An outlaw motorcycle club, known colloquially as a biker club or bikie club (in Australia), is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, and loyalty to the biker group.
In the United States, such motorcycle clubs (MCs) are considered "outlaw" not necessarily because they engage in criminal activity, but because they are not sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) and do not adhere to the AMA's rules. Instead, the clubs have their own set of bylaws reflecting the outlaw biker culture.[1][2][3][4][5]
The U.S. Department of Justice defines "outlaw motorcycle gangs" (OMG) as "organizations whose members use their motorcycle clubs as conduits for criminal enterprises".[6]
- ^ Drew, A. J. (2002), The everything motorcycle book: the one book you must have to buy, ride, and maintain your motorcycle, Adams Media Corp, pp. 193–203, 277, ISBN 9781580625548
- ^ Dulaney, William L. (November 2005), "A Brief History of "Outlaw" Motorcycle Clubs", International Journal of Motorcycle Studies
- ^ Wolf, Daniel R. (1992), The Rebels: a brotherhood of outlaw bikers, University of Toronto Press, p. 4, ISBN 9780802073631
- ^ Joans, Barbara (2001), Bike lust: Harleys, women, and American society, Univ of Wisconsin Press, p. 15, ISBN 9780299173548
- ^ Reynolds, Tom (2001), Wild ride: how outlaw motorcycle myth conquered America, TV Books, pp. 43–44, ISBN 9781575001456
- ^ U.S. Dept. of Justice, Motorcycle Gangs, archived from the original on 15 April 2014, retrieved 22 November 2020