interesting to see this thread resurface I have just left DOC after rejoining last year, I was hoping that a new local branch was going to be set up, but alas this failed to materialise Would rejoin if there was a good local branch but paying a subscription to get a magazine and access to a underused forum doesn't make sense The internet and face ache have to a large degree replaced clubs and the only thing a club can realistically offer that the internet doesn't is good local meets however the DOC doesn't do that close to where I live
Before the internet, clubs like DOC maintained contact and gave out technical advice via their magazines. I was always very wary of how much information could be obtained openly via the internet. In a way the technical info side of a club via the magazine can become defunct. I was amazed that hours and hours of research and putting into publication via Desmo technical info directed to subscription paying members was openly available on the net. The club didn't even take precautions over the matter and had large parts of a collation of technical articles from Desmo put onto the net. In other words why bother paying the DOC when the info that you are interested in is available for free. I know that a number of members didn't renew their subscriptions because of this. I don't know the membership numbers nowadays but when I moved on I believe I left the club with approx 1400. I haven't got the paperwork so I wouldn't swear to it. My efforts were directed to the fee paying members not to the general public.
Bear in mind all new owners of a Ducati are auto enrolled into DOC afaik. Clubs are great at mobilisation of people: forums are great at pretending to be a 10” low swinger with an army of bikes and huge snout things of knowledge and quick-wit....
Over the last few years I’ve bought three new Ducati, never been enrolled into DOC as far as I’m aware.
Didn’t you get a welcome letter from Ducati (can’t remember is Italy or UK) saying thanks for buying your new bike and welcome to DOC?
All the welcome letter does (Hypermotard one below) is point you at where you can find a list of the clubs, doesn’t auto enrol you. Or if it does now it has changed since 2015 when I got the Scrambler, no auto enrolment with it either.
No, you just get a welcome letter pointing out all the benefits of owning a Ducati... Some clubs/club regions have deals with friendly dealers who will sign them up for a membership, but it's an exception rather than a rule. I think you hit the nail on the head about making friends through a club rather than online; I'm still making new friends through the club and having great fun! In fact I'm meeting Don from Ducati Pacifica tonight for dinner as he's in the UK for a few days!
As a final word from me concerning DOCGB - I have been clearing out a garage which has been long overdue and apart from finding a brand new set of 750 Paso exhaust pipes, seat squab, and handlebars I ironically came across a copy of Desmo Winter Edition 1989. In the editors letters section was a letter from a Mr Blair Cliffe of St Agnes in Cornwall. I quote:- Dear John (John Anderson was the Desmo editor at the time) Either Alan Yardley - Desmo 87 page 13 - is earning far too much or he's filching money from the membership fund or he's being outrageous and hoping for a big response. This letter was part of a contemplated legal action against DOCGB that was narrowly avoided at the request of some of its members. This is an example of what I was up against when offering members trade prices on consumable items such as plugs, chains, sprockets, oil, tyres etc. The letter came at a time when my mother was in the final stages of breast cancer and I was attending the hospital every evening, assisting the regalia secretary with their job, plus a hundred and one other things that are par for the course for Club organisers. I hope that present Ducati riders do not ever come across me and insinuate that I was ever anything other than honest and trustworthy whilst carrying out my duties in DOCGB. I also hope that present Ducati riders can see why I wouldn't piss on the DOCGB due to the way in which I was treated. Believe me Mr Wanker Blair Cliffe was the tip of the iceberg. Thank you in advance for your forbearance with my comments. If not tough shit !! Elite ha ha ha
You're not a mate of chris Bushell and borrowed his magic doormat did you? Pmsl shit like that takes me back
You're not a mate of chris Bushell and borrowed his magic doormat did you? Pmsl shit like that takes me back
The name rings a bell, he's not the guy who complained about his Desmo taking longer to arrive than his mates, when posted at exactly the same time is he ?
LOL IIRC he fell out with DOCGB and started DSC. Then ensued some great times, then a bit of disquiet, then a reluctance to show the finances and no AGM for years after members tried to oust him and his top team (the phrase Cronies was banded about a lot!). Lots of accusations, some horrendous bad blood (which some carry on to this day bit sad) and it baden a race led club with one main ,ember (or so it seems) who's also El Presidente Antonye. Who I think does it all himself now, for the few that are left, and I heard that Jinping copied the DSC constitution LOL
Oh such happy days, boy was I glad I got out when I did. I predicted the club splitting up and wasn't believed in some quarters. A feeling of quiet satisfaction has come over me reading your post, many thanks, its lovely to be able to say 'I told you so' I can remember some heated discussions over The Constitution. At the end of the day the DOC became subject to a chronic lack of leadership and descended up its own arse !!!!
Alan, wow a name from the very distant past, brings back memories of BOTT and early track days. You wont remember me but we used to chat in an around said events at snetterton etc. Good to hear you are still, of the faith, so to speak. Alan is "good people". hope you are well sir. Do you remember Roger wilkerson and his hailwood that he used to race in BOTT? keith
I do remember Roger very well, he was usually the first one to renew his membership every year !! Not bad memory for someone who is 200 years old !!! Obviously I moved away from the Ducati scene after jacking the club in and into custom bikes. Hands went from down here to up there and had a flame paint job done on a 1400 Intruder. Still got a 600 Pantah hidden away that is in dire need of TLC. I started to look through my accumulated spares a few years ago and found all sorts of goodies, NCR straight cuts, cams, even a few of the Pantah cam belts I used to sell for £12 a pair. I can still get them made for belt drive Dukes for not an awful lot more these days. Unfortunately, most probably as a result of a miss spent youth kicking my 500 Goldie into life and falling over pissed at the Knaresborough and Langemark Italian Bike Rallies, I have had to resort to a VW engined trike. Many thanks for your comment 'good people' it really does mean a lot to know that at least some of my efforts were appreciated. I'm still in touch occasionally with Greg Barnfield and Mo Williams and also very recently with Phil Blades. You never know we might just turn up at a DOC AGM, get ourselves voted in, and have a bloody good piss up just like the old days!! Take care mate, I've got my beady little eye on this lot !! Elite ha ha ha !!
