Next stop was a couple on a shaft drive XXXX with full touring gear including a tank bag. Matching everything and helmet mikes to boot. They were very cordial. I really can't say anymore than that. I commented on the fact that their bike was probably a very smooth ride on the highway but was told they never did interstates. I tried humor, I tried history, I tried trivia and I almost tried inviting them for coffee. Mamma raised ugly kids but not fools. I wished them a safe ride and left.

     I gave up talking and I gave up “saluting” other bikes. Use to be a raised fist was the salute, now its this wimpy little two or three finger wave from the hip. Look I'm not a tough guy, never was and I never liked being told to “park the motorcycle in the back if you want to eat here and leave the leathers with the bike”. I'm glad those days are over and I'll bet that you never knew they existed. For a long time Biker = Outlaw. There are many of you who like to portray this image. You've watched too many movies, in real life those guys go down hard and dirty. You put me in mind of the “Vietnam Vets” who were protesters until it became popular to be a vet, you're living somebody else's life. In the day most bikers were a dirty, smelly lot cause our machines leaked oil and threw grease off the chain. A lot of bikers hung out in bars, got drunk and did stupid things that added to the bad reputation. Leathers were worn for protection. Until you have scraped sand and debris out of a “road raspberry” or had bugs the size of Godzilla splat you or felt the sting of rain on bare arms you can't fully appreciate leathers. The movies made leathers “bad”. “Bad” ain't what you wear it's your attitude and all the bad guys I knew have been dead a long time. Knifed, shot, beaten or run over by a truck, bad is bad and dead is dead.

So why you need to act that way?

The Changing Biker

     The image of motorcycles and their riders began to improve when the Japanese bikes became popular. Quieter, smoother, more dependable, no oil leaks, electric start instead of kick all appealed to the public but even so it was not until the 80's & 90's that motorcycles became commonplace and widely accepted. The import bikes improved bikes and made biking acceptable but it seperated us as brothers. As bikes became more dependable and dealerships more professional we no longer had to depend on each other and the less we needed to recognise the spirit of being Bikers in each other.

     Todays riders really don't care about the things that made being a Biker special to me. They can't care about those things because they never experienced them. They don't care about the connection between themselves and a machine. It's just another toy to show off. They don't own one or ride one long enough to become intimate. They are more concerned with image than the ride. In the day it was the ride that created the image. Instead of being that rugged individualist they have become conformists and everybody wants to look like everybody else. So I want to know who defined what you should look like, who defined how you should act? You see, in the day we took pride that our bikes were as unique as ourselves. Each bike was a reflection.

     There were good riders who didn't know a nut from a bolt but they were there when the Bros' worked on their machines. They washed parts and wire brushed them, sanded the frame and tank and spoke of their vision so others could make it happen. We cut, welded and machined our own parts. There was no picking out cool stuff from a catalog and paying somebody to bolt it on. You knew your bike and when you rode you knew your limitations because you had gone there (sometimes crashed there) and came back. My pony threw me but I still love my pony.

Apologies for My Disappointments

     Well if you're still reading maybe there's hope, anyway the end is near. So this is a love/hate thing going on with me. I appreciate that I can now ride without worrying about cops “profiling” me cause I'm on a two wheeler but you see I'm also getting lonely out there. For the most part I've been a solo rider. Clubs never attracted me, they got rules and regulations, leaders and followers and somebody is always unhappy with the way things are being run. It's difficult to find a riding partner, one who is intuitive and moves in harmony. One who can let you roll it on and dissappear down the road or drop back and chill. Somebody you trust so much that when riding side by side through that tight curve you're only thought is: “Damn can she ride.” One who knows what being a Biker is and is in for the ride not the destination. How can there be so many and yet so few who feel it and live it?

     Maybe I've just been riding the wrong roads, maybe the old bikers are still out there and maybe I'm the last. Or maybe it's all a false memory and there never was an unwritten code of brotherhood among a small portion of the populace. I'd sew on my 1% patch but it would probably become a fad and everyone would be flying the “Jolly Roger” to be cool and the meaning would be lost. Maybe we should all sit back and reflect on why we really ride or better yet let's go for a ride, I know this little coffee shop.........

     Next stop was a couple on a shaft drive XXXX with full touring gear including a tank bag. Matching everything and helmet mikes to boot. They were very cordial. I really can't say anymore than that. I commented on the fact that their bike was probably a very smooth ride on the highway but was told they never did interstates. I tried humor, I tried history, I tried trivia and I almost tried inviting them for coffee. Mamma raised ugly kids but not fools. I wished them a safe ride and left.