Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
A few of us are creating a North China riders’ club. We’ve secured a large clubhouse, in a great Beijing location for recreational motorcycling. It is currently being renovated and is scheduled to be finished by the end of December (which probably means the end of January), but the basics are:
- A large building facing onto a courtyard, with other motorcycle shops around;
- Tucked away off the main road for privacy;
- Central courtyard includes large BBQ area;
- Games room with pool table, etc.;
- Luxurious & clean western bathroom!!!!!! Yes, it is true!
- DIY shop area with tools & lift. There is also a well-known shop right next door for those who prefer to relax while others sweat away;
- Romantic fireplace for those special “events”;
- Bike storage;
- 24/7 onsite security personnel;
- Large lockers for members (for gear & helmets);
- Cappuccino/espresso machine, commercial coffee-making, stand-up cooler (for sodas, beer, etc), probably a popcorn and hotdog machine;
- Bike washing facility;
- Loft area for lounging (with TV, chairs, stereo, etc.);
- Overnight facility for out-of-towners; and,
- Much, much more.
The purpose of this club is to provide a comfortable place to lounge and assemble for before/after rides, and also as a destination for activities. It will be a member-only club, although members’ guests will naturally be very welcome. There will be an initial joining due, as well as annual dues, to cover rent, electricity, water, coffee, and so on. It is non-profit (as an ex-banker, I’m guessing we’ll be in the red for a long time – oh well).
It has been expensive to gut the building, and rebuild it from the ground up, but the primary purpose is to make it comfortable for members. Once finished, we may be working on setting up a satellite clubhouse next to the Great Wall (an incredible location has been found), in the Northern Mountains, and a second satellite clubhouse in the Western Mountains.
Member benefits will include 24/7 access to the clubhouse(s), bike storage and winterization, emergency roadside assistance (in English!), bike purchase/selling assistance, vehicle registration assistance (new plates & transfers), driving license assistance, route assistance, organized rides, riding lessons, and monthly special events. For example, aside from the typical things like a “poker run”, we’ll offer events like photo shoots with professional photographers & videographers (one member is a well-known videographer that has done the motorcycle shoots for a few movies), scooter days, classic Chinese motorcycle days, dirt-bike days, and so on. In addition, we’ll offer whatever else the membership wants/decides. Long multi-day rides will also be organized, with bike transport and support vehicles. Next summer will be along the North Korean border, and also one up into Inner Mongolia.
A key founding principle of this new “club” is that we are all-inclusive. Riders of mopeds, scooters, sidecars, dirt bikes, 125/250 cc class, sport bikes, all the way up to full dressers are encouraged to get involved. It is not what you ride that is important, it is simply that you ride. Attitude is key. And, yes, you can do long multiday rides on a scooter, if you are so inclined. Just check any Chinese forum for the many ride reports of 125cc scooters circumnavigating China, time and again.
Currently, we have been overwhelmed by the building’s renovations. Our website is under construction. We also haven’t finalized the “official name.” This is a work-in-progress.
Some of you might be familiar with H.O.G., which is a well-run worldwide organization. It is active in Beijing (and growing very quickly across China), but it is rather exclusive to Harley owners. I’ve been a life member of HOG since its inception (yes, I am “old”), and witnessed, first-hand, its ups and downs. I’ve always thought that a professional association for ALL riders is warranted, especially in China.
What we are definitely NOT going to encourage is a “biker gang” mentality, or any form of “mine is better than yours.” That needs to be said, firmly, up-front. We’re around for mutual respect and encouragement. Our objective is more along the mindset of a Golf Club, or Yacht Club, but for motorcycles (and definitely not as snooty - that's for the pirates).
Those from outside Beijing are also encouraged to get involved, as we will have bike storage for your own bike, bike pickups (at the train station) for your bike, and we will even offer LEGAL low-cost rental bikes (e.g., GW250s, YBR250s, JH600s, etc.). And yes, we encourage LEGAL riders, as we’re not interested in sending members cigarettes during their 15 day stay in that “free tourist hotel” operated by the police. Things have changed in Beijing, and area, and it is silly to ride an illegal bike these days. Further, there is no longer any need to. Yes, A plates are expensive, but B plates are not. Further, the clubhouse is outside the 5th ring road, so out-of-province legal plates are perfectly acceptable.
Price? Well, that is still being debated … but we’re looking at an initial founding member price of 10K rmb, which is a one-time payment (no annual dues, ever, but you need to provide time & effort in the running & development of the club), and full, free-access to all benefits (including rental bikes, and no agent fees for transfers, purchases, etc!). Otherwise, we are thinking of regular memberships of 2K rmb for the first year, and 1K rmb thereafter. Out-of-towners are probably looking at half that price. These are back-of-envelope calculations which show us in a break-even position. Frankly, I think I’ll be personally funding much of the outflow for a few years. Who knows. I'm working on some commercial sponsorship and publicity. Although the annual dues might seem high, you only need to buy/sell one bike to recover the annual dues by not having to pay the typical agent's fees.
