HOT DATES. Regional Director s Chapter Updates VIC, TAS, S.A. Edition 1 April 2015

Transcription

1 Edition 1 April 2015 HOT DATES Red Faces Kelly Country Albury 5th September QLD State Rally Shake, Rally & Roll Gasoline Alley Chapter 18th-20th September th SA State Rally Adelaide Chapter Victor Harbour 2nd 5th October NSW / ACT State Rally Canberra Chapter Queanbeyan Showgrounds 23rd to 25th October HOG Convention!st week in November 2015 BALI. - - Victorian State Rally Rally in the Valley Yarra Valley Chapter Yarra Glen Race Course 11th-14th March 2015 Regional Director s Chapter Updates VIC, TAS, S.A. Hi All! Welcome to my first Regional Update as Regional Director for Vic/ SA/Tas plus Albury and Wagga Wagga. For those members who don t know me I have been a member of Yarra Valley Chapter in Victoria for the past four and a half years. During that time I served as Head Road Captain for three years, Assistant Director for one year and Director for the past year. It has only been ten weeks since I became R.D., but in that time I have flown to Sydney twice, Malaysia once and met some great and exciting H.O.G. members and officials. Oh, and I attended the National Rally in Tamworth. If you missed it you missed out on something spectacular this was a rally to remember. The announcement of the location of next year s rally and it s format is not far off now. (Look out for a few hints in the following pages.) While in Malaysia with the other Regional Directors from Australia and New Zealand we were hosted in style by Gaz Luxmoore. I was privileged to test ride Harley Davidson s new Live Wire electric bike at the Sepang F1 Racetrack... what a bike! It s small (and with my 189cm/115kg frame perched on top I looked like a pregnant elephant) with the frame only weighing 7 Kgs we were told but the power was massive. The get up and go is great but don t rev the motor while sitting at traffic lights as the throttle is direct to the electric motor. Brakes.. What brakes? The resistance of the electric motor as you throttle down is all the braking you need for any riding around town. The sound was a little different to your standard Harley, more like a small jet engine but I didn t mind it. If you get an opportunity to take a Livewire for a test ride don't hesitate, just do it,...ride and have fun.

2 This year in lieu of the usual H.O.T. training, the guys and girls behind the scenes have planned something bigger and better to be held this coming November 3rd-7th in Kuta Beach BALI. HARLEY DAVIDSONENTHUSIAST & ADVENTURE TRAINING To borrow a few quotes from our Customer Experience Manger Gaz: This H.O.G. convention (HEAT) is going to be more than just a few hundred chapter members getting together to discuss the finer points of running a successful chapter. Its for chapter members new and old, their families and potential H.O.G. members. This is in line with our mantra of inclusive not exclusive. Apart from the great H.O.T. training available, the H.O.G. tradeshow will be hosting various merchandise stalls enabling chapters to sort out the requirements for the near future. Plus there will be: Authorized Rentals Harley-Davidson Riding Academy. Tours. Live bands and Beach Party This H.O.G. Convention is not just for us in Australia. Its an Asia Pacific event so book your holidays and grab the family for a week long get together of people that share the same passion and lifestyle. I know the guys and girls are working hard behind the scenes to make this an event that you will not forget. Special flight and accommodation packages will be announced and released soon so apply now for your annual leave 3rd to the 7th November 2015.

3 Yarra Valley H.O.G. had their AGM on Wednesday 8th April with a few changes of the guard. I would like to welcome the 4 primary officers: Harry Braak as Director. Graham Small as Assistant Director Stephen Camm as Treasurer. Shane Ames as Secretary. Along with the following secondary officers in no particular order, Linda Harry Braak Moses, Judy McNaughton. Helen Dower. Elke Freitag, Frank Carbone, Andrew Kidd, Kerry Jenkinson, Steven Knowles and the Head Road Captain Paul Coward. I wish you all the best and that you have a great year - you will all enjoy yourselves. All H.O.G. members should remember that all positions are voluntary and the name of the game is to RIDE and HAVE FUN. Yarra Valley is also breaking in a new Dealer Principal Dean Kurz. Dean is an ex Melbournian but has been living and working up in sunny QLD for the last few years. He has extensive experience in motorcycles and is very keen to participate in H.O.G. events and support YVC H.O.G. in any way possible. With the Rally in The Valley coming up in March 2016 I am sure they will take him up on that. All the best Dean, For those that you may not know the handsome bunch of Dean Kurz new Dealer Principal at Harley Heaven Ringwood sophisticated gentlemen above are the Regional Directors of Australia and NZ so if you see them looking lost and lonely go up and say hello. We don't bite.

4 You would have all noticed the small changes taking place within your own chapter and H.O.G. in general. We have the Street 500 available to all riders from the very new L platers to the experienced rider of 40 year plus. To date our average age of chapter member has risen and has not been replace at the lower end. With introduction of the Street 500, we anticipate younger members could be joining the chapter. With many chapters having a high social and hierarchy culture in place ( whether they mean to or not ) this would need to be broken down to entice new younger riders and associates, Male and Female to join and feel welcomed RIDE and HAVE FUN. Late last year Brisbane Chapter ran a Futures Summit on just this topic and how to adapt taking into account H.O.G.s Inclusive not Exclusive policy and I understand it was very successful with a around 60 members attending. It would be very easy to have a look through their minutes from that meeting but I would encourage you to run one within your own chapter or get a few chapters together to discuss how its going to affect you and how /what would you need to change. This could be done over a lunch or dinner ride for example. If you would like me to chair it I d be happy to make myself available. Along with accepting younger members a Renewal Campaign will be running from April to end of September where the chapter that gets the highest % of renewals of past members ( including Associates ) will receive 2 tickets to HEAT at Kuta Beach Bali in November. So appoint some members to start networking your former members now. You are probably scanning this publication to find out when and where the next national rally will be held and what format will it take. As I write this I cannot say, but I can leak a few snippets of information. It will be in the Last Quarter of the year ( ) and on the East Coast. It will be an open event but still with the intention of making all H.O.G. members feel very welcome and special. The public will be able to see our bikes and life style. Which brings us back to attracting new members. Inclusive not Exclusive. The conformation and release of all information will be soon, very soon.

5 With H.O.G. moving forward with our Inclusive not Exclusive and Ride and Have Fun campaigns, I encourage you all to look over the following 6 pages emphasising chapter events and rallies. If you haven't yet been to a rally or inter chapter event I encourage your to do so, you will never look back and you ll find yourself scanning all future publications for the next event. One of the best resources for details is then go to the H.O.G members login found on the sitemap and bottom of home page. Its a great resource, both for chapters and members. Over the next 12 mths, I have set myself a task of visiting all chapters so please if you have an event, AGM or anything special that may need promoting or recognition please forward it through to me David Poyser Ph: or davidpoyser@bigpond.com RIDE and HAVE FUN. I ll see you on the road. PS: I would like to thank Karen Phillips for all her hard work and commitment to the Regional Directors role over the past 3 years. Time to relax.

6

7

8

9

10

11

12