The beginning of Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club UK
 Ian Jones - aka  La Prez

Back in 1998, I came across a website called VRCC, it was an American website for Honda Valkyrie Motorcycle. At the time I never owned a Valkyrie myself, but a good friend Robert Gibbons, aka Bobbievalk did.  Surfing through the website I found a link to join the VRCC, so I signed Bob up as a member.

With my curiosity for the Valkyrie motorcycle I kept on searching for more information and I kept my friend Bob informed about all the events and things going on.

One day we were watching a video of Daytona Bike Week,  and we decided that we would make arrangements to go in March 2001.  Through the VRCC US we found out that they were holding a Custom Valkyrie show with a prize of $20.000 during the Daytona Bike Week.

I got in contact with VRCC members in Daytona Beach area about our planned trip to Daytona Bike Week. In a few weeks I had established a close connection with some members and we had great help from Biker Fred arranging our trip as well as La Mont, who was one of the founding members of the VRCC No 1. We were invited to meet up at The Sunshine Plaza upon arrival along with all the VRCC members.  Before we left for our trip we made a few polo shirts with the Welsh and American flags on, we were ready to get to know our new friends in Daytona!

A warm welcome in the US
On arrival to Daytona Beach we checked in with the Dave and  Lynda Hands ex British Pat's at the Ocean Court Motel located on South Daytona Beach Shores. What a place! I was so excited to be there I lost my voice! Bob had found this motel perfect for our visit from a previous trip with his family. I have to add that if you are heading out to Daytona Beach this is without a doubt this is the place to stay, everyone here is so helpful, and you get the best of welcome every time you visit.

The next morning we were off to meet the members and our new friends of the VRCC. We went to the Sunshine Plaza as planned, and never in my life have I seen so many Valkyrie Motorcycles together in one place, they were everywhere.  All kinds, Interstate Tourers, Trikes and Custom Bikes. We had a look around and had good conversations with many of the members of the VRCC. Then we got to meet La Mont, Hal and his son from Honda Directline store. We introduced ourselves and got a lot of information about the upcoming event.

The idea of VRCC UK
After a long day and getting to know our new friends of the VRCC US, I launched the idea of starting a similar club in the UK for La Mont. I wanted to start out by making a website that was a part of the VRCC in the US. The response was without doubt very positive! La Mont was eager to give me all the help I needed and promised to support me throughout the whole process  Well, that was it, the VRCC UK was born with all the best wishes from our VRCC USA friends!


After about 10 days in Daytona spending time at the show in Daytona Speedway, having fun with new biker friends and enjoying being a part of the Valkyrie family in the US, Bob and I had to return home to Wales. Back home I could not believe that I had seen so many Custom Valkyries in my life. It seemed that in the UK there are only a few running around, as most bikers here rides Sports bikes.

VRCC UK becomes a reality
Back home in Wales I started to look into my new project, how to get the VRCC UK into cyberspace.  It was not much help to get from my friend Bob, he hardly knew how to turn on a computer at that time, but he was and still is a very good event organizer, so he was better off taking care of that part.

Hours of thinking and many sleepless nights I finally managed to get the VRCC UK of the ground and built the website. To get the website out on the internet I needed a domain and a web hotel to host it. All Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Clubs have a free membership, and before we even got our UK club going the expenses started to roll up? In spirit of the VRCC US we had to keep the UK chapter at no cost too.

The big day was 15th February 2001. We could finally present Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club UK on the internet!  The hours and hours of waiting for the website t upload through a dial up connection paid off! We were online! Then I started the work on how to make our website become a top search on google and other search engines.

Our first ride out as VRCC UK!
Our next step was to arrange a ride out. Bob and I decided that we needed to get the word out so that we could see who turned up, if any?  I updated the website with a meeting in the Forest of Dean.

We were surprised how many turned up, there were about 8 bikes on our first ride out. It turned out to be a great day having fun with fellow bikers. Back home I uploaded some photos from the day.

