| Author | Message | ||
     Racerboy |
A little background...First we formed an independent Buell club and called it St Louis Area Buellers...We said we were associated with all the area Buell dealers and they cooperated by giving us a notice of each new Buell sale...When BRAG was formed we formed a BRAG club through a Buell dealer here in St Louis...About a year later at the International Motorcycle Show here I stopped at the HSTA booth and spoke with two of the local organizers...It quickly became apparent that our riding styles were very compatable...Our typical Buell rides were 300+ miles at a quick pace and so were theirs...As a matter of a fact, the length of our rides was a detraction to some but there was a core group of active riders and we really couldn't meet everyone's needs so we catered to this core group...Take a look at the St Louis Area Buellers thread on this site and you'll find all the suspects composing the core group...John and I went on a HSTA ride and had a blast...At one point we both felt they were even riding a bit too fast for the sight lines and even backed off (ride your own ride)...We invited them to join us on our Third Sunday SLAB ride and very soon there were more HSTAers than SLABers...Our Buell dealer lost their H-D/Buell franchises and we let our BRAG club lapse but by now our SLAB ride had really evolved into another HSTA monthly ride and many of us had joined HSTA...We had even moved our monthly meeting to the same time and location as HSTA's... So it's that "H" in HSTA that everyone wonders about...Soon after I joined HSTA they had a national election to determine whether or not to drop "Honda" from their name...That's how marquee blind they are...But Honda donates two bikes a year that are given away at the national rally (this year in Charleston WV a ST1300)...So, hey, we voted to keep Honda in the name...But it is a neat club because as you transit from brand to brand as either your needs or rides change you can stay in the same club...Are you going adventure touring to AK?...Or you're a sport tourer kinda rider and suddenly there are no more S3T's but there are FJR1300's, ST1300's, and K1200GT's...I hope I have explained how and why "Honda" is in the name but here in STL there are far more "other" brands in our club than Honda and that's true nationally... Check out HSTA at http://www.ridehsta.com/ Note the number of short three day rallies they hold and their locations... If you have any questions you can either post here or email me... See Ya! Bob | ||
| Blake |
Bob, Glad you found some new friends with whom to ride. Not sure why you are promoting a Honda based org here though. Personally I hate riding with a huge pack of bikes. Just me and and few friends is my preferred "group ride" scenario. I HATE rallies too. I guess when it comes to riding, I prefer solitude or a few friends over a gaggle of other bikers. I'll wave at everyone though as I pass them. If I want to see a bunch of other bikes, I'll head over to the local weekly bike night gathering place to socialize. "I hope I have explained how and why "Honda" is in the name" Yeah, apparently they sponsor the group.  "...but here in STL there are far more "other" brands in our club than Honda and that's true nationally..." If you had one Buell and one Ducati, versus a hundred Hondas, you'd have "far more other brands" than Honda. From the website... Glad you found a riding group you enjoy. I'm still not sure how I feel about you promoting it here free of charge. I pretty much don't like it, but that may be the inner azzhole in me trying to come out.  Any chance HSTA would give BadWeB reciprocal free exposure. If not... what do you think is fair? | ||
| Blake |
Almost forgot... I'm perfectly fine with posting this in the SLAB Storm Front. | ||
| Racerboy |
Blake...Go back to HSTA's national site and take a look at their links and I think it's a great idea to add a link to this site...I'll try to make that happen as soon as possible... One really humorous aspect that has occurred since the Buellers here started riding with HSTA is one of our own, Ed, sold his Buell and bought a second H-D...Now Ed is an x road racer (as in Daytona) so he shows up for one of the first rides we did combined on an Ultra and rides all day with guys on R1's and the like in the first (go fast) group...At the end of the day they were all like "who is this guy?"...Ed's name still comes up as someone remembers and marvels at the way he could ride that big bike... See Ya! Bob | ||
| Josh |
Blake, actually it's pretty hard to find a Honda on the rides. R1s, Bandits, BMWs, lots of dual-sports etc. Rides consist of 5-15 people and they/we have scheduled rides twice a month. I've officially joined but don't plan on attending any rallys. |
