http://cagersandapehangers.wordpress.com/
The simple answer is: “No it isn’t.”
The complicated answer is: “You’re going to have to want it.”
Knowing your ultimate goal and how you want to achieve it will benefit your start-up efforts the most and will guide you through any blocking attempts from other MCs in your area.
First and foremost, the letter you place before the “C” in your title matters. Do you want to create an MC or an RC? The answer to that is crucial.
Motorcycle Clubs are for serious applicants. When you’re not working your day job, you’re at the club house. Your friends are primarily club brothers and you’re expected to completely devote yourself to the club. Anything that needs to be done for the club must be done. Anything. Be careful immersing yourself in this world if you’re not ready for it because it is for life. You cannot ride alone wearing your colors or you may ride into the wrong neighborhood. MCs are not gangs but it’s a good idea to think of them similarly. Not every MC has criminal elements but every club with criminal elements are MCs. Most MCs are good-natured and there are even law enforcement and firefighter clubs, but there are always bad apples. (There is a reason you have heard of the Hells Angels and not of the Iron Spartans).
Riding Clubs are for your more lackadaisical riders. If you want to belong to an organization that does not require daily attention, is not intense in its actions and is more for fun with your biker friends, than an RC is for you. RCs are mostly overlooked as a threat when going into an MC’s territory as RCs usually don’t have a bottom rocker. The clubs you see with old dudes who just ride a few times a month and are harmless are RCs.
Once you’ve figured out what kind of club you want to create, you have to do a bit of research. Regardless of which you choose, you must find the dominant MC of your area (In some areas, you’ll talk to Mongols and in others you’ll talk to Hells Angels or Vagos) and seek their permission.
Prospective club-creators need to bring their bylaws, colors, and patch design (making sure to be original and not steal any design from existing clubs) to the clubhouse of the local top MC and submit the application for review. During this process, club members will interview you and your buddies to see why you’d want to “reinvent the wheel.” They’ll especially want to know why you’d want to create your own club instead of join an already existing club.
For example, if I were to submit this design to the Hells Angels, I would not be approved because it uses their color scheme, it has a skull in the middle (not too unlike theirs) and they wouldn’t want me wearing this in their backyard.
Not only would it piss off the HA, they’d laugh at my artistry.
When the process is over, the MC will tell you what you can and can’t do. If the big club says no, you don’t necessarily have to obey but if you don’t, preparation for some serious backlash would be a great idea. Do you really want to piss off a Hells Angel member?
If they say yes, then you’re in the clear. Your new club is free to operate within the confines (if any) it’s given.
You may ask why you should listen. Riding a motorcycle is about the freedom of it, the outlaw image, true American ways of independent life and taking care of yourself. Well, let me tell you why you might want to do just what you’re told.
This is their life and you’re entering their world. Some of them fought for territory, others earned respect through community activities. Politics of who can butt in on their turf is something club members must take part in. If a club fights their way to the top lets anyone with a bike and a vest ride around, it could be bad for business. Even if the dominant MC is full of good ol’ boys that like to ride and party and fundraise for children’s charities, they don’t want some idiots to throw a patch on, commit crimes they see on TV, and draw unwanted legal pressure unto every three patch club in town. See what I mean? It’s all about a club’s continued survival.
So do everyone a favor and do what the nice big bad bikers tell you.
