The Value Of A Motor-Cycle Club

I first rode a motorcycle when I was sixteen and for three years I rode around quite happily, enjoying my chosen form of transport. The ride to work in the cool spring mornings made the rest of the day reasonably bearable and when other riders stopped to help diagnose the cause of a silent machine, then I was really thrilled. At last, I thought, I had discovered the ultimate in hobbies and this was as much as I could ask for.

My hobby changed as soon as I joined a motorcycle club. I still believe that motorcycling is the best hobby in the world, but now, being a club member, I am able to enjoy it far more.

Before I joined a club I merely rode a motorcycle. Now I think I am a motorcyclist.

 

I walked into the club meeting and asked if I could join. I was introduced to one or two people, while others just came up and started talking. I was amazed that so many people with just one common interest could get on so well together. Soon I was having offers of help to get the bike going and people were only too willing to lend tools and spares.

Then came my first rally. I certainly hadn't enjoyed riding a bike so much until I competed in a rally. The friendliness and spirit of comradeship encountered on a rally, in my opinion, make it the most enjoyable way to spend a day that I know.

Even club nights have become a high spot of the week, be it a film show or merely a pint and a chat. The spirit of friendship is something that I have found nowhere else.

The camping weekends, club runs and dances that I have attended have convinced me that before I joined a club I merely rode a motorcycle. Now I think I am a motorcyclist.

But the social side of the club, good though it may be, is not the most important aspect of its existence. The numbers of active motorcyclists are slowly dwindling and those that remain must organise themselves into a body strong enough to bargain for themselves in matters of importance such as the ban on sixteen year olds and the restriction of 'green' roads. All riders must be prepared to work for the good of motorcycling as a whole and the best way to do that is as a club. Most clubs nowadays are affiliated to the B.M.F. which does some really good work for the cause of motorcycling. All that we want now is for the government to recognise the B.M.F. as the representitive voice of British motorcycling and then we really will be established.

If I were asked for my advice by anyone about to start motorcycling, I would say that the best thing they could do would be to join a club.