Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: mojohand on February 02, 2026, 11:45:25 AM
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Looks like we're just not garnering interest in rallies much anymore. No national rally last year or this year, fewer standard rallies, and just a waning perhaps in the rally-by-a-campfire interest. I do see still good numbers in the MSTA/BMWRA/BMWMOA rallies I attend. Still, numbers of people buying Guzzis seem up...they're just not campers/rallygoers.
https://www.mgnoc.com/rally_calendar.html
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From my observations, most all m/c rallies are on the decline. I plan to enjoy as many as I can, as long as I can!
PS. MGNA has been struggling to get nationals for at least the last decade.
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Looks like we're just not garnering interest in rallies much anymore. No national rally last year or this year, fewer standard rallies, and just a waning perhaps in the rally-by-a-campfire interest. I do see still good numbers in the MSTA/BMWRA/BMWMOA rallies I attend. Still, numbers of people buying Guzzis seem up...they're just not campers/rallygoers.
https://www.mgnoc.com/rally_calendar.html
The BMWMOA is the last big event for owner groups. I enjoy that event. Seems some state events are still going on. Arkansas has the Guzzi camp out again this year. It will be the first one I have been able to attend. My job kept me out of most of them. Some events don't make the calander such as the MoKan guzzi rally. Still alot out there, you just may have to dig on FB and here to find them.
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The big Harley rallies are a ghost of their former selves. Daytona Bike Week especially. Although Sturgis still seems to pack em in. I used to ride to all kinds of smaller events around the south like Myrtle Beach, Cherokee, even the ABATE rally at the old Atlanta Fair Grounds was packed back in the day. All gone now. Just as well, I'm too old for that nonsense now.
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Maybe an IL campout Chad?
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Suches GA campout mid May.
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Bet the Broken Arrow Rally is still on. Prob not a complete list they published. Still kind of early in the year.
Case in point: Ark. Rally being coordinated on this very same page just a few posts down is not on that linked rally listing.
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Looking at all the youtube crap on here, I think the phone heads just watch a vid on it and that's enough for them. I only go to 1 a year anymore cause my wife works weekends & I watch dogs. I do miss it, specially Bob's stuff.
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You know back 60 early 70s I went to hell/fire & give me beer. But now that I have more miles we just sit and talk about how it use to be. But we got memory’s of the past and share with one another. The you get ones just gmail and no human inter-action. Their further is going to be dull for sure. Sturge camp ground now or more about rv’s. The camp ground now has just one tent ares and getting smaller. Old men can’t wear tight pants and mussel tshirt. All that, let ride and have a good ( riding keeps my PCST under control) time. Rudy
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All of the people that did all of the work to put on the rallies are aging out and younger people are not stepping up to take their places. Many of those rallies were started in the 70s and early 80s.
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Looks like we're just not garnering interest in rallies much anymore. No national rally last year or this year, fewer standard rallies, and just a waning perhaps in the rally-by-a-campfire interest. I do see still good numbers in the MSTA/BMWRA/BMWMOA rallies I attend. Still, numbers of people buying Guzzis seem up...they're just not campers/rallygoers.
https://www.mgnoc.com/rally_calendar.html
There's a PA Rally, moved to June 26th-28th this year. The OH Rally is Labor Day weekend too.
I'd like to do a MD campout, but taking care of Mom and customer work eats up most of my time lately.
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We did a rally/campout for 11 years. We had to stop for many reasons.
- they're expensive to put on. If you try and buy stuff for 100 people and 60 show up, you take a loss. Hosts don't do this for money, but it'd be nice to at least break even.
- the weather is a killer most of the time. Unless you hold an event in middle august, you're more than likely going to get rain. That scare a lot of people off.
- the fear of liability if someone gets hurt while attending your event.
- they are a lot of work to put on and finding help is rare.
- motorcycling in general is on the decline. Guzzi is not exclusive to that problem.
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You know that one scene in "Animal House", when there's that guy playing a guitar on the stairs, and John Belushi takes the guitar away from him and smashes it all to pieces? Yeah, that's what I wanted to do to some knucklehead that was playing his guitar after midnight at the one and only Guzzi rally I ever went to. I did enough "camping" in the military, and have no interest in doing rallies.
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A few of us "Senior Citizen Riders" :laugh: :grin: :wink: from the Verde Valley in AZ are considering this rally for 2026.
(https://i.ibb.co/1J9Lx46m/Screenshot-2026-02-03-at-6-50-34-AM.png) (https://ibb.co/1J9Lx46m)
Beautiful time of year in CO with nice scenery and good roads, so we will see what happens... :bow: :thumb: :boozing: :cool:
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The MGNOC list of rallies will grow as it gets later in the year. It's always a bit sparse in January.
