A Friendly Reminder To All You Motorcyclists Out There

As someone who has been infatuated with motorcycles for over a decade, I can honestly say I’ve had a very difficult time with the severe and increasing pressures exerted by marketers to portray the activity as “extreme” in recent years. It is undeniable that motorcycle racing is an exciting sport in no small part due to the perceived dangers and the fact that successful riders are constantly performing right on the edge of traction failure. But ads like Buell’s “antisocial” ad campaign (published late last year) and Speed’s Super-Bikes! have taken a stance which I think can only be rationalized by pure greed.

The old industry adage is true: wins on Sunday mean sales on Monday. Motorcycle riders (especially sport bike riders) are susceptible to plays on their emotions to imitate winners like Valentino Rossi & Mat Mladin. I remember for years attending the World SuperBike races at Laguna Seca in Monterey, and every year the same guy would show up on Cannery Row dressed in Lucky Strike leathers riding a Kevin Schwanz GP replica.

But I think we’ve allowed it to go too far. We’ve sat back, idle, while major brands have encouraged if not solicited extremely dangerous behavior in efforts to sell more motorcycles. I’m not suggesting that marketers need to be held entirely responsible for the actions of irresponsible riders, but I do think that education on proper riding techniques has not kept up with the growth of the industry, and we as consumers have a responsibility to put an end to destructive behavior and the advertising that encourages it.

Australia (home to some of the best racers in the world) seems to understand that when a rider goes down we all lose. That’s why it commissioned five-time world champion Michael Doohan to perform in an ad campaign to discourage irresponsible riding. Not only does it result in needlessly higher insurance rates, and increased risk of discrimination, but most importantly, it alienates all riders from non riders and almost begs them to meddle in (and regulate!) our collective passion because we (like spoiled children) are apparently incapable of doing it ourselves.

Let’s not mince words my friends. We’re an increasingly unpopular minority wielding potentially lethal machinery in danger of becoming extinct. If we like your freedom to ride, then we have a duty to do it responsibly. I would even go so far as to say that we have a duty to educate the ignorant, to discourage the very “antisocial” behaviors Buell and others use to manipulate people into buying bikes: dragging a knee on public roads; racing to the next red light on a straight-piped monstrosity; obnoxiously bouncing the tach off the rev limiter to the detriment of anyone trying to enjoy a quiet summer afternoon; and burning out the retinas of the driver of the cage in front of us because he won’t move right as we come up on him doing a buck ten on a public highway.

So the next time you’re out on the road, and you come up on that squid who just spent the last eighth of a mile on one wheel in congested traffic, let him know. Shake your head. Wag a finger. Remind them that stuff is for closed courses. Together, maybe we can stem the tide and protect our passion.