Food for thought - What makes a "Real Biker" ?

[Billi]

mmm..some very interesting thoughts on here...as one who has been around sports bike riders and also been involved in back patch...all I'm going to say..is its in your blood..for me its having my bike in the garage..always legal and ready to go whenever I need it..it doesn't get stored up for the winter..in case I want to ride it.. in twenty years of passing my test..I've been with out a bike for 18 months..to me thats whats its about..admitedly for me the look is the army boots and pilot jacket...shaved head and tattoos will make me swoon..BUT..i will talk to anyone on a bike, doesn't matter what it is or what they are wearing..people get different things out of riding bikes..But we are still riding..I will stop for anyone on the side of the road, I wave at learners..they are the next us!!!! for some the title is motorcyclist for others its biker, but thats only a title...so ride fast..ride free..ride helmetless and waist coated or armour protected in colour coordinated leathers...just ride...!!!!

[bambam]

wearing crotchless panties and stockings under your leathers

[steve-d]

I think as long as you ennjoy being on bikes or around them, then thats all that matters.
But i dont wave at learners excpet the ones who look serious, since im there age i know what those bluddy learners are capable of.

[Blue]

[quote="Billi wrote
for some the title is motorcyclist for others its biker, but thats only a title...so ride fast..ride free..ride helmetless and waist coated or armour protected in colour coordinated leathers...just ride...!!!![/quote]

wearing crotchless panties and stockings under your leathers

I think they have a seperate title for you Bambam

[Smiler]

wearing crotchless panties and stockings under your leathers

what you need are some hold ups, less fussy

[billinom8s]

personally i have been around bikes all my life, my dad had them and so did my grandad. i had my first bike at 16 (long time ago) and have only had a period of about 15 months when i didnt have bike.

since having my 'off' last week i have felt like something massive is missing form my life, even tho i have all the bits in my garage i dont have a whole bike and that doesnt feel right - does that mean its in my blood or i am just a bit sad?

i know that some 'cliques' don't seem to acknowledge other riders unless on the same bike(harleys, bmw, goldwings)
but there are exceptions to every rule, i have moved in the worlds of back patch and power ranger for years now and although there is banter and pi$$ taking, when it comes down to it we are all on two wheels and thats what counts.

[Mervin]

you can always tell a true biker by the flies on their teeth!!!
i agree with you all! bikers are people that ride bikes, no matter when where how, whether it is a harley or a R1 or a classic BSA, not sure about people that only commute on a scooter tough and that is all the bike is ever used for, surely it should be a part of your social life as well
Merv

[chris_1127]

pah pansies! i eat my cornflakes from empty crank cases with castrol multigrade instead of milk, and sleep on a bed made of used avon super venoms. everyone else are just morotcyclists, not bikers

i did see one of these online quiz's on these lines a while ago - questions like have you ever kept a bike in the house? have you ever tried to pretend to a partner that you've "always had that one " when bringing home a new bike? stuff like that - made me laugh but the mrs didn't seem to find it so funny...

[Mike Daytona600]

This is a bit off topic but the point billi made about waving at lurners is a good one. I must admit I don't but prehaps I should.

When I was 16 I had a Hoda Melody 50 scooter, slow as foook. Me and a couple of mates, one on a TS50 the other on a DT50, ventured to Shepton Mallet for the bike show. That's a long way from here on a 50. We pulled in at a petrol station but were unsure if going the right way. Then a group of Harley riders pulled up and were only to pleased to help. We set off and a few mins later they all rode past us. They didn't ignor us but tooted and waved. How good did that feel.

I also used to ignor kids when they waved as I rode past until someone said they always wave cos that might be what makes them think 'I want a bike when I'm older'

As for it being in the blood, I recon is genetic

[Funky]

I think it's a social identity thing, if you class yourself as a biker then you will naturally seek other biker 'ingroups' and vice versa and then from that we define ourselves by the typical member of that group (i.e. the one we all have something in common with, look upto etc) and construct our own image of a biker from that and also pre-exisiting stereotypes. I also think you will be reminded that you're a biker via the brownian motion of that group also... much like the way we are reminded that we are human.

