How to Verify a Club Is Legitimate and Active Before You Reach Out

Directories, this one included, carry listings for clubs that have merged, gone dormant, or changed character since the listing was created. Before you ride across the state to a meeting, spend thirty minutes confirming that the club is active and is what you expect. The routine below uses only public information.

Check for recent activity

Open the club's website and social media pages. An active club has posted about a ride, an event, or a meeting in the current season. A page whose last post is two or three years old is a club that may no longer meet. Event listings on this site, on rally calendars, and on local shop pages are another sign of life. If the only trace of the club is its directory listing, treat it as unverified.

Look it up in public registries

Most established clubs are registered as nonprofit corporations with their state, and the state's business entity search will show the registration date, whether it is current, and the registered agent. The American Motorcyclist Association publishes a charter search for its chartered clubs. Federal tax-exempt organizations appear in the Internal Revenue Service's exempt organization search, which also shows whether they file annual returns. None of this proves a club is good, but a club that has kept its paperwork current for years is a club that functions.

Understand which kind of club it is

The category shown on each listing in this directory is a starting point, not a verdict. Read the club's own description of itself. Look at photos of members' vests: a three-piece patch with a territory rocker and an MC cube tells you it is a traditional MC; a one-piece patch suggests a riding club; a support patch for another club tells you where it sits in the local order. Clubs that wear a 1% diamond are closed to the public and do not recruit through directories.

Ask around

Independent motorcycle shops, dealership event coordinators, and the organizers of local charity rides know which clubs are active, which are welcoming, and which have a reputation. Ask open questions. "What can you tell me about this club?" gets a better answer than "Is this club any good?" Members of other clubs will also talk about neighboring clubs if you ask respectfully at a public event.

Go see for yourself

Attend a public event the club hosts or supports before you contact them about membership. Watch how members treat guests, how they treat each other, how they handle alcohol, and how they handle their bikes. Notice whether the officers are visible and whether the event runs on time. This one visit will tell you more than the rest of the research combined.

Signs to stop

• No public footprint at all beyond a directory listing.
• A registry status of dissolved, revoked, or delinquent with no explanation.
• Members who will not say what the club does or what membership involves.
• Pressure to pay money before you have attended anything.
• Public posts that threaten other clubs or boast about confrontations.

Help us keep the directory accurate

If you find that a listing on this site is out of date, use the contact page to tell us. Listings are compiled from public sources and club submissions, and corrections from riders and club officers are how it improves.