You are right, I have never belonged to any club. The only time I've been around MCs and 1%ers was at various bars we happened to be in at the same time. Never because I knew they were going to be their, I might add.
I have for the most part found them a bit of PITA. One time a member told me I had to get out the chair I was sitting in at a bar because "the President" wanted to sit there. I told him sorry, but I was comfortable and wasn't moving. Then I motioned to the bartender (I went in this place a lot) and said "Tiny, they say I have to move for the President, do I?" ... "No way man". As you would expect "Tiny" was about 6'6" and 300+lbs so nothing else was said, and they actually seemed to accept me after their little test.
They had awesome bikes.
This was a pretty small local club, not one of the Big Six outlaw clubs, but they did have attitude.
That's the worst experience I've had with bikers, but I don't have much exposure to them, as I said.
And growing up in Detroit both the Outlaws and the Highwaymen were not people you wanted to be around, even casually.
So, I'm not a closet MC/RC fellow.
I hear tell from guys I'm pretty close to, guys who don't belong to any clubs but who've been riding bikes all over the country for more than 50 years, guys who have sat down and talked one-on-one with REAL scary bad-ass biker club dudes and even tatted-up a few, carried on conversations with Sonny Barger, and been longtime friends with some seriously hard-core biker felons, that bikers in BAD clubs are asshats when they're in a group, but alone or in twos, pretty mild, and MOST OF THE TIME even in groups they won't bother you if you don't bother them.
As for the 1% patches and supposed secret criminal significance of various insignia -- it's colorful lore that's probably accurate 50 percent of the time -- meaning that half the time, it's probably pure bullsh*t.
Thank you for your post. One question about the following:
“And growing up in Detroit both the Outlaws and the Highwaymen were not people you wanted to be around, even casually. “
I believe that the Bandidos certainly fit that category also. That said, why would decent bikers select them to be the leaders in the various chapters of the Texas Confederation of Clubs and Independents?