VIP membership not to greedy £10-20 a year may actually make a difference, but I would not put that on trailers etc, rather on events, venues and most important keep forum/site going, and most welcome improvements to the IT back-end. The reason why not trailers is simple, not everyone will need trailer/tools/garage so it will be unfair to benefits small group instead of whole community.
Shared resources in meaning of helping people would be a very good idea, and I believe we can also share other non-bike related knowledge/experience and passion (as it is now with for example photography). These who are on sharing/helping side of the fence should have in that section of forum a moderator and be able to maintain the black list which Rich mention for example.
I return to VIP membership for a while, I believe anyone LITERALLY anyone can spare £20 a year (unless you homeless with no job but I guess internet access and motorbike lack will sort this issue). This is like 5 pint’s less a year With all discounts and benefits, small welcome pack containing sticker or two, printed out rules and maybe a bit of advertisement of bikers which can provide various services will be a nice touch.
Just my 2 bobs worth i do have a trailer and yes i used to rent it out for a nominal charge. But that was to offset my costs as no one will replace tire and wheel bearings or weld anything that they damaged etc. These things need to be addressed to keep the trailer road worthy if not Mr plod will PG9 it " prohibition notice" and the trailer plus bike will be stuck where its stopped.
I will LOAN my trailer out BUT only to people i trust and are prominent members of the forum. Simon you have been over to me and are more than welcome should you wish to use it.
I would not call it a forum trailer BUT if you meet the criteria and can show 1 entitlement to tow a trailer 2 show that you are insured and 3 have a decent amount of useful posts under your belt " Not drivel " Then yes why not. BUT you break it you mend it. . . Surely that’s a fair offer ? ? ?
Steve aka Rapidbikerecovery
That is a nice offer Steve - and actually doubly so because that is the business you are in, so you more than others would have cause to keep your tools of your trade reserved for yourself to make money. You are a nice guy Steve, perhaps too nice for your own good! Actually from my own point of view I would almost rather pay you move a bike for me (stress free) than do it myself.
Having said that I can afford to buy a trailer, and I have space to store one and my car has a tow hitch. But for the once or twice a year when it would be useful to me I would rather have seen it being used by others in a community way - hence my original thought.
In another forum I hang out in, there is free membership but the premium membership £10/year) enables certain “extras”. For instance, the premium user can post in the for sale section, gets PM functionality, gets to create a sig and have a non standard avatar/level (like pizza delivery rush hour numpty). It is a small enough amount that it is a no brainer but if the core of 100 200 regulars choose to go premium that money can help maintain the site. There might be additional discounts available on third party services for premium users also that can increase the perceived value and therefore raise the premium member split.
For me the community resource thing is not an ideal thing to pay for from these membership fees.
Offtopic: SimoninEssex I guess I’m on the same forum
Ontopic: The only challenge for this is to write clear and reasonable T&C to prevent people for taking obvious piss when they get membership and start feel untouchable.
I have a two bike motorcycle trailer that I’ve lent to various chums before (it’s been as far as Germany on loan to a good friend of mine).
In the most part there’s no problem. BUT!!! You do inevitably get the odd incident like a bent/dented mudguard, the loss of my own number plate because they’ve not bolted their one on top securely, or more sensibly removed it and put it in the boot, the odd lost/broken strap (quite how hard people must ratchet their bike down to break one is beyond me), missing ramp stowing lynch pin (how any one can say “it was on there when I left silverstone and it must’ve popped off” is a mystery… simple, you either didn’t fit it, or you didn’t snap it down. eejit - at least it was a pin, not a 5 foot long steel ramp bouncing along the road.).
My trailer, second hand cost £200, the straps etc cost about £50, I’ve had it years and it’s paid for itself with the “have a drink” brown folding beer vouchers, or bottles of Red that have been given to me as “payment”. All the time I have space to store it I will keep it, because it is so useful.
By virtue of my generous nature, I do still lend it out to people I know reasonably well as it’s a waste just sitting there 364 days a year, given the problems I’ve had mentioned above I am more choosy these days!
With a “shared” resource that someone is going to hire, there’s a question of liability, who’s responsible if someones pride and joy goes down the road because a trailer wheel bearing collapses, or a strap or mount breaks?
