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Saturday, October 8, 2011

Why The Club Patch Needs To Be Protected

By Jeremy Caxton


One question that a lot of people often ask is why motorcycle club patches are not sold at retail level be patch dealers like The Cheap Place. It's a legitimate question when you consider that there are lots of casual bikers and patch collectors that don't know much about motorcycle clubs. But for those who belong to a club, being able to purchase a club patch at a retail outfit is tantamount to insulting the club.

Those who belong to these motorcycle clubs often refer to their patch as the 'colors'~The patch of a motorcycle club is also called the 'colors' by many of the members. Motorcycle clubs want their colors to be worn only by those who are members of the club. Furthermore, many motorcycle clubs have specific ground rules as to any behavior deemed unacceptable when displaying club colors. For example, a motorcycle club whose purpose is to support the sobriety of recovering alcoholics would consider it inappropriate to be consuming alcohol while wearing club colors.

Earning of the Club Patch

While the rules governing individual motorcycle clubs vary from one to the next, most have some sort of process a new member must go through in order to earn his club patch. For some clubs this simply means being faithful to all club meetings and activities for specified amount of time. For other clubs, there may be tasks involved. There are a number of clubs who will give their new members a provisional patch until they are fully fledged members of the club.

The reason retail patch dealers do not sell motorcycle clubs is because it would mean that nobody would ever have to earn their clubs patch because they could simply go out and buy it. This would make it less valuable to be a member of a motorcycle club and would be insulting to existing members. One thing you really need to know about motorcycle clubs is that the members are fiercely loyal individuals who take their membership seriously. If colors could be purchased rather than earned, that would inevitably water down the bond of loyalty.

Returning the Club Patch

What is done with club patches when a member leaves is another thing that is decided by the club rules. In most cases clubs will ask for the club patch to be returned by individuals who have been asked to leave the club over unacceptable behavior. This is done to protect the club's reputation.

Some clubs allow members who have been with the organization for a long period of time to hold onto their patch as a souvenir. There is one club that allows members to keep their patch if they have been with the club for ten years or more before leaving. The only thing that the club requests is that these individuals no longer wear the patches but just keep it for personal use at home.

There's more to protecting the club patch then we've talked about in this article. You can find out so much more about it online if you want.




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