• This topic has 25 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 7 years ago by kcr.
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  • MTB only clubs – how much?
  • colournoise
    Full Member

    If any of you belong to a ‘proper’ club that is MTB only (or even MTB ‘mostly’), how much do you pay each year for membership and what do you get for that?

    Debating how to take our club forward. Currently we are a quite informal small club and only charge a tenner per year to cover our CTC affilitation and other little bits and pieces. We have a small discount for members at an LBS but that’s about it.

    Actually, would be interesting to know what road clubs charge and offer too.

    nemesis
    Free Member

    No fees. Sponsorship, some fundraising from our audax and that’s it.

    butcher
    Full Member

    Think our local club is £20. Same kind of benefits.

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    iainc
    Full Member

    Glasgow Mountain Bike Club. £20 a year, around 100 paid up members, active website, FB group with around 600 members. Organised rides Tue and wed nights including a beginner’s/ new members one. Weekend rides, away weekends, discount in LBS which sponsors club and hosts a few social events.

    Use of local Sports Club for post ride tea and cakes and bike wash.

    Nobeerinthefridge
    Free Member

    There’s a bar. Tennents and toast, that’s what we need!.

    40mpg
    Full Member

    Newforce, £15 a year, guided rides every other Sunday, 3 evening rides a week, trips away organised, discounts in about 10 lbs, magazine every quarter, web forum, membership card which is even more elite than those plain black credit cards, subsidised BBQ in the summer, my company. What more do you want?

    chiefgrooveguru
    Full Member

    We’ve never officially been a club but there’s usually 10-30 of us on our twice weekly night rides, almost 1000 people on our facebook group and we tend to get discounts in some of the LBS. Complete amateurs! 😉

    tomd
    Free Member

    My local mtb is £20 for adults or £30 for family. Kids are less.

    It is not really a typical club, for your fee you get access to organised coaching / training over the summer and some guided rides. There is £2 charge for these on top. They also organise kids stuff in the summer. So I guess a lot of the fees goes on coach development and BC affiliation as I’m not sure what other costs there are.

    The fee gets you 10% off in a couple of excellent LBSs, and 20% in a local OK-ish bike friendly cafe which is already pretty cheap so decent value on that basis alone.

    Previous clubs have also been similar. Ian has already mentioned GMBC, that was good value because on top of the usual stuff the fee is helping provide a venue to ride from and socialise after.

    jonba
    Free Member

    Answering the last bit my road club is £10. It has a formal structure does all the racing and Bc stuff but is actually quite informal in approach. Beyond affiliation and a we site what is there? All most membership want is some leadership to decide a meeting point and ride route. Everything else is options extra.

    tomaso
    Free Member

    Bogtrotters £30 of which £24 goes to CTC for insurance, advocacy for cycling, lobbying etc. The rest funds website and sundries and a chunk every year to mountain rescue.
    Insurance is the issue when you collectively join together so too do your liabilities.

    wilburt
    Free Member

    What do you need the money for?

    Trimix
    Free Member

    Charge nothing, just arrange rides. The rest is not necessary.

    If you start having rules, regulations and fees you will end up like a roadie club 🙂

    wilburt
    Free Member

    IMEof one mtb club and lots road clubs, its the opposite tre mtb club was run by a series of meglomaniacs all intend on driving their own pet projects and funding from subs, bucket rattling or sponsorship.

    It probably nothing to do with mtb/road(most do both) and just keeping that type of charachter in check.

    Agree as a group what you to do, cost it, then find the money. In that order not the reverse.

    tomaso
    Free Member

    We go on rides, go camping, weekends aways, family camps, Xmas weekender party Wednesday night rides, foreign trips and generally have fun.
    What else does the money pay for? Web hosting. We have club lights that are available if someone’s fail or someone wants to try night riding. Food at the AGM.

    Saccades
    Free Member

    e30 and you have to join cycling ireland (another e20 for a “leisure” rider, up to e125 for a full on race license – can’t remember what a mtb race license is) which gives you some kind of insurance and means the mtb club can vote with a bit more clout at the CI agm with ~150 members.

