Hells Angels are moving into my area for the first time. I have a generally negative view of them, but have some friends who feel otherwise. I would love to hear your experiences related to the Angels specifically, but “1%” clubs as well.

  • Okalaydokalay@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    There’s a Hell’s Angels chapter up the street from my house. Very likely because there is also a world famous road in the city that motorcyclists love to ride.

    I’m a motorcyclist as well, but I ride a sports bike and I’m not with any club. But as a rider on the streets, I see a lot of other motorcyclists and they are all generally very friendly to me when we pass each other. We do the typical waves and nods and also the alerting if one of us noticed cops in the direction of the other biker (pat your helmet to signal this to the biker on the opposing lane if you have a cop behind you or if one has a trap behind you or something similar).

    I’ve heard of beefs between the motorcycles that Hell’s Angels types ride (those Harley-like bikes) and sports bikes like mine, but I’ve never had any problems, myself.

    But I keep to myself and I don’t particularly like groups, so that may also have something to do with it.

    When driving my car, I see motorcyclists a lot as well and never had issues there either.

    As others said, you keep your distance and you’re generally okay. It’s when you get in their business or make them mad that you bring trouble directly on yourself. Though, I do agree with someone else’s sentiment that a lot of their illegal dealings do have impacts on the community, at large, so this isn’t always a sure fire way of protecting yourself. But this is what you can do, at most, to ensure you’re out of harms way. Generally they don’t want to bring attention to themselves, as making life harder for people in the area will make the cops eye their chapter more closely and that’s not good for their business.

    • ExLisper@linux.community
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      1 year ago

      So as a biker you just assume other bikers will drive recklessly and warn each one about cops?

          • lol3droflxp@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            Isn’t that something people do? In Germany many people flash their high beams if there is police, speed trap or danger.

            • ExLisper@linux.community
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              1 year ago

              Yes, many people want other drivers to drive recklessly without risk. I was wandering what’s the other guy’s motivation was.

                • ExLisper@linux.community
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                  1 year ago

                  Where I live all speed traps are clearly marked. Yes, their purpose should be to make people slow down, not catch them by surprise. But we’re talking about warning about caps,nort just speed traps. If it’s just unmarked speed traps I agree.

              • folkrav@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                You’re basing all this on a whole lot of assumptions:

                • The only way one can get a ticket is because they were reckless
                • Driving outside the law, regardless of time and place, is automatically risky
                • Speed traps really make the roads safer for everyone
                • ExLisper@linux.community
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                  1 year ago
                  1. I’m assuming you’re warning other drivers because you think they can change their behavior and avoid a fine. If it’s unavoidable why warn them? It’s not going to help anyone. So yeah, you can get a ticket for other things but reckless driving is the main one you can easily avoid when warned ahead of time.
                  2. Yes, driving outside the law is always risky. It’s not up to individual drivers to decide when it’s ‘safe’ to break the law. It’s stupid to think that you can just decide that the laws do not apply to you because ‘you know better’. Every single driver breaking the law thinks that they know better or that they can do it because they are a better driver than everyone else. Drivers like that can just go fuck themselves.
                  3. Speed traps that are clearly marked and enforce speed limit instead of just fining unsuspecting drivers do make roads safer.