Author: admin

During the last few years I have had the good fortune of reading (and, in some cases, reviewing) some excellent books on a range of motorcycle cultures. We have seen Randy McBee’s excellent Born to be Wild: The Rise of the American Motorcyclist (2017) which chronicles the subject matter with marvelous scholarly acumen in such a way that it will, I am sure, become a classic in the genre … Continue reading

Motorcyclists choose to engage in an activity known to themselves, their loved ones and the general public to be risky to health and life. The question for many is why? As a motorcyclist, and a scholar, I am keenly aware of the seeming contradiction between the drive for survival and the engagement in an activity that can result in serious injury or death … Continue reading

Autoethnography is a form of qualitative research in which the researcher utilizes self-reflection to examine their experiences in the context of a greater cultural and social environment. This autoethnographic study provides an in-depth examination of the development and maintenance of social identities within a voluntary association – a military motorcycle club … Continue reading

This article is based on a pilot study I carried out entitled ‘Place, Space and the Isle of Man TT: Probing the Boundaries of Hegemony through Popular Culture’ which was published in the ebook The Playing Field: Making Sense of Spaces and Places in Sporting Cultures (eds Colin Howley and Susan Dun, Oxford: Inter-disciplinary Press, 2016). This is the full version of this research … Continue reading

Hollister: a symbolically loaded three-syllable noun. For today’s youth, Hollister is a clothing company best known for its surfer-inspired apparel. For residents of Hollister, California, and the surrounding areas, a palpable sense of place characterized by breathtaking bucolic fields nestled in the foothills and hometown pride among the generations of farmers and ranchers … Continue reading

In 2017, as first and second quarter reports came in, it became apparent that the American motorcycle industry – manufacturers and dealers – was heading toward a second straight year of declining sales and depressed profits. Even before the year ended, industry insiders and market analysts were acknowledging that motorcycling in America faced a clouded, if not altogether dark, future … Continue reading

At 3:00 on a Wednesday afternoon, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona there was a gunfight involving the Clantons, the Earps, and Doc Holliday. The fight – which took place in under 30 seconds according to contemporary reports – has been used to tell a variety of stories: the coming of law to the West, the imposition of bourgeois or “East Coast” values on the frontier … Continue reading

“I don’t wanna pickle. I just wanna ride on my motorsickle.” If you ask me to name a song that features motorcycles, this is the one that pops into my mind right away: Arlo Guthrie’s “The Motorcycle Song.” The lyrics may be nonsense, but they stick in your head, and the song has had enduring popularity; a radio hit in the late sixties … Continue reading

Mr. O’Connor’s examination of a subculture of American motorcycling is particularly timely in the aftermath of the August demonstrations in Charlottesville, Virginia and the more general controversy over monuments to the Confederacy. The book consists primarily of transcripts of interviews with members of the motorcycle club called the Mechanized Cavalry … Continue reading