8 Recent Motorcycle Internet Rumors and Urban Legends
No, the Government isn't Outlawing Motorcycles
Some days it seems the internet and social media are part of a disinformation superhighway. Between satire sites like the Onion seeming all too real, other clickbait sites making up news and not understanding what satire is, sensationalist headlines from sites looking for clicks, and misunderstanding being repeated inside the echo chamber, it getting so you can't believe anything you read, and only half of what you see with your own damn eyes.
The picture above, which shows the NYPD crushing not street legal dirt bikes they confiscated in traffic stops over the years, is a good example. It has been posted various places as a warning that the EPA is going to start confiscating dirt bikes. In reality the police got all of these off road only bikes by stopping street riders on them, often unlicensed. Though the police make an attempt to return them to their rightful owners, over 80% of them go unclaimed. You can read about it here: ABC 13 News.
1. Do You See The Motorcycle?
We all know motorcycles can be dangerous, but our non riding friends always feel the need to remind us of that fact. This picture, and about 4 others get shared via email forwards and Facebook constantly. Sometimes the correct information is attached to it, but sometimes there is a completely made up story. The real explanation is that the bike was traveling about 155 mph and t-boned the car, killing everyone. The bike/car was then displayed at various motorcycle events by the police in Sweden as a cautionary tail.
The fake story you see more often claims the bike was cruising at 85 mph when the car pulled out while the driver was using their phone. Yes, hitting a car at 85 mph will kill you, but you get a lot more reaction time to avoid the incident. A bike hitting a car at 85 mph also doesn't cause the car to barrel roll for 20 feet and leave the bike embedded in the side of it.
2. 11 State Motorcycle Curfew
Satire - the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
This news story came across every biker social media page and forum on March 7th 2016 like an announcement of free beer. The original site, Associated Media Coverage, failed to notice the lack of any humor, irony, ridicule or exaggeration in their story, so it doesn't qualify as satire. But that's okay, the rest of their site (which I am not going to link to, because that is exactly what they want) is just wall to wall fake made up news stories with no basis in fact at all. Do everyone a favor, check out a dubious story, or one that is too good to be true, on Snopes, Hoax Slayer, or Truth or Fiction before getting angry and forwarding it to all your friends.
3. Hooters Bans Motorcycle Clubs
After the shootout at the Twin Peaks last year, a rumor popped up claiming that Hooters was banning bike clubs, or bike club colors, or bikers in general. The only evidence ever posted with the sign in the picture, but Hooters corporate HQ says they never issued any guidelines, and the sign may have been a temporary over reaction by a manager at one Waco, TX location. I don't know about you, but I would rather look at the girl from the charity bike wash at Hooters Pattaya, Thailand. The Texas location in McKinney made it a point on their Facebook page to welcome any and all bikers, with a picture of a bikini clad Hooters girl on a Harley.
4. This is NOT the Davidson Brothers
This picture popped up months ago and got shared all over the place, but for some reason the men in the picture began to be identified as the brothers Davidson, astride 2 of their first production bikes in 1914. All of that information is false. A little research reveals this is Lars Johnson of Minnesota, and his brother. It was posted online by his distant relation, Ross Hollibaugh, who still has the invoice from the bike bought in 1914 for $425 in Zumbrota, MN. Of course we all know that Harley Davidson bikes had been in production for 10 years by then.
5. Ghost Rider in the Sky
I am not going to go into all the fake news items about celebrities dying in motorcycle accidents, because there is a new one every week. This picture, however, is claimed to show the ghost of a motorcycle rider rising up out of his body after a crash. I don't care what your religious beliefs are, but this picture is about as convincing as the pictures of Bigfoot you see occasionally. Online news sources that bothered to look into it indicate the rider didn't die on the scene, but not until later at the hospital.
6. No, this was not a Donald Trump Rally
The picture, with the statement about it being a Donald Trump rally, has been shared all over social media over the past year. While Trump did address the crowd of riders at Rolling Thunder this year, this picture is not from that event, and there were closer to 5,000 bikes there. The picture is actually from the 2013 Two Million Bikers to DC event, and even then there were way less than 100,000 bikers there by every news source. Another rumor about the 2013 ride claims Obama denied them a "no stop" permit for the ride, while favoring a Muslim march the same day, which happened to be September 11th. While it is true that the ride was not granted a permit to ignore red lights, and ride through town en-mass, there is no evidence the decision went any higher than the DC metro police, and then most likely because it came in with too short of notice.
7. Obama Did Not Try to Tax Bikers
After the call to remove the flag of the confederacy from official buildings and such in South Carolina, the internet started to circulate a claim that Obama was planning on taxing rallies like Sturgis out of existence. The problem was, according to the widely share picture, he had made the statements on the Rachel Maddow show on a day he wasn't even on that show. Then, if you apply a little reason to it, how could anyone "implement higher taxes on gathering of white conservatives"? What for would it take? A government surcharge on black leather, to get the bikers, and ugly golf pants to get the rest of them? On top of all that, Obama would need the cooperation of the Senate and House of Representatives, and they are barely on speaking terms. This one appears to be nothing but a made up rumor.
8. The FBI Did Not Classify All Bikers as Gang Mambers
In spring of 2015, a news story began circulating stating that all registered owners of motorcycles were on a secret FBI list, and considered gang members. This is another fake news story created from scratch by a "satire" news site looking to get more clicks to sell advertising to. It got shared widely on Facebook after being posted on a fake Washington Post clone site, and covered on Jalopnik. If you hear any of your biker brethren talking about this, cut them off immediately before they start collecting the dots and claiming the police and Harley-Davidson are coming for your bike, just like they did in Waco. Those rumors are false, too.
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