Hello fellow Airmarshals.
I am of 2 minds on this.
A) I understand and agree that the club ought to be doing outreach to younger riders, such as there are any younger riders. This sort of thing is important to the long term viability of the club. There was a similar issue at the MOA several years ago. At the time, a younger member from Missourri tried to convince the leadership that the Owners News should give more page space to "Airheads" because that would be the BMW model which younger riders would be most likely to own, as compared to the current production line-up of the day. For what ever reason, that didn't happen, and that guy is no longer a member of the MOA. What we have here in the ABC is the right type of motorbikes that younger , maybe even entry level rider can afford.
2) I am not a fan of the whole "social media phenomenon". I don't use Facebook or Instagram or any other variant. But, in recognizing the need to attract guys younger than myself (58) I have asked the ILL. membership for feedback and found 2 members willing to work on the "social media" thing on behalf of the ILL. membership. For those of us not inclined to play on social media, my approach might be an acceptable alternative.
That is my thinking on this topic. Let's talk it over.
James A...
Illinois.
former Airmarshal, IL.
That is interesting. I run into a number of younger Hipster types on BMW's in the OKC area. I have been trying to figure out how to reach out to them. I do know they are eager to learn how to self maintain these bikes.
My first thought is if we offer something they are interested in they will self promote Airheads automatically thru social media.
At first, my thinking was we are a club of older riders and thats the way it is, but thanks for pointing this out. It makes sense to me.
If you guys still are looking for Social Media help, I’m all for acting in some fashion as a social media intermediary for the ABC.
as the new (relatively) New York Air Marshall I had business cards made up- when I see another airhead I always put a card on the bike (or in their hand if they are near their bike) and invite them to become a member- I also share information with them about local tech days- even if they are NOT a member so they can witness first hand the camaraderie of the airheads.
seems like not a lot of activity here. I just discovered this.
Accurate statement. I do enjoy receiving the monthly ABC Magazine. Some pretty good stories.
Same I'm not much of a social media type either except a few MC forums but I agree that it is what younger people are into these days. A little different for me and my region as there are very few airheads anywhere. I wish I had some cards as I just saw one at my dealer the other day and my efforts at reaching out to the owner have gone unanswered. I'm just trying to find more airhead owners but there are not many.
@Mike Buhler - I paid $40 at Vistaprint.com to get 500 business cards made up with my CA Airmarshal email address & the club logo. The local BMW dealer lets me leave a stack of cards on their Parts Dep't counter.
I also am not a Facebook user, but I started a page for the Nor Cal Airheads club to try to attract younger riders to the Airhead club.
In order to show people that it is an active page, I believe it is important to add fresh content to the Nor Cal FB page every week or so. I post announcements of local Airhead Barley Therapy events, pictures of vintage Airhead bikes, the Quail /5 event, BMW cafe racers (heaven forfend!) from Pipeburn.com and bikeEXIF.com, articles from Paul d'Orleans' Vintagent, Nor Cal BMW Club, MOA & RA Rally news, etc.
I also cross-post to the Nor Cal BMW Club FB page when appropriate (they're mostly Oilhead and GS riders but they have quite a few Airhead owners too). I cross-post to the other Vintage BMW FB pages on occasion too.
The Nor Cal FB page has done a fair job of attracting eyeballs and a few new members. Takes me a couple of hours a month to maintain it.
https://www.facebook.com/AirheadsBeemerClubNorCal/
Good ideas with good response from plenty of members. One problem here is that we are just too few! The last issue of th Airmail I read had a page of cards to cut out so I've done that so far.
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