National HONDA club?

[bicyclist]

Is there a national Honda riders club of any sort? In the BMW community, there's the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America, which is a private national club not affiliated with BMW. Do Honda riders have something similar, or is there only the factory "club"?

 

[Phil Tarman]

Re: National club

George, I came to the NT from a classic 1000cc Kawasaki Concours, a bike that was manufactured from 1986 till 2006. I attended six or seven National Rallies during the 11 years I was member of the Concours Owners Group and was lucky enough to travel "Over The Pond" and attend the GCE Rally (GCE = GTR Club Europe and "GTR" is the name of the Concours in Europe). But from 2006 till 2010, the year I bought my NT and the last year I attended a COG National Rally, the club became increasingly politicized and quit being as much fun as it had been in my early years. Members who had provided valuable and appreciated services were seemingly cast aside because of differences of opinion.

The club has greatly declined in membership (and enjoyment) since 2010. When I bought the NT, we started using the Forum as the "club," and in my NSHO, it's all the club we need.

We've got Rallies (regional and national), the RAN (Rider Assistance Network?) list, and we've got a community of support with no huge structural overhead.

What more could we want?

I'm serious about that question, BTW. In COG, one of the benefits we had for a while was the Concourier, a quarterly magazine that had tech info, ride reports, and other stuff of interest. But publishing a magazine was a draining endeavor and made anyone who participated in getting it out a target for the critics. In today's world, a Forum like this seems to work pretty well.

If there were an NT-Owners Club, I'd probably join, but I'm pretty happy with what we've got.

As I've written this, it's been nibbling on the edge of my feeble memory that there may be a Honda Sport Riding Club of some sort, but I haven't seen anything about it in quite a while.

 

[junglejim]

Re: National club

I'm right with Phil. I saw the same thing in COG and ended up with an NT myself.
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
We have about everything we could need or want right here.
As long as we don't drive our Mods nuts and force them to quit, we have a good thing.

 

[Husker]

Re: National club

I for one would like to thank the moderators. This is a great forum and I"m glad to.be associated with it. The help here is offered to everyone freely. Which I feel is a good thing.

 

[EX Winger]

Re: National club

I fully agree with Jim & Phil, I also was a cogger but left it when I bought a new Wing in 04.I am aware of the hrmc but that is a group composing of ALL modles, TOO BIG and not a nice small group like this forum. Here there is a extremely knowledgable group and very good information about NT's in particular.

Eldon

 

[RedNigel]

Re: National club

I just sort of joined a group of riders out of Rockwall, TX.
I went on my first ride with them on Saturday. There are 47 names on the mailing list but it appears the core of the group consists of 4 or 5 couples who have been riding together for 4-5 yrs.
They do dinner rides a couple of nights a month in the nice weather (not interested)
And day rides once a month, plus a couple of weekenders this year.
The group I rode in on Saturday consisted of 5 bikes. Not too bad. We rode to the Carpenter's Bluff (100+ yr old one-laner across the Red River) bridge and back, having breakfast along the way.
So far all 'Wings and my NT, but all types and brands are welcome
Next month there is a weekender to the TX Hill Country to ride the "3 Sisters" AKA "The Twisted Sisters", regarded by many as the best 100 moto-miles in Texas
They mostly hotel it on long trips because of spousal participation, but I think I may use the KOA in Kerrville!
They seem to be good folks, and they welcomed me with open arms, so I am going to ride with them a few times and see what happens.

 

[Mellow]

The Kerrville-Schriener park is cheaper and better IMO than the KOA so you may want to give that a try.. The 3 Sisters is a nice ride and you can do them all and still include breakfast and lunch... BUT.. again, IMO.. River Road between Presidio, TX and Study Butte, TX is the best road.. LOL

 

[RedNigel]

The Kerrville-Schriener park is cheaper and better IMO than the KOA

I guess it doesn't matter
I was just asking my wife about those dates and it seems I will be in San Antonio for my daughter's college graduation
Guess i'll have to go another time

Its not like I ve never ridden those roads before

 

[elizilla]

There's a group that used to be called the HSTA, Honda Sport Touring Association. They changed their name a few years ago to MSTA, Motorcycle Sport Touring Association. I am most familiar with them in Michigan and Ohio, but they are a national organization I believe. I always have a good time at their events. One of their events had the most NTs I ever saw in one place, too.

 

[DirtFlier]

Yes, the HSTA became the MSTA several years ago after a vote of the membership. It originally started in 1982 and was called the "Honda V4 Riders Club," then changed into HSTA to encompass all-Honda riders but roughly half of the membership had a primary bike that wasn't a Honda so the club started the slow drift towards "Motorcycle Sport Touring Assn." From the beginning it was always open to riders of other brands but we found it too difficult to get them to join so this made it easier.

We have 10 national events (membership required), a bunch of "Just for Fun" events, and breakfast or lunch rides which are open to all. It is an all-volunteer club so none of the state or national officers receive pay for their hard work. We started a new policy several years ago where a non-member who paid for the event would receive free club membership for a year, saving the $25 annual membership fee. I've been a member since I moved to OH in 1990.

From our years as the HSTA we still have a fair-to-good connection with American Honda, the American Distributorship so from time to time they showcase prototype bikes at our National Events. We had VFR1200 plus NT demo rides at Taos, NM several years ago and last year they brought the CB1200F for a show-and-tell at Avon, CO. This was highly unusual because demo rides are typically limited to huge events such as Daytona, Sturgis, Americade, etc.

If you're interested just punch "Motorcycle Sport Touring Assn" into web search and our website will come up, or you can send me a PM.

Tosh

ps. end of non-paid promotion for the MSTA!

 

[bicyclist]

There's a group that used to be called the HSTA, Honda Sport Touring Association. They changed their name a few years ago to MSTA, Motorcycle Sport Touring Association. I am most familiar with them in Michigan and Ohio, but they are a national organization I believe. I always have a good time at their events. One of their events had the most NTs I ever saw in one place, too.

If you're interested just punch "Motorcycle Sport Touring Assn" into web search and our website will come up, or you can send me a PM.

There ya go! Thanks, Katherine and Tosh; that's what I was looking for.

 

[Pick]

There is a Honda Rider's Club of America (http://hrca.honda.com/). I don't remember where I heard about it. I joined, but after the welcome message I haven't heard anything more.

 

[DirtFlier]

The HRCA was never a real club and relied heavily on dealers to set-up local chapters and it typically wasn't high on the list of things for them to do. The HRCA had one event per year, the Honda Hoot, and at certain other events HRCA members got some perks such as entrance into a hospitality area, door prizes, etc. As far as I know, it's only on the internet and I honestly haven't looked at that site in eons.

Except for Harley, none of the manufacturers have a real club they sponsor with local rides, regional events, national rally, etc.