I’d like to hear comments, suggestions, and questions. For example, even if you are not interested ... what would YOU think a riding club/association should offer its members? By the way, the new girls' riders club has expressed interested in getting involved, so we are strictly a family-oriented club.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
@Euphonius - really hope you can make it Wed night. Like to hear your ideas/suggestions/comments.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lao Jia Hou
I’d like to hear comments, suggestions, and questions....
Mate, your taking on a big task, might turn into a full time job as this kind of set-ups are not easy to get started and keep going in the right direction, been there - done that....
Seeya on Wednesday around 19:00hrs. at BAB (Jeff's Place), a friend or two might join in on Wednesday.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TB-Racing
Mate, your taking on a big task, might turn into a full time job as this kind of set-ups are not easy to get started and keep going in the right direction, been there - done that....
Seeya on Wednesday around 19:00hrs. at BAB (Jeff's Place), a friend or two might join in on Wednesday.
Yes, you are very correct. The first order of business would be organizing the founding members into responsible areas. I'm a retired "boss" and am definitely enjoying my new place on the bottom rung of every ladder. I just want to eat hotdogs, drink coffee and ride my YBR125 without worries! Oh, and have a western toilet to meditate in.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lao Jia Hou
@Euphonius - really hope you can make it Wed night. Like to hear your ideas/suggestions/comments.
Really sorry I was unable to make it last night. I am keen to get up to Beijing within December. Hope you all had a great time. Any life membership signups for the club?
cheers!
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Quote:
Originally Posted by
euphonius
Really sorry I was unable to make it last night. I am keen to get up to Beijing within December. Hope you all had a great time. Any life membership signups for the club?
cheers!
We had a great time, as usual. Few no-shows, few surprises. Always good to get together. Jeff's place is cozy & has great food.
My partner and I are not really marketing the founding memberships (i.e., life memberships) until we've got the building together. The building renos require a lot of attention. A few people are interested, which leaves only a few more potentially available spots. In fact, we aren't really going after any memberships, just yet. We are trying to keep a reasonable lid on things, else there wouldn't be enough goodies to go around for members to enjoy. For example, I just did a bike's B registration/transfer for a friend - he got it for 372 rmb in required disbursements, versus nearly 1,700 rmb for a shop/agent to do it. A great benefit (pays for membership, for sure), but I can't be handling dozens and dozens.
We'd like a nice cross-section of founding members. Again, it is a work-in-progress ... at this point, we're thinking a handful of founding life memberships, and maybe a max of 50 regular members (even that number is kinda scary). Then again, if there is no interest, we'll just keep it for our own fun - our annual rent is not a lot more than what the commercial operations are charging for storing 4 bikes, and giving us some shop space.
Please look me up when you are in town.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
LJH, if you need any archi & interior design / construction management / on this, will be glad to assist, just let me know. beware the chinese contractor, you pay for wood they install paper.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
I'd be interested in a membership, so just thought I'd put my hand up. Even though I'm even further away than Jeff, therefore realistically the number of times I'd ride or otherwise be up in and around BJ are likely not often, still it might give me some poetic (riding) license to do a ride up that way sometime soon. Plus it has been ages since I was last up in the big capital city after all. Regards
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Wish this was in Nanjing or I lived near it in Beijing! Do keep us posted on this adventure.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Quote:
Originally Posted by
artedesenyo
LJH, if you need any archi & interior design / construction management / on this, will be glad to assist, just let me know. beware the chinese contractor, you pay for wood they install paper.
Thanks for the offer! We were fortunate because our contractor is a guy who has done many MC shops, and will undoubtedly want to maintain his reputation. As for design assistance ... always willing to hear suggestions (Marty has also kindly offered his services). At this point, we are entirely focused on getting the building rebuilt. Originally, it was a bunch of tiny rooms on one level, with a horrible washroom facility. We knocked out all the walls and the ceiling, so it is now an open plan, we've had a loft built, and a NICE washroom! We've also had the building fully rewired, with LOTS of power now available, and new plumbing.
