The Independent Motorcycle Aftermarket

By Bob Kay

Freedom is a right guaranteed every American as defined in the Constitution of the United States of America. Biker freedom is the right to wear the protective gear of your choice, the right to ride with club or friends of your choice and the right to ride when and where you want. Freedom for Independent Dealers is the right to sell and install the accessories best suited for their customers choices, to modify or build bikes that reflect the uniqueness of style their shop chooses to represent and offer the services to satisfy performance choices to outperform the competition. The counter to freedom of choice is government oversight designed to satisfy misinformed societal agendas, control the population and make the choices they feel are best for you whether you agree or not.

The Motorcycle Riders Foundation (MRF) has been dedicated to the preservation of bikers rights (since 1987). They have managed to unite Motorcycle State Rights Organizations, Biker Clubs, Individual Bikers and Federal and State congressional members to protect our rights from anti helmet laws in the early days to anti profiling legislation to guarantee our right choose. They support motorcycle rights events from coast to coast but I think their most prestigious event is Bikers Inside the Beltway. This year was the 15^th Annual Bikers Inside the Beltway where bikers from all over the country took Capitol Hill by storm with a clear message about bikers rights, safety and freedom. Lobbying Packets were delivered to 435 offices in the U.S. House of Representatives and 100 to the Senate offices. This is the type of support the MRF has given the Independent Motorcycle Aftermarket (IMA) since we joined forces in 2023. We are currently working on modifying legislation (HR 1566 and 1379) through congress to include to motorcycling concerns about the right to modify, proper fuels and the use of internal combustion engines. If we allow the government to make our choices we could be forced to retire our older bikes from street use, utilize EV platforms for custom and chopper builds, and ride around on bikes that sound like sewing machines. Even worse are the # of bikes that can congregate for rides and rallies. I kid you not, there are actually discussions being discussed in California on limiting the # of bikes that can gather in one place at one time. If you think “Well who cares about the Crazies in California” there are now 17 states that look to emulate California legislation. When you stop and think about this for a second, it effects our entire lifestyle and culture. It reduces the products Aftermarket companies can innovate, build and distribute. It removes the opportunities for small businesses to sell at rally events. It removes 90% of your choices. Your number one choice right now should be to find out which of your government representatives support the freedom of individual choice and if your current representative does not support freedom of choice, it is your job to elect the person that represents your freedom of choice.

The best way to get up to date information is to join the IMA. You will get weekly legislative updates, calls to action with simple way to express your concerns and choices. Go to imamembers.org and click Join Today, it’s that simple. If you think our current administration will limit regulation and cut back restrictions don’t forget every other industry feels the same but they understand “The greasy bearing gets the grease”. What I am saying is government administrations listen to numbers and we are at a disadvantage being a minority of the general population. Don’t forget, administrations eventually change. By joining the IMA you increase our chance of being heard and preserving our culture for future generations. I invite you to join us at a few upcoming events to get updated info and meet some great people that really care . Next up is the 42^nd Annual A.B.A.T.E. Social Hour, Thursday August 7^th, noon thru 3:30 pm, at Whitewood City Park, exit 23 follow the signs/ road dead ends at City Park (free for SMRO members, $10 all others. The big event coming up is the 41^st Meeting of the Minds in Shreveport Louisiana, September 25-28. You will learn so much with workshops, breakout sessions and great general presentations. When the weekend is over you have new friendships, a ton more knowledge and enjoy being part of the MRF and IMA. Go to mrf.org for more info. Many have fought and sacrificed to protect our freedom to make our own choices. Today the choice is yours, help us keep it that way.