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Our club (Gypsy Wheels) became affiliated with GWRRA back in the early 90's... That's when I was Assistant CD of our Chapter... My self and my buddy who was the CD built our Chapter from about 10 members to somewhere between 70-80 active members at any one time... We were the biggest Chapter in Illinois...
About 2 years ago, a lot of our members became very disenchanted with GWRRA and all the things we were being forced to do to if you were to be a Chapter Director, Assistant Director... Most of our membership didn't have the time and some didn't have the money to travel downstate to attend the required training classes...
Se after a club caucus we decided to drop out of GWRRA (as did a lot of other Chapters at the time)... State reps came up to our last GWRRA meeting and tried to talk us out of it, but the members said no deal... It was a very, very, heated meeting nearly coming to blows between one rep and one of our members... Anyway, we left and they said we wouldn't last a year...
It is now 2 years later and we have 68 active members on the roster (I'm Membership Coordinator so I know) and the club is strong as ever... For tax reasons, the club is currently affiliated with AGWA (American Gold Wing Association) and that seems to be working out pretty well...
I still belong to GWRRA mainly for Wing World... I rarely go to GWRRA sponsored events anymore but sometimes will attend Wing Ding...
Many people still like the organization but they lost a ton of members about 2 years ago when all this started with mandatory training... The best thing to do is go attend a meeting or two and ride with the group a few times to see if you like it, then make your own decision...
For us, it was time to leave and I doubt we will go back... We were Gypsy Wheels before GWRRA and we will be Gypsy Wheels long after our GWRRA affiliation ended...
Just one man's opinion - no offense intended - like I said, make your own decision...
Les
About 2 years ago, a lot of our members became very disenchanted with GWRRA and all the things we were being forced to do to if you were to be a Chapter Director, Assistant Director... Most of our membership didn't have the time and some didn't have the money to travel downstate to attend the required training classes...
Se after a club caucus we decided to drop out of GWRRA (as did a lot of other Chapters at the time)... State reps came up to our last GWRRA meeting and tried to talk us out of it, but the members said no deal... It was a very, very, heated meeting nearly coming to blows between one rep and one of our members... Anyway, we left and they said we wouldn't last a year...
It is now 2 years later and we have 68 active members on the roster (I'm Membership Coordinator so I know) and the club is strong as ever... For tax reasons, the club is currently affiliated with AGWA (American Gold Wing Association) and that seems to be working out pretty well...
I still belong to GWRRA mainly for Wing World... I rarely go to GWRRA sponsored events anymore but sometimes will attend Wing Ding...
Many people still like the organization but they lost a ton of members about 2 years ago when all this started with mandatory training... The best thing to do is go attend a meeting or two and ride with the group a few times to see if you like it, then make your own decision...
For us, it was time to leave and I doubt we will go back... We were Gypsy Wheels before GWRRA and we will be Gypsy Wheels long after our GWRRA affiliation ended...
Just one man's opinion - no offense intended - like I said, make your own decision...
Les