Once the building is "complete" in its new shell format, we're looking for ideas on how to organize things. Right now, though, the place is a real mess with bits & pieces strewn everywhere. Not currently photogenic, at all, but I'll try and get some before/during/after pics up at a later date.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bikerdoc
I'd be interested in a membership, so just thought I'd put my hand up. Even though I'm even further away than Jeff, therefore realistically the number of times I'd ride or otherwise be up in and around BJ are likely not often, still it might give me some poetic (riding) license to do a ride up that way sometime soon. Plus it has been ages since I was last up in the big capital city after all. Regards
Thanks Bikerdoc - love to have you around. One impetus to us establishing a riding club was our experiences of having many visitors from elsewhere wanting to come and experience the fantastic riding around Beijing. There were the issues of "how do I get my bike there?"; "can I rent/borrow a bike?"; "where do I go?"; "can I meet some people with local knowledge?"; "what happens if I have a breakdown?"; and so on. It is a lot of fun to introduce new people to the great riding we have around here. But it was rather haphazard before - this might be a bit more organized.
Getting members from other parts of China is certainly an objective of ours. I'll keep you informed of what's happening. By the way, as I mentioned before, we'll have overnight facilities available on-site ... but that is also a work-in-progress.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TexasAggie
Wish this was in Nanjing or I lived near it in Beijing! Do keep us posted on this adventure.
Hey TA - you can establish a satellite place in Nanjing and host 50 of us Jing'rs tramping down. Personally, I think that's a great idea!!
By the way, I prefer freshly-roasted Brazilian coffee beans, medium ground and then French-pressed through 92 degree (celsius) filtered water. Please make sure you have it ready to those specs. I'm not sure what the other 49 guys might want. Don't worry, we'll email all our requirements at least a day in advance.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Hey TA - you can establish a satellite place in Nanjing and host 50 of us Jing'rs tramping down. Personally, I think that's a great idea!!
By the way, I prefer freshly-roasted Brazilian coffee beans, medium ground and then French-pressed through 92 degree (celsius) filtered water. Please make sure you have it ready to those specs. I'm not sure what the other 49 guys might want. Don't worry, we'll email all our requirements at least a day in advance.[/QUOTE]
HA! You are a true Canadian. If it does not have alcohol and come from grapes, I do not drink it. Although I admit I could enjoy seeing you guys drink the coffee that comes from civet arses!
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
I'd love to sign up as an "out of town" member. I've really wanted to get to Beijing and have a couple of days riding around some of the cool areas up there. Having a home base there would make the logistics so much better as just 4-5 hours of round-trip to get to Beijing from Tianjin more or less puts a day trip out of the question.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TexasAggie
You are a true Canadian.
My ice hockey stick is always at-the-ready. Handy for fending off errant polar bears and stirring buckets of maple syrup.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
thedannywahl
I'd love to sign up as an "out of town" member. I've really wanted to get to Beijing and have a couple of days riding around some of the cool areas up there. Having a home base there would make the logistics so much better as just 4-5 hours of round-trip to get to Beijing from Tianjin more or less puts a day trip out of the question.
Thanks "danny" - I'll also keep you informed. I was at the building yesterday and it is coming along, albeit a bit slow (we're making changes). The building has a nice "industrial" look (exposed brick, etc), so we're also putting glass blocks in the loft area to bring some additional natural light into the loft area.
One nice thing about our location is that it is within walking distance of a subway stop (Line 15). You can hop the high speed train in TJ, be in BJ in 20 minutes, and then transfer onto the subway (in the train station). Leave your bike here, or use one of ours.
We're also near the airport (10 minutes by taxi), for those further afield & without access to a high-speed train to BJ.
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
We should arrange a MCM meeting (long weekend, of course avoiding a national holiday) in Beijing next year spring for a party and some mountain rides!
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Construction begins. First thing done was to remove all of the interior walls and the false ceiling. The poor contractors had to work in freezing Beijing temperatures during December, using only a bucket-fire to stay pseudo-warm and to also keep the wall plaster materials from freezing. The interior of the building was very smoky (like Beijing is this month – January!)
http://i48.tinypic.com/zj84d1.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/1zbx5cx.jpg
http://i47.tinypic.com/2zdsr2p.jpg
We had the contractor build a loft ...
http://i47.tinypic.com/25jdxer.jpg
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Re: Beijing (Dongbei) Riders' Club/Association
Most importantly about the contractor, he didn’t try to rip us off. I know several of you have heard about my current disastrous experience with someone who was supposed to paint a vintage bike for me – that shop did a crappy job (full of mistakes), took forever, and is now trying to charge me more than double the original estimate. Totally different than our experiences with these building contractor guys. Good honest guys. Highly recommended. We disagreed about a few items, negotiated a few small things, but everyone walked away happy.
What’s next? We need to start moving stuff in. Donations are cheerfully accepted (again, this is a non-profit association – it isn’t a business). Suggestions on how to arrange things are also very welcome.
Special thanks has to be provided to MCM member ShuBen whose German precision and ideas helped a lot. Thanks buddy – your time & efforts are appreciated (although I don’t think the contractors appreciated your German-precision as much as Charles & I did! Hahaha).
