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What happened to the motorcycle community?Oct 12 '00 Write an essay on this topic.I grew up riding motorcycles both on road and off road and have logged probably more than 100,000 miles as both a rider and pillion. Back in the late 70's and early 80's, there were three distinct motorcycling camps that we'd run accross in our treks; The Harley crowd, the Goldwing/Venture crowd and the sportbikers. At the occasional roadhouse that caters to bikers (The Lookout, The Rockhouse, Miller's Crossing, LaVida, and countless other canyon and beach bars), these three groups would meet and usually heckling from the harley would ensue towards the sportbikers calling them rice-burners, the sportbikers would heckle that touring boys with hoots of "get a car, it weighs less" or move that freight train grandpaw", followed by the 'Wingers heckling the Harley guys for having to rebuild a primary roadside and other maintenance matters. Everyone seemed to be drunk and rowdy to my (then) 11 year old eyes, alot of peeps talking smack, but it was all very much in lighthearted fun. Regardless of what you rode, if it had 2 wheels (and the occasional 3rd wheel), you were a biker. From the time I graduated High School to the time I got out of the Navy, I had been itching to get back riding a bike. These groups still exists today, but the mood is drastically different. With the radical rise in popularity of cruiser bikes, particularly harley's, there is a huge influx of riders to the biker scene and not all of them can be considered a welcome addition. Gone are the days of everyone's a biker and welcome to you (as long as your not *too* big of a jackass), replaced by "My FXDHL21EXFRSTZWR was built by Billy Bada$$ and cost me just over $70k" Ha! Not quite that drastic, but if you are looking to get into motorcycling because of the 'chicks' you'll get on your new scoot or the bar-to-bar weekend jaunts with the other lawyers, then welcome to the club--you wont be alone. And that's the problem. What I know and remember about motorcycling was "ride a bike, your a biker". Now it's "own anything but a Harley worth more than $30k and your a wannabe biker". I read it on a TShirt at the Laughlin River Run; "$15k and 15miles don't make you a biker". Now it seems like all the favorite hangouts of my youth are filled with yuppies in full costume compete with shiny new leather vests, chaps and Run buttons that were bought. Case in point. I broke my leg when I totalled a 93 VFR not that far from LaVida's in Carbon Canyon. 8 Months later, I borrowed a friends ZX11 and tooled over to Cook's to see if there was anything new. It was a good day for a ride, kinda warm and I just knew the beer would taste as good as I remembered. Not a whole lot of peeps were there and a group of hogs was leaving as I pulled up leaving a few spots up front open. I ride up and park and start taking off my helmet when this guy that was about 50-ish swaddles (half swagger, half waddle) up to me shouting obscenities like "move that jap peice of $h1t out of here, you rice-loving fagg0t". Dude-did he just say that? To me? I look at the guy a bit closer--he's got a fresh haircut, meticulisly groomed full beard and dammed if he don't have a brand-spankin new set of black leather chaps on, complete with a wallet ona chain (not to be confused with soup ona rope). Here I am, standing in front of a bar that I'd been hanging out for the better part of 14 years getting yelled at by a guy who was probably my dad's age talking like some highschool kid who obviously had money to spend on a new set of wranglers and chaps.... What was I to do? Just as I figured we were gonna start boxing, the resident AB contingency walks up to him and said, "you gotta kick a$$ to be a bada$$, no sit down pu$$Y" Hhmm. I had mixed emotions at this point...did I just get saved from being whooped by a drunk geriatric yuppie, or did said yuppie just get royally insulted--probably both, the guy was pretty stout, and I have a hard time pummeling someone my dad's age. The funny this was, the guy (and his group) were riding rental Sportsters from Cruise America and were visiting from Washington DC. I had a good chuckle at that, especially when the rest of the AB group started yelling at that group to "get on your women's bikes and peddle home". Ahh. Not quite justice, but it was amuzing and goes back to my point. Since when does woning a Harley, or any motorcycle become a license for people to start acting like idiots? I don't mean to infer that all yuppies on Harleys are Aholes, far from it, it just seems like there more and more Aholes around the scene now. It's too bad that a once laid-back and friendly group as a whole has been invaded by yuppies with something to prove. Maybe it's just my luck to have encountered this, but's it proven consistent across three states. I dunno, maybe I'm an Ahole... *ALL* of the bikers that I've know and rode with were probably some of the most intelligent people you'd ever meet. My theory is that it takes an above average amount of concentration and skill to even survive riding for an extended period of time. When I got my first street bike, I was in Japan and picked up an CBR400r and brought it back to the 'States, quickly hooking up with the locals in San Diego for weekend rips up and down Palomar Mountain. Now this was both good and bad; Good because I was able to learn by example from some of the best sport riders I've ever known and Bad because I frequently got in over my head trying to keep up the pace in the middle of a testosterone-fueled pack of squids. On public roads. Not good. The good news is that motorcycling is more popular than ever, whith alot of first time riders joining the ranks. Various riding clubs and organizations have sprung up and are great for those weekend rides through otherwise hidden areas, along with the traditional good company. The 'bad eggs' are quickly ousted from most organized riding groups. I'll not go into a typical 'Ride Responsibly' tirade; you know all about that, I'm sure. But how about 'Ride Friendly'? I don't know about you, but just about every bike ever made holds some fascination for me--from that Omega-Framed Yamaha sport cruiser to an Atlas-framed Harley....they are all good, ya know? What kindof experiences have you had with the biking scene as a whole? Do you ride with a formal group, or with a buddy or two? Had any experiences like mine? Think I'm full of cr4p? Let me know!  |
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