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Today I get home to a piece of mail that was from the AMA. I know there have been discussions about this organization before, but I would like to know if this is a good organization to be a part of? What good have they done for our passion? If you were not a member of the AMA, would you join? Thanks for all insight.

Can you go into a little more detail by what you mean by putting money into their pocket? Are there a lot of hidden fees or extra charges other than the membership fee?

American Motorcyclist Association
In some ways they are like ABATE or any other MRO(motorcycle rights organization) they do alot in the motorcycle racing world.

I've been a member since 1977. Does it do any good for us? I dono, I hope so. They lobby in DC. They have sued over lousy state laws. It makes me feel better is the bottom line. I also belong to ABATE. Same reasons.

They are asking for a 39$ membership per year, but if I join now then I will get a $20 gift card and then I I have the option to upgrade to Champion membership, if I do that I will get free roadside assistance.

$39.00 isn't much, and you will be supporting Motorcyclist rights, I see that as a good thing. If you're wanting to belong to something think about COIR (Coalition Of Independent Riders) it doesn't do anything and works towards bikers rights, guess it depends on what you want out of an organization. JMO

Send me some info, I have been wanting to join a HOG Chapter but I work every weekend.

We can get roadside assistance through insurance for like 10.00 a year. Didn't think you wanted it so never put it on.

For the bikes and other vehicles???

For the bikes, I can add it onto the other vechiles to, not sure what that costs, but we can also get roadside assistance for the vechiles through our cell phones too!

US DEFENDERS - COIR

There may not be a program in your state yet, you could be the first, contact the national headquarters and see what they have to say,

As for HOG they are a good group, mostly about riding and enjoying your motorcycle, I belong to two different HOG chapters and am active in both, 1st you have to join HOG National , $45.00 per year, then a chapter, generally $20.00 per year. you can also get roadside assistance thru HOG, I have it and have used it in downtown Sturgis, when I left the ignition on and the battery went dead they sent out a truck to jump start me. There are other MRO's out there, ABATE, MRF (motorcycle riders foundation) for a couple. In some states they are more active than in others. Just do some research and join one or even two. You'll meet people with the same passion that you have for motorcycles.

See JB you listen when I talk to you via internet!! LMAO!

Aren't most of the meetings for HOG on the weekends? it has been a little while since I have looked but that is what has stopped me from doing it now. I think that the AMA is sounding good, I love riding and I promote it to everyone that I can.

There is lady at work, younger than me, she just got her permit. She was talking about buying a Harley but ended up with a some Japanese thing. I asked her if working where we do played any influence on her decision to get one. She said yes. There are a lot of people where I work that have bikes. I think it is like 50 people do.

One of the chapters we belong to meets on the 1st Friday evening of the month and the other meets on the 3rd Saturday morning of the month. I have heard that in Denver some of them meet on Tuesday evenings and Wednesday evenings. just depends, some have meeting places away from the dealership some meet at the dealerships conference rooms or other large area. The one here in Colorado Springs has about 125 active members, the one in Pueblo has maybe 30-40 active members.

i am not sure that I am interested in an organization that lobbies in D.C. even though it is to protect the rights of motorcyclists. I love bikes, I love to ride, but I don't like it being tainted by politics. This is going to take some thought. I just want to hang with a group of people that are active in their communities to promote good will throughout the community they serve (or state).

In your experience, do the HOG Chapters do a lot for the community or are they pretty self contained??

Pikes Peak chapter does some community stuff, senior food drives, toy runs for kids, few things like that, Pueblo does a little community stuff, both are pretty much self contained. Mostly it's people like you just wanting to hang with like minded people.
If you want to get involved with helping the community look into a Christian Riding group. Some people just get more involved than others.

This is just my take on how it is, A lot of people that ride join an organization so they can put a patch on there back and say look at me I belong to the ABC club, they don't really want to do anything other than hang out and talk about riding when in reality a 75 to 100 mile ride is a long ride for them. again JMO

I could care less about the patch, but I do think that it is a good thing to do things for your community. I have been thinking about starting this weekly ride for people in this area. I want to speak to one of the local merchants and see if we could use their parking lot as a gathering place before the ride, then go on a ride, just to get to know other people who love to ride, brag about our bikes and so on. Who knows, that could lead to a club.

I can see what you mean about the "I have the patch" mentality. I always looked at that as somewhat of a poser type of thing to do. JMO. I am sure that there are a lot of people in those organizations that eat breath and sleep motorcycles. I am getting that way more and more. I once had a lady at work that told me that my love affair with motorcycles will wear off.:roflmao: That is not the case. it is getting worse, but that is Ok by me.

Try going to a few poker runs that are hosted by local clubs or HOG, they are a lot of fun and you really get to meet some nice people at them, they always have a route and a destination with some kind of gathering after words, usually a lot of fun, you and HR could each ride your own bikes be with like minded people and still be just the 2 of you. We usually do 2-4 a month. Pretty soon you notice it's a lot of the same people, so you become familiarly with people that way. If we go anywhere with in a couple hundred mile radius I know we'll see someone we know there.