DCSportbikes.COM

in the good ole days,  not so long ago,  there was more activity on the board,  noob rides,  tech days,  gatherings,  bbq's,  and group rides.  (i know many of you just gasped and said to yourselves -- "GROUP RIDES???  WTF IS DET?"  well,  here's my take on things since i've been active here for 5 years now.

sportbikes,  for many people,  are a phase in their lives.  and often,  you can see a progression in the ones who stay here for a long period of time.  they go from noobs who are scared stiff to lean a bike on new tires to salty skilled street runners/track addicts/whatever...   many riders who have contributed here greatly have left for many reasons like job location change,  having kids and priorities shifted,  and so on.  i can think of a dozen or so peeps who helped make dot com a great place that aren't here for reasons mentioned above.

people are going to come and go,  that's a given.  but what is happening that is not keeping the "circle of life" (so to say)  is that no new people are stepping up and taking control.  we can't just sit back and expect the old heads to set everything up so we all have something to do here.  i have stepped up and done noob rides when magic rat,  dan rivito and steelrain didn't have time or needed help.  unfortunately,  i wasn't able to set one up last season.  buddha sets up tons of stuff,  but we need more help from newer members.  dink,  magic rat and armadillo were the big ballers for tech days.  hey,  someone step up,  propose a date a month or 2 out and they will come.  you'd be surprised at how many knowledgeable people are willing to help out!

we've got some marylanders stepping up and posting group rides this past year,  and that's great.  i joined one or two of them.   i think there was a bbq or 2 posted up too if i recall correctly.

we can sit here and blame the forum for losing members.  when in reality,  it's the people as a whole who aren't "keeping it moving".  this forum could be many times worse and if people were actively posting up group rides,  tech days,  bbq's,  moto gp parties,  etc,  the activity would still be here.  sure,  a new forum would be great,  but it is not the reason for dot com's decline.  it's the lack of involvement within that has slowed our roll.

i know we have lots of fresh faces and knowledgeable peeps on here.  all i can say is,  don't be afraid to step up and make something happen.  everyone wants something to happen,  so you will have support even if you aren't 100% sure on how to do it.  

ASK NOT WHAT THY DOT COM CAN DO FOR THEE.  RATHER, WHAT THEE CAN DO FOR THINE DOT COM  

feel free to discuss....

 So then why is .net proliferating?

because homosexuality is becoming more acceptable to society.  

i keed  

drnknmnk13:

 So then why is .net proliferating?

for the same reasons i mentioned above.  they have active members posting group rides,  barbecues,  meet ups,  etc.  which makes them more active on the board. 

 But a good number of those members are members here as well. So why do they choose to post on .net and not .com?

i'll do a techday or two this year.  location is the problem.  i'd do it at my place but more sportbikers wont come up my mile-long dirt driveway.

I gave up leading group rides, tired of cleaning up accidents.  so now i ride with a tight group, completely off the radar.  might be talked into leading a noob ride for old times sake, we'll have to see how it goes.

there's still hope for this place, not quite circling the drain yet.  it's odd how a few years back me and a few other mods left because we couldn't enforce the rules.  good to see that turning around a bit. 

drnknmnk13:

 But a good number of those members are members here as well. So why do they choose to post on .net and not .com?

Doc750:

hollywood needs throw out another biker boyz movie, that'll bring in a new batch of parts bikes ... eeerr .. I mean newbies. 1) It's the off season. 2) no one is buying new bikes, and those with bikes are trying to sell them. The number of riders is down, and those who keep their bikes are riding less, and working more. 3) The track whores aren't posting as much, b/c a lot of them aren't going to the track as much. I know my track day budget for this year is $0. I didn't even renew my NESBA or STT membership this year. ( On a side note they need to drop the price to $50/track day in order to get more people back). As far as the whole .com/.net thing ... who really gives a ***? I just want a dam-n edit button, and not have to use html code just to get separate paragraphs, or stick in a smiley face. 4) Let Heist post his porn, as long as its tagged and in the proper section. Why give the boy grief? If nothing else it saves me the time to go around the net looking for it myself. [:]]

Horde1:

i'll do a techday or two this year.  location is the problem.  i'd do it at my place but more sportbikers wont come up my mile-long dirt driveway.

I gave up leading group rides, tired of cleaning up accidents.  so now i ride with a tight group, completely off the radar.  might be talked into leading a noob ride for old times sake, we'll have to see how it goes.

there's still hope for this place, not quite circling the drain yet.  it's odd how a few years back me and a few other mods left because we couldn't enforce the rules.  good to see that turning around a bit. 

