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OPEN ROADS & FREE EXCHANGE:

The Complexities of Motorcycle Culture in Pandemic America

by Annie Fu, with reporting by Liying Wang



In the summer of 2020, over 270,000 cases of Covid-19 were traced back to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. With contact tracing spanning over fifty-nine states, Canadian provinces, and countries, the outbreak placed an often overlooked subculture under sudden and immense scrutiny.

HUMBLE ROOTS

On April 18th, 1924, the Ithaca Motorcycle Club was first mentioned in the Cornell Daily Sun: “NEWLY FORMED MOTORCYCLE CLUB TO HOLD FIRST MEETING.”

The story called for "any students owning motorcycles or any who might be interested in the sport," citing an exciting inaugural season of programming and even potential for a polo team.

The club was never mentioned in print again, according to Shantanu Naidu, MBA ‘18. That is, until he revived the organization by founding the Cornell Motorcycle Association in 2016. “I tried to find the termination date of the original club in the archives, but there was nothing more. It seems to have just faded out,” Naidu told me when we spoke over the phone.

He re-established the organization while he was a student at the Johnson School, with the primary goal of educating his classmates on motorcycle culture:

In East Asian countries, people use motorcycles part of their daily commutes. There are motorcycles everywhere on the roads; everyone has one. But when I came to Cornell and told people I rode a motorcycle, my American classmates flipped out. ‘Do you want to die? Why do you want to risk your life?’

I didn’t understand because I’d been riding for years. I felt that the stigma around motorcycle culture in America was exaggerated to an extreme.

At the same time, though, Naidu found a new sense of community surrounding motorcycling at Cornell. “Whenever I passed other motorcyclists, they would give me a thumbs up. This was new to me," he said. "In India, commuting is commuting, and motorcycles are an affordable and convenient way to do so. But in America, motorcycling is unique and niche: there’s a spirit of brotherhood.”

Thus is the complexity of American motorcycle culture: stigmatized, yet novel; tight-knit, yet welcoming. While on a wine tour around the Finger Lakes with my friends this October, I saw a group of a couple dozen motorcyclists roar past in what I can only describe as an expression of total freedom. I decided I needed to learn more about who America's motorcyclists were, beginning with Ithaca and New York State.

OPEN ROADS & FREE EXCHANGE:

The Complexities of Motorcycle Culture in Pandemic America

by Annie Fu, with reporting by Liying Wang



In the summer of 2020, over 270,000 cases of Covid-19 were traced back to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. With contact tracing spanning over fifty-nine states, Canadian provinces, and countries, the outbreak placed an often overlooked subculture under sudden and immense scrutiny.



Humble Roots
On April 18th, 1924, the Ithaca Motorcycle Club was first mentioned in the Cornell Daily Sun: “NEWLY FORMED MOTORCYCLE CLUB TO HOLD FIRST MEETING.”

The story called for "any students owning motorcycles or any who might be interested in the sport," citing an exciting inaugural season of programming and even potential for a polo team.



The club was never mentioned in print again, according to Shantanu Naidu, MBA ‘18. That is, until he revived the organization by founding the Cornell Motorcycle Association in 2016. “I tried to find the termination date of the original club in the archives, but there was nothing more. It seems to have just faded out,” Naidu told me when we spoke over the phone.

He re-established the organization while he was a student at the Johnson School, with the primary goal of educating his classmates on motorcycle culture:

In East Asian countries, people use motorcycles part of their daily commutes. There are motorcycles everywhere on the roads; everyone has one. But when I came to Cornell and told people I rode a motorcycle, my American classmates flipped out. ‘Do you want to die? Why do you want to risk your life?’

I didn’t understand because I’d been riding for years. I felt that the stigma around motorcycle culture in America was exaggerated to an extreme.


At the same time, though, Naidu found a new sense of community surrounding motorcycling at Cornell. “Whenever I passed other motorcyclists, they would give me a thumbs up. This was new to me," he said. "In India, commuting is commuting, and motorcycles are an affordable and convenient way to do so. But in America, motorcycling is unique and niche: there’s a spirit of brotherhood.”

