1 Bike Club Patch
The purpose of artifacts is always significant, but signs of culture can be elusive. Motorcycle museums and collections that exist today include memorabilia and paraphernalia that provide concrete evidence of the bike’s popularity. There is even a market for reproduction period biking gear, like half-pea helmets and goggles. The museums are created and maintained on the theme of preservation that preoccupies retrospective thought. Nostalgia, as an interest and salable commodity is a sign of culture in itself. But quiz any mature Biker and they will recall events and circumstances, and, like the biking museums, they have not stepped backwards to view the concept of culture. Instead, they will tell stories, and invite interested parties to a social event, or even offer a ride on a motorcycle as a welcoming gesture.
The museums often display simulated workshop and garage themes, as shrines to past atmospheres. The purposeful juxtapositioning of artifacts in these places are an acknowledgment of something that runs deeper than mechanistic history. They are attempts to instill a feeling, a sense of lifestyle. Articles of clothing remain among private and museum collections, that further elucidate the concept of motorcycle culture. Some cultures deliberately use clothes as signals; however the nature of biking meant that their particular clothes originally appeared for practical reasons. Whilst the average motorcycle user might have been content to wear their every-day clothes, the appearance of the enthusiasts was more pronounced. They dressed appropriately for the biking experience and were quite alien to the bustle-bottomed, top-hatted society. This difference defined the biking image.
As speeds increased creating wind-chill and bad weather caught people out, long leather coats and goggles appeared. On the road and track, the Speed Aspirants, as they were known, favoured breeches and high-necked jerseys, sometimes with knee and elbow patches of leather. In 1911, the Motorcycling magazine reported: “The racing motorcyclist’s get-up becomes more weird and wonderful as time goes by. At Brooklands we have riders wearing variegated sweaters, embellished with the names of the machines they ride, or else a grinning face, marvelously coloured waders, and fearful looking racing hats, and socks to match.”
Based on their experience, Betty and Nancy Debenham wrote an article titled Diana Awheel, combining smartness with comfort. Along with the usual breeches, they recommend Burberry coats, silk blouses and other ‘cosy adjuncts’. In their biking minds, just as the men were doing, they were simply preparing sensibly for all eventualities. Even if their vocation was slightly crazy, it is hard to understand how anyone who wore a cosy adjunct could have been regarded as a renegade. They also regale prospective female motorcyclists saying: “So let Diana take her courage in both hands and purchase her ideal machine. She will be well recompensed by the countless happy days she will spend in the saddle.” This drips with innocence. It is purely an invitation to have fun. Above all else, that is what biking is about.
The leather helmets borrowed from aviators, and the leather gear popularised at the TT races, were causing a predominantly leather-look to emerge. In the context of the race track, this appearance was heroic. But in the street, it unintentionally engendered something else. Despite the other fabrics involved, there was something about leather that caught the public eye. It can be subconsciously associated with the armory of war-lords and barbarians. However its links with the working classes, who used leather for its hard-wearing qualities, were a more contemporaneous force. The reactions of anti-motorcyclists created the perspective of leather-clad disestablishmentarians.
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The biographies of early riders provide a perspective on the importance of the machine. Even those of people who are not primarily recognised as Bikers - George Bernard Shaw and Arthur Conan Doyle among them - contain passionate prose concerning their machines and their riding. The motorcycling travelogues (many now out of print) show how seriously some people considered the bike as a way of life, for example in One Man Caravan (1937), by Robert Edison Fulton Jr., which has now been re-issued. Further to the self-penned travel books, periodicals outside of biking like the newspapers were acknowledging the biking life. Feats such as the journey that Mrs. Harry Humphries made were often reported. She was a British motorcyclist, who, in 1913, covered over 85,000 miles in two years, travelling in the US.
