club membership

[borderduc]

With annual membership renewal time coming up again I was wondering what people thought about being members of DOC, DSC or MOC, the main owners' clubs in the UK. Have the clubs got too big and political cater to for every member?. Do you get value for your (subs) money ?. Does Ducati Up North (which has no intention of being a club) give you all you need to get out and ride your Duc and actually meet most of the people who post on the forum ?.

I've been organising runs for DSC but I'm always curious to know what people think about the whole idea of being in a club and what it means (or not) to them. Do we even need such big clubs ?. Feel free to fire away..

 

[dseered]

Well I have not renewed my DSC subs, I have PayPal'd Mikey my £20 towards DuN, I see no need in renewing to be honest, all the DSC gives me is Desmo Due I don't really want Desmo Due so I will use the board, maybe a trackday, which I guess means that I will renew my subs, thats it though !

To me DuN is far more appropriate.
Look forward to meeting those I havn't yet !

Ian

 

[alane]

In the voice of Paddy from Phoenix nights:
Twenty POUNDS?
D---U---N?
TWENTY POUNDS!?!

Whats that all about then?

Is DUN to be separate from DSC or was that contribution altruistic on your part Ian.

 

[dseered]

I had already not re-joined the DSC, I get nothing from it, I may do a DSC trackday, in which case I will rejoin in with the price !

My £20 was a donation toward the running of this site and was not in any way a 'membership' fee.

As I understand it, this is not a club, it is purely a forum for Ducati owners to get together, from whatever club they belong, DSC, DOC etc.

 

[Gizmo]

In the voice of Paddy from Phoenix nights:
Twenty POUNDS?
D---U---N?
TWENTY POUNDS!?!

Whats that all about then?

Is DUN to be separate from DSC or was that contribution altruistic on your part Ian.

As Ian's already clarified he and a few others have already donated funds to get Ducati-upnorth started, they were aware that the site had cost me money for hosting and software ( the forum software was well worth the money as I couldn't do it with the free programs out there and it allows nice customization ). The money received will be used to pay for hosting and software, at the moment I am using a lot of favours to cover that and its unfair on the companies involved that this continues if I use a lot of server space or the traffic increases to a"commercial" level.

I wasn't sure about doing this but when a number of people asked how they could contribute I added the link to the "about" page. Ducati-upnorth isn't a club and there's absolutely no requirement for anyone to contribute, its meant to be a way of bringing the many different club members who's main interest are road riding, meeting other owners and the odd trackday.

Racing, classic Ducati's , DD etc are well covered by other sites and specific to certain clubs and, in my opinion, clubs like the DSC have lost the focus to a point where their out of date website no longer gives many club members the information they need at a regional level particularly in the North and Scotland.

I'd hope people do remain DOC, DSC etc members if the club is giving them what they want and its worth the fee's in addition we still need Ducati unity in the areas where there are fewer owners, 2 DSC members in Cumbria isn't exactly a club region is it

 

[BDG]

Borderduc

I personally will continue to renew DSC membership for a variety of reasons.

In no particular order of importance, information, met some great people, ride outs, various meets, factory trip, track days, both the club run ones and discount with No Limits, discount with various dealers, the DSC board.

Obviously DSC membership is not essential for some of these, but i feel that as the club has given me something the least i can do is put something back in.