Why Outlaw Biker Gangs Ride Harley-Davidsons

Omega Man

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

Staff member

• Nov 4, 2017

• #1

Hopefully this doesn't turn into another Harley bashing thread-

I was directed to Rideapart and in an interesting article by Tim Huber, he wrote a rather interesting article on the HD popularity- and how it came to be.

For your motorcycle reading enjoyment-

https://rideapart.com/articles/outlaw-biker-gangs-ride-harley-davidsons

OM

 

dennisdarrow

#4869 Earned Lifetime mem

• Nov 4, 2017

• #2

Lee Marvin............"Wild Ones" rode one

 

gtrider

52184

• Nov 4, 2017

• #3

And yet, in the last article and photo series I saw on Sonny Barger, long-term president of the Hells Angels, his ride of choice was a BMW RT. Perhaps aging brings an appreciation of function over form even in the OMG.

It is interesting that we’ve never seen in the R1200C community the level of brand commitment that would induce something like the acquisition of a full-neck tattoo of the roundel, in flames.

Best,
DG

 

R

robocop

New member

• Nov 4, 2017

• #4

Not all outlaws ride the HD brand. While working Gang Intelligence before retiring, we were quite surprised to find that many of the top HA leaders mounted up, on you guessed it, on BMW's. Smart guys in a limited way.........

 

shortythorne

shortythorne

• Nov 4, 2017

• #5

I'm guessing it's the image more than anything else. It would be hard to look very tough on a Honda scooter.

 

B

beemerphile

New member

• Nov 4, 2017

• #6

shortythorne said:

It would be hard to look very tough on a Honda scooter.

Click to expand...

 

akbeemer

SURVIVOR

• Nov 4, 2017

• #7

Indian just might make a dent in Harley’s dominance of the biker gang “market” (do gang members normally buy their bikes?). Indian completely dominated the flat track series their first year back in racing (winning 14 of 18 races) and Harley performed very poorly with their new racing engine (the factory team had only one podium finish all season). And you know the time honored adage; Win on Sunday, get stolen on Monday.

 

rich

#37829

• Nov 4, 2017

• #8

GTRider said:

It is interesting that we’ve never seen in the R1200C community the level of brand commitment that would induce something like the acquisition of a full-neck tattoo of the roundel, in flames.

Click to expand...

Yeah well, now that BMW came out with the Bar Hoppin Bagger, look out buddy, all hell is going to break loose.

 

greenwald

New member

• Nov 5, 2017

• #9

Rich said:

Yeah well, now that BMW came out with the Bar Hoppin Bagger, look out buddy, all hell is going to break loose.

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People - this is a serious threat!

Next thing you know, the 'Quad-B's' ("Bad Boy Beemer Baggers") will be trying to barge in on Gold Wingers at Dairy Queen, and there will be a nasty turf war!

 

J

James.A

former Airmarshal-IL

• Nov 5, 2017

• #10

greenwald said:

People - this is a serious threat!

Next thing you know, the 'Quad-B's' ("Bad Boy Beemer Baggers") will be trying to barge in on Gold Wingers at Dairy Queen, and there will be a nasty turf war!

Click to expand...

Is this anything like the simmering rivalry between "The Chain Gang" and "Airheads" in days of yore?

 

B

barryg

Active member

• Nov 5, 2017

• #11

I tried joining the Chain Gang years ago with my KLR 650. They told to get lost.

 

B

barryg

Active member

• Nov 5, 2017

• #12

Then they found out I had an Airhead. I had to run for my life. I lived to tell the tale.

 

AKsuited

New member

• Nov 5, 2017

• #13

I saw a scooter rider in town a while back with a German style helmet: badass.

 

pglaves

#13338

• Nov 5, 2017

• #14

barryg said:

Then they found out I had an Airhead. I had to run for my life. I lived to tell the tale.

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Voni and I rode our K75s to a Jail Break in the Clouds (Talimina St. Park) one year. We did have F650s at the time but were on the road when we decided to jog over to the event. Nobody seemed to care that the K bikes were there.

 

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barryg

Active member

• Nov 5, 2017

• #15

Yes in the beautiful desolate area of the western Ouchita Mountains I'm sure anything with a BMW Roundel was welcome. I attended a couple of the Jailbreak in the Clouds back in the day. If I remember correctly the Naturally Beemers had a Fall camp out close by and we rode over to see our chain drive breathern. I guess it's been about 20 years ago. Time flies by. I think I've got a stack of Naturally Beemer Newsletters from that era. May pull them out and read the reports and correctly refresh my fading memory. Yep, good memories from the early years of the Naturally Beemers. We were a pretty close knit bunch back in the day. I was recently over at the Rams Rally at Parkers Crossroads, Tn.. I didn't see one NBer there. Usually I see a group of 3 or 4. I havn't been active for several years. I need to make contact and find out the status of the club.