Analytics

[Dennis Andress]

The forum software provides graphs showing the number of views on each forum. That part sounds good, but producing this thread involved opening each forum, opening its graph, taking a constrained screenshot, editing the image to add its label, and saving it to file.

 

Chris Olson has told me that our busiest forums are the BMW Models/Engine Specific Forums. I feel that dirtrider is a big part of this.

 

Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dennis Andress]

 

 

 

 

[Dennis Andress]

 

 

 

 

[Dennis Andress]

Forgot this one

[RandyShields]

These are very interesting.  Thanks for sharing.

[realshelby]

Surprised to see that much Oilhead traffic. 

 

Dirtrider is worth his weight in gold to the forum!

[chrisolson]

So continuing with site stats ....

 

we average over 750,000 (yes, 3/4 million) page views per month !!  How is that possible you say ?  We are an open forum ... meaning anyone can stop by ( guests) and view the sit.  And unlike many forums, you don't have to register to see pictures / videos posted. That combined with good content means a large guest viewing population.

 

A single recent week ... 

 

 

But what about posts ...probably a better metric for member engagement ... have to be a member to post...

 

 

 

 

 

[lkraus]

4 hours ago, realshelby said:

Surprised to see that much Oilhead traffic. 

 

Dirtrider is worth his weight in gold to the forum!

I wonder if the Oilhead numbers reflect numerous members or a very talkative few.   Maybe they like to repeat themselves - note the spike on Groundhog Day!

 

The post numbers by model are pretty predictable.  Oilheads have some years and aging brings new problems, but I think also, they were the founders of BMWST. The Shiftcam is new, discoveries are being made about features and problems, and farkles are being added; Wetheads are very similar, and new enough to still merit a lot of similar discussion.  Hex/Camheads are pretty much known quantities, have been farkled as much as they are likely to be, solutions to common faults are known,  and are pretty reliable, so there is less to talk about.  Non-R bike and dirt riders are pretty rare here.

[Dennis Andress]

3 minutes ago, lkraus said:

I wonder if the Oilhead numbers reflect numerous members or a very talkative few.  .

Some years ago Whip told me that he and chrisolson had emailed some of the newer members asking why they didn't stick around. The answer was their R100 was the best commuter they could afford, they needed to keep it running, there was little chance they'd be able to go riding with us.

 

3 minutes ago, lkraus said:

Non-R bike and dirt riders are pretty rare here.

I resemble that remark.

 

[Skywagon]

I wonder if the data is skewed by people like me.... I ride a wethead but often post in riders discuss other things e.g. if I am asking about batteries, oil, tires, and some other things....I don't usually ask about it in WetHead Forum.  I had not given it much thought (as in Zero) that stats were being tracked by forum...although I should have known that.  I suspect there are subjects in each of the forums that bleed over...e.g. someone might ask about best tires in oil heads and camhead drivers might respond.  I'll be more conscious of trying to stay pure to the forums.

[chrisolson]

1 minute ago, Skywagon said:

I suspect there are subjects in each of the forums that blead over...e.g. someone might ask about best tires in oil heads and camhead drivers might respond. 

 

There is some of that, but I think not a lot ... the continuing volume in the oilhead forum is driven by maintenance and repair issues from "new" as well as longer term owners who are now seeing some issues.  We have the best resources on the web for these older bikes.

 

I see all the new member registrations come across , and I usually also monitor all the "motor" forums and many times the new member turns out to be a new oilhead owner and their first post is some issue on the bike where they need help. Oilheads represent a very good value for $$ spent vs a lot of other used bikes on the market today particularly to a lot of returning riders.

[TEWKS]

Oh…look. 
 

 

Spoiler

For the overly serious, that was a joke. 

 

[realshelby]

Shiftheads and to a lessening degree Wetheads are the "new" stuff where excited buyers post about farkles, about how to maintain them, and about niggly problems needing solved. New and exciting, money spent to add stuff.

 

Seems the Hexhead and Camhead are in the area where everything is sorted and not much happening. Owners that still have them from new know about all that is needed and most are not adding accessories in the past several years. They are getting old enough now that a market is opening for those on a limited budget that would never have considered a BMW.

 

Oilheads are a bit unique. Having owned one, I still think they are the best looking RT ever. Performed well for their era. Had LOTS of problems that kept owners....entertained during ownership. Somewhat complicated for their time to work on, and having a forum like this was priceless. Don't forget they came along about the time Al Gore invented the internet and they naturally fit right in. I think there are some budget riders buying them and looking for help maintaining them. Then there are those that sort of collect, or won't get rid of things that like them. If I had unlimited storage, I would love another 04 Titan silver RT to look at. 

 

Airheads....early on there was a bit of snobbishness concerning Airheads. While they were classic and timeless, their time was well before this forum was started. Airheads to this day populate magazines/club sites. Still interest in them. But we never really seemed to embrace them here. Not that WE were snobs, just most here wanted to ride their RT's across country at speed. NOT an Airhead strong point compared to the new iron. 

 

This site is BMW Sport Touring .com. Some here will remember it USED to be BMW RT .com! And it has held to being an RT site over even the wildly popular GS. That, as much as anything has surprised me.