[Abe_Froman]

Biker gangs?

I thought we had a big discussion a while back with every Harley rider claiming that this type of stuff was merely hype created by the media & movies? I guess not......Perhaps some of these tough-looking yet supposedly warm-hearted HOG enthusiasts aren't really the great people they've been purported to be.

 

[bigjames]

Ok, I'll start.



I am a Harley and BMW Rider. This is the exact same crap that the fine folks in North Carolina used as justification for the harrassment we (BMW Riders Association, a known group of rowdies - right) recieved at Fontana Village a few years back. They said 10,000 bikers were comming up to rumble with us! The biggest problem there was cowboy ******* southern stereo-typical cops. (no need to flame me on this, I have friends who are cops, were at the rally and very embarrassed by the idiots hiding behind badges up there)



The National Gang Crime Research Center also says that ABATE is a nasty Outlaw organization. As soon as I read about the rumble in New York, knew these asses would come out of the wood works. I believe little or nothing these folks say, they have proven to be idiots in the past, doubt if that has changed.



Don't know about the problems the Pagans and Hells Angles have, none down here in Georgia. If there is a problem, it will be localized. The HA have way to much to lose with this stupidity that could end up as a RICO thing. Mighty strange that no Hells Angles were arrested. Kind of hard to look like the bad guys when your club is hosting an open motorcycle gathering and were obviously ambushed. Looks to me like the Pagans went looking for trouble and found it, in spades. The Hells Angles have been around a long time (as have the Outlaws for that matter. They don't like each other and have not done this insanity for decades!) and know what they can get away with and can/will put up with.



Am I worried, no. But just in case, when I go to Sturgis this year, I am riding my K1200LT, (that's a BMW for the uninitiated. Allegedly the brand of choice for clubbers when not wearing the patches) it's Canyon Red (kinda the color of dried blood) please don't shoot me...

 

[bigjames]

One more thing, the sausage king knows where he can put that sausage. Get off that high horse and actually meet and get to know these Harley riders. You will be pleasantly surprised, even the truly big bad ass ones are actually ok decent people, but like most folks, when you ***** them, off they react most negatively. As most non-Harley riders do...

 

[intruderman]

I don't think it's hype. Their comments seemed to be aimed only at the Outlaw bikers, not bikers in general. I hope the guy who had the first post doesn't think your typical HOG enthusiast is an Outlaw biker. All the ones I know, and I know a lot of them, are just middle/upper class guys with a case of midlife crisis.

 

[intruderman]

Hey, what happened to the first comment? The one I was referring to just disappeared. I wasn't talking about your comment, Big James.

 

[6144]

I've found that a lot of people who aren't biker friendly, believe that the vast majority of riders are somehow directly related to this type of s*****. It's unfortunate because it puts a bad face on everyone. The ones who aren't law abiding should have been left in the catering hall to shoot it out. If they don't have any regard for a person's life, I sure won't miss them.



D.

 

[6144]

Hey, what's up with the *****? Since when is the word s***** bad???? Censorship has begun. Welcome Russia Online!!

 

[fwalters]

Re: Media Hype...

I just glad to see a few bikers are taking the terrorism thing serious enough to be prepared for it.

Phsyco's are roaming this country with anthrax and possibly nuclear weapons, and we're supposed to get scared because of a couple of wacked out bikers? Hey, read the news, dozens of people are killed everyday buy guys that wear ties, maybe we should start being scared of guys in suits too...

Get real.

 

[banda]

Perhaps the Pagans were getting off their collective high horse and trying to "get to know" the Hell's Angels?


So just what is the right way to get to know Harley riders? Do you just saunter up and say "Hey, nice bike! I'm not interrupting a gang war here, am I? 'Cos if you're about to assassinate one of your rivals, I could come back another time."


Do you remember the classic "Far Side" cartoon... it had an angry dog, teeth bared, fur up, a puffer fish with all its spikes extended, a snorting bull pawing at the ground, and a guy in a trench coat with an inflatible horsie life-preserver, a shoe on his head and a bazooka. The caption read "How nature says 'Stay Away'"


If you're smart, you'll add the image of the "outlaw biker" to that mental menu of encounters to be avoided.

 

[1199]

Just more reasons to not like "bikers"

On a recent short trip, I pulled up to a restaurant and parked. People were sitting outside, having lunch. I got the usual "here comes trouble" looks from the families seated outside. Was it my loud Harley, black leather and biker glare that caused this reaction? I don't think so, seeing as I was on my stock (quiet) ZX-11, wearing sportbike gear and have a very Republican haircut. No, it was the simple fact I was on a motorcycle- any motorcycle- that immediately labeled me a lower life form. We all still have a long way to go, and bikers shooting into crowds and wearing bulletproof vests is not exactly helping.

It seems for the last few years, motorcycle people had finally turned their image from "hellions" to "independent types" to "cool people who ride." It only takes a few sensational stories and perhaps a popular movie to erase all that progress and remind everyone that the original stereotypes were right on the money. Thanks a bunch, biker boys. You are again ruining it for the rest of us, and I know you don't give a damn.

