As 2014 has come to closure I thought it poignant to look back on the OzSTOC year that was, and share just a few moments from our adventurous year.
Our clubs National Rally for 2014 was attended by just over 100 OzSTOC riders and their pillions with 68 Honda ST's and a few other very welcome makes from all over Australia, we even managed to entice a fellow OzSTOC/ ST-owners club member from the U.S to visit us in Ballarat Victoria. The event was professionally planned and executed by Marcus and Dan from the Victorian crew. The Rally commenced on the Friday afternoon with the traditional meet and greet with members collecting their Rally packs that included the Rally shirt and badge. The Saturday morning group ride was well attended with a group photo at a local tourist attraction prior to riding through to the Blackwood Hotel for lunch.
This gave the opportunity for Mark from Zen Motorcycles and the team from CF Moto to display their products to our members including test rides of the spirited little TK650. The Saturday nights rally dinner was again a fantastic event with a number of prestiges OzSTOC awards being presented to our members for their commitment and exploits throughout the previous year.
During the 2014 National Rally dinner Diesel and Streak the passionate founders of our club announced that they had for a number of reasons elected to stand down from their leaderships roles within OzSTOC. This announcement came as a surprise to the many members of the club with some shocked faces around the room. Some months earlier Diesel and Streak went in search of a new leadership team to continue to guide the club into the future. Pockey and I were approached and after considerable discussions and even debate at times we agreed to the role bestowed upon us providing Saaz would also come on board the new OzSTOC leadership team bringing with him his wealth of motorcycling and OzSTOC club knowledge.
You would all no doubt agree we had some massive QLD shoes to fill, the shear determination and passion of Diesel and Streak to bring this club born from the earlier yahoo users group forum to where we are today is an incredible achievement from both men and the club is indebted to their vision.
The core business of the club other than the online forum is to engage our members and encourage them out onto our magnificent roads to enjoy the passion of motorcycling made all the sweeter on the Honda ST.
RTE's (Rides to Eat) are a focus of the OzSTOC team, the rational is to get our members from in front of their computer screens and get them behind the screen of their ST's to physically meet fellow members of this fine club face to face over a meal along a fantastic piece of riding road. We have this previous year put in place committed RTE co-ordinators in each state and territory to help facilitate arranged rides to motorcycle friendly destinations all around Australia and NZ.
Our ride co-ordinators :
WA- Pezzz and Yorkie
SA- StinkyPete
VIC- Marcus
TAS- Couch
NSW-Abe
QLD-Shiney and Gadget
NT- WendyL
NZ- RGardner
All these members are passionate about their states and territory's and enjoy nothing more than researching suitable motorcycle friendly locations for members to attend. The RTE co-ordinators really do value your own experiences on prospective destinations for future RTE planning. Pre arranged OzSToc RTE destinations for the coming 2015 currently number just over 50 RTE's in Australia and NZ, a task not able to be achieved without our RTE co-ordinators and committed members. The RTE co- Ordinators can be contacted via PM on our website.
(Brock one of our Moderators
out spending his enormous OzSTOC remuneration package....)
OzSTOC encourage any member to arrange an RTE destination of their choosing and post the details of the event in the relevant state or territory section of the forum for members to attend. It's been said from the inception of the club "even two club riders riding for a meal at a common destination is a RTE".
National Rally Co-Ordination:
The mammoth task each year of organising the annual National Rally (NatRally) when our number of attendees are now exceeding 100 people and growing, found it essential to bring a member into the OzSTOC team with the soul focus on NatRally preparations each year. StinkyPete from SA was approached and excepted this challenging role. The NatRally co-ordinator will act as the link between the OzSTOC leadership team and the selected local NatRally organisation team in the selected state or territory each year. We have in place a well proven formula for NatRally based on evidence gathered from previous years, but it exciting to see the new ideas that the local teams bring to the NatRally planning table. Some sensational new items will be in the QLD 2015 NatRally program.
The new OzSTOC Club shirt:
The new OzSTOC club shirt is available in men's and ladies sizes and was selected as the previous shirt was coming towards the end of its production life with its manufacture. The new shirt has exceptional breathability qualities as many current members can attest and we moved to an embroidered logo away from our iron on patch. This made the shirt a little cheaper to produce whilst increasing the quality of the finished product.
The Shirt is available for $39:95 including postage along with many other exclusive OzSTOC products in the OzSTOC shop, a few new items are now available in the shop.
