I'm still bemused over why there is so much confusion regarding this idea. I've already stressed that it's not a bike list. There will be no formal membership, no need for passwords, no rules (other than the British-French "connection").
I'll have to draw up a mailing list because there must now be around 50 people to keep informed of website developments but that's a different matter (although Chuck will probably argue otherwise).
People in the group will not be getting daily posts or digests unless they wish to organise it amongst themselves.
With hindsight, I should never have used the word "group". Although I said it was a "loose association" of individuals with a common interest, some have interpreted this as a formally-constituted body with articles of association on a par with the UN.
The group should not be seen as some kind of threat to the CR list or Dale's website. Both are bigger than anything we'll ever manage. Yes, we could have started sending all the material we have to the CR site but that misses the point. We'd like to raise the profile of British and French bikes and get more people talking about them without having the various marques subsumed by a much larger site where they might still struggle for attention.
I have a fair amount of literature relating to British bikes dating back to the 1930s and Bob has a lot of interesting bits and pieces, too. We could have kept it to ourselves and pretended to be "serious" scholars or even "experts" but we want to make it as widely available as possible.
The idea behind the group was to find like-minded people who could help increase the knowledge base for the British and French cycling industries. There are people on the list much better placed and much better qualified then I to do this but then they would lose their expert status if they made their knowledge and literature available to everyone. I am not and do not want to be an expert: I'm happy with "enthusiast".
So, everything Bob and I have of interest will be going on the group's website. Hopefully, others in the group will be able to add further information, photographs, brochure scans, etc.
This all seems straightforward enough to me. Why certain people seem keen to attribute ulterior motives to a simple idea is anybody's guess.
If you think it's a good project, then Bob and I have probably already heard from you. If you don't, well feel free to do your own thing. We won't interfere with you.
Cheers, Bruce
Bruce Robbins Angus Scotland
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