What's the process of setting up company cycling club?

Mr Velo

I know that a number of companies have cycling clubs with their own gear etc. It has come to my attention that a lot of people in the company i work for are into cycling - and may be interested in setting up a company cycling club.

Anybody know what we should do to officially get this off the ground?

TinyExplosions

It depends what you want to do... if it's just to have gear and look the part, then just design and order the stuff!

If you want to race as your club, you'll have to register with Cycling Ireland... info here, and application form is here

seamus

Setting up a cycling club under a company banner could be a bit of a headache because the company will be scared ****less about getting sued.

If you're unlucky and have idiots in HR, they will likely lay down some ground rules - i.e. you must get insurance, you must wear a helmet & hi-vis at all times and you are not allowed to go out at night. If you're *really* unlucky they will tell you you're not allowed because it's too dangerous.

You will need permission from the company before using their logos and such, so there's no way to get company gear without their permission. Of course, you may have (and if it's a big company, probably do have) a reasonable HR department who won't have any issues with it.

I would suggest that you set up a club informally and then when you have a good few members, go to marketing to get their permission for the gear.

CheGuedara

seamus wrote: »

Setting up a cycling club under a company banner could be a bit of a headache because the company will be scared ****less about getting sued.

If you're unlucky and have idiots in HR, they will likely lay down some ground rules - i.e. you must get insurance, you must wear a helmet & hi-vis at all times and you are not allowed to go out at night. If you're *really* unlucky they will tell you you're not allowed because it's too dangerous.

You will need permission from the company before using their logos and such, so there's no way to get company gear without their permission. Of course, you may have (and if it's a big company, probably do have) a reasonable HR department who won't have any issues with it.

I would suggest that you set up a club informally and then when you have a good few members, go to marketing to get their permission for the gear.

+1

I'd say go about forming a club regular club and once you have your officers (chairperson, secretary and treasurer minimum), members, a constitution and rules nailed down then approach the buisness and ask if they would like to sponsor the club in exchange for placement on club kit etc and see how it goes from there.

When the time comes give Carvalho Custom and MyTeamGiordana a look at - have dealt with them both and their kit is good quality.

mo_bhicycle

CheGuedara wrote: »

When the time comes give Carvalho Custom and MyTeamGiordana a look at - have dealt with them both and their kit is good quality.

Or VeloTec who are also located in Galway: http://velotec.co.uk/

Mr Velo

Thanks for the info guys. Much appreciated.

Chips Lovell

CheGuedara wrote: »

+1

I'd say go about forming a club regular club and once you have your officers (chairperson, secretary and treasurer minimum), members, a constitution and rules nailed down then approach the buisness and ask if they would like to sponsor the club in exchange for placement on club kit etc and see how it goes from there.

I think Che's approach might be the best way of avoiding any difficulty with the HR department, i.e. you set up your own club that has nothing to do with the company and then ask them to come in as a sponsor, stressing that the its involvement with the club extends to sponsorship only. Most clubs also use a sponsors name as part of their own name too and in some cases clubs are more often referred to by their sponsors name than their own name. The net effect is that you've got a company team with no ties to the company.