Understanding the 1%-er
 

First, a little "back story". I was out on the Road King with my wife yesterday, and ran accross a bunch of guys on sport bikes at a gas station. I recognized them as a local riding club that I had run into at another gas station a month or so before, while in my 911, on my way to a PCA drive. The first time, they were all very interested in my car, and we had a nice chat about it, sport bikes, yadda yadda yadda.

Yesterday, I recognized several of them, so I said "hi", introducing myself as the Porsche guy from last month. We had another great chat; friendly guys, one and all. So, they asked me if I would like to unlimber the Ducati and go on a ride with them, and gave me a card.

I have to say, though, the patches put me off a bit. Yes, they were wearing patches - including one that said "prospect". They just didn't seem like "that kind" of riders, so I wondered if they really knew what those patches meant. Thirty years ago, I was dangerously close to some folks in those circles - "patch holders" - and had the good sense to walk away.

Anyway, I went home and found their website. With it, I found a link to this, a guide to the world of the outlaw biker, the "1%-er". So, yes, these sportbikers know good and well what their patches mean in this world. I don't think I'll be riding with them...

So, for your education (and entertainment...), I offer a link to this "1%-er 101" website. There is a lot of information here, and while written in a very sympathetic tone towards these guys, I found it to be fairly accurate from my recollections, at least. Granted, this is their perspective, and as such leaves out most of the bad. But, it does provide insight into a very bizzare (and, unfortunately, growing) little dysfunctional subculture. Anyway, here it is:

http://www.rcvsmc.net/index.html

Last time I saw a guy in a bar here with a "prospect" patch on the back of his leather vest, there was no question as to whom he was with. He and his cohorts looked and acted the part and they had some pretty cool bikes too. This area is Sonny Barger's home base, so you run into those guys once in a while.

I didn't know those sorts rode crotch rockets, ever. Hmmm. Learn something new every day i suppose.

After reading the 1%'er rules i could not help but chuckling that "outlaw bikers" have so many rules and laws to adhere to. Haha, kind of contradictory aint it?

Looks to me like a bunch of grown men looking for the family structures they never had as children. Kind of sad.

Sounds to me like a minor undertone at many p-car events. ;):D

So if I read this correctly, 1%ers are basically thugs on bikes? Hells angels types?

I'm pretty sure they still don't. I'm pretty sure that the guys I ran into represent a few knuckleheads who really don't get it, in spite of the link on their very own site. We do, however, have a couple of local "clubs" that will be happy to enlighten them. I just don't want to be riding with them on that day...

Amazing, huh? Rules on how to be an "outlaw".

Yes, that would be correct.

1% clubs are just outlaw gangs who happen to ride motorcycles. No different than say the bloods or crips

Rules seem reasonable enough. Heck...not much different than any of our local Homeowners Association bylaws :rolleyes: .

Breaking any of the following Rules will be reason for immediately kick-out from club and probably an Ass Kicking:

1. Failure to pay his dues according to the section dealing with the paying of dues.

2. No hype. No use of heroin in any form. Anyone using a needle for any reason other than having a doctor use it on you will be considered hype. (Automatic kick-out from club)

3. If any brother gets hooked on any drug that is dangerous to the club he will be helped first. Then he will be dealt by the executive board.

4. No narcotics burn. When making deals, persons get what they are promised or the deal is called off (Automatic kick-out from club).

5. If you're selling dope you don't do it as a club member, you don't wear your colors, you don't wear your club T-shirts (Automatic kick-out from club).

6. There will be no stealing among members. Anyone caught will get an ass kicking and be kicked out of the club (Automatic kick-out from club).

7. If a patch holder or prospect throws his colors or quits, colors are pulled (Automatic kick-out from club).

8. Members cannot belong to any other clubs.

9. If a group or individual attacks any member, the whole club shall stand behind him and fight if necessary. If, however, the member is drunk and aggressive and purposely starts an argument, the rest of the members will escort him away, or step between before trouble starts.

10. No member will disgrace the club by being yellow. (The above rules will be put forward to applicants. If they cannot abide by these rules and are not in favor of them, they will be denied membership to the club.)

11. No member will destroy club property purposely.

12. No member will take the attitude that he doesn't have to help other members and other members don't have to help him

13. No member will go against anything the club has voted for and passed.

14. No member will get together on their own and plan something for themselves on club rides. It will be brought up to the whole club and the whole club will participate in anything that is decided upon.

15. The club will always stay together on rides, runs, parties, field meets etc. and will not fraternize with club's rival clubs. The only way a member will be permitted to leave the main group will be to notify the president or whoever is in charge. When the time comes that the majority feels it is time to leave, we will all leave together. Anyone staying behind for a good reason will do so at his own risk and can expect no help.

