Watch: A History Of Biker Fashion And Style

Are bikers more stylish than you think? Here's a look through the history of biker fashion as well as a brief run down of culture.

Earl Davidson

By: Earl Davidson

Dec 17, 2023 at 7:33am ET

Add RideApart as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Bikers are more stylish than you think! I naturally gravitated towards this video while surfing my recommendations on YouTube, and I couldn’t help but click. Being into motorcycle gear, and having reviewed many pieces over the years, this video caught my eye.

Covering several pieces like jackets, helmets, and boots, Antonio Centeno of Real Men Real Style on YouTube is known for his in-depth video trips through time that show why things are more stylish than they are. He’s also known for his other videos that offer tips and advice for men that revolve around lifestyle, dating, and the history of men’s style.

This time around, Antonio covers biker fashion. Being a more classic gentleman, Mr. Centeno gravitates towards the cafe racer style, including leather jackets and other classic stuff. Does he still ride? Unfortunately, an accident caused him to quit, which he was able to explain in a previous video. Even then, he has a lot of experience under his belt as a motorcyclist, taking a tour to the four corners the United States and meeting a lot of bikers along the way. He explained his reason for quitting in the video, all while making motorcycling sound awesome (heck yeah). During his tour, he had a Triumph Sprint ST 955i.

I think that the video is really good, just like his other history of style videos. He even goes as far as to explain the reasoning behind these culturally associated pieces like leather jackets and boots. Back then, before all of our space-age textiles, bikers would don leather as a necessity to fight the wind while they rode and also to protect their skin in the event of a crash, there were no motorcycle-specific boots back then with all the fancy D3O and whatnot. Biker fashion was less nerdy and techy, but only because that’s what they had to work with back then.

What do you think?

View

Comments

In addition, the video covers aspects of biker club culture and with an additional piece of advice. Patches are one thing that we usually associate with bikers, and as we’ve seen and heard, you have to be careful with patches unless you are part of a club. Antonio also uncovers the mythos behind biker patches and their cultural significance.

Perhaps an additional section for modern motorcyclist fashion would have been appropriate. I wanted to hear Antonio’s take on adventure bike gear or sport bike gear, even if that’s not totally up his alley.