Motorcycle communities: what are they, traditions and symbols, development forecast in the CIS countries and Russia

A motorcycle club is not just some big garage or hangar where strong, beefy bikers gather to chat over beer and show off their bikes to each other. The motorcycle club is, first of all, an association of motorcycle lovers who adhere to common views on the world and their place in it.

HISTORY OF MOTORCYCLE CLUBS

There is a myth that the Pentagon invented the Internet so that there would be a connection in case of a nuclear war. Of course, Americans sometimes, like other nations, try to attribute the authorship of the invention to themselves, but what cannot be denied is the fact that the first motorcycle communities appeared in the United States.

More than 70 years ago, many former members of the US Army were in distress. The government did not care about World War II veterans and essentially abandoned them to their fate.

They, who do not have skills in peaceful professions, have only to remember the skills acquired in the war: the ability to achieve their goals by violence, acting boldly and in cold blood, + the ability to ride a motorcycle. So, with the combination of the above circumstances in the 40s. In the 20th century, bike clubs arose that traded in robbery and robbery and terrified Americans.

In our country, for a long time, motorcycle clubs simply did not exist as a phenomenon. Other values ​​dominated: freedom and the desire to protest against society were not encouraged.

Therefore, we can talk about the first similarities of motorcycle communities only in the 80s. 20th century. And even then, it is difficult to call these parties motorcycle communities. Young guys were just having fun, not thinking about anything, riding their motorcycles and dragging themselves from loud music.

Among the Moscow “rockers” (as motorcyclists were then called) of that time, the Surgeon (Alexander Zaldostanov) stood out as a leader. He became the person who united part of the “rockers” in Moscow into the first motorcycle club of the CIS – “Night Wolves” – in 1989. To this day, “Night Wolves” occupy a leading position in the biker party of the CIS. They not only gathered 5,000 motorcyclists under their banner, but also opened numerous branches in European countries.

Of course, the motorcycle communities of the CIS do not begin and end exclusively on the Night Wolves. The fact is that these clubs are less known, so you can make the wrong conclusion about their complete absence. In fact, almost every major Russian city has a motorcycle club. Or the motorcycle community is organized at the regional level.

There are also clubs organized around brand ownership of a particular bike, such as BMW or Harley-Davidson communities.

BIKER TRADITIONS

The first biker attribute that comes to mind is patches. With their help, motorcyclists can distinguish who is in which community, as well as determine the place of a biker in the motorcycle club hierarchy. A typical patch is divided into 3 parts: the upper rocker with the name of the community, the emblem in the center, and the region of the club in the lower rocker.

According to the original unspoken rules of bikers, only the clubs that dominated this territory could indicate the region. But, for example, in Russia, clubs do not worry about this and do not arrange a showdown about which of them is older and the monarch.

Now a few words about the role of stripes in the hierarchy. Here the situation is as follows: the leader of the motorcycle community and the bikers close to him have the right to wear all the patches, then as the status of the motorcyclist decreases, he is allowed to sew fewer and fewer patches on the vest. By the way, it may be completely forbidden for a beginner to sew on at least an upper rocker.

The second biker tradition relates to their wardrobe. This is a well-known leather jacket. Megapopular among bikers made her Marlon Brando, who played the impudent leader of a motorcycle gang in the movie “Savage”. Before the film, the jacket was the clothing of military pilots. Bikers wore it while riding motorcycles and only for the reason that the leather jacket protected them from the “asphalt disease” better than other outerwear.

FORECASTS FOR THE NEXT SEASON

I’ll start with Russia. The situation is extremely uncertain. Either a terrible hopeless future awaits us, or a ray of light in a dark kingdom. It all depends on whether new sanctions will be imposed, or whether they will be lifted partially, or perhaps completely. How the politicians will agree there, unfortunately, does not depend on us. Therefore, it is better to prepare for the worst, in which case it will be easier to cope with a more favorable development of events.

In Russia, manufacturers of imported motorcycles, like most foreign companies, have decided to curtail sales and leave the market. Exactly the same applies to the supply of motorcycle parts. Europe still allows us to bring bikes worth no more than 5 thousand euros, but the whole point is that there are practically no European motorcycles in this price category.

We are waiting for the unusual uncomfortable word “deficit” + exorbitant prices. In general, owning a bike is becoming extremely expensive, so the ranks of the motorcycle community can thin out. Or, there is an option to switch to cheap analogues, for example, Russian-made.

I want to note that the motorcycle becomes not only an expensive pleasure, but also life-threatening. And this is not a joke. I believe that somewhere from the end of summer or early autumn of 2022, the risk of dying from the attack of greedy criminals who want to take possession of the bike and disassemble it into scarce parts will increase significantly. So be careful.

Ukraine. It’s a disgusting time for bikers out there. Yes, there are no sanctions, but the fighting and the accompanying economic problems make it difficult to hold biker gatherings and events. Motorcycle products will be available, but not everyone will be able to afford them due to the collapse in living standards that will affect almost everyone. My brief conclusion: I think that for Ukrainian bikers, problems related exclusively to motorcycle communities are not a top priority right now.

Other CIS countries. There are 2 options:

• Everything will remain as it is, there will be no changes.

• Or prices will increase slightly, because, as practice has shown, the Russian “special operation” has affected the economic situation around the world. This means that unexpected failures in the supply chain can occur somewhere.

Source: cryptomoto.org