What happened to the cycling forum?

[Skub]

I know it was many moons ago and it may be different now,but the Ben dude who owned Visordown did all right for himself,I believe. That place had lapsed into a shadow of it's former self by then,yet someone saw the value/potential.

When you say did alright for himself what are we talking, tens of thousands, hundreds?

No idea man,just hearsay really.

[weeksy]

I heard it was £45k but how true that is, I have no clue

[Mr. Dazzle]

There was a Visordown print magazine at one point I think? ISTR seeing it in the shop and thinking "Is that the same Visordown?".

[weeksy]

There was a Visordown print magazine at one point I think? ISTR seeing it in the shop and thinking "Is that the same Visordown?".

Yep, Ben went to work for the company

[KungFooBob]

Wasn't it a rebranded T.W.O?

[Potter]

I think TRC was busier than here and I remember WB saying it took up weekends and plenty of weekday evenings, and I don't think I'd give that time up for £45k. There are easier ways to make that sort of money than giving up all your free time.
It depends on how much time you had to give to it. I don't know how much time Ben put into VD.

I reckon it would be a lot of work to get a forum up to a point where you could market it for proper money.
It's massively hard work to build something up to generate real money, even with a decent head start.

[weeksy]

I think TRC was busier than here and I remember WB saying it took up weekends and plenty of weekday evenings, and I don't think I'd give that time up for £45k. There are easier ways to make that sort of money than giving up all your free time.
It depends on how much time you had to give to it. I don't know how much time Ben put into VD.

I reckon it would be a lot of work to get a forum up to a point where you could market it for proper money.
It's massively hard work to build something up to generate real money, even with a decent head start.

Yeah trc was busier than here for sure, so was VD at its best.

I don't put in much time here than I would if it wasn't mine, I'd still post just as much

It's not a question of work being needed, it's a question of users and content. With FB and insta now, getting that seems a lot harder

[Potter]

It's not a question of work being needed, it's a question of users and content. With FB and insta now, getting that seems a lot harder

I think social platforms have the potential to be massive, everyone these days is online, but it would be all consuming to get one right up there.
IME nothing comes for free, I think anything is possible but you'd have to work very hard to market it and that would take a lot from you.

Everyone I know (that talks to me honestly) that has built up and/or run a sizeable decent business and sustained it for at least a few years has been chewed up by it.

[weeksy]

Setting this as a business was never and still is never my intention.

I'd love more people and content, but it's a nice pair of friendly slippers

[Yorick]

WB was happy to Jack it in.
He's gone insane now. Doing endurance events all over the world. He's super fit.
I follow him on FB.

We did things the opposite way.
He moved from Canaries to Bradford.
Me in reverse

[MrLongbeard]

Genuinely?

I wonder what value it has outside of the obvious value to us who use it as a social club?
I doubt it generates much ad revenue, no merch to speak of, an aging (and dwindling?) member base of what is now a niche pastime, etc.

The value it's given me has been worth it, but if I was looking to make money then I'm not sure I'd see much in it.

I've never actually asked how much when they email, but I get a few each year

VerticalScope?

A few years back they were buying up all the automotive forums.

Absolute fucking cunts.
Took thriving communities and ground them down to barren wastelands

[mangocrazy]

There was a Visordown print magazine at one point I think? ISTR seeing it in the shop and thinking "Is that the same Visordown?".

Yep, Ben went to work for the company

Pretty sure it's the same Ben that took over Ridersite, the forum that used to be home to the Falco Massive. He took it over a few years ago and tried to direct traffic to it, largely failed and now it gets about two posts a week. Didn't help that he set up a motorcycle tyre business at the same time and that clearly took over most (if not all) of his time.

[Count Steer]

Genuinely?

I wonder what value it has outside of the obvious value to us who use it as a social club?
I doubt it generates much ad revenue, no merch to speak of, an aging (and dwindling?) member base of what is now a niche pastime, etc.

The value it's given me has been worth it, but if I was looking to make money then I'm not sure I'd see much in it.

I've never actually asked how much when they email, but I get a few each year

VerticalScope?

A few years back they were buying up all the automotive forums.

Now owned by Torstar....a Canadian 'mass media company'. It must give outfits like that an itchy ringpiece to know that some 'consumer units' quite like talking about their hobbies without being marketed at. We're all rebels against the Internet machine in here don'tcha know...which is v fitting for motorcyclists.

