The membership fees for the Wheelmen are about $30 per year. You are basically paying for a magazine twice a year which is very nice and 4 printed newsletters. The membership fees don't even cover the cost of producing the magazine. I think they should be more to AT LEAST cover that. It isn't only parades we participate in, there are various meets all over the country for members to participate. It is the premier antique bicycle organization in the country and if you are serious about participating with your pre 1918 bicycle - but realistically anyone one can participate who has an interest in old bikes - if you show up with something later or a reproduction almost nobody cares, we're just glad people want to participate. Nobody should discourage anyone with any bike participating, if someone does that to you, let me know and I'd be glad to offer them my two cents. I am not saying it doesn't happen, but the best avenue would be to just ignore whomever says anything about it to you. Nobody is going to kick anyone out of a meet for having the wrong bike. There are all kinds of people that participate, and yes some don't like to see repros, but that is too bad for them because the repro participation (particularly with Victory bikes) is a fairly strong percentage and lots of people don't want to worry about damaging original bikes or can't find one in their size or whatever. The organization is open to ANYONE with an interest in old bikes. You don't even have to own a bike.
I have lots of posts on the site, which admittedly leaves much to be desired with modern forum technology, but we are an organization of volunteers.
I'm not sure why anyone was banned, but I would bet it is the bickering that nobody wants to see. It makes the club look bad. I don't even know who had the authority to ban someone, I'd guess the webmaster, but he is new and I'd bet that decision isn't made by him alone.