Would there be any interest in establishing a Pedelec Riders Club of Britain?

 

I write this not long after returning from the Peak District and lengthy discussions with my father-in-law and brother-in-law, both keen cyclists, the latter a keen club cyclist and committee member for many years with the Macclesfield Wheelers.

 

So what are the benefits? A Pedelec Riders Club can increase interest in electric bicycles. It can bring riders together and provide an alternative to traditional cycling clubs who often frown at ecyclists. Therefore personally I feel there is a need for a national club with regional and eventually more local sections. There could be a whole social side just waiting to be tapped of local or regional meets and rides. A group of electric cyclists pulling up at a cafe or pub before, after or during a ride is bound to get interest and whet the appetite of some people.

 

Currently riders may live a distance apart, which again makes a club with regional sections (and this forum) even more important, especially in organising transport for possible regional leisure rides and social gatherings.

 

If an official club with organised leisure rides was to be established it would require public liability insurance. In the first instance this could be sourced via affiliation to the Cyclists Touring Club or British Cycling, however if the club was successful it could eventually source its own insurance cover.

 

However, initially what could be organised are small rides and gatherings, maybe via a ‘Where You Are Riding’ section in the ‘Pedelecs Forums’ on this website. Riders could post where they are riding, meet up points, times etc, which might encourage other ecyclists to join them.

 

Any thoughts?

I think it's an excellent idea. Our interests are not adequately covered by conventional cycling organisations, nor by the HPVA (Human Powered Vehicle Association), so a need clearly exists.

 

I daresay the trade organisation BEBA (British Electric Bike Association) would support the formation of such a club.

growbag

I like the idea and riding a non assisted bike as well as my Agatu, I recently found a few sites of interest.

The first one I came across was "cycle buddy" a site for getting fellow cyclists together.

I went through the process of putting all my details in and in no time I found 8 riders within a mile of my postcode and I sent them all a message :o)

Well after a week and no reply's, I looked deeper & found there was a forum linked to the site but very few users, in fact there was an average of one new post a month :o(

Cycle buddy may not be a dead site but its certainly coughing up blood.

 

I've also found "sky-ride" linked to British cycling, there's more going on there but were still in single figures and thats for local un powered riders.

I'm more than happy to get out with fellow pedelec owners but how many are there near to me ?

 

Perhaps to get the ball rolling a forum savy person could do a map showing our locations (I'm in Duston Northampton) the web makes the world seam a lot smaller but it's no so small when your looking for your nearest fellow e bike owner ;o)

 

PS quite a few members don't put there location in there details !

Edited August 30, 201312 yr by Gringo

...Perhaps to get the ball rolling a forum savy person could do a map showing our locations (I'm in Duston Northampton) the web makes the world seam a lot smaller but it's no so small when your looking for your nearest fellow e bike owner ;o)

 

Many forum members have entered their locations onto "Google Maps"

 

CLICK HERE

 

If you would like your location to be shown on the member's map, then provide the first part of your post-code on the link below.

 

CLICK HERE

 

A forum member with the necessary privileges will then enter your location onto the map and confirm your addition.

Edited August 30, 201312 yr by Blew it

MK has quite a few members so might be a good area for a meet.

I'd probably need to car my bike there as my bike battery from Duston to MK would probably only be able to make it there & back without and cycling around while I'm there !

MK has quite a few members so might be a good area for a meet.

I'd probably need to car my bike there as my bike battery from Duston to MK would probably only be able to make it there & back without and cycling around while I'm there !

 

Hi Carl,

 

A couple of years ago I did try to get a regular ride going in MK. it might be worth trying again.

 

I would be happy to meet up with you for a ride in or around MK.

 

Sometimes I tag along with the MK CTC Easy Riders and next Sunday, 8th September, there is a ride to Salcey Forest which is a bit closer for you. MK CTC easy riders

I think it's an excellent idea. Our interests are not adequately covered by conventional cycling organisations, nor by the HPVA (Human Powered Vehicle Association), so a need clearly exists.

 

I daresay the trade organisation BEBA (British Electric Bike Association) would support the formation of such a club.

 

A great idea! BEBA would be more than happy to support such a club. I must say, the only challenge will be the organisation! Would need a good committee of members to manage?

Hi Guys,

 

Could well be a good idea.

 

As has already been eluded to above these things often work only once a critical mass has been reached. e.g. not enough members results in no one signing up. It's a sort of chicken & egg situation.

 

Having said that with a view to getting things off the ground I'd be willing to sponsor this by getting my web guys to set up a site with a forum whereby the whole concept could be discussed & developed to see if the idea has legs.

 

What do other members think?

 

Regards

Martin

Brilliant idea,our Kudos 'Try a bike days' such as the Manifold Trail event seem to attract 100 people so a similar event could anticipate 50 plus. Maybe it would be a good idea to ask a local ebike supplier to sponsor each event in their area.

The Redbridge event is growing into the National ebike day so maybe you could use that venue as a national event to bring your members together.

Good luck.

KudosDave

A good idea. A couple of years ago I suggested an "events, meets and rides" sub-forum, as that's what a lot of other forums have. It didn't happen though.

A good idea. A couple of years ago I suggested an "events, meets and rides" sub-forum, as that's what a lot of other forums have. It didn't happen though.

