Overview
Motorcycle clubs, that is, voluntary social organizations based on a common love of motorcycles and riding together, formed in the early 1900s. However, by the 1930s groups of displaced young men riding motorcycle grouped together in what were nascent gangs. These nascent gangs evolved into outlaw bikers and then into a subculture of bikers known as One Percenters aka Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. The One Percenters evolved into motorcycle gangs more into crime for profit than a common love of motorcycles and riding together. Today, these Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are national and international criminal organizations.
Are motorcycle clubs really clubs, that is, voluntary social organization built around the love of motorcycles, or criminal gangs whose members happen to ride motorcycles? There is no easy answer: some are and some are not. Some well-known...
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Recommended Reading and References
Barger R, Zimmerman K (2000) Hell’s Angels: the life and times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club. William Morrow, New York
Barker T (2007) Biker gangs and organized crime. LexisNexis/Anderson Publishing, Cincinnati
Davidson WG (2002) 100 years of Harley-Davidson. Bulfinch Press, Boston, p 2
DOJ (2011) Motorcycle gangs. U.S. Department of Justice. http://www.justice.Gov,criminal/oggs/gangs/motorcycle
Forkner W (1987) Easyriders: video interview. Cited in Reynolds, 2000
Fuglsang RS (1997) Motorcycle menace: media genres and the construction of a deviant culture. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Iowa
Hayes B (2010) American biker: the history, the clubs, the lifestyle, the truth. Flash Productions, Birmingham
Hayes B (2011) The One Percenter Encyclopedia: the world of outlaw motorcycle clubs from abyss ghosts to zombies elite. Motorbooks, Minneapolis
Levingston TG, Zimmerman KK (2003) Soul on bikes: the East Bay Dragons MC and the black biker set. MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul
Reynolds T (2000) Wild ride: how on the hogs: a biker filmography. McFarland & Company, Jefferson
Stidworthy D (2003) High on the hogs: a biker filmology. McFarland & Sons, Jefferson, NC
Veno A (2002) The brotherhoods: inside the outlaw motorcycle clubs. Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest
Wethern G, Colnett V (1978) A wayward angel. Richard Marek, New York
Winterhalder E (2005) Out in bad standing: inside the Bandidos Motorcycle Club – the making of a worldwide dynasty. Blockhead City Press, Owasso
Winterhalder E, De Clerco W (2008) The assimilation: rock machine become bandidos – bikers against the Hells Angels. ECW Press, Toronto
Wolf DR (1999) The rebels: a brotherhood of outlaw bikers. University of Toronto Press, Toronto
Yates B (1999) Outlaw machine: Harley-Davidson and the search for the American soul. Broadway Books, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this entry
Cite this entry
Barker, T. (2014). Motorcycle Clubs or Gangs?. In: Bruinsma, G., Weisburd, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_645
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5690-2_645
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5689-6
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5690-2
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law