Hi

As well as this site I am also a member of motobrick.com, as I am sure are many of you.

A few days ago a message appeared in the header saying the site needed to be sold.

The site was briefly taken down today but seems to be available once more at the moment.

A few of us on motobrick.com had started two threads in the hope of finding a way to save the site.

In case it goes down again I am going to link this thread so we can continue to look for ways to help here if necessary.

Looks like it's down again, in "Maintenance Mode" with just an advert for the sale.  

Unfortunately unless an individual with cash in hand steps in it's probably gone forever at this point.  From my point of view that someone would have to have a financial interest in running a "Brick" site, a parts vendor or repair shop.  Even making it a paid site isn't likely to generate enough funds to cover someones costs in hosting, domain, and management.

I hope to see all the inmates from the asylum over here...

Jim

This subject begs a question.

Should we be making a contribution to CF in relation to our forum? At this point it feels to me like if our forum were not here it would be like a large part of life was gone with it. Facebook is just not the same thing.
Some of the parts suppliers around the world, UK, AU, USA and a few more get a lot of positive support from the forum.
Would it be worth having a page where they might for a relatively modest fee have all of their details and possibly a link on a page. I am not suggesting an endorsement, the feedback within the forum would provide lots of reviews. I don't see it as a big number of suppliers but keeping the costs keen would help. I have since the start of this year bought from Motobins and James Sherlock based on what I have read here and so far am very satisfied with them.

CF, over to you.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:This subject begs a question.

Should we be making a contribution to CF in relation to our forum? At this point it feels to me like if our forum were not here it would be like a large part of life was gone with it. Facebook is just not the same thing.
A couple of years ago, the forum members were very generous and sent me enough money to be able to run the forum for few more years.

Some of the parts suppliers around the world, UK, AU, USA and a few more get a lot of positive support from the forum.
Would it be worth having a page where they might for a relatively modest fee have all of their details and possibly a link on a page. I am not suggesting an endorsement, the feedback within the forum would provide lots of reviews. I don't see it as a big number of suppliers but keeping the costs keen would help. I have since the start of this year bought from Motobins and James Sherlock based on what I have read here and so far am very satisfied with them.

This could be easily done but more than money, prizes could be offered for things like the picture contest. The year after the forum started, I had a company offering a 10% discount to forum members. This company also sent me "Welcome gifts" for advertising their site. ALL these gifts had been redistributed to forum members.

CF, over to you

BTW: Motobrick is online tonight

Yes Motobrick is back and I hope it stays that way.

I am not a huge fan of corporate sponsorship or advertising etc on forums. I can see that sometimes it is a necessary evil but being English myself I guess I have some "mad scientist working in the shed" mentality built into my DNA and feel that forums like this should be free to all and that they are more about gifted crazy amateurs than they are about sales or professionals.

The corporate world has taken over huge parts of all our day to day lives - please leave us our hobbies alone!  

I want to read a recommendation on this or another forum and know it was posted because it works, not because someone got the item free for posting a review etc.

If needed I am more than happy to contribute a few bucks a month to keep a site unbiased, but on a voluntary basis not a compulsory membership fee.  Maybe I am just an anachronism...

Nevertheless well done CF and keep up the good work

Filmcamera wrote:Yes Motobrick is back and I hope it stays that way.

I'm from there too but that downtime was a wake-up call that nothing lasts forever and that I'm totally dependent on folks that know more than me when it comes to K-Bikes, otherwise I might as well just use it for a big paperweight and buy a new Honda. I went to Motobrick because my bricks only have 3 cylinders -- hope people won't hold the missing cylinder against me here.

A K is a K is a K whether it has the 3 or 4 cylinders. Having recently tried a K75 Ultima I have to say they are rather nice and nothing missing apart from 1 spark plug.

I use the motobrick too but I love the atmosphere on this forum and have met some great people here.

As regards Filmcamera's comment I agree entirely with him. I was thinking more that places like Motorworks, Motobins and other suppliers around the world would have a simple business card like advert for small money so that none were beholden to anyone. Mercedes Enthusiast as a magazine had a similar section which was extremely useful if you were looking for parts or specialist services and advertisers paid very small money for the space but cumulatively it made a difference.

Has anyone asked the cost because I saw that classickbikes was for sale and found it was $3.99 and might take it yet.

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:
As regards Filmcamera's comment I agree entirely with him. I was thinking more that places like Motorworks, Motobins and other suppliers around the world would have a simple business card like advert for small money so that none were beholden to anyone. Mercedes Enthusiast as a magazine had a similar section which was extremely useful if you were looking for parts or specialist services and advertisers paid very small money for the space but cumulatively it made a difference.

At least we could get a discount for forum members in exchange of advertisement on the forum.
Does anybody want to volunteer to work on contacting the 3rd party suppliers and see what they would be interested to give us in exchange for ads?
CF

Crazy Frog wrote:

92KK 84WW Olaf wrote:This subject begs a question.

Should we be making a contribution to CF in relation to our forum? At this point it feels to me like if our forum were not here it would be like a large part of life was gone with it. Facebook is just not the same thing.
A couple of years ago, the forum members were very generous and sent me enough money to be able to run the forum for few more years.

Some of the parts suppliers around the world, UK, AU, USA and a few more get a lot of positive support from the forum.
Would it be worth having a page where they might for a relatively modest fee have all of their details and possibly a link on a page. I am not suggesting an endorsement, the feedback within the forum would provide lots of reviews. I don't see it as a big number of suppliers but keeping the costs keen would help. I have since the start of this year bought from Motobins and James Sherlock based on what I have read here and so far am very satisfied with them.

