Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Biker Or Not Psychology

Last Monday evening I took a ride to Carlsbad, a seaside town in northern San Diego County, to hang out with some guys from another riding club in that area. We sat around the firepit at this place called Cafe Elysa, and chatted the night away.

This club held their first annual poker run a few months ago, and I asked them how it went. They said the turn out wasn't as large as they had originally expected. They had counted on about 200 people, and instead about 50 participated.

They got the 200 figure after counting all the people who had committed to attending through a popular biker social site called Biker Or Not. They had publicized their poker run on that site, and attracted some 200 people RSVPing as "yes". But in the end, they only got 50 total people, and those all came from within their club plus their associated friends.

Well because this club counted on all 200 showing up, they advised this restaurant, which was providing the meals for the poker run, to expect 200-250 people. When they found out only 50 showed up, the restaurant got really pissed about it. The club had to fork over the money it earned from the poker run to pay for the extra food that the restaurant bought.

So while Biker Or Not still has a large user base of which to promote your events to, you can't rely on its users to actually show up when they say they will.

I'm not necessarily sure why that is.

I tend to believe that some people have been able to promote their event through Biker Or Not, and get a good turnout. I imagine it has more to do with how popular the event organizer is, as opposed to the event itself.

Biker Or Not is a singles site, not necessarily a social networking site, unless you want to think of dating as "social networking". At least, that's what 80% of its users use it for. It stands to reason that single bikers have different priorities than married bikers.

When it comes to taking joy rides through the countryside, it seems like the folks who put on the most miles, are the ones not looking for a date. If you're trying to find dedicated riders for your riding club, maybe that's your target demographic.

Though, I tend to think it's still good idea to advertise your poker run on Biker Ot Not; you just shouldn't use it to figure out how many meals to prepare.

But not to diss the people on Biker Or Not, I think if I was to find myself single, I'd probably spend more time there also. It just seems that there's a significant contrast in motorcycling habits between single bikers and married bikers.


  1. Hmmm...maybe I'll check this out. Doesn't suprise me that the numbers were not there. Most people will not commit to anything cramps their style, which is lack of style in my book. If you say you are going to attend something you better be there unless someone died. That is true respect, unlike the punk version of respect.

    This is why so many clubs will require money up front now and reservations.

  2. I Think is far superior. The purpose of the site is ups!'s name is a play on the HotOrNot's name, which makes it sound pretty lame to me in the first place anyways.

    There are tons of motorcycle groups on too.

  3. BON is a JOKE!!!! I have met a few real riders! and some nice folks, but as far as a woman rider trying to network w/ other women riders on BON, for ACTUAL RIDING, not man-chasing, it sucks....I will remain there because there are some cool peeps that I consider as my friends there...but I do not ride to get profile there states just that.

  4. BON...I've been there for about 2.5 years. From what I have experienced regarding the invited ride groups, there are really only a few (LuvBug..and a few others...)who actually get the numbers to show. Not just commit.
    Your right not to "depend" on the commited riders on the website. I have found, when you have 200 who have commited...count on 12 to 25 showing up.
    Oh, and I don't use the site for a dating site...I have about five people there I keep up with...friends.

  5. I dont know of any Site where u are able to get the exact number of people that will ACTUALLY show up for an event... it depends on weather... the location of invited individuals... hell , i belong to that site and have a few people that join whatsever on my page..even if its not meant for them... I have hosted several events that i have posted in BoN but I am realistic to know that even when planning a wedding 30% of guests who RSVP WILL NOT SHOW UP!
    Did they person in charge of that run do any "research" on the people that clicked "attend event/ride"? Most are women without bikes of thier own or some yahoo from 700 miles away..while u might get the occasional out of state person for a local run... dont count on them.. I am planning a breakfast and an evening get together later this month... a BoN event in every sense of the word... as the only place it is advertised is on BoN... when sending out invites..i didnt send them to random people..sent them to people i actually converse with on BoN and in real life... while i have 50 ppl saying they will attend the night party.. i am only expecting about 30... 100 attending breakfast... not havinf the kitchen cook for 100 tho... only about 60. I will also send out a mass email to all signed up to attend a bout 4 days prior to the events and ask for a head count...
    I have been on committees for many events and rides in the biker community...large and small ... and u only get the numbes if the cause is something well known (like breast cancer) and event is well advertised... and even then..u can never tell if ur gonna get 100 or 1000...

  6. The flip side is you get all these folks that send you invites for any and every cause. Its like spam. Don't send the invites and just wait for folks to come to you. There are too many runs now. The "Stop Nailbiting Run" started the whole fad.

  7. I have two comments on the subject. I belong to several riding groups, and turnout at events, and meetings is always a major issue. I beleive our society has become this way in the past 10 years. You cannot count on people in general, they will let you down.
    Hold on to the true biker friends you have, you can always count on them. The second comment I have about BON is that there are a few good people on there that are sincere. For the most part, there are a lot of wannabe's and Women that are chasing a Man. It is more of a Social site than a Biker site.

  8. Yeah I been on BON for almost 2 yrs, and havent met up with any of the supposed single women that say they love to ride, wether on the back or on their own, WTF!! Last time I checked I wasnt that fkn bad lookin! Pretty Bogus.

  9. I've been on Biker or Not since early 2008, and I have met a lot of nice people. One of the guys I met was from 200 miles away and we dated for a few months, traveling back and forth. I am married now to a non-biker. I still stay on BON because I have friends on there. I'm not a wanna-be, more of a used-to-be.

  10. I'm on BoN — have been for a year now — and have met the best group of bikers anywhere there. I see BoN as the Facebook for bikers. We keep in touch there but we also plan many events there — runs, parties, music events, bike nights, rally information, etc.— and we all are respectful about indicating ON the event page if we are RSVPing because we plan to participate or if it's only because we are helping promote the event by having it on our profile and having it show on the main page each time we make a comment on the event page. If you want to meet a dedicated group of BONsters as we call ourselves, sign on and hit up most anyone in the Oklahoma chapter. You'll see what all of BoN should be like. ;)


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