About 30 years ago, bikers across America got sick and tired of beingtold by a bunch of Washington bureaucrats and local politicians who’d neverthrown a leg over a motorcycle what they HAD TO WEAR, how they HAD TO RIDE,and what our BIKES HAD TO BE BUILT LIKE!!
And over the years, motorcyclists have organized themselves into a viablepolitical force. We are one of the few TRUE grass roots movements in thecountry. Others may share an avocation, profession or recreation, but theydon’t share the passion.
Bikers have succeeded in taking their passion and turning it into amovement…a “Freedom Movement,” because we have the passion for freedom.Freedom is something we believe in, and that motorcycling is just one veryenjoyable way to experience it. Well folks, that passion will always beinside you, each of you, the Harley, Honda, Yamaha, BMW or Triumph rider,from the doctor to the construction worker. And that motorcycle will remainan outlet for that passion…as long as we continue to bypass the barriers ofappearance or ego and work together to preserve our right to ride.
And that’s what our movement is all about…a diverse bunch of people,most of us staunch individualists, but with one common denominator and acommon goal…Freedom Of The Road.
The kind of camaraderie that brought the first two motorcycle riderstogether to share a ride down a country lane is the same kind of camaraderiethat formed our early motorcycle clubs and associations and, eventually, ourmotorcycle rights organizations.
Motorcycle Rights Organizations (MRO’s) as we now know themstarted developing in the early 70’s, after the first national helmet effort causedalmost every state to pass mandatory lid laws. Since then motorcyclists have never beenstrangers to political activism.
In fact, early motorcycle riders were among the first special interestgroups to lobby for better roads. At the turn of the 20th Century as Indianfootpaths and trails became rough and rutted dirt roads, motorcycles servedas a primary form of transportation, and motorcyclists became vocal aboutimproving the road conditions. Later, riders were among the first groups topush for an interstate highway system.
YOU HAVE TO KNOW WHERE YOU’VE BEEN TO KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING!
My name is Bill Bish, and I’m the former Executive Coordinator of theNational Coalition of Motorcyclists and Aid to Injured Motorcyclists (AIM &NCOM), and have been active in bikers rights for over fifteen years. I haveserved in various state positions with ABATE of California, including twoterms as Chairman of the Board and two terms as State Director.
Sooo, for you history buffs, I’ll try to piece together some of our earlybeginnings, with apologies to those who were there from the start. I wasn’t,so this is only from my early conversations with people like Deacon DavePhillips, Ron Roloff, Keith Ball, Sherm Packard and others who WERE there, aswell as my own research and admittedly spotty memory. But, to help validatethis version of Biker History, I ran the article by most of the peoplementioned herein.
Through NCOM and ABATE of California, I have traveled across the UnitedStates to preach unity and spread information, and I will always treasure mymemories of the places that bikers’ rights has taken me and the friendlyfaces that have greeted me. Because our issue is so emotional and deeplypersonal, I have developed close relationships with many Freedom Fightersthroughout the country who I am proud to call Brothers and Sisters.
It was this deep sense of “family” within the motorcycle rights communitythat inspired me to trace our Family Tree. Much has been said of the comingnew millennium, and of the opportunities and pitfalls our future holds instore, but one thing is certain…YOU CAN’T KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING UNLESSYOU KNOW WHERE YOU’VE BEEN!
With that thought in mind, I’d like to take you on a brief trip downmemory lane, as we open up our Family Album and retrace our History as abikers’ rights movement here in the United States. Don’t worry, there won’tbe a test, and hopefully this brief history lesson will be at least asinteresting as your High School History classes!
Easyriders magazine editor Lou Kimzey issued a plea in issue #3, October1971, for bikers to come together to fight impending restrictions from theNational Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) by joining anew national bikers’ rights organization called the National Custom CycleAssociation, but because of a conflict with the acronym the name was changedin February 1972 to A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments (ABATE).
Irecall Joe Teresi, publisher of Easyriders, telling me that they had acontest around the office to come up with a new name, and one of thesecretaries came up with “ABATE”. He told me they were on deadline and hadto come up with a logo real fast, so they took a stylized German eagle andtransformed it into the logo used by many ABATE’s to this day.
Keith Ball was just 22 when he became the original ABATE managerin 1971, and he later became editor of Easyriders and the National Director of ABATE. He recently retired from Easyriders as the Editorial Director and Executive Vice President of Paisano Publications and went intoretirement, though he now operates an internet site called Bikernet.com whichstill focuses on bikers’ rights. Easyriders began granting state charters in1974, and ABATE’s which came into existence around this time were charteredin Kansas, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and New York; andalso MMA of California, MMA of Massachusetts, New Hampshire Motorcycle RightsOrganization, Rhode Island Motorcycle Association, Connecticut MotorcycleRights Association, and the Wisconsin Better Bikers Association. Easyriderspublished phone numbers, contacts and legislative news, and the bikers rights network began to grow. The Modified Motorcycle Association of California was founded at the same time as many ABATEs.
