I'm not sure how many people you need to constitute a community, but I'm sure there aren't enough of us, even including the occasional posters, to qualify. Vicious circle: there's nothing to tempt new people and precious little to retain the existing ones.

Looking on the site homepage, the last blog entry - other than a competition offer - was one that I wrote in early March and was finally published in April. I don't think it's any secret that Tom left before Christmas and was replaced by Binny, but it doesn't look as if she's been given any time or money to develop this part of the empire either.

I came here because Boyd's an old friend and stayed because a) I have some loyalty to things and b) there were some good people here. Neither of those are an inexhaustible supply. Loyalty, in any case, has to be earned and since the great relaunch fanfare, I've seen nothing to indicate that there's any flowing towards the site users from the site owners.

Probably is time to call it a day.

I can be found through www.cissburyplayers.net, if anyone's interested. BD, any recommendations on other biking fora?

Bet there's not even a response to this from ukbike.com, though.

>> ex silens nox noctis <<

Cheers you guy's. Thanks for your encouragement. Whatever hapens I will try to keep it upright!

Ian

Don't slide unless you mean too.

Be sure, ride safe and enjoy

In all honesty, did it really take off? I mean, yeah, there was LadyP, Ems, us guys and Hoov but that was about it. There are communities in the deepest southern points of South America with more people in it!!

The reason I went away is because of the way both myself and Hoov were treated by our employers. I didn't see why I should help them when nobody helped me.

Anyway, I won't go down that road, it sucks and I'll be here for ages ranting about it.

I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner about me not being on here. It was a case of me not having time, but that coupled with not wanting to help out the Friday-Ad made me leave. It was nothing personal against any of you guys who I consider to be the most awesomist (not sure if it's a word... if not, it is now!) guys I know. I didn't want to **** anyone off before, what with Hoov still working for UKB and what not, I didn't want anything bad to come back to him.

It wouldn't surprise me if Binny hasn't been given the money or time to really go though this site. It doesn't provide much money so it's just left floundering until the time comes to either sell or rejuvinate.

If anyone has any suggestions as to where we should go instead then I'd be happy to follow.

Once again, sorry if I caused anyone any offence.

Yamaha FZS 600 Fazer ... in gold! 

Ride safe, and look out for the Rainbow of Death!

^{There're only 3 kinds of people in the world, those who can count, and those that can't.}

^{Roses are red, Violets are Blue, I'm a schizophrenic ..... and so am I!}

^{Take pity on the man who invented the drawing board, when he screwed up, he had nothing to fall back on.}

^{Stuff everything, I've always got my bike.}

I'd forgotten that Binny had taken over (which says something in itself), but if you count in Lady P and Ems, who haven't been seen for a while, there have only ever been about 15-20 regular posters, and in recent months that has been down to 3 or 4, plus a few odd folks asking for help with a misfiring HongTingWong learnerbike.

As to alternative sites, well I can't offer much.  Most of the bike sites I visit are specific to one make or type.  The only all-makes forum that I ever visit is the newsgroup uk.rec.motorcycles (or motorcycling, can't remember), which can be very entertaining but is a very robust environment, and newbies are treated pretty roughly until they earn their spurs.  Lurk there for a while before plunging in.  I can't say I go there very often - I surf the web for fun, and if I wanted to listen to a lot of abuse (admittedly very funny at times) I could go the the pub - or stay at home.  The related group uk.rec.motorcycles.classic is more for the classic fan, and is rather more gentlemanly.

Sites I visit regularly are:

Horizons Unlimited (touring, world travelling, with some excellent tech sections): http://www.horizonsunlimited.com

Bikers Oracle (general, with model-specific sections - I am generally in the Honda Pan forum): http://www.bikersoracle.com

Yamaha Thumpers (mainly fans of the XT500, but with newer bikes catered for): http://www.yamaha-xt500.com

Lady P's XT660 site www.yam-xt.com used to have a great forum and a lot of good tech guys, but it's rather quiet these days.

I post to these groups under the name 'Black Dog', 'Zulu' or some combination of the two, depending on what was available when I registered.

Shall we start a list of recommendations?

I will keep coming back here from time to time, I think, but if anyone wants to stay in touch, or if you find another brilliant home for all us erudite, witty, cultured bikey types, then my email is richard brookman 53 (all one word) at gmail dot com.  If this forum revives for any reason (like we all suddenly want to stay!) then I will of course hang around.  You'll see me by the bar.  Pint of Boddies, since you're asking.

--

2003 ST1300 Pan Euro
1995 Yam XT600E
http://goingfastgettingnowhere.blogspot.com/

It's a shame these things go this way.

I would like to say a big thanks to  Endomoniada and Black Dog for all their advice, plus the other guys (and Gells??) that replied in the past. You have a great wealth of knowledge and it's a shame not to have that pooled together into one area.

Hope you all lead happy and fulfilling lives

________________________________________________________________________

All you people who are just browsing, get registered and get chatting! We don't bite

My other tuppence-worth...

There obviously are still some of the good people around (nice to hear from you all again!), so it doesn't have to come to a full stop. I'd still like to see ukbike itself put something into this (Does anyone there even look at the forum? Or care what happens to it? Any chance of an answer?), but it does seem to be a question of whether we want to make anything of it.

Realistically, noone joins an empty forum, so if everybody wants to keep it going, it kinda means making the effort to post some stuff (not always easy, I know) and perhaps make encouraging noises towards other people to join in. Not that it guarantees anything and maybe it just means dragging it out a little longer, but I don't have a problem with stubbornly sticking up for underdog causes...!

Quite understand your point, Mazz, and no offense taken in any way. I know Hoov didn't get the best of treatments: if yours was similar, then why would you care about supporting Friday-Ad? The only thing is - and not trying to make up your mind for you - since they don't seem to give a flying one what happens here, it's not really a question of supporting or helping "them" - more a question of keeping in touch with "us". Which we'd like. Honest. (Is your Fazer fixed, btw?).

I have in the past looked on Lady P's forum: don't know whether a mass (okay, I do exaggerate) exodus of non-XT owners there would be welcome - but if it's quiet and here's quiet, perhaps joining forces might be a good thing?

>> ex silens nox noctis <<