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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''' Mildred:''' Hey Johnny, what are you rebelling against?
'''Johnny:''' Whadda you got?
|''[[The Wild One]]''}}
So you've got one mean setting. [[Police Are Useless]], and usually corrupt. Half the time the place is enveloped in smoke, fog, and general unpleasantness. Violent thugs rule the streets, and you would have to be crazy to even leave your house if you had even the slightest excuse not to.
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Enter the Badass Biker.
Possibly popularized by the [[Marlon Brando]] movie ''[[The Wild One]]'' and the [[James Dean]] movie ''[[Rebel Without a Cause]]'', the Badass Biker is the absolute epitome of the viciously cool vagrant tough guy. Whether they are traveling through the desert, city streets, a [[Motorcycle on the Coast Road|coastal road]], or [[Rule of Cool|up a wall]], this character and bike combo exudes an aura of awesome that eclipses just about any other [[Badass]] + vehicle combination.
A pretty universal trope as media from America, Europe, and Japan all love to employ badass bikers. They're also surprisingly versatile, since Badass Bikers can be heroes or anti-heroes, or, in gangs, they can be villains or mooks.
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Might also be a [[Biker Babe]]. A Badass Biker who is a thug or gang member usually fits into [[All Bikers Are Hells Angels]] as well.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime
* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'': Tsuna and Yamamoto in Choice. Airbikes in the [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks|anime....]]
* ''[[Mazinger Z]]'': Kouji and Sayaka. Boss also -arguably- counts.
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* ''[[Devilman]]'': Akira Fudo in some anime episode.
* ''[[Cutey Honey]]'': Honey Kisaragi when she used her Hurricane Honey form.
* ''[[Kotetsu Jeeg]]'': Hiroshi Shiba not only is a
* ''[[Raideen]]'': Akira Hibiki, with a [[Cool Bike]] to boot.
* ''[[Combattler V]]'': Hyoma Aoi was the only biker of the team.
* ''[[Voltes V]]'': Right like Kenichi Go in the Voltes team.
* Norman Burg in ''[[The Big O]]'' is this and a [[Battle Butler]]. He's is ''very, VERY good'' at the wheel, and has the sheer balls to take on massive robots with his bike ...
* Sniper of [[Yu Yu Hakusho]]
* Natsuki in ''[[
** And her [[Name's the Same]] [[Expy]] in [[Ga-Rei Zero]].
* Soutetsu in ''[[Zombie Loan]]''.
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* Teana Lanster of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''.
* Ginji Kawai in ''[[Pretty Sammy|Magical Project S]]''.
* Takane from ''[[
* Marik in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!''; this is made somewhat more poignant by how it connects to his past, a motorcycle being the first thing he saw (on a television set) the first time he ever left his family's underground home.
** Don't forget [[Big Bad|Dartz's]] henchmen Valon, Rafael, and Allister, who all ride on motorcycles.
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'''Bakura:''' For once we agree on something. }}
** Shows up in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'' as well, with Saiou, proving he could still be [[Badass]] without a [[Super-Powered Evil Side]].
* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Lucky Star]]'', in which [[
* Half the characters of ''Genesis Climber Mospeda''.
* Hidaka Ken in ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]''; his teammates, meanwhile, drive various flavors of [[Cool Car|cool]] and not-so-cool vehicles. Izumi Sena in ''Weiss Kreuz: Gluhen'' also rides a motorcycle, but it doesn't make him any more badass.
* Seki-sensei, Doremi and Co's homeroom teacher in ''[[Ojamajo Doremi]]''.
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* ''Rideback'' features nearly the entire cast on the titular Ridebacks, basically a cross between a modern bike and a segway, with a bit of [[Humongous Mecha]] thrown in for good measure.
* In the anime version of ''[[Sengoku Basara]]'', Date Masamune's horse sports exhaust pipes which makes it look like a horse version of Harley Davidson bike.
* ''[[Blassreiter]]'' has this trope distilled and crystallized. It starts at the motorcycle racing track, and quickly cranks this
* Duke Iker and his girlfriend Renda de Baroma from ''[[Mobile Suit Victory Gundam|Victory Gundam]]''.
* Beelzebumon on his big, black cycle named Behemoth, in ''[[Digimon Tamers]]''.
* Mello of ''[[Death Note]]'' has a rather large black bike. Shame it gets {{spoiler|asploded after Takada sets everything around her on fire.}}
* The Zokugaku Chameleons of ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', the football team of the local ghetto high school. Every member, even the team manager, has their own motorcycle.
