Post all your rally questions here so the Rally Hosts and others can help you. RALLY WRITEUPS: Tell us all about how you liked/didn't like any rally. RIDES/TRIP REPORTS: This is the place and note you can list your ride/event on the ICOA Calendar (Click Calendar at the top of the Forums page)
It was recently pointed out in another thread that rally attendace is down the past few years. This is a problem I've been pondering for some time. It's gotten to the point that it has discouraged many folks from even trying have a rally, for fear of no one showing up.
A good example was this past summer. Larry Zimmer put a lot of time and effort into the Lake Michigan ride, and had two other people show up. The Wisconsin folks showed up in force on Sunday, but none made the loop.
Even the winter meet in Cleveland was poorly attended. We had perhaps 15 in total.
So, I'm looking for ideas and suggestions to get folks involved. Vintage Days is fun, but there is nearly no riding done there. There is a June event on the calendar in Newburgh, NY, and of course the Barber Festival. But that's pretty flimsy for a crew that used to have several rallies a year, often with attendance of 100.
One idea might be to go to the VJMC 35th anniversay rally in Mitchell, IN at Spring Mills state park. It's a beautiful park, I've stayed there a couple of times, as recently as 2011. There's good riding nearby, and I know several ice cream joints within 50 miles. http://www.vjmc.org/35th.php
So, I'm looking for guidance, and volunteers. Speak up.
Rick Pope
Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.
Not to beat the dead horse --- another example of 'no attendance' was the June Saluda rally last year that John Flake put together. There were great ride routes, John had goood maps and route descriptions for every day, etc. LOTS of time spent putting that together. Attendance: Total about 10. Those of us there did have a great week together.
On the constructive side, I/we will ask that the 'new' generation of club members give their thoughts. I've noticed that most/all the rallies are/have been suggested and created by the 'old' regime members. Nothing wrong with that. As Rick asked, give the club your thoughts. Recognizing that some of us 'older' members may have more time to do things and organize rallies, we still need input as to what you might like to do. Hopefully, we can develop some things of interest that members can want to, and be able to, attend. More 3-day weekend ride/rallies? Different time of the year? Specific times of the year? Some different locations? ETC.
Keep on riding those Xs!! Believe me, they won't break!
Rich and Larry I appreciate your sincere interest, concern and ideas on bumping things up a notch. These are my unfiltered thoughts/opinions and it will become clear I’m no author however I am definitely “old' regime”. That being said I sincerely hope that new generation of club members and non member CBX’ers share their thoughts on what they would like to see improved as you suggested in this thread. As the expression goes-if you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you have always got. With that in mind I still think some of the successful organizational structures and policies of the past as referenced by Jeff Bennett within another thread should be incorporated back into the ICOA today. I agree with Jeff and in my opinion the CBX club was at its strongest when we had a structure of State, Regional and National Directors. A State representative you kept in contact with the state members, organized local rides, promoted the club locally, did your best to encourage membership and in did your part to support the region and your regional director. Regional directors worked with and through the State Directors with other Regional Directors and so on. I know under Mike Barone or Tim Ware leadership the responsibilities of everyone were documented and it may be in the bylaws or else ware on this site. Summary, this was a bottom up organization with the individual member being supported by the State Director and so on up the line.
I believe that another key to the success of the ICOA and its activities is respecting and providing positive support to all club and non Club members including those who chose to participate and enjoy other CBX web sites such as CBXWorld. Nils has been an excellent example through his positive participation in both the ICOA and CBXWorld sites and others as well. We need to do a better job of encouraging participation, providing support to and welcome non members to planned activities and promote events by inviting folks via posts on other CBX sites and also promote events not sponsored by the ICOA as well [ Rick’s post for example]. I believe a strong customer service attitude [the CBX owner being the client] and a Client first commitment is essential to making folks want to participate.
As I look over the ICOA directory I see many fine people “at the top” and I know or assume they are doing their best to make things happen however with no local and regional structure to support them success is doubtful. I sincerely believe large turnouts at rallies, articles submitted to the CBXpress and such will be a result of the above and believe this model works for many clubs, businesses and organizations.
As they say it’s time to "lead, follow or get out of the way” and I would like to volunteer to be the Connecticut State Director. Maybe some of the other old dogs and the young pups can get off the porch as well. I would like to ask [volunteer] Rick Pope to be a point of contact for this effort and suggest that perhaps this topic be moved to the “How I think the ICOA could be improved” section for further discussion and comment.