Thus is the complexity of American motorcycle culture: stigmatized, yet novel; tight-knit, yet welcoming. While on a wine tour around the Finger Lakes with my friends this October, I saw a group of a couple dozen motorcyclists roar past in what I can only describe as an expression of total freedom. I decided I needed to learn more about who America's motorcyclists were, beginning with Ithaca and New York State.

A Closer Look

I asked a few friends what thoughts came to their mind when thinking about motorcyclists, motorcycles, or motorcycle clubs, and these were a few of the responses I received:






I realized from these answers that my circles, especially of friends at Cornell and the University of Michigan, predominantly formed their idea of motorcyclists from portrayals in pop culture and media, with only a few of them personally knowing a motorcyclist.

To actually find out what and who motorcycle culture consists of, we reached out to motorcycle clubs, riding groups, and organizations around the state and learned more about them through individual and group interviews. By the end of three weeks, we met riders from over seventeen clubs and gathered more than eighty responses on a Google Form. The results, though providing a clear picture of what demographic dominates the scene, carries interesting variety in time spent towards riding.



Hover for Frequency Details

Their Ages

Their Years of M.C. Membership

Their Genders

Their Mileage

During my call with the Nassau Wings Motorcycle Club of Long Island, a club member chimed in on the topic of motorcycle stereotypes. "We're just about the scariest group of dentists, doctors, and IT guys you'll ever meet." The whole group broke into laughter, and I started asking in future interviews about the members' occupations.



Their Occupations

Hover for Job Details

Their Communities: An Insignia Wall

With almost every group we spoke to, each had a unique insignia that comprised a cornerstore of their social identity. Club insignias are typically created at the founding of the club and rarely change. For older clubs, this means their insignias are relics of a fading cultural zeitgeist.



Hover for Group Details

The Sturgis Thing

With the above testaments to the level of deep camaraderie and community building motorcycle culture has to offer, placing a culture of freedom, open-air, and socializing into the context of the ongoing pandemic understandably gives rise to conflict.

This past summer, one of the most unifying annual events of the nationwide community, Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, was identified as the root cause of around 270,000 cases of Covid-19 in early September.

With data provided by the official Sturgis headquarters in South Dakota, mapping the 2019 rally attendance of about 495,000 shows to what degree the event unifies the community, bringing riders from almost every state.


Hover for Attendance Percentages by Region


Despite the height of the pandemic in the United States occurring throughout the summer, the attendance numbers for the 2020 Sturgis rally shows minimal drop in attendance this year compared to past years. The phenomenon once again gives rise to a sense of inherent conflict within American motorcycle culture: Day to day, motorcyclists often go unnoticed by the everyday civilian, both physically (the high rate of motorcycle accidents is a point of contention within the community) and spiritually. Yet, the sheer interconnectedness, intensity, and tradition of the culture still continues to influence the country in momentous ways, as it did with the pandemic this summer.

Sturgis Attendance by Year

American motorcycle culture's novelty, luxury, and unapologetic emphasis on freedom and camaraderie continually stands at the split between those who stigmatize the lifestyle and those who feel drawn towards it.

In recent years, the divide seems to be most apparent in the age divide. Jaime Cruz, current President of the Nassau Wings, is just one of several club leaders that cited a lack of younger members joining in recent years. When I asked him why trend might be occurring, he shrugged. "I guess the younger people just want to do their own thing," he said. "They're not really that into the whole leather jackets thing and the commitment."

If the trend continues, motorcycle clubs and motorcycle culture as a whole may look entirely different a few decades from now. The leather might be phased out; the bikes might be electric, but those are only cosmetic changes to those who know the culture best. Open roads, free exchange; these are the aspects of American motorcycle culture that will continue to uphold the formidable community for years to come.



Thanks for reading. I'm always open to hearing questions or comments. If you'd like to get in touch, you can contact me by email at af397@cornell.edu.