Triumphrat

hans · 01-07-2008

As, I believe, is the case in most other states of Australia, the local RAT group here has been a VERY low key affair. I 2007 virtually nothing was organised by this group.

At the beginning of 07 some of the more enthusiastic Triumphs riders here decided to form their own group which they named the Triumph Riders Club (TRC). The focus was on attracting triumph lovers, organise monthly rides and developing a good social group. The success of this move has been outstanding and proved there was a great need for such a club. We have over 40 members now and the monthly rides generally attract between 20 and 35 bikes. We have organised events including a track day at the local racetrack, Xmas parties and in the process of organising a safe riding skills day.

Recently, however, the local triumph dealer is attempting to reform the RAT group and have put a new person in charge of accomplishing this. This was probably as a result from pressure from Triumph. He is one of the salesman there and someone that I and other riders have always regarded as a friend. It was therefore quite appropriate for our TRC president to offer the RAT group some assistance. We are, after all, on the same team. We offered to advertise their future rides in our club's newsletter. We would all be quite keen to go on their rides and functions as well. We love riding our triumphs.

The reply we received was quite bewildering and is included below.....

Hi Shane, how r u? , hope u & your family had a great "silly season"!! ......thanx for your offer to include the newly reformed RAT SA riding group dates in your calender , however it is Triumph UK policy that all RAT groups run independently of other groups/clubs, so we will not need u to put any dates in your newsletter. U will notice there r not a huge amount of dates as we will be keeping it fairly low key at this stage........this may change in the future however. With regards the "viewing night", having spoken to our head office, we may plan a "night" late Feb/ March to introduce "officially" the new models that have just started to arrive & will b arriving soon. We will post info on our site as it comes to hand. Best Regards,
*********, Bike Sales,
Peter Stevens Motorcycles
221 Franklin st Adelaide 5000
Ph: 82121494; Fax:82127472.

The object of the TRC is NOT to threaten the independance of the RAT group. I just dont understand the reasoning behind this extraordinary attitude by the RAT. Sure only good can come out of frienship between the two groups. Anyway, judging by the responses of TRC members to this attitude, the very worst is happening by causing some animosity!

welshrob · 01-07-2008

I run one of the biggest packs in Australia outside of Ratbags and the dealership is happy to work with any other Triumph clubs, promote their events and vice versa. It would be stupid not to. Why would you want to alienate your future clients? I am NOT an employee of the Dealership, by the way.
This guy seems confused about the issue. Letting you publicise RAT events in your newsletter has got absolutely nothing to do with him running the pack independently. The guy is obviously new to being a pack leader and has a poor understanding of what the local Triumph owners want. His course of action will probably alienate more of his customers, too.

This is the reason why most of the packs that are run by dealer principals and employees fail. They only want to do the bare minimum required, it`s all about them!

E-mail a link to this thread to him and see what he says.

Sprint1050DA · 01-07-2008

That is also the most poorly composed email I have ever seen. I would send a reply back asking him to actually spell out words. I agree that it seems odd they wouldn't want you to spread the word about their events in your club. Maybe he thought that advertising his pack through your newsletter would eventually lead to you taking over the group, since it sounds like he is going to go "low key" which is what drove you away in the first place. You could always advertise the RAT events without their knowledge, I don't think they would have any reason to stop that. Good luck.