@Captain Awesome
With time spent here as one of the you ger generation, I don't dispute the majority of those I work with, work around and share a set of wheels beside for rides are much older than my current standing. My two pals down the street are a month apart at 57. The wife of one at 47 and relatable but still a distance of presence in those years of development further.
We don't live forever, certainly and I've had the great misfortune of being someone looking in when two or three of our most familiar faces here have found rest the last sum of years,.but there are still some Amazing talents here, and above that, still eager and awaiting eyes for the next idea, lesson, method of approach.
Guys like Palmer and TRM,. Bri-In-RI and so on. You guys inspired me here. Not just in your unique styles, values in the hobby of your own share of what it means to you but the way you teach. The way you educate. The way you hold patience with someone fresh off the tarmac, learning to rudder their discussions and builds., you're still here and I'm so ultimately grateful to have the familiarity. The comradere of a common ground and recognizable work.
Surely we all too, will one day be moved on from the grounds we ride now but there is a lot said for timing as well. Seasonal members. Availability.. it just seemed like the last decade was so strong and the last few years, everyone sort of hit it hard after Covid and all.. less folks around everywhere.
I have a Facebook page and one for just the hobby I ran for a handful of years before leaving a friend and mutual here [Tomcat Peterson] in charge to do the best he could with a one man show while my own mental health declined. It slipped away with 2k members last year, year before and I've been trying to revitalize it lately with a lot of crickets and empty room. Members still present, even onlooking from the post reach count, I see but it's like the passion just escaped like a blown out tube from folks. There's only a handful of posts even in some of the most popular pages a day, to the tidal wave of new members, posts, sales and how to from so recently.
I never fully pulled away, as most things we come to love and the steady decline is heartwrenching.
I know hobbies, especially generational ones like vintage bikes really has hit or miss eras. Older folks are getting even older and staying tight knit with their circles,. New folks are less common and fewer between.. in another couple years it'll jolt again but these dead zones are notable. Visible and loud in their deafening silences.
Especially here. I feel like we have 20 routine active members and maybe five a week trickling around anew. Surely a part of it is needing the support this page is asking for routinely. We need the sponsorship and people talking about it again. Word of mouth goes a long way in most industries if it's folks others respect leading it in.
I do attribute Facebook to be the downfall of the traditional web page as well, and in that, I'm hurt this is one suffering like our favorite Mom and Pop shops overrun by a Walmart conglomerate.
I wish in ways I didn't need Facebook to partake but a great majority of business and tips are more fluently posted there in their OBC [don't get me started on how that's run...] and what seems like a MUCH quieter RRB Fb page.
I would agree, when Rod stepped down, that's when things here seemed to almost go silent from an already difficult standstill a lot of the time. I don't blame Rod for it, it's hard to run something you saw flourish and grow into this Massive pot of wealth in knowledge and good friends to an almost dead page. I left my spot on FB in my group much for the same. It was hard to see the decline and I was already on a decline of my own.
I have means to be a lifetime member here when the scratch comes together enough to afford it in that one big kick payment but I don't want to see our best pages die out to white pages again.. I know not another way at this time other than namedropping the page in more public spaces to bring a little blood flow back in.
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@gowjobs
I agree. It's harder to find new blood into older steel now. Being near thirty three, I didn't think what I was into would come about to be so much more Niche for my age group and younger than it is. There's just so much cool in this.. but before I inspire the prices to drive back up.. I guess there is the added benefit less are into what we like
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@Pondo
I absolutely agree. Its good to have the ties and connection of Facebook but as far as a Group or Family of riders and enthusiasts go,. RRB is home.
I always said the Cabe was where you went to be sure your part was right, RRB is where you go to make sure it's fun, even if it's not right. I can't say more on the subject than that.
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@Kevin B
That's really only a part of it. A VAST majority never even took part or routinely in the build offs,.I entered once? I think? Since 2014 and I didn't finish. I feel that's a good judge of who's here in the DEPTH of the hobby, committing to it in a Build Off is about as deep as it gets. I think there's a great deal to be said for the random lurker who has a thousand questions and just disappears to turn up two weeks later with a masterpiece they learned here how they wanted to build of their own free time. No Constraits.
I definitely agree a lot of our builders, however, are seasonal fellas looking for some zest between life's hiccups., but comparing how many do the build offs to current members still runs us down into maybe 20 regular members? 30?
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@metalchewy
You're another of the names I couldn't forget here,. Not a constant poster but routine in your own lights.
There is a lot of drama and nonsense going into Facebook at all. Absolutely. Especially sale posts and some even from those outside the hobby doing a regular bike sale. I asked a guy who had One picture in his sale for a few additional, he jumped at me hard with "For WHAT?!?! ITS A BIKE!" To which I exclaimed I thought it was a Lawnmower, thanks for the time.
Getting to be more and more common there with vendors and singled sellers alike. They all want something and none have the means to work for it or be kind with it.. it's a lot of headache, especially on the feeding frenzy of public posting of sales. Sometimes that helps, most of the time it hurts. The marketplace I find useful where most around here don't do the leg work and miles to get the fresh finds. They wait until someone else does then pay the uptick price having it so accessible in the city and already around five friends. I do a search for an hour or more distance and almost always score from some tiny town and a very quaint fella with no heavy knowledge but the twinkle is there to talk about it.
Huge Kudos for being one of the members you enjoy seeing here. We value you, and I knowingly don't say that alone.
Flying Zombie
