I have seen some of them and I keep waiting for the “History” Channel to speculate that they come from outer space, kind of like the bikers in a *Lost in Space *episode.
Well, where’s the proof that they are NOT from outer space, huh?
(Why am I thinking that I just gave History Channel producers their angle?) :smack:
I live on the west side of Indianapolis and in the 90’s had to drive past the sons of silence clubhouse on my way to work every day. It was not uncommon to find cops arresting bikers roughly in mile stretch along the road the clubhouse was on they were well known to be a bunch of hard asses and were involved in drugs and gun running. I really did not like driving through that stretch of town that any other route added nearly 20 minutes to my drive.
I was driving a junky beater piece of crap that often would not start for me because of sticky butterfly valves in the carburetor. I had stopped to get gas and had trouble getting the car started. We had important people coming into work that day so I had dressed up even more than usual. I knew how to fix it so I popped open the hood and was getting ready to wedge A bic pen into the valves when three of the bikers rode up next to me. They looked me up and down then at each other, and one of them ask " do you need help miss?" I was scared to death because I did not know if their idea of help would be the same as mine. I tried to give them the best version of my aunt’S " I have a yardstick and know how to use it" glare and answered them " no thank you, I know what to do." I wedged the pen into the valve and went and started the car. I got back out and retrieved the pen and closed the hood and wished them a good day.
The three men had started to gas up their bikes and were chuckling. One of them said " now that is a lady with style, she didn’t even get A grease smudge." All three wished me a nice day as I drove off. I don’t know if they were normally that social around women not involved in their club or if they had truly been impressed with my lame mechanic skills but I considered the encounter a successfully safe one.
There were a couple of other much smaller bike gangs in the area but they were not the hard ass type. They were all pretty polite if they sometimes pulled stupid drunken stunts. I would’ve had no concerns about an encounter with them.
Indiana gets a lot of bike runs passing through from spring to fall whether because of the races or charity rides especially during the fall along the highways in brown county, they are almost always well behaved polite people. I have very few memories of their having been problems as these groups have passed through. All in all I have a very positive view of bikers. I just wish more of them wore helmets. I know they are uncomfortable and block vision and sound but they do save lives I have seen the results of the head hitting pavement without protection and have watched emt’s carefully gather up brain matter from the ground along with the coroner. I realize the riding gives a sense of freedom and it probably dims the feeling to wear a helmet but isn’t it better to live that freedom longer for having used a bit of safety? No matter how good the rider is it’s the people in automobiles or sometimes random wildlife that often causes the death of the rider which could have been saved with safety gear . Sorry to preach, but have lost a good friend to such an incident and always remember him when I see riders without helmets and I miss my friend.
I grew up in Tucson, which during the 70’s and early 80’s was a fairly strong biker community.
At one point about 1979 or 80, maybe, there was a war in Tucson over the drug trade. I recall the HAs, Huns and Bandidos, all from California rolling in. Whenever they travelled in large groups, a TPD car would follow behind.
One night while working at a 7-11, a very nice lady asked me to turn the gas pump on, which I did without looking outside. When I did, I saw perhaps 50-100 bikes all filling up in a huge line. I assumed that payment was not going to be forthcoming, but in the end, another very nice lady came in and paid with a check from Hells Angels, Inc. Good check and no problem.
Another time, some Huns guys bought beer and in the parking lot, dropped the bottles. One of the guys came in to demand free beer for the losses, but the other guy told him to buy more since it was his own fault.
In short, bikers acted in a totally decent fashion. I suspect that they treat one another in ways that probably aren’t as nice, but I have found that if you don’t f with them, they aren’t interested in f’ing with you.
As far as the drug war goes, I don’t recall it ever amounting to anything big and public and evidently got resolved in some other means. Street gangs on the other hand…total slime and stupidly violent.
It seems like pullin is putting the hardcore-looking bikers into two groups - Real and Pretenders - when in my opinion it should be three - Gangs, Clubs, and Posers.
1%ers are Gangs that also happen to be motorcycling clubs. Mess with them as a gang - treat them with what they perceive to be disrespect, or be seen as infringing on their turf - and you’re in trouble. On any other level, dealing with them with basic respect as people or bikers, and there’s no reason to have trouble - as evidenced by anecdotes above, they can be downright sweet.
Clubs, in my grouping above, are groups of enthusiasts. Just because their members have white-collar jobs during the week doesn’t mean they can’t be very serious about their hobby on weekends. The apparently boring accountant next door might be able to strip down and reassemble his bike’s engine blindfolded. Clubs are social organisations that often have a cause or are an association of similar people (i.e. clubs for firefighters, EMTs, or accountants, who ride). Being clubs, they can be fairly hardcore about their hobby and community, and thus have the whole “badass biker” look.
Posers are people who want to look like members of a Club or a Gang but do it all for show. People who put rockers on their leathers but don’t know what they mean to Clubs or Gangs. People who buy expensive bikes for the looks but can’t do something as simple as an oil change by themselves.