Thanks for listening, Rich
1. The CBXPress was a major contributor for rally information, it was a source for upcoming rallies, a place for past rally write ups and a motivator for future rallies. With the sporadic releases of the magazine lately the club has lost these sources and even though Nils has done a good job updating the site not everyone is active here and it is currently no substitute for dissimulating rally information.
1a. Rallies are organized and promoted by volunteers, the club needs to be more proactive in prodding and enabling volunteers to hold rallies, the club needs to actually call and contact members personally asking for help holding a rally letting them now support is available. Rallies need to be planned or developed as much as a year in advance, if most of the planning is done by the club ahead of time finding someone in the area to host the rally is actually secondary.
I realize this can almost seem like being pushy but most the time people need some prodding or incentive to take on hosting a rally, maybe even offer a monetary incentive since the club now has such a reserve in it's coffers.
Regional and National rallies should have a template in place, when the club provides this and offers any other support a potential rally host requires it's almost plug and play.
When I held a National rally Mike Barone supplied me with a template and worked with me sometimes on a daily basis answering and working through any problems or developing new ideas.
Whenever a new location for a National was decided on I would contact the Chamber of Commerce in said town and setup a meeting with the local police, news paper, a representative from the local mayors office and any one that wanted to attend, the C of C provided this info and helped setting up the meeting, that's what they're there for.
I realize these are extreme cases but that's what it took to have a successful National rally, of course a smaller rally doesn't need so much prep but you get the idea, some of these suggestions can still work for smaller rallies but on a smaller scale.
Also what has become popular to bring in more attendance is to piggy back a rally on an existing event being held by a third party, even though you need a local member to help organize things, planning and promoting any rally is a lot of work and isn't for everyone, I personally enjoyed it and all the friends that I had the chance to ride and socialize with meant the world to me and still do, one of the reasons I still come here even though I get flack from people like Mike Simon when I "wax nostalgic" as he has been so kind to point out.
Let's face it, you get out what you put into something and maybe the club should take a good hard look at who and how the club is being represented currently, progress is measured in results, not effort.
Thank you very much for the input. It is great to see that there is some interest and there are some ideas on how to "make things better".
Here are some observations from my vantage point:
It is very difficult to "go back" to a "Regional Director" concept as we just don't have enough volunteers. We have tried this and there was little feedback from members that would assume this responsiblity.
Maybe we should just start with the few that do volunteer and see if others will follow.
One concern is effective communication, however, and if all regional directors are automatically board members, you will never get a decent meeting together. This was one of the problems with the bylaws currently which provides spots for up to 12 Directors (maybe more)
One of the major changes with the ICOA was, that the new National Director reached out to ALL CBXers, even non-members and made it clear that the ICOA supports aall other CBX activities, on and off the net - including CBXWorld.
This is a two-way street, however, and it is currently not traveled in both directions.
The CBXpress is a problem in itself. To continue to produce it as intended under Mike Barone is just too expensive and can not be supported by the current membership fees. There is also not enough material to produce 3 or even 4 issues per year. This ties directly into many of the other issues with a common ground: Membership is shrinking. And it is a "Catch 22". Shrinking membership means less input, less activity which means more frustration (see Don's post) and less members renewing.
As far as the rallies are concerned, sure one of the best strategies would be to "piggy-back" on other, larger rallies. We are trying something like this with the Rhinebeck rally this year. Many of you have identified the problem with rallies: As a bike, the CBX has changed for many from a "rider" to a "collector" bike. It is no longer being used by many as their main bike to ride to places.
As both Jeff and Mike point out, piggyback is the easiest way to gather folks together. There are currently 4 events either on the calendar or proposed for 2012, and all are piggyback.
Perhaps we could revisit some of our old venues, and do some "re-union" rallies. St. Clairesville comes to mind, as many of us attended that one. In fact, it was my first rally.
Riding rallies just don't seem to draw a crowd these days. Few participated in the Colorado rally two years ago, and Larry's Lake Michigan ride didn't get much interest either.
It's difficult to get local folks interested too. I've hosted two gatherings where I just called every local (Cincinnati area) CBX owner I could find, using current and past membership lists, and got little response.
Oops!!! On edit, I forgot about Jeff Winter hosting the Minnesota Spring Fling. It's not a huge crowd, but it has all the important bits, including a great bunch of folks.
