Motorcycle Mania

THE HARVARD NAME does not exactly connotate images of burly men with purple helmets on motorcycles weaving in and out of traffic on one-way Cambridge streets. But don't tell that to a particular group of juniors who share more than just a suite in Winthrop house. Of the five residents of this suite, two (Jamie McPartland and Ethan Maniatis) currently keep and use motorcycles at Harvard, encouraged by the original leader of the pack, Gaston de los Reyes, and a third (Eric, "Dwayne" Plaks) has big plans to do so in the near future.

When Plaks, Bach sheet music in hand, quietly crept in to the room in which I was interviewing his roommates, I asked him if he, a non-biker, felt some-how lesser or insecure while living with such avid motorcycle men. He said that he didn't feel lesser. In fact, he plans to get a bike of his own. Simply the influence of his roommates? "Well," Plaks explained, "People have no personality. You need something to know you by."

The number of Harvard motorcycle men(or women, although I was not referred to any) remains somewhat of a mystery. Most students say there are at least a few riders in each house. Luis Millan, a senior in Currier house who currently rides a lime green, white and blue Ninja 2x6 Kawasaki, has owned a motorcycle at Harvard for three years. Millan suspects that there are more bikes located in the Quad than anywhere else on campus.

Most of the bikes point to easy parking as the major advantage to the motorcycle over the car. McPartland, part of the Winthrop suite, often rides his Maxim 550 Yamaha bike between Winthrop and his classes in the yard. "If I can go some-where where there's an option between walking and riding, I'll ride." When asked if this made him feel lazy, McPartland responded with assurance, "I feel lazy regardless. It doesn't matter." But Rich Beukema, a senior in Winthrop who has ridden across the country three times on his bike and currently rides a Honda Interpreter 500, only likes riding outside of Cambridge. "I like to get out of Cambridge because people here are kind of ignorant about motorcycle." According to Beukema, people on the east coast in general have a "Get out of my way philosophy."

All of the bikers agree that riding through Cambridge is difficult and dangerous. Maniatis, owner of a Yamaha Fazer, claims to have "come near death quite a few times" and recently almost ran in to a bus. Millan once fell off his bike when he hit a patch of send in the middle of a sharp turn. Still, he was able to get back on the bike and drive himself to the hospital. With the agressive Cambridge driving style, Beukema worries about the apparent rise in numbers of Harvard motorcycle riders. "I worry for other people driving around here."

Still, the antagonism between car and the motorcycle drivers seems to transform in to respect and comraderie between two passing motorcycle riders. As McPartlend put it, "Rather than trying to outdo each other, we've communed." Maniatis added, "It's a brotherly thing." The sign of acknowledgment between bikers, according to Milan, is "a quick right handed wave, nod or beep." There is not, in the experience of these particular bike boys, a universal brotherhood of motorcycle men. One species of bikers stands against the rest: the Harley Davidson riders. Harley riders, Maniatis explains, "don't even acknowledge that you're of the same breed."

These Harvard riders apparently get a lot of attention while on their bikes from fellow students, women in particular. "A lot of girls want rides," Millan says, "but I have a girlfriend." Reactions to a first ride on a motorcycle very drastically according to Beukema. "Half love it and half give you a speech on how dangerous bikes are."

So, is the motorcycle craze catching on with the greater Harvard community? Most of the bikes I spoke with think this is the case. "I've seen a lot more people with motorcycles," Millan says. Regardless, the Winthrop gang has big plans for the future. Maniatis announces confidently that as a rooming group. "We plan to have a fifteen bike collection." McPartland agrees, "We are all going to live next door to each other and swap bikes."

For each and every one of these bikers, a motorcycle is about more than transportation and easy parking. "It's more than that," explains Maniatis with a sigh and far away look, "much more."