Dying Breed – December Final Word
If you are not working toward the growth, preservation and future of your club, you may be the last of your kind. Recently I’ve noticed a trend in some MCs to shorten the required prospect time to gain new members. In fact, I notably asked a friend in another club that brought on a whole bunch of guys all at once if he was handing patches out like candy on beggar’s night. His response to me was “we’ll take them all and sort them out later”. I personally have never been a fan of that methodology. It expends a lot of resources and time invested in people that were never meant to be in a club at all. Not to mention you now have an extra amount of people running around that know your club’s inner workings. But I’m beginning to understand why they are doing it.
I believe this goes hand in hand with what many of us have been saying for the past 10+ years. With the advent of “Made for TV Motorcycle Clubs” came an abundance of pretenders who wanted to emulate what they saw on TV. Most of us knew that it wouldn’t last. Such is the reason there are so many used bikes with low miles on the market today. They’ve migrated back to their softball and bowling leagues, and no longer play bike club on the weekend. It has recently come to mind that the number of pop up clubs has vastly decreased in the past year too. Not that it’s a bad thing, it’s just that the truth is, real MC bike clubbers are a rare breed, and far and few in between. There really aren’t dozens of actual hard-core clubbers standing outside of anyone’s clubhouse asking for membership. So, in effort to attract new blood, some clubs have lowered their bar. Formerly single race clubs are now becoming mixed race clubs. Clubs that would only entertain likeminded clubs are now partying and riding with clubs of all races and viewpoints.
I recently had an old timer tell me he wouldn’t compromise his viewpoint to gain numbers. I understand that. I even respect it, but it’s the wrong way to look at things in a modern world in my opinion. I told him that where as that is all fine and dandy for him, he’s got maybe 10 years left in this lifetime, and the rest of the club, the men 15 – 20 years younger would also like to enjoy this MC as long as you have. If your mind set doesn’t change, there won’t be an MC to be a part of. You can have 3 guys who are old school minded, but 3 guys don’t make a club. The good news is with the disbanding of so many pop up fake MCs, the numbers are getting back to the way they used to be, with only a set number of MCs that are solid in a given area. So, the few misfit toys out there that are wanting to join a club, are joining established MCs instead of grabbing 5 buddies from the neighborhood and starting another fake MC out of the garage because they are afraid to probate and earn a real patch. Join a larger, established organization if you are serious about this lifestyle. I promise you won’t regret it.
You really have two choices for your club and its future, modernize your processes, or understand that your club and way of thinking is becoming obsolete, and you’re a Dying Breed.
My Road name is Tabasco… Keep it Real!
Tabasco.tro@gmial.com
