i was wandering around excel yesterday and was amazed at what i saw. Now when i started riding back in the eighties motorbicyclists were social outcasts, we were dirty, undesirable louts who bit the heads of small birds and children. Now.... At the mcn show there is not one but two daily telegraph stands, with an attractive young lady offering a free dvd and book should i part with £2 for a copy of the telegraph.
Now is it that motorcycling has become the epitome of respectability, that my having a shiny head and wrinkles overcomes the fact that i am a devil worshiping biker or maybe it's just that the telegraph has drooped the expected standard of it's readership to increase it's ciculation.
Still it gives me a nice warm feeling to know i have finaly been accepted into the warm caring bosom of hardcore marketing.
yours sincerely
disgusted of sevenoaks.
Hope u feel btr soon JPH..........
I was upset by the way the standard of the show was lowered by scantily clad women everywhere....even the Revolutions show had emm.......we go to see bootiful bikes dnt we.....
Getting back to the topic of the thread......I remember when used to go to rallies quite a few years ago, and end up wandering into a town, how the general public would cross the street to avoid walking on the same side of the street as bikers..................We were leapers, outcasts, but now, (and not takin peee out of people) due to mid life crisis of the rich and bored, we are socially accepted!!!!!!!
thanx for moving it sandi. Far from being a subliminal advert for the daily telegraph the crux of the original post, as wenders posted, is that when i started riding bikes to throw your leg over a motorcycle was to step outside of society. Nowadays the very bastions of respectability seem to have no aversion to using two wheels as well as four, and so bringing motorcycling itself into the mainstream. The cynic in me thinks this is because motorcyclists are now percieved to have money and are therefore a huge market to be tapped by companies seeking to sell their goods, so we are portrayed in the media as normal people now and not physcopathic axe murderers. As for the telegraph it is a good paper with a heavy political leaning, as are all newspapers. But they have for years marketed themselves at the opposite end of the spectrum to how bikers were percieved, so the tounge in cheek musings were as to whether bikers have become socialy acceptable or whether the telegraph had become less concerned about its target consumer and more concerned about profits. As for me i read the metro coz its free and motorcycle news coz it's interesting.
Many motorcyclist do have lots of money...somebody is buying new bikes. And look around - many many (ahem) older motorcyclists about, whether they're newbies, born again or been biking non stop for years. People's attitudes and passions tend to dull a little over the years. So someone who was an anarchist or a fully paid up member of militant tendency in the 1970s, after toeing the line and building a career, raising a family, becoming disillusioned with new labour, could well end up reading the Telegraph.
I think most people know a biker in the family or their social circle. Every road in comfy suburban estates with tidy gardens has a biker living in it. There are 3 biker households in the 8 houses where I live. I think the media is recognising and relecting a social change that has already happened
I myself have a grudging respect for the Telegraph. It came as part of the package with my ex partner and after I got over the shock, horror and disbelief that the man I fell for was a Telegraph reader , I actually enjoyed reading it cos it was there and there's some really good quality journalism in there. I think seeing a telegraph stand at the bike show suggests that their perception of bikers is that they are an intelligent bunch...which is good cos we know that to be true
I don't have the partner any more so I seldom see a Telegraph and certainly wouldn't buy one. But I must say I enjoyed Saturday morning lie-ins...tea, toast & Telegraph crossword
Y W XJ
Talking about newspapers, I've never read the Telegraph or the Guardian but I've been doing the Guardian crossword (the Quick version) on line. I used to read the 'Today' newspaper but when it went bust I didn't have a paper for years then started reading the 'Daily Express'
I remember the 'No travellers, no bikers' signs in almost all pubs in the mid 1970's, (the nicer pubs would just say 'No Jeans')
I used to wonder WHY? as we just rode bikes and went to the pub to listen to music and meet up with our mates. Then I realised they were mistaking ordinary bikers for Hells Angels, who did have a bad reputation, and some deservedly so.
One H A asked my fella if he'd swap a pack of 20 cigarettes for me! (I was 18 at the time)Thankfully the fella in question didn't speak much English lol (he is French) and I told the H A what he could do with his fags.
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