By the Staff of Clutch and Chrome

How exactly did a form of transport get such a universally strong association to everything bad in our society?

Back in the early 1900’s when the motorcycle was gaining popularity it was considered a toy for the rich, and a more affordable transportation alternative to the then expensive automobile by the average person. It even became a symbol of the growing emancipation movement by women.

But by the end of the Second World War, America had an abundance of two things; motorcycles and returning servicemen, neither of which the military had any further need for. The soldiers who’d left home as inexperienced young men came back as seasoned war veterans, most of them seeing more than any person should see. They arrived home to a country that not only was glad to have them back, but proud of what they had done.

Although many of the returning soldiers tried to pick up their lives and settled down to jobs, marriage and children, some of the young men were restless, trying to find their place in society and looking for friends that could relate to the experiences they had known. The post war supply of cheap motorcycles not only presented the restless men an avenue for their youthful energy, the rough and powerful ride from the Harley Davidson or Indian motorcycles of the day gave that edge to life these men had known in war but was hard to find in suburban America. Many chose the life of the road with like minded individuals who liked to ride hard and party harder rather than settle in the routine of a nine to five job, mortgages and the stresses of raising a family. Just as the man either side of them in war was closer than any brother, their fellow riders became family.

Since these were men that were used to serving under a symbol, wearing patches of who they were and what they represented, it wasn’t long before the different groups became more organized and gave themselves an identity, something surely lacking for many. Two of the first such organizations were the Pissed Off Bastards and the Booze Fighters.

Because an offshoot of the Pissed Off Bastards became the infamous Hells Angels, their origins are less well known but it's thought that many were formerly members of an elite group of U.S. Army paratroopers trained to land behind enemy lines, defeat the enemy and hold their ground until conventional forces can re-enforce them.

Booze Fighters still exist today and make every effort to recount the club’s history. "Wino" Willie Forkner is recognized as the founder of the Booze Fighters and after being kicked out a previous motorcycle club for being too rambunctious he found kindred spirits in Nelson, Dink Burns, George Menker and others. It’s said that the club was actually formed at the All American Bar in Los Angeles in 1946.

Just Harmless fun
How long would these groups have kept the moniker of 'club' and all the civilized air that goes with it will never be known. An event that should’ve been like every one before it became the catalyst that changed Middle America’s perception, and consequently attitude, towards the motorcycle and its rider. Even the term Outlaw Motorcycle Club which was originally used by the AMA (American Motorcycle Association) simply to designate motorcycle clubs who didn’t adhere to its standards would later come to mean so much more.

At this time the AMA had authority over nearly all the motorcycle events held in the United States, including an annual motorcycle rally called the Gypsy Tour which took place in the sleepy farming community of Hollister, California, 40 miles southeast of San Jose.  Scheduled events included hill climbs, a slow race, digout race and plank ride with the big AMA flat track race featuring a winning purse of $1200. In 1947 this grand prize was a large enough to attract around three to four thousand bikers. Even the organizers of the event didn't expect such a large attendance.Bikers slept anywhere they could lay their sleeping bags.

The seeds of trouble were sown when crowds were turned away from an award ceremony and dance held on a Saturday night at the end of the Gypsy Tour Rally. Due to the unexpected large crowds everyone was turned away except for AMA members or AMA recognized motorcycle club members, leaving all the other riders looking for a place to party.

Most of the riders who had been turned away from the AMA event ended up downtown on San Benito Street, but soon the bars and restaurants ran out of beer leaving the bikers who loved to live life to it's fullest drinking hard liquor. Some say the bars pretended to run out of beer to make the bikers buy the more expensive liquor, others claim that no-one thought the bikers could afford the liquor and they just hoped ‘running out of beer’ would be an easy way to stop the drinking. But like the events surrounding this notable weekend, what actually happened on that night, and even their magnitude depends on which story you believe.

A darker history
A different account claims ‘drag races and bar and street fights were common with one member of the Pissed Of Bastards arrested and jailed. A large mob gathered and demanded his release. When local authorities refused, the estimated mob of 750 literally tore the small community apart.’

Regardless of what actually happened, the public’s perception was shaped by the official newspaper reports which claimed sixty people were injured, some seriously, a night court convened and the supposed use of tear gas to bring unruly bikers under control. But it was the staged Life photograph of a slovenly motorcyclist with beer bottles gathered at his feet which caused a sensation and branded bikers as lawless rebels. The continuing media frenzy would imprint that image of the rebellious biker on the mind of the American Public. It’s widely acknowledged that this picture was staged and there are rumors that the others that accompanied it in the same article such as photographs of police officers using tear gas rifles were as well. This leads the further claim and accusation that many facts used in the story were less than truthful as well.

Later the American Motorcycle Association tried to distance itself and its members from the bad publicity and the negative feelings towards motorcyclists by claiming that “99% of all of their members are law-abiding citizens and only 1% are 'outlaw' ”.

It wasn't long before the incident caught the eye of Hollywood and the imagination of Stanley Kramer who teamed up with director Laslo Benedek and screenwriter John Paxton to produce the classic 1953 movie ‘The Wild One’ starring Marlon Brando. The films success not only gave birth to Brando's career but also it's own movie genre. Soon, studios clamored to capitalize on America’s new public menace, the outlaw motorcycle gang!