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AMERICA’S BIGGEST
and LONGEST-RUNNING
ALL ITALIAN BIKE MEET
*ITALIAN MOTORCYCLE OWNERS CLUB (IMOC)*
~41st Annual IMOC Rally~
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Hamilton Rod & Gun Club
24 Hamilton Road - Sturbridge, Massachusetts 01566
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
People’s Choice Judging with One-Trophy-per-Class.
This year’s featured motorcycle: *Multi-Cylinder Machines (3, 4 & 6)*
Admission is now $15 per person which includes a Commemorative Rally Pin.
… Cash Only …
For all Italian-made Motorcycles and Scooters
Refreshments and delicious food available on-site!
~NO DOGS~…Swap Vendors and Dealer Displays welcome…~NO DOGS~
Directions: From Mass Pike, take exit 9, Rt. 20 West. Half mile on right to New Boston
Road, follow signs to Gun Club which is a left onto Hamilton Road. From I-84, exit 6B to
Rt. 20 West, follow directions above.
More information: Steve Rossi at (248) 470-5788, SLDMRossi@aol.com or Bob Andren at (805) 630-2187, bobkandren@verizon.net
or visit www.imoc.website Proceeds to J.D.R.F Charity
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Unfortunately, Luap is right.
Allied with the fact that motorcycling is in decline right now.
And volunteerism is on the wane, too. Not just for motorcycle
rallies, but also for volunteer fire departments and Boy Scout
troops, for example. Sad to see.
-Stretch
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Not that I can do them anymore, but I'll always have the greatest memories of riding with my daughter on the back down to the Indiana Campout. We'd hit all the caves down there and really enjoyed the smaller group of people. The one near Springfield Illinois was similar. Cheryl and I won a few two=ups at the first few Michigan rallies. Still can't believe we won one for Wisc, but it seemed all the other woman were on their own bikes. The big one's, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin were great for seeing bikes, but the small ones seemed to have better campfires.
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The Nevada State Campout is still alive and well. A good time and local riding is excellent. Check MGNOC for details. And thank Dan for keeping this an event to attend.
kk
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Being an echo chamber here to previous remarks. I was on the team that put on the KS rallies at Council Grove when David Kasitz was heading them up. Younger people as a whole are not into motorcycling like kids in the 50s-70s. A lot of younger people cannot afford the financial risk of putting on a rally. David broke even off and on but lost money some years and he was a very careful planner and the rallies were well attended. Younger people just aren't into rallies like old guys. All of the KS team but me are no longer with us. For at least a couple of years rallies really couldn't be held or people weren't willing to travel. That broke the momentum of rallies that has never really come back. Another historical and well attended rally was the NM state rally that Matt ran is no longer to be. It's a tough gig anymore.
Don't really have any good suggestions. I am afraid that rallies are now a "buggy whip" in the era of cars.
GliderJohn
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My "season" used to begin with the WV Rally in New Cumberland, Memorial Day weekend. After a while I got tired of that one and started going to the Cass (BMW) Rally at Boyer's Station Campground in Arbovale, WV. It's more of a campout now, but there's a restaurant within walking distance and lots of local attractions. AFAIK, it's on for '26.
I liked it because there was an excellent restaurant on site, as well as inexpensive motel rooms. The restaurant closed years ago and the rooms aren't available now either. However, there are plenty of campsites and they've recently added cabins. https://boyerstation.com/ I was last there in '23 - the year a lady turned left in front of me and totaled my K75. Missed '24 due to preparations for the Oregon trip and I didn't go last year either. Hoping to go this year.
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We started and produced a large rally for 15 yrs called Antique Bikes On Main- not brand specific, Harley-heavy but all bikes and marques were welcomed and pursued to attend. No big committee, just my best friend (bombastic figurehead local legend who owned the shop), me (all legal, contracts, actual production and pr, etc) and a city-council-trusted matron to serve as fiscal agent so no one would accuse us of misappropriating funds. Always a 100% free event for the public, with only fees charged to retail vendors. We didn’t make a dime personally, even though the three of us were working a year-round schedule by 2010 to make it all happen. Our rally meant an awful lot to us.
Attendance peaked around 2017-2018. 2019 had some long time attendees grumble to me because “it wasn’t getting bigger anymore” (versus saying “thank you for working an 18-month schedule to produce the annual event that we come to for free”….) Our regular audience was aging out so the annual reunion aspect of the rally was changing.. the internet continued to progressively decimate our 100% free swap meet. New people were more likely to ride in, walk up & down Main Street, take pics of the bikes they didn’t recognize, immediately post them to social media and leave. They might only be in town for an hour, not all day or 2-3 days.
Then it all stopped.
