Motorcycle Meetup Groups

In addition to being in a riding club, I also coordinate a riding group called, "Temecula Motorcycle Riders Meetup Group". It's hosted on a website called, "Meetup.com". It gives me a way to reach out to the public, and meet new riders, and hopefully make some friends.

If you don't already know about Meetup.com, go there. Type in your zip-code, and then run a search for "motorcycle". I'm sure you'll find some local groups.

In Meetup.com you'll find thousands of groups in all niches, from parenting, to sci-fi, to poodles, and of course motorcycling.

So, all I did was set up a group for people who live in my area who like to ride cruiser and touring style motorcycles. Then I'll post a ride or get-together on there, and see who wants to show up. Right now, I have 111 people in my group.

On average, I get about 2-10 riders showing up. That's perfect for me. All I want from the Meetup group is to find some fresh faces, and hopefully make a good friend out of one of them.

There are other motorcycle-based Meetup groups in my area that seem to get larger turn outs. I imagine the reasons for this could be many. Some are open to all motorcycles, including sportbikes and dualsports. Some tend to take on a more structured style of group riding, which perhaps favors the newbie riders. Others yet take more of a leadership role in providing the fun and activities.

I tend to take less of a leadership role, and leave it up to everyone on the ride to make it a fun outing, instead of me being responsible for the fun.

I also noticed some motorcycle Meetup groups are actually fundraising groups. They'll post a poker run, or bike night, as a way to raise funds for a charity. Some are even business-oriented, organizing an event at their place of business, to help boost sales or their own exposure.

The Meetup group is also a great way to find people for the riding club. I can evaluate people's riding skills and their attitudes, and decide if they're a good fit for the club, and if so, invite them over to our club's web forum.