Biker Bells: The Story Behind the Tradition

Putting biker bells on motorcycles is an old tradition. There are a variety of stories about biker bells, and no one really knows the exact origin of the biker bell. The most popular story takes place decades ago.

On a cold December night a lone biker rode the highways, working his way home after a trip to Mexico. His saddlebags buldged with toys and trinkets he had bought for some orphans who lived at a group home near his home. The old biker had lived a good life, and as he rode that dark night, he thought about how blessed his life had been. He was a simple man who enjoyed the simple things of life. As he thought of all the good in his life, he was thankful to have a loving partner who understood his need to ride the highways and he was thankful for his bike that had never failed him. As the miles rolled by, he thought about the many road trips he had taken. As he rode, the miles slipped by and he was happy. As he entered the high desert about 40 miles from the border his life would forever be changed. As luck would have it, the lone biker came around a curve and was ambushed by the gremlins. As was their practice, they had scattered across the road an old pair of shoes, a board with a nail in it, pieces of tires and trash. And they had dug holes in the road for bikers to run over and, they hoped, crash.

And every time a biker wrecked, the road gremlins rejoiced over the evil they had done. While the old biker fought to stay upright, the gremlins traps proved too strong and he crashed to the road, sliding to a stop next to his saddlebags that were broken open. Laying on the road, bruised but not broken, he watched the gremlins come out hiding. Slowly they moved towards him. Unarmed, the old biker saw a bell that had spilled from his saddlebags and thinking there was nothing else he could do, he began ringing it, hoping to scare the evil gremlins away. Not too far away, a couple of bikers had stopped for the night to make camp. While sitting around the fire, they heard a ringing bell. Curious, they investigated and found the wounded biker now surrounded by gremlins. They hurried to his side and frightened the gremlins away. Grateful for what the bikers had done, the old biker took two of his bells and tied them to his rescuers bikes as low to the ground as possible. Before he left them, he told the two bikers that should they ever need help to ring the biker bells that he had put on each of their bikes, and a fellow biker would come to their aid.

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