Tom N.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by EMS »

rpleines wrote: Yes your Evilness, I am still a member. Member number # 1882.
As the secretary of the club you should be ashamed of yourself. :twocents-02cents:
I will take the liberty to confirm this with our membership director, Rich Pleines. But in any case, you are one of the least qualified to pass judgement on anybody.
All you do is snipe from behind. At the height of the dispute between the ICOA under Mike Barone and CBXWorld you called Dave Krager a "putz" and now you are his biggest fan and don't miss an opportunity to sing praise about what he is doing. A while later, you expressed your discord with Mike Barone and asked him to remove you from any official ICOA responsibility (you were a Regional Director once). And now you continue to demonstrate your being the self appointed conscience of everybody around the CBX by telling me I should be ashamed of myself. For what? The fact that I disagree with a statement that is in part belittleing the ICOA and all the good people who try to put in an effort to keep the club going? Sorry, Rich Pleines that is not even 2 cents. It is much less.
I make you a deal: If you come up with another four members in good standing besides you who ask me to and one of them volunteers to assume the job of secretary and do the things that I have done for the club in the last 24 months, I step down. Gladly. I am getting tired too to have to put up with schmucks like you and Mike Cecchini who keep their ICOA membership just to maintain the "right" to complain. I am not retired and I have better things to do.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by rpleines »

Sorry to have made the good folks on this site suffer through this. Back on topic, I wish Tom all the best in his Saudi assignment. Hopefully he has internet access and can give us an update on what life is like in Saudi. I don’t think there are any CBX’s in Saudi but who knows. Tom's a good man. :clap:
Rich Pleines

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Re: Tom N.

Post by Don »

EMS wrote:
Jeff Bennetts wrote: , when the club was more active years ago .
I take exception to that statement. The club does more than it ever did in the last 10 years. In 2011 we had a Winter meeting, a Saluda/Hendersonville ride, we had Vintage Days where we have a significantly larger presence than in the "old days", we had a Lake Michigan ride and a day event at the Stockbridge, MI meeting.
It is just that less people attend these events and some don't at all anymore.
How many have you attended, Jeff?
I remember you were a co-organizer of a meeting where only selected people were invited and others were told to stay away.
I haven't posted for several months, but this gets me off the couch

I must agree with Rich - *In my opinion* the ICOA is a tiny shell of what it was only 3 or 4 years ago. Maybe you think I'm not 'qualified' to comment either, but for 3 or 4 years, we went to just about every event the ICOA put on . . . . 3 or 4 each year. I met Mike at only two . . . . a winter meeting (not really a rally) and vintage days at mid-Ohio, which come to think of it, doesn't really count as a 'rally' either

We used to have several well attended rallies each year and those are just about a thing of the past in my opinion. It's getting increasingly rare to find more than 3 or 4 CBX's at any ICOA rally . . . . no longer worth my time to drive 1,000 miles each way to attend. IMO, the club has gone so far downhill in recent years that I've decided not to pay my dues next year also - I have no idea where my annual $30 goes anymore . . . . one magazine and renting a tent at vintage days doesn't explain it to me either

The club was a vibrant, well organized, well attended and thriving entity when I joined - I can hardly recognize what's left of it these days

I'll crawl back in my hole now and promise not to post again for the remainder of the year

Don

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Jeff Bennetts
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Re: Tom N.

Post by Jeff Bennetts »

Mike, I'm not quite sure how you could take a story detailing the kindness of a bunch of great people to help Tom N., who at the time knew none of us nor did we know him until that Marlinton rally straight into the crapper.

During that time period there were more rallies in on month than the club now holds all year, one National rally back then had more attendees than all the rallies the club has held in the past three years put together. There are many reasons for the poor rally attendance lately and some of them are out of the clubs control but your caustic attitude sure won't help people wanting to hang out with you.

The rally I held last year in St. Clairsville was first conceived and promoted on the ZRX forum I belong to, it wasn't until later that I invited some people I have been friends with for nearly twenty-five years that just happened to be past and current ICOA members, I also invited people from the Suzuki forum I belong to. I'd say 98 percent of the people I invited have no current association to the ICOA.

That St. Clairsville rally You mention was conceived before the ICOA had published it's plans to have it's major rally of the year down south, my rally was the same week and I didn't want to impede on the attendance of the ICOA rally. For your information all this was discussed with Rick Pope the ICOA rally director, it was my idea not to promote my rally on the ICOA forum for the above mentioned reasons and he agreed.

I'll most likely organize another rally at St. Clairsville this year and guess what it will be promoted the same way, by invite only so I can again be surrounded by people that I enjoy being around. I'm getting too old to spend time with whiners and ego maniacs, been there done that and if you have a problem with it you need to get up off your soapbox and look in the mirror and take inventory, then make the ICOA rallies something that more than the same ten people show up to.

By the way, I never told anyone they couldn't attend the St. Clairsville rally, but this year I will if they're dumb enough to ask, which is a shame because it will be the first time.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by Jeff Bennetts »

EMS wrote:
rpleines wrote: :handgestures-thumbdown: Your reaction to Jeff’s post is completely uncalled for. :eusa-naughty:
As the secretary of the ICOA, I think I have all rights to react to a statement like this. I quote just facts. And I don't think you need to police what I am doing, Rich.
After all, this is the ICOA forum. Are you still a member?

