Hi All

I've just read Pat's post re VMCC and not wishing to hijack it, I thought I'd ask this separately.
I know nothing about the VMCC and have been wondering what it offers and whether you'd recommend joining?

email (option): lee@twowheelstested.co.uk

Personally I don't have much time for the VMCC. In my opinion the enthusiasm of the members gives it the veneer of a club driven entirely by a love of old bikes but in the background the organisers run it as a money making exercise to support the full time staff.
It's all about selling raffle tickets, memorabilia and kickbacks from Insurance companies.
I approached them years ago about starting a branch in Devon and was confronted with numerous rules, control from the center and compulsory fund raising.
It is often the case with clubs when they elect full time organisers that they lose track of why they are there and who they serve and think mainly about the size of the bank balance.
No doubt others will disagree with this view but that is how I see it..To be frank I think the central committee of the MVT has sometimes displayed similar tendencies as the club has grown...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

Yup kickbacks from insurance companys,I joined VMCC effectively for nothing and got cheaper insurance from a company I had previously dealt with.
Cheers Pat
There are at least 2 groups in Devon now.

I'd suspect that if you're in the UK, the main reason to join is to take part in events with the local section. If you were close to one that arranged runs for girder-forked bikes for instance.

The monthly journal is probably not reason enough in itself.

The membership is rapidly becoming diluted by the twenty-five year rule. Their '1000 bikes' event seems to have become a tribute to 1980s Japanese racers which don't interest me at all. However, without them there'd be no Banbury Run and no Founder's Day

I believe that the main value of the VMCC is in their custodianship of the library (and oddly one doesn't have to be a member to visit). They hold the BSA (and Norton) factory records, together with bound volumes of the weeklies back to the early 1900s. I don't know of anywhere else where that sort of thing can be freely researched (and photographed). The (albeit paid) staff are very friendly and welcoming.

If you have multiple makes and need machine dating then it's a one-stop shop.

i'm in, but like others i see no tangible gain, insurance is cheaper elsewhere, the only benefit was to obtain cheaper dating information and photocopies of documents..

email (option): chris.astinbarker@btinternet.com

I'm not a member, but I've heard grumblings about members having to pay for things that non members can get into/access to for free

email (option): davmax@ntlworld.com

I'm not a member either. But I find their 'Transfer Service' is excellent, with pleasant and helpful staff.

Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

i was a member but found most thing happens in the midlands i live in the south plus the runs i went on a lot of the rider did not stick to the route ending up in the pub half an hour before any body else and if you did not have a 1908 super supreme you were treated as the poor relation did not renew

Being a member of a club like the VMCC or MVT (military vehicle trust) often gives you discount on things like insurance, so it can pay for itself. Rob

email (option): robmiller11@yahoo.co.uk

My brother in law used to be in a group up in Gloucestershire who's only activity was going out for rides..You could 'join up' and you would then get the run info...and you either went or you didn't..it was up to you.
No club events, no T shirts,no insurance deals, no raffle tickets etc. etc. etc.,just a small group who planned the runs...
The whole point was not to have a club and everything that goes with it but to get together to ride.
Seemed like quite a good idea to me..He left when he moved house but still enthuses about the idea..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

That's the sort of thing I'd fancy as my insurance is covered through work and the tyre deals seem beatable with a spot of 'net searching. For me, it'd be all about time spent on the bike

email (option): lee@twowheelstested.co.uk

The Cotswold section of the VMCC in Gloucestershire still have these ride outs every Wednesday from April to September. I've been going to them for many years. They got so big with other bikers turning up that the VMCC stopped making a list of the venues to stop them. This backfired on the VMCC to start with, as the next ride out had about 12 members turning up and the pub had hired extra staff to cover the masses, only to serve a dozen people 1 pint each..! They lost a lot of support even with there own members.

A couple decided to start an alternative "Bikers Nite" on a Wednesday which has taken off to astronomical proportions, with as many as 400-600 bikes turning up to a pub somewhere in the area on a sunny Summers evening, of any type of bike. You can imagine what the queue at the bar is like at these do's, which is why the VMCC got sick of non-club members turning up to their night. In the end it has worked out well for the bike scene in the Cotswold's. Sometimes it's good to ride from the VMCC pub to the Bikers Nite pub. They're different each week, and since the Bikers Nite started, the VMCC aren't worried about listing the venues again.

http://www.bikersnite.com/

http://www.vmcc-cotswold.org/Events.htm

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

I like Horror live in Gloucestershire. I am in the North Cotswolds section of the VMCC which is very friendly, open and active. The annual rideout program is very full with a good variety of bikes taking part. There are regular rides on Sundays during the Summer as well as on some week day evenings.

I mostly ride a military bike with them and have always felt very welcome. Between the VMCC and the MVT, I am regularly spoilt for choice and have more group riding opportunities/events than I have time for. My local MVT is also very well run and supported. The Bikers Nites mentioned are also a great evening out and offer a different experience, I also attend some of these.(On whatever bike has fuel in it at the time!)

I think with any of these clubs, they tend to vary in terms of support and organisation from branch to branch. Some branches are fortunate to have individuals who can spare more time than others in organising programs and activities. My advice is to "try before you buy". Attend a couple of meets, find out if you like what they offer and take it from there.

Although I have to admit, the Normandy trips are still very special in every aspect!

Hi Jon..If you see this before 5.30 give me a ring...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I am just over in the Herefordshire border !!
I was a member of the VMCC for a short while. I went to the a few meets also with the gloucester based Cotswold section.
Got treated as a leper as I wasn't on something old and british. Didn't renew. To be fair there were no benefits to membership; which seemed to be an essentially money making enterprise.