* Kenji in ''[[Darker
* Akira Hojo from ''Sanctuary'' in his high school days had a motorcycle. He rode off on it as he dropped out of high school to join the yakuza.
* Celty Sturluson from ''[[Durarara!!]]''. A modernized [[Headless Horseman|Dullahan]] from Ireland riding around [[Tokyo Is the Center of the Universe|Ikebukuro]] on her [[Cool Bike|horse familiar-turned-motorcycle]], working as a "transporter" to earn money while she searches for her lost head. Also a [[Badass Adorable]]: her helmet has kitty ears!
** There's also Kinnosuke Kuzuhara, who isn't too notable other than the fact that he's just a [[Meddlesome Patrolman]], but he's the one that gave Celty her fear of cops.
** The [[Light Novels]] later introduce Vorona and Chikage.
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* Jiggy Pepper in ''[[Tegami Bachi]]''.
* Takeru Takemoto uses his family's motorbike to run his errands. Which he later on has enough Yen to pay for his own bike in ''[[This Ugly Yet Beautiful World]]''.
* Riki's backstory in ''[[Ai no Kusabi]]'' reveals he was once this as the leader of a biker gang that [[Earn Your Title|earned himself the title]] "Riki The Dark".
* ''[[Venus Wars]]'' is chock full of badass bikers since it's about battle bike riders and motorbike military units with [[The Hero|Hiro (Ken) Seno]], [[Biker Babe|Miranda]] and [[Majorly Awesome|Major Kurtz]] topping the list.
* Kawasaki Raimu from ''[[Bakuon!!]]'' (AKA [[Fan Nickname|"Stig-sempai"]]), a [[The Faceless|faceless]], [[The Voiceless|voiceless]] figure who just gets more [[Shrouded in Myth]] every time someone who knows her appears on screen.
* Rei in ''[[éX-Driver]]'', complete with the vagabond lifestyle - she's an elite troubleshooter, not tied to any one base.
== Comic Books ==
* Wolverine from ''[[X-Men]]'' is the most famous comic-book example.
** Cyclops is also something of a petrolhead. In the movies, after his original bike burned with his campervan, Wolverine stole one from Cyclops.
* ''[[Ghost Rider]]'', of course. Even in his civilian identity, he's a stunt rider.
* In some incarnations, [[Blade]]'s was equipped to scale walls.
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* Sometimes, Nightwing from [[Batman]] would cruise the streets on one of these. Jason Todd, The Red Hood would also count as he rides a Harley. Of course, he is the Red Hood, er, "Red Helmet". Finally, you have Huntress and Catwoman, both of whom frequently use them.
* Ben Reilly, [[Spider-Man]]'s clone, while he was [[Walking the Earth]] and dealing with [[Cloning Blues|his angst]].
* [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] most often travels on a bike. He has one in [[Captain America: The First Avenger|the movie]] as well.
* [[Black Canary]] frequently travels on a bike.
* The comic version of ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' made Zartan into this, with his own gang, the Dreadnocks.
== Films -- Animation ==
* Cloud, in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]: [[Advent Children]]''. Includes swords.
** And Sephiroth's Remnants.
* ''[[Akira]]'' - many of the main characters are part of a biker gang
== Films -- Live Action ==
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* Arcee from ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen]]'' is actually three badass bikes, connected by a group mind.
* Aped in ''[[The Monster Squad]]'' with Rudy, a tough middle-schooler who wears a leather jacket, smokes, drinks, defends the downtrodden, and likes to pose on his bicycle.
* ''[[
* [[Big Bad]] Raven and the Bombers in ''[[Streets of Fire]]''.
* Parodied in ''[[Yes-Man]]'' when Carl gets on a Ducati that is too powerful for him to handle.
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== Literature ==
* ''[[Snow Crash]]'' has Raven, whose title of "baddest motherfucker in the world" is cemented by his
* The four horsemen of ''[[Good Omens]]''. In particular, War's appearance, that of a very good-looking woman on a motorbike, makes people want to race against her.
* Death from ''[[Discworld]]'' got himself a bike in ''Soul Music'' (a "[[Stealth Pun|triumph]]", built by the Librarian) because the only thing [[Rule of Cool|cooler]] than Death the Destroyer of Worlds is Death on a bike made of bones, shiny bits and light. It should also be noted, while we're on the subject on unbearable coolness, that he needed the bike so that he could quickly [[Big Damn Heroes|save the day]] by [[The Power of Rock|shredding out some hot licks on the guitar]]. {{spoiler|In order to blackmail the '''universe''' into [[Screw Destiny|sparing someone's existence]].}} He also has a rose in his teeth at the start of the ride and, knowing that you [[Theory of Narrative Causality|need]] to [[Badass Longcoat|get the outfit right]], informs the Dean that "{{smallcaps| I need your clothes}}".
