CiF is asking people to recount their experiences of snobbery following the Stoke Park debacle earlier this week.
Funnily enough, I have had plenty of experience of this over the years. Turning up on a motorcycle tends to bring it out – not, oddly enough at the top end of the market. Rather it is the pub landlord who thinks he is a bit above the rest of us who tends to get uppity and think that my bike is a sign of a yob.
That said, it ain’t only the British. I recall one summer Mrs L and I seeking a room for the night at a small hotel in Chef Boutonne after a long wet day’s ride only to be turned away from what was clearly a place experiencing a very slow day. They were “full” apparently. Yeah, right, of course they were.
Not that I have ever made a fuss in such circumstances. I have never gone to the law or the newspapers and complained that my paper-thin sensitivities have been mortally wounded. I have simply moved on and found somewhere else to spend my money.
It’s what the grown ups do.
Did you go into the hotel and enquire ON YOUR OWN?
This used to be a killer in some European countries; a man on his own enquiring about a room sets off all sorts of alarm bells apparently. I couldn’t understand why so many quiet places were full – until we started both going in together to ask. Then it was “Bienvenue” every time.
Funny folk, foreigners.
No, we went in together. It’s the only time it has happened abroad, mind.
“It’s what the grown ups do.”
That’s a dying breed though. If they become any more scarce there will be adverts on the telly asking for five pounds a month to save the last of the grown ups from extinction.
Dead right about turning up on a bike. I once rode down to a car sprint on a Z1R I’d rebuilt. Thing was, the sprint was on a private road owned by the council. As a friend of the clerk of the course, I had a paddock pass. So I rode through and up towards two members of our police force – man and woman. I was riding at more or less zero mph.
The guy sticks a hand up and comes over and says: “Hey son, what do you think you’re doing?” I replied that I had a pass, which I showed, and I was following cars with trailers into the paddock (with racers on the back). He said it was a council road and, “sonny”, you can’t ride your bike here. I pointed out the ten cars and trailers in front moving quicker than me. “Sonny”, he said, “get off the f**k*ng bike and take off your helmet.”
I gladly obliged, which is when he found out I was 55 years old – he being about 25! He just told me to carry on.
I gave him a very polite, and short lecture about not making assumptions about bikers. He didn’t say a thing.
Perhaps he was showing off to his female colleague. But then I’ve had experiences not unlike yours. Snobbery is a problem for bikers.
Wot, a proper ZIR, the one that came with a turbo?
Nah, the original Z1R never had a turbo as standard as far as I know. I think it was an aftermarket kit.
You are absolutely correct, BUT in the states there was a Z1R sold out of the box with a Mr. Turbo kit , there were very few made and the boost was kept way down because the bike was bog standard and there were genuine fears of melting pistons/twisted crankshafts, I know they exist because an old mate of mine who is an avid Z series collecter has one, as well as every other Z1 based model.
Nah, it was a copper throwing his weight around, as usual!
Tasering blind men in the back, treating MP’s a ordinary people (my sympathy is with Mitchell) etc ad nauseam ….
I’m sort of divided inside my own head on this. On the one hand you are right, just take your money elswhere and fukkem. On the other hand, I think that this kind of discrimination is wrong and if no-one makes a stand then nothing will change. I think that we take for granted a lot of social norms that we have had handed to us on a plate by people who were prepared to make a fuss about injustice and discrimination in the past. Nowadays discrimination of this kind is illegal because some people were prepared to make a fuss, but a law is worthless if nobody bothers to make sure that it is enforced.
The law is too heavy handed. A business owner should have the absolute right to decide whom he will do business with. There are plenty of good reasons why that should be. So the occasional bit of snobbery is a small price to pay. After all, one dissatisfied customer who is turned away on a whim can make an awful lot of bad publicity – as has just happened to Stoke Park. It should be self-regulating.
I’m familiar with the ‘No Bikers’ signs that blossomed on half the pub doorways of Britain in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The ‘No Bikers’ thing still occurred back in the 90’s and 2000’s when pub landlords were actively ‘discouraged’ from holding Biker friendly events.
Mind you, I’ve turned up at British 5 star hotels before now on my old Triumph and received nothing but a slightly raised eyebrow. I suppose they thought my money was as good as anyone else’s (Unlike a porn stars wedding plans). It’s the three star and below venues that seemed to have their noses permanently out of joint over leather riding apparel.
France south of Paris is a whole different ball game. Same for Germany, Switzerland and Italy. Only in the UK is the ‘No Bikers’ thing so widespread.
Like the “no walkers” signs in rural pubs, miles from anywhere, during the 50’s-60’s (& even 70’s!) do you mean.
Is our money somehow inferior – they’re in business – don’t they want it?
Not so much them as certain folk having influence with the local licensing authorities.
Only time I ever experienced snobbery was from a couple of members of the Belgian national chopper club.
Bunch of stuck up fucking wierdos.
Yeah, but ….. Belgians?