This could be easily done but more than money, prizes could be offered for things like the picture contest. The year after the forum started, I had a company offering a 10% discount to forum members. This company also sent me "Welcome gifts" for advertising their site. ALL these gifts had been redistributed to forum members.

CF, over to you

BTW: Motobrick is online tonight

Crazy Frog, you're a top bloke

Crazy Frog wrote:A couple of years ago, the forum members were very generous and sent me enough money to be able to run the forum for few more years.

Bert, if this is working, why change it. Personally, I agree with Filmcamera. I think advertisments will detract from this forum's amenity.
For me, it a nice place to come to enjoy reading other member's stories from around the world, get information and join in some conversation with like minded K-bikers. I think advertising will detract from this.

Our members have proven in the past that they are more than willing to invest financially in the forum's future. If funds are needed, throw up your Paypal details so we can make another contribution.... and this time buy yourself a bottle of single malt You deserve it for all the work you've put into getting this forum going and keeping it running.

Cheers

In the UK a guy I know runs a BMW forum. He paid for it from his small one man independent BMW Service and Repair business. A year or so ago when he planned to retire, he published how much it cost him to run it. Within days users pledged the required amount to run it.

This year, again within days, the running costs have been met.

We can easily do the same on this forum in support of Bert (Crazy Frog).

Mike

To all the people who replied.. Thank you
Money to run the forum is not an issue for now, but I was thinking it would be good to get a little something for our members in the line of "door prizes" or discount on purchases.
I am not planning to get the forum taken over by corporations, but I think it would be nice to have them at least being listed on the forum. They are the people providing us with spare parts when we need them and if they go under we will be out of luck.

I may create a poll to see what the overall members are thinking of the idea.
As a democratic forum, we will respect the voice of the majority.

Bert

I have heard of a local businessman who makes his living by directing visitors to the websites of hotels, restaurants and attractions in Niagara Falls.  He gets a few cents every time someone clicks on an advertiser's link at his site.

Would it be possible to have an agreement with various vendors of K bike parts and services to pay for clicks generated at this forum. 

Instead of littering the pages with pop up ads, could a separate marketplace be set up in the forum with links to companies who want to do business with members.  They could post specials there, special discount codes, or company news.  It could be a convenient place for members to find the things they need for their bikes.  I know it would save me the effort of squinting at my bookmark list trying to find a vendor who may have the parts I need.

I have no idea how hard it would be to set up.  As they say, "ignorance is bliss".

Google do this with AdWords. You choose how big and where you want the ads. They push relevant advertising to the panel based on site keywords and content. The site gets a pay per click fee from Google.
I don't know how flexible that would be with a preformated site that our forum uses.

Personally, I don't wish to see advertising on our forum.
Sponsorship of prizes and giveaways would be ok tho.

Point-Seven-five wrote:Instead of littering the pages with pop up ads, could a separate marketplace be set up in the forum with links to companies who want to do business with members.  They could post specials there, special discount codes, or company news.  It could be a convenient place for members to find the things they need for their bikes.  I know it would save me the effort of squinting at my bookmark list trying to find a vendor who may have the parts I need.

I have no idea how hard it would be to set up.  As they say, "ignorance is bliss".

This is exactly what I was thinking and it would be easy to setup.
I don't want any popup ads as we pay to have them removed.

Crazy Frog wrote:

Point-Seven-five wrote:Instead of littering the pages with pop up ads, could a separate marketplace be set up in the forum with links to companies who want to do business with members.  They could post specials there, special discount codes, or company news.  It could be a convenient place for members to find the things they need for their bikes.  I know it would save me the effort of squinting at my bookmark list trying to find a vendor who may have the parts I need.

I have no idea how hard it would be to set up.  As they say, "ignorance is bliss".

This is exactly what I was thinking and it would be easy to setup.
I don't want any popup ads as we pay to have them removed.

That is sort of what I was thinking.

I don't like popups either but a page that you can go to if you wish where you would find a small advert and link for Motorworks or Motobins or injector reconditioning or whatever that might be relevant to the part of the world you are in would be useful. My use of Motobins or James Sherlock, for example, was prompted by references and experiences others on the forum wrote about. The internet has made some of these companies into the size that they are but I see some amazing price and availability differences that just now led me to splitting an order into three suppliers. If these suppliers see some business coming through the forum then they as well as us have a vested interest in keeping the forum alive.

One forum [not bikes] I use was actually set up by an independent outlet and the guy in fairness finances and runs it very objectively but he has generated lots of good business for himself in his locality but his invaluable technical advice reminds me of IngeK and more here and is freely given to all. Forum users get it all for free.

I'm utterly against ads but more than happy to stick my hand in my pocket again.

Dai, I think we all are against ads, but to have a separate section where vendors can post business information with links that would generate revenue when we use them would not be intrusive.  It would be convenient for members, provide revenue for Bert, and generate business for the vendors.  It would be a win, win, win for all.

Crazy Frog wrote:To all the people who replied.. Thank you
Money to run the forum is not an issue for now, but I was thinking it would be good to get a little something for our members in the line of "door prizes" or discount on purchases.
I am not planning to get the forum taken over by corporations, but I think it would be nice to have them at least being listed on the forum. They are the people providing us with spare parts when we need them and if they go under we will be out of luck.

I may create a poll to see what the overall members are thinking of the idea.
As a democratic forum, we will respect the voice of the majority.

Bert

Whew, just had a 85 K100 RS refugee join the family, and I am clueless! I have been reading many posts at MB for days. 

I feel so lucky to get one at a time when information is so easily accessible.

Thank you for that wonderful forum.