Rick Pope
Either garage is too small or we have too many bikes. Or Momma's car needs to go outside.
Thank you very much for the input. It is great to see that there is some interest and there are some ideas on how to "make things better".
Here are some observations from my vantage point:
One concern is effective communication, however, and if all regional directors are automatically board members, you will never get a decent meeting together. This was one of the problems with the bylaws currently which provides spots for up to 12 Directors (maybe more)
Answer,
Communication should not be a problem is this day and age of technology, most sites I belong to have a streaming real time feature on the websites also conference calls through a third party supplier have been around for years and are not that expensive.
One of the major changes with the ICOA was, that the new National Director reached out to ALL CBXers, even non-members and made it clear that the ICOA supports aall other CBX activities, on and off the net - including CBXWorld.
This is a two-way street, however, and it is currently not traveled in both directions.
Answer,
Again, reaching out is not good enough, the club needs be as proactive as possible and in this area, personal contact through scheduled meetings, invites and communication is the only way to keep people and other clubs involved.
The CBXpress is a problem in itself. To continue to produce it as intended under Mike Barone is just too expensive and can not be supported by the current membership fees. There is also not enough material to produce 3 or even 4 issues per year.
Answer,
This one I really don't understand, in the past year there has been so much potential editorial content here on the site a competent editor could publish a years worth of CBXPreses, we have had a half dozen posters describe in detail their rebuilds and custom builds that any editor would die for, detailed and very well written. A great piece could be written with their build descriptions and a bio of the poster, remember, most the members don't visit here often and this would be completely new information for them.
Mailings and post cards are a less expensive option to announce rallies and any important information that that was once shared through the XPress.
No need to publish the Xpress in the same detail and format of the past, a more conservative magazine would be fine, the content is what is important.
As far as the rallies are concerned, sure one of the best strategies would be to "piggy-back" on other, larger rallies. We are trying something like this with the Rhinebeck rally this year. Many of you have identified the problem with rallies: As a bike, the CBX has changed for many from a "rider" to a "collector" bike. It is no longer being used by many as their main bike to ride to places.
Answer,
This has been the case for the last five yrs or so, some people trailer a CBX and a more modern bike or leave the CBX at home entirely, for me the people that attend and the activities planned at a rally are more important then what they bring to ride.
This is a useful discussion, and I just want to weigh in that I have not been actively calling people and getting individuals to organize meetings/rallies/events etc. When I took this position, I thought that a lot of this would be in place and that the National Director was responsible for guidance and vision. This is not the case. I have a more than full time job, and a family. My travel time is well over 50% of my time, and this limits what I can do to a large extent. I am trying to get the national rally set up in Newburgh; as well as get the next magazine put together, and only have two other people helping me again from a long distance.
I am open to any and all suggestions. I am also aware of raliies that get organized by the good ol' boys who can pontificate about how good things were in the past, who also live in the past, and seem to lose sight of the fact that the club was in a financial mess and had a huge number of issues which tarnished the club appearance in National as well as International perception. All this over a few emails that went out, and an out-of-date forum that was hacked. We will never find the truth, and in all honesty, the actions taken afterwards have hurt the club more than anything else.
I am interested in improving any and all aspects of the club, and will entertain any suggestions. I love the CBX, don't ride any other bike (other than perhaps the 1100R) and want to make sure the club is seen as a mature entity with no dirty laundry and no childish conflicts. Also, a club with 100 or so directors is ridiculous and that is why the club representatives were put in place. Any club member can step up and contribute to club activities by writing a small story for the CBXPress or volunteering to help set up a rally. This has not changed. If anybody feels that they can do a better job running the club, please let me know, the position is definitely available!
I do not have the time to stay on top of every aspect, and unfortunately for the ICOA, my job and family have to take priority. At this moment in time, all club activities are organized by a small group of about 6 people, all done on a volunteer basis. It is easy to complain, and come up with ideas about how things could be better. Well it would be a lot better if someone actually did something instead of talk about it!
I would hope that as we get the details of the Newburgh rally put together, that we will see some more attendees than the usual 10-15 people, and again, any suggestions are welcome.
Jan
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
Jan, with all due respect throwing the baby out with the wash just doesn't make sense and we can see the results are far from stellar. Rick asked how attendance at rallies could be increased and the things I listed were done in the past and were successful. I realize things have changed and the membership numbers are down and the magazines aren't being published at the rate of the past but there are fundamental procedures that can work on a modified basis.
