The Great Divide
I've mentioned I've been riding for over three decades. Just a part of my life. It didn't define me; just another facet. Around '06 I attended the ROT Rally down in Austin with a half dozen guys. Though I'd attended Sturgis back in '86, this one really stirred up my soul. I felt immersed in the craziness, the fun , the mindset. So much so that I went back in '07 by myself. At the time no one else I hung with wanted to go, so I did it myself. But in '08, we had a 5th wheel we'd gotten for NASCAR so momma joined me.. .. and we did this for the next several years. This was part of the turning point for me where bikes became more of my life.
Still, this was just an annual event. But, it led me to Bikes Blues and BBQ up in Fayetteville , AR. And since then, so many others. Overall , these were just annual events. Physical locations .. a few days out of my life. A virtual entity though, would become a life changer of sorts for me. In '09 I purchased my first Indian Motorcycle. But when I did this , I was buying a 'first year' bike of the Kings Mountain Generation, and my nearest dealer was 400 miles away. I'd never owned any American Iron before, just rice burners. Those rice burners were smoooooth machines and I never had any issues with them. But now I'm on a bike that wants to shake my teeth out and the history of Indian up to this date, isn't what I'd call sterling. So, doing some online searching I stumbled across the Indian Motorcycle Community Forum. This was an 'old school' style forum. Forums have been around for decades. They've improved their interfaces somewhat , but still seem archaic after the rise of AOL, MySpace and now... Facebook. Still, there was a lot of history in it's pages and it's forum members had a huge amount of knowledge among themselves.
One thing I'd noted early on within this forum is in it's own right, it was a tight knit community. Some serious ball busting went on and newbies seemed to get put through a gauntlet of sorts via a virtual hazing. But, once you had been on there awhile, didn't ask too many stupid questions, it was a worthwhile place to spend your time. All this "Indian stuff" was new to me, but unknown to me at the time was many of these folks had spent upwards of a decade meeting each other in person, helping each other, living through a debacle of the Gilroy days. I had no idea what a "Gilroy" was , but soon got up to speed thanks to the thousands of postings and subject threads on them. I quickly realized what I'd just bought it to .. the "Bentley Generation"; a high priced entry that was scaring a lot of folks away simply due to the price. And, I recognized there was an organization many of these folks belonged to; IIRA (Iron Indian Rides Association).
The IIRA arose around the '02 time frame mainly comprised of newer Gilroy owners. The factory riders group was out there as well as another or two, but this one took off. In fact, these guys are what started up the IRIP event in Branson, along with the Hunters Resort folks providing the location. Suddenly, folks from around the country that were on a common forum, had a place to put faces and names together, via an annual pilgrimage. Basically, potentially thousands of people who may have never known each other, can via a Virtual tool (forum) and one of many events. Though I wasn't there 'back in the day' , I have no doubt in my mind that virtual forum was the tool to bring these folks together. Many of these people are still friends today. I've met a few, and aware, of many more out there.
Human nature doesn't allow Utopias though. We may meet a lot of people and in that meshing of personalities we are drawn to some. We create great friendships. With others , platonic friendships. With others, simple acquaintances. And I'm sure in certain instances, a lil loathing of others. But the point is, events bring us together and we spend time with friends from around the country. We connect with existing friends, we make new friends, and meet a lot of others (acquaintances). It's one of the main reasons most of us attend these events.
Since '09 I've become aware of and/or made friends with, hundreds and hundreds of folks within the Indian Motorcycle Community. Many of these I can't put a face to but know their Forum names/handles. In recent years, Facebook has become the main source for many, as people migrate towards it as a communication platform. Interestingly when I rode various rice burners I had ZERO contact with others, because of the brand I rode or the type of bike I rode. Zero. Now, there were forums out there and I'm sure others visited them .. but for me ... no. But now, I have. Facebook and the forum(s) have allowed folks to put together events that bring together fellow riders and folks have reacted in a positive way. Something about traveling to meet folks that ride the same bike as you, have the same pride in their rides as you do, is a huge impetus for many of us to participate in these events. And we do.
