Adventure Bike Rider

Is this right !!!!!

I deceided that as I am not off to the USA until July 12th I would offer Mrs R2M and a couple of close friends the opprortunity to go camping, see some stuff about RTW riding and travel, drink eat and be merry at the Ripley HU meet.

Then having been told it was £10 a night to camp..... 2 tents £20,,,,, easy.

No try £220 for one night, two tents, one bike, car.

IS THAT CORRECT !!!! (sorry question mark key busted)

If I had £220 I would get new tyres........

If we went on Friday it would be even more......

I am sorry, but not sure the justification in that kind of money, especially when three of the people coming consist of one wife who already asked "whats there for us girls to do", and one guy, that just had a stroke and doesn't know if he's in New York or New Shoes.

Guess we won't be coming afterall......

It seem to have got a lot dearer the last few years, last time i went it was £45, missus, me, bike and tent for 3 days in 2008??

that would be OK, but bringing 'visitors', just to make up the numbers is a no-no. The weather being as bad as it is, £200+ is just tooooo much. I guess if you go on your own the price is OK'ish. Still can't fathom the prices as PER PERSON or PER BIKE (Ie for two)....

You're right it does seem expensive if you start paying for other people and book at the last minute, I have a feeling the base price is per person so that's now £75 per head, with the camping fee being £10 per tent, but that covers you for as many nights as you stay?

Does that make it any cheaper, or did it just get more expensive?

I guess to a certain extent it's become a victim of its own success, attracting more and more people which means extra facilities have to be hired which then adds to the cost which then gets passed on to us, the punters. Justified? I guess only we can say.

My initial question was £75 per person, or per bike ie: (2 persons) £150 for a weekend and £40 for two tents, adding a car as my friends who are not bikers were interested in the whole thing, thats £350. Add petrol to get there, food and drinks, and the whole thing is looking nearer a weekend in Paris at a 5* hotel.

I know there are costs involved, and the infamous are there to sell their wares but the event is becoming a business project now and needs to make a profit. With such a small audience (relative to the bike shows), I guess covering the costs is harder BUT.....

Even if I could afford it, I think I would be coming or going on my own.

I could never understand the part where arriving or booking later costs more money
other than blackmailing the customers to ensure initial numbers are met, and everything else is a bonus.
No disrespect to Sam who is a friend, but its just my own grumpy old git hat.

I didn't bother with Ripley last year, but instead attended the mini Autumn meet in the Mendips. Only 200 folk and the talks were few but new. Most folk who attended all stated that it was a far better event than Ripley.

It's back on again this year on the first week of September, so see you there possibly

Crikey... for the last 6 years I've organised a weekend at Lumb Farm over on UKGSer... 3 nights camping, dinner on the Saturday night, and road/offroad ride outs on Friday and Saturday...

Admittedly no road kill cooks or lectures... but I charged £30 per person for the entire weekend and still made a shed load for charity ....

Hi Road2manchester

Yes itis a high price to pay for a weekend even if the weather was cracking the flages Me & jkclive are booked on this and are going up Friday from jays house about 10 30 am so if you do fancy going funds allowing you are more than welcome to ride up with us

Ps if you bring your musical instruments with you and get us to pay this time To listen
We met at the boil Me jk didy Dave and the rest of the ABR gang

tefflon. / Steve

Nar - removed by James691.

This looked like personal email material plus just plain offensive and nasty - I have removed the post but retain a copy.

The Ban will be in place while I speak to the rest of the ABR team and those parties that had been mentioned in the offending post.

Cheers

James691

unless you book way in advance, the event is out of my price range as well.

even though, the event is great, imho they lost their sense with pricing, more focused on bmwboughtadventurevanabe cashcows, not actual travellers.

all event is run by volunteers for free. it is hard to imagine ho can they make loss in the event - the cafe/bar is packed, eating drinking, campsite is packed + the exagerated entrance fees.

was involved in organising a few national motorcycle rallies. with such popularity, "a" list event supporters, it sounds like either they do not know budgeting, or just lying into the face about losses.

usually such events are run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts, but if it is just the business matters, that's when true enthusiasts start looking elsewhere.

p.s. this is just my opinion!

GreaseGorilla wrote:


If it is true, reading it certainly 'opened' my eyes about HU

Having started this thread (oops !) and missing the said Greasemonkey mention, I should at least get a copy james691 8:(0)

palace15 wrote:


Paying £45 for the HU weekend is good value for money. Some of the presentations are good and it's nice to meet up with fellow "travellers".
However, I had no clue what I was doing 7 months in advance and there doesn't seem to be a ticket refund policy so I decided not to go at all.

The extra £10 for camping is a bit of a cheek. Lumb Farm, whilst OK, isn't a great camp site and they must make a fortune in breakfasts, dinners and beer.
There is a thread on HU if anyone wants to contribute ideas for a different location.

V_King wrote:


I've not been for a couple of years but I'm pretty sure that HU don't make anything on money that goes over the bar in food and drinks, Lumb Farm will keep that. There were expenses in paying for the AV gear and the technicians, some printing and whotnot. Seemed like good value last time I was there, I tend to go a year, skip a year as there are only so many new presentations each year.

I am registerd on the HU site as well as here, I had notifercation ages ago about the prices & discounts if booked earlier.

I seem to recall Grant informing (excuse me if im wrong I cant find post), that the farm has put prices up, the marquee & other resources suppose he means lap tops cameras etc, all cost to hire the equipment.

I cant attend as 1 work are changing shifts left right all over he place had 5 this year so far!! so looking that far ahead is a bit too much for me at the time of the first e-mail.
again even then I decided to give it a miss, due to cost, don't get me wrong it is nice to go & listen to peoples adventures & you can get some sound advice, then again some of it can be a err bit dodgy, last year I went I did wombling & first aid, I had a good time didn't miss any lectures just couldn't break my self in to too.

There I have met some people shall we say insprational people who are just like us working 5 to 9 then weekends or holidays going of on there bikes, some of them I keep in contact with others no so much & some, down right funny.

I would go again, but work & cost will keep me away, may be if some of the techi stuff was not there, it would be a bit cheaper, I dunno