"Their credo is violence…Their God is hate… The most terrifying film of our time!" read the poster advertising the film "The Wild Angels," a B-movie starring Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra. Featuring fighting sprees, drugs and sexual assaults, all to a chorus of roaring chopper engines, the film and others like it contributed to the negative image of motorcycle riders, especially Harley-Davidson owners.

With the negative press, sensationalized movies and a feud between some bikers and the AMA, the ranks of motorcycle clubs that were proud to consider themselves ‘one-percenters’ grew. The Hells Angels, which broke away from the Pissed Off Bastards in 1948, were forming new chapters or groups, all up and down the California Coast.

Interestingly enough, the Booze Fighter who were witness to what could be considered as the birth-event of the outlaw biker image  have never claimed to be one-percenters, as they’re clear to point on any chapters website or publicity material.

The Hells Angels however became more and more famous, or should one say infamous? A 1965 article ‘The Motorcycle Gangs: Losers and Outsiders’ showed such an honest look into the Hells Angels brutal world that the author Hunter S Thompson went on to write an entire book on the club called Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. None  was more surprised than the author himself on the frankness and openness he got from the club’s members. The Hells Angels gained further notoriety when an 18 year old boy was stabbed to death by a member of the club who was working as security for a Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway outside San Francisco. The member was later was acquitted, despite the fact that the entire incident was captured on film.

With the image of the outlaw biker firmly entrenched in America’s mind, an actor who starred in a motorcycle gang B-movie a mere three years earlier, would write a movie that not only created a new movie genre, but a new way to look at the motorcyclist.

The Birth of Captain America
Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper wrote and starred in Easy Rider, a movie about two men who head out across America on Harley Davidson Choppers trying to find their place in the world. With Dennis Hopper directing, it not only created a new breed of movie known as the ‘road film’, characters with nowhere to go and no reason to get there, but it also associated motorcycles with freedom rather than the hooliganism ‘The Wild One’ had some sixteen years earlier. The film was firmly based in the sixties culture of non-conformism and philosophical outlooks on life, even with the cynical ending of self-disapproval.

America loved the image.

At the same time the teens of the time were wanting as restless and free-spirited as the biker on the silver screen, and the Japanese waiting in the wings to help. With the older Harley Davidson and Indian motorcycles requiring the rider to have extensive mechanical knowledge and the willingness to rebuild an engine on the side of a deserted highway, it was a difficult past time for a new rider to get into. The Japanese on the other hand, were making riding easy, selling small but powerful bikes that were not only reliable and inexpensive. They even came with little luxuries like an electric starter. They were manufacturing the kind of worry-free motorcycle geared towards the growing casual, 'jump on and go' type of rider. The development, advancements and engine size of the Japanese-motorcycle grew with the Baby-Boomers, following their needs all the way through college with larger engines and better touring capabilities.

The era was summed up by the ad campaign "You Meet the Nicest People on a Honda". The ad depicted housewives, a parent and child, young couples and other respectable members of society-referred to as "the nicest people"-riding Honda 50s for a variety of purposes. Moreover, the colorful illustration and highly professional design appealed strongly to the public. Those who would otherwise have rolled their eyes at the word "motorcycle," and those who previously had no interest in them, soon saw in the motorcycle a new purpose: one of casual and convenient daily transportation.
 

Moving along the road of life
The same generation that brought some perceived respectability to the biker image permanently parked the motorcycle in the garage of life, abandoning it for jobs, a mortgage and raising a family. It's ironic that these were the same life events the previous generation was trying to avoid when they fell in love with the motorcycle. What had become a large thriving industry, fell on hard times and the only riders left on the road were the die-hard bikers and of course, motorcycle clubs wearing leather jackets proudly bearing their colors, or club chapters, emblem.

The motorcycle industry wasn't just abandoned, it was driven out into the desert and left to the coyotes. Some already weak British manufacturers went out of business and American production was severely reduced and quality of what was made suffered. Even the Japanese limited the number of models as well as lowering imports.

All the while, faithful riders patched up their motorcycles to keep riding. Free-spirited and independent thinking riders wearing worn leathers emblazoned with patches and rockers took the image of bikers to that of a solitary soul. One who doesn't necessarily need to be feared but you certainly don't need to go out of your way to talk to them.

A New Age
It could be considered poetic then that the same generation which started the industries slide would be the one to bring it the breath of life. The story has been told and retold of the baby boomers sending off the last child only to have an empty nest and some disposable income.

The motorcycle industry enjoyed the timing of well made products and smoother rides at the same time the 'me' generation heard the open road calling. Motorcycles started to appear everywhere as the Terminator rode his Harley both on and off the big screen. But even as Arnold showed the public that you didn't have to have a police record to ride, his movie Terminator 2 fell back on the biker stereotype of leather-clad gangs.

With some club members still proudly displaying the small one-percenters patch on their vests it's easy to see why the bad boy biker image can still linger.

But the image is slowly changing from Marlon Brando's Outlaw Bikers to basically no image at all. The term Rolex-biker gained popularity for a few years but with more and more discovering the thrill of riding, sitting in the saddle, straddling a roaring engine and heading down the open highway, there really isn’t a stereotypical biker. Great looking, reliable and affordable motorcycles of every style are readily available. Bikers can be your local banker, businessman, CPA, mother and even grandmother! The image of the motorcyclist is being made and reshaped with every ride that’s taken and every interaction between rider and non-rider.

So the real question is, what do we as riders want it to look like?