The original federal helmet mandates, which were instituted in 1966 byCongress and later repealed in 1976, were designed by the U.S. DOT (Department ofTransportation) as a means to restrict modified or customized”choppers” which they deemed unsafe. Especially extended forks andapehangers which were popular.
Deacon, founder of ABATE of California, once related to me thatthe 60’s fad of ridiculously high sissy bars came about because thegovernment started requiring “grab bars” for passenger safety, so the ridersof the day flaunted the law by building them as long and garish as they couldget by with.
Almost every state during this time began passing handlebar heightrestrictions, eyewear requirements, motorcycle licensing requirements,lights-on laws and other equipment regulations and many other restrictions. The government claimed that the restriction against our “Freedom Machines” were coming down the pike to make motorcycle riding”safer”. Funny, but back in the sixties they just wanted to force bikers offthe streets. Publicly they tooted that they wanted to SAVE US from ourselves!
In most states, before motorcyclists became politically organized, theclubs were the first to fight helmet laws and other restrictions. In manyinstances clubs founded the states’ motorcycle rights organizations.
Before MMA or ABATE of California came intoexistence, the Hells Angels M/C and Ralph “Sonny” Barger in particular hadsucceeded in keeping the state of California helmet-free even though Congresshad passed legislation in 1966 requiring every state to pass a helmet law orlose 10% of their federal highway funds, (this should sound familiar, since wejust recently faced the same type of national helmet law in the nineties).Rumors still circulate around Sacramento about 1,000 Hells Angels on theCapitol lawn, and HA’s camped outon the door steps of legislative opponents. Soon the old intimidation tacticswore thin and club leaders realized that they needed tolegitimize their efforts by creating a more sophisticated political lobbyingarm. In the case of California, the Hells Angels founded the MMA of California. Various states have similar history with local clubs which were the roots of their MRO.
About this same time, the American Motorcyclist Association began torecognize the motorcyclists rights movement and they established the AMAGovernment Relations Department, but not until 1976.
As the rights movement grew, Don Pittsley, a member of the Huns M/C inConnecticut convinced his congressman, Rep Stewart Mckinney, to introduceH.R.3869 to end the Federal authority to withhold highway funds from stateswithout helmet laws. In July of 1975, Rob Rasor of the AMA, Ron Roloff ofMMA and Ed Armstrong of ABATE of Chicago presented the House Sub-Committee onSurface Transportation with convincing testimony to repeal the mandates. California was being sued by the DOT, because GovernorRonald Reagan refused to comply with the federal mandate. Roloff helpedconvince California Senator Alan Cranston to offer the language of the billas an amendment to the 1975 Federal Highway Act, which passed withoverwhelming support from the California delegation because of the impendinglawsuit. It was signed by President Gerald Ford on May 5, 1976. Not bad fora rag tag bunch of bikers with little or no previous political ambitions.
Spurred on by many successful protest rallies around the countryfollowing the national helmet law repeal, 30 state laws were repealed. ABATE, MMA and other motorcycle rightsorganizations sprang up in every state across the country and are now afixture in state houses.
There were several failed attempts to start a national motorcycle rightsorganization, including Easyriders’. In 1985 the Motorcycle Rights Fund (MRF – later changing their name toMotorcycle Riders Foundation) hosted their first Meeting of the Mindsconference, and a few months later, in 1986, the National Coalition ofMotorcyclists (NCOM) held their first National Convention. Motorcyclingleaders realized the need for a united voice and the necessity of networkingand communications, and both the MRF and NCOM grew and have become effectivepartners with state MRO’s in protecting riders’ rights on the federal, stateand local fronts.
The concept of unity was put to the test in the early 1990’s, whenCongress again attempted to force states into passing helmet laws, andAmerican motorcyclists came together en masse, and in a coordinated effortbetween the MRF and NCOM virtually every state sent representatives fromtheir State MRO to walk the hallowed halls of Washington, D.C., in search oftheir U.S. Senators and Representatives. The grand lobbying experimentWORKED, and in just FOUR YEARS bikers were able to convince Congress to onceagain repeal their misdirected and misguided “nanny” law and return thedecision to the individual states. That same legislation also repealed the55 mph minimum speed limit! Soon afterwards, Arkansas modified theirmandatory helmet law to allow Freedom of Choice for adult riders 21 andolder. Texas soon followed, as well as Kentucky, Louisiana and, mostrecently, Florida.
Today, the scoreboard reads 20 Helmet Law States vs. 30 Free ChoiceStates!
As a result of our newfound political clout, motorcyclists havesuccessfully approached Congress twice over the past few years, first in 1996to grant federal protections against insurance discrimination based on modeof transportation because many companies (most notably Ruger Firearms and theTeamsters Union) were denying medical benefits to employees injured inmotorcycle accidents). Although this legislation was recently nullified bynew federal regulations written in the waning days of the ClintonAdministration, this nationwide effort was textbook politics at its best. The fight continues but the movement WILL succeed in reinstating the intent of Congress to protect us againstinsurance discrimination.