I think it would be very rare for someone who classes themselves as a biker to be alone and not have contact with a social group who define themselves with bikes. And if such a person did exist I think their fascination with bikes would be short lived or very stop-start.

With regards to the nodding and waving to learners, I will nod to them, if they are wearing my own pre-defined minimum safety gear (helmet, gloves, jacket, jeans and boots) I do this because as Mike said hopefully it will encourage them to move onto bigger bikes. Typing this now I kind of realise that the minimum safety gear I have come up with is also partly based upon my own constructs of how a biker should look and also the typical member of the biker group I hang around with...you poor saps.

[AbWill]

I think the question about waving to learners is very ,much a personal one. I was learning on an old GP 125 Suzi many years ago, and lived in a pub in Teignmouth when a weekend bash was had by the Ex Cons' of Cornwall (big hello to Togo if he's still out there) and the Satans' slaves. I was expecting to be ignored as a learner but was welcomed with open arms and had a right laugh. Best biker memory I have and yet was never waved or nodded back to when I was on the road. I don't tend to wave or nod at leaners that pi$$ around on scooters in bomber jackets and trainers because they're usually teenage morons with their' brains cells in their' tyres. You know the type - lights that barely work and panels hanging off like sails in the wind and a death wish that sees them desperately trying to overtake anything in their' path at all costs. If I do see a learner that looks more interested, ie, not on a dodgy scooter and at least a leather jacket then I will nod and wave. As for the rest of us, I think that being a biker is something that is felt and I don't care what you look like or how you talk or even if you bother talking. A biker stands out a mile from a speed freak on a sports bike with no interest in anything but his own adrenalin. I don't think it matters how much you use a bike, just that you have a love for biking. I always stop for a biker at the side of the road, even if I'm in my car.

[steve-d]

[quote="AbWill"]. Best biker memory I have and yet was never waved or nodded back to when I was on the road. I don't tend to wave or nod at leaners that pi$$ around on scooters in bomber jackets and trainers because they're usually teenage morons with their' brains cells in their' tyres. You know the type - lights that barely work and panels hanging off like sails in the wind and a death wish that sees them desperately trying to overtake anything in their' path at all costs. If I do see a learner that looks more interested, ie, not on a dodgy scooter and at least a leather jacket then I will nod and wave. quote]
Agree with you there, should see some of the peds at college, its actually ridiculous the amount that have been down the road, bits hanging off generally not road worthy.
One person today as i was getting ready to go was braggin to his mates how he had no tax insurance mot and hadnt dont a cbt.
I think out of the entire 75+ bikes in the sheds about 5 wear jackets, and theres only about 10 of them there that are geared bikes. But hey makes me feel big knowing im younger than most of them and have 2 big bikes.

[Billi]

ooo, just chucked the learner wavy bit in cos i was typing out loud (thats the same as thinking out loud but using your fingers instead LOL) and I don;t acknowledge the moped riding chavs..and as "bikers" we can spot them can't we..but as mentioned those that have made the effort, gota bike even a 50cc ikkle trailie, and wearing the gear, get a wave from me (and did funky eat a theasaurus for breakfast..he using big long word n stuff..) x

[Johnnyb]

My son has turned 17 and we got him a chinese 125 to get to work on and he is turning into a biker allready, everynight he comes home and tells us all the stories of the car drivers that have tried to put him in an early grave, as it happens every night i suggested it might be the way he rides but with the usual teen cockiness its everyone else who is in the wrong

[billinom8s]

My son has turned 17 and we got him a chinese 125 to get to work on and he is turning into a biker allready, everynight he comes home and tells us all the stories of the car drivers that have tried to put him in an early grave, as it happens every night i suggested it might be the way he rides but with the usual teen cockiness its everyone else who is in the wrong

get him to come on the friendly ride, we have a couple of chinese 125's coming along