Triumphrat

pineygroveshop · 11-27-2006, 07:04 PM

It was loneliness that led me to becoming a RAT Pack Leader. I was tired of the same routes, running by myself. My brother, Richard, is the Great Bay RAT Pack Leader in New Hampshire and he always spoke highly of the camaraderie and group rides of his Pack.
I asked at my local dealership who was the Pack Leader and I met Geof Shuford. He is an employee of my local dealership. He unashamedly said that he was overwhelmed. I offered to help with the Pack and I immediately became Co-Leader.
Since then, our Pack has grown from none to 16 over 4 months time.
P.S. I’m not quite so lonely, anymore.

BULLman · 11-30-2006, 09:05 PM

In the Florida I found a yahoo_group site for Triumph owners for the State of Florida, with a RAT group out of Spring Hill. There was no activity even though there were 40+ members.

I added a event to the calendar and noticed it had the wrong time zone - when I informed the moderator that the calendar needed a quick fix.... he deleted the entire site!!!

Sooooo.... I volunteered to do another yahoo_group site with a calendar and BAM! the Fla_RATs.

I am pround to say wer have 31 members and have posted a total of 338 x's in a year!

We use the support of the 3 Triumph Dealers in the are [which isn't much].

I guess you need to be careful of what you volunteer [or ***** about] :-D

denny · 12-01-2006, 12:27 AM

i was drafted.

DavePreston · 01-15-2007, 05:02 PM

It was easy. I ride a Speed Triple and do the public relations for a large dealer, so voila' - I became the Head Cheese of Cycle Barn RAT.

If your Triumph dealer does not have a RAT Pack and you ask, I am sure they would be glad to have you head up one. As long as you have e-mail and do everything by that method, it is not that difficult. If you want some tips and some ideas for events that we do, I will be happy to share.

Of course, being paid to do it does make it a little easier!

Cheers!

cafetbird · 01-19-2007, 10:18 PM

Quote:

On 2007-01-15 16:02, DavePreston wrote:

If you want some tips and some ideas for events that we do, I will be happy to share.

Of course, being paid to do it does make it a little easier!

Cheers!

Dave has one of the best packs around - better take him up on it! :-D

I think the best pack leaders aren't getting paid for it though - they are riders with a "almost fanatical devotion" to Triumph. Of course, without a lot of support from the members of the pack, you CAN burn out of this... which is what has happened to me now, after 8 years....

I volunteered to lead my first pack when my company moved me to a new area, I had no one to ride with, and I was looking for a riding group.

[ This message was edited by: cafetbird on 2007-01-19 21:19 ]

06-09-2007, 09:31 AM

Sort of by default I guess,I wanted to keep the pack going after our leader stepped down so I hopped onto the lead machine as it is. :-D

[ This message was edited by: Maddjack on 2007-06-09 08:33 ]

meanolddog · 07-29-2007, 03:33 AM

i more or less was drafted. but i dont want to let that sound like i didnt enjoy doing it. (i have since retired my position as the RAT co-ordinator for the Donelson Cycles RAT Pack, after 4 years). i was on the sales staff there and the owner noticed how my customers always seemed like old friends of mine by the way we conversed and acted. so, who else to start up a pack than the guy that everybody likes to be friends with.

it was a blast doing it but ive left the shop and after trying to keep the pack together for a year, ive gotten burned out.

Roughcut · 07-30-2007, 12:20 PM

The pack here was struggling for several years, a solid base of about 6 guys but NOT ever growing. Then the former R.A.T. leader started to go off on his own direction and the dealer asked him to step down. The whole pack came apart, and the owner tryed to run the pack. Now I run the pack with the support and help from the dealership and it is the best it has ever been. Building and maintaining a pack is ALOT of work, and can get discouraging, but when you have rides and events and your members show up and have a great time you have done more than most will ever achieve.

AaronB · 07-31-2007, 07:52 PM

I was the pack leader in DC, until our dealership pretty much abandon us.

So, with a list of 163 members, I started the DCTriumph Yahoo Group. Great bunch, and dealership sponsered RAT pack exist to make money. That is, you and your group members buying stuff. So why bother. It's all about riding for us.

:

welshrob · 08-16-2007, 05:27 PM

I was fed up of nothing happening. The local dealership had no interest in it, none of the employees rode Triumphs themselves they and didn`t organise any rides. This was from a shop that consistently sells 300+ Triumphs a year. Luckily the shop was sold and the new owner could see the value of RAT. They still don`t get involved personally but they give any support I need.