“A Brief History of “Outlaw” Motorcycle Clubs”

Little scholarly research exists which addresses outlaw motorcycle clubs. These works attempt to explore warring factions of outlaw clubs, provide an insider’s perspective about media portrayal, expose myths, and elucidate motorcycle club culture. The literature reveals gaps which leave unanswered questions such as: Where do outlaw motorcycle clubs come from? How did they start? How or why did they evolve into alleged international crime organizations? The few histories of outlaw motorcycle organizations date the origins of such clubs to around 1947 and tend to oversimplify the issues of why these clubs formed and who actually joined them. This article extends current research by reaching back nearly half a century before 1947 to link the dawn of motorcycle organizations with the present reality of outlaw motorcycle clubs. The overarchin.g goal of the article is to offer a more comprehensive history, an evolutionary history that may allow for a better understanding of the contemporary motorcycle subculture.