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The earliest photos show how the motorcycle was making in-roads into Victorian culture, whilst the biking world had at the same time cast itself off from the more staid values of that period. It existed in the modernist half of that split society. Because photography had become popular during Victorian times, people were choosing to be photographed with their bikes. It shows that there was more status attached to this cheap transport than might be presumed. Among photographs of wall of death riders and sporting heroes, there are images of ordinary members of the public proudly showing off their machines. People who had served in the military were also pictorially recorded. Some seaside photographers eventually recognised a lucrative market, providing motorcycles for the tourists to pose on, for the all-important holiday photograph.
Biking history books rely heavily on photographic sources. Primarily concerned with the machines or sporting heroes, they also include pictures of farmers and skilled crafts people, who used motorcycle combinations to bring the advantages of speed and mobility into their businesses. This includes enthusiasts, who not only went hunting and climbing on motorcycles, but indulged in pure riding pleasure.
Paintings and drawings of bikes and riders also exist, some quite stylised, especially those of motorcycles at speed. The blurring of backgrounds, body language and grimacing faces express a oneness with the machine. The grimace is not one of fear, but of tenacity and exertion. It is the face of a warrior in battle - with a hint of a grin.
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Other documents include sales brochures for motorcycles, posters, programs and tickets for events, and even repair manuals and spares lists. They make a colourful splash in the dust of history and have an intrinsic value on collectors’ markets, because they appear and speak in dead languages. Their meaning, however, is not lost, because they carry the same messages as their contemporary counterparts. They are from the beginnings of a continuum, and clearly flag up the similarities of past and present biking experiences, as well as the notable differences time has produced.
Motorcycling periodicals also provide a human aspect, with letters pages, editorials and other commentary on the state or position of biking in the world at large. Discussions on biking reflect the free exchange of information among enthusiasts. This was no secretive or anti-social fraternity, but had an openness and desire for advancement among the cognoscenti and new-comers alike. The biking periodicals also underline the societal conditions of their world. Amid pleas for unity, there were passages on ingenious and money-saving ideas conceived by readers. Ingenuity is a key factor in survival; it inspires innovative thinking that leads to tangible, cultural manifestations. The earliest signs of this in biking can be seen in the Heath Robinson appearance of motor bicycles and their appendages, which often consist of items the owner has fitted or modified to make some improvement.
The formulation of the motorcycle proper (as opposed to the motor bicycle) rendered a new shape and form that went beyond the simplicity of kinetics. The engine note sounded more aggressive the more it was tuned. Black was a predominant colour, however it is a perfect compliment to the chrome and other polished metals that enhanced the bike’s appearance as it left the factory. The eyes of designers quickly used the angular frame shapes and flowing circles of the wheels to accommodate components that looked part of the machine, rather than just added as an after-thought. Accessories were sold as after-market add-ons, following the development created by people’s different biking needs. This began to reshape the bike, causing it to have tribal nuances. Requirements for the road, racing circuit and off-road activities among others had caused equipment to be added or removed, and even though many modifications were internal, distinctly different bikes could be discerned.
The introduction of colours allowed the bike to stand out, and further personalised touches began to define people’s thoughts as art, not just practicalities. The majority of riders have a hankering for a favourite machine; however, being so individualistic, they soon wish to make a statement of their own. Whether it was a complete rework of the parts or the simple addition of a mascot, the bike began to assume something of its owner’s character. Other owners expressed appreciation for individual concepts, even copied them, and the centre of attraction at any gathering were the most striking machines. Individually and collectively, motorcycles became the predominant icon, the sign of a new culture in a new language.
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Beyond simply naming things arbitrarily, like hammer or wheel, people like to personify their more precious possessions. That tradition has spilled over into biking, usually reflecting the machine’s character. This arises from an understanding of its behaviour. Among other things, motorcycles can be reliable, fickle, vicious or sedate. Motorcycle marques usually carried the maker’s name, and various models also received names like Superior (Brough) or numerical designations like 61 (Harley-Davidson) to indicate prowess or engine capacity. They also acquired animal and bird names, like Tiger (Triumph) or Silver Hawk (Matchless), describing their performance abilities through the nature of the creature they were named after. The affection for bikes demonstrates humour as well as vigour. Many marques were casually renamed with a foreshortening. Among others, Velocette became Velo, Vincent became Vinny and Triumph was changed to Trumpet or Trump. This created words that rolled easily off the tongue and created an inherent cachet of endearment.
