BMX General > BMX Chat

Is RadBmx dying.

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Why isnt this working:
Morning all.

I'm not enjoying typing this thread at all but I cant help but put this out there for discussion. What is going on on our beloved RadBmx.co.uk...??? I've been a member of the site for maybe 10 or so years now and its been the complete backbone of my old school bmx hobby, along with Ebay in the early years. Throughout that time there has been periods where activity would slow, typically MK weekends and holiday breaks, but would ALWAYS pick back up again into a complete hive of activity in all sections of the forum. I've never EVER known it as slow as it is currently and I'm sad and worried. We all know that the mass stock of old school parts has long dried up for the everyday collector and that would naturally slow things down a touch in certain areas but as a generalisation things on here seem very VERY quiet. I remember stumbling across my first old school purchase which was a 1984 Skyway Ta (which I still have) in maybe 2003/2004 on a mountain bike for sale section and feeling my eyes pop out of my head in amazement seeing the bike I dreamt of as a kid that the rich kid round the way had that my parents couldn't afford and it bringing back all those evocative memories of making jumps out of bricks and a crappy old plank of wood in my street and I was immediately hooked. Then going onto Ebay and typing in 'Old BMX' and my jaw nearly hitting the floor with excitement.......then finding the holly grail that was RadBmx. Within a year or so I was back at the Rom ATTEMPTING to get some air out of the bowl again... ;D. I know I'm banging on dreadfully but It just seems sad that the site that made so much of my old school BMX journey possible feels like its dying in front of my eyes.... :'(.

Apologies again for the downer thread but wondered what you guys felt yourselves.

Many thanks... Si... :daumenhoch:

dancetothedrummersbeat:
When I got back into it all in 2009, the only quality sources of info were radbmx, bmx museum, ozbmx, and a few other brand specific websites. Since the explosion of iphones/ipads and similar brands, and the development of apps (hate that term), it's meant that we all now have internet access 24 hours a day, wherever we are. You no longer have to 'make time' at home or disappear upto the spare bedroom to browse the net. It can be done anytime/anywhere in 30 second chunks or whatever. This convenience has made us lazy (generally speaking), and the idea of logging in and browsing/trawling through a forum is hard work for some people - not myself. I love it. Added to all of this, most of us have facebook on our phones which gives an endless stream of info to us with the flick of a thumb. We don't have to put our brains in gear, just sit back and watch. I wouldn't know, but i'd guess there are hundreds if not thousands of bmx related facebook pages, each appealing to a slightly different audience. This isn't always a bad thing. I'm joint admin of Steve69's VDC facebook group, and as a resource for a specific brand it's amazing. The same for the Hutch and Skyway owners groups for example...   BUT it's obvious that where there used to be say 5 main sites/forums, there are now hundreds, so the traffic on each is reduced, despite the old/mid school scene arguably having more participants than ever. Add to all that the increasing price/scarcity of parts, and it all adds to the problem. A sad situation.

That Swan Guy:
There's plenty of stuff out there, people just aren't buying. Is it too dear? How bad do you want it? Make an offer!

Is it time for another complete vs parting out thread?

Gashead:
Forum is as good as those who participate.....


It's a tough one, as we see the instant Facebook pages being a success, easy to upload pics, quick click to respond. We can only ask that people spend the time to post here too.

Old members, new members will be here forever, however does need input. I'm guilty, running a rugby team now in my spare time, so neglected the site to be honest, however still very busy sorting MK.

A reflection that it hasn't died is the amount of bikes and people at MK, and other venues....

Bottom line, is be more active   :daumenhoch:

factory pilot:
Good points made by everybody ...
The scene is bigger than ever but sadly diversity due to FB has crippled Rad's appeal and traffic ....
Since very reluctantly joining FB I've bought and sold bits on there ... I'd always put things on here first but things ( as Carl mentioned on another thread ) just ain't shifting on here.

Rad was and should always be a place where prices are reasonable and that way everybody benefits.
Greed has taken over and it becomes a vicious circle where you need to sell your parts for top dollar in order to buy the parts you need for your next build because they also will be at top dollar.

I'm still not a fan of FB ... It's far too vacuous and it's all about memory of a goldfish kind of participation ...

A major bug bear of mine is that while Rad itself slowly dies how many people who've never even been on this site will be rocking up to MK to enjoy all the spoils without ever contributing either with interesting threads or comments or any financial contribution.

I really wouldn't want this year's MK to be the last ever.. It's the highlight of the year for me and I'm sure for many others.

People need a carrot not a stick to come into Rad .. I've mentioned it before but sponsorship from someone such as Alan's would be a possible solution.
Monthly prizes for members or for winners/voters for BOTM would encourage more traffic/SSTs to be sold. We've  all bought stuff from Alan's and I'm sure we'll all continue too so it makes good sense ..

Some of Rad's internal bickering and sense of there being an incrowd to outsiders hasn't helped either.
I've spoken to several of the old big posters on here who sadly have become disillusioned with many of the points mentioned above ..
We need them back.. I hope that it's not too late...

I know there are still lots of us that are still loyal and champions of Radbmx ( myself included ) ..
We need to get ourselves off FB and back on the real home of UK OSBMX .. :radbmxsmilie:

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