Last year, about this time, the city was ready to have our rally again because it had become the largest tourist event for years and people wanted it to happen again. They called us to meet about reviving it until we decided to sit down with them. New city admin, most of whom never attended the rally or even worked for the city during the rally years. New legal landscape after a drunk driver killed a bride on wedding day near Myrtle Beach, which legally upended liability insurance statewide. We were told the city would no longer provide an umbrella policy/event rider, as they had always done because it was a city-sponsored event. It would still be “city sponsored” but each individual business owner in city limits would now be specifically liable if something happened on their property, including between the white line and their storefront. City has very old and different property ownership & right of ways. The city’s insurance would basically now only cover what happened to pedestrians between the white lines in town. So we were going to have to make sure all businesses in the city were notified and willing to do this. City sponsorship funds could not be used by us to purchase additional insurance, either for property like swap meet or main event field. This was completely different than previous years and it couldn’t just go back to the way it was.
When we didn’t agree, they wanted us to advise them about doing it without us. We wished them good luck and went back to the shop for a beer.
Lots of people want to come and hang out for the fun easy stuff. Very few want to work and make it happen, especially after the first 1-2 hours of the event. By clean-up time, after a week long 16+hr day slog, you’re lucky if you’re not doing everything completely alone.
For anyone who is dismayed about the lack of events, the easy answer is to do your own event.
At least two area AMCA chapters had a casual but convenient involvement in our rally over the years. Now the local chapter is producing the AMCA Southeastern event at Denton, NC. From what I hear, they now have a more comprehensive understanding of how much and hard we worked to do the entire rally vs just doing the 1-2 events that suited them.
The recent clarification of the percentage of WG members who are actually funding this forum vs those who don’t is a great metaphor for the whole event scene. Be happy to have events to attend while you can. Don’t take them for granted. Nothing lasts forever.
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Suches GA campout mid May.
Suches GA campout late September.
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I think Bob from TN is having one at TWO then. I thought I read it on here. I'll look.
From Bob:
"April, May, Sept…Two Wheels of Suches, Suches Ga motorcycle Campground"
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We're getting older......
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Maybe an IL campout Chad?
Yes indeed Tom, the IL Bring Your Owen Everything, will once again take place at Big River State Forest, along the splendid banks of the mighty Miss.
Always the third weekend in May, this year that's May 22-24. I'm not a member of MGNOC, so it's not listed there, but it will happen, just as it has every year since the IL rally ceased to be.
https://www.stateparks.com/big_river_state_forest_in_illinois.html#google_vignette
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Looks like we're just not garnering interest in rallies much anymore. No national rally last year or this year, fewer standard rallies, and just a waning perhaps in the rally-by-a-campfire interest. I do see still good numbers in the MSTA/BMWRA/BMWMOA rallies I attend. Still, numbers of people buying Guzzis seem up...they're just not campers/rallygoers.
https://www.mgnoc.com/rally_calendar.html
Well, ask someone like bobrebos1 how easy or difficult it is to get people to show up for a lunch, let alone a rally.
As has already been posted, it’s a thankless, tiring, sometimes depressing experience I’m sure.
Motorcycle camping rallies, and certainly single brand rallies seem to be on a diminishing trend.
I personally haven’t been to a Moto Guzzi rally since the early 2000’s in Minnesota. I woke up to 4” of water in
my tent. That was almost 25 years ago and I haven’t seen the inside of a tent since. In the late 1980’s and 1990’s
when I lived in Southern California, I attended a bunch of Moto Guzzi rallies all over the western US.
But, nowadays, my ‘camping’ is a Holiday Inn Express. That, and my work and personal schedule seldom allow for a weekend or more to attend a rally.
Though I attend a huge rally at least once a year. Something like Daytona or Panama City Beach. 1,000’s of bikes, maybe a few dozen campers. Such is life nowadays.
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I miss going to rallies. Especially the one know as the Blue Ridge put on by Mark and Barbra. But, I ain't sleeping on the ground or in a tent, nor am I waking 200' to a crapper three times in the middle of the night! Anybody know of a nice motel with a fire pit and a good view.
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It may or may not be worth partitioning, but I personally see a difference between manufacturer rallies and general motorcycle rallies. Obviously there are various reasons why the rallies are waning—it’s certainly not just one main factor—but outside maybe Harley, I just don’t see any company-specific rally really being a big event here in the U.S. That’s my bias and cursory observations, though. Laconia’s always happenin’!
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I miss going to rallies. Especially the one know as the Blue Ridge put on by Mark and Barbra. But, I ain't sleeping on the ground or in a tent, nor am I waking 200' to a crapper three times in the middle of the night! Anybody know of a nice motel with a fire pit and a good view.
The "Guzzis in the Blue Ridge" rally moved a few years ago.
This was last year:
Guzzis in the Blue Ridge– August 1–3, 2025
High Country Motorcycle Camp, Ferguson, NC
Cabins on site. Other lodging isn't close...