You became the Dir. nearly four years ago and I'm sure you came to these conclusions about the time and energy it takes to make the club function very early on, so at this point why are you still blaming the past leadership. I get it that you thought the club needed a change and you stepped up to the plate to take on the challenges but there were still many things that did work and I don't think ignoring that fact or blaming "the good ole boys" has helped your volunteer pool or the clubs progress.
You also act like you didn't know what the duties and all the time and effort it took to be a Dir. I was still active in the club and was at the meeting in Marlinton when you expressed interest in the position, I also know that Mike Barone worked with you for six months specifically detailing the job's duties and all the work it in tailed before you became the new Dir. Just ask any of the current board members, several of them were also there during your transition.
Along with my complaints I'm also offering some suggestions, I volunteered for twenty years and I know the work it takes to keep things going, the reason I gave up my position soon after you became the new Dir. Not because it was you taking over the club but because I myself didn't have the energy or desire to do it anymore, so I do understand your frustration.
We did not throw out any babies... We were very successful at improving the club's finances, pay off outstanding debts, took liability for lifelong memberships and also improve the image of this club from the vantage point of other classic motorcycle clubs and their memberships. I think the past leadership had a lot to do with the state of the club when I took over, but I did not read in my post above that I am still blaming anybody for the current situation.
Reality is that most motorcycle clubs suffer from the same issues we have, less members, less interest, less volunteers. We are certainly not in a unique situation and if we want to pull through this, we have to cater to the changing interests of the average club member. We are trying to improve the regularity of the magazine, and we are in discussions with an editor who can handle this for us. However we still need material... We are open to any and all suggestions and want to make sure that this club is as strong as it can be, with no conflicts and a common interest.
SO instead of continueing to misinterpret what I am trying to say, please note that I applaud every effort to improve the image of the CBX and the CBX club. I would like to grow the club domestically as well as internationally, but unless we get some more support, it is too tall of an order for a handful of people to do this. We do not currently have state directors but we do have club representative positions which do not have fixed duties but can do anything for the club. If two neighbours in any part of the country want to contribute to the club, no problem. We are also open to any other suggestions on how to get people more energized, contribute, or in any way enhance the CBX club experience.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
EMS wrote:The CBXpress is a problem in itself. To continue to produce it as intended under Mike Barone is just too expensive and can not be supported by the current membership fees. There is also not enough material to produce 3 or even 4 issues per year. This ties directly into many of the other issues with a common ground: Membership is shrinking. And it is a "Catch 22". Shrinking membership means less input, less activity which means more frustration (see Don's post) and less members renewing.
Let's continue to discuss this.
The 'current membership fees' bring in lots more money than they did under Mike Barone - We got a minimum of 3 issues of the magazine for each $30 back then. Now we have annual dues and only a single issue per $30. The magazine used to help support itself - It was so regularly published (and so widely read by the CBX community) that we had no problem selling advertising in it
The last time I recall the numbers made public (mid-Ohio in 2009) there were about 700 members (and rising). Over the past 3 years that works out to well over $50K in dues, for which the membership has received an average of one issue per year - It can't be THAT expensive to publish the magazine, can it? When the club began, it was a loose leaf mimeographed newsletter, but it was regular and published 4 or more times per year. If we can no longer do it the way Mike did, at least publish something. The club is dying because the publication that tied it together is all but gone. Only the dues remain and they are far too high for what the club is offering in return - Few rallies and fewer magazines
One of the problems may be one of perception. No more than a handful of the membership has any idea what happens with the clubs money. If 700 or thereabouts members have been paying in $30 per year for the past 3 years and got an average of one magazine per year for it, where did all the money go? Maybe the forum costs thousands per year to operate? The decision to switch to annual dues at the same time we cut magazine production to one issue per year was not a good one and the finances surrounding it should be explained
With so few issues having been published over the past 3 years, there should be a big bundle of $$$ sitting in the kitty by now if everything's on the up and up and as others have pointed out, just the great articles posted to this forum over the past year or two would easily fill several magazines. Not everyone is active on the forum. Most members depended on the magazine and eagerly looked forward to the spring, summer, fall and winter issues of it to arrive in their mailboxes
I would recommend disclosing the clubs finances - What we take in, what we spend it on and what we have left . . . . any why we need another $30 from everyone if we're not spending it on what the average member expects - Magazines. Publish a detailed financial statement in each issue of the magazine . . . . or, since there are so few magazines, disclose it here on the forum. If we cannot afford more magazines, the dues paying members deserve to know why and where their money is going
I'm not saying we threw the babay out with the bathwater, but we made a MAJOR change 3 or 4 years ago because some were not happy with the direction the club was going and with it's finances and it doesn't appear anything has changed for the better. We fired an extremely hardworking guy who devoted a good part of his life to this club for more than 15 years and things sure appear to have taken a nosedive immediately afterward. Membership probably is shrinking, and for good reason. The magazines were the only link to the club for the vast majority of the 700 members we used to have and when the magazines stopped coming (and the annual dues policy began) I'm sure most of those members saw little reason to pay more often when they were getting so little in return
Don wrote:The 'current membership fees' bring in lots more money than they did under Mike Barone -
. We fired an extremely hardworking guy
Don
Where do you get this? Part of the problem are statements like this, which are complete nonsense and are being repeated over an over.
