Responsibility and Ethics - Issue #15

What is expected and unexpected in the world of motorcycling when your hobby is also a form of income?

Nothing about me or the way I represent myself will be changing but when I saw the below image in my Inbox yesterday, it brought forward a wave of anxiety and pressure that had me thinking that this would make for a good newsletter post. As always, I’ll try to be concise.

I’ve told a few Internet friends privately that I feel as if this year will be full of pressures, temptations and opportunities to squander my upward trajectory before I begin. It’s how I confront these opportunities and maintain integrity that matters. What I’m talking about was a seed planted in my mind a few years ago when FortNine’s YouTube channel opened up the can of worms that is the motorcycle review racket. The ‘independent’ journalists supported by advertisers like the motorcycle companies they are supposed to be objectively reviewing & commenting on and how a bad review of the new S1000R would mean future bikes worth reviewing may not be offered to that journalist or their magazine in the future.

On my doorstep are opportunities this year that could become realities and seriously change what I’m doing in 2021.

A few of these things have happened, most have not. In the last 12 months, I’ve turned down 3 exclusive sponsorships though because the terms weren’t worth it to me. I’ll go into that in another post but the short of it is, I know I add monetary value to every company’s product I feature online and I do it 100% out of my own pocket by purchasing the thing at full price and then talking about it. When a company comes along and says “Take 12 things off your bike that we don’t make and we’ll sponsor you”, that’s a hard pass for me. I run what works for my bikes, not what I get for free.

This post also was spawned by some language in the MOA Board Member Code of Ethics I agreed to when I submitted my name for nomination. A few items below stood out the most:

While these are only a couple of things, they are the codes that stood out most to me. In short, I have a list of potential conflicts that I’m going to share here with you all, the MOA members:

Despite these conflicts and the hunger for additional opportunities, I have agreed to and will uphold the Board of Directors Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct throughout my term and, should a member feel that I have a conflict, will take swift action to ensure the conflict is eliminated.

…and now to the meat of this newsletter for which I’m thankful for your patience.

The value and occasional entertainment I add to this community of people who ride motorcycles is something I take very seriously. I’m never going to get everything perfect the first time but I’ve really enjoyed learning as I go. I try something, admit mistakes, correct and try again and the trust you all have in what I write being my view and not a sponsor’s view is very important.

Now that Adam Chandler is no longer just another motorcycle rider on the Internet but someone affiliated with organizations with generations of established success and track records, I promise I won’t take that for granted and use their esteem to progress my career or place. I’m honored to be involved and look forward to bringing my skills to the organizations for the betterment of the organizations and not for my own gain.

Thanks so much for reading and I look forward to the next couple of years!