Would you use our website?

gary1

Hi,

For my university project (which the questionnaire was been used for earlier) I have developed a website (just a prototype at the moment) this website is where cyclists like yourselves can arrange to go on cycling rides with one another by posting on the website and seeing if there are any other persons interested ongoing with you. This enables you to meet new cyclists and meet a variety of different ages and even perhaps help to encourage more people to take up cycling.

Although this may sound like a forum it would be hoped that it would be simpler to use,more so for the more mature riders who may find navigating forums hard and tedious. Not that I'm saying that there is anything wring with a forum,just with this idea you can search for rides in your area which you may have some free time and decide that you want to go along.

Perhaps you are not good at making friends but have an interest in cycling,this website may be of use to you.

This website would be freely available for anyone to use. Although they have to be above 18 at the moment,just for safety reasons.

If this website did make it online it would be called 'bike-ride.co.uk', although it is doubtful and may take a few months

Any feedback would be great if you think this would be a useful website and whether you would use it or do people like the use of forums other using databased websites?

thank you

oldwelshman

No reason why a dedicated site for arranging sites is not a good idea.
Good on you for having a go.
Maybe some "normal" people get intimidated by the likes of old wlesh guys posting on forums and get put off
To be honest, it seems most of the people on here are not "really" beginners and a fair few probably already attend regular rides.
One thing that may be useful is to make it usable for people who travel with work. I often take my bike when working away but find it difficult to arrange rides when away.
You may also want to proved links to clubs and get their support also, and maybe CTC and other organisations.

oldwelshman

It maybe be worth moving this post to sportives and rides.
Good luck with project

scapaslow

I can see this being useful and seems like a good idea. A couple of specific instances are:

when people relocate to a different part of the UK and lose their existing riding buddies this may help them find new ones. Also as Oldwelshman says, for those working away from home who take the bike with them.

for people (like me) who for whatever reason can only ride when other commitments allow and can't make regular organised rides at the same time every week or can't get out at the weekend.

for people who don't want to join a club and just want a riding buddy every now and then.

I suppose the "rides and sportives" section ought to cover this but it does seem to be mainly used for discussing organised events.

azzerb

Sounds like ti could be hugely successful, I'd certainly use it, as i could post times of where I'm leaving from and at what time and if anyone turned up that'd be fine. Or find anyone else in the area doing the same thing.

Please inform when you get it up. Would be amazing if you got it working, and got club involvement too which could make it more successful, and help growth of clubs maybe.

sonicred007

but you could do this in facebook and other social network sites

The difficulty would be publicising - which if piggybacking cycle forums is your start then surely that means this forum should evolve to do the job of your site

all the same, good luck

HarryB

It's a brilliant idea. Go with it.

graham_g

I definitely would, not only have I recently moved but I've only recently started cycling recreationally too (to a serious extent!).

meagain

"simpler to use,more so for the more mature riders who may find navigating forums hard and tedious. "

Careful, young 'un - over half of those who responded to your questionnaire were "more mature" - and some verging on the veteran!

More seriously, seems like a good idea to me, but I suspect it would take considerable effort to get it to a self-sustaining momentum (clumsily put but I know what I mean!). Lots of cyclists are pretty solitary creatures and lots of people are voyeuristic when it comes to web-fora (just look at the number of members on here who never post more than 1 or 2 commenets etc).

I wish you luck.

DavidBelcher

scapaslow wrote:

for people (like me) who for whatever reason can only ride when other commitments allow and can't make regular organised rides at the same time every week or can't get out at the weekend.

Seconded - the site seems a good idea to me for this reason too; I work Saturday mornings and am often away for the rest of the weekend, so local club runs are a bit of a non-starter for me.

David