James Dean, Peter Fonda, Marlon Brando and Steve McQueen… hell, even Indiana Jones knew how to ride and he isn’t even a real person. And they didn’t ride a motorcycle because it was trendy or they wanted attention. The Old School Man rode a bike because he loved the feeling of freedom that riding a bike gave him.
But like all aspects of being an Old School Man you have to be careful with the way you present yourself. If not you could easily end up looking like a douchebag, or even worse, like a male stripper – and not the type who strips for women.
He does not wear a double breasted motorcycle jacket; the Old School Man doesn’t wish to look like an extra in the Road Warrior or someone that Charles Bronson would have shot in the Seventies.
And (I shouldn’t even have to mention this) Old School Men do not wear helmets with a spike on the top, it looks retarded. Nor does he wear Harley Davidson branded clothing. The Old School Man doesn’t feel the need to brag about owing a bike, that’s not the reason why he owns a motorcycle.
The old School Man knows if he is not in a real biker club or gang then dressing like an outlaw biker is a poser thing to do – people copy the Old School Mans style, the Old School man doesn’t copy anyone.
Also, no one thinks a guy pulling into the IBM employee parking lot wearing a leather jacket with “Ride Free or Die” written on the back is a real biker gang member – what they are actually thinking is he is a douche.
Wearing full leathers is a tricky thing to do without looking extremely gay, so unless the Old School Man looks like one of the guys from ZZ TOP he doesn’t even bother trying to pull this one off for fear of getting man-raped.
COLOR
Solid Black, gray, forest green or silver, Period. Don’t even ask if you can choose blaze orange, yellow or purple or put stickers on it.
NOISE LEVEL
The Old School Man Says: “Don’t be one of those ass-holes who owns bike that is so loud it shakes the leaves off of trees – no one thinks you are cool”
There is an exception for this, if the old School Man is in a biker gang then owning a loud bike is fine. But I am guessing that you are not in a biker gang so keep the noise at a reasonable level.
But these days owning a Japanese cruiser isn’t a sin like it used to be, in fact no one really cares anymore because owning a Harley has become a bit of a cliché. Besides, its not the bike that makes the Old School Man, the Old School Man makes the damn bike, dammit.
When an Old School Man rides his Sportbike he rides it the same way he would ride a cruiser. He does not do juvenile things like popping wheelies, burning out of a 7-11 parking lot or putting 286 stickers all over it (Unless he is Tom Cruise).
The sportbike riding Old School Man does not wear loud riding leathers with orange and red stripes down the arms and a huge full color logo on the back (Again, unless he is Tom Cruise).
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