Making our own website

UPDATE>>> I have just finished the site...I hope you guys like it? Please sign up and get things rolling for us..

our site... http://www.birminghamfixedgear.com/

Im still up for suggestions..

What I would like from you is content..What features on the site would you like to see?

At the moment I have:

Forum
Events
Members
Club News (we could make this into a club kinda thing..events organized by us or supported...meet ups etc)
members photos

also do you think i should shorten the site name to bfxd.com? or something similar?

no. who is gonna know what bfxd means? keep it as birmingham fixed gear.

having those words in the URL will help with google ranking too.

pastry had a nice website before, you should take his advice.

i think a forum is a bad idea - it probably won't be as popular as this one, and if it is that'll be a bad thing as it splits users across two places.

events would be good, user profiles may be good, but i think actual prose would be the best thing - ride reports, route suggestions, reviews, opinion pieces etc.

just bought the domain name..birminghamfixedgear..

think we still need a forum..i will still use this one too..i know it wont be as popular as this, there are so many users on this site, but still its worth having our own one. im not sure what we would use it for if we didnt have a forum on it?

also does anyone have any nice flicks? bike gear related for the front page?

what on earth is a flick?

Oh. You mean a photograph.

lol..its ok anyway..i have some now

birminghamfixedgear?

I can see why you would want to run with this, and i hope you can make a success of it. If you can somehow pull together more of the fixed gear community, and raise the social activity somehow, that would be great, in my opinion.
For example - if it wasnt for Polo (and you all know how passionate i feel about something i play only once a month, if that) i wouldn't ride with anyone. I haven't seen - let alone ridden with Pastry Lover - since meeting him properly for the first time at a Critical Mass sometime last year. I have been out with Danwentskiing quite a few times, and i love riding with others like him, who know the area - and ride with particular style, pace, power and grace.... (oooh, get me!)
The Sunday morning rides were epic in my opinion - and i'd like to see more. Lots more.
Nyqull - good luck. If i can help - holla.

Sorry pistaboy. I've been too busy damaging my fragile body and earning horrific shin scars by BMXing. I haven't got the heart to come to polo. And I hate riding fixed or singlespeed unless it's for commuting. You might see me if this Heathens Cycling Club thing happens next sunday though...

Hey no worries, please don't think I was being critical in any way. I was just using you as an example of how it's rare to get us all together.

@ pistaboy: i think to get people out you have to post specific details (meeting point, time, expected route, duration, average speed, beer/lunch/coffee stop) in a new thread with big shouty lettering and then commit to going even if it looks a bit grey and windy and you just know only 1-2 people are going to show up.

including an interesting destination (pub near train station works well) gets more people interested and can add that sociable aspect you're on about.

i did that a few times and sometimes it worked well with over 5 riders, sometimes one or two, sometimes nobody showed up so i just went by myself. (i didn't put average speeds up and i think some people were expecting a more casual pace, but they kept up just about, and i didn't put routes up, so some people abandoned half-way, but still...)

if you just suggest meeting sometime/someplace it just turns into an endless debate about when is best for everyone concerned and you'll move times all over the place for people who don't bother showing anyway! basically, democracy is the worst form of forum-ride organisation. embrace your inner-fascist (you've already got the haircut).

Hey no worries, please don't think I was being critical in any way. I was just using you as an example of how it's rare to get us all together.

No no don't get me wrong, I didn't think you were.

hey all..i can understand what you are saying about the forum..But..I am gonna run with it for the time being as I would like to see if it attracts anyone new. I will still be using this forum as much as i do now..

When I first bought my bike I tried to find a Birmingham forum but as you all know there isnt one..Maybe there are others like me..Hopefully it will work..especially with the growing popularity with the fixed gear scene around the UK..

Well I have joined :)

Joined!

Maybe you could just embed this Birmingham sub-forum into the BFG site, instead of trying to get everyone to sign up over there as well..

hey. That is a really good idea. And i can embed it. Think i will have to talk to hippie about permission first. But good idea tom. Nice one

would it be possible to set up something for spare parts and tools exchange? I'm sure between us we have most tools, and I'd be happy to lend mine out occassionally.

That's a great idea. I need to take a cassette off a rear wheel. Can anyone help? (should I have kept that for the other forum?)

I think I've got everything for a shimano cassette..

bump

if you would like in the future you could post up events on the brum fixed forum too. We have users that dont use this forum. Would like to give it some life!

What about www.birminghamsinglespeed.com ?

www.birminghambikeswithgears.com ?

there is already a birminghamfixedgear.com

I don't see what's wrong with this, it's already a part of a really popular website, it's good for polo because other cities can read our threads and we can message them on this and also, with another website, we'll be halving threads between two, or having to have the same discussion on two sites. All in all, keep it lfgss

I don't see what's wrong with this, it's already a part of a really popular website, it's good for polo because other cities can read our threads and we can message them on this and also, with another website, we'll be halving threads between two, or having to have the same discussion on two sites. All in all, keep it lfgss

+1 plus you can make requests for ben's boombox on this one.