So there’s a chance of trouble if a Poser starts messing with a Gang, thinking they’re equals; but a banker who rides in a Club - even if it’s just his suburban friends in the financial industry - isn’t necessarily excluded from being a “real” biker, if their interest in motorcycling is real and they don’t try to, or pretend to, act like a Gang.
Anyway, that’s just my two centavos. The mechanics’ shop I use these days is run by a member of a local club, there’s always a few other club members around when I go in, and they host club gatherings regularly. It’s all smiles and handshakes from the (patched and tattooed) club members stopping in while I’m there, though I don’t know them from Adam. They do great work, faster and cheaper than the dealership for my brand.
(To be fair, this is Brazil, so there’s no long history of motorcycle gangs and 1%ers and associated “rules”, though there are some Hells Angels around)
Oh, and ducati, that Panhead is a thing of beauty. Feel like posting a pic of your Ural? 
Sorry. Internet outage since Saturday!
and my daughter guiding me through obstacles at a Ural Rodeo. My goggles are opaque, so I have to listen to her…
Beautiful, ducati! Thanks for sharing!
I should get a pair of those opaque goggles. For my passengers. rimshot 
Hey, all it takes is a pair of scissors and a magazine cover…
I am a member of a national bike club that is well known and has been around for a long time. After reading these posts, I have realized how out of sorts, club reputations have gotten over the years. Yes, over the years, there have been fights and mayhem from time to time, not much different from any other family out there. No club cares about weekend warriors or independant riders that wear leather. The only reason anyone would find themselves in trouble is if they put a patch on their leather that is similar to a club’s patch. Even then, if it’s an innocent mistake, they’ll just be notified to take it off. Clubs are not interested in harrassing anybody. After reading these posts, I think something should be cleared up. Clubs have clubhouses so they can have get togethers. occasionally they are open to the public called “Open Houses”. Any club member will tell you, Nobody gets harrassed or hurt during these events. That would be bad for business. How can you expect people to show up and have a good time when they think they have something to worry about. On the contrary, guests are taken very good care of. They would be invited to stay the night if they are too buzzed to drive or a ride will be arranged for them. Community is important to any club. Any club member will tell you the same. Even though things may have been different in the past, but that must have been before my time. The guys I know and have met are all about respect and family. The only people that I want to deal with are real people. I don’t care what your faults are, I don’t judge, just be honest about it. If you’re a goof ball, just be a goof ball.
To address what I see as Pullin’s question. Do real clubs, get pissed at yuppie posers.
Yes. Is the short answer.
The long answer is too long, but it goes into the differences in …
1% clubs
3 piece patch clubs
Bottom rockers that claim territory
And most importantly WHY would these guys care. That would require talking about other people private business. People who do not appreciate being talked about.
I’ve been (past tense) a member of a 3piece patch club (not 1%)
I have seen yuppies and wanna bees have there vests taken. I’ve seen the goldwing riders club be told to wear only a one piece patch (they were wearing 3).
I have heard about but not seen problems between clubs and Black Label Society (metal band) fans. The band wears fake vests/3piece patches (and sells them to fans) in the color of a real club. Some of the fans ride, a few have tried to start chapters.
Life’s pretty cheap to that type, Janet.
San Francisco or around there? Tiny was one of the guys in the HA’s Oakland chapter at the time.
That reminds me, if you want to learn about this sort of thing from the horse’s mouth, you can do worse than read Sonny Barger’s memoir.
Thanks for posting.
I’m sure your fiancee was also a beauty!
Dammit!
Back in 1981, HA decided that it wanted to set up a local chapter in Salt Lake. There was a local MC who thought that since it was there first, it should keep it.
I was working at a factory during the summer break and one of the women there hung around with various bikers and would give us a running account.
Anyway, the local club invited the HA guy over for a discussion, then shot him in front of their club. Although I have never been even peripherally involved and only experienced this vicariously from a heavy partier embellishing stories to extend her 15 minutes of fame at a small cabinet shop, I still saw a problem with that approach.
To very few people’s surprise, HA didn’t particularly like having one of their guys shot. Who would have thought?
So, there were a number of local people riding around without their normal identification as HA [del]patiently waited for the police to sort it out[/del] did what one would expect them to do.
I was gone before it was either finished or the girl was tired of making up stories or repeating stories which someone else made up, so I’m not sure how it finally ended.
I was riding a small 175 cc Yamaha and my mother was a little concerned. No, Mom, it’s OK, the big boys know that geeks on toy bikes aren’t threats.
Just out of curiosity, during that negotiation period, did you wear a black leather jacket riding about or did you find something almost good enough but definitely not a BLJ?
No, T-shirts and shorts. This is when I was young and stupid, (in contrast to now, old and stupid) so I didn’t think about possible road rash.
I did have a helmet, though. Utah had repealed it’s mandatory helmet law a few years prior and none of the real bikers wore them. That alone would have been enough accidental road departure insurance, I suppose.
Off topic, but I just bought a scooter and remembered how much I like to ride. I used to go around on this in Japan. Not a big bike, but fast off the line.
Taiwan has some great mountains. Time for me to get a real bike.