Ducati Sporting Club UK > DesmoDue Race Series > DesmoDue - General Questions and Chat > DesmoDue rent a bike ????????????

[Iconic944ss]

Ok, heres a slightly crazy idea that occured to me recently.

Fingers crossed that DD continues into 2006, lets assume that someone has had their fun and wants to sell a DD bike.

How about the DSC actually buying a DD bike to 'rent' out to members to really 'have a one-off go' at racing?????

This is really sparked by Weeksy's very valid debate about the HIGH cost of going racing. I'm sure the DD series is beyond the budget of 95% (?) of members.

Having started the ball rolling though - there are obvious drawbacks:

1) what if the bike got damaged / written off?
User pays for damage?
Insurance of some sort??
or plead with the DSC masses for the parts - I'm sure it would have to be something really bad before it could not be sorted by the skills that are available in the DSC.

2) I imagine there might well be a finanical 'loss' with this idea, even if it was ran for one season and the bike sold off (having had two years of being thrashed? - or ridden 'quickly' as the ad. might say).
But - if there was enough members wanting to ride the bike, at every round, would not serving the needs of the members be justification.

3) Would enough members go for it?
Would someone do all the training and get a licence.
Get all the leathers / kit.
Stump up the entry and travelling and accomodation fees,
just for one or two races???

I think I'd be tempted !

Just some food for thought guys - the floor is open:

Cheers - Frank

ps - Off to Florida on Sat. - so go and get those Ebay goodies

[Steve M]

is that a queue I see forming

[Felix]

Still waiting for Ray to get his finger out!

[dickieducati]

great idea in principle, and no reason why not but have be well thought out.

how about a fee to use the bike say 50 or 100 quid per meeting just to cover a bit of cost/depreciation. still very reasonable.

but as you say would people go through getting a licence for just one meeting?

i would say to anyone go for it.

[domski]

A very good idea I think in principle, as it would allow people like Chi to have had a go without having to lay out £3000 or whatever, to then find out it's not really for him.

Originally posted by weeksy
It would i guess be possible to do something radical like ask members if they'll pay £5 extra membership to do this ? or racers pay £5 more per eeting so they can make it happen ?

Not sure about either of those ideas. I don't know if 700 DSC members would be happy to pay £5 extra so that 6 or 8 members could go racing???

Likewise, the racers paying £5 a meeting extra to fund someone else racing against them. I think it's expensive enough as it is.

However, if you charged £100 or so to rent a DSC race bike, then you have the people directly affected paying for the privelidge, and after 2 years, the bike would have paid for itself?

It costs £200-£300 to rent a R6 for the day, so £100 for DD is a bargain

[Steve M]

£100 might be a bit cheaper than poss' if that includes tyres etc!

[Steve M]

true - but if it's hot at Snet! And would you want to be the one doing the 4th meeting?

[Jools]

Have you been listening to the conversations that we've been having in the BHC and Bucks/Northants regions?

On Tuesday evening we met up for an evening rideout, and the conversation went along these lines. Now we (the DSC) know that there is enough interest in DD as a series the thought of having a hire bike (or bikes) that people could rent for the whole season or for just a single round would be much more feasible since grid slots are filled and interest in a hire bike would be better (although let's not forget that Louigi offered to build a hire bike and got little interest for this year). Actually, the conversation got around to the notion that running the series along the lines of the R6 cup where entrants paid a hire fee per entry and got a bike from a pool of identically prepared bikes would put an end to the 620 vs Big Bore kit debate....but that's a different story.

Yesterday, Fil2, Firefly, Fordie, Glyn and me got daydreaming about putting together a BHC bike as a regional entry, splitting the cost and have maybe 4 people run the bike as a syndicate, each competing in a round....more food for thought. Actually, it was just me and Glyn doing the daydreaming, cos Fil, Firefly and Fordie are already involved and are competing, but they were egging us on.

The hire bike idea is intruiging but there would need to be some control as Weeksy suggests. The DD series was originally supposed to be about the club members, so although I wouldn't want it restricted to newbie racers (funnily enough, the likes of me and Glyn as Weeksy suggests) I would want to restrict entry to people who had been a DSC member for at least a year to prevent the club being cynically exploited by people who would only join up to hire a bike, race a couple of times then sod of.

The other thing to bear in mind is that even though people would have to get ACU licenses and might be quickish on trackdays, you would effectively be dumping completely green small fry into a tank full of sharks once the present DD'ers have had a whole seasons experience of hard race moves.

[Edited on 10-6-2005 by Jools]

[Twinfan]

WHat if you get multiple people wanting to ride - would you draw lots?Tricky if you get your licence etc for £150+ then can't get the "rent-a-bike" to race...

[Steve M]

Originally posted by Jools


Yesterday, Fil2, Firefly, Fordie, Glyn and me got daydreaming about putting together a BHC bike as a regional entry, splitting the cost and have maybe 4 people run the bike as a syndicate, each competing in a round....more food for thought. Actually, it was just me and Glyn doing the daydreaming, cos Fil, Firefly and Fordie are already involved and are competing, but they were egging us on.



[Edited on 10-6-2005 by Jools]

funny that, JPM and I were talking about how we could get a NWregion member out there.

This whole DD thing just gets harder to resist - anyone want to swap their 620ss for a 900? no no no I must resist!!!!!!