Basically $45 for a so so quarterly magazine subscription. Unless you have a breakdown then the towing comes in handy. I ask myself each year if it is worth it after all the other monies the MC gets from my pocket.

 

My husband, daughter, and myself are HOG members as well as members of our Ghost River local Chapter. My husband called and changed the roadside assistance part to gold as we travel a lot on our bikes. It pays for a rental car, etc.

 

Let me add to reasons, I used the roadside assistance once and that bill would have been $285 to the nearest dealer - $45 looked like a good investment. My life membership was $135 many years ago, so I figure I'm way ahead of the game.

JMHO

 

Hmmm save the membership, slip it behind a credit card in your wallet. After a couple of years you have paid that towing charge!

 

I realized EXACTLY what I got out of HOG last year while en route to the Laughlin River Run. Broken down on the side of the road, 200+ miles from home and a little farther from a "certified HD dealer." Even with HOG's "roadside service," which I paid extra for, I still could not get a tow without spending at least another $100. There's lots of fine print in that "roadside service." I suggest reading it thoroughly (like I didn't) before buying it.

As far as HOG itself, I had a lot of time to think about the benefits of being a HOG member while sitting on the side of the road for 4 hours waiting on my wonderful friends to come pick me up and tow me home. After 6 years of being a HOG member, at $40 per year (first year free - $200 total) I've gotten 6 patches, 2 souvenir pins from the HOG stop at Sturgis, some free cookies and punch from the same Sturgis pin stop and 6 touring/map books that seem to be an exact copy of Rand McNally with HD shop locations added on. Oh, yeah, and that giant headache on the side of the road outside of Beaver, UT...can't forget that.

Is it worth it? Depends. Do you go to local HOG meetings and ride with them? Do you use any of the online tools (like the "ride-planner")? Do you collect pins and patches? Do you want to get a "Touring Handbook" every year?

To me, absolutely not. I don't ride with complete strangers that I met at Denny's on a Saturday morning. Google Maps is WAY better than HD's "ride planner." I don't collect pins and patches. My 2006 Rand McNally atlas is great - and it was free from my insurance agent!

After sitting on the road that day, I really couldn't think of why in the hell I had ever paid for HOG in the first place. However, the cookies and punch were really good on that hot, August afternoon in Rapid City, SD!

 

HOG tried to charge my two friends (BOTH are HOG members) like $210 PER BIKE to tow to the nearest HD after their accidents yesterday. WTF ever. A friend in our group ride rode all the way back to his house to get his truck and trailer to save them a $420 tow charge (in addition to expensive repair bills for both bikes).

Why does it cost $210 to tow one f'n bike, let alone $420 for two bikes???????? And they are HOG members? What's the point of having a HOG membership and trying to use their roadside assistance?!

 

Don't forget you get a pin and a patch for your million dollars. Oh ya, the maps don't include roads that have been built in the last 10- 20 years. I've had to draw in a couple with a pen!

 

The only real advantage I've seen with having it was last year in Milwaukee at the 105th. They had FREE concerts for HOG members, and only HOG members were allowed in. And the concerts were good ones, ZZ TOP, Joan Jett, Kid Rock.

 

Yeah, I have got to see several big name bands because of HOG too. Steppenwolf, ZZ Top, Night Ranger, and Ted Nugent to name a few. That was kinda cool for an "old country boy" like myself.

 

Thank you for the information. Over in the UK the standard annual membership renewal for 2010 is $84 which is about double what it cost in the US. Life membership is also double the cost.

Breakdown cover costs an extra $128 if you want it. I've heard there's a lot of small print and hidden charges and they sometimes don't turn up. I get break down cover with my insurance.

The map we get is a joke because it covers half the world including the whole of Europe, Africa and the middle east. It is such a small scale and so out of date that it's completely useless. You wouldn't even want to use it as toilet paper, it's far too coarse. The Ride Planner only works properly if you buy certain brands of GPS which are so expensive that nobody in their right mind would buy. It certainly doesn't work with my TomTom.

We don't get any concerts or events, not even a national rally. We certainly don't get bands like ZZ Top and never will.

I guess we are being ripped off. I cannot say that it surprises me. We get ripped off on parts and accessories also.