--- description: A recent biker brawl highlights a longstanding conflict in the motorcycle community title: Waco Biker Gang Shooting: Motorcycle Culture's Enduring Image Problem image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe028aeda888d45/698850c7f887dc55c8e908c8/bikers.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Motorcycle Culture's Long History of Image Problems  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 19, 2015 4:35 PM CUT  Hell's Angels outside the Blackboard Cafe. California 1965 Hell's Angels outside the Blackboard Cafe. California 1965Bill Ray—The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. May 19, 2015 4:35 PM CUT The [deadly shootout](http://time.com/3882381/waco-texas-shooting-arrests/ "undefined") between police and biker gangs in Waco, Tex., has put a spotlight on one of American culture’s more confusing distinctions: the difference between motorcycle-loving hobbyists and organized biker gangs. As a former undercover agent [told the Associated Press](http://time.com/3883635/waco-texas-shooting-motorcycle-gangs/ "undefined"), the public and law enforcement can have trouble distinguishing between two subcultures that share lots of similarities. That confusion is nearly as old as America’s motorcycle culture. In its early years, the nation’s motorbike market was relatively small. As TIME [explained](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-12-11/page/76 "undefined") in 1939, it got a boost when Euthrie Paul du Pont, of the famous du Pont family, invested in the Indian Motorcycle Co. The company joined with Harley-Davidson, the other leading U.S. manufacturer, to sponsor the American Motorcycle Association and hold organized races that boosted the popularity of riding. When TIME covered the 1953 National Motorcycle Championship, the magazine [found](http://time.com/vault/issue/1953-03-30/page/53 "undefined") that the participants—drawn from the AMA’s 100,000 members— were “most of them temporary escapees from workaday jobs as mechanics, farmers or motorcycle dealers.” By then, however, those weekend warriors had been joined in the public imagination by a darker element. In 1947, a fight among bikers led to a notorious melee in Hollister, Calif. That was followed by Frank Rooney’s 1951 story _The Cyclists’ Raid_, about a fictional violent biker gang, which in turn inspired the 1954 film _The Wild One_, starring Marlon Brando as an iconoclastic biker. “The audience sits frozen with a growing horror as the abscess of violence swells and swells until the watcher almost cries out for it to burst and be done with,” TIME’s critic [wrote](http://time.com/vault/issue/1954-01-18/page/102 "undefined") of the movie. Meanwhile, the AMA tried to keep its distance. In 1957, for example, an AMA event in Angels Camp, Calif., was marred by violence. The small town had agreed to host motorcycle races and had taken precautions—quadrupling its two-man police force—in case of trouble. The safeguards, however, proved inadequate, as TIME [reported](http://time.com/vault/issue/1957-06-17/page/24 "undefined"): --- > “” --- Those clashes only intensified after the founding of the Hell’s Angels around 1950\. In 1965, California Attorney General Thomas C. Lynch [announced](http://time.com/vault/issue/1965-03-26/page/35 "undefined") that an investigation of the Angels had found that its 450 members had earned 874 felony arrests between them, that their initiation rite required new members to supply a girl who was willing to sleep with everyone in the club, and that they often ran riot through whole towns, terrorizing residents for fun. “Guzzling beer and shaking the countryside with obscene laughter, they broke up legitimate motorcycle rallies and often sacked small coastal towns. Perversely, pop music (Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots) and film (_The Wild One_) romanticized such outlaw riders as tragic, misunderstood loners, giving the Angels a place that they scarcely deserve in American folklore,” TIME later [noted](http://time.com/vault/issue/1971-03-22/page/30 "undefined"). “As the bike culture burgeoned, the Angels’ legend became as grimy as their beards, Levi’s and leather vests.” The occasion for that remark was a 1971 knife fight between the Hells Angels and a rival gang called the Breed. It was at the time “the deadliest rumble in the history of maverick motorcycle gangs,” leaving five gang members dead and 21 injured. It was also another example of the tension between legit motorcycle lovers and those outside the law: the location chosen for the brawl was a trade show sponsored by the Cleveland Competition Club, a chartered American Motorcycle Association organization. “\[The\] annual show is designed to brighten motorcycling’s image, and has never witnessed as much trouble as a fistfight,” TIME wrote. “The proceeds were to go to a crippled children’s fund.” ### LIFE Rides With Hells Angels, 1965  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Big D, a member of the San Bernardino, a.k.a, "Berdoo" Hells Angels, during a ride from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Inside the Hells Angels' San Bernardino clubhouse, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. "Little Jim" drinks beer from a