Bought an ariel 'cos it was cheap. Found the AOMCC who were completely the opposite to the VMCC and never looked back .. (and they don't really care what I turn up on).

You pays your money .. etc etc

With any old club, the most useful thing is to meet with like minded people who help each other out. Of course access to information and spares is also pretty essential and something the VMCC doesn't really do.

Incidentally, I also occasionally attend the south cotswold bike nites in the summer (mentioned above) but it's getting rarer as I find little in common with the sportbikes and harley owners. I know we're all supposed to be "bikers" etc etc etc but I am nt sure that is true ??

I gradually found like minded individuals and we now make all year round Weds night runs to a different pub every week. Talk b*ll*cks about bikes; pint of shandy and run home through the forest of dean (mostly). Some nights it's bloody cold and miserable but that's wot its all about.

email (option): madoc500@hotmail.com

Hi John, I agree with your comments on both these nights. The average age of the VMCC must be about 80 and they're not interested in talking to anybody they don't already know. But I like the bikes there more than at the Biker Nites. I haven't got much in common with plastic projectile riders in one piece leather baby-grows either. I go along for a ride out with a few mates, have a good walk around the bikes with a beer, then blast home. I usually chat to someone about their bike, you don't have to make them your best mate, so it's ok for a sunny Wednesday night.

That's even better if you've found a good bunch of blokes to ride out with, it doesn't matter where you go or what you do then

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

Hi John..You live in a nice area of the country. Is the Forest of Dean still seperate to the rest of the world?..My sister and brother in law live in Newent so I get around that area a bit when I am staying with them.
I can't say I have much in common with Sports bike riders and Harley owners..despite the fact I have a Harley myself. If they own just the one type of bike they tend to focus exclusively on that particular scene and don't have much time for anything else. Much the same, in fact, as the VMCC 'old duffers'...
I take an interest in all bikes from the newest to the oldest...The history of motorcycling generally, the technical developements and the direction it is taking now and into the future are subjects I find fascinating.
I wouldn't want to own the majority of the bikes I see out there but to me that doesn't reduce my interest in the different aspects of, and thinking behind,the machines.
What I don't have much time for is 'rose tinted glasses' or a bigoted, narrow outlook...something that is unfortunately pretty common in the motorcycle world...and particularly so in the VMCC where the majority seem to believe the world ended around 1960..or possibly earlier.. ...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

It is indeed a very small world innit.
I live in Lea. Not far from Newent at all.

I too owned a Harley Ironhead, for a short time, just to see. I had to get a caliper seal kit from the local dealers (cheltenham) and the carpark felt like the meeting point for a gaypride march .... middle aged accountants in cut offs and bandanas.

I think the whole motorcycle thing is polarised nowadays. Maybe it always was and I never noticed.
Blokes used to ride bikes to impress women ( I thought) nowadays we ride bikes of ever increasing speed to impress other blokes ... where did it all go wrong ?

On a lighter note, you'll also be pleased to hear that "Cafe Racer", on Discovery last night, now considers America the spiritual home of the cafe culture...

right.. off to paint a bike ...

email (option): madoc500@hotmail.com

I think the Americans can claim Bobbers, Flat trackers, Hot-rods and all sorts of other weird and wonderful machines as their own. But a ton up down the by-pass on a Cafe Racer is surely British.
Mind you according to Hollywood! The yanks captured the Enigma machine?? Ron

email (option): ronpier@talk21.com

What a larf..The American bike builders don't really get the 'cafe racer' thing as far as I can see.
Most of the 'cafe racers' built over there are a cross between that and a custom bike or bobber...
Someone should send them some pictures of a traditional Triton...Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com

I've seen the Cafe Racer program John, it's hilarious They're getting an old Yamaha XS650, changing the seat and putting drop bars on it and calling it a cafe racer like they've just invented something new. It does seem to be the latest thing out there. I guess with all the programs like American Chopper and Biker Build Off, where you need $100,000 to build a custom bike, ripping apart a 70's Jap bike and cafe racering it for $50.00 is a breath of fresh air and any one can do it. The trouble is they are now ripping apart, what I would call vintage Jap bikes. The one bike he bought from a scrap yard was a 1969 350 Honda twin in really good condition for about $300. I'm not into Jap bikes particularly, but that was criminal to cut it up and call it a cafe racer. It wouldn't be fast, so what was the point. The Suzuki GS750 they did was awful. That was the most mint GS750 I've ever seem, it even had the original service book under the seat. The 4 cylinder engine didn't look right for a cafe racer. They butchered it and laughed about it when it looked a mess. But I guess the scrap yards out there are full of good old bike, so they think nothing of it. They'd be worth a fortune here.

email (option): horror@blueyonder.co.uk

It proves that history repeats itself (and that people never learn)....Thousands of good British bikes were sacrificed in the 50s/60s/70s to make horrendous cafe racers or chops (Did it myself) and if you look in the pages of Back Street Herpes magazine,Steet Fighter magazine, various websites and the programme you mentioned it is still going on just the same.
I know when I hacked up a 100% standard plunger A10 to make a chop I thought it was the best thing to do...after all..who in their right mind wants a standard bike? ...That's for old duffers..
The only real problem is that in 99 cases out of a 100 peoples finances, skills, determination to see it through etc. don't match their aspirations.
I don't think the problem is really the principle of building a special or custom bike but the execution....which frequently sacrifices a bike for no worthwhile gain.
On the occassions where the project is well thought out and well finished we generally tend to admire the results...and of course it is neccessary for 90% of any model to be 'scrapped' in one way or another for the remainder to accrue any value..Ian

email (option): ian@wright52.plus.com