Many years ago, I took my wife on a motorcycle ride for the very first time. It was also her first motorcycle ride. We rode up the road from KL to Fraser's Hills . Having passed Kuala Kubu Bahru a motorcycle light can be seen coming down from the hills and as we passed each other I lifted my hand to give a wave to the other motorcyclist who waved and gave a thumb up sign. Later on we passed several more motorcyclists and as we passed we would wave at each other. When we arrived at the Gap there were several motorcycles and riders there all wanting to have a hot kopi ‘O’. We parked and went to the coffee shop. I greeted everyone there and they all responded. From their faces you can see that they have been riding for a while, I later found that they were from Penang.  We, my wife and I joined one of the tables and joined in their conversation like old buddies who had not met for a while.  After about half an hour we parted from the group as they had wanted to proceed up Fraser's but my wife and I wanted to go straight down to Tras , Bentong and back to KL.  We waved each other as the gate for up going traffic was opened.  We arrived back at our home just about noon and we washed up.  I was at the sofa browsing the papers when my wife came beside me and said.

‘ I didn’t know you have lots of friends?’

‘ Yeah, they were from Penang’, I replied.

‘How can you recognize them from afar with their helmets on?’

‘Oh I don’t know who they were’,  I said.

‘Don’t know?... But you all waved at each other?’  she quipped.

‘Oh. That’s comradeship among bikers.’  I said.

‘Comradeship?’ as she look at me puzzled.

‘Yeah we bikers are like comrades irrespective of what we do and where we came from, we are like brothers.’ I explained

‘Oh yeah?  And I was talking happily with the group we shared the table with at the coffee shop at the Gap thinking that they were your friends!’, she replied.

That’s the thing about motorcyclists, where ever you are, be it in England, Europe, America, Africa or Malaysia, we treat each other like comrades. That’s the bond even though we do not know each other. Skin color and language differences are not a problem for bikers. I don’t know if any other sports, recreational activity or groups have this characteristic.

Motorcyclists are like ONE big family. The spirit of 1Malaysia exists in every motorcyclist.  Motorcycle groups or clubs has never been formed based on racial / occupational / creed.