Seems like it's more of a middle class thing for us baby boomers.

 

It is now , used to be it was a life choice . Ain't no bikers now they all be Baggers

 

I had a bike in the '70's and have a bike now. The difference - I'm older & wiser now!

 

I was just a kid in the 70's, so I won't claim to be an expert on the biker culture back then. My dad was a musician, and played a lot of bars in and around SF. He had friends who would ride by for visits, and such. That's where I developed my admiration for HD's. I didn't start riding (on the back) until the late 70's early 80's. And I do remember, there used to be this "code" between bikers, It seemed that, back then, if you saw someone else riding, chances were good that you probably had more in common than just the bike. Most were working class, blue collar, or artist types. And you could be pretty sure, they were not going to call the cops on you. Now there is such a diverse kind of folk who ride. It seems now, more often than not, the only thing you have in common with that "other" biker is the bike, and that's about it.