Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126292
- By Bob Bitchin You know , if it wasn't for the motorcycle associations in ' this country all of us bikers would probably be wearing large flash ing red lights on top of aur full suits of armor. Either that or we would all belong to ca r clubs , if you get m y d rift. But o rganizi ng moto rcycli sts is a bo ut as hard as tryi ng to organize a bunch of jackasses, because t ha t 's a bout wh a t it mea ns. Bikers are th e most stub bo rn , bull hea ded , singular minded bunch of dummi es in the world. W e know what is good for us a nd yet we turn around and do exactly the opposi te. Now there are times when this is justified . Like we all know tha t having a bad image is b ad for us but there a re times whe n you want to throw off the shackles of propriety and go out and ra ise some hell , no m atter what the conseq uences. T his is understandable . Bu t when it co mes to organizing , w e should try a nd st ick somewha t together. Not just chopper riders and touring bikers, bu t all bikers. Dirt bikers , drag racers and everybody. Bu t it ca n' t be done because bikers a re dumb . All b ikers . There is a built in prejudice. that keeps us from • accepting th e "other" way of life. '. Right about now you are probably wondering what the .hell I'm raving about. Why bring all thi s up? Well , there is a very good reason - the AMA . . Now regular ,rea ders of Biker know that I am always harping on one association or another. I ta lk a bou t ABATE, the MMA , NYMRO , MORE, COML , SCMA, TMRA , The Great Plains Motorcycle Association , CAHL , COOL and God only kn ows what else. All th e tim e I harp on th e same th ing. You should j oi n and support 'th e organiza tion of your choice. And you sit there like a bunch of d um bshits, reading it all , then going ou t ' and g ett ing on yo u r b ike , promptly forgetting all about it. You figure " Let the other gu y do it ," or something like that. It 's not your problem. . W ell , it is you r problem and more so th an you m igh t im agi ne . Are you aware that righ t now the re is a b ig problem in th e hierarchy of the AMA ( Ameri ca n Motorcycli st Association)? Are you aware th at j ust last month there was a big showdown in th e national ABATE gr oup? Ar e you aware that these are th e onl y two national motorcycle associations? - If not , then you' ve been asleep too long. ' Now you probably want' to kn ow, what the hell differ ence it makes . If you want to , you can walk out, hop on your scoot , a nd go.tear up th e highway or th e loc al di rt lot. So what if the AMA and ABATE are having -, troubles? 'Loo k at it this way. When you buy a rifle one of the first things you do is join the NRA (N a tion al Riflernans Association) . When you take up bowling you join the ABC (American BowlJtig Congress). Heir, ifyou go in for group sex you join a sex club, but when you buy a bike you just ride . Why? If we don't get our shit together on a .na tiona l scale pretty 'd am n soon , w e aren't .going to be riding anywhere anymore. There is no reason on earth you can't belong t~ both, ~ationa l groups, and you r state associanon too . Hell , int cost you $25 a yea r it would b e a cheap investment . The asso cia tions need the money to re p resent you where it counts: In your state and federal capitols. Thousands of people. around the count ry spen d a majority of their wak ing hours working as volunteers in associations working to ' bea t dumb laws that effect the biker. They work for the most part without pay. It is th is small m inority that re presents th e biker to the outside world . Are they doing what you wan t them to do? If not , what would you do differently? If you were a member you cou ld tell them what you want and they could tell the politicians. But no . You just sit back on your big duff and watch th e helmet law stay in effect in half the co u nt ry ; wa tc h m a ndato ry sea t be lt laws for motorcycles get introd uced (yes, it has . happened);' let a ll 'b ikers lose th ei r rig hts to live free , and then , when it's all over , you'll sit back in your car and dream of the' free d a ys of riding through th e open countryside. Drea m brother, because that's all that will be left for you. Just recently the AM A went th ro ugh' a who le lot of interna l p roblems because a new d irector h a d been appointed by the bo a rd . Ma n y membe rs of t he a ssocia tion took exception to the a ppointmen t. The d irector h as turned in his resignation , but t here are 'more problem s no w than _ t he re ever were. W e a re quick to condem n but no one will get involved eno ugh to make th e decision in th e first place . We will soon have to fa ce t he fact that bikers are su ch an individualized group , no one man will ever please us all . We hav e to' get one man in front and then we have to support him until a better man can be found, We can't just keep on bringing in new faces onl y to stop them ' before they ca n get started on their plans, A leader has to be able to make some decisions without being ,questioned by' the who le membership ; The same thing happened at the national ABATE meeting in Sa cramento . The head of ABATE made a decision to get the national ABATE going He didn't figdle -f-· around like you and I do. He just up and appointed a man to do the job. But a n elected st eering committee ended it before it was started. I was there , and I was one of the ones who stopped it, Ma ybe I was wrong, I don't know . What I do know is, the head of ABATE made a decision and it was his right to 'd o so. Ma ybe we should have gone along with it until he was proved wrong, The day of the individual and h is freed om is fast disappearing. It is time for all of us , street bikers, dirt bikers, road racers and drag bikers , to get our sh it together and do something . Anything . But damnit , le t's get rollingl Let's get the AMA so b ig that the y will honestly represent all bikers, Let's get ABATE rolling strong, and the local associations too . MMA , NYMRO and GPMA . But most of all get you rself rolling. Join any biker association . Don't sit th ere and think about it. Do it. If you need a ny help as to what club to join, drop us a line and we will send you a list , ' As some non-riding nerd once said , "Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their brothers," or something like that, • Good-bye Suzuki.-.. Hello Sachs For the past three years, we have had the pleasure of creating and producing the race-win ads for U.S. Suzuki. We had a lot of fun with creative ideas and award winning graphics. We have thoroughly enjoyed the relationship with all the great people at Suzuki. Now , a great opportunity has arisen . One of the largest manufacturers of motorcycles and mopeds in Europe has established an aggressive marketing program here in the United States, The Sachs Motors Corp oration of USA (Sachs/Hercules) has selected us as their advertising and marketing agency . We feel. the opportunity and challenge of this total program is too good to pass . up . It would be, of course , a conflict of interest for an ad agency to handle two compe titive motorcycle clients. So we must bid Suzuki good -bye and exp ress our appreciation for allowin g us to do the ir ads. And we enthusiastica lly welcome Sach s to our qiowing . roster bf clien ts. tom smlse k · to ° ° a dver ISing, Inc. o ~ A full-service marketing, advertising. P·R. and promotion agency that knows your mar ket . 110 1 south grand aven ue . santo ana. california 92705 (71'1) 835 -8252 , ~D£I . ~ . .1101 E. eo. St ree t, Corona, CA ... ( 714 ) 735·772 1 ~ 270 N. Vlnedo , P.sade na. CA91107 213-796-7628 25