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Alsaihati Farouq
ID: 800843719
11/29/2015
UWRT-1101: Ethnographic
Dr. Robert Arnold

Firstly, to give a little of history I had to mention the 18s, since


1885, inventors experimented in creating the motorcycle. In the beginning
the motorcycle was a crude and unreliable vehicle but as it developed, it
gained more interest and by 1937 became an accepted part of the overall
transport system. As the motorcycle became more popular, motorcycle
clubs were born and the love for the machine flourished. After World War 2
these clubs seemed to grow even more as soldiers returned to their
ordinary life still yearning for adventure and the thrills of war, not
completely ready to return to their previous life. These men needed a way
to escape and biking was there portal, all these clubs had to be registered
but after the 1940s incident in Hollister, California where the small
percentage of biker society was blamed for the terrible and violent
disturbance, many of these registered clubs broke away and made their
own outlaw clubs, the most notorious being the Hells Angels. In their own
way they rebelled against authority, acting out to shock people. All their
acting out and the rumors about these clubs being part of illegal business
gave the biker subculture quite a negative reputation. Even though this
was the case, there was still this air of mystery and fascination affixed to
it. The whole idea of them being free and not caring about anything

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became alluring to those who viewed them from afar. People looked at
them with as much fear as awe. Pop culture itself was most likely the main
culprit for this viewpoint. It portrayed this image of the American dream
Biker in movies such as The Wild One and Easy Rider this can be seen in
(picture 1), with a shot of one of the characters out of The Wild One. In
this shot of the biker, that he has a no care attitude. The way in which he
poses also gives the viewer the idea that he is a real bad boy. On the
other hand, (picture 2), a shot from the movie Easy Rider, depicts the
craziness of bikers and there tendency for rule breaking and standing out.
These image of bikers remained with society even though there were
movies made to try and remedy this. Such a movie was On Any Sunday,
starring Steve McQueen, a film that paid tribute to motorcycling

However, over my long time of research and observation to the


bikers subcultures, and throughout my reflection to them I noticed weird
things happens, and I should mention that The biker subculture is a very
complex culture, therefore it would be best to first look at how they are
set apart visually from society. One might start of by mentioning the most
obvious of facts, that they own a motorcycle but yet even that will not be
truly helpful. There are many people who own and enjoy riding a
motorcycle who will not call themselves a biker and neither would be
recognized as one by fellow bikers. as I got really closer and push myself
to discover some of them, a couple of attitudes and outlook come clearer
to me, and I noticed that a lot of things had been changed since the first

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bikers gangs back then, for example the special love that they have for
their clothes and dressing, also how they value their principles, and
principles above all things, and the most one of the most noticed thing
among them their attitude toward women, I had a lot of questions for
some of their attitudes throughout the observation. But, now I can
understand why and what are they doing, also how the people look at
them as a cloudy and filthy subculture who wear a weird jackets with
weird paintings and the glasses all the time, not to mention the haircut
and the beard, but all this dressing a strange looking had a reason that
people who had no clue about bikers subculture would not understand it.
Above all, as a group and since the origin of this subculture, bikers
have always lived and rode by an unspoken code, it is this code that
bonds and transcends between them. This code is as follows, in no
particular order. Never ask to ride someone elses motorcycle
In a biker community, sharing is no problem when it comes to sharing a
meal, a drink or warm campfire but sharing another persons motorcycle is
like wanting to share his family also no one touches someone elses
motorcycle this rule links directly with the previous, if someone that
asking for a ride is big mistake, well touching it without consent is worse.
Acting like this misdemeanor can land a person in deep trouble. As much
as bikers love to brag about their motorcycles and want people to
appreciate it, they prefer it to be done visually, moreover biker community
is a very close group, not in the sense that everyone knows one another
but rather that each shares a bond of responsibility and respect with one
another. Therefore, even if the other biker is a stranger, he would be