 

greg,  your driveway scares off 2 wheel drive vehicles man.  ha ha...  just kidding.  you've always been a great asset to the members of the board with your help on noob rides and tech days,  not to mention macgyvering up bikes during rides.   i'd like to join in some tech days as help.  i'd also like to host a few noob rides this year.  we shall see how things play out. 

I was really pumped up to that noob ride you organized last year that got rained out.

I would be down to do a group ride or two if I have a free weekend or two this year.

 A few years ago it was .net that was a joke with very few posts per day.  I guess having two boards is somewhat redundant, but I grew up with .com

shift:

i know we have lots of fresh faces and knowledgeable peeps on here.  all i can say is,  don't be afraid to step up and make something happen.  everyone wants something to happen,  so you will have support even if you aren't 100% sure on how to do it.  

 

ASK NOT WHAT THY DOT COM CAN DO FOR THEE.  RATHER, WHAT THEE CAN DO FOR THINE DOT COM  

 

feel free to discuss....

shift, u always seem to find a way to shut me up huh!?!?!?

I can agree with the statement above, simply because just this past season I made the transition from joining group rides to leading my very 1st!!!! I have much respect for Organizers, Leaders, Sweepers, etc!!!!! I can't speak for all NOOBS of the board, but the group ride i led was just myself and 2 buds. I've been riding the Frederick area loops and North Beach routes for almost a year straight now, and as I felt myself getting more comfortable with the routes and being able to remember them, I invited my buds for a ride. And I must say, it was the most nerve racking thing ever!!! For one, Im a noob, and the LAST person i'd want to be following is MYSELF!!! LOL!! Secondly, I felt like the safety of the folks behind me was on my shoulders. Regardless of the "Im new to this", "I barely know the route", "RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE" speech I gave and so frequently hear.

 So, when does a NOOB make the transition from only joining group rides to actually leading them?????

I prefer not to lead group rides because for one, Im a NOOB myself, and secondly I dont always think clearly. You can say "Ride your own ride" all you want.....but a NOOB will be a NOOB!!!

 And about the bbq's, parties, etc.........Im not really the party type, so me setting something up would probably never happen. But the group rides thing.....I LOVE EM!!!

Horde1:

i'll do a techday or two this year.  location is the problem.  i'd do it at my place but more sportbikers wont come up my mile-long dirt driveway.

I gave up leading group rides, tired of cleaning up accidents.  so now i ride with a tight group, completely off the radar.  might be talked into leading a noob ride for old times sake, we'll have to see how it goes.

there's still hope for this place, not quite circling the drain yet.  it's odd how a few years back me and a few other mods left because we couldn't enforce the rules.  good to see that turning around a bit. 

 

Fortunately I dont know what it feels like to be a leader of a ride where someone crashes. But I do know how it feels to be ON a ride where someone crashes. Crashing sucks, but where would NOOBS be if it werent for you knowledgeable leaders????

NOOBS learning from other NOOBS? Is that what you really want? Sure, I could ride around doing the speed limit, being a "safe" rider...........but at the end of the day would that automatically make me a BETTER rider? 

The Organizers, Leaders, Sweepers, etc have allowed me to become a SMARTER rider. It has allowed me to realize that all this time i've been doing 1000000 of things WRONG, and im thankful for each and every pointer thats been passed to me.

So again, who are we NOOBS to learn from if no one wants to take on the challenge of leading us? Better yet, SHOWING US THE LIGHT???

I've been on several rides just this past season where someone has crashed, not a good thing at all, but luckily every individual has lived to ride another day. But while sitting there on the side of the road, on the crash site, great questions are being asked. Great conversations are being probed. Questions like "What happend", "Did you squeeze too much break", "Did you feak out mid-turn", "Did you not setup for the turn properly", "Why is your jacket so lose", "WHY dont you have the proper gear, even if you are only riding in the slower paced group",  "Whats your tire pressure", "Hey man, your brake/clutch levers arent correct".......so on and so forth. Sure this could have been done sitting over a cup of coffee, but a lesson is a lesson.

I guess it depends on how you look at the situation. Earlier last season I had my very 1st crash on a group ride with OrangeShirtDude, went into a turn at a speed I BELIEVED to be too hot while in mid-turn, and instead of staying committed I chopped the throttle and started looking towards the shoulder.........and thats exactly where I ended up. I knew exactly what I had done wrong, WHY? Because of the conversations had while on previous group rides with a bunch of cool and knowledgeable folks!!!

