First IJMS Conference brings awareness to motorcycling
IJMS Press Release - Jun 10, 2010

An international group of scholars and motorcyclists—not to mention scholar-motorcyclists—descended on the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs for the first International Journal of Motorcycle Studies (IJMS) conference, June 3-6, 2010. Participants from the U.S., Canada, England, Ireland, Italy, Romania, New Zealand and India met to offer fresh perspectives on motorcycles, motorcyclists and motorcycling. 

Motorcycle photographer Michael Lichter twisted the throttle on the conference with an opening night exhibition on Thursday. He showed examples of his work from his early career in the 1970s to the present and discussed the changes in photography and motorcycling he has witnessed in his 30-year career.

In their presentations on Friday and Saturday, conference participants highlighted the rise of adventure motorcycling as a manufacturing niche and a lucrative enterprise for travel companies, as well as the writers who publish accounts of their adventures. Other presentations on the machine included studies of the emotional impact of motorcycle design and the challenges of creating sustainable motorcycles and motorcycling practices for the future.  

Several presenters touched on the often fraught intersection of motorcycling and the law. Fresh research from New Zealand was offered to challenge government policy regarding motorcyclist culpability in multi-vehicle accidents, research that has implications for policy makers—and riders—worldwide. The difficulties in registering the Dykes on Bikes® trademark were the focus of presentations by a gender studies scholar as well as members of the group itself, including a filmmaker who screened a short documentary feature about the group.

The place of women in motorcycle culture was the subject of several other presentations. One presenter surveyed responses to women and technology, while others considered historical and contemporary reactions to the enhanced mobility that both the bicycle and then motorcycle offered to women. Physical liberation on two-wheels, they contended, provokes sexual associations for both men and women.

A number of presentations on motorcycles in cinema highlighted such sexual associations, as well. One presenter offered rich examples from early European cinema to challenge the dominant perception of biker films as a specifically American creation. Another offered an innovative reading of one contemporary film, Wild Hogs, focusing on its anxieties about homosexuality. 

Philosophers considered the human-machine interface, arguing that mind, body and motorcycle merge into a seamless unity at the peak of motorcycle performance. A sociologist encouraged us to consider motorcycling as a social career, while a psychologist presented her daily commute as a profoundly individual meditation on life. Historians reflected on the British motorcycle industry, the development of the sidecar and the impact of cultural influences on the formation of “outlaw” motorcycle culture—and vice versa, in the case of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. A textile artist displayed images of motorcycles she had “chintzed,” bikes that she had decorated with fabric coverings and then posed as props for portraits with real—and fake—riders. 

As even this brief summary indicates, the range of approaches to motorcycling was impressive and the arguments provocative. Participants attending the conference—presenters and audience members from the local community—discussed their shared passion with great intensity during conference sessions and, less formally, over drinks and dinner in the evening. They even rode together through the Colorado mountains—to visit Bishop’s Castle and Cripple Creek. In the words of one participant, it was “motorcycle heaven.”

If you’d like to experience your own slice of heaven, consider attending the next conference in Colorado Springs in summer 2012.  Watch the IJMS website for announcements.