The OzSTOC shop since August 2014 has been in the very capable hands of PC and his wife/pillion Marion in Queensland. The OzSToc shop can be contacted by email at shop@ozstoc.com for any shop related questions. The OzSTOC and merchandise will be at the 2015 Nat Rally, however OzSTOC shirts /jackets/name tags will need to be ordered well prior to the Rally date for manufacturing and embroidery purposes.
OzSTOC IBA 1600 KMS pre certified ride:
2014 was the year of the inaugural OzSTOC IBA 1600K long distance ride. This was we believe the first of its kind to be undertaken in Australia by a bike club, the ride was pre certified by the Iron Butt association of America. On successful completion of the ride riders were able to forgo the waiting process for their certificates and have them presented at the completion of the ride. The ride was attended by a number of new and seasoned long distance riders with all participants completing the distance of 1770 kms from Coffs Harbour to Gundagai and return in less than 24 hrs safely. Well done to all the participants and our gratitude to member TJ189. Trevor was the driving force behind the concept and a shining example of a what a member of OzSTOC is prepared to do for his club and fellow club members. Another pre certified IBA 1600K long distance ride is currently in the planning stages for the West Coast in 2015/2016.
Members ridden on:
This year the club was extremely saddened at the advised passing of 2 of our fellow members;
Bluehonda - (Brad) from NSW passed away in February after a short illness. Brad was passionate about motorcycling and motorcycling safety, Brad was a accredited motorcycle riding instructor and member of the Blue Knights and Ulysses motorcycle clubs. Brad's beloved ST1100 has since found a new home in FNQ with a fellow member.
Whizz-(Paul) from QLD and finally SA, passed away after a long illness. Paul was a well respected contributing member of the club and became an OzSTOC forum Moderator in later years. Paul elected to withdraw quietly from the club well prior to his passing as he was no longer able to ride his beloved ST1300 and reading of our club fun filled exploits became just to difficult.
OzSTOC motorcycle jacket:
The much anticipated OzSTOC jacket has taken a number of unexpected turns in the production process, some 80 members took the opportunity to purchase the jacket that has yet to be delivered. We still firmly believe that when the jackets are delivered to our members in the near future we will have a product of exceptional quality for the price and a riding garment that will be the yard stick that many other bike specific clubs could only aspire to achieve.
The Jacket was hotly debated and the current version only just won the race.....here was the other option tested
Members contributions:
The mantle of OzSTOC has always been to have a motorcycle club completely free of any required membership fees, this has proven to be a real winner for the organisation and its members and will remain into the foreseeable future of OzSTOC.
The club does naturally have a number of running costs that must be taken into consideration each year, the main cost being the forum website hosting and associated costs which currently run to near $1000 each year, additionally other costs are born by the club in relation to keeping the doors open and the lights on, even small items like State and Territory club flags, the pre purchase of OzSTOC shop supplies, and the various costs associated with hosting Nationally Rally each year. Venue's, buses, Guest speakers etc.
To this end we ask of members each year or anytime during the year to contribute what they feel they get from the club and it's informative forum that gives you access to great motorcycling related reading, technical information, OzSTOC preferred suppliers and the Riders Assistance Network just to name a few benefits members can access. A contribution of any amount of your choosing is sincerely appreciated to keep the OzSTOC family boat afloat.
The OzSTOC facebook page:
We have a considerable following of members and non members on our OzSTOC Facebook page, we mostly utilise the FB page as a club bulletin board for our events with links back to the OzSTOC forum as well as the occasional motorcycling related FB share. We avoid using our FB page as a discussion forum/chat room page. Any questions posed to our FB page we attempt to answer by diverting the enquiry back to the forum to avoid having discussions occurring in two differing locations, but we do sincerely appreciate members liking and sharing our FB page and we do have a review section on our FB page if you would like to leave a review and comment on your OzSTOC club experience. We currently have a 4.7 out of a possible 5 Star FB rating from our members, a rating we are very proud of considering our clubs growing size.
Rider Assistance Network:
We currently have 60 members who have offered to take part in the the OzSTOC RAN scheme, we have used the facility 3 times over the previous year with breakdown assist assistance being provided to members. Any member can ring the RAN number for assistance at any time, we have with us at all times a member map that highlights the OzSTOC members who have offered assist to other members in any small way should they have an unlikely breakdown on an ST or any other motorcycle they are riding.
As always we are continually looking for more members to be apart of the assistance program, everyone has assistance to offer, you may just not realise it.
So it's been another productive and progressive year for our entire club, we wish all members and their loved ones a healthy & happy year ahead and we look forward to 2015 and the adventures that lie ahead for OzSTOC.
Here is an older youtube clip of what OzSTOC is all about.....
Thanks for being part of a great OzSTOC year.
Saaz, Pockey and ST2UP
