The Evolution of "The Wave"

Spring is here and motorcyclists and scooter riders are out in force. One thing you notice more in the spring than any other time of year is that people are glad to be out again on two wheels and the waves are a bit more exuberant and indiscriminant.

The wave has changed over the years. In the part of the midwest where I live, thirty some years ago('71) when I began riding, it was usually a raised left forearm, palm forward, sometimes coupled with a slight turn of the wrist. At times, for kindred spirits, it was a peace sign instead. Basically everyone waved at everyone else, other than the "one percenters"... Harley riders who were too bad-assed to wave to anyone who wasn't as bad as they were.

Then I noticed the Harley guys began to salute each other with a clenched fist, but for the rest of us it was still an upraised open palm, By the time I quit riding for a number of years, in the mid 80's, the wave had largely changed to just raising an outstretched open palm from the hand grip, but virtually everyone still waved, except the Harley guys, who wouldn't wave at "riceburners".

Since taking up riding again a couple years ago, I've noticed it's different now. For one thing, I'm now on a scooter, having tired of running through a bunch of gears with every curve, corner, hill, and stop sign. Crotchrocket riders seemingly will not wave at a scooter... not intentionally anyhow. My scooter looks a little similiar to some of the japanese sport bikes from the front at a distance, and if I wave before they can identify it as a scooter, some of them get their hand off their left hand grip and then check themselves quickly when they realize they almost waved at a scooter. I'm quite sure they're gripped by the fear that whatever is between their legs would shrivel up and fall off if they actually completed the wave at a scooter.

Some of the Harley riders won't wave... those for whom it isn't about the experience or the ride, but the image; those that bought a Harley for "status" or to compensate for some personal feelings of inadequacy. Around town, there are a good number of Harley riders who won't wave, but once out of the city, on state highways or other rural two lane blacktop, almost all of them wave. Those aren't the ones riding for status... there's nobody there to see how cool they are. That's a change from the way things used to be. I guess the ones who are really into the experience, must all watch American Chopper, showing Vinnie and Mikey having fun with scooters in their off hours, or whenever they can steal a bit of time; so scooters have become "cool enough" to wave at.

The wave has changed too. Now, the prevalent wave is the slightly dropped and outstretched left arm, palm forward, index finger extended, except for the scooter riders who choose to wave, which varies from the dropped left hand to a raised, palm forward left hand, to a wildly exuberant wave. Around here, that's way less than half of the scooter riders. Either the rest of them are too intent on their errands to notice, they bought their scooter as a utilitarian vehicle to save gas and don't really appreciate the experience of the ride, or they're so green they're holding on with a death grip and scared to death to take one hand off the handlebars.

Me, I wave to everyone. If a motorcyclist doesn't return the wave, maybe they didn't notice, they were too late, or... it's just too damn bad that they can't share in the enjoyment of the ride, and have to use a motorcycle as a prop to bolster their poor self image.