GOB

 

[Eric]

It got moderated down to 0. Go to your preferences. You can reset your prefernces to accept most messages (set to accept messages moderated to 0), or to -1, which shows pretty much everything.

 

[KPaulCook]

Common Threads

Lets look for some Common Threads here:

Black Leather

Tatoos

Skull cap helments

Loud Pipes

Club Patches.

Beat up Harleys and other cruisers.

Alcohol

Drugs

You don't see police having problems with:

Folks that ride Gold Wings, Concours, BMWs , and new Harleys. I ride a sport bike and I never get hasseled by cops or families in minivans. In fact cops on BMWs and Kawas wave at me while I am going the legal limit in the car pool lane.

I get harassed by bikers on beat up old cruisers (see above) and women in SUVs

 

[Eric]

Re: Just more reasons to not like

This is a really good point. I live in Virginia, about 10 miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Bikers seem to be pretty well respected by most in this region -- riders bring a lot of money to businesses along the Parkway. The only time I think people really get pissed is when riders greatly exceed the 45 MPH Parkway speedlimit (I try only to do this when it is deserted).

However, I think the bike does have something to do with how you are perceived. When my wife and I rode our HD Electra Glide Ultra Classic (Harley's big touring bike with stereo, intercom, etc.), we would get the royal treatment wherever we went. When we visited Buffalo, Niagara, Vermont, etc., parking lot attendants would often let us park up front. People driving Toyota Camries would ask us about our trip. When I ride my Buell, however, I get a lot more dirty looks. No front parking spaces, to say the least. The only people that seem interested are motorcycle guys and teenage males that want to know how fast it goes.

Even when I rode the Harley solo, I got less positive treatment than I did with my wife. My point is this: people are scared of the unknown. When they saw my wife and I on a luxury touring bike -- especially when we pulled a trailer behind it -- they saw us as a couple on vacation. When I ride my Buell, I am seen as a hooligan. The problem with gang incidents is that it informs the public that bikers are hooligans, not normal people enjoying a different mode of transportation. Single males on cruisers with straight pipes or own sport bikes would seem to be the ones that would engender the most fear. I think this is ridiculous, but to counter it I go out of my way to be nice to people when I am on my bike.

 

[erik_squires]

While I agree with most of your statement, I'm sorry, I read on the New York Times online that members of HA were in fact arrested.



The HA tatoo artist started firing shot several Pagans and killed one of them.



Funny thing was that the pagans show up to a place that's already surrounded by FBI and local law enforcement, with clubs, to fight with the HA. Hahahahaa. Sorry.



Erik

 

[longride]

Wow, and all this time I thought your "typical HOG enthusiast" was a guy who just liked to ride motorcycles like everyone else. Learn something new every day I guess.

 

[erik_squires]

Hype. There's a wonderful book that's recently out called The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril by Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert G. Kaiser.



The basic premise is that after CNN, all news organizations realised they could make much more profits by decreasing the cost of their product (i.e. get the cheapest news you can). So when you see easy to write journalism like that, you now know why.



Also, they find out that Americans as a whole actually do want better news, and more international coverage, but we're not getting it because that's more expensive, not as we're led to beleive, because surveys say we want pablum.





Peace!



Erik

 

[Abe_Froman]

Whatever

It seems that someone has seen fit to mediate my original comment (1st post) down to zero. I guess as true as it might be, a politically incorrect comment isn't welcome. My remark was qualified and well restrained. Apparently some people can't handle the obvious.

 

[Eric]

Re: Whatever

I don't think you should have been moderated down. Let your ignorance be on display for all to see.

There are some bad Harley riders. This does not mean that all Harley riders are bad. I have never seen anyone deny the existence of motorcycle gangs -- only that they are not representative of the riding population as a whole, something that remains true.

Your first post read as if it classified all Harley riders as law breaking asses. That is simply idiotic. It has nothing to do with being PC or not. If that was not the intention of your post, I apologize for mischaracterizing. But that is certainly how it read.

 

[Abe_Froman]

Well, my sportbiking buddies and I aren't shooting people.....

So what did the Hells Angels do that pissed off the Pagans so bad? How are we supposed to tell which bad-ass leather-clad rider is the troublemaker to avoid? This article seems to suggest that, in spite of your contention to the contrary, not all the bad-ass biker-types are such upstanding citizens. Frankly, I've personally never had a problem with anyone on a Harley, and I've even been waved at by a couple of them while riding my R1. This article, however, would cause me to look over my shoulder when walking into my local Harley hangout (which I enjoy visiting, by the way.) Read the d*** article again before you start celebrating the virtues of all people mounted on Harleys. As was pointed out earlier, you don't hear about these kinds of things between gangs of sportbikers or BMW owners.

 

[Abe_Froman]

Your typical HOG enthusiast

I do not think the typical HOG enthusiast is an outlaw, though I think they like to portray themselves that way. I'm quite certain that if one were to group these outlaws with most of the other Harley riders I see, I wouldn't be able to tell which ones were the fine upstanding folk and which ones would stomp me to death for looking at them wrong.