Well being mixed race myself maybe I can shed some light on the ethnic minority situation and also I know a few ladies as its one of the perks of working nightclub doors .Although ive hit 40 now I started with ducati road bikes ages 25 so can give my personal experience.If you don't spot many young lads, ethnic minorities or women it might be the places you go on your bikes.There used to be two popular pubs to go for a nice drive/ride in the country side outside wolves. One is closed now but was called The Wheel.Popular bikers pub now replaced with a meet just up the road until owner was caught mass producing lovely skunk plants and that has closed to. Both full of over 50's mainly so like hanging around with your parents as a young biker only these almost exclusively white males looked and smelled different.Haircuts and fashion that went out with Kevin keegan and the whole place stunk of that patchouli oil shit.To make things worse there was a horrible sound coming out the speakers.Think they called it rock music.All I know is it made me want to keep my ear plugs in as a young biker.The conversation didn't offer any relief from the music either as all you would get was folks crapping on about the spec of there bikes or how the special ale was brewed locally. Tasted like cat piss to me so I stuck with the red stripe or stella lol. The other country pub was called the cider house just a few miles away.Now this place was mainly full of young people driving from wolves in cars and on bikes on a sunny day/evening.Plenty of ethnic minorities/young lads on bikes and a few young ladies but never spotted any young black girls riding other than pillion on bikes there.I used to always see lots of friends there and people I knew from bouncing at the clubs.Lots of young guys dressed to impress which in turn means lots of fit young ladies dressed to impress also.Music provided by various cars in the large car park from reggae dancehall bashment tunes to chilled trance and house music.You had a choice of the cider house special scrumpy like apple pop but blows ya head off or various types of skunk in the car park.Very little police attention as they were all busy bothering the bikers down the road. As a young ethnic minority which one of the above do you think me and my young white mates riding/driving decided to go to. As for young people taking there bike test my friends kids all say they cant be arsed with all the bollox involved with the bike test and expense.The ones with cars cant afford a bike also as they are getting robbed by insurance companies charging them £3000 plus just to drive.
Matt, would you turn up at a meet and think that it was dominated by white middle age men and be put off or would you ride up and join the conversation Would you wonder where all the ethnic riders or female riders are Or do you think it's just a middle aged white man thought
Firstly, we've become a risk-averse society. My teenage sons are both on bikes (50cc and 125cc at the moment) and some friends and family think I'm mad for allowing them! Actually, I think motorcycling is safer now by a huge margin as training is compulsory and the bikes/tyres are so much better than when I was their age. I loved being a teenager on a bike so could not exclude them (of course it's natural to worry a bit). Government policy seems to be one of reducing motorcycle use, you only have to look at the journey to get a full motorcycle licence.....There was a good positive study recently concluding that more bikes on the road = safer roads and less congestion. Let's hope we are not the last gladiators!
This is geographically dependent, I work in the square mile, very diverse bikers here so much so that you could poise the question in reverse.
Sadly thread titles are there for keeps as there is no way of changing them, or I would have done so. Sorry.
Dukbird no I wouldn't be put off totally unless they are all crapping on about bike specs and local ale like above.I already know where all the ethnic minorities and the young lads/ladies are local to me and it aint at bikers meets for sure.Hense we always opted for cider house after going to a couple of bike meet nights. If middle aged white males are wondering how come there is not many minorities at there bike meet then that can only be a good thing in my book. I look at Top Gear and see May is a typical biker.Bikers will become a thing of the past for sure though as once we are gone I cant see many young people I know bothering with it.
Sorry I should have made it clear that the thread title was an ironic nod to a common perception if the BBC and not meant to be taken seriously. Apologies.
@Carr02 It's a serious point, made to stimulate debate on an important subject likely to affect us all: declining biker numbers.
Death of the 2 strokes is why it's no longer appealing to youngsters. Although I'm sure costs and some other things may play a small part ha
Lippy Ladies Motorcycle Club | The place for Yorkshire's lady bikers. Curvy Riders MCC Couple of ladies clubs There's a lot of women riders out there
What a good idea ST, why don't you take a print out of all your postings so they can get a flavour of your politics.
