What's it all mean?

     If ya been ridin' awhile ya can probably skip

     this page.  On the other hand there's a lot of

     newbies out there who don't "really" know what

     the terms OUTLAW and ONE PERCENT mean.

     Are OUTLAW CLUB members criminals? Is an

     OUTLAW CLUB a GANG?    Here's how it is.

     Basically it started with the AMA back in the

     late 1940's when a lot of veterans were returning

     home from WW2 and looking for something to

     do. Something that would get the adrenaline

     pumping like they were used to.  A lot of them

     started riding motorcycles.  Clubs were formed,

     races and other events were held and the AMA

     (American Motorcycle Association) was the

     controlling body that would sanction different

     clubs and events.  Some of these clubs were,

     shall we say,  a little rowdier than others and

     raced a little harder and partied a little harder and

     eventually the conservative AMA declared these

     clubs "OUTLAWED" from participating in AMA

     sanctioned events.  The AMA publicly stated

     that these "OUTLAWED" clubs and individuals

     were only about 1 percent of the motorcycling

     community and the other 99% were, like the

     AMA, conservative, family type, middle Americans.

     The clubs that had been "OUTLAWED" hadn't

     really done anything bad, they just didn't fit the

     image the AMA was promoting.   In the end,

     the "OUTLAWED" clubs decided they were just

     as proud of who they were as the AMA crowd,

     so in typical non-conforming defiance, they

     adopted the term 1%er and proudly became

     "OUTLAWS"!    So now ya know the truth!

        -Irish Mike-                         Click on the 1% patch

      J.B.F.F.J.B.                                         to go to our Chapters page.

   Page last updated:  AUG.07     

 This page was created on:  9-30-04