Rockers and Mods...

[Drifter]

Tell us what it was like back in those days or now being with either group...or gang. I have read stories and such but never from someone actually there. I get the rocker thing but mods on scooters...not so much anyway what is the real story.

 

[TC3]

Watch Quadrophenia to see the mods in action

Tony

 

[johnakay]

have a read of this...
Mods and rockers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

don't take every thing as gospel.
I to was a mod sort of but caught the tail end of it 1968 to 1970.
we never had any bother where ever we went.
we used to have our own cafe and the biker boys had their own further up the high street.
in that time not once did I see a fight between the two. amongst each other yes.
even I did fight a couple of time's with our own gang .
but never with the biker boys.
some times I used to park up outside the biker's cafe and had a chit chat with some of the boy's about their bikes etc..
yeah you got one or two who would say some thing unpleasant but they were quickly shut up by their own.
once I was old enough to buy a bike with out family permission as some of us scooter boys did,traded in the scooters and bout a bike.
in my case a Suzuki 350 Rebel and then a T500
350....

T500j...

 

[happy]

Oh dear, is this troll bait?

Be careful of this topic coz we have a (few) strong opinionated user(s) here who seem(s) very sensitive on this topic.

Me? I am too young to know right from wrong.
Fighting and blood are no no in my books, though.

BTW, nice Suzi's John.

Now, who wants to talk about iPhones or Samsung Galaxy?

 

[Billy Budd]

Photo Album - Imgur

 

[Rocker66]

As one who was a Rocker way back then I still have strong feelings on the subject and would still not be seen dead on a scooter any more than I would change allegience to my football team. I can understand why some people would ride modern scooters and it's really only the mod style 60s scooters that I have a problem

Most of the problems were here on the South coast (the term Mods & Rockers was 1st used by the press following incidents in Clacton in '63) and yes there were confrontations but as johnakay correctly states these were wildly exaggerated by the media..
the modes of transport like the music and cloths were only outward symbols of what was mainly a case of social differences with the Rockers being mainly working class manual workers and the Mods mainly coming from middle class white collar workers. Of course sometimes people from one of the classes would be a member of the other faction.
There are still those that like the life styles of both factions and these are not only those from the 60s but also younger people ( check out the Ace Cafe web site at http://www.ace-cafe-london.com and see their events). The style still has quite strong following in Germany and strangely Japan
I hope that this goes some way to answering your questions
Here as johnakay again correctly states each faction had their own cafes and what would today probably be referred to as turf (or whatever the modern idiom is) but on occasions one faction or the the other would venture into the others area. It this was quite common in the coastal town of Folkestone where the cafe I used was located
Just to keep the post balanced here is a picture of some Rockers

To put things into perspective one of best mates at work is an ex Mod and still has an old 60s scooter

 

[happy]

People change. Seasons change.

What is MOST important in life is to be able to MOVE ON.

Embrace life and embrace your neighbours and your "enemies".

That way, you will be happy.

I am Happy.

## All you need is Love, you got it...##....

 

[Cyclerosis]

Got a kick out of the movie. "We are the mods!" Quadrophenia (1979) - Video Dailymotion If anyone here actually gets through the first half of the movie, notice the initials "GS" on 'Ace Face's' scooter. Ace Face is played by Sting and his real name is Gordon Sumner. What a hoot!

 

[happy]

Got a kick out of the movie. "We are the mods!" Quadrophenia (1979) - Video Dailymotion If anyone here actually gets through the first half of the movie, notice the initials "GS" on 'Ace Face's' scooter. Ace Face is played by Sting and his real name is Gordon Sumner. What a hoot!

Oh F..k!
So that's the kind of violence the youngsters during that time was up to! Oh dear!
Sony should have invented the Playstation then instead of the Walkman then....if only.


Good thing it is a thing of the past.

 

[johnakay]

no walkman in them day's happy only bovver boots and skin head's.
they took over when mods following faded..
last year me and my good lass were following behind quite a few scooter doing coast to coast run.
and the blood things stinks,didn't stay behind long.
I don't mind the smell of two strokes but they absolutely stunk..
a mixture of petrol/oil.
any way here is a skin head.

 

[Drifter]

So what went on in the clubs, was tea the only thing to drink or did the beer flow freely? Did you shoot pool were girls allowed in...etc. My guess that was a fun time to Grow up.....unless you Got sent to Viet Nam.

