Ride Outs in General

[Earl]

if you want to try a national meet, try a trad rally with camping all the organisation has been done for you, and before anyone starts saying they won't except us blah blah blah I go on my Mana, NOT exactly a scooter is it????

I've said that on here before, there's a topic in this section about Mersea Island rally in Essex at the end of this month. Ten quid for a weekends camping, loads of bands playing - the big one for me being 90's band Dodgy. It's a massive site with showers, toilets, trade stalls, bars, 3 rooms of music including The Darkside dance music tent etc etc yet out of everyone on here I think only Mottza showed an interest and even he can't stay overnight due to other commitments.

This year I've been to the Skegness rally, a local one at Larling, Norfolk, 65 years of the Lambretta Club GB in Lincoln and then Mersea on 31st August.

If people think a trad rally isn't for them I say give it a try as I thought exactly the same thing when I went to my first rally at Mersea last year, I went on an X8 and was surprised to see other maxi scoots plus hundreds of GTS's. There's no reason why a load of Muppets can't all go down together on the Friday and come home Sunday, you won't have a better time for a tenner!

You're preaching to the choir telling me about Mersea, I did everyone up til 2 years ago, got bored of it.

[pikey]

Mersea is just for those who wont pay for ferry to IOW and Brighton mod weekender they aint wrote a song about Mersea




Saw them at weston in a pub very good and their brummies which is even better

[pikey]

Nothing at all but when has that ever mattered

[Earl]

Someone started going on about another group they were in that organised weekends away, but they said there was a lot of organising to do this. Hence I mentioned going to an already organised weekend event. Please do try to keep up dear

[Ginger Phil]

IOW and Brighton mod weekenders are for people who like dressing up in stripey deckchair blazers and bowling shoes.

[pikey]

Nothing wrong with dressing up

[Zed]

TBH i'm not so keen of going outside the M25 until i get a bigger bike (maybe end of year?), as the Liberty struggles on even 60mph roads.

i'm not so keen to put my exact location and phone number up for general viewing, but Richie1st has it, and i should poke him more for local rides or meeting up for beer/tea/snacks.

Also busy...

[Gerard C]

Having had a chance to look at the response to this thread I think a few things have become clearer.

First some definitions as I understand them -

A Meet - is where people get together for a chat and a brew. This means a central point is agreed and people ride individually to that point. This could also be to an event or place. But basically you ride there on your own.

A Ride Out - is generally a circular route with or without a definite destination. The route is picked for the quality of the roads, scenery etc. You generally ride in company from a start point or join in along the route.

This might seem a bit obvious but there’s is some confusion and people need to know what they should expect. If it’s a Meet, then there’s no other riding except homewards. So for those whose circumstances don't let them go further, these are ideal social points. The National Meeting at the Cafe in the midlands was a typical but an extreme example of this. A long ride to it, but no riding when we got there. If it’s raining and you don't fancy going then don't go.

A Ride Out is more complicated and will involve some riding to get there. If you live in the Midlands or South and you want to enjoy the Peak district then you have to ride to the Peak District. If you don't want to do this then don't go on these rides.
This might seem pretty basic but looking at some of the comments on here maybe it isn’t.

Chippies rides are typical of this sort of ride. The route is the thing. I will be joining this ride, (unless my Cat needs bathing), at Holmfirth / Holme Moss. It starts at Glossop.

Whoever organises this type of thing puts a lot of effort in on the route so unless the Cat really needs bathing then you should turn up. If you personally had gone to the trouble of researching the route and promoting it on site then what weather conditions would you expect for others to drop out? The recent Devils Punch Bowl cancellation is a classic example. I would have gone on that trip if other commitments had allowed. To do it, I would have booked a Hotel for the night before. I would have been well pissed off it had been cancelled lightly. But if it had been pissing down on the Sunday Morning to the extent of being dangerous to ride then I wouldn’t expect anyone to risk that. It’s a judgement call.

At this point I have to ask why some people make comments about this subject when they have no intention of actually contributing anything positive to the subject.
I wouldn’t join in a forum discussion about changing the variator giggling valve on a Vespa Honduki 350 because I don’t know anything about it and what’s more I’m not interested. So Guys if you can’t be supportive and it’s not for you then why join in?

If anyone is wondering why I am so keen on this subject it’s because when a group of enthusiasts get together I think its great, but only if you want to be part of it. If you don’t – then see above.

From comments on this thread I get the impression that there’s a good interest in meets and ride outs, so this might be the answer.

Get a local coordinator, (me for the Northern ride outs), get in touch with a couple of your local (ish) riders who want to be active. That’s your base point.

Agree a ride out or meet then put it up on the Forum. Then no matter what the general interest - you are still going. Use the forum but as a second line.

Collect mobile numbers and email addresses. Fast communications mean that things can be organised quickly, but if a Tornado strikes, then you can cancel quickly as well.

What happened with us is that because you actually do the ride then it’s taken more seriously and others make more effort to come.

Our little group is about 10 strong now. Not everyone can come every time but there are always at least three of us even for a last minute casual ride.

This Sunday, even with a forecast of doom we had five Maxi Scoots out around North Yorks, out from 9.15am till just before 6pm. mostly sunshine and hot but then it poured down on the way home. So what? From the texts I’ve had since everybody had a great time. Including a Lady Pillion rider who was on her first ride with us.

If we had groups like this around the country then it would be a simple matter for two or more groups to get together for bigger ride outs and meets and there we all go off to a National meet. A run out to, for example Glasson Dock looks good to us, hopefully Sylar and others from the area would meet us there.

Less frustration and more fun. It also doesn’t put pressure on anyone - simply say you’re busy if you can’t come or you don’t fancy it for whatever reason.

Well that’s my suggestions done. Now I will wait and see the reaction. All I do know is that I’m out most weekends with friends having a great time.

[pikey]

At this point I have to ask why some people make comments about this subject when they have no intention of actually contributing anything positive to the subject.
I wouldn’t join in a forum discussion about changing the variator giggling valve on a Vespa Honduki 350 because I don’t know anything about it and what’s more I’m not interested. So Guys if you can’t be supportive and it’s not for you then why join in?


Because its maxi muppets its always been like that if fact its probably calmed down a bit over the years .

[halfabusa]

I enjoyed the rideouts we had with muppets in the past years and although i couldn't attend to any that involved overnight stay due to family commitments, i always tried to join in on the ones nearby me. Only recently i had the time and funds to join in to a rideout with overnight stay (peak district ride) and if it wasn't cancelled i'm sure i would have enjoyed it thoroughly as well.

Then i was looking forward to join in the devils punch bowl ride, but that got cancelled as well. Luckily this time it was closer to home so no overnight booking or commitment i had to soak up.

After these two recent experiences, i decided to look for another forum that does more regular meets and couple of muppets here adviced X9OC, so i went in and already registered for a couple of rideouts, one being this coming sunday.

This in no way gets me off maxi muppets, because i always enjoy the light spirited banter going on here. It just means that for riding out, i'll rely less on here due to my experiences, which is something i hope that improves over time and we get back to the days where many members join in on rideouts as maxi muppets gang. If not, we'll just have to accept being a forum which has it's main functionality as an online platform to have a nice time chatting to each other. Nothing wrong with that either.

It's a good thing you northeners achieved by forming a sub group that can regularly meet up. I just hope us southerners can achieve the same one day too.

Sad thing is most of our active members have either gone elsewhere or became inactive recently, and not a lot of topics even get attention, unless it's about a new scooter or a banter about why rideouts are not happening