A Brief History of Motorcycle Clubs

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In the early 1900s bicycle design and manufacture had reached a point where aerodynamics was a major factor in bicycle racing. It began with these two seated bicycles that were fitted with French DeDion-Buton single-cylinder, air-cooled internal combustion engines in order to propel the cycles at regulated speeds just ahead of the racers. The pacers were complicated to operate and required two people to run: the front rider was a driver who steered the vehicle and the rear rider was an engineer who constantly adjusted the flow of fuel to the primitive carburetor in order to maintain a constant speed. Unfortunately these engines were very unreliable they would break down often because the fuel delivery of the French carburetors was so unstable. An answer to the problems came from a small-time machinist and self-taught bicycle designer/fabricator named Oscar Hedstrom. Hedstrom started modifying single-cylinder engines and carburetors for bikes and started making them more and more reliable. Hendee started working with Hedstrom and became a huge success in the New England area. This partnership soon leads to a professional business that sold motorcycles. With this being said it leads me to Motorcycle clubs. As early as 1901 bikes were being mass produced and sold to the general public. Two years later in 1903 Harley Davidson was founded and right on the rear of American Motorcycle diffusion, the formation of biker clubs and organizations. In the same year some of the earliest known clubs , the New York Motorcycle Club combined with Alpha Motorcycle Club of Brooklyn to form The Federation of American Motorcycles (FAM). In article one section two of the FAM constitution reads “[The Federation’s] objects shall be to encourage the us... ... middle of paper ... ...ere was nothing left. These other clubs on the other hand were growing and becoming abrupt. Veterans from Southeast Asia brought back information about illegal drugs and of course this got fed to biker gang because they travel, who better to transport. This led to the drug epidemic of the 1960s. The "One Percenters" started up and claimed the AMA needed back in action and began to practice in California; they also made know more intensely than before that biker gangs were separated and in a sense did not like each other. In 1964 at a bike rally 2 men charged for rape but released on account of evidence didn’t help the reputation bikers were creating. Officials started getting frustrated and making statements like “hoodlum Activities” and “a clear and present danger to local, state, and ultimately international constituencies.” These gangs just kept going downhill.

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