alias]

Only way to find out if they are a good fit is to spend some time with them, all of them.

 

[mzflorida]

Yup. Agree with Alias. Spend a little time. I'm pretty lucky to have a few groups that are either ex-cops like me or from the neighborhood here. Very like minded in our approach and strategies generally. More mature riders is my point.

 

[Rabbit]

Thanks. I’ll try that.

 

[mzflorida]

Motorcyclist seriously injured in Charlotte County crash

A motorcyclist was seriously injured in a crash on Kings Highway near Sandhill Boulevard in Charlotte County Saturday afternoon.

nbc-2.com

Though I know no other details about this accident than are included in the article, goes to the idea of evaluating the group you ride with. May have been unfortunately unavoidable, may have involved careless behavior, could have been inexperience or ride formation. But anyhow, you get the idea

 

[Janus]

Number one etiquette rule is don't run into other riders. Ride your own ride is another good tip. There's lots of good videos on group riding on YouTube U.

I don't particularly like the idea of riding in large groups, or with people I don't really know for reasons including the story posted by @mzflorida.

The best option is to convert your current friends into riders

 

[wheel_of_steel]

What fraction of the overall population is dangerous and psychotic? Say 1%... Ride in a group of 100 and it doesn't matter what the group is, it only takes 1x tag-along to rear end your bike or involve you in their accident.

I've regularly run group rides for the past few years with 4-8 bikes total, including 2-3 of us on intercom sandwiching and co-ordinating the rides. Even under those conditions, more than 5 bikes gets hard to manage, and there have still been incidents over the years.

I'd want to know how they run the rides, what's the pace like, how they manage super fast or slow riders, is there any real planning or 'we just ride', etc. On a typical poorly managed ride, you get the fast 'ego' guys mustering the sheep, doing dangerous BS, whilst new learners wobble along way faster than is safe for them, cruising for a crash, and the learners never say anything because they are new to the group and don't want to upset in the dynamic.

That's my $0.02, YMMV

 

[mzflorida]

Number one etiquette rule is don't run into other riders. Ride your own ride is another good tip. There's lots of good videos on group riding on YouTube U.

I don't particularly like the idea of riding in large groups, or with people I don't really know for reasons including the story posted by @mzflorida.

The best option is to convert your current friends into riders

So this made me giggle a little bit! Not because of your post but because of a story your etiquette comment reminded me of. I have a buddy who is blind. He is a former rancher and every bit of a cowboy that you could possibly imagine. He is also one of the most influential blind persons in the world. Coming full circle to vehicles. With the advent of electric cars, and how quiet they are, concerns about the inability of blind folks to detect them was presented. Since my buddy is considered important to the sightless community in America, they asked him to opine on the subject. There was a proposition to add noise generators as a DOT requirement to electric vehicles to avoid vehicle pedestrian collisions. He said this in his most Southern cowboy twang..."Well, I see this a little differently. There are rules. The blind persons' rule is to not walk out in front of moving vehicles; we know how to do that. The automobile driver has a rule where they are not supposed to hit blind people, even if they walk out in front of them. Any departure from that decorum, well, it would just be impolite."

 

[Rabbit]

The best option is to convert your current friends into riders

I keep trying but it’s more difficult than I thought

 

[Janus]

I keep trying but it’s more difficult than I thought

Yeah I once tried many different ways to try to get a certain friend to even ride on the back of my bike, which is how I first got bit by the bike bug. He rode a moped in the city so I couldn't understand his absolute refusal to get on.

Long story short he is no longer my friend.

 

[670cc]

Yeah I once tried many different ways to try to get a certain friend to even ride on the back of my bike, which is how I first got bit by the bike bug. He rode a moped in the city so I couldn't understand his absolute refusal to get on.

Long story short he is no longer my friend.

I can’t say I blame the friend. I’ve ridden around 300,000 miles on motorcycles as the pilot, but no way am I getting on one as a passenger. I‘ve ridden pillion two or three times in my life, and it’s scary. You have no control of the machine! The last time was sometime in the ‘70s.

 

[kpinvt]

I’m thinking about joining a riding club locally to me but I’ve never really ridden with a group before. Does anyone have any suggestions about etiquette and making sure they’re a good fit for me? Please note this is a family style RC nothing more.

Let me twist your ear off about my club. I joined the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Vermont, the main BMW MC club here in VT back when I was still riding my Honda Silver Wing scooter. They're a great bunch of people, I was welcomed with open arms and I was even VP for three years. Our club is a BMW brand centered club but anyone can join no matter the brand you ride or even if you ride, some of our most senior members no longer ride. We have about 500 members now and unlike some BMW clubs we don't discriminate against non-owners, everyone has full voting rights. The annual membership fee is $20 per person and before Covid we had about eight ride-to events with food provided by the club for free and an annual rally capped at 250 attendees. The club would also host weekend camp outs and pay camping fees for the first 30 people to show up. So please do yourself a favor and check out all of the groups available in your area. Good luck.

Edit/
About the time I joined the club, club sponsored group rides were being phased out as they can be quite dangerous. Riding to a destination on your own is encouraged and small independent groups riding together on their own is OK. After joining the club in 2006 I signed up for Americade in 2007. I'm glad I did it, being part of a group of 80 riders was interesting but I wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis. One funny thing was that on any of the group rides I went on I had cruiser riders behind me take some awful chances just to get past me and had more than one drive across peoples lawns to get ahead of me. I guess riding behind a scooter was an insult to their manhood. The other funny thing is we stopped quite a few times on each ride so people could gas up and smoke cigarettes.

 

[Rabbit]

Let me twist your ear off about my club. I joined the BMW Motorcycle Owners of Vermont, the main BMW MC club here in VT back when I was still riding my Honda Silver Wing scooter. They're a great bunch of people, I was welcomed with open arms and I was even VP for three years. Our club is a BMW brand centered club but anyone can join no matter the brand you ride or even if you ride, some of our most senior members no longer ride. We have about 500 members now and unlike some BMW clubs we don't discriminate against non-owners, everyone has full voting rights. The annual membership fee is $20 per person and before Covid we had about eight ride-to events with food provided by the club for free and an annual rally capped at 250 attendees. The club would also host weekend camp outs and pay camping fees for the first 30 people to show up. So please do yourself a favor and check out all of the groups available in your area. Good luck.

Edit/
About the time I joined the club, club sponsored group rides were being phased out as they can be quite dangerous. Riding to a destination on your own is encouraged and small independent groups riding together on their own is OK. After joining the club in 2006 I signed up for Americade in 2007. I'm glad I did it, being part of a group of 80 riders was interesting but I wouldn't want to do it on a regular basis. One funny thing was that on any of the group rides I went on I had cruiser riders behind me take some awful chances just to get past me and had more than one drive across peoples lawns to get ahead of me. I guess riding behind a scooter was an insult to their manhood. The other funny thing is we stopped quite a few times on each ride so people could gas up and smoke cigarettes.

That sounds awesome. I’m in Ohio so it might be a bit of a drive. I believe there is a AMA BMW club nearby though. I’ll take a look. Hopefully I can find something as fun

 

[Rabbit]

Found a really fun club locally. They’re relaxed and just in it for the ride. No politics or macho crap. Very excited so far