Author Topic: OzSTOC.com's Heritage..... One Member's View.....  (Read 2700 times)

Offline Diesel

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OzSTOC.com's Heritage..... One Member's View.....
« on: April 17, 2012, 05:23:49 PM »
Basically – there have been 3 metamorphoses / phases of the Club we enjoy today...
1) The Ozmoto stage with Craig and his original bulletin board
2) Enter Diesel ..... where the email group bulletin board comes back into life and Group Rides become commonplace.
3) Streak, and www.ozstoc.com

My bit.....
I had finished the kids thing and wanted to get back onto a bike and started looking all over – mainly at two types – the Hayabusa and the Blackbird. My research took me all over the web and I was actually planning a trip to Canberra to look at a ‘Bird to ride home.

At this time, I stumbled across a most fantastic read of a brave chap who rode the new (at the time) Kawasaki GTR1400 across Australia AND BACK in 6 odd days! It turned out to be the legendary ‘Davo’ Jones of FarRiders fame. It was really inspiring stuff.

I read more and more about distance and endurance riding and realised that this is now where my desire laid. I wanted to see more of our great country on two wheels, so I had changed my research for a more suitable and practical long distance weapon. I was allured by the Sports Touring range. It came down to the usual suspects.... the GTR1400, the FJR1300 or the ST1100/1300.

After months of exhausting research, I settled on the ST1300 and went on the hunt. Success! I instantly found that it lived up to or surpassed all the expectations I had had.

I found a lot of great advice on international websites and forums to help me with maintenance, repairs, and general ST fellowshipping.

This led me to Craig’s old website and the email group here in Oz. After making a few friends there, I decided to try my luck and organise a group ride for people close (geographically) to me. This was well received, and more rides ensued, making for the beginnings of the Australian ST Owners Club (OzSTOC).

As time went by, every time I saw an ST parked somewhere, I approached its owner, or left a handwritten note on the bike to see if they were aware of the forum, and to hopefully join in the next ride around SE Qld.

This became quite successful and instead of seeing just my bike on the roads around here – we had up to 13 STs on outings. The numbers were growing... 

They’ve all come out of the woodwork. And they’re all great ladies and gentlemen too. I want to acknowledge that there are a number of ST stalwarts that kept the Yahoo email list ticking over for many years, and these guys are still regular and invaluable contributors these days. The depth of knowledge everyone brings is immeasurable.

It was time to organise a brand. As a group, we decided on the OzSTOC logo, and had vest patches made up to reflect our ST passion. OzSTOC was born!

Then along came Graham - Streak (Phase 3). Graham has been instrumental in getting the next phase of OzSTOC happening. He manufactured the patches, and produced our OzSTOC branded polo shirts.

We then teamed up to give this great community a home. The OzSTOC website! This could not have been accomplished without our fantastic membership handing the hat around to help out financially for their new home. Streak and I no longer had to reach into our own pockets - and it wasn't our idea - the Members all chipped in off their own bats! Thanks to all as you are all enjoying the result of helping out.

All the while on this journey, enthusiasm and membership has grown, and there is now a high level of interest in what we are doing, and where we are going amongst our members, and even some community businesses and organisations who recognise the importance of being associated with groups such as ours.


We have now enjoyed a national meeting at Blackheath (near Katoomba in the Blue Mountains) where everyone from all over, met up and shared a yarn during the weekend, and put faces to forum names. It was a roaring success, and a great prelude to our next National Meeting at Victor Harbor in 2013.

Speaking of forum names – a lot of fun has been had with them – you see, you get your forum name bestowed upon you from the group after doing something stoopid! So we have “Skid” “Skip” “Tipsy” “Diesel” and “Couch” to name a few – there’s a story behind each of these.

We are from all over Australia, Europe and the United States, and often seen riding around our respective regions, and always looking for new members to welcome in and share their experiences with us. Joining is easy and the fun is forever.

We keep going from strength to strength with well over 230 strong membership and 120 OzSTOC shirts sold. This story is far from finished, but each chapter seems to be a best seller!

Thanks to all you great Members for making this a great place to be.

See ya round somewhere.

Cheers, Diesel
« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 08:29:03 AM by Diesel »
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