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

As one who was a Rocker way back then I still have strong feelings on the subject and would still not be seen dead on a scooter any more than I would change allegience to my football team. I can understand why some people would ride modern scooters and it's really only the mod style 60s scooters that I have a problem

Most of the problems were here on the South coast (the term Mods & Rockers was 1st used by the press following incidents in Clacton in '63) and yes there were confrontations but as johnakay correctly states these were wildly exaggerated by the media..
the modes of transport like the music and cloths were only outward symbols of what was mainly a case of social differences with the Rockers being mainly working class manual workers and the Mods mainly coming from middle class white collar workers. Of course sometimes people from one of the classes would be a member of the other faction.
There are still those that like the life styles of both factions and these are not only those from the 60s but also younger people ( check out the Ace Cafe web site at http://www.ace-cafe-london.com and see their events). The style still has quite strong following in Germany and strangely Japan
I hope that this goes some way to answering your questions
Here as johnakay again correctly states each faction had their own cafes and what would today probably be referred to as turf (or whatever the modern idiom is) but on occasions one faction or the the other would venture into the others area. It this was quite common in the coastal town of Folkestone where the cafe I used was located
Just to keep the post balanced here is a picture of some Rockers

To put things into perspective one of best mates at work is an ex Mod and still has an old 60s scooter

I actually like the new scoots, but I could also see myself making fun of those that had 20-30 lights and mirrors that severed no purpose.
I would also tell them that I thought they were idiots with all those mirrors. Just saying!

 

[johnakay]

all I ever had on my lambretta SX200 was a small fly screen and a rear spare wheel/luggage carrier with a built in backrest.
I still have a couple of friends who still have their scooter's.
I've moved on now,I couldn't go back to scooter's now.
they were good at the time and I didn't have much of a choice,it was either that or none.
so I choose to have one seeing that my friends were in the same predicament as me.
scooter periods lasted about 2.5 years..lost interest but found a even better one GIRLS!!
as you fella's all know we had one thing in mind and it wasn't romance but thats all I'm saying.
anyway back to scooters at 21 bought a bike then at 23 car.
came back into biking at 36 and been riding ever since.
my old scooter is same as this one and in that colour.

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

If I had a use for a scoot, I would have one. To me most things are used as a tool. If I get pleasure out of it, that's a plus.

 

[Rocker66]

So what went on in the clubs, was tea the only thing to drink or did the beer flow freely? Did you shoot pool were girls allowed in...etc. My guess that was a fun time to Grow up.....unless you Got sent to Viet Nam.

In the UK it was very much a cafe scene. these were usually transport cafes used by lorry 9truck) drivers during the day and by the bikers during the evening and weekends although some on the main trunk roads were 24 hour. one example was the famous Ace which was on the north circular road which led to the A1 or as it was also known The great north road which as it's name suggests was the main route north out of London. the reason these cafes were popular was the fact that they were cheap and had decent car parks. the main entertainment would be the jukebox and pintables. Mainly we would just sit around talking about music bikes and girls. Usually exaggerating about the latter two as one tends to do at that age. The food would be mainly fry ups or simple things like pie & chips or to you guys that side of the pond fries. The most popular order at our cafe was "rat pie and a cup of splosh". Alcohol was not available. weekends we would have a run out to something like a local race meeting or just to visit another local bike cafe. Often on a Saturday night we would go to one of the local village halls if they had a dance on or occasionally to "Toffs" a local dance club but that was mainly Mod territory which we would only visit if there was someone really good on like Gino Washington or maybe one of the local groups that played our sort of music.
All in all it was a pretty simple life style but it was certainly FUN!!!

 

[HONDABIKEPRO]

I actually like the new scoots, but I could also see myself making fun of those that had 20-30 lights and mirrors that severed no purpose.
I would also tell them that I thought they were idiots with all those mirrors. Just saying!

HAY LEE these guys have more lights then we do. i have to go get more to keep up, rigid makes a six foot light bar, but i do not think it will fit threw the trees?? dale

 

[johnakay]

HAY LEE these guys have more lights then we do. i have to go get more to keep up, rigid makes a six foot light bar, but i do not think it will fit threw the trees?? dale

it was just a statement some thing to be different a bit like tattoo's its a personal thing.
I never had them on,