The Bikeriders
Danny Lyon
In the early 1960s, photographer Danny Lyon took his camera on the road and became part of the bike-riding community he was portraying. His subsequent book The Bikeriders captured a rebellious subculture, shining a light on the reckless spirit that defined their world. A feature film inspired by his book has just been released. Lyon’s images offer a glimpse of the thrill, the danger, and the gritty reality of life on the open road.
Danny Lyon (born 1942) is an American photographer and filmmaker. All his publications work in the style of photographic New Journalism, meaning that the photographer has become immersed in, and is a participant of, the documented subject. In the case of The Bikeriders the community was the Chicago Outlaws biking club of Cicero, Illinois of which he was a member. He rode with them during 1965 and 1966.
The Bikeriders, an important and influential work, was one of the first books to bring a new genre to late twentieth-century photography. A genre that became more central as the century progressed. Contrary to most of the other photographers, who snatched life on the streets as they found it, Lyon photographed communities from the inside, making it an integral part of his life for the duration of the project. Danny Lyon was part of the generation he was photograping, so was able to talk with an authentic voice about his subjects, understanding instinctively not only their hopes and aspirations, but also why they were rebelling against all kinds of adult authority.
The Bikeriders is a tough, live-action close-up of the fast-moving, far-rambling world of the big bikes and those who ride them. Danny Lyon’s photographs offer a rare documentary portrait of bikeriders on the road, on the racetrack, in their homes. His photographs show them in action-racing, working on their machines, riding with their women. In the text, transcribed from taped interviews, conversations, and monologues, the Outlaws themselves talk about machines, accidents, scrambles, scraps, the action. Despite their boasts about fights and gang-bangs in Lyon’s interviews they were not Hell’s Angels. And the degree of transgression from everyday society shown by these “outlaws” was not particularly acute.
The Bikeriders explores firsthand the stories and personalities of the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club. Authentic, personal and uncompromising, Lyon’s depiction of individuals on the outskirts of society offers a gritty yet humane perspective. The Bikeriders is a touchstone publication of 1960s counter culture, crucially defining the vision of the outlaw biker as found in Easy Rider and countless other films and photobooks.
The Bikeriders
Photographer: Danny Lyon
Originally published in 1968 by the Macmillan Company
Reprinted in 1998 by Twin Palms and in 2014 by Aperture
Hardback, 94 pages, 17 x 24 cm
Introduction by Danny Lyon, interviews with bikeriders from taped interviews
Mentioned in The Photobook: A History volume 1. Edited by Martin Parr and Gerry Badger