We currently have significantly less than 700 members.
Nobody got fired. Mike Barone stepped down. He made his position available. Probably partly because he saw this big financial problem coming towards him without having a plan to handle it.
If you decided not to renew, Don, because you have such a negative opinion about the club, stick with this decision and refrain from spreading made up "facts" that create more anymosity.
You make many good points, all worth discussing. I do however think Jan and Patti have been pretty much completely transparent about the club's finances if you look. I believe it's been in the XPress. The website and forum costs very little to operate these days, on the order of hundreds of dollars a year, if you include transaction fees related to taking dues payments via PayPal. I would guess in total it's under $400 per year, inclusive of those fees. I'd tread lightly on that finance issue - I don't think there is any grounds for suspecting financial mismanagement or malfeasance, in fact I think quite the opposite is true. We were underwater financially, and Jan had a hole to dig out of, and he did.
With regard to the magazine, there were several really good threads last year and a bunch of technical stuff that could certainly have been reprised in the XPress. Perhaps that would suit the non-web using membership, but for those of us that are here and contributing to the dialog, it would be a rehash. I do think we could revisit the format of the magazine possibly, along the lines of this:
Maybe make one issue a 'Yearbook', member oriented, and a retrospective of the prior year. What bikes got restored, new members, milestones in members' lives, event recaps and photos. Include an event calendar for the upcoming year, including CBX and other vintage related events. Member directory, statement of finances, planed activities, etc. Include a feature article if we have it, and a member directory.
Make another issue tech and vendor related, feature a major project, some how-to articles potentially reprised from web content, recap all the parts and accessory news, new and repro product and part sourcing info, vendor lists and indexes, revisit the articles index and pull-out torque and wiring diagrams and other handy reference info. Possibly a highlight of the best of the web activity could be in there. Include a feature article if we have it.
The thought being that it might be easier to follow a structure and possibly easier to source the content this way.
Here's the rub: Nobody wants to do it. Jan clearly did not realize what he was signing up for ( I say this because he said as much himself), and Mike B. was doing quite a lot of this stuff singlehandedly it seems, and now we know why. Jan has told me of directorships filled and yet the people do nothing. Nobody has stepped up to take on Goodies, or Parts. Others that volunteered or were conscripted for other roles or contributions have also disappeared. Very few contribute content for the magazine when asked. Certainly it does not help that nearly the entire west coast contingent of the CBX community has congregated at CBXWorld, and that site has stabilized now too. And I hesitate to say this, but the younger and international CBXers are also there. A magazine has no great benefit to those latter groups - the web does all they want and more, and there is a big enough community in Southern California alone to create critical mass for meet-ups.
Jan and I had a few conversations about consolidation of some of the worldwide clubs, and inviting them to our site, but that's gone nowhere too. One flatly turned us down and I did not pursue the others. People still operate and congregate regionally.
Like many clubs, this one runs on a lot of contributions by very few people, and despite the brickbats tossed at Jan recently nobody has contributed more than him, in my estimation. Dave and Mike are the most regular contributors to the website, and support quite a lot of visitors that way. They are probably neck and neck with Jan in terms of hours spent. Larry, Diane, Patti, and Rick all do a lot of unseen stuff too.
