Mrs B leaves work today from relatively busy street in relatively busy town. She pulled out from parking space behind 2 bikes and follows them up to roundabout where she noted no helmets and them stopping traffic from entering roundabout from right. Another biker wearing no helmet pulled up alongside her and ‘ directly guided’ her on her way.

Appears she had managed to get between the outriders and main funeral procession of a local biker gang/club….

Presume it must be etiquette to remove helmets and ride on public highway as part of such events. Suspect no-one was likely to point out the risk and illegality of such.

I used to know a few people involved in that scene, in the Manchester/Oldham area.

Generally quite ‘heavy’ individuals, in the main.
Lots of ex services too.

One objected to heroin dealers on the estate he’d moved into.
Warnings disregarded, the two individuals were taken to the moors, stripped, paint sprayed and left to walk home.

He offered to do the same to the bloke who nicked my bike.
A lovely, heartfelt gesture, but one I felt compelled to decline.

Not people I would ever like to cross.

Right turn Clyde?

It’s like taking your hat off, a mark of respect

They’re gangs. Just like any other gangs. They just happen to ride motorcycles.

Steer clear if you want a quiet life, but recognise them for what they are.

And I speak as someone who has ridden bikes, and been around that scene for over twenty years.

A well-regarded, elderly man I once knew in Salford (let’s call him Gordie) got stabbed in the hand with a screwdriver by some local scrote he caught breaking into his car. He also happened to have a gang member as a neighbour, and this guy kept asking him when he was going to be out. Gordie knew what this meant and, smilingly, declined to answer.

Well, the gang member managed to find out anyway, and while Gordie was out on a particular day, the scrote in question was taken to the outskirts of town, given a beat-down, stripped, and left to walk home.

There’s something I can’t help but smile about when it comes to such a moral code.