Paul's Ride Guide: Rockers

My last blog post was about Café Racers and their unique style and purpose. It is suggested that the name was originally derisive, as describing someone who rode from one "transport café" to another ( a British term for a trucker's coffee shop ). At one time in the U.K. motorcycling was something for the rich and was a sign of wealth and glamour. However, in the post World War ll years there was an increase in prosperity for some, with the upper and middle classes gravitated to cars and relegated the motorcycle to poorer, working class folks. With the late 50's and early 60's came some disenfranchised youth, with anti-establishment attitudes, who listened to rock n roll music and watched American films (think "The Wild One" ) and soon a subculture was born with the 'Rockers'.

Black leather jackets, longer, slicked back hair, and souped up motorcycles was the fashion and the typical hangout was the "transport café", which dotted the new highways and arterial roads that were ringing cities like London. Basically, a great place to meet up and then drag race, between the cafés. One of the most famous of these was the Ace Café in Middlesex/North London along the North Circular Road.

The earlier Rockers were also known as 'ton-up boys', with 'ton-up' being a British term for driving over 100 mph (160 kmph). Most had British made bikes, who were in their heyday at that time...Triumph, BSA, Norton, and the blend of Triumph and Norton who made the well known and very popular "Triton".

Similar to my blog post about the biker image created by the Hollister "riots" and the movie "The Wild One", the Rocker phenomena in the U.K. had the same effect, creating this general paranoia of motorcyclists. Of course, it didn't help their cause much when the Rockers started clashing with The Mods, another subculture of youth who rode scooters and had their own style of dressing. There were several riots, real ones compared to the media hyped version mentioned in Hollister.

Of course, with the black leather and motorcycle boots adorned with studs and pins, and the skulls and cross bone insignias, we have the U.K. equivalent of what the public regarded as hooligans.