Motorcycle Community

If you are a lone rider, ride with a few friends, or ride with a club, you are also part of the motorcycle community at large.

Motorcycle community members experience riding appreciating the freedom riding provides, understanding the challenges of traffic and the inconvenience of weather, yet choosing to live life doing what we do.

Being a part of the much larger motorcycle community displays itself every time we ride. While out riding approaching or passing another rider it is customary to acknowledge one another.  This acknowledgement might be in a subtle nod, a hand signal, or laid back wave. Each and every time we acknowledge another rider we are acknowledging our community membership.

The motorcycle community has many different looks and is in a process of change. For many outsiders the motorcycle community is mainly made up of the hardcore biker. Today the hardcore riders are the 1% clubs. No longer does this generalization of riders accurately represent the community.

Today you have motorcycle clubs (MC’s), riding clubs (RC’s) and faith based or interest based riding groups. These groups are diverse in themselves with each having a different passion and mission.

The community has also changed by gender. Women now make up almost 18 percent of riders. With the lady rider segment growing faster than the community itself, they will naturally make a significant contribution to what the community will look like in the near future.

The annual sale of motorcycles also indicates a change in process. For example, the sales of larger displacement motorcycles with higher cost have slowed while the 500-750 cc displacements have increased. With the styles of motorcycles changing so have how their riders gather for fellowship. The new generation of rider is more likely to meet at a hipster establishment, riding a cafe motorcycle, wanting to socialize more than ride.

Veterans A Community within a Community

A Veteran, young or old, is part of a community within the motorcycle community. The community to which we belong is a 1% community. Our community is our brothers and sisters in arms who along with us took an oath. The oath we took to protect and defend The Constitution of the United States with our lives if necessary.

For the first time in the history of the United States of America, there are people alive today who do not have an immediate family member serving in the military, nor do they even know a Veteran. For this reason I am a member of The American Legion Riders and proudly wear a patch of our Flag and one stating I am a Veteran.

A CORE

This fall having the honor and privilege to participate in Remembrance Day (September 11th), Veterans Day November 11th), National POW/MIA Day (November 16th) and Wreaths Across America (December 22nd), I realized the unconditional beliefs of my life never changed.

Having lived in France, Germany, and The Panama Canal Zone as a child, I experienced what few others have. Traveling to different countries, working in various occupations, encountering different people with different beliefs, different socio-economic status, my core remained.

My core remained because a core is not just a belief, it is a conviction. A conviction becomes the foundation for each decision made.  When I reflected on the events listed above, along with life challenges many of us face, I became aware of the foundation of my core.

My core is conviction in God as Creator of All Things. Jesus the Christ is my Lord and Savior. The United States of America is a great country, worth dying for as so many have done. Our Founding Fathers believed in Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness which was endowed by our Creator God. The Bible, both the Old and New Testaments, and The Constitution of The United States of America are the foundation of all that I am.

The New Year is upon us with many making resolutions. It came to my attention that 80 percent of people making resolutions will stop doing what they resolved to do within 21 days. Only 8% will achieve their goal. This means 12 percent will continue with their resolution while never crossing the finish line. I crossed the finish line once, dying in a hospital having to be revived. From that day I made a personal commitment to remain steadfast to my core. Will you do the same today?

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Happy New Year ride safe,

Moto-Tec-it Tim