You can easily distinguish a breed of true spirited and hard core bikers from a sea of commuters, just by watching them cruise streets smoothly on their two wheeled beast, covered in shiny helmets and riding gear like it was some kind of art form. One such breed of passionate motorheads came together on a Sunday morning to ride together to bond with fellow bikers.
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It all started with a thread on one of the Motoroids forums, where like- minded people got know each other virtually. Soon, the common interest and love for automobiles fondly grew and gave way for ‘MotoMeet’ to come in being. The first MotoMeet was decided to take place on 21st of February, 2010 and the same was declared on Motoroids website and was circulated in the biker’s community.
Hotel Kamat in Lonavala was the pre- decided meet up point for the two riding groups coming from Mumbai and Pune. At about 10:30 a.m in the morning, a battalion of a little more than 40 bikers arrived at the decided location.
The riders refueled their tummies with some tasty grub at the restaurant and then made their way towards Tiger Point which is about 8 kms from Lonavala. The entire group of more than 40 bikers and few pillions rode together and demanded a second glance from passerby’s, who happily obliged. Just in a matter of few minutes, the group reached at Tiger Point and parked their babies in two long rows. It was getting hot now, as the sun was sitting right above our heads literally trying to evaporate us with the intense heat. Yet, the torture from the Sun God took a back seat and the bikers formed a circular formation and started the initial round of formal introductions.
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After the brief introduction session, Amit introduced the concept of Motoroids to all those present there. One such philosophy we truly believe in is giving what our readers want and not giving our readers what we want to give. MotoMeet was one such vital opportunity for us to get to know our readers and understand what they exactly want. With that, began the round of suggestions and feedback from the bikers wherein they showered us with some marvelous ideas and pointed us to how we could connect even further to these petrol junkies. Some of the key issues discusses were
1. Some technical / functional additions on the website to make it more user friendly and easier to navigate
2. To structure the information available on the website, especially the forums and user generated content to make it more organised and easily searchable
3. To create awareness about safe riding, and riding with proper safety gear at all time. The discussion was ensued by some suggestions by some members to organise a training camp for first aid and a manual on the legal right of someone who carries an accident victim to the hospital
4. Suggestion / ideas on what more can Motoroids do to enrich the experience of members
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Finally, it was time to say goodbye, but not without a group snap to take home and post it on Facebook. The entire team posed while we quickly took some snaps of the first MotoMeet. A similar MotoMeet took place at Bangalore, on the same day with about 10 riders.
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We would like to take a moment here and extend heartfelt gratitude towards all Motoroids from Pune, Mumbai and Bangalore who helped us, firstly to spread the word for MotoMeet and then finally showing up and joining in our little Sunday morning celebration. Needless to say, from gauging the phenomenon response towards MotoMeet, you can anticipate many more such meets to come!
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