Hells Angel by Sonny Barger (NOT the original Hells Angels by Hunter S. Thompson) gives a very good look at the outlaw biker mentality. (Note that I am not implying that all Harley riders have anything to do with the outlaw biker culture or even know what it is.) Barger was the founder of the Hells Angels club (no apostrophe in the official spelling.) In his book, he talks about the politics of the club. It’s something I’ve been interested in for a while, the weird relationship between the Angels and the left-wing counterculture during the 60s.
As Barger writes, the Hells Angels and other outlaw biker groups were never leftists. For that matter, a lot of the hippies that they partied with weren’t leftists either. Barger makes this distinction very clear when he discusses the difference between the Berkeley hippies and the San Francisco hippies. The counterculture in San Francisco, in Barger’s words, was all about people who wanted to party, listen to music and fuck. It was largely an apolitical scene, at least in the eyes of the outlaw bikers. The two groups got along because of their shared interest in drugs, drinking, and fucking. San Francisco was where the Angels found their kindred spirits and supposedly a lot of the hippie guys would just let their girlfriend fuck one of the Hells Angels, like as some weird form of tribute. The Angels were like these badass outlaw knights or something, both feared and admired.
The Berkeley crowd, on the other hand, was really despised by the Angels and by Barger in particular because of what he saw as their anti-American sentiment and their overt leftist political philosophy. Everything Barger writes about the Abbie Hoffman, “fight-the-power,” pseudo-communist activists in the 60s was dripping with contempt. You have to realize that the Angels were extremely jingoistic. The majority of them seem to have had military service, often in combat, and they really viewed the anti-war movement of the left as being pro-communist. They saw them as anti-American, and not just that but also weak and cowardly for not serving in the military. Barger actually tried to get the Hells Angels sent to Vietnam to fight, but they all had felony records so they were ineligible for service. He even wrote a letter to Pres. Johnson requesting that the club be sent to fight in Vietnam!
The Angels all came from blue collar backgrounds. Mostly Italian-American, Irish-American or “Okies,” though there were also some blacks, Hispanics and Chinese in the club. But they were all what people back then referred to as “hardhats.” In other words, rough, tough, working class folk, as opposed to the left-wing radicals who were middle-class and college educated.
You should just read the book; it’s a great book. But what it all boils down to is that the Hells Angels saw the left wing as being pussified anti-American over-educated effete wimpy Commies, and you can bet your ass they didn’t want to have ANY part of that.
So that’s the outlaw biker side of it. The other side of the Harley and other cruiser riders, is the “RUB” or “rich urban biker” people; professionals who are rich, and can afford a Harley. (They usually get one that’s all decked out with extras, as opposed to the stripped down sort that outlaws would ride.) These people just happen to be in the demographic that is predominantly Republican, so it’s no surprise there.
Sportbikes have more of a hipster image, so there are probably more educated, young, programmer/engineer or what have you type guys with crotch rockets; I have many friends who fit that description who have CBRs and whatnot, and they’re generally left-wing on everything except guns. But there are also a lot of “redneck” type guys who also have sportbikes, around here in Indiana anyway, and those guys are often Republicans. So it’s a mixed bag.
