I know the subject has been brought up before and you either love or hate the group and there seems to be no middle-ground. Both of the dealer chapters I have come in contact with never seemd to interest me. Recently, I was asked for honest feedback on what they could do to retain/attract more members.

I don't know about others, but for me, I never saw anything of interest with my local group. It all seems to be focused around food events or eating contests etc. I was pretty honest about it. It doesn't seem to offer much to anyone who really is just interested in riding/motorcycles, etc..and not all the fluff.

I was asked what kind of activity I would like to see etc. I said I wouldn't mind having seminars or learning sessions--perhaps a monthly maintenance get-together where members can share tips and topics etc..Or have discussions about riding strategies, etc--you know, motorcycle stuff. I would think that would be the main focus of a motorcycle group or riding club.

But it all seems to have soemthng to do with things other than riding or motorcycles. In short, HOG seems like an eating club.

Here is the 'Road Challenge' contest for this riding year (I am not making this stuff up):

verbatim quote:

"Your 2014 road challenge will be to ride to eat at diners."

There is then a list of rules about what is or is not actually a diner and what proof you need to show you went to and ate food at that diner.

At the end of the year, the rider who has eaten at the most diners wins a cash prize.

The news letters always focus on food and have tons of photos of food, guy's pulling pizza out of a box, members eating something, photos of pigs with chefs hat and aprons etc..The rest of the news letter pretty much discusses the upcoming pig roast and steak roast. A lot of the folks in the group are seriously overweight. If that's what most people are interested in, that's fine. But I don't understand it. I thought it was supposed to ultimately be a motorcycle riding club. I pretty much shared these thoughts on the feedback request.

 

The 3 events that I went to with my free HOG all involved food and they are all of the older set. One other person had an older Sporty and all of the rest are Ultras and trikes that are all no older than 3 years old. I highly doubt that many are wrenching their recently purchased $25,000 motorcycles and they never talked about motorcycle things at their events.

HOG is just another way for the dealer to get you into their store to hopefully by more of their wares.

 

HOG is an excellent marketing tool to sell more h-d branded products. the moco is missing out by not having snack bars/grills in their stores and also offering trade marked food products. there could be a frozen food section in all the stores. what could be better than drinking some moco coffee with your moco bacon and eggs, and then going to your HOG meeting to see which buffet you were riding to??

 

Eat to ride, ride to eat.

 

There's a reason they call it the Harley Owners Group and not the Harley Riders Group.

Can't say you weren't warned brother, its in the name. If you really want to ride or at least hang out where othere riders are then forget the "bike nights" and head someplace where riders hangout. This is usually someplace where the roads are good an curvy.

Even then, riding with others sometimes isn't what its cracked up to be. I've had some great rides with other people but the best ones for me have been solo.

 

I dunno, I see HOG on the road around here all the time. They may be riding to food, but they ride a hell of a lot more than some guys I know that have cool custom bikes and think they're badasses .

 

They do have rides in my local chapters but usually they are to a food-related destination. I don't really enjoy group riding, as I prefer to go where I want when I feel like it etc and don't like being limited to a schedule. But that's not to say it wouldn't be nice to go on a group ride to an interesting spot or to have a group or meeting place for people where you had things to do like I mentioned---monthly meetings for various topics where someone prepares a meeting presentation such as maintenance tips, riding strategies, experiences etc. I would show up for those in a heartbeat.

That was my assumption about what a casual group like HOG would be like when I first got my bike. I assumed that the main focus would be on motorcycles and the fun of riding them.

 

Good for them. I'm confused Texa$, what does old, not wrenching on there
own bikes & being new, have to do with this. Hell, all my riding buddies are old, don't work on there bikes & most all of the bikes are at least 3 to 5 years old. I've been riding for over 50 years, have a 2011 bike & don't work on my bike anymore. Because I can!!! NO, I don't ride with the HOG. So, HOG is a way to get you into the store to buy stuff. Just wondering if you buy any Harley products? What have you been smoking, I need to get some of that. Just my 2 cents.

 

HOG branded pot...start in colorado. as laws become more liberal, go nation wide. there is a whole market segment that the moco could tap into. the rides could be to the local dealerships--smoke a few joints--then you have the munchies for some h-d branded snacks. wash that down with some moco kool-aid.

 

Definitely more of a food club.