* Subverted in ''The Girl Who Played with Fire'', the second part of [[The Millennium Trilogy]]. [[Big Bad|Alexander Zalachenko]] sends two thuggish bikers to kill his daughter [[Ax Crazy|Lisbeth]] [[Little Miss Badass|Salander]]. The macho bikers try to be badass, they try ''very hard'' to be badass: she [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|beats and electrocutes them]], then [[Humiliation Conga|cuts up their jackets and steals their Harley Davidsons.]]
** Of course, [[Biker Babe|Lisbeth has a motorcycle herself]]...
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* Loki/Gragg from ''[[Daemon]]''.
* In the ''[[1632]] Series'', there's "Buster" Beasley. Tough, flamboyant, not too careful about staying within the law, but a reliable father. After his {{spoiler|death fighting an anti-Semitic mob}}, his name became a slang word in much of Europe: a "buster" is a stalwart fellow who will '''''NOT''''' back down when confronting evil.
* The first edition of [[Post Apocalyptic]] novel ''The Lost Traveller'' by Steve Wilson had this back-cover blurb:
{{Quote|When Civilization did an ugly disappearing act called World War III, men already used to the lack of it stood the best chance of survival. And the Hell's Angels (Los Angeles Chapter) were survivors from way back...}}
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* Reno Raines of ''Renegade''.
* Eli "Weevil" Navarro of ''[[Veronica Mars]]''
* There's a reason they're called ''[[Kamen Rider
* Continuing the ''Terminator'' examples above, [[The Sarah Connor Chronicles|Cameron]] gets to cruise around on a motorcycle, complete with [[Cool Shades|sunglasses]]. (Except in her case, the giant motorcycle cop glasses she wears look a little [[Narm|silly]] on [[Summer Glau]]).
* Spike picked up a motorcycle from a
* Numerous characters on ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]''. Of course, it's woven into the premise.
* Fonzie from ''[[Happy Days]]'' started out as a family-friendly version; as his role was increased, his badassitude <s>was decreased</s> morphed from traditional "tough guy" to near-super-powered nice guy.
* Richard Hammond on ''[[Top Gear]]'' obviously thought he was one of these when he got to ride a Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle. Subverted all the way, as he had to scramble to get into his leathers, couldn't get the thing started without help, and spent the entire ride encountering engine trouble and rain.
** The Stig's "Communist cousin" in a deleted scene from the Series 12 Vietnam special.
* Kryten from ''Red Dwarf'' briefly becomes this at the end of his Season 2 debut. There is even a version of the page quote involving him and Rimmer.
== Music ==
* The protagonist of the classic Richard Thompson song "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" is a
* Rob Halford, lead singer of pioneering heavy metal band ''Judas Priest'', is known for riding onstage on a large Harley Davidson motorcycle, usually performing a song or two whilst seated on the bike before getting off of it.
* Taiji Sawada, ex-X, ex-Loudness, ex-Cloud Nine, now The Killing Red Addiction. Full fucking stop. Insanely talented slap bassist, and unless his injuries earlier this year finally stopped him,
* Commander of [[The Protomen]] dresses like this.
* Jimmy, The Leader of The Pack from the song of the same name by The Shangri-Las.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Warhammer
** The Orks have legendary bikerboy Wazdakka Gutsmek, who never, ever gets off his bike except to tinker with it, and never sleeps thanks to a special brew the [[Deadly Doctor|Mad Doks]] make for him. His goal is to create a network of warp gates and such so that he and his army can ride from one end of the galaxy to another. He has a [[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]] hand and equipped his bike with [[More Dakka|cannons that can stop a tank in its tracks]]. He once killed a [[Humongous Mecha|Warlord Titan]] by driving off a cliff, punching through its [[Deflector Shields|void shields]], crash-landing in the thing's ''head'', and slaughtering the crew. [[Infernal Retaliation|While on fire]].
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20190710174252/http://mirror.servut.us//kuvat/motivation/doomrider_1.jpg Doomrider]. A demon price/chaos lord from older editions has become a meme with 40k fans. Now mind you cocaine is bad, but when you are the demon god-thing of sex, drugs and rock-and-roll's favored demon prince biker of badassitude, cocaine is the weakest drug in your veins.
