Eroica's coming to the UK

orbeas":1rbvpvwj said:

I think what you have to ask is this a ride for retrobike fans run by retrobike fans ?? or is it being run for retrobike fans by someone who wants to make some big bucks ??
We have the same thing in North Wales with the Sportives that have sprung up being held, most cyclist think that they are making a good £60-£80000 profit on each one. I myself would not pay to ride around the roads where I live , but plenty of people do !!!

If it is a franchise then it looks like its for profit...

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Wow, didn't realise there was so much to be made from organising a bike ride! I thought it would be a tight margin sort of business...

I don't necessarily have an objection to them making a profit if some of that goes back into
the local community somehow. Both the Eroica and Retro RVV have had some connection to
regenerating the areas they are based in.
I've not seen any evidence of that in relation to Eroica Britannica, apart from some marketing guff about 'identity, community, territory' or some such.

Like I've said before, I think they could do more in this respect and I'd change my attitude to the thing if they did.

@ orbeas

Oh yeah, it's for profit alright, if it was grass roots it probably wouldn't have an Eroica franchise or cost £55.00 for a ticket.
But, what are their costs. If they have road closures and stuff like that on the day, that costs money.

I'm not defending or dismissing it either, I sit firmly on the fence and am trying to figure it out for myself.
Retrobike organise their own rides, I think the Lakes one had 4 people on it. That's not a huge turnout, why is that ?

So maybe it's not for retrobike types after all but as the man said Rapha hipsters on their faux retro bikes.

i pre registered but have heard nothing.i am going anyway and you grumpy tight wad moaners can do what you like,but if you don't take part how will you really know what it is like. many people would pay similar money for a top gig or football match which would only last a couple of hours.so I don't see the problem.and lets face it ,I have spent more on a tyre for my bike than the cost of this avent

I got this message:

Well Hello There!

We're delighted that you've pre-registered your interest in L'Eroica Britannia and are thinking of joining us on 'The Great British Adventure'. Thank you for your support, it is much appreciated.

The good news is that you are among the first 500 to pre-register interest and we are delighted to offer you an 'early bird' fee of £55.

The event will be coming on sale soon via www.eroicabritannia.co.uk. We will notify you via email to complete your registration for £55.00

Till then dear friends...

L'Eroica Britannia

matthew71":q0pvb627 said:

i pre registered but have heard nothing.i am going anyway and you grumpy tight wad moaners can do what you like,but if you don't take part how will you really know what it is like. many people would pay similar money for a top gig or football match which would only last a couple of hours.so I don't see the problem.and lets face it ,I have spent more on a tyre for my bike than the cost of this avent

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I think people who spend that sort of money on watching a load of overpaid tarts running around a field, or watching some washed up old fart struggling through a song he wrote 40 years ago are bloody idiots too.

I know what a good version of this 'avent' is like, because I've ridden them. The organisers seem to have missed out many of the ingredients for a successful event, but they could fix this between now and when it takes place.

Sorry Johnny I disagree about the old farts singing songs. I went to see Grinderman last year. It was bloody brilliant.

Ehrmmmm, The year before last... :roll:

I'm wading into this... firstly i have a small bikeshop and this summer especially i noticed a huge amount of old steel road bikes being ridden. Sure some where ''hipsters' but on the whole they were well loved bikes some being passed down to them or daily bikes, most of all they all were loving the idea that something like this could happen in the UK as simply put ''not a chance I'd afford Italy''.

Pricewise £55 for 3 days is nothing, when sportives are 1 day long= £20-£30 usually all you get is a silly mug or coaster, the bike design/build rules for sportive classification are barely adhered to i.e. tt bikes, plus you have to find/pay for your accomodation easily£75.

I am going because it will be a laugh, the Peak district is beautiful and why not stop bloody moaning and think about it this way, an event like this WILL refocus the attention towards retrobikes which means that this whole pool of knowledge here on this site can be accessed let alone that pile of pre '85 bits may just be worth punting out towards the beer tokens??
Have you seen the popularity of Tweed runs?

For once I'd like to see people get behind something rather than knock it, I don't know about everyone else but I'm truly sick of hearing moaning naysayers there's enough negativity been poured on us by the government/media.

The only issue I have with this event is my mum going to knit me a jumper for this ??

OK, I for one did start out moaning because I was/am extremely disappointed that this event is so commercial, given that the Eroica was in part an anti-commercial event in its origins.

However, I've also tried to make some positive suggestions about how to make the event more interesting and relevant for Retrobikers, so I am getting sick of being accused of just moaning.

As I've said before, you've got the choice: take the crap they choose to offer you on the day (and no doubt moan about it afterwards), or try to make some suggestions to improve things now.

I've pre registered as the work situation has picked up after three torrid years, so there's a bit of cash in the pot and I want to have the chance of going on some of these rides. I'd love it to be a great event and by participating on our old bikes, we'll be adding to it and making it a great event. If we stay away then we'l miss that chance.

It's obvious by their lack of comments that they are not aware of this thread, so maybe someone who feels that they have some positive suggestions to make should get in touch with them.

They do need to make a profit from it as they have put in the effort and I'm sure the Eroica franchise licence did not come for free.

I've never been to a sportive as that's not my thing, so I can't comment on them.