Dont give up on us NOOBS, believe it or not WE DO LISTEN (every once in a while....lol!!!)

Don't let .COM die!!!

TJS71:

I was really pumped up to that noob ride you organized last year that got rained out.

I would be down to do a group ride or two if I have a free weekend or two this year.

 A few years ago it was .net that was a joke with very few posts per day.  I guess having two boards is somewhat redundant, but I grew up with .com

ditto

#71 - Let's plan a noob ride on one of your Saturdays off this summer...

greytop:

ditto

#71 - Let's plan a noob ride on one of your Saturdays off this summer...

Fo Sho

I'm Down

robby23rd,  don't get me wrong man.  i'm not saying noobs should be leading noob rides -- although it doesn't take a track star to lead a group either. all a group leader really needs to know/do is these things:

have good judgment

ability to ride 15 to 20 over the speed limit and maintain full control (not that that is the speed you will be taking people on noob rides)

depending on the size of the group,  set up a sweeper and if it's a big group,  maybe have 2 road blockers

pre ride meeting on what you expect:  pace,  passing rules,  emergencies,  gas stops,  lunch,  expected finish time,  etc...

know the route

there's prolly a few other things that could be added,  but that's the basics.  noob rides should be about speed limit to 10 over for the slow groups.  faster groups can dictate that for themselves.

 hm...maybe i turn my r6 into a street bike...

.com needs to be sold to an owner that give a sh!t.  .net was sold to someone that did and it thrives.

.coms bulletin board system needs a full upgrade

that is all!

man we had some fine rides back in the day.  i miss running with the OG. 

I would definitely be in for a tech day with Dillo.  Ms D and I were just talking tonight about setting up a SG night on Sundays at this pool hall in Leesburg.  Spend $15 and shoot pool free all night.  We'll post it up once we know better what our schedules will be like, but people can be on the lookout for something from us.  If everyone pitches in and just does a little, .com can thrive both on the board and off. 

I did my first group ride with dot com few years ago.I think dan something held it in Frederick,starting at Cosco Had an awesome time! I don't post much,but have watched the sight start to die.There seems to be alot of negative post towards each other here. Not an expert, but I did stay in a holiday in once.

 blame cancer. one person gets pissed off or starts to have a neg attitude and it spreads. nice call to action but somehow it's always 'cooler' to be a complainer for some reason than it is to come up with things to do or (and here is what i think is the other part of the problem) to participate.

i have been repeatedly impressed at the level of openness that invitations have around here, but i am usually disapointed at the responces. the ONE noob ride i went on, i went because i knew who was leading from another forum. again, impressed at the turnout... impressed at the enthusiam... and then there were the pictures posted after the wkend and everyone was talking about it. AND THEN everyone was waiting for the next ride. i hope that come next spring that there will be more activity here on det com. both from the putting events and rides together and also from the people going to them and talkin about them. planning an event or a ride is one thing... but don't underestimate the importance of what it take for them to be a success... 

i think det com needs alot of help... but i too think we're far from circling the drain. there is too much good here for all of it to just go away.

 In hindsight the biggest bleeding wound has been the creation of the Politico forum... Talk about a fire starter of so many arguments that spilled over into the rest of the board.

Macon663:

 hm...maybe i turn my r6 into a street bike...

yepper

I agree with SHITF. 

BUT -- I had to stop logging in to .com during the day because I couldn't count on the content in the threads to be SFW.  I used to just log on in the evening but after awhile, I stopped doing that even. 

Not sure if anyone else experienced this, but that definitely cut down on my visits and made me lose interest --- eventually I was down to checking .com like once every few weeks. 

IMJUSTSAYIN

funny this thead gets some OG's to post up  hahaha

for me, the biggest thing semed ot be the influx of noobs seemed to invite much more BS talk, NSFW posts and a lot less Bike talk...so although I agree in part with incognito's perspective (although I was a player in the politico for a bit), I believe the overwhelming posts about all things unrelated to bikes is what drove the numerous OG's away...

The OG's had their share of "other than bike posters"; Von and his NSFW sexy stuff, ELG and his humor, RF900 and his fishing, but ALL of those cats could outride most and had lots of track time and good bike advice to prove it so it gave them cred..the new crew of BS'ers NEVER talk about bikes...