How To Attract New Members And Riding Buddies

As an Older Biker, my primary goal is to spend as much time on my bike as possible. My second goal is to enjoy the companionship of as many other Older Bikers as possible.

When I joined the Older Bikers Riding Club, there were no other members living in my town, so I decided to recruit new members that I could ride with. I started by carrying a stack of brochures in my bike, my coat pocket and my truck. That way, wherever I went, I would always have some brochures with me.

The next step was to watch for other bikers. Anytime I saw a "cruiser" sitting alone in a gas station parking lot, I would pull in and try to find the owner. Whenever possible, I would strike up a conversation about bikes and try to find out how often the other person rides and where they were from. If they lived close enough, I would give time a brochure AND my phone number or email address along with the suggestion they contact me whenever they want to go riding.

I must have passed out 20 brochures before someone finally called me to let me know he wanted to go riding with me.

We went riding but I didn't stop there. I kept handing out brochures and talking to other bikers until I was contacted by a second biker wanting to go riding.

Then I was contacted by FTW from Older Bikers, asking me to contact someone that filled out an application on the website and invite them to go riding with us.

I continued handing out brochures, but by now I had expanded my locations to include bike shops, fast food restaurants, truck stops and even the DMV parking lot where people were taking road tests in order to get their motorcycle license.

I eventually built up a list containing email addresses and phone numbers of locals I would contact on a regular basis every weekend to see who wanted to go riding or go out to eat on a Friday night or go to a rally with me.

Now we have enough local members that I don't have to call anyone. Someone within our chapter sends out an email with the starting time and location of our weekly ride. However I still carry a stack of brochures with me everywhere I go because my next goal is to be able to have enough chapters in the surrounding towns that we will have lots of club members joining us when we go to local rallies.