I guess there are as many types of chapters as there are riders. Depending on your own level of commitment and involvement everyone will get a different feel about the value added to their life from a HOG chapter. What one chapter member doesn't like about a chapter, there are ten more that love that about it.
We had belonged to a chapter, sponsored by the dealer where we bought our first HD from. We rolled up our sleeves and dived in head first in what ever activity the club was involved in. We at some point in time had worked in almost every officer position the club had. We have a lot of very close and dear friends from our involvement with that chapter. Naively, when we moved to our current home a year and a half ago, we just went and signed up with the local HOG chapter, thinking we would just step in like before and ride and have fun.
Well this local chapter seems to have a few core people who ride with each other, they don't seem to want any more to join in, and those that are not of the core don't feel welcome to join in (I have been told by them, and I felt this myself) or they just plain don't "Ride and Have Fun" in my terms of riding and having fun. My favorite riding partner and I seem to put 300 - 400 miles minimum on our bikes when we go out. This spring when my husband was out of town, I met up with one of my friends from the local chapter, and was surprised when she paled at the concept of driving 120 miles one way to an event. So after trying several meetings and rides, we finally looked around our horizon and went and joined a chapter a little further away (about 40 miles I guess) and they are awesome.
They welcomed us like we were old friends. They have several events a week planned that you come to, or don't, doesn't matter. We get a dozen email updates about what is going on, when it is going on, someone just throws out a local I am heading this away if interested. They do pass a plate for charity events, but who doesn't in these local times, and you put in or don't your call. The bottom line is that [size=14]"They Ride and They Have FUN!" [/size]Now we feel we have met some real family that we can hang out with and ride with.
So both MrWeCVO and I are lifetime members of National HOG and are members, active and not so active with some local HOG chapters. We maximize our opportunity to buy merchandise at a dealership at a discounted price, we have friends to ride with and when we are at the National and State HOG rallies we have built in friends and riding buddies.
As I stated at the beginning, I am sure that everyone's experience is different. But I for one, enjoy being a member of a local chapter, but if I don't want company, that is OK too.
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Topic: HOG Membership (Read 6582 times)