** This is the [[White Scars]] Space Marines' entire schtick. They're pretty much Mongols on armoured bikes with machine guns.
** About the only people without badass bikes are the Tau (who go with [[A Mech by Any Other Name|battlesuits for their badassery]]), the Tyranids (who are a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]]), and the Imperial Guard (who actually get badass ''riders''...seriously, they have a ''horse-mounted cavalry'' unit).
** Cadian Rough Riders ride ''choppers''. Yes, 40k has a unit of badass normals, riding big bikes around in combat and charging people on them so they can stab them with explosive tipped lances.
* ''[[Vampire: The Requiem]]'' gives us the [[Continuity Nod|Bruja]] bloodline, which is what happens when a Carthian Gangrel decides the leader of a biker gang would make a good instrument for the revolution. What happens is said Carthian ends up getting diablerized by his childe, who then goes on to Embrace his gang and raise hell all over the Southwest.
* Dokurorider from the ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' card game is a 6-Star Ritual Monster/Zombie with 1900/1850 who rides a giant motorcycle with jaws over the front wheel. He's not especially strong, but ''damn'' he looks cool. [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Dokurorider Click here for the Wiki article].
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]''. The Anarchs, but nobody is as badass as Smiling Jack.
* ''[[Full Throttle]]'' (the game, not the movie) is all about Badass Bikers and is generally the all-round reference for details of this trope.
* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'', by the same designer, has ''two'' teams of Badass Bikers; the Thunderhogs, boom-trikes for your bassist [[The Medic|medics]], and the Fire Barons, choppers which ignite high-proof booze in their wake to [[Kill It with Fire]]. [[It Makes Sense in Context]], I promise!
* Jack Cayman from ''[[MadWorld]]'', complete with road rage level.
* Ryu Hazuki in ''[[Shenmue]]''. Although he doesn't actually own a bike, he fills the trope when he either borrows one from a neighbor
* Both Dante and Lady ride bikes in ''[[Devil May Cry]]''. The former is a [[Badass Longcoat]] and the latter is a [[Badass Normal]].
* This is the only reason [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Shadow the Hedgehog]] got a bike in his solo game, even though he logically shouldn't need one since he has [[Super Speed]]... meaning he's faster on foot.
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* [[James Bond]] qualifies for this in ''Everything or Nothing'', whenever he rides the Q-Bike. Especially so in the nailbiter that is the Pontchartrain Bridge chase level, where he's trying to catch up with Jaws {{spoiler|who's driving a tanker-truck full of nanobots, hell-bent on [[Harsher in Hindsight|destroying the levees and flooding New Orleans]].}}
* Snow, from ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]''. His motorcycle is made from two hot chicks, who..er...[[Girl-On-Girl Is Hot|link together.]] Oh, and they're also gods.
* ''[[
* Chuck Greene of ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'' is a motocross champ and zombie-killing extraordinaire who turns his skills fixing up his bike into the ability to [[MacGyvering|MacGyver-up]] [[Crazy Awesome]] weaponry.
* [[Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne]] introduces us to [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Hell Biker]], who besides being an undead
* In the [[Command
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== Real Life ==
* [[Real Life]] bikers can get a bad rep, especially in areas where gangs are well-known, but there are a lot of stories of how they are actually quite nice, though they often use the image to protect their own.
** A good example are the guys of [https://web.archive.org/web/20130917094605/http://www.rescueink.org/ Rescue Ink], who work to help rescue abused animals while making sure that the abusers get what's coming to them. See [https://web.archive.org/web/20130218203601/http://www.dosomething.org/blog/chatterbox/bikers-help-fight-animal-cruelty this article] for an absolutely adorable picture of them helping out puppies.
** There are also the [[wikipedia:Patriot Guard Riders|Patriot Guard Riders]], veteran bikers who attend funerals of U.S. Army soldiers and shield the family from the <s>evil cultists</s> protesters of the [[Religion of Evil|Westboro]] [[Holier Than Thou|Baptist]] [[Belief Makes You Stupid|Church]].
** Adelasian locals (Adelaide, South Australia) will know all about the Santa Bikers run. Every year all the bikies in the city buy presents for disadvantaged kids and drive down the main roads on their bikes (most decked in santa gear because that's part of the fun) to deliver them. I'm told other countries have similar runs.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Motor Vehicle Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:The Fifties]]
[[Category:Badass]]
[[Category:
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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