“Outsiders” won’t get this, they can’t understand, “outsiders” being people that are not in the biker community. Biker Community- it’s kind of an open ended term that covers so many bases. It’s a strong powerful force when it responds as one. A force in numbers, sure, political influence, at times and at always a financial one to be reckoned with. It’s not a clearly defined group or community either; it doesn’t have one pure focus, leadership, or really a plan. Hell, we are bikers and one of the reasons we DO RIDE is we don’t want anybody to tell us what the hell we are supposed to do, think, ride, or gasp, act! Its fluid, we kind of have an idea what it is , but we are not close to being able to describe it because it’s a living, adapting, organism. Each rider, each group, club, event, run, bike night and more is its own living and breathing biker community definition. From a “weekend warrior”, or poker run regular, sport bike guy, full patched club member, or whatever; pick a slot, while inside the biker community, divisions happen. Harley guys hate metric riders, touring riders have their own ideals, and a sport bike fan can think a dude riding a 49 Pan has one foot in the grave and so on. While we IN the biker community can easily slot and spot various fractions, those on the outside looking in, all notice one thing, once you swing a leg over, slide on some leather, those that don’t “get it” look at us all as “some biker”. Not all, I shouldn’t make a blanket statement like that, not a end all be all because nothing is that clear cut, but if you’re in the biker community, you know what it is. I mention the influence that we have and generally, the community is at its best when we are a force together. How many millions of dollars each year do bikers raise for various causes? Not just poker runs, which we do a great job with, but so many other causes as well. Or legislation, when the biker communities supports or opposes the political machine pays attention to the strength in numbers.
to have a dinner with one evening a few months back. It was a nice group of people, fun, but again, it had nothing to do with bikers. I think my wife and I were the only riders of the 30 people at this dinner event.
It was awful! Not the people we were with, but the dinner itself. Sometimes, you just have a bad experience, sure, shit happens. We’ve all been there. We all have our bad days, some while providing a good or service, others while being the customer. That dinner service got out of control as the night went on, tragically, slowly, laughable. We were stuck too, having no choice but to ride it out and that is where humor does come to help. After all, it’s a bad night, eating out; might as well just relax and see how bad it could really get.
Answer? Pretty bad. Now, I bring this up for this reason, while my wife and I were laughing about how bad this place was messing up, we both knew nothing really would come out of it because the people we were with, really didn’t have the passion to care. To them, meh, some were having a bad meal, they were ready to finish up and move on. I joked, this would never happen to a place that bikers like. Not the customer service, again, shit happens, I mean, the non-caring The biker community supports those that support us. We frequent joints that support riders, we stay at rider friendly hotels, hell we hire lawyers that support the cause. When a place supports riders, we spread the word. Doesn’t matter what part of our great roads in Iowa take you or any other place. Word spreads quickly. A business does us good; we tend to tell a few of our friends. A business does us wrong, we will tell EVERYBODY about it. Marketers have often said that if you have a good experience doing something, buying a bike, seeing a movie, staying at a hotel, or a dinner, you will tell 2-3 people. However, if you have a bad experience, you’re likely to tell 10 people. This was long before the advent of social media for sure. The loose knit world of bikers do talk and share tales of the good, the bad and the laughable. If you run across a place, service or whatever that is rider friendly, be sure to spread the good word. The more we can find that support our passion, the more we should support them. Word will spread; our economic power will spur more to support us as well. Then, if they (businesses) are really smart, they will use the right marketing vehicles to reach that economic group of bikers, like placing ads in Thunder Roads!
What struck me over the years is the quiet economic power that we bikers hold. It’s not the cheapest The riding season is in full swing, get out, be safe, passion in the world after all! It doesn’t matter if we support those that support us and enjoy this wonderful are traveling, buying aftermarket parts, clothes, you name it, hobbies cost money, and the biker community passion we have. spends money. Crash Davis I mention this because of something that happened with a group of NON BIKERS I was stuck, err, blessed 38 - TRMI JUNE 2017
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