Omni: Is it possible to join an outlaw club on a Japanese bike?

Wolf: No. As far as the outlaw biker is concerned, there is only one motorcycle, the Harley-Davidson or hog. Japanese two-wheelers are not considered motorcycles, but riceburners. A man who “drives” such a machine is not taken seriously as a biker. He’s a ricer. As the expression goes: Harley is the best. Fuck the rest.

Omni: Did you hear Sonny Barger, the most famous Hells Angel, has threatened to buy a Honda?

Wolf: He won’t do it.

Omni: His feeling is Harley has let them all down by creating the rich urban biker.

Wolf: Well, it’s a tremendous marketing job by Harley. They’ve made it an acceptable experience for rich individuals who don’t want the outlaw overtones.

Omni: I talked to an old-time biker who was invited to an organization of RUBs who were riding their bikes cross-country. He found that these people — test pilots, doctors, white-collar professionals — all had Type A personalities. It was, “How many miles can I go, and how fast?” That’s very different from the biker lifestyle you’re talking about.

Wolf: Right. Who got the most miles on the bike was certainly not a topic of conversation within the club. Guys would compare bikes, but it wasn’t a matter of one-upmanship.

Omni: Did you find any similarity between the Rebels and other small tribes studied by anthropologists?

Wolf: Both speak to psychological needs that predate our existence as a species. Primates are social beings. When we evolved consciousness, we acquired a need for symbols and rituals to establish meaningful interactions with the outside world. The emblem an outlaw club chooses for its colors, for example, emphasizes its separation from the rest of society as a powerful and elite macho group. It might feature a skull patch (like the Rebels’), a laughing devil’s head (like Satan Choice), a skeleton holding a shotgun and handcuffs (Bounty Hunters), a shrouded skull (Grim Reapers), or a flyer’s helmet with wings (Hells Angels). These are images of death, power, freedom, and rebellion, but the underlying theme is that of the warrior hero. As Wee Albert put it: “The colors separate you from anybody else on the street. Their purpose is to let people know who you are. A Rebel is a cut above.”

Omni: Isn’t there a tradition of keeping one’s colors dirty?

Wolf: In the sixties, seventies, and early eighties, it was an outlaw club tradition that colors were never washed. Whatever happens to a man’s colors becomes a a part of his personal history. Blues told me: “The badges and things on my colors mean different and individual things I’ve done with my brothers. My colors are a documentary of my life. Even the vibes coming off them that I feel, they tell a story to myself every time I look at them.” In the mideighties, the outlaw clubs underwent a style change and members began paying more attention to the sharpness of their colors. Colors too far gone are replaced.

Omni: What are all those other badges?

Wolf: A variety of items reflect the outlaw biker lifestyle, such as a Harley-Davidson wings pin, a Coors beer badge, a 69 sex badge, a “13” (fuck the world) badge, or a bullet key chain. Another favorite is the rhombic-shaped “1%” patch, deriving from the American Motorcycle Association’s claim that the undesirable element in the motorcycle world represents only one percent of all cyclers. The outlaw biker is proud to be among that one percent.

Omni: What about the white power badge, a white fist on a black background?

Wolf: Yes, that is one attitude. While I’ve never heard of it incorporated into any club’s constitution or bylaws, all outlaw clubs operate within a policy that stipulates “no negroes allowed.” You can go through photographs of tens of thousands of bikers featured in the biker magazines and not find a single picture of a black person.

Continue reading…