From the gliding soapy sponge on wash-days to the bloodied repairer’s knuckle, Bikers spend quality time with their machines. They become endeared, not just through the riding thrill, but also by a commitment to providing for the future. The fondness for motorcycles was expressed by giving them more personalised names. Pa Norton had one particular favourite that became known as Old Miracle. T.E. Lawrence had several consecutive Brough Superiors which he named Boanerges, after the twin Norse gods of fire. This was because the Brough is a twin cylinder machine (a V twin as opposed to the vertical twin that became popular later). Early Harley Davidsons were painted light grey and were particularly quiet, which earned them the common name of Silent Grey Fellow.
Terminology for the various parts and developments also appeared. The use of overhead camshafts in Norton and Velocette engines resulted in the nickname Cammy. The German word for cam (an oval shaped wheel that lifts the valve opening mechanism) is knocke, and for a twin cam, is doppel knocke. Harold Willis, who devised this mechanism for Velocette in 1937, heard the German expression, and rather than call his system the Twin Cam, he named it the Double Knocker.
Other machines like cars and steam engines were also being nicknamed, but there was a tendency to err on the female side. Discussions about them resulted in the use of the pronoun she. Motorcyclists were different. The nicknames they used were often either male, or non-gender specific. The cumulative effect of all this terminology was the construction of a quaint and sometimes obscure jargonese. It brought riders closer, but also alienated those that overheard.
The alienation was not utter and complete. Members of the public enjoyed the thrill and spectacle of the races and off-road biking activities as much as any rider, though perhaps not as knowledgeably. Daredevil stunts were a major attraction at fairs and shows, and such as the wall of death did much to enliven public interest and approval. Teams of riders performing stunts and riding in formation provided family entertainment, as did the arrival of motorcycle polo. All this presented an acceptability for motorcycles and motorcyclists, yet at the same time sustained a factor of curiosity, even mystique.
Show business cleaned up the muck and spanners image, but its reliance on amazement further created a separate world of motorcycling. It made impressions of great daring and ability, which although not totally unfounded, also sustained some fear of the motorcycle as a dangerous and less desirable means of transport. The motorcycle could bite back, and the results of a mishap could be more than just embarrassing. The heroism and courage of riders might be comparable to walking the high-wire, but seldom could such an activity be performed on the very street where people were shopping. The rider in the street (although not a performer but a seeker of self-satisfaction), was also a daredevil, who garnered some respect. It was this respect that later convinced egotists to take up the motorcycle purely as a posing statement.
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Motorcycle culture might be more readily seen as a subculture, subsumed by whatever peoples into their existing ethnic backgrounds. But a subculture has to be seen to somehow respond to or enmesh with a dominant culture. Early Bikerdom had so rapidly acquired such a breadth, depth and admix from various societal and racial cultures, that it might only be comparable with the West. Rather than be integrated into any particular dominant culture, Bikerdom actually drew on an array of cultures that it found useful, or even fanciful.
Studies into culture are like snap-shots; foreshortened high (or low) lights. When a member of a culture tries to explain or even describe between the lines, there is a vagueness, that historians and ethnographers find too slight to be of consequence or just too spiritual to grasp and set down. That ephemeral - the living ghost, is changed by observers and can only be described by those who were involved, with phrases like: “You had to be there.” We know from archeological evidence that dinosaurs roamed the earth, but no-one ever witnessed it - and no clever simulation will ever take us there. Fake money or art can fool people, but no-one could ever believe they’d ridden a motorcycle until they actually have - for real. At the root of Biker culture, is that act; the ride. It is a moment of sincerity, occupying heart mind and soul. In that pure state, there is absolutely no room for bullshit.
