Epic WTF

I quite like loud motorbikes really but they should have quiet buttons for using on public roads.

Ditto.

Better than vapid obsessing over material possessions online.

A few edits and someone could write the equivalent about critical mass.

there was a motorbiking freemasons meet up at the chingford masonic hall a few saturdays ago, full on denim and leather jackets and harleys, with loads of masonic patches and symbols all over the back

gave off a similar vibe to those guys ^ full on biker gang but masons, an odd dichotomy

Thousands of people died, they’re remembering them and raising money for charity whilst not doing anyone any harm... what a bunch of bastards

Imagie having some sort of community based around ownership and use of two wheeled vehicles. Losers.

I find it pretty easy to get annoyed about people raising money for a bunch of hired killers who volunteered to murder anyone in front of them in Britain’s various illegal and immoral wars.

I assume you have never been to the arboretum? They have memorials to all sorts, RNLI, Fire and Rescue, Nurses, Shot at Dawn etc. Majority of people remembered there are probably conscripts. The experience's I have had there (it's local to me) have mainly been of it as a testament to the futility of war and the colossal waste of life rather than a celebration of it.

Nah, they’re remembering post-WW2 and they haven’t had conscription since 1960. Fuck ‘em.

It’s not that. It’s that there’s a type of biker who loves to dress up in mock Hells Angel kit with patches and cut offs and fake Americana and ride their immaculate American motorcycle to go to places like this to fulfil their fetish about the military. They give bikers a bad name. The last pic with the “proud to serve veteran” patch I find nauseating. You were a hired killer, a paid mercenary, not a hero.

I'm sure there's a fair bit of that but it seems like organisers are ex soldier cunts with what's left of their hearts in the right place, mass events always turn up some outlier dickheads, angry shouty cunts on CM or pervy nudists on WNBR etc. Whilst I share some of the hired killer sentiment there's 15 years between the end of WW2 and 1960, and after that there's been plenty of poor kids offered promises of a better life in the military and then trained to be shits, I don't agree with it but remembering those who've died, even if they do so in shitty circumstance being sent to kill people that should also be remembered isn't a bad thing, glorifying it is. Remembering the loss of life and horror of war, and hopefully at some point the arseholes the British have been whilst at it should be encouraged to avoid more of it happening in the future. I'm not supporting the bunch of ex squaddy bikers but I'm not against them doing this.

Psychological studies have shown that inadequate people with low self-esteem are over-represented in the biker community. I say this as a lifelong biker myself. If you go to shows or meets or anywhere that ordinary bikers gather, it's striking how many shy, inarticulate, low IQ types you meet. There are a few clever, chatty successful ones, who are often the most active online. They give a distorted impression that the biker crowd is full of high-functioning individiduals. But hardly any of them are.

Yup, good points. The ones that really get me are the ones who’ve never been in the military and yet love being associated with it. There are pics on that page showing guys no older than 50 with rows of ribbons etc. Where did they get those from, eBay? Weirdos.

Yup, biker here too, a long-time Moto Guzzi enthusiast. I’ve always had more in common with the Ace Cafe types rather than the Harley types, although they’ve started taking over the Ace way too much these days as well. I guess it’s just that these pseudo US biker lovers really get on my tits.

It's all Son's of anarchy's fault.

Those leather panniers are where they keep the little children. They're all paedos. I have this on good authority.

Me too. I’ve never been with out a motorbike since I was 14. I’ve also never been a part of any motorbike scene. ( other than when I couriered in the 1980’s)
I’ve turned up to some events to do advanced training and found the whole patch and waistcoat thing entirely absent. I’ve never seen a Harley at a training day nor on the track.
These mass rides to support the military are really weird. There was one for that cop that got dragged down the road and killed. What the connection with hundreds of hells angels and that event was escaped me.

I spent some time as a courier and found the whole “Live to Ride” waistcoat fake 1% thing quite offensive. Jeremy from accounts felt he could drop £14k on a bike, bandana and tassels and inspire fear/lust in the populace of Luton.
I now feel it’s a symptom of us valuing machismo, real or retailed, over more noble traits.
Don’t blame Jeremy or Harley it’s society’s fault.

I am sure many cycle couriers feel the same about fixeh fakengers

I worked on a pushbike as well and was completely amazed about the whole Fakenger thing. I met one at the Duke of York and didn’t realise until a friend pointed out they didn’t have a radio in their pouch, then I noticed they didn’t have the look or smell of someone who has done a rainy week on plot. I t must have been a rainy week as I was on a down part of the curve and was shocked anyone would want to pretend to do such a shit job.

I don't agree with it but remembering those who've died, even if they do so in shitty circumstance being sent to kill people that should also be remembered isn't a bad thing, glorifying it is.

Glorifying is what it's all about, though. If people wanted to genuinely do honour to the dead, they'd be agitating to make sure the lives of the living aren't wasted the same way. What we get instead is this necrophiliac virtue signalling and cosplay, from people who aren't so much honouring the dead as co-opting them to support nostalgia-soaked conservative politics.

I hate cunts like this almost as much as I hate the "Thin Blue LIne" wankers so prevalent in today's police service both here and abroad.

It's all about making the participants feeling Heard and Valued. They need this because they feel Ignored. In other words there's nothing much going on in their lives and they feel inadequate. They don't seem to be willing or able to enjoy a motorcycle ride for its own sake. Tbf that can be an uphill struggle in the US, where there are so few corners and filtering is generally illegal. You have to get the map out and look for interesting minor roads. But hardly any Americans can think beyond the Interstate, and they've never owned a map.

Spot on.

Absolutely

I'm not going to disagree that there's way too much of that shit around, but after a bit of a look at the ride organisers and aims, it's not aimed at that specifically but it's certainly hard to separate some military dickheads with a reasonably good cause in mind from the cosplaying twats. Much as it's hard to separate is military haters like us from the occasionally necessary evil I'm glad other people take part in so I don't have to. I'm not sure the wall of remembrance itself is glorifying war, I'm not sure the ride aimed at raising money to maintain it is, some of the dickheads contributing money to it may well be doing so but that doesn't necessarily rule out the whole thing as bad.