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helped in a time of need to the best of the other bikers capability, and as
I mentioned above, bikers share a respect for one another. As a result,
bikers will show their respect to another when meeting on the open road
by greeting with a wave of the hand or any hand gesture possible while
driving at high speeds or shifting gears. This hand signal is also a way of
thanking motor vehicle drivers for giving them space to pass on the
highway, one of the most important codes is never lie, cheat or steal, this
links directly with the concept of having honor and respect, these actions
are more than just sulked upon. It is despised and unforgivable and will be
dealt with in a severe manner, also if a wrong is witnessed or experienced,
it must be dealt with personally. It is believed that if one has honor, one
will never feel the need to snitch on another. The same goes for sniveling,
in other words being obsessed on small insignificant things. Rather live it
through with dignity than complaint and keening. However the most
important of all of the above is the key of being a biker. One should have
strength and endurance no matter how hard life might hit one at times.
After all in the biker word and also in society it has always been the strong
that survive
Furthermore, bikers lean towards these special clothes and dressing
which are leather jackets, boot shoes, sun glasses and haircuts to
demonstrate their existing among the people, and to let the people know
who they are by their extraordinary looking, and to make that superior
corner for them in the society, In addition, bikers believes states that they
should look extraordinary to give them their own and special spot in
society, so that when they appear in their leather jackets, tattoos, haircuts

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and stupendous beard, they actually trying to showing there theme to the
public like when someone rising a flag for his country, this clothes and
kind of dressing reinforce their existing in the society, and make them a
site to be noticed. On the other hand these clothes also gives the person
the ticket to join the crew, no one can join the subculture without wearing
the clothes and be proud about it, so that these clothes establish for them
a value that cannot be changed or discriminated by any one, they strongly
believes that its makes them what they are. But the surprise is that all
these things had been changed or modified the change in the appearance
of a biker. The rough, long haired and tattooed and leather clothed biker is
a vision of the past. Instead in a way bikers have become a bit more
ordinary looking in a sense. Meaning that the style has become a bit toned
down. For example, looking at bikers from 2007- 2015, one might never
guess that the man in question is a biker because he looks like any other
person in society that one will meet in the street but looking at biker form
1940 or the late 2000, it becomes more apparent because of the leathers
and colors he is wearing. However, it is true that one does still get those
bikers that sport full leather attire, with metal and tattoos everywhere.
Just as it is also true that some of those dressed like that are not true
bikers but people bikers refer to as posers, that pretend to be a biker but
does not know anything about it. It is also true that bikers have tattoos
done, as part of their culture or piercings as can be seen in, however, right
now not all bikers have tattoos and vice versa. Long hair and scruffy
beards, leather clothing and protective gear is seen as part of the biker

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style, but that still does not mean for a fact that seeing someone who
matches that description is a biker

What is more is the word manners and principles, the most


important word in bikers subculture, its like the sacred word in religions,
and the reason for that is that the one thing that make them in order is
their values, believes and principles, therefore I remarked that they really
respect their value above everything no matter what even if its life and
death situation, one example I can put my finger on is when they want to
gather, this gathering is like one of their rituals, so if someone of the crew
miss it, he better had a very good reason, or he will be banned from the
crew because they really value their gathering for a ride or something
else. One other astonishing thing about their beliefs is that you have to
respect the outsiders, no matter who they are, unless these outsiders,
assaulted one of the crew, in addition I saw that they are very caring and
honorable people, that the society should respect and value there exiting,
and change the way that the people look at them.
Actually, to tell the truth, their attitude toward women, all the
outsiders tend to think that bikers used women as a jewels or a luxury
material to brag about it in front of the public society, well that was before
in the 1940s but right now the woman have finally been noted as
deserving enough to be a main part of a biker club. Not only in the sense
of just riding as a passenger but also as owning their own motorcycles,

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also bikers had a new principles, among these values is respecting the
women, actually this one thing that they cant forget and for some bikers
the punishment could expulsion from the gang, the women in bikers
subculture are in the meantime are like the first child for a mother, and if
some reports or research revealed that they treat the women with cruelty,
that because the women made it clear to the bikers that she is not a
weak human being who need to have a treatment like she is made of
glass. In addition, bikers are becoming more of a family type tradition than
ever before. Going to rallys such as the Buffalo rally, which is one of the
biggest rallys in South Africa this is evident. Youngsters join their parents,
learning about the culture from a young age and experiencing it. There
are still people who only join it at a later stage in life but it is becoming
something that is passed on to the younger generation by the parents.
Which I believe is a good thing, because as romantic as the biking culture
might seem to some still it will lose its authenticity if not brought over
correctly. In other words, it will die out and become nothing more than just
a fascination with motorcycles rather than a lifestyle

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