The ball starts rolling
As the days and weeks went by we started to arrange other local meetings in South Wales, and then all over the UK. I found out that there were other VRCC sites in Europe having similar meetings too! I got so excited and started to contact them. My first call was to the VRCC Italy, Silvano was the webmaster, and we got chatting about the club etc. VRCC Italy held a meeting at the Italian Lakes and we decided with some other friends to fly to this meeting and see our Italian brothers. Well we had a blast to say the least, the weather was good to us,  it was hot as hell! But we did not worry as the beer was cold! I met up with Silvano and many other Italian friends like Mr Grapper, Cloudio, Mario Moto and more.

So that was my first ever meet with our VRCC family in Europe, and that started the ball rolling?

We wanted to visit other VRCC European countries. There was one member that was made our VRCC UK European officer, Steve B.  Unknown to us at the time, Steve and his wife Glynis had visited many VRCC meetings in the VRCC World before they met the VRCC UK.
In 2003 we all went to the VRCC Benelux meeting in Heerlen. We had a great time again with the best of welcome from all there. I also met up with Marvin from Eurowing, he was very helpful to the VRCC community. He tried to visit every event that the VRCC Europe put on, buy bringing his big American pick-up truck and trailer that he worked out off. He sold all the chrome goodies, lights, seats etc. You name it, Marvin would have it, or he would get it for you. He was of great help to the VRCC in Europe as he never charged anyone for him to attend their meetings.

Our first VRCC UK meeting in Wales
After some time many of the European members that I met traveling started to ask me if we were going to arrange a VRCC UK meeting. It was decided to have our very first ever meeting in 2003 in Newport South Wales.

Well you can you imagine all the work involved to pull this event off? We had numbers of meetings to sort out all the necessary work and discuss the issues that were arising, and the biggest was off course the money to get this of the ground! But in the end we managed to go through with a very successful meeting! Thanks to all that helped out!

An how can I ever forget the Nude ride out? My god that was fun! Even Bob was there with his Hi Viz,  looking proud, as he stood by his beloved Valkyrie.  The stories go on and on and probably will for a long time in the future as well?

International meetings over the years
2001... Italy - Austria - Germany
2002... Germany - Benelux - Germany - Austria
2003... UK Newport - Norway - Italy - France - Benelux - Germany
2004... Germany - Austria
2005... Germany - UK Carmarthen
2006... Ireland - Belgium Chat Weekend - Germany - Austria
2007... Poland - UK Lake Windermere
2008... Germany - Austria
2009... Belgium - France - Finland


Thank you!
It has been a great to be a part of the VRCC UK since the very beginning. The meetings and the rides, with good friends, for many years.

I am happy to have been able to make the VRCC UK known by others through this website since 2001. Even if I have only touched a small part of the things that we have done in the VRCC UK. We have had many laughs and arguments over the years to keep this website going for all the members out there to enjoy, and be part of.

On this website you can see and read about the VRCC from the very beginning, but to keep yourself updated on the future events please check out the VRCC UK group on Facebook and the new website Bob has had done.

I would like to say thank you to you all that I have met and the ones who has contacted me through the VRCC UK website.  I am hanging my riding boots up and calling it a day after all these years, as I don't have the time due to keep this website up to date because of working in Europe most of the time. I wish you all the best of luck and maybe I will meet up with you some time in the future, who knows. Once a biker, always a biker?

Ride safe out there my friends..
It's been great fun!

The Webmaster...
Ian Jones
aka La Prez


About VRCC
Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club is an association of owners and fans of Honda Valkyrie F6C.  Residence Club is the Valkyrie Riders Cruiser Club - VRCC in the US.  The world has national branches (Chapters) and currently more than 30,000 members.  The clubs main goal is to promote the Honda Valkyrie F6C,  meetings, club events, mutual assistance and technical advice.

Membership begins at your own request and in agreement with the club management and are free of charge.  All financial contributions to the club activities are voluntary.  Membership requires at least a small dose of activity for the club.