I will also kick this off, we have had feedback that the Bevel People think that the club does not cater for them, news to me anyway, if there is no feedback direct then how do we know we are doing what everybody wants. Does anybody want to tell us what needs to be done, and then we need volunteers to do it, if you wait for someone to do something then it won’t happen. This is our club and if we need something doing then we can do it but the same few cannot do everything. This is not a rant by the way, let us know and we can do it, we are the club that can not and will not fogrt the heritage of the bikes we love.
I run around on what the bevels call a ‘new’ bike cos it’s got belt driven cams… the cash rich amongst us call it old cos it’s only got two valves per cylinder, and there are even some weirdos whose bikes only have one cylinder… but that’s why I joined this club and not others - it’s supposed to pull together all forms of Duc riders - from 1098’s that never see 7,000rpm through to psychos on 40 year old singles.
If it came out of the Duc factory, then I want it, and it’s rider, in my club 
Leave me out of that statement 
No club is perfect, however, and we should always think of ways to improve it. Having said that, its one thing talking about it, and another actualy doing it!!
Hi Martyn,
Fill us in a bit here, would ya? What do these ‘Bevel People’ (like that, btw; makes us sound like some ‘Ancient Tribe from a Distant Land with Curious Practices and Beliefs’) say that the Club doesn’t do for them?
(I will avoid making obvious comments about, ‘You are the Club etc etc’)
And if it has ANYTHING to do with getting spares, please do NOT reply to this enquiry! 
Ciao
Craig, a member of the THREE Bevel People, a more developed tribe than the lowly ONE Bevel People or the TWO Bevel People …
I’ve got single and twin bevels.
I get to meet other bevel owners as well as belt owners.
When I post messages on the bevel bits of the forum I get replies, and they’re pretty well informed ones too.
If there were a seperate bevel club there wouldn’t be enough members in any area to have regular meetings of any reasonable size.
It’s understandable that there are more belt owners in the club than bevel owners - there are more belts on the road than bevels.
For me it’s the mix of everyone which I enjoy - those who are passionate about the old stuff, those who are into the latest fastest stuff, those who tour, those who race, those who just potter about, those who are technical, those who just want to ride, those who only have Ducatis, those who have other bikes too, etc, etc, etc.
We al have one thing in common…
Cheers,
Roger
Personally I’ll state here and now I’m not In favour of a breakaway club for Classic Ducati’s.
But I’ve personally witnessed long time club members discussing the setting up of such a club…
I posted about this fact on this forum recently, which’s why I think that this thread has been started.
A long time a go we had members who were more interested in Trackdays than other club events, in my opinion the club should have set up a ‘Trackday Section’ we didn’t and the DSC was the result.
We now have a sizeable group of members who are interested in showing their Classic Dukes at shows and would like to hold a Classic Ducati Rally, along the lines of Keith Fothergill’s Taglioni Rally held a few summers ago, it was a success and even made a profit (which was donated to a charity of Keith’s choice).
To my way of thinking this proves that Rallies don’t need to be a drain on the clubs finances, indeed many small local bike clubs to me hold Rallies and they make a profit which’s ploughed into their clubs funds!
But of course our club would need to dip into the club funds to get the ball rolling.
So I would propose that the club forms a Classic Section which would have responsability for the club stands at the Classic shows and the ability to set up and run a Ducati Bevel Rally/Classic Rally and social get togethers for members more interested in the older bikes.
Now as I’ve said I’m not one of the possible breakaway group, rather a long standing member who thinks that with a small amount of thought we could keep everybody happy within the club as it stands now.
This idea dosen’t need hurdles thrown in front of it, but rather some help along it’s way IMHO!
These are just my personal thoughts and not a manifesto for other nameless members, it’s upto them to have their say but not all of the membership use this forum or the club e-mail list so It might be a good idea to mailshot the membership and include something about this in the Desmo, it would/could/should be more interesting than out of date race results or pictures of nameless race bikes at Daytona.
Steve Robins… Most definately not the Northern Steve R!
Hi all as stated our club is into all Ducati’s as it should be. When I plan the Stafford shows I try to get Dukes from all the era’s showing the History of Ducati also specials. As shown at the TT there is nothing like seeing the bevels run along side the belts. Pity no singles.
