"...he always had a commitment to his brothers that from time to time included getting out and riding..."
I am a retired "bottom rocker," But not in the sense that the above quote implies. When I started riiding it was all about motorcycles, living, eating, sleeping, breathing motorcycles. A few of you guys might go back to the Rockers and Mods in Enlgand, HooDads and Surfers on the left Coast or the Greasers and Preppies, but it wasn't two social classes it was two distinct societies. "They" didn't know anything about us and we didn't give a damn about them. It was more than a lifestyle, it was our life, it was all we did. We worked to buy bikes and bike parts. We hung out in bike shops or drive ins. When we went to the movies we went to drive's and sat on the grass next to our bikes. And, our girls were just as immersed as we were. We knew people that didn't have bikes, but all our freinds had bikes.
Motorcycle clubs were about motorcycles., and it didn't much matter what you rode, just that you were and intense as the other people in the club about motorcycles. I had to wait until I got a driver's license before I could be a 'member.' I was proud. And, we rode, every day.
Fast forward 35 years and the 'club' wanted to go into 'business' I didn't. I retired. The bottom rocker had changed its meaning from proud of your chapter to some thing sinster. Cut down S-200 Zundapps, bobbed harleys, chopped Indians and stone stock Jawas had become $30-40,000 custom builts. Speeding tickets and loud pipes had become murder indictments and trafficing convictions. Honest boss, I didn't do it.
Hobby, perhaps for some, but I have to say that for me, it is more than a 'life style.' 48 years up and on the road come April.
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Topic: Is Harley-Davidson a hobby or a lifestyle (Read 7223 times)