Cindy & I played pool in a local dive yesterday...the local "road maggots" were there, playing the badass role. Guess they switched bars.We just kept playing pool. They were no problem.

Loud & boistrous was annoying...but really, no problem. Just role playing. Tattoos, leather, patches, emblems.

A decent logging crew would easily kick their asses...

Absolutely. Problem with the bike gangs, though, is it wouldn't end there. Having lost face, these guys will stop at nothing to "get even". Right up to and including burning houses down, raping wives and daughters, beating the hell out of male children (maybe even raping them, too), catching the individual loggers alone and ganging up on them, and on and on. They have a very twisted definition of "honor" in their little world, and will do the most dishonorable things to uphold it. Or to regain it. And they have nothing but time...

Banditos? They seem to be on sport bikes more often than not.

it's what happens when dimwits find each other.

probably more fashion conscious than metrosexual office workers.

most boys grow out of those attitudes somewhere in high school. 'honor' gets tossed around a lot by such people. psha i say. honor is playing a contributing role in society, providing for your family, loving and respecting your wife as an equal human being, shunning drugs, being a good example to all children (not just your own), etc etc etc.

giving up on all of this and becoming a thug who tries to legitimize his laziness by calling it a 'lifestyle' is being a pussy. a big fat pussy. kicking ass is easy if you're built for it. adding positives to this world is much, much harder and we all deserve a pat on the back for not being pussies or, as they prefer to be called, 1%'rs.

Nope, they are strictly a Harley only club.

Yep.

The rules are a hoot:

So who are the sport bike guys around here with the B's on their vests?

And did you notice that the dues for the club in the post above were $500/year? Ouch.

You guys knew some rude 1%ers. The ones I knew were decent folks, who liked to drink heavily, kept their drugs outside our bar (that was a standing rule with ANYONE), and didn't let each other break stuff inside the bar. When they would come out for the night, we would give them loud live music and lots of beer, and they would make sure that nothing bad happened anywhere within a block of the joint. It was often the safest shotgun bar in AZ :)

What they did on their own time, away from our property was their own business.

I'm printing these rules and presenting them at our next vespa club meeting... I'm so excited!

What will Mikey say??

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these people are rediculos its these people that give real motorcyclists a bad name

Are these guys known as the R Gruppe?

Do any of you actually know what a 1%er is? In a nut shell it's 1% of 'club members' that will kill someone for that club or brother. I rode Harleys for quite awhile and knew my share of hardcore bikers. I was a pallbearer for the President of the Iron Horsemen in Maine when he died. Now that was a great seen. Me in a 3 piece suit with 5 dudes in their colors. You do not F with them and no, loggers would not kick their ass.

How can rockets be a part of the club...

2. Prospects must have a Harley-Davidson motorcycle

http://www.rcvsmc.net/id6.html

I was expecting that...shamefully, I must confess to having had the same thought.

To shorten an old tale...a group of "Gypsy Jokers" (Then rivals of the Angels) went into the Maples Tavern of Cascadia, Oregon on a Friday night some decades back, told the loggers to get out, that they wanted the place to themselves. 'Twas the bikers who left...in tatters. Don't mess with people who carry heavy gear up and down steep brush covered hillsides...

LOL, good point.
I may have that a bit wrong. It may be a 1%er IS someone that has killed. I do think that is correct. They, the law, figures the number that has killed is 1%.

Similar story up here in Darrington (old time logging town about two hours northeast of Seattle) almost 30 years ago:

It was the weekend of the annual Darrington Logging Festival. Some older guys in the shop I was working in at the time invited me up to check it out. They lived out that way, so I was just going to meet them there on Saturday morning. Seemed like a great bike ride as well, so I hopped on the old (actually kinda new back then...) Sporty and rode up.

I was immediately descended upon by some very unhappy looking loggers, the minute I pulled into the fairground parking lot. My buddies got there pretty quick and calmed everyone down, telling them I was "o.k." and "with them". They (the loggers) got real friendly just as fast as they had gotten upset earlier. I didn't know what the hell was going on.

Several hours later, we could hear what sounded like a pretty fair number of bikes approaching. All the events stopped. All the men headed out to the parking lot. Their wives and kids stayed in the grandstands, booths, and whatnot. The men started pulling hunting rifles, shotguns, chainsaws, and axes out of their trucks. They started the chainsaws.

There were three or four sheriff's deputies on hand. About the time the men got over to the parking lot, all of the sheriff's cars were pulling out. Then the bikes came down the highway, about 20-30 of them, and turned into the parking lot. Every rifle and shotgun in the place got leveled at them, and the guys with the chainsaws and axes started approaching them. The bikers never slowed down, making one pass through the lot and leaving the way they came. When they were gone, the deputies came back.

