British Motorcycle Culture

The motorcycle
Most motorcycle stories are told in American accents by people who are cowboys on steel horses.
well here on this tiny island called England we are rockers, mods and hipsters, now let’s explore motorcycle culture from a British perspective.
 
This tale will come to you from some historical facts and some opinions of a very individual insight into this world.
 
Motorcycle riders come in a few forms,
 
The main dealership matches a bike, boots, and jacket, all branded to tell you, the customer, who that person is loyal to.
 
The 1% of these guys are 3-piece patch-wearing serious guys; their rules and demand for high expectations of respect and loyalty to their club are unshakable.
 
Then you got the greaser, filthy hands, and rough-thrown together home-built bikes, all from piles of scrap and borrowed parts. These guys are rare in the new generation as finance and balloon payments have faded them out, turning most of you into main dealer types.
 
The loan rider who just isn’t interested in your bike and your stories only visits local bike cafes under duress from the handful of people they keep around.
 
The race bike rider: these guys are bloody lethal; they genuinely believe they are as fast as Michael Dunlop, but in reality, they’re shit, waiting to get smeared up the road and finish up looking like a heavy period in a leather maxi pad.
 
Oh, and the hipster must not forget the hipster; after all, they are responsible for reviving the motorcycle culture. As a young man in the 90s, people weren’t really buying bikes; it was so unusual to see them fly past. I’d get really excited and shout bike bike at my dad (he would of course tell me to stop shouting).
 
But the 00s came along and something happened, and that was Kawasaki producing the w650 that looked like an old triumph. This created the boost triumph needed to get off their arse and start producing the bonneville, and boom, the turned-up jeans, brown boots, and open-face cafe racer culture exploded.
 
That pretty much brings us up to current affairs, but where did the motorcycle start?
 
For me, the real begging of British motorcycle enthusiasts starts with Thomas Edward Laurance.
 
A skittish motorbike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth because of its logical extension of our faculties and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyed, untiring smoothness.
 
T. E. Laurance had several superiors that were considered by many to be the most prestigious of all two-wheel machines.
 
In one of his books, he records leaving the military barracks and blasting along the road, just as a plane is doing a fly-by.
 
He races the plain, pushing some poor civilians into a hedge in their motor car.
Just as the plain and the motorcycle approached the tree line, a courteous nod was shared between rider and pilot.
Laurance lost his life riding his motorcycle.
It was said by the doctor that if he had been wearing a helmet, he most likely would have survived.
 
Not long after that, the UK Parliament discussion began about helmet laws.
 
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    • The Wild World of Motorcycle Culture ...  
 

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