Need your views: Routes Website for UK

[rocks]

Dear All,
A couple of years back I ran a website that provided a regional archive of routes and motorcycle forums.

The site provided details on routes mainly in wales, due to my locality and personal knowledge. It rated the routes by way of a star system.

The forums were for general bike talk, route planning and trip organisation and were free.

Sadly due to a then increase in hosting costs and a lack of time on my behalf I had to close the site.

I am now considering starting up the site again. The site will aim to provide a regional breakdown of routes. A brief desciption, duration, starting, middle and end points. Where possible, maps will be included.

I am also looking at storing gps navigation files, with each route for those, thus equipped.

The idea is to get routes recomded by riders and submitted via an online form. The route is then checked for validty by me and a friend. A star rating will be given to each route based on safety, enjoyment. The hope is to have a feeback system for peoples comments on the routes ie, new gatso, roadworks etc etc..

The long term plan would be to extend the site to include popular european routes and alpine routes, that we british riders love to visit and any other european countries.

I also intend to ressurect the biker friendly BnB and Accomodation listing, with site being recommended and struck off based on feedback from riders.

Also well the routes side. I plan to ressurect the forums, for general forums.

We are likly to follow the same idea as this site, with graded memberships, as their is a running costs to be gotten over and webspace for the storage of the GPS file archive.

I have put a poll up to gauge peoples views.

If you have taken five minutes to read this, thankyou. If you could take further five minutes to have a think about what you believe you would like the site to offer to you. Or if you believe it is already being done elsewhere and better or worse. Please reply.

The old www.ridden.co.uk site, was a website about biking, by bikers for bikers and we hope to continue in this vain..

Genuine comments appreciated.

Thanks John aka rocks..

 

[Fanum]

Sounds interesting Rocks.....it might be the sort of place i'd pop into occasionally , but much more likely just use as a resource rather than make it a sort of home like here.......

If that went for other people too, perhaps the forums might be inhabited by those who I might rather uncharitably call 'anoraks'.....and those who only pop in to check a specific route or comment on one......but then that's not necessarily a bad thing......

I don't think i'd pay either.....I know enough people to find out what i want, and people like Greg , Blue Sweeper and many others are good enough to lead rides , so unless i was looking for something unique that I couldn't find anywhere else, I doubt I'd consider paying.......unless there were other benefits like for example some group-negotiated discounts on GPS stuff, OS maps etc etc.

It's certainly a good idea though, and though I haven't looked specifically for a site like this, I haven't come across one so far.

It might also be worth talking to Paul and thinking about hanging it off this site.......there might be possibilities there..dunno.....

Sorry if that sounded negative, it was just my gut reaction.......I'd say go for it or at the least investigate it further, but if you need to at least cover your costs then you'll need a good strong USP to make it worth IMHO.

Cheers

Bill

 

[Dutchman]

I think it would be a great idea, as a reference resource......with a simple BBS forum for people to post their own route suggestions....with a main, easily searchable, website for standardising presentation of routes etc......

I like the idea of a basic free service and an enhanced pay-to-use service, but the whole enterprise will need to be unique and high on content to warrant an annual fee in the region of £10.00.

I've done some very basic route maps on BMW Riders Scotland.com, which have proved very popular with first time visitors to Scotland and would be happy to help in any way I can....

Cheers

Dutch

 

[littleredrooster]

OK, so UKGSer.com has a routes page ('Roads to get your Pegs Down'), forums for general bike talk, Accommodation forum - are these not good enough? You want to set summat very similar up in competition to this site/club? A breakaway group? Not for me, thanks, but I admire your cheek in using UKGSer to solicit for business!!!

 

[wessie]

Give me a proper map anyday. Part of the enjoyment of travel on the bike, to unfamiliar areas, is looking at maps beforehand.

As others have said, this forum has sections for routes & accommodation. There are other sites that publish routes too.
http://www.alpineroads.com/ is a good example of a useful site as it has links to webcams on Alpine passes and weather data so that you can check if a pass is open. They have a FAQ section for Alpine novices. Check their links page as it gives some sites that you may find yourself duplicating.

Originality, as Dutchman says, is going to be your problem. Generic sites that simply catalogue data from other sources will not get much traffic: that's what Google is for. You need to find a niche that makes your site attractive. Good luck.

 

[rocks]

Unique selling point..

I think the term you guys are wanting in business luingo.. is "USP", or unique selling point..

Dont get me wrong, my intention is not attempt to rival these forums or attract people away from them. The site i have inmind is more like a reference site.. rather than a social site.

my USP aim, and idea is to generate a searchable SQL data base of routes, probably by county and general region ( ie north wales, south wales, west scotland etc), that will provide some rider recomended routes, with supplimentary information like fuel stops, speed cameras and where possible a GPS file to go with, and a map clip stating the start, middle and end points so people can navigate them easily.. The data base will also contain a list of BnBs, hotels and campsite with contact details that are bike friendly.

As i said its just an idea.. the forums would be for a couple of main purposes..
1) a place to arrange trips with fellow bikers..
2) a place to provide feedack and thoughts
3) a location to sell touring related kit, ie unwanted panniers and kit..

I would love to make everything on the site free, but as BHT etc will say.. it costs cash to get the software and webspace with correct bandwith suitable to handle the database and forums.

I expect people to use it like a library, ie a tool to aid and inspire new routes. Not in the way these forums and site are a homebase for GS riders.

I think i may be able to drop the membership option too £3. The membership period would be for 1 year at that.
Thats based on estimated, and probably way over optermistic figures.

This project is defenitely in the planning stages and it may never get off the ground, hence the post here for peoples opinions.

I will certainly be contacting BHT about linking in with these boards.

Cheers for the comments, good & bad welcome.. keep em coming..

 

[Vendome 41]

Route Website

NO THANK YOU

I do think that part of the pleasure of any decent ride-out is in the planning and the research that might be necessary to visit places of interest and the local hostelleries where one can get more than ham egg & chips pies etc...

 

[rocks]

Off to the scarp heap..

Well it seems my idea is not too popular, so having priced up the webspace and the time for the sql programming have decided to call it quits.

Thanks for those who took the time to offer opinions, both for and against.

Safe riding all..,