Motorcycling: The Wild Ones?

Marlon Brando starred in "The Wild One", a motorcycle movie, in 1953. This was very close to the beginning of a half century of stereotyping motorcyclists as hoodlums and neer-do-wells. Today, As the average age of motorcyclists hits 50, and the average income nears $100,000 a year, that tough guy image is gradually fading. Now, more often than not, a "biker gang" consists of a few middle aged lawyers out for a Sunday ride.

It's sometimes hard to imagine how things could be so different only 50 years ago, so let's just look at the motorcycles, and the people who rode them. Before I start this commentary, I just want to admit up front that I have never owned a bike from the fifties. I started motorcycling with a little Honda in 1969, already quite a bit more user friendly than the big bikes of the fifties. So I am not writing from personal experience, but just doing the best I can to project back 16 from years before I started, up to what we have today.

In 1953, average people did not own six vehicles. They usually had to make a sacrifice to even own one. So if you rode a motorcycle, chances were that you rode it rain or shine, winter or summer. And very likely you didn't have a ton of money, you likely were not married and probably young. Because the war had just ended, it was also extremely likely you had been in the war, and maybe were still having a little difficulty adjusting to civilian life. If you owned one you were almost certainly a man. Women were not very interested in owning motorcycles.

The motorcycles were quite different too. and back then they did not have electric starters. The kick starts could often break your leg if you were not careful. The motorcycles leaked oil, on the parking lot, in your driveway, in your friend's driveway, and your parents' driveway. They needed a lot of work and dedication to maintain. You're thinking "Does that mean I have to take it to the dealer every six months or so for a tune up?". No, that means you oil the chain every week, check the oil level at the same time. Repair flat tires yourself with tire irons and patches, do valve adjustments every month or so, and add water to the battery. Almost weekly, something would go wrong with the electrics, where you have no more headlight or ignition. These bikes did not appeal to most women in the slightest. By most I mean 99.99%.

Now how about your comfort? Have we come to the point where we have almost forgotten how much vibration you can get out of an engine that is neither rubber mounted, nor possessing a counter-rotating balance shaft, where even the pistons move up and down together to amplify the vibration instead of opposite to each other? There was an expression that they could "shake the fillings out of your teeth." That expression was based on fillings actually coming out of riders' teeth. So maybe fillings in those days were not as securely attached as today.

The rear suspension was nonexistent. I mean no spring or shock absorber at all. Solidly mounted. Except for the springs to hold the seat up, you would get a major jolt over every bump in the road, sometimes even if the bump was so small you could hardly see it in the road.

Anyway, that's the way it was on Marlon Brando's 1950 Triumph Thunderbird, which incidentally was not a Harley, and was his own bike. Marlon was probably rich enough to own more than one vehicle though. And rich enough to have somebody take care of the maintenance.

The controls were also not standard in those days. Shift levers could be on the right foot, the left foot or controlled by hand. The throttle may be opened by rolling back the right grip or rolling it forward. The clutch might be the left foot or the left hand. Turn signals were usually done by raising your arm.

You were not required to have a motorcycle licence (a car licence would do). There was no such thing as training programs, you just muddled through by yourself. Nobody ever heard of counter steering. Emergency stops were done by locking the rear wheels and falling down (called "Laying 'er down"). Front wheel brakes were thought of as too dangerous to use in an emergency. You didn't need to buy or wear a helmet, or buy insurance. Or have your headlight on at all times, maybe not even at night if you didn't want to. And drinking and driving was pretty much the norm with motorcycles, not the exception.

So the motorcycles of the day, generally speaking were miles apart from the softly sprung, electrically started, fair weather Sunday ride recreational vehicles of today. Not everyone could have one or would even want one.

No wonder the average motorcycle rider of today is very different from 1953. You don't need to be strong, or crazy to ride one. You don't need to be committed to riding one all year long or even all week long. You may never ride in cold or rain. Never have a flat tire or even an oil puddle in the garage.

It is surprising to me when I hear some people who have never ridden an old bike comment today that such and such bike is a "beginner's bike" or even a "girl's bike". Yes, maybe it is, but what the heck are you riding that qualifies it as "tough guys bike"?

Want to see how much better the motorcyclist image was by 1967? Hells Angels on Wheels

This is not a marketing tie in for me, but: In case you want a jacket like Marlon Brando's. What would a 50's biker think of buying a new leather jacket, where you pay extra to have it pre-beaten up for you to look like you been around the block a few times?
http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/feeling-for-the-wild-ones/

Picture: Shia LaBeouf's Brando-esque look from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. With no eye protection, either (even in the fifties, I think eye protection was normal)