Expanding the "Biker" content on PH?

[shot2bits]

As we all know, because we post on here, PH provides an excellent community focused mainly on the 4 wheel variety of transport. I ended up spending loads of time here due to the Lotus forum - I owned an Elise 111R which I sold several months back yet I keep hanging around just for the biker section! I also went through a bad time last year and PH Lotus massive (Gooby and crew) really helped to take my mind off things.

Just wondered what you all thought about putting some ideas forward to improve the Biker content on PH? I guess the main lack of biker content is down to the fact no bikes are reviewed or written about on the main PH index page which could be only remedied if an additional writer joined the team. In the short term though, perhaps some additional sections could be added for make of bike?

Anybody have any other ideas?

At any rate, guess it's all down to Ted and his team but, the more people who respond to this thread, the more chance we have of improving things!

Cheers, Rob.

[rsvmilly]

shot2bits said:

I guess the main lack of biker content is down to the fact no bikes are reviewed or written about on the main PH index page which could be only remedied if an additional writer joined the team.

I think the lack of content is down to our much smaller numbers

[_Dave_]

Yep we are the minority here, plenty of bike sites / forums out there

[randlemarcus]

Actually, not convinced about splitting into the usual cliques. I quite like the fact that we dont seem to have the scooter boy vs Harley types vs sportsbike arguments going on. I suspect we are mostly here due to the overwhelming four wheel content, but spend time in BB as well.
Perhaps if we start writing articles, and getting Ted or Manek to use em, we can exoand the content to the point where it might be worth bringing someone on board on a full time basis. Hmm...I really believe I have a fresh and provocative viewpoint on the Desmosedici RR. Someone line me up a test...

[YamR1V64motion]

randlemarcus said:

Hmm...I really believe I have a fresh and provocative viewpoint on the Desmosedici RR. Someone line me up a test...

let me know if you need another opinion on it

[TVRJOHN]

I tend too agree, regarding poor biker banter section.
But if enough bikers respond, it will become a more active forum

[FourWheelDrift]

shot2bits said:

Anybody have any other ideas?

At any rate, guess it's all down to Ted and his team but, the more people who respond to this thread, the more chance we have of improving things!

Cheers, Rob.

Best to drop ideas into the Website feedback forum when you get them so Ted sees them, use this thread for brainstorming.

[chilli]

Yeah, I posted a while back saying ot was sometimes a bit "dead" on the BB, but as said, that's just cause there's not many of us here. I guess we need to be spreading the word a bit.

Rob, I was the same as yourself. Thought about buying a Cerbie, came on here for some advice, which was brilliant, even if the advice was don't get one! I bought a BM after that, and TBH I thought that forum was a bit dead. Now I just spend about 4 hours a day in the P&P!!!

[rsvmilly]

I don't think we should split down into sub groups or manufacturers - there just aren't enough of us.

We had a similar discussion in JapChat a while back and again, insufficient of us to split into smaller groups.

[timmartin]

not enough to split into smaller groups

We could
* Put the onus on biker banter forum users to write some reviews
* Perhaps suggest we could have our own "bike news" page on the main site
* if the article is deemed to be good enough it could get put onto the mainstream news page

It would be quite easy for us to start writing event reviews etc... i feel i could contribute to that. I wouldn't have enough experience of different bikes to review a new model though.

[mtbr]

Whilst I accept that it can be a bit quiet on here from time to time, I like the general tone and content of Biker Banter. I guess most of us are car drivers, who also own a bike or two and originally came to PH looking for a car based site.

Biker Banter (mostly) retains the same standards as the rest of Piston Heads and I would be very dissapointed if it were ever to degenerate into something like Visor Down.

IMO the way to liven up this forum is to encourage other bike riding friends to join and take part.

Personally, I don't think it would be a good idea to sub divide the forum, there are just not enough active members. The Porsche forum combined seperate Boxter and 911 forums into one single "all things Porsche" forum quite recently and seems to be better for it.

I've just noticed that Slippydiff's rant from over a month ago has the joint highest reply count on the first page of BB, which sort of contradicts most of what I have said above. It does, however, highlight one of the problems on here;- Lots of short threads.

Edited by mtbr on Wednesday 27th September 19:50

[veetwin]

Why break it down? It will dilute the nice balance we have in here.

It seems that most riders that post in BB are level headed, mature individuals that respect both 2 and 4 wheeled variety. There is a spread of all genres from Commuters to Hypersports so, I say, keep the mix.

[black-k1]

The thing I like about the BB section of PH is the fact that there is such a spread of experience, informed opinions, bike types, styles, bike usage, age etc. This leads to much more tolerance and acceptance of others and apparent genuine interest from contributors to a number of different areas/subjects. I think that splitting the forum with so few contributors would stifle much of the good banter that takes place for no gain.

It would be nice to see more motorcycle items covered by mainstream PH but I think that needs us to contribute more ‘general interest’ motorcycle based info. Although I, like many I expect, would find it difficult to commit time/effort to supplying such info. thus would probably depend on others to do the work.

[sjtscott]

I like the general level and quality of banter, I've been members of many other bike forums that decend into chaos and petty insults and bickering etc.
My only request maybe to add some sort of technical/gear related area where things for example like tyres, helmets or bike problems can be discussed keeping the BB for general bike banter as the name implies.

[PetrolTed]

Interesting idea. The all-things-performance nature of PH, rather than being devoted to one marque might result in an interesting car/bike mix that doesn't appear elsewhere.

I'd be happy to consider bike editorial now. If anyone's in a position to write any bike content then do get in touch and we can have a chat.

[F.M]

The upcoming BSB final round shootout at Brands Hatch could be a good article to break the ice...and promises to be a real showdown..

[PetrolTed]

Maybe. Race reports can be a bit dull though - that's why we don't cover much motorsport on PH. Unless you're into that particular series it's a bit irrelavent. Road tests, news, features tend to appeal to a wider audience.

[FunkyNige]

There's the big NEC show coming up at the end of October, would it be worth writing a report on that?

[PetrolTed]

Certainly.

[remal]

FunkyNige said:

There's the big NEC show coming up at the end of October, would it be worth writing a report on that?

I should be there.