Grease Monkey Monthly Meetings - Auckland Crew

As part of the whole Grease Monkey Reboot thing we are starting to hold regular catch up sessions on a monthly basis. I'm expecting these to be fairly small to start off with but getting bigger as we start to spread the message. For the Auckland Crew these meetings will be on the second Sunday of the month, starting on 8th February at Salt Lake Cycles in Helensville. Since this is the first one I could probably fire the BBQ up if we make it around 2pm. It's quite a nice ride out to the Ville but we can change the venue to suit everybody after the first one.

The purpose of this meeting is to make a few decisions on what sort of a club you want Grease Monkeys to be and what you would like us to do as a group and how we can grow, put on more social events and get more people into building and actually riding custom bikes. There seems to be a huge interest in building some café racer projects at the minute so it's good to see a bit of diversity for a change. So, as we said in the earlier posts, there's no pressure to attend regular meetings if you don't want to. You can still be part of the club but we do encourage participation and feedback so we know what it is you are looking for and how we can help.

Cheers
Irish

If I can make it, I will.

Mmmmmm BBQ There's a real potential here to get this off the ground and build up a network of like minded people coming together to share skills , ideas, projects and good times. The facility Irish has available is fantastic to start with so get the word out there, come along and make your self known.

Cheers, David.

Unfortunately, I am not going to be able to make our first official club meeting... which I am very gutted about.
Come hell or high water, I will be at the next one!

I would like to put my 2cents worth in by communicating my thoughts on what sort of club I envisage GM’s to be, what we can do initially to spread the word and possibly other events.

It’s been said before, but I cannot reiterate enough GM’s should be a social club with no hard-core rules, no stress about having to attend or your bike not being flash enough.

I believe meeting at the Caffeine & Classics was a good start; we did draw a bit of attention... Not sure how the organisers would feel, but a strategically placed club banner would have made it very clear who we are, and what we’re about.
If all agree, I would be happy to approach the organisers to see where they stand on this?
Attending more of these events and other events similar could do nothing but help getting the word out.

A poker run here and there would be good, they’re always fun... probably won’t be playing for prizes initially but we have to start somewhere.

Club meetings every second Sunday of the month, maybe at different places... take turns hosting? Good motivation to clean the shed.

Shed raids sounds like a great idea… get along to a members shed to have a geezer at what they are building, could coincide nicely with that member hosting a club meeting.

I’m also a strong advocate of a club build… this could get sticky in regards to who owns it etc... but if someone had a project and parts and wanted help, a bunch of us could help every second Sunday… a great way to learn off some of the more experienced builders we are lucky to have around us.

I’d personally like to have a club logo, so we can have some T shirts and similar made up.

So, sadly I won’t be there Sunday… but I hope it’s a good turn out and we can make this club something very cool that we can get as much from it as we put into it.

See you when the mud dries.
Coops

Sorry Guys got a dose of man flu so will have to pass on this one

Jon61 called in on the way past the shop this afternoon. He was on a 170 km trip to finish running in his freshly rebuilt Ironhead. He can't be there tomorrow but he's interested to see how it all develops.
I had put the word out on Facebook and picked up a few more people so there is definitely some interest out there. So keep spreading the word. Much as the grumpy old man in me hates it, social media has worked really well for me so don't be afraid to use it. The more support we can drum up the better.

Keith, sorry to hear about your man flu.. as we all know man flu is the worst kind.
Hope you feel better soon.

Jon, Facebook and the like are unfortunately where it's at these days  though word of mouth is still good advertising.
Come on people, come on and get involved... great things are about to happen. 

As I've had a change of plans, I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Keep on rocking.
Coops

We should probably look at a Grease Monkeys Facebook page? Jon... did I sense you just got a little bit more grumpy 

I'll come out for a ride, I'm keen to check out the new workshop and i'll hopefully pick up rene on the way through,
see you all there

Surprising number of people interested on Facebook. Short notice for most so they're saying if they can't make this one they'll definitely come to the next.

Guys we had a great turn out today at Salt Lake Cycles workshop for the first of the monthly catch ups, thanks Jon and Sara for the use of the fantastic facility, it really has a great vibe.

The turnout we had proved without a doubt that what we have is something very cool, and I’m sure this will get bigger and better... Possibly fairly quickly.

For those of you that were unable to attend today, we discussed:

Regular monthly meetings, possible ride then finish up at SLC workshop for a beer or coffee.
Learning sessions from skilled guys amongst us, possibly starting with Colin showing us how to weld and fabricate.
Organised rides
A Grease Monkeys Facebook page
A reboot of the Grease Monkeys forum, including a better use of the current site, namely using the calendar to list rides.
A Grease Monkey logo.

Hope to see you at the next catch up.
Coops (Tim)

It was great catching up with everyone, sorry I couldn't stay longer. The whole concept is looking quite exciting.
The calendar could be used for everything, including learning sessions.