I am aware of the fact that 20 years ago, the ICOA had more members and probably a larger activity calendar, but we are trying to do more now than has been done under the previous leadership.
I hate to seem like I'm pilling on here Mike but you need to get your so called facts straight, 20 yrs ago there was no such thing as an activity calendar, no regionial rallies and no National rallies. Clint Hooper was the director and there were only a few state Directors.

It wasn't until the last leadership as you refer to became the National Dir., almost ten years latter, then and only then did the ICOA become regionalized with widespread state Dirs. This system was the cornerstone for regional and National rallies, the CBXPress becoming a full blown color magazine with editorial content by members from all over the globe and membership at an all time high.

Changes start from the top and that can only be accomplished with strong leadership, something this club is sorely lacking.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by EMS »

Jeff Bennetts wrote: Changes start from the top and that can only be accomplished with strong leadership, something this club is sorely lacking.
Jeff, I know there is quite an alliance among some people for the "previous leadership". We all acknowledge that Mike Barone, to name him here, did an excellent job of pulling the club together when it was about to be reduced to a vehicle to boost former leaders income. And no doubt, the CBXPress changes/resurrection was another great achievement. But Mike did all this with no regard to shrinking membership numbers, which eventually dried up his resources and got the club in serious financial trouble and it was left to somebody else to pick up the pieces.
And there is the key to the problem. A shrinking number of CBX owners, a shrinking number of club members and in addition a severe rift among the owners with many having no interest in a "conventional" club anymore in todays time of social media. Look at yourself, Jeff. You probably lost most itnterest in the CBX. You are more active in other areas.
Changes start from the top, correct, and what changes needed to be made after 2007 have been made and are still being made. But it sure doesn't help that most members wax nostalgia and whine that it all used to be so much better but do not want to actively contribute.

As far as this thread is concerned, I started it, because I wanted to find out about Tom. Knowing him, I am sure, he would have absolutely no problem with this thread turning into this discussion. After all, he always was a dedicated ICOA member.
I responded to your - maybe unintended - negative comment about club activity because I felt it was not fair to those who try to make this work. And then, Mr.Pleines who thinks he has to watch over the tone here, comes out of the brush and shoots at me to which I answer. This is not Sunday morning church.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by Rick Pope »

I think it's a natural progression that we have fewer CBXs showing up at events, for a variety of reasons.

First, folks are riding more modern bikes. If they would ride to a rally, they likely choose the comfort and competance of that bike.

Second, we're getting older too. We like the modern bikes for reasons stated above.

Third, many have sold their CBXs and the the new owners don't want to put on the miles, prefering to just use it for short runs, bike nights, etc.

In closing, Mike is correct that Jeff hasn't been active, or attending lately. And Jeff is right, that Mike wasn't there when the rallies were large and vibrant. Both men have reasons, neither needs to explain.

Tom Niemeyer would be ashamed of the bickering.
Rick Pope
Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.

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Jeff Bennetts
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Re: Tom N.

Post by Jeff Bennetts »

EMS wrote:
Jeff Bennetts wrote: Changes start from the top and that can only be accomplished with strong leadership, something this club is sorely lacking.
Jeff, I know there is quite an alliance among some people for the "previous leadership". We all acknowledge that Mike Barone, to name him here, did an excellent job of pulling the club together when it was about to be reduced to a vehicle to boost former leaders income. And no doubt, the CBXPress changes/resurrection was another great achievement. But Mike did all this with no regard to shrinking membership numbers, which eventually dried up his resources and got the club in serious financial trouble and it was left to somebody else to pick up the pieces.
And there is the key to the problem. A shrinking number of CBX owners, a shrinking number of club members and in addition a severe rift among the owners with many having no interest in a "conventional" club anymore in todays time of social media. Look at yourself, Jeff. You probably lost most itnterest in the CBX. You are more active in other areas.
Changes start from the top, correct, and what changes needed to be made after 2007 have been made and are still being made. But it sure doesn't help that most members wax nostalgia and whine that it all used to be so much better but do not want to actively contribute.

As far as this thread is concerned, I started it, because I wanted to find out about Tom. Knowing him, I am sure, he would have absolutely no problem with this thread turning into this discussion. After all, he always was a dedicated ICOA member.
I responded to your - maybe unintended - negative comment about club activity because I felt it was not fair to those who try to make this work. And then, Mr.Pleines who thinks he has to watch over the tone here, comes out of the brush and shoots at me to which I answer. This is not Sunday morning church.
members wax nostalgia and whine that it all used to be so much better but do not want to actively contribute.
Mike none of your comments explain your attach on me, Its unwarranted and uncalled for, I have no alliances toward the previous leadership other than 25 yrs of friendship and working together to bring the club back from the brink all those yrs ago. Ask anyone who knows me, if your my friend, you're my friend always through thick and thin.

