@Wilfried: I think the discussion whether we need a club or not goes way too far. But I see your point (and know of the D rad club you are talking about).
I too am a member of a few very active classic motorcycle and scooter forums that only exist on the internet. And they seem to do better than some “official” clubs. But then, what is “official”, when is a club a club…? That is a totally different discussion. 😉
But this all is besides the point i.m.o.
I think that the main question is: what is the goal of the SOC?
I sincerely hope that it is to make sure that as much Scotts as possible can be kept on the road now and in the future! And it is obvious that this can only be achieved by sharing as much information as possible. An open forum is one, very logical, way to do this. As is the Technicalities website etc.
I also think the fear of losing members because of having an open forum is not very realistic. The club offers a lot of other benifits like the Spares Scheme and the great Yowl magazine. Enough reasons to join!
And I also think that the SOC cannot be compared to lets say a Triumph club. We all know there are only a handfull of Scott sites on the internet. And just as few books. There also is only one Scott club in the world. There are plenty of sites to get info on Triumph and there are also lots of Triumph clubs. And metres of books. I think that is a big difference!!!
I also like to compare to the Vespa scene. I have been a committee member and treasurer of the largest official Dutch Vespa Scooter Club for many years. Our reasons for existance were our activities, rallies, the clubs magazine and the social gatherings. Not knowledge and information! Of course we shared the information we had with everybody that asked, being a member or not. But with Piaggio (maker of Vespa) being the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world, information is to be found everywhere. Just like with Triumph.
We all know this is not the case with our beloved Scotts… We must face the fact that, although quite some people write good technical articles for Yowl, these information hardly ever gets out. So chances are very real that with the years knowledge will get lost forever. In my opinion this knowledge should be shared with as many people as possible and in as many ways as possible. So my kids will know how to keep dads Scotts running when I happen to be gone.
If the Scott Owners Club is able to achive that, then I think they have done a very good job!
So again, please reconsider this decision. Print out this forum thread and talk things over at the next meeting. And I hope you will then come to the conclusion that the decision was not the best in the world and it would be best to put it aside and leave things as they are.
Cheers,
Erik
