CLUB FOCUS
The LC Club is now 30 years old and represents all that’s best from Yamaha’s RD/LC/YPVS range. They’re a good crew, so why not join?
The LC Club is 30 years old!
The LC Club is still run by LC owners and is for those that own, run or are simply fans of Yamaha’s entire Liquid Cooled range, be they RD LC, RZ imports, YPVS, TZR/TDR, or any derived specials. We don’t judge, we welcome you all!
Originally started in 1989, The LC Club is now just a reed-valve’s width over 30 years old and has gone from strength to strength. It is now a BMF affiliated club with over 500 members both in the UK and overseas. The aim of the club is to bring together people with a common interest, and to keep the cult of Elsie and her family members alive.
Back in the late 1980s, the club was formed by Patrick and Julie Moore (we like to call them two shandy drinking southern softies, but we love them really!) It was free to join and was called LC Club:
yup, no ‘The’ in front of it. It proved so popular that Pat and Julie had to start charging membership to cover the postage of all the letters they had to reply to. Things were snowballing big time!
The amount of spares and LCS for sale at the time was unbelievable. The main show in the late 1980s and early 1990s was The BMF Show in Peterborough, when you needed two days to see everything. In the mid-1990s we also had the Yamaha track weekends at Donington Park. Yamaha hired the track for the weekend and let you thrash your bike around the circuit for free. Happy LC Days, what could be better?
So let’s chat to one of the founders: Julie says: “One day I was reading Performance Bikes magazine and saw a letter from a guy who was thinking about starting an LC Club. I wrote to him, but was disappointed that a couple of weeks later he wrote back saying that he had so much response that he decided he couldn’t do it. Well, I’ve always been one for a challenge, so I discussed it with Pat and he said go for it, and I thought sod it, I know I can do this. So I advertised, and had about 50 people reply.
It was a fantastic start. Photos, enquiries and letters all came piling in and members who were around when we left will remember we were operating before social media and Facebook. It was low-tech, but somehow the club grew in popularity and we all loved our LCS! We also loved abusing each other at the rallies and shows, etc., but it was always friendly banter. We were all just out for a laugh in a typical thug and anti-social LC fashion. As you do!
“I wish I had kept some of the newsletters, they were far from what you’d expect. I always spoke my mind and maybe that’s why we all got on so well. I was told a few times that I’d upset a few people with my comments, but hey, it was what it was! I still remember the article I put in the newsletter, about a gadget which air went through that you put on your bike that alerts wildlife that you are near with a low-pitched whistle. I wrote in the newsletter: ‘If you were to stick your bird on the back with no knickers on you’d get the same effect!’ It was so funny most readers appreciated a good laugh and that’s what we were all about really. I did get told by one 17-yearold member’s mother, who read the mag and was disgusted by the gadget comment. Well, I peed her off that day, didn’t I! Pat and I still think of The LC Club fondly – the Isle of Wight, the BMF rallies and Santa Pod, so on and so on… great times!”
Since The LC Club started it has moved on a lot, with lots of people’s input and a big cult following. The love of LCS still runs deep, with many middleaged wannabee rebels reliving their youth, which is kinda beautiful. My 250LC was sold due to illness, but I do have an SDR200. When I get a moment with her, it’s there isn’t it, like blowing the cobwebs away with a fixed grin. Those who ride LC’S will understand. Patrick was amazing for all the help he gave me sorting stuff for The LC Club over the years. So thank you!
“We enjoyed The LC Club so much and the friends we gained. We are very proud of everyone who continues the hard work of running the club, and now that John ‘Foxy’ Fox is the chairman it’s bound to get so many complaints as he lowers the tone of the organisation in his own inimitable fashion.”
If you’re interested in finding out more go to: www.lcclub.co.uk