I wonder how many peeps remember or even know of the birth of RS.
WaybackMachine wrote:The story so far....
The day dawned bright and crisp. A spring day, when the birds twittered and the flowers open with eager anticipation to a brand new world bathed in glorious sunshine.
Hammy, fur ruffled by the breeze, sniffed expectantly "hmmm, bacon sarnie" he thought. Nice. Hammy, for those who believe this sort of stuff, is really a chaps nickname. Today, Hammy had a mission. His mission was to go to Brands Hatch. That bastion of motor racing, where adrenalin mixes with the heady smell of power and speed. Actually, there wasn't any Hamster racing that day, he was having a new addition to his pride and joy. Oi! Stop thinking like that, his motorbike I mean. An exhaust system actually. On Suzuki's finest. The SV650.
To set the scene a little, our man is actually a Webhamster (webmaster) and he had cast his wee black eyes over the web site of the supplier in the days before going a visiting. He had a little plan in mind.
This place was different he felt when he arrived. There was an air of excitement and enthusiasm about it (this appears to be associated with the proprietor as it goes and bears no relationship to anything smelly lurking in the workshops!) People were chatting passionately about end cans, full systems and dyno charts. Carbon fibre and stainless steel were whispered about in reverend tones. Aluminium alloy was hushly admired. Titanium was a dream, the nirvana. Ooh hoo, this was exciting stuff. Hammy's li'l whiskers twitched with excitement as he watched his SV being dismantled, re-assembled and dyno checked time and time again until it was just perfect. Man oh man (or Rodent), this was going to be worth it.
Like a silent thief in the night, the opportunity came. Hammy had one chance to play his I-can-do-you-a-really-cool-web-site card.... Success. Two weeks later Renegade Exhausts were presented with a brand new web site. "This is good stuff" thought Jorge the owner of Renegade. Actually he probably didn't think quite like that at all because he's Portugese and has a bit of culture, but I don't speak Portugese, or have any culture, so it's East London or nuffink mate.
Anyway, Hammy had given them a site that was just what Jorge wanted. Interactive with Renegades customers and maintainable by Renegade themselves. "Hmmmm…" An idea was brewing in Jorge's mind..... "Why stop there, with this site?"
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, a few disparate (thats disparate not desperate!) motorcycle fanatics from South East UK had discovered each other on a community web site. Hey, they found that they all lived reasonably near each other. Hey, they all seemed to get on really well. Hey, that's cool with a capital K! Mr 'O' (TRon to those of you who want to put a face to the name, or is that a name to a name hmm?) put on his 'O'rganising hat and arranged an actual IRL (in real life) meeting.. and then another... and another.... and yet another.... and so the KESSEY Krew came to exist. Eh? KESSEY Krew? Oh, yeah. Kent, Sussex, Essex, Surrey Krew. They too had ideas and decided they wanted a new web place to call home....
Literally minutes of enthusiastic discussion took place. Actually, these things do take time, lots of time, painstakingly going through available domain names and name combinations. Bingo! RiderSite seemed to hit the nail squarely on the head. Yes, that's the name. It was a winner. It had an identity and it was going to be big!
Hammy with Jake (Hammy's 'sensible-head' and a long standing business partner) started design and creation of the RiderSite.com web site. Some kind folk like Divvy (one of the KESSEY Krew) helped out with stuff like logo's and whatnot. After a few weeks of testing and obtaining feedback from a number of 'testers', was RiderSite ready to hit the information highway? The intended day dawned. Like a roll of distant thunder, the expectation grew. Clouds pulled back, the sun burst through with a torrent of light and warmth. On 12th October 2000 RiderSite went live!
Soon the membership started to grow. As more and more people joined the community, more and more ideas flowed.
A lot of the plans could not be achieved without RiderSite having a stable and organised approach to the future. So, on 17th November 2000, RiderSite was registered as a Limited company , capitalising on the vast knowledge and experience of 4 key people to direct and manage the company. RiderSite's Directors are Jon Simpson (Hammy), Jan Edridge (Jake), Jorge Vairinhos and Tomoko Vairinhos (Jorge's sensible-head!) and we work for you!
Corny as it may sound, RiderSite member's views are paramount to its success. If RiderSite listens to what you are saying, the membership will grow and the site will get used more and more. There is dedication to building relationships and providing services that will benefit you, its members. We need to hear you, we need you to make this happen.
RideSite is your site!
S'been a long ten years with a few changes along the way.
In spite of the cost of living, it's still popular.