Then, in 1998, motorcyclists united once again to put together apro-active agenda for bikers, and succeeded in lobbying it through Congress.Included in this “wish list” for bikers was a guarantee that motorcyclistswould be included during the development of the Intelligent TransportationSystem (ITS) technology, which ensures that motorcycles are guaranteed access toany and all roads built with the use of federal highway funds (no road bans).This effort will restrict anti-motorcycle lobbying efforts by NHTSA and provides $131 millionfor recreational trails development and maintenance!
During this active span of time, many state rights groups have become proactivewithin their states instead of RE-acting to legislative threats. Minnesotapassed our nation’s first law to make it illegal to discriminate againstsomeone because they ride a motorcycle. Arizona, Iowa, Oregon and Washingtonhave successfully repealed or modified their state’s handlebar height laws.Virginia and Illinois have lobbied their states to reinforce the federallyguaranteed access to roads by passing laws to protect our rights to ride onany roads within their state boundaries. Virginia and Maryland amended theirstate’s parking laws to allow more than one bike per metered space. Andseveral states have fought and defeated “No Fault” insurance proposals thatare unfair to motorcyclists.
Also, now, through the work of the National Coalition of Motorcyclists,patch holders in nearly 40 states and two Canadian Provinces have cometogether to form Confederations of Clubs to fight discrimination and policeharassment through the courts, bringing the motorcycle rights network fullcircle with the rejuvenated interest of the motorcycle club community.
While our early bikers’ rights leaders paved our way, other dynamic andconcerned riders have come forward to take the reigns and lead us into thenew millennium.
We should never forget the efforts and sacrifices of our predecessorswho faced intimidation from law enforcement, indifference from legislatorsand animosity from a public that saw “The Wild One” one too many times.They got the job done. Were it not for their perseverance and dedication,we would not have become the respected and effective grass roots lobbyinggroup that we are today.
So, there you have it. The roots of ABATE and the Americanmotorcyclists’ rights movement run deep in the hearts of those of us who haveaccepted and, in turn, passed on the torch of Freedom of the Road. To allthose who came before, we salute you.
Where will the future take us? That’s entirely up to you. New restrictions onour freedom and our motorcycles are coming at us now from across the big pondIf we don’t increase our political strength, we may be looking at thelast days of motorcycling as we know it.
W need to protect the future of motorcycling against theupcoming European invasion! The biggest threat facingmotorcyclists today is not necessarily from our own Government. It may verywell be the EUROPEAN THREAT, as the strictest motor vehicle standards in theworld are adopted as global standards.
On June 25, 1998, the global motorcycle came closer to reality, as theUnited States, Japan and the 15 member countries of the European Union (EU)signed an agreement in Geneva, under the auspices of the United Nations, todevelop global regulations concerning the safety performance of motorvehicles and equipment. So, the UNIVERSAL motorcycle is on it’s way.
The automotive and motorcycle industries have long advocated globaluniformity of standards, because conflicting standards mean expensive designchanges for each market. Unfortunately for motorcyclists, this means thatEuropean threats such as leg protectors, air bags, noise limits, horsepowerrestrictions and anti-tampering measures, will now become global issues. There are 300,000 new bikes sold in the USA eachyear, and 1,000,000 new bikes sold in Europe. Which standards do you thinkwill apply?
Construction standards could ban:Air-cooled engines, open chain drives, 2-stroke motors, self-tuning andcustomizing. Regulations will include Catalytic Converters to reduce emissions, along with reducingpower and increasing fuel consumption, while driving up the cost ofmotorcycles.
Medium/Long Term Threats in Europe include the following:
Vintage/classics banished to museums, due to End-of-Life issues
Construction standards mandated
Using “Anti-Tampering” Sheer Bolts to prevent home maintenance andperformance work.
Armored, high visibility clothing.
Bike bans on certain roads, in certain tourist areas and when pollutionlevels rise.
Massive road tax increases and heavy-handed taxes on motorcycles.
Multi-stage (tiered) licensing to ride a motorcycle, and very expensive.
Yes, and research continues, even today, on leg protectors and air bags!
Vision Zero:There’s no such thing as an “accident” with today’s technologically advancedvehicles. BUT motorcycles will always be subject to human error?thereforethey would be BANNED under this proposed Swedish plan which almost becameofficial policy!
Intelligent Transportation System:Basically, the purpose of ITS is to use technology to achieve a moreefficient flow of traffic. But while the goal is safer, quicker travel,ultimately ITS technology will eliminate human error by taking control of thevehicle away from the driver.
NHTSA promises active public participation in the development of the newglobal motor vehicle safety standards, with public meetings and commentperiods as the plan is implemented, and Congress has promised thatmotorcycles will be included in any future ITS developments. Motorcyclistswill have to ensure that our collective voice is heard during the planningstages.
So, if we want to continue to ride free, we must spread the word toother concerned riders, to our youth, and to our legislators. Join a motorcycle rights group and support their efforts. Freedom will never die.
–Bill Bish