Faceplant etc can do one.

[Taipan]

This is the only forum I use. I'm a member of other forums but rarely, if ever, use them. Maybe a search of the archives from time to time but that is it. When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model. I find FB pages for specific models friendlier than forums and as the archives are limited compared to a forum you get a lot less "FFS IS search broken" comments!

[Yorick]

When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model.

Must resist

[Skub]

This is the only forum I use. I'm a member of other forums but rarely, if ever, use them. Maybe a search of the archives from time to time but that is it. When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model. I find FB pages for specific models friendlier than forums and as the archives are limited compared to a forum you get a lot less "FFS IS search broken" comments!

Closed groups and messenger on faceplant are the only worthwhile parts,the rest of it is ad infested shit.

[Rockburner]

This is the only forum I use. I'm a member of other forums but rarely, if ever, use them. Maybe a search of the archives from time to time but that is it. When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model. I find FB pages for specific models friendlier than forums and as the archives are limited compared to a forum you get a lot less "FFS IS search broken" comments!

The main problem with the FB groups is that you get the same damn questions asked repeatedly, over and over again. I swear on one of the R1150 groups the same question was asked 3 times within an hour by different people, each post with different information in the answers....

FB groups are good for assembling a like-minded group of people, but utterly shit for assembling or storing "knowledge" (but then I suppose that's not what they're for).

[Skub]

This is the only forum I use. I'm a member of other forums but rarely, if ever, use them. Maybe a search of the archives from time to time but that is it. When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model. I find FB pages for specific models friendlier than forums and as the archives are limited compared to a forum you get a lot less "FFS IS search broken" comments!

The main problem with the FB groups is that you get the same damn questions asked repeatedly, over and over again. I swear on one of the R1150 groups the same question was asked 3 times within an hour by different people, each post with different information in the answers....

FB groups are good for assembling a like-minded group of people, but utterly shit for assembling or storing "knowledge" (but then I suppose that's not what they're for).

That's a very valid point. Because there is often no reference to FAQ then even the guys who do have knowledge to share become tired answering the same questions. There are a couple of one make groups I use which have a 'files' heading where all the need to know stuff can be accessed. Sadly this isn't overly common and down to the individual admins whether or not they implement it.

[Rockburner]

This is the only forum I use. I'm a member of other forums but rarely, if ever, use them. Maybe a search of the archives from time to time but that is it. When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model. I find FB pages for specific models friendlier than forums and as the archives are limited compared to a forum you get a lot less "FFS IS search broken" comments!

The main problem with the FB groups is that you get the same damn questions asked repeatedly, over and over again. I swear on one of the R1150 groups the same question was asked 3 times within an hour by different people, each post with different information in the answers....

FB groups are good for assembling a like-minded group of people, but utterly shit for assembling or storing "knowledge" (but then I suppose that's not what they're for).

That's a very valid point. Because there is often no reference to FAQ then even the guys who do have knowledge to share become tired answering the same questions. There are a couple of one make groups I use which have a 'files' heading where all the need to know stuff can be accessed. Sadly this isn't overly common and down to the individual admins whether or not they implement it.

Yeah - the files are there... but then - would YOU download a file from Facebook?? I wouldn't.....

It also doesn't help at all that these groups are virtually impossible to search in any meaningful way (thanks to the way that FB's data is spread out)

[Taipan]

This is the only forum I use. I'm a member of other forums but rarely, if ever, use them. Maybe a search of the archives from time to time but that is it. When I get a new bike I join the Facebook page for that model. I find FB pages for specific models friendlier than forums and as the archives are limited compared to a forum you get a lot less "FFS IS search broken" comments!

The main problem with the FB groups is that you get the same damn questions asked repeatedly, over and over again. I swear on one of the R1150 groups the same question was asked 3 times within an hour by different people, each post with different information in the answers....

FB groups are good for assembling a like-minded group of people, but utterly shit for assembling or storing "knowledge" (but then I suppose that's not what they're for).

I hear ya, but it's because a lot are new owners or prospective buyers, and I prefer their enthusiasm over the jaded forum "use search" types. If its getting repetitive I can just ignore and keep scrolling.