Organising Spyder meets in the UK

[Darren111]

Hi All,

We are wanting to get ideas from you on how you organise Spyder owner meets for coffee/lunch/chats and organising a location that is convenient and easy for all Spyder owners to get to no matter where you live in the country. In the UK we are in the process of organising a get together this year but struggling to find a mutual location that is convenient for all Spyder owners to get to. Any ideas to help us would be most welcome.

[ARtraveler]

What you are doing here is a good start. There are a few regulars from the UK on here. Do you have local "facebook" type groups? If so, that may be a way to get more "locals" interested.

Good luck on your mission.

[Bob Denman]

Hi Darren!
You have to remember one thing:
It's impossible to make everybody happy!
Do the best that you can, and start small...
As word gets out about how GREAT your events are: folks will find a way to make it to them!

[PrairieSpyder]

with what's already been said. As to location, you may consider rotating the locations. Like in the north one year and then the south the next.

Alternatively, have it where you want, or where a dealer will sponsor it, and start small. As it grows and gets better, people will want to come, no matter where it is.

[loisk]

I've been following your plans on ukspyderweb, and posted a few tips from oz gatherings.

One sticking point seems seems to be distance - I'm not commenting on the actual miles as oz is a big country and we think nothing of it
but
an idea may be to have little groups set off from designated spots - gather people up - then ride together to the chosen location. This could be logistically awkward, but would give riders who haven't ridden far a bit of security and perhaps encourage them to give it a go.

[F3Spyderman]

Hi All,

We are wanting to get ideas from you on how you organise Spyder owner meets for coffee/lunch/chats and organising a location that is convenient and easy for all Spyder owners to get to no matter where you live in the country. In the UK we are in the process of organising a get together this year but struggling to find a mutual location that is convenient for all Spyder owners to get to. Any ideas to help us would be most welcome.

Hi Darren, not sure if I can throw any light on your organising get-together problems but thought I'd introduce myself and my F3-S anyway. I live in Plymouth, Devon and regularly attend Plymouth Motor Bike Club bike nights held twice a month on the Plymouth Hoe. As far as I can tell there are about six or seven Spyders in this area.

As you are no doubt aware Plymouth is not very central but would be good destination for a Spyder holiday. Anyway good luck with any events you may be able to organise.

[oldgoat]

As nobody is "that far" from anyone else, hold it in a place of beauty with a good number of scenic rides on the doorstep.

[PistonBlown]

Well if your holding one in June I may even make it as I'm likely to be in the UK then - so tell all those moaning that 'it's too far' that there's someone willing to travel 12,500 miles:-)

Must admit that we have the same complaint here when organizing meetups. I'm afraid to say you'll also find the ones who complain that somethings too far or the wrong weekend are the same ones who still don't turn up when you organize something on their doorstep or change the dates to suit them.

Liosk's trick of little groups that join together works well.

Recently one of the local riders organized a very good event over a long weekend. We met up in our 'little groups' on a Friday until we all arrived together at a Spyder dealers in the afternoon. From there we rode together to the motel where we were staying for the weekend that happened the have a pub next door:-). People were left to make their own arrangements for food the first night but all of us ended up in the pub. Next morning we went for a group ride, not leaving until 11am so as to give people who couldn't get off work on Friday a chance to get there before the main ride. In the evening was a meal at the pub. The place chosen was a bit in the middle of nowhere but had the advantage that it had lovely roads to ride in every direction so getting there and riding home afterwards was enjoyable as the main ride. I travelled 400km (250 miles) to attend but there were others who travelled further.

[Peter Aawen]

Hey Darren, great idea to run 'meetups' like this to help get the 'Spyder Community' up & running in your part of the world - I'm one of the people here in Oz who've been involved in running our annual (& so far, very successful events, even if I do say so myself! ) Spyder Musters - we just had our third National gathering with Spyders coming from all over the country, some ryding in excess of 3500km just to get to the event!! So if you think there's anything in the way of info or advice about how ours have worked that could help you, feel free to give us a yell (but I'll pm you some better/more direct contact details!! )

PistonBlown's comments & suggestion is a good idea too, a couple of O/seas visitors who have knowledge & info to share can help in sooo many ways - & funnily enough, I just happen to know someone else who's been heavily involved in running this sort of event for a quite few years now who's also gonna be over your way pretty soon (June? July?? hafta check?) & who also would be more than happy to share info & advice while she's there!! (I'll add her contact details in that pm!)

Sooo, it looks like you might have the beginnings of a truly International Spyder gathering happening over there!!

[babeshorty]

Im more then happy to help out and yes we are over in London from the July August just send me a pm