    We run a NPS xc race, occasional enduro style events. Money is used to pay for the website, trail building tools, a subsidised annual fun cycle/drink, subsidised club kit and yearly prize giving.

    I think it’s worth it, I live ages away from the club but it’s nice to have a decent community going in Ireland (certainly until gps mapping) if you didn’t know the area you’d never find a trail as there is nothing on maps to give you a gist.

    wilburt
    Free Member

    Do you use subs for camping trips and weekends away? That doesnt seem very fair on those who cant or dont want to go.

    oldtalent
    Free Member

    Sounds bonkers. I would have thought the internet/Facebook would have removed the requirement for a club just to get a few people to go for a group ride.

    tomaso
    Free Member

    Social media has enhanced how the club operates and it certainly does make organising and co-ordinating rides easier. It also allows new people to get involved and come out and ride.

    sargey
    Full Member

    Up to 30 guys on a WhatsApp group for arranging rides, weekends away and general piss taking seems to work well.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    oldtalent – Member 
    Sounds bonkers. I would have thought the internet/Facebook would have removed the requirement for a club just to get a few people to go for a group ride.

    Some clubs like the whole formal element and structure to it, complete with committees, strict rules and fees. Sometimes it’s actually about riding too 😉

    Facebook etc is more social and people just up for a fun ride with a bunch of like minded friends, which is the kind of thing I prefer.

    thisisnotaspoon
    Free Member

    £6 (roadie club)

    No idea where it goes beyond insurance, apparently the club has a big surplus. The only ‘overheads’ are a basic club website. In return there’s weekly club runs and a mailing list to tell you about them. It is a big club though so a few quid times a few hundred people soon adds up to enough to run the club where a smaller group might struggle.

    TBH I’d not pay more, I’m not adverse to paying club membership per-se, but for comparison the sailing club has changing rooms, a pub, storage, shop, and leases the water. The old Gorrick Swinley permits would be a good example of a ‘club’ worth paying for, but why would anyone pay to be in a club using public roads/trails?

    Saccades
    Free Member

    but why would anyone pay to be in a club using public roads/trails?

    Ability to get good quality kit much cheaper as there are 50 of you buying stuff and the club pays a bit towards it.

    Oh and discounts at local shops is greater.

    llama
    Full Member

    I’m not riding with any group that has a committee and an AGM

    butcher
    Full Member

    TBH I’d not pay more, I’m not adverse to paying club membership per-se, but for comparison the sailing club has changing rooms, a pub, storage, shop, and leases the water.

    Do the sailing club not make money from elsewhere (renting boats etc)?

    The way I see it, it’s about £30 for your average sportive, which is just a big organised social ride. Or you can go on organised social rides all year for less than that with a club. It’s really not a lot of money.

    kcr
    Free Member

    Some clubs like the whole formal element and structure to it, complete with committees, strict rules and fees…Facebook etc is more social and people just up for a fun ride with a bunch of like minded friends

    Do people really think that clubs have rules and regulations just because they like committees?

    There’s nothing wrong with just having an informal group of riding buddies, but there can be advantages to having a formal structure, if you decide go down that route.

    In my club, the constitution sets out

    kcr
    Free Member

    …rules that commit the club to providing inclusive access for everyone, and as a result we have a thriving junior section and 25% of our membership is female (pretty unusual for a cycling club). We also have rules and structures in place for child protection, which is another positive feature when you are coaching and working with kids.

    Having a formal structure helps us to access external funding, and as a consequence we have been able to get some serious money for great development work which will increase participation even more through coaching and running events.

    With a committee and AGM, all of this is transparently managed, so if members are unhappy with what is going on, they can vote to change it.

    Ultimately, all of this is born out of a bunch of people who love riding bikes, and that’s still the driving force behind the club. We’re just able to do a lot more as a formal club than we could as a loose collection of individuals.

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