My continual participation here on the forum should be proof of that, but you continually display paranoid schizophrenia tendencies on innocent comments made by me and others, you considering me bringing up the story on how we all met and helped Tom as a negative commentary on the current club is proof of that. I'm sorry that you consider conversation about past members as waxing nostalgic especially when these threads are inquiring about someone's well being, I guess in your opinion it's only proper to talk about anything that has transpired after 2007 and anything else is a knock on the club, it's not my fault you were not present and involved in the club before that.

People's life situations change, in my case I have had four major surgeries in the last five yrs and concentrating on putting my son through college will do that. As far as my participation lately in club activities like I said before, I put up with whiners and nut cases for 20 yrs while organizing and promoting more than a dozen regional and five National rallies. Why would I put myself through that again when the current leadership is either incompetent or too lazy to put the effort it takes to not drive the bus off a cliff, it takes a lot of work and dedication to make all the pieces work and I just don't see many results from this leaderships efforts regardless of how hard you say you all are working.

Let's face it, people just aren't going to keep shelling out membership dues and get nothing in return especially when there are other resources on the Internet for free. The best thing the club has going for it now is the technical data base and the past CBXPresses which 98 percent of these were published before 2007, sorry for waxing nostalgic again.

When is the Board of directors and National Dir. going to realize this is no longer a club but an Internet motorcycle forum, like thousands of others out there, when the money runs out from lack of renewals ? Be proactive and quit the membership dues for magazines that never get published and rallies no one attends and make the revenue the forum needs to continue through different levels of membership here on the site and sponsor ads like 90 percent of all the successful Internet forums do, it isn't rocket science.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by EMS »

Jeff Bennetts wrote:[ Mike none of your comments explain your attach on me, Its unwarranted and uncalled for, I have no alliances toward the previous leadership other than 25 yrs of friendship and working together to bring the club back from the brink all those yrs ago. Ask anyone who knows me, if your my friend, you're my friend always through thick and thin.

.
Jeff, you need to be a little less of a Diva. I did not attack you. I expressed my discontent with a statement you made. As a result, I was being called names. You complain about others being whiners, but you have also shown your inability to take a different opinion or criticism quite a few times. And a friendship is an alliance. Even more so, if it is through thick and thin. That's all I was saying.

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Re: Tom N.

Post by Jeff Bennetts »

Okay Mike I'll make a deal with you, you stop trying to rewrite history and being so paranoid and I'll stop being a Diva.
:dance:

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Re: Tom N.

Post by EMS »

Jeff Bennetts wrote:Okay Mike I'll make a deal with you, you stop trying to rewrite history and being so paranoid and I'll stop being a Diva.
:dance:
Agreed, Jeff 8) 8) I don't think I have to give up anything I can do anyway (except for not being paranoid anymore....)

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Re: Tom N.

Post by Tom Neimeyer »

From the time I bought my first CBX there have been a lot of people from the ICOA and the motorcycling community that have helped me and my family. I have always tried to be thankful, fair/honest and pass my good fortune to others. I'm sure that along the way I offended somebody but that was never my intent. I will not try to name everybody that has helped me, I would never finish this post and it would upset somebody if I left them out, however I hope you all know how much I appreciate what you have done for me. I have tried to give back to others many of the blessings I have received but that job is never done.

One of the best memories in my life was the Marlinton rally where we did the Top Wrench Competition. I will never forget the expressions on Dave McMunn's face as Mike Barone was trying to convince him to let me take his bike apart for the contest. He was very concerned about how far apart I was going to take it and what I was going to do to it. I don't blame him, it is a beautiful bike and I'm a nut case.

Upon my return to the USA in a few years I hope to catch back up with some of my old friends, make some new ones and ride the wheels off a few bikes before I give it up for a rocking chair.

Best Regards, Tom

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Re: Tom N.

Post by rpleines »

Tom in the event you decide to ride a motorcycle in Saudi please be aware of the cultural differences in riding style as illustrated in the following link. :face:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2sO7Nxh7yI

Although a lot different than Saudi, I had the privilege of spending a small part of my career working in Kuwait. I hope that you too have a wonderful experience, put away lots of money, and enjoy.
Rich Pleines

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Re: Tom N.

Post by Jeff Bennetts »

Hey Tom,
That is also the rally I met your friend Hayden and we enjoyed a fresh Blue Gill lunch that I caught from a farm pond back home, I can still see him licking his fingers after each filet was consumed by his big ham fists, we were friends forever after that day, RIP Hayden.

I must be careful how much I wax over old times or the nostalgic police will come swooping down on me. :laughing-rolling:

Take care don't let any camels spit on you,
Jeff

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Re: Tom N.

Post by broook »

Tom Neimeyer wrote:One of the best memories in my life was the Marlinton rally where we did the Top Wrench Competition. I will never forget the expressions on Dave McMunn's face as Mike Barone was trying to convince him to let me take his bike apart for the contest. He was very concerned about how far apart I was going to take it and what I was going to do to it. I don't blame him, it is a beautiful bike and I'm a nut case.
I remember that too Tom. I put in the false fuses for you. They really did look real. You did a good job. 8)

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