 

Yes it did, It's RIGHT HERE

This may only be my opinion, but I think it would be better if a pedelec riders club were run and organised by independent non trade people who have no commercial interest?

 

I am sure there are enough forum members who would be more than capable of setting up and running such a club.

John

I would tend to agree with you. Such a club would have to be independent from commercial bias.

 

My offer is to help kick this off with setting up the infrastructure in terms of a web site, forum etc. Decision making & the running of a club should certainly come from the members themselves.

 

What do people think? Should I go ahead & set something up? My web guys have already started fleshing this out as a concept.

 

Regards

Martin

Planned group rides are difficult to organise, not because of the logistics involved....just the unpredictable British weather.

 

I appreciate some people enjoy sploshing about in the rain and mud, but I suspect most folks prefer riding on warm sunny days. To be able to meet that simple requirement means starting off with a provisional date for a ride-out, only confirming the decision to "go" just twenty-four hours in advance.....is that not what we do when planning our own rides?

 

Yesterday was a good example, the weather forecast on Friday was looking good, so I provisionally decided to ride my twenty-two mile "Four Lakes Tour"...the final decision to "go" being made on Saturday. The thing is, how many people have the freedom from family constraints to be able to do that. The most enjoyable rides are those embarked upon at the drop of a hat....whether the missus likes it or not! ( You chaps who appear to be a bit "under the thumb" really need to regain control of your lives).

 

What I could have done on Friday, is post a heads-up on the Sticky of a provisional ride-out on Sunday, weather permitting. The post updated with the decision to "go" on Saturday morning. Needless to say, it was a thoroughly enjoyable ride.....two or three additional riders would have made it more so.

 

Over the past three years, I have often phoned around locally to invite riders to join me on a ride with just twenty-four hours notice. The response is always the same...."missus wants to go shopping" "missus wants to go to the garden center" "missus wants to visit her Mother" " how about next weekend instead?" (like I'm supposed to able to predict the weather in a weeks time).

 

I don't bother anymore....actually, I quite like my own company.

We'd be happy for this forum to used Martin, it's already here as are the members. We're open to suggestions as to how best it could be used to help too :-)

We'd be happy for this forum to used Martin, it's already here as are the members. We're open to suggestions as to how best it could be used to help too :-)

 

I agree with you Helen, let the members decide.

Yes it did, It's RIGHT HERE

 

Not really, that's a single thread, hard to follow due to its size. An actual sub-forum would be much more useful. For example here is such a sub-forum at a motorcycle site i visit. Events, Meets, Ride outs etc

.. An actual sub-forum would be much more useful. For example here is such a sub-forum at a motorcycle site i visit. Events, Meets, Ride outs etc

 

that's certainly easy enough to do..

that's certainly easy enough to do..

 

Then please do so.

 

Way I see it is we cant even organise a few ride outs then a fully functioning club is a non starter.

John

I would tend to agree with you. Such a club would have to be independent from commercial bias.

 

My offer is to help kick this off with setting up the infrastructure in terms of a web site, forum etc. Decision making & the running of a club should certainly come from the members themselves.

 

What do people think? Should I go ahead & set something up? My web guys have already started fleshing this out as a concept.

 

Regards

Martin

 

Good offer from Martin, all these things cost money.

 

My thinking is we are not quite ready for a separate website/forum, there is not yet enough of us and having to go somewhere else on the web is bound to dilute numbers.

 

I've seen a few cycling club websites which are clearly all but dead - only a handful of posts/site updates in the last year or two.

 

The retailers do have a part to play, if nothing else we need them to hand out club info leaflets when they sell a bike.

I like the idea but for my needs the membership of a forum serves the same purpose as being a member of a club and its free. The only benefit of a club over say this forum is that it perhaps sounds more official to say you are a members club rather than a forum group when say attending events.

That said I believe this view is quickly changing.

Referring to Subaru Impreza cars (similar in a way - niche, minority group) its the forums that seem to have more or equal gravitas than the clubs now. Cars in general have pistonheads (which I am not a member of but do recognise their huge influence and following), and specifically Subaru have scoobynet, 22b, SIDC, etc all of which serve the needs of members equally if not better than any owners clubs do.

The forums do such a good job of informing, socialising, supporting ownership, and promoting their specific area of interest I cant see how a club differs.

I admire your spirit though as I too wish to see assisted cycling promoted in any way possible.

Clubs normally involve money, which causes a lot of problems.

Has anything happened re the club?

 

We would be most interested in helping out.

 

All the best

 

David

Some thoughts..

 

One simple way to get this started would be to use this forum to register people’s interest by region, probably starting fairly broadly (south east, south west, north west etc.).

 

If we set up sub forums for each of those areas then people can register their interest (so long as they’re on 'where do you live' we can see where they’re based) so we can see how viable the numbers are for each area. We could then ask for nominations for an organizer for each area (thanks for the ‘hands up’ David!) ?

 

We intend to get some Pedelecs t-shirts done soonish anyway so we could print those up with whatever members vote for (just Pedelecs, or Pedelecs Riders’ Club or whatever) and sell those on at cost if anyone’s interested as an extra..

Dave's right it always gets messy when money gets involved. I'm chairman of the NADJ for the UK and always the main talking point is how we spend the members monies! Plus all the rules and regs of being a bona fide association.

 

Better off being a club/collective first and seeing how interest it raises and see who offers up their time/help