Now I'm wondering where I am going with this myself. I guess it boils down to this: Without an infusion of energy into the club, it will continue to decline AS IT IS CURRENTLY STRUCTURED. Personally I still think there had to be regime change when there was, things were just to divisive as they were. The lack of acrimony in the past three years has been a big improvement in the community at large, leaving out the other (significant) accomplishments of the current regime. As a new guy I'll tell you that was a huge turn-off to me, and every time that crap flares there is an immediate chilling effect on the activity here. It's better now in very many ways in my personal opinion than it was 3 years ago. But that does not include the frequency of magazine production. And if that is indeed the major motivator for membership for many folks, than I can see them letting membership lapse, but que sera, sera. Times change and it's quite possible the magazine has outlived its usefulness.
In my personal opinion, if Jan and others are spending 100 hours producing magazines, that could be re-purposed into creating other resources, or writing features for OTHER magazines, or valuable member tech activities, I'd be all for it.
N.
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)
We did previously discuss monetary compensation to host a rally, and while no members should have to go out of pocket to host an event, a compensation plan was not implemented. The club could reward such initiative with some CBX paraphenalia such as a T-shirt, Sweatshirt or Hat. None of the directors receive any financial compensation, but the point can be brought forward for discussion if anybody thinks it will get more 'volunteers' to organize something.
For any information regarding the finances, A Nils said please check every CBXPress published since I became director or contact the treasurer directly. Every expense is detailed in the Treasurer's report. I do not have access to CBX funds, it is all handled by the treasurer. Current membership level when I checked last is around 630. With a number of lifelong members courtesy of the previous national director, with the promise of a new website or lifetime membership. Well we now have the new website, and are also still honoring the lifetime memberships... For which we have taken a financial liability as should have been done in the first place.
Regarding the transition period and the 'training' received, it did not take me long to figure out that most of the work was done by Mike B by himself. No argument from me that it was a lot of effort. There was also a lot of controversy in the club, and in his case, there still is. Organizing things behind the scenes and trying to start new battles. I'm very tired of it and so are the majority of the members of a motorcycle club who are just interested in getting their magazine and belong to an entity that shares a common interest. I have asked numerous times for help, and the reply I now get is "well you were offered this and offered that and you refused it"
In that regard and to be very blunt: Bullshit, I was offered suggestions but no execution. We don't need people telling us what to do, we need people to step up and do something. We have plenty to do as it is, and to be clear: Nobody was fired; but the new direction of trying to cooperate with other clubs/websites who had similar interests was too much for some, who had spent a lot of their time fuelling the conflict that has caused so much anxiety and negativity in this community.
I have tried to contact Mike on two occasions, he does not speak to me on the telephone, and when I sent a complimentary CBX book to him and signed it with my best wishes, I received that page crumpled up back from him. I still have it. He is also no longer a contributing member, and has probably told all of his friends not to renew. I leave it open as to the net contribution from this ex-member especially after talking to Clint Hooper, Rod Libby, Pete Ruff and numerous other previous volunteers labelled to me as 'unstable' by Mike B. But then I am probably 'unstable' also... That is all now, history.
In your case, Don, Dave McMunn rebuilt your bike completely, and is still very much part of the CBX club. Every time you ride, you enjoy the fruits of his labor made available to you through the CBX club. As, actually, does Mike B, because when another 'expert' had rendered the CBX of Mike B basically unrideable, this bike was rebuilt to correct brakes, front suspension and other glaring imperfections by Rick Pope, Dave McMunn and myself. We did not ask, nor did we receive, any compensation. In fact there are still parts that were loaned for the Dawgie CBX that were never replaced.
I think that is what a club is about, not this bickering and sly point scoring. I am hopeful that with our new editor we can get the magazine count up. I am fully aware the number of magazines is too low and the flipside of this is that it has allowed us to recover financially. With finances in better shape we can start to think of doing some more fun stuff. Also I am hopeful that in the first week of June, (7-8-9) we will see a good turnout at a national event in a new location (Newburgh, NY) with a fun agenda and a bike show.
Anybody who wants to go back to financial mess, FBI lawsuits, proliferation of East Coast/West Coast splits, unfounded allegations/accusations and other controversies, please don't renew, continue to meet in private rallies and discuss the good ol' days...
The CBX club is aiming to fulfill the need of it's members, cooperate with other CBX'ers and organizations worldwide, and concentrate on the preservation of the CBX motorcycle. We all want the ICOA to be the resource every CBX'er turns to when they need something, either to support them or their bike. Anybody who wants to be part of that please continue to support. We will endeavour to make sure you will be able to enjoy your hobby for as long as possible in good spirits. it is, after all, supposed to be FUN.
Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgement.
