About Us

A Brief History of ABATE of Colorado by former State Coordinator Mark Buckner, written in September, 1995 ABATE of Colorado was incorporated on August 3, 1983 in Sterling, Colorado. Sterling’s District 1 held their first meeting on August 21st of that year and quickly grew from 83 original members to about 150 members by the fall. February of 1984 saw Districts 2 and 3 open in Colorado Springs and Ft. Collins respectively, followed in April by District 4 in Craig. Denver’s District 5 opened in the fall of 1984, Salida’s District 6 in March of 1985, and Pueblo’s District 7 in December of 1985. This group made up the original districts of ABATE of Colorado. All of them except District 5 folded over the next thirty months due to internal strife, problems related to the direction the organization was taking, and lack of effective leadership. Since that time, ABATE Districts 2, 6 and 7 have been reorganized. more… A Brief History of the Motorcycle Rights Movement By Former State Coordinator Deb Craig It should be understood that, no matter what one’s personal choice concerning helmet use is, the motorcycle rights movement originally began as a natural reaction to helmet laws. The First National Helmet Law was passed in 1966 under the Federal Highway Act, which included withholding of highway construction funds for any state which did not enact motorcycle helmet use and licensing requirement laws. At that time, there was really no such thing as “motorcycle rights” and, between 1967 and 1970, almost every state that didn’t already have full coverage laws passed one, with Georgia, and then Missouri, taking the lead. The exceptions were California and Illinois. (Note: Illinois actually passed a helmet law, but it was repealed six months later on constitutional grounds; California eventually went to a fifteen and under law.) more… Still the Same by Mark Buckner, Founder – Bikepac of Colorado There’s an old saying that goes, “You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.” For those us in the biker’s rights movement, those words are especially true. We need to understand our history if we’re going to continue to grow. We need to realize that the goals and objectives we started out with are the same ones we have today, and that even though there have been changes in the issues we face and in how we do things, the basic principles remain. With that in mind, let’s take a trip down memory lane, and see where the MRF fits into this picture. more…

History of ABATE of Colorado

Part 1

My name is Ben Hochberg; I am the Director of Rider Education for ABATE of Colorado’s Rider Education Division. Our State Board of Directors has asked me to provide a history of our rider education program. It’s a great idea, because a significant percentage of ABATE’s membership, and a huge percentage of the motorcycle-riding public, know little, if anything at all about our program, even though rider ed is a big part of what we do at ABATE. Another benefit is that this will enable me and others who are already associated with the program to achieve a better understanding of how we got to where we are today; and this understanding can help guide us into the future. more…

Part 2

Greetings, ABATE members! In the last issue of the Spokesman, I described how our Rider Education Division fits into to the general scheme of things at ABATE of Colorado. Now, let’s get into the actual history of how and when it happened. As mentioned in the previous article, research for this installment is taken primarily from reports written by Erik Erikson, which were located in our files here at the office. If any of you have additions or corrections, or notice any glaring omissions, please let me know. more…

Part 3

Colorado’s M.O.S.T. Program, and M.S.F.

I’m back with another installment of the history of ABATE of Colorado’s Rider Education Division. This time we’ll deal with the Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (M.O.S.T.) Program, with a little bit about the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (M.S.F.), too. more…

Part 4

Greetings, readers of the Spokesman! Earlier this year, I submitted a series of three articles on the history of ABATE of Colorado’s Rider Education Division. One of the installments dealt with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and with the Motorcycle Operator Safety Training office of CDOT, and the other two installments were actually the history of our rider ed. division. The articles dealt with our program up until 1995; I promised another installment to cover 1995 to the present, and this is it. more…

Part 5

Greetings, once again, readers of the Spokesman. Welcome to another installment of ABATE’s Rider Ed history. The last one was in 2003 – has it really been that long? – so it’s time for an update. Picking up where we left off last time, we shall start with 2004. ABATE had training sites at Arapahoe Community College (ACC), Pikes Peak Community College (PPCC), Longmont High School, Red Rocks Community College (RRCC), Aims Community College, Colorado State University (CSU) at Pueblo, and the Mobile Program was being used at Summit High School (SHS). During the year we bid for, and won, the training contract at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs. This is a one-year contract, and the Army has the option of renewing for up to four more years. Additionally, ABATE was asked to become the training provider at two Front Range Community College (FRCC) campuses, one in Westminster and one in Fort Collins. We ceased training at Longmont due to management issues and used the bikes there to help supply the new sites. Also, we began presenting experienced rider courses at the Post Time Dog Track in Colorado Springs, sharing the facility with Pikes Peak Harley-Davidson’s Rider’s Edge program, which conducts basic rider courses there. more…

Part 6

Hello again, Colorado Spokesman readers. This is Part Six in a series of articles on the history of ABATE’s Rider Ed division. Part Five began with 2004 and ended with 2005. It’s now February, 2006; we are going to train this year at the same 10 sites we used last year: more…