Several events come to mind. An Indian Only ride ( that is now called "bike week" ) up in MN based around the St Paul Dealer, IRIP up in Branson, the Hot Springs get together and another in the Hill Country of Texas. All four of these events have brought people together where friendships have been made and folks can't wait to go back the following year! The initial intentions of each of these were for the good of the riders as a whole I believe. That's the whole point! I've attended all of these at some point, some multiple times. I've made friends that I stay in touch with today, ride with today, travel to be with, today. But like I said, this ain't a Utopia
Sadly, events that were created to bring people together and foster friendships among us all on Indians, can sometimes cause the opposite. People change, situations change, ulterior motives surface. Still, no matter what happens behind the scenes at each one of these, the vast majority attending are oblivious to BS in the background and continue to have a good time. Continue to create new friendships. But for some, they are tainted. They are hard to attend when you become aware of the BS history that has occurred. They can be hard to attend if you know the ulterior motives of why they exist. They can be hard to attend if you know that the promoter may have a hate for your riding group, others in it, or even yourself behind a fake smile. And sometimes it's hard to support if someone is putting something on, just to put themselves in a limelight. Now, this may be true or not true of any of the events I mentioned. But this applies to many events throughout the nation. And not just Indian related. Not just motorcycle related. Why? It's called Human Nature. Even when events are put on for all the right reasons, sometimes over time, reasons change. Personnel change. A perfect example of this is the SRV Rememberance Ride. A buddy of mine has been helping with this for over a decade. It almost didn't happen this year, but a move to Austin helped it survive. Reading up on that (SRV) will make your head spin. Mismanagement, etc of a charity will throw anything into a spin.
I've created friendships in the Indian Motorcycle Community across the world, thanks to this brand. Thanks to forums and Social Media. Thanks to events. And if the event was the reason, then you have to thank the promoters of the events. But, I've also lost friendships and acquaintances thanks to much of the above. Folks that run them get caught up in issues that they themselves created or promote, that causes a divide among a few, sometimes among many. In a few of these, ripples were felt among an entire community. Some have lasted for years. Some will never recover. For me the hard part is, each of these I mentioned I would attend 'tomorrow', as would others, if the BS didn't exist. Now the humorous part of this is, I'm guessing 75-95% of the folks that do attend are oblivious to anything I've hinted at. I guess that's a good thing; the events are still accomplishing what they were meant to from day one, at some level. But the sad part is that the divide had to happen at all. In most cases it didn't.
For me , it's been a reality check. What matters most to us? For me it's always been my immediate family and my closest friends. I've said for decades, I can count my closest friends on one hand. But my Indian Motorcycle world has changed that equation somewhat. I've got another subset of close friends that I've met thanks to everything I've mentioned above. I cherish these friends. At the same time, I've watched dozens go by the wayside thanks to the BS. I've eliminated hundreds of acquaintances to the dismay of many of them. I've spent the last few months minimizing that close circle of friends and continue to do so. Why? Thanks to a divide created by a few annual events in the Indian Motorcycle community.
Still, this was just an annual event. But, it led me to Bikes Blues and BBQ up in Fayetteville , AR. And since then, so many others. Overall , these were just annual events. Physical locations .. a few days out of my life. A virtual entity though, would become a life changer of sorts for me. In '09 I purchased my first Indian Motorcycle. But when I did this , I was buying a 'first year' bike of the Kings Mountain Generation, and my nearest dealer was 400 miles away. I'd never owned any American Iron before, just rice burners. Those rice burners were smoooooth machines and I never had any issues with them. But now I'm on a bike that wants to shake my teeth out and the history of Indian up to this date, isn't what I'd call sterling. So, doing some online searching I stumbled across the Indian Motorcycle Community Forum. This was an 'old school' style forum. Forums have been around for decades. They've improved their interfaces somewhat , but still seem archaic after the rise of AOL, MySpace and now... Facebook. Still, there was a lot of history in it's pages and it's forum members had a huge amount of knowledge among themselves.
One thing I'd noted early on within this forum is in it's own right, it was a tight knit community. Some serious ball busting went on and newbies seemed to get put through a gauntlet of sorts via a virtual hazing. But, once you had been on there awhile, didn't ask too many stupid questions, it was a worthwhile place to spend your time. All this "Indian stuff" was new to me, but unknown to me at the time was many of these folks had spent upwards of a decade meeting each other in person, helping each other, living through a debacle of the Gilroy days. I had no idea what a "Gilroy" was , but soon got up to speed thanks to the thousands of postings and subject threads on them. I quickly realized what I'd just bought it to .. the "Bentley Generation"; a high priced entry that was scaring a lot of folks away simply due to the price. And, I recognized there was an organization many of these folks belonged to; IIRA (Iron Indian Rides Association).
