The vjmc looks like a cool club. Thanks for the link. How much does being in a club make a difference in how much you pay for rego, or does it at all? I like having a group to ride with if it's just some friends who like to ride together or a club. If I can get rego cheaper I'll most likely join. I may anyway. If they allow sepos in their club.
Ha ha, well they don't like Seppo
bikes in their club Adam, but I don't think they discriminate against the owners too, ha ha! Seriously though, I've got nothing against the VJMC, I just want to join a club where I can ride whatever I like without being considered a "Wannabe" as Pete described non vintage Jap bike riders. Considering the bikes I own, I find that rather insulting. Don't get me wrong though, Pete is a fantastic bloke, so while we may not agree on everything, he has my highest respect.
The "Club Rego" thing relates to bikes over 25 years old in Victoria, you need to be a member of a club that's signed up to the red plate initiative, get a roadworthy certificate, (some clubs have their own inspectors, but most just tell you to take your bike to a bike shop for a roadworthy inspection) then fill out a form, get the club "Red Plate" registrar to sign off on it, take the form and the roadworthy certificate to VicRoads, and pay 'em around 150 bucks, and you can ride your bike anywhere at any time for 90 days.
That might not sound great if you want to ride every day, but my problem is that I have a company car to drive to work every day, so I only ride on weekends, and as I've got a few bikes, I won't ride every bike every weekend either, so 90 days is more than enough for me. In the past I've paid full rego (where you can ride 24 hours a day for 365 days a year) but that's around 600 bucks per year, plus other government charges on initial registration like stamp duty, ($40 for every $1000 of value) purchase of number plate, etc.
The good thing for me is that I've got 3 bikes that are eligable for club rego, so I can put them all on the road for less than one years full rego. That's 270 days of riding, (if I was able) and of course also includes TAC "Third Party" insurance, so if you get run over by a semi, you're covered for all your medical costs, lost income, rehabilitation, etc. It doesn't cover you for damage to either party's vehicles, but you can get some pretty good deals on insurance for historic vehicles thru Shannons etc.
The club thing is good, there's always a ride you can go on or some other bike related event, and normally club membership is pretty reasonable, I pay 70 bucks per year for BMW club membership, and if I go to a meeting it's a gold coin (1 or 2 dollars) donation to cover drinks and snacks after the meeting. Cheers, Terry.