WTF, over??? I was dumbfounded. What had I just seen? Well, my older buddies explained it all to me. Seems a handful of these bikers had been in town the night before, raising hell at the only bar. Threatening people, acting tough, that kind of crap. Some of the locals had taken exception. What my buddies described as a minor scuffle broke out, ending with all but one said biker prostrate on the floor of said bar. The one that wasn't prostrate on the floor was pinned to a pool table, getting a haircut. They cut his ponytail off.

So, the bikers collect themselves, and head out. But not before threatening to come back tomorrow and have their own little "fair" at the logging fair. It looked like they tried...

I shudder to think what could have happened had these bikers tried a little harder. Several dozen men armed as these loggers were would have made pretty short work of them. They clearly just weren't going to put up with one little bit of crap on the day of their fair. Good for them. Good for my buddies, too, who got there in time to save a dumb kid that had stumbled into this...

Fascinating thread. I'm reading that whole site posted in the first post.

OT Question: Being from the other side of the country....how much wood is there left to log? I saw one of those logging shows on Discover channel. Yeah, I know trees can grow back and all, but with modern machines isn't there a point when we've cut too many of them down and have to let them regrow?

You must be watching "axemen"...the big trees those guys are cutting? Planted as seedlings 30-50 years ago...trees grow fast & big here. A crop, much like midwest corn. Just takes longer to grow than corn, that's all.

To answer your question...lots of trees left...

The Outlaws were a big biker gang in Florida. I think one of their rules were you couldn't bath for 6 months. They were nasty.

Yeah..I can believe that. Even a NW logger has some standards! :rolleyes:

Jeezus don't be such a drama queen. The story behind the "1%" is quite well known. At events, the AMA gave awards for the best-dressed club so this was the start of motorcycle club’s patches.

During an event in 1947 in Hollister, CA when a member of the Booze Fighters Motorcycle Club made the headlines with an exaggerated news story that was later made into a movie called "The Wild Ones".

The AMA wrote an article in their magazine, shortly after this stating, “99% of all of their members are law-abiding citizens and only 1% are “outlaw””.

Back in my military days at Ft. Bragg I became a member of the Chosen Few MC. Yes we had rockers and yes there was a certain amount of "rowdiness", but mostly we just wanted to hang together and be left alone.

As an aside, a number of black sport bike riders have formed their own MC clubs.

And you're an authority because you saw a movie? That's great. I saw the same flick. That may be what it meant in 1947 :rolleyes:

Its 99% of the Citizenery that are law abiding and only 1% chose the OUTLAW path...
Vagos, Mongols and Angels...even the Brotherhood of the Sun...

These clubs were a dying breed 20-30 years ago. I'm actually not all that surprised that they have made a comeback, with the increased popularity of motorcycling. Patch holders used to be a rare sight, now it's impossible to go to a biker event without seeing them. They've risen from the ashes to a new level of prominence and sophistication.

And no, you don't have to kill someone to join. You don't even have to be a criminal. You have to be willing to put up with a lot of criminal activity, and look the other way, but none of these clubs actually require you to break the law. As a matter of fact, they would prefer you didn't. Their lives are hard enough...

Law enforcement has done a commendable job of beating some sense into these guys. You will notice that all of the trouble we hear about these days is inter-club - they rarely involve "civilians". So, what the hell - let them beat on, stab, and shoot each other all they want - as long as there is no "collateral damage". As long as they don't bring it outside their own little gutter. When they do, hammer them as hard as the law allows. That is what has been happening, and they seem to be getting the message. They are nothing if not polite when I see them at biker gatherings. They actually go to great lengths to avoid contact with anyone outside their club, even if they have gone to great lengths to go to an event... kinda weird, really...

The biggest event in our area is the Oyster Run up in Anacortes. Most have no idea it's a club event, organized by the Bandidos. It's a well-run, very organized event, and I've never heard of a lick of trouble. Even with rival clubs in attendance. Limp Lee and company do a fantastic job on this event. Granted, much of this effort has an ulterior motive - that of improving their public image. Behind the scenes, though, the clubs still control meth production and distribution, prostitution, and other family-friendly activities in this area. They have learned if they want to stay in those games, it's best not to go around starting bar fights anymore...

Where Reality Meets The Asphalt
 

i love motorcycling and i used to know people like this ( uncle, he left my aunt, long story)and i never really respected them or even was afraid of them i just saw them as dirtbags.

9. Members must be of sound mine (straight) when attending meetings.

Will do.

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