The IIRA arose around the '02 time frame mainly comprised of newer Gilroy owners. The factory riders group was out there as well as another or two, but this one took off. In fact, these guys are what started up the IRIP event in Branson, along with the Hunters Resort folks providing the location. Suddenly, folks from around the country that were on a common forum, had a place to put faces and names together, via an annual pilgrimage. Basically, potentially thousands of people who may have never known each other, can via a Virtual tool (forum) and one of many events. Though I wasn't there 'back in the day' , I have no doubt in my mind that virtual forum was the tool to bring these folks together. Many of these people are still friends today. I've met a few, and aware, of many more out there.
Human nature doesn't allow Utopias though. We may meet a lot of people and in that meshing of personalities we are drawn to some. We create great friendships. With others , platonic friendships. With others, simple acquaintances. And I'm sure in certain instances, a lil loathing of others. But the point is, events bring us together and we spend time with friends from around the country. We connect with existing friends, we make new friends, and meet a lot of others (acquaintances). It's one of the main reasons most of us attend these events.
Since '09 I've become aware of and/or made friends with, hundreds and hundreds of folks within the Indian Motorcycle Community. Many of these I can't put a face to but know their Forum names/handles. In recent years, Facebook has become the main source for many, as people migrate towards it as a communication platform. Interestingly when I rode various rice burners I had ZERO contact with others, because of the brand I rode or the type of bike I rode. Zero. Now, there were forums out there and I'm sure others visited them .. but for me ... no. But now, I have. Facebook and the forum(s) have allowed folks to put together events that bring together fellow riders and folks have reacted in a positive way. Something about traveling to meet folks that ride the same bike as you, have the same pride in their rides as you do, is a huge impetus for many of us to participate in these events. And we do.
Several events come to mind. An Indian Only ride ( that is now called "bike week" ) up in MN based around the St Paul Dealer, IRIP up in Branson, the Hot Springs get together and another in the Hill Country of Texas. All four of these events have brought people together where friendships have been made and folks can't wait to go back the following year! The initial intentions of each of these were for the good of the riders as a whole I believe. That's the whole point! I've attended all of these at some point, some multiple times. I've made friends that I stay in touch with today, ride with today, travel to be with, today. But like I said, this ain't a Utopia
Sadly, events that were created to bring people together and foster friendships among us all on Indians, can sometimes cause the opposite. People change, situations change, ulterior motives surface. Still, no matter what happens behind the scenes at each one of these, the vast majority attending are oblivious to BS in the background and continue to have a good time. Continue to create new friendships. But for some, they are tainted. They are hard to attend when you become aware of the BS history that has occurred. They can be hard to attend if you know the ulterior motives of why they exist. They can be hard to attend if you know that the promoter may have a hate for your riding group, others in it, or even yourself behind a fake smile. And sometimes it's hard to support if someone is putting something on, just to put themselves in a limelight. Now, this may be true or not true of any of the events I mentioned. But this applies to many events throughout the nation. And not just Indian related. Not just motorcycle related. Why? It's called Human Nature. Even when events are put on for all the right reasons, sometimes over time, reasons change. Personnel change. A perfect example of this is the SRV Rememberance Ride. A buddy of mine has been helping with this for over a decade. It almost didn't happen this year, but a move to Austin helped it survive. Reading up on that (SRV) will make your head spin. Mismanagement, etc of a charity will throw anything into a spin.
I've created friendships in the Indian Motorcycle Community across the world, thanks to this brand. Thanks to forums and Social Media. Thanks to events. And if the event was the reason, then you have to thank the promoters of the events. But, I've also lost friendships and acquaintances thanks to much of the above. Folks that run them get caught up in issues that they themselves created or promote, that causes a divide among a few, sometimes among many. In a few of these, ripples were felt among an entire community. Some have lasted for years. Some will never recover. For me the hard part is, each of these I mentioned I would attend 'tomorrow', as would others, if the BS didn't exist. Now the humorous part of this is, I'm guessing 75-95% of the folks that do attend are oblivious to anything I've hinted at. I guess that's a good thing; the events are still accomplishing what they were meant to from day one, at some level. But the sad part is that the divide had to happen at all. In most cases it didn't.
For me , it's been a reality check. What matters most to us? For me it's always been my immediate family and my closest friends. I've said for decades, I can count my closest friends on one hand. But my Indian Motorcycle world has changed that equation somewhat. I've got another subset of close friends that I've met thanks to everything I've mentioned above. I cherish these friends. At the same time, I've watched dozens go by the wayside thanks to the BS. I've eliminated hundreds of acquaintances to the dismay of many of them. I've spent the last few months minimizing that close circle of friends and continue to do so. Why? Thanks to a divide created by a few annual events in the Indian Motorcycle community.
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