When out on a recent rideout a comment was made by a modern belt owner ’ never thought that old bevel would go like that’.
It’s great having the mix of bikes, the banter etc.
Let’s stick together and make this the premier club to be in, as it is
Steve R the definit Northern version, aligned with the Southern version
Thats just great innit. The Forum is a great place to argue and all we can do is agree!
Lets be honest all the ingrediants are there, but they are not getting mixed up correctly and the dish is a bit lumpy and seperated.
We have rallies, we have stands at classic shows, we have people racing classic bikes, we have the tool scheme, manuals avaliable for old bikes, the best technical bods in the country, but it probably took me the first 10 years of my membership to find out about it all, and I am a pretty out going person (in case you hadn’t noticed!)
It needs to be properly co ordinated and publicised.
I think that Desmo is the weak point here. Club activities are not given the priority they deserve. The majority of the mag should be about CLUB EVENTS and CLUB people.
It has improved over the last few years, but that events guide, grrrr, just don’t start me on it.
The mag should have updates every edition on how the preperations for the rallies are going, they should be pushed into the face of the members (people need pushing or they won’t do anything!)
I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW ABOUT WSB ROUNDS IN TIMBUCKTOO in Desmo, I ONLY want to know about CLUB stands and CLUB members racing and CLUB events.
This forum shhould be pushed more in desmo, not a tiny mention but a regular piece on it, maybee a resume of the more helpfull subjects with a little light hearted banter (I guess one of us should write this, er all right then, so long as it gets published, cos not everything does!)
May I also ask (going off subject slightly, but it is all linked) Do the club actualy regularly send out press releases about club activitied to the press, as I never seem to see the club events mentioned.
Everyhting is here for the classic owner as well as the more modern machine owner, its just that half the time the avarage member does not know about it.
The only thing that worries me here, is that it appears we can all see this, and many of us were having the same moans when I was on the COM 8 years ago. Then I said the same, tried really hard to change things and was ignored (and worse but I am not going to get into charachter assasination, thats want done in OTHER CLUBS)
Possibly there is more people seeing things the way I think they should be done now, so hopefully by working as a team (IE by formalising a classic group) we can all pull together and make the club better for everyone, no matter what Duke they ride.
But I say again, we need to start with the club mag (and I am desperatly trying not to pick on any one individual, this should be a team blame thing, me included)
Keef
PS Er I’ve said enough and have not spell checked just so you can tell it really is me!
PPS I intend going to stafford, but I don’t think my RT or Bev are really up to show spec this year, if you are short of helpers and have a spare ticket let me know, otherwise I’ll buy one, but I was rather hoping to socialise with the DOC classic heavy mob.
PPPS.
I’ve given this some thought, since we first discussed it over a pint of Bushys, and although I’d be up for arrangeing another event like that, if we are going to get properly organised, I would rather support, say for instance the Southern Rally, making a “Taglioni meet” an add on to the rally.
By having the Southern rally of 2009 to say late July, thus avoiding the other rallies/TT ect we would have a prime spot bang in the middle of the summer, and with proper publicity, we could make it quite an event.
I only went solo with the first Taglioni rally as I knew I would not get the support of the COM at the time, but if we all pull together I can see no reason why we can’t help put our club back on the map as top Daddy club.
http://www.desmo.org.uk/1414/index.html
Have to agree with u, sorry
It does sound like we’re all singing from the same song sheet - and it sounds good through Contis!
I pretty much agree with everything that’s been said in this thread, but I am going to say a few words in the defense of the Desmo editor as I can appreciate that putting Desmo together is a significant task.
About 10 years ago I had the responsibility of doing the regular newsletters and annual journal for a local astronomical society. It’s surprising how much time and commitment it takes. After a couple of years I gave it up in frustration. As the editor, I ended up writing most of it myself as it was often easier than tidying up someone else’s contributions.
What an editor needs is a steady stream of well written articles with plenty of time between submission and the deadline for the publishers.
A single rush of stuff for one issue followed by silence is no good.
What we all need to do is to start feeding in short articles on all Ducati related subjects, and this is directed to all members, not just the bevel owners.
If the editor is getting enough stuff to fill every issue, without having to put a lot of re-write work into it, then we’re more likely to get the magazine we all want.
