Motorcycles and motorcycling has mostly if not always been portrayed as a white male sport in America. The advertising art pictured above is very typical of motorcycle advertising from it's inception until recently. Even recently it is quite rare to see a black man in motorcycle advertising. Even if you do, please remember that the motorcycle companies are struggling so they are seeking a so called new market. Buy what you like .....
It has always been the myth that sold the motorcycles to white middle class Americans. I can only speak for America as I live here. I grew up on the biker myth promoted by the Easyrider Magazine, it was a concocted lifestyle that sold a ton of magazines. Meanwhile black American men were building some truly cool motorcycles including the almost iconic Easyrider Captain America bike...more on that in a minute.
The bikes pictured are as cool as anything else built during the so called biker heyday of the 1970's.
Most of the motorcycle clubs that arose from the 1950's until now are mostly made up of white and hispanic males. Someone forgot to tell the East Bay Dragons out of Oakland and the Chosen Few from SOCAL. Fom what I have seen and read the East Bay Dragons and the Hells Angels have co-existed pretty peacefully for years. Same motorcycles..different riders !
The great Easyrider chopper myth.
It was always assumed that the two Panhead choppers built for the movie Easyriders were built by white men. There was even a well known Hollywood actor, who shall remain unnamed, who said he built them. The bikes were built by two black men named Ben Hardy and Cliff Vaughs. To me, this is the ultimate irony... a whole genre built around two white dudes on choppers and the bikes were built by two black men ! The lies that have surrounded that movie are astounding, no mention of the motorcycle builders and very little presence of black actors through the whole movie.
Ben Hardy
Cliff Vaughs on Super Hog
Captain America Chopper
William "Wild Bill" Johnson
William Johnson was the first African American Harley Davidson dealer in America. He ran his small shop until he passed away. He overcame racism to a certain degree by becoming the first black man to get his national AMA license where he mostly competed in hill climbs.
It has always been the myth that America is a melting pot...this is a lie. America is a salad bowl where nothing has ever truly became one unit. There are exceptions of course...but I am speaking as a nation. Take for example the soldiers coming home from war who couldn't even use the restroom after fighting and shedding blood for this country. No wonder they bought motorcycles and sought the same freedom as their white brothers.
I have always hated racism and still do.... the white supremacist movement can not endure. Please refer to Hitlers Germany that was run by a maniac. Please do not assume I am a racist because I am a white male and ride motorcycles ! I have had to shut down more than one phone conversation from people who had never even met me.
