Biker, Rider, Motorcyclist: What Do You Call Someone on a Motorcycle?

Drive around for five minutes and you'll see someone on a motorcycle. Weekend rider, daily commuter, doesn't matter. They're out there. But what do you call them? Turns out it's complicated.

"Biker" could mean someone on a motorcycle or someone on a bicycle. Some people think it specifically means someone in an outlaw gang, not just a regular motorcycle club. The U.S. Department of Justice just calls them "members" of outlaw motorcycle gangs. "Rider" is straightforward, and it's what the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses for whoever's operating the bike. NHTSA also uses "motorcyclists," which is more neutral. The American Motorcyclist Association likes that term too and gets annoyed when government agencies stereotype people on motorcycles.

There's no right answer here because it's totally subjective. Ask three people and you'll probably get three different words for the same person on the same bike. The terms all get tossed around interchangeably. Organizations pick whatever they want to use. So do the people actually riding. Only real authority is whoever's talking, and the meaning depends on context, what they mean by it, and the culture around it.

Why "Biker" Sounds Sketchy

Out of all the terms, "biker" is the one with baggage. Until 2013, the Oxford English Dictionary straight up defined biker as "a motorcyclist, especially one who is a member of a gang: a long-haired biker in dirty denims." A lot of motorcyclists were pissed about that so it got changed to "a motorcyclist, especially one who is a member of a gang or group."

The whole "biker equals outlaw" thing goes back to World War II. Soldiers came home and kept riding motorcycles like they did during the war. Lot of them started clubs. Some of those clubs got into illegal activity and "outlaw biker" became a thing. Media ran with it, Hollywood made movies about it, and the label stuck. Became this stereotype that painted all motorcyclists the same way even though most riders had nothing to do with that world.

Outlaw bikers and their clubs get called "one-percenters." That comes from bad press after the Hollister motorcycle event in 1947. Story goes the American Motorcycle Association fought back by saying 99% of bikers followed the law. The AMA says they never actually said that, but the percentages stuck anyway and people still use them.