waste basket at the Angels' clubhouse in San Bernardino, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels' "old ladies," California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Two "Berdoo" Hells Angels clown for Bill Ray behind a bar during a stop on their run from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angel "Hambone" poses during a ride from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, Calif., 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels and locals outside the Blackboard Cafe in Bakersfield, Calif., 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels, their old ladies and hangers-on outside the Blackboard in Bakersfield, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels cruise north from San Bernardino to Bakersfield, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A man in Bakersfield, Calif., casts what appears to be an appraising eye over the Hells Angels' Harley-Davidsons, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angel, seated on his bike, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angel, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Sonny, the leader of the San Bernardino Hells Angels, gets stitches in his head after crashing his bike, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Women -- including one with a bandaged nose -- hang out in a bar while bikers gather in a separate room, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A sheriff's officer keeps an eye on the proceedings outside a bar that the Hells Angels have made their headquarters-away-from-home during their San Bernardino-to-Bakersfield run, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Two women riding with the Hells Angels hang out at a bar in 1965\. "This is one of my favorites from the whole shoot," Bill Ray says. "There's something kind of sad and at the same time defiant about the atmosphere." Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Hells Angels, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Outside the Blackboard Cafe at night, Bakersfield, Calif., 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A Hells Angels "old lady," 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A teenager seems drawn, like a moth to a flame, by the Angels and their machines, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Two "reputable" motorcyclists photograph the Hells Angels, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. During their '65 run to Bakersfield, the Angels pushed their way into a motorcycle hillclimb, in which bikers race up an often insanely steep incline. The Angels wanted to take part; organizers said no (but finally relented). Above: Hambone, in his ever-present fur hat, jaws with organizers while sheriff's officers listen in. "The big fellow in the white shirt," Joe Bride noted, "and all of his cohorts are carrying sawed-off baseball bats with lead weights in them." Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A biker named Roseberry sports a "one percenter" patch -- a badge of honor for the Angels and other motorcycle clubs whose members revel in and celebrate their outlaw status, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A biker named Roseberry is fingerprinted, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. From writer Joe Bride's notes: "An Angel is frisked.... Cops were mainly looking for his stash of unrolled marijuana, and didn't find any. It was inside the seat pad \[of the bike he was riding.\]" Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A Hells Angel -- with his old lady holding on tight -- pulls a wheelie in downtown Bakersfield, Calif., as his friends watch, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Bikers (including Sonny, left, with a bandaged head) and their old ladies, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. Biker chick, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. "Buzzard" and an old lady, California, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. A Hells Angel salute, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Not published in LIFE. "Buzzard" prepares to leave Bakersfield as cops and townspeople watch, 1965. Bill Ray—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3887934/biker-gang-waco-motorcycle-culture-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3887934/biker-gang-waco-motorcycle-culture-history/"},"headline":"Motorcycle Culture's Long History of Image Problems","datePublished":"2015-05-19T16:35:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:25.123Z","description":"A recent biker brawl highlights an old conflict","url":"https://time.com/3887934/biker-gang-waco-motorcycle-culture-history/","keywords":["Crime","Transportation","motorcycles"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe028aeda888d45/698850c7f887dc55c8e908c8/bikers.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fe028aeda888d45/698850c7f887dc55c8e908c8/bikers.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Hells Angels In Bakersfield","caption":"Hells Angels In Bakersfield","creditText":"Bill Ray—The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3887934/biker-gang-waco-motorcycle-culture-history/","name":"Motorcycle Culture's Long History of Image Problems"}}]}] ```