Motorcycle club FAQs

What’s the correct term – bikers or bikies?
Definitely bikers. We all refer to ourselves as bikers within the clubs, and the word “bikies” is largely used by politicians and the media.

What does 1 per center mean? Is it something about living outside society or outside the law?
Actually, it’s a historical reference that we wear with pride. The term “1%” came about after the secretary of the American Motorcycle Association, Linton Kuchler, penned the phrase: ‘These cyclists were possibly one per cent of the total number of motorcyclists, one per cent of motorcyclists who are hoodlums or trouble makers”. This was in response to media reports after an AMA event near Hollister, California over the 4th of July week-end in 1947.

In the first half of the 1900s, the AMA considered itself to be the leader of the motorcycling world. Its main focus was to sell American motorcycles and it was dominated by a conservative faction. It is easy to see why groups of young men who were more interested in having fun than following the strict competition rules tended to upset the AMA. These clubs accepted the “outlaw” and “one per cent” tags, as it separated them from the AMA-controlled clubs. Club members began to wear these tags with pride, and it continues to this day. It is a myth that this term relates to living outside the law or society.

What is the correct way to refer to a motorcycle club?
Please don’t use the word “gang”. It’s a loaded and derogatory word, and no club member would use that word, ever. “Gang” is a word used only by police and politicians to describe our clubs.

Where did the term “outlaw motorcycle gang” come from?
From the authorities, not the clubs themselves. One distinction is that there is a club called the “Outlaws”. They are the Outlaws Motorcycle Club though, not “gang”. To describe patch clubs generally as “outlaw gangs” is incorrect. Our clubs are lawful entities and not illegal.

Words like “bikie”, “outlaw gang”, “OMCG”, etc are commonly used. Why have you used those words for so long if they’re not correct?
We haven’t used those words – we just haven’t bothered, until now, to correct the inaccuracies and spin the authorities put on the clubs by using those words. We generally shy away from the media, but now realise we need to speak out to set the record straight.

What is a biker club “associate”?
It is a term used by the police. The clubs do not have any level of membership called “Associate”.

So when police say they have arrested 69 club members, nominees, or associates, who are the associates?
Police tag people in their system as “associates” based on encountering or observing that person in the vicinity or company of motorcycle clubs or activities. In our experience, “associate” can mean:

· a paid service provider who has performed maintenance work at a clubhouse

· a woman who picked up her husband from his friend’s (a member’s) house

· a member of the public who attended a club’s public poker run

· the child of a motorcycle club member, who is not themselves a member

· someone who parks their car outside or near a clubhouse

· a Harley Davidson owner who attended the same event as club members

· a person who was seen eating with or drinking with a club member or members for any reason

· a person who has a legitimate business relationship with someone in a motorcycle club (eg. accountant, lawyer, etc).

In fact, an “associate” may be someone who has encountered club members only once in their professional or social lives and is forever branded as an “associate” in the police system.

The police recently ran full-page newspaper ads claiming that 69 motorcycle club associates, nominees, or members had been arrested since June. How many of these people were club members?
Of those people arrested since June, the motorcycle clubs in the UMC WA know of fewer than (xxxx) people who are club members and were arrested as described by the police.

We do not know the names or identities of any of the other people alleged to have been arrested who are allegedly “connected” to clubs.