This is a subject that just came up at a bike club.... I mean riding club I play around with. American Cruisers Alliance (the riding club I'm talking about) has been approached by the 1% clubs and asked to join. This means they wear the MC or motorcycle club patch on their jackets. I'm building here.... The reason the ACA wants to join the 1%ers is because they claim on the west coast things are a bit more serious. Some members of ACA were assaulted and had their patches cut off of their jackets because they are not 1% and the patch had a black border. WTF... ACA has changed the patch to a gold border, which signifies riding club, not MC.

My question for those of you on the west coast and this mostly directed at those who are unfortunate enough to live on CA. Do you have any problems with 1% clubs like Hells Angels and so on? I think my area is a bit more reserved on how they react. I live in a common wealth, not a real state, so everyone is armed myself included. I'm not sure how I'd react to someone cutting a patch off of jacket I was wearing. I'd believe my life would feel threaten and I'd have to _ _ _ _ . You can fill in the blank (some members think I have rage problem). I personally think it's BS that anyone is having this sort of problem and they are looking for an excuse to wear one more patch. If you don't know any one that ride cruiser or touring bikes, they are always looking for their next patch or pin to add.

 

I see our theropy is working. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Good Job Don. Come on every one group hug. Just messing with you. That must only be a coast thing because I have never even heard of a 1% club here in Missouri.

 

I wasn't sure if most of us here would know what a 1% club is.

The story goes... AMA has dubbed several Motor Cycle clubs to be.... to put it politically correct... bad. 99% of the clubs and organizations are good and are in it just for riding with nice friendly people. The other 1% (now known as 1% clubs) are the Hells Angels, Bandidos MC Nation, Jokers Wild MC and every other club that has a MC in the name. Too many to list. 1%ers in the past were typically involved in criminal activity such as drug trafficking, prostitution, theft, racketeering, counterfeiting, welfare fraud, arson and loan sharking. Sounds like a bad episode of Miami Vice. They are your traditional biker... never bath, wearing old ragged black leather, full beards and really ugly.

I'm not saying they are all bad... they were in the past, but times have changed. I know a lot of 1%ers and they accept me on a "Jap Bike". Oh... I forgot, they don't ride Hondas... they ride the other brand that starts with an "H".

I'm just asking if anyone on the west coast is having problems with them?

 

I am not your dad here but that doesn't sound like something you need to be associated with. I must live a sheltered Missouri life because I had no idea that there were still people like this.

 

I'm not really a part of the club. I pay dues and so on so I can ride with the groups during major functions. Like rumble through the tunnels. Last year there were 6000 and this year we had 5000 bikes. I can ride no matter what, but just to do minimum... I pay dues. And hell no... I don't wear any patches. As long as your attitude is good, they don't mind you ridding with them. They have even on occasion signaled me to move to the front and moved to the outside of the lanes so I could reach the front. They do this on some back roads where they have a good view of twisties and want to watch a rice rocket cut through them. I'll hit it and stop a few miles up for them to catch up to me. Like I said... good guys now... the bad stuff was mostly in the past.

 

Inseresting info Don. Just don't prostitute yourself out like these 1%ers do. You will feel bad in the morning. LOL

 

I grew up in New Jersey. Notr a nice place in Jersey either. We had many MCs growing up and some of them were of the non 1% type. I had never seen them ever get messed with. The group I hung around with (I ran "their" bar), who will remain anonymous, would somehow find a way to screw with anybody they didn't like. Whether you had a 1% patch or not. Its gonna come down to the fact that the bad seeds are gonna be located in all groups, in all parts of the country. Times have also changed and the violence has seen its decline. I am sorry if this doesn't help you being it was an east coast thing, but it might clear up something for you.
LJ

 

I used to ride with a non 1% group here in Texas and bailed when it started getting the attention of 1% because our patch was close to some group in another state,a few months later a couple of our riders were gunned down outside of all places and AA dance so the moral to this story is the 1% were here first and have claimed(rightfully or not) certain aspects of patches and you either go along with them and be a sub patch(protected) or make sure what you are wearing looks like the Mickey Mouse club and not a real 1% patch and by the way I know several 1% that ride Valks.Just my experience but it cost 3 of my friends there lives to learn.What are you willing to pay? Correct or not this is life and Cali like Texas and a few other states have major 1% gangs present,even now there are 3 clubs here that are deciding to war or join and combine patches so this is thier way of life,the Patch is everything. I respect them and no longer were patches on black leather vests.

The other thing would be to simply ask them what manner of patch style would not be disrespectful of them

 

Ok.. my question was somewhere lost in my long post.

Simple, do you guys on the west coast notice any conflicts or have been harassed by real 1% clubs. I know some 1% clubs now have jap bikes and so on. My explanation of the 1% clubs was for the past, not present. That is still the way most people look at them.

I think the club I know is using this as an excuse to change over to a 1% club. After Lakota post… I’m thinking maybe the west coast does have a problem.

 

I'm in California and have never heard of 1% clubs much less see people who wear pacthes that identify them as 1% members. I mean once in a while you'll run into a "white supremist" on a H bike but they quickly realize the reality of mixture of the American population and cool down. And quit calling them "Jap bikes" I am not Japanese and I got offended.