When minority groups are referred to as ‘subcultures’, it accidentally denigrates them. Minority or alter culture might be a more accurate term, as ‘sub’ infers ‘under’, rather than ‘other’. When viewed this way, biking can be seen as its own culture, not some underdeveloped throw-off, deviation or reject of any mass society. And this is nearer the truth, as it does not wish to be part of the gullibility of the masses. In that locale, intelligence has mutated; what passes for art - art being a fundamental sign of culture - is poorly constructed, infantile and transient. If there are any ‘sub’ cultures, they are the mass cultures; because ‘sub’ means inferior to or below a certain standard, thus subculture is bereft of any culture.
The impositions of mass economy had made their impressions on the motorcycle trade, and placed restrictions on machine ownership by causing poverty. Legislative enactment within mass society had affected motorcyclists personally. But these, excepting such as the Wall Street Crash, had been at national, not international levels. Early Bikerdom, though not a dominant society, was a global one, therefore beyond the cultural impositions of any single national event or society. It responded and enmeshed to some degree with the Political North, rather than just the West, because it had also made incursions into the East, on the heels of industrialism and empires.
The biking persona might have been seen as a duality, in that some people only occasionally indulged in biking, obeying different codes in their everyday lives. However it is acknowledged among academic disciplines that no individual exists by acting out their societal and mental conditions twenty-four hours a day. Whilst the duality was probably a reality as the first two wheelers were appearing, from that time onwards, signs of an existing culture were embedding themselves.
The Jolly Roger was used in a sense of satirical humour, in a different context to its original meaning. This was alien to the dominant cultures, who assumed it denoted piratical tendencies. They misinterpreted the meaning by being unaware of the preferred meaning motorcyclists had given it. Through this example, we can see that the personal inter-relationships among motorcyclists had assumed their own devised patterns, outside of the dominant cultures.
Biker culture’s minority condition might also appear to scale down its status, however, numbers and percentages are not how the game is played. It is a quality rather than a quantity that produces an affectation such as culture. Among lost tribes, it is notable how their culture is not dismissed through minority status, but enhanced by it. The exclusivity of biking was not entirely imposed by its membership, but also by those who opted to remain outside of it. Not so much an effect of dominant culture as a disaffectation. Whilst mass-production eventually made more bikes available, people still had to make a determined effort to obtain one. That effort, sustained by enthusiasm, had enough momentum to carry biking beyond practicability and into a societal dimension.
Culture is constructed out of finer attributes like a religious or some other belief, yet might be shouldered on the foundations of leisure or work. Although early people hunted out of necessity, it became such an active component in tribal culture, and a pleasure to perform, that they saw fit to decorate caves with hunt-related images. Biker culture emerged in similar ways. The motorcycle arrived not so much as a working tool, but as a get-you-to-work tool. It was ridden to work, ridden home, and forgotten. But because it rapidly gained popularity as a leisure item, quality biking time became recognised as an engaging activity in itself, rather than as a means to an end.
Early biking subcultures were initially extracted from national descent. However, the rapid spread and growth of more common aspects brought internationalism into the fray, before it could become wholly Germanic, Anglicised or whatever. The governing factor was one of humanitarian values rather than ethnic or religious imposition (if there is any biking deity, it is the machine, before which we bow, but are not subjugated - logic, not blind fervour is essential to anyone who wishes to survive on the road). Even in its earliest manifestations, biking had further reaching and greater commonality than pockets of subculture. It had more in common with culture per se. Some might argue that this was a counter-culture, but there was no revolution, no deposition of any government. It is nearer to alternative culture, in so much as it formulated some values of its own.
Mutual exclusivity between motorcyclists and mass society eventually became a key factor. It existed across the divides of social or financial status, intellect, ethnicity, time and age. All of these have been separately involved in subculture, however collectively, they add up to something greater. Their patterns integrate subcultural distinctions into a coherent culture in its own right. Because Bikerdom was apolitical and without a distinct geographic location, it could only behave as other nomadic society has, by interacting only where necessary. It had, and still has, its own culture.