It’s up to the events co-ordinator to make sure that the events list is correct and contains all that it should.
It’s up to the rally organisers to do write-ups and adverts well in advance of the rallies.
Etc.
There often tends to be a bit of criticism about Desmo, it’s a theme that keeps cropping up. But if the membership isn’t supplying the articles then it’ll not change. If you send something in and it doesn’t get published, then talk to the editor and find out why. It’s easy to moan about things on a forum without actually doing anything about it.
I’m currently in the middle of a submitting a series of articles about getting started with racing my 250 single. Before I started I contacted the editor to find out what she wanted – number of words, photo’s, etc. I wrote a first draft and sent it in, as a draft, to ask for comments and criticism before doing the final version. I’ve been trying to get each one in well before the deadline to give as much time as possible for any tweaking and layout work.
I appreciate that other people’s experiences may not be as positive as mine, but maybe you need to talk more to the editor. I don’t have the answers, I’m just commenting on my own experiences.
Ultimately, if you think that you can do a better job, then put yourself forward for nomination as the Desmo editor, go to the next AGM and get yourself voted in (but be prepared to do the work and take the flack).
That’s my little rant over. I feel like I’ve just lit the fuse on a bomb – should get a healthy discussion going!!!
Cheers,
Roger
Hi Keef,
Sorry for being tardy on this one. Somehow I managed to miss this thread when it was originally posted. As current organiser of the Southern Rally and owner of a belt twin, a bevel twin and a single I would be all in favour of accomodating this within the rally if there is sufficient interest.
All aspects of the Southern Rally are up for discussion, including date, venue and content and I welcome any feedback, whether good, bad or indifferent. If the members don’t tell me what they want they can’t really expect me to provide it for them.
I believe that there is no Beaulieu Motorcycle World scheduled for 2009 and as an alternative can I suggest that we get involved with the Italian Bike Weekend at the Sammy Miller Museum. This event is taking place on the weekend of 13th-14th June, there is excellent camping nearby and you get to look around the museum as well.
This year we had a stand there and I understand that one is being organised for 2009 so lets have a top turnout from the DOC and show the people who organise these events (and the CoM) that there is a significant following for older Ducs.
If you fancy pitching in a few ideas, Keef give me a shout. I always appreciate an extra pair of hands and you’ve got previous experience. 
Chris
Why not get involved in the Dales Dash which should be in Derbyshire in 2009. The Yorkshire Dales Dash with bevels and singles this year was a hoot. Well done to all those who got it up and running.
So instead of trying to get some thing else going why not support the multitude of events people are organising all year round.
here endeth the preaching.
Steve R the real deal
Would I be right in thinking that the big smile was there BEFORE you had to sling it in the back of the support van 
Having seen the speeds that Tim (White Knuckle Chauffeur Services Ltd 
) was piloting that thing around at, I don’t think so somehow.
Call it masochism, but having a bike with a misfire and a slipping clutch just added to the challenge and the enjoyment plus I knew the alternative was getting in the van 
I’d have to concur with all of the above - sorry, no disagreement from me.
I’m a long (ish)standing club member who has done club track days,club rallies and written a few bits for Desmo, though I haven’t been unable to ‘join in’ for the last few years due to health and family reasons. I own a ‘bevel’ and a ‘belt’ (2valve) and recently bought a Guzzi (I think it’s an age thing)and would recommend their club mag ‘Gambalunga’ as a blueprint for the way it should be done. Lots of relevant, interesting info including the stripping and rebuilding of an engine with excellent pictures and great detail episodically produced each month. There is a general focus on ALL Guzzi’s written about and pictured (in full colour) by the members.
The bike race reports in Desmo are not for me - I usually skip them having already digested their content weeks before when it actually happened - but others may enjoy it - so lets leave it in and just add more content. Ducati has a long and interesting history, so lets see a bit of it in print. How about reusing some of the old articles from desmo and re print a few of the interesting/ amusing and technical which would still be relevant (we still run the same machines), an ‘archive slot’ if you will, all fresh to the new members/readership, and nostalgic to the old buggers like me.
We should cater for ALL Ducati’s and their owners from the oily hands on guys who thrash 'em, to the leather clad power ranger coffee table bikers who ride a few hundred yards once a year to pose at the local bike pub - we all ride Ducati’s.
Lou