The motorcycle club ASOM – All Pile On Motorcycling – recently celebrated his or her, or whatever it may be, 50th birthday. An extra thick edition of the club magazine was made for that anniversary. And from the stories in it you can read exactly how everything has changed completely in 50 years.
It started with a group of bikers friends
And fifty years ago these were usually young adults to say their early thirties. They did not ride a motorcycle for lifestyle reasons. Because that word hadn't been invented yet. They rode motorcycles because… Well, just look at the club name. Moreover, there was often simply no money for a car. And they rode a lot more than the average current motorcyclist does now. Because that average mileage is now apparently below 3000 km on average. In the early days of ASOM, there were members who needed a month or two to do so.
At that time society was much less individualistic. The club and the weekly club nights were anchor points in the lives of the club members. The club grew from a café hall to its own clubhouse on 'own' ground. Domestic and foreign rides, rallies and holidays were organised. Relationships and marriages grew within the club.
It has already been said: motorcycling was not yet a lifestyle thing
In fact: Fifty years ago, motorcyclists were widely seen as a fairly suspicious people. That was at the time when Honda's 'You meet the nicest people on a Honda' was certainly not fully established in the rustic Achterhoek, but also elsewhere. This of course also had something to do with the appearance of the motorcyclist phenomenon (at that time only 'M'). The ladies were there too. They were 'on the back'. In 1970 there were already BMW R75/5's and Honda CB750's. But for the motorcyclists – then according to the rider tests in the Motor Weekly – these were still mainly technical craftsmen and people such as students, without money for a so-called 'automotive'. Motorcyclists, the club members, usually rode motorcycles with experience. Think of an NSU Max and a super-fast Suzuki T20. The boffers drove a BMW R50, or R60 or heal maybe an R69S. Or a fat British twin. Where that 'lucky' was experienced quite differently. Later, when there was more money to be made, the CB500s came because they were less expensive than CB750s and the Yamaha XS 750 with its 750 hp was seen as an unbridled powerhouse. The club members usually did maintenance, repairs and adjustments themselves. The club was indispensable as a source of knowledge and equipment. The club room too.
So engines were a bit suspicious
And their riders weren't people to disprove that suspicion. Because motorcyclists always looked like they hadn't washed. They wore greased cotton or canvas clothes. Often military boots from the dump. As a helmet they had a 'jar' and motorcycle goggles with glass windows. Those grease suits were unique. They were kind of waterproof with regular greasing (mixing petroleum jelly with petroleum and then brushing the stuff in). When the sun shone, the petroleum smoke steamed around you like a stinking column. And in the time of another club, the TOCN, there was Driek Verdonk who got his own living space. He held a housewarming party where many Triumph riders came. Cool as they were, they kept their jackets on at first. The walls, whitewashed by Driek, are still not over the smudge and grease stains.
Many trips were organized and at ASOM the biggest meeting was about 800 men M/F. In doing so, the club had effectively overplayed its hand.
Over the top…
Over the years, the motorcycles and motorcycle clothing got better and better and the club feeling less and less. Interest in long rides and weekends declined. Individualization had begun and the influx of new, young members slowed down. It is now 2022. Let's see how the motorcycle world will be in fifty years.
The Davida jar in the photos is very nicely recreated. The thing was once an expensive birthday present. But it's proof that things weren't better in the past: above 89 km/h you have a stereophonic hurricane in your ears.
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Also here in Hoogeveen with the 51 year old MC the same,, problem,,. With over 50 members it has become a fun club. Club house is open every 2 weeks and it is striking that they are hardly visited anymore. I myself was the founder of this MC and drove 45000 km per year. Now that's only 10% of that total on still an injection Moto Guzzi.
I have been driving for over 60 years, of which the first 2 years were a bit illegal. The description also fits me, because I have never offered a motorcycle for repair. I can also maintain the engines that I still have now. a bit of technique is therefore not strange to me.
The description of the somewhat strange figures on motorcycles is correct, you were also checked almost daily. The garage I frequented often (several times a week) serviced the motorcycles of the police. you often met those motorcycle cops and darts were cool figures once they got to know you.
So you didn't need that garage because the engine didn't work, but it was a meeting point. It was therefore a workshop, there was no shop. All very pleasant.
I had my driving lessons on such a Jawa. Instructor sat on the back with his dual controls. To get to the driving school I had a Bsa Lightning with a blue L. Had a test driver's license from two municipalities. Gouda had as a condition not within the canals during rush hour. Been naughty once and drove to Scheveningen with L turned away but didn't really feel good. After the pink paper, a yellow one within a year. I had expressed my preference at the military service inspection for motorcycle ordereans and yes it was taken into account.
You got lucky with that. In my platoon were twin brothers who had learned to be institutional cooks. They were allowed to express their preference. They wanted to go into the kitchen. They became car mechanics. Very bad auto mechanics. And expressing their preference? So that was listened to. Just nothing had been done with it.
Motorcycling nowadays only seems to be understood if the motorcycle is the ideal platform for the smartphone. I am still in the self-tinkering category that literally drove 3000km on the counter within two months. Blauwtje was therefore my faithful commuter bicycle for about 20 years and there were also motorcycle trips for relaxation. Without 'Tupperware' on that bike and initially at 12 degrees below zero, moreover, without heated grips too. Fun was different, but in the end. So motorcycling was really my lifestyle because I simply had no other 'style'. The ASOM feeling is therefore probably familiar to me and I have not regretted a second of all that driving through rain, wind and cold, but also because of the scorching sun, even without the ideal platform for my mobile.
Dear Maurice, you are very old school!
Jawa 350 from 1975 by Hans Koopman: see the attached photo (from Aug.'22)
endearing. And not expensive from this construction line
Rob I noticed that too
And that club feeling… After more than 50 years with the same club, now one of our biggest problems is how we can get young drivers on board. The average age is getting quite gray. A person in his thirties now counts as a young person with us. And when one turns forty, there are very few left whose age starts with a three. We have more seventies than thirty.
Millennials apparently have 'nothing' with motorcycles, do not understand the phenomenon and also not 'green'..
That complicates the growth; there are few people to get excited about in our 'dirty, smelly' hobby… let alone when it comes to classics.
Problem outlined in a nutshell
There's oil on my keyboard!
Just had the 50th anniversary of ASOM. “All Pile On Motorcycling”. The tenor of the anniversary issue: It's an ongoing business, that club event with fun and people M/F who made serious kilometers
If you see someone under forty at a fair, that person is often with his parents!
Another fun story!
Only the XS 750 with its 750 hp seems a bit exaggerated?!
At the bar is exaggerated! My Zundappje ran easily 110 . But thanks for paying attention!
Well... off the mountain probably 😉