OKLAHOMA CITY — Stick Keiner and his friend Mark “Bus” Buskirk admit that most people they meet in Oklahoma’s Capitol aren’t sure what to make of them.

With patch-covered vests, ball caps and long beards, the duo don’t exactly model the preferred attire of clean-cut, suit-wearing lawmakers, visitors and lobbyists who bustle through the halls of the Capitol each day.

But the advocates for nearly 122,000 motorcyclists in the state have become regulars here — though maybe not always welcome.

Most visitors to the Capitol are scrapping for every cent available amid a $1.3 billion shortfall.

Not so much Buskirk, 53, of Oklahoma City, and Keiner, 60, of Tecumseh, both disabled veterans, who call themselves motorcyclists’ “Legislative Brigade.” They’ve focused less on funds and more on policy.

Buskirk is president of Sooner State ABATE, a motorcycle group that aims to promote, protect and defend the rights of motorcyclists. Keiner, the group’s chaplain, is also state commander of the US Defenders motorcycle group.

They’ve been learning here as they go, but in their first foray into politics, the men managed to defeat a piece of legislation that Keiner said was “illegal,” “unethical” and “immoral.”

The idea of requiring teenagers who ride motorcycles to take a safety course wasn’t so bad. The advocates recoiled at the idea of forcing more than 18,600 teen motorcyclists to pay upwards of $150 to take a class from a specific business.

Such a measure is forbidden the state’s Constitution, which forbids laws that require someone to buy a product or service from a specific, private corporation, Keiner contends.

Keiner and Buskirk spent two weeks wandering up and down the halls of the Capitol, stopping to speak with any lawmaker who would spare a few minutes.

“We went door-to-door and said, ‘Hey, I don’t want this. Are you people crazy? We don’t like this,'” said Keiner.

Lawmakers eventually changed the wording.

On the other hand, they got behind a proposal that requires law enforcement academies to train cadets in interactions with motorcyclists and how to avoid profiling. The measure is still advancing though the Legislature.

Buskirk said motorcyclists — including nearly three-dozen lawmakers who ride — struggle with profiling. Television shows like “Sons of Anarchy,” which portrays a fictional biker gang, only worsen perceptions of motorcyclists that have lingered since the ’60s and ’70s.

Those negative perceptions deepened when a deadly biker brawl erupted between rival gangs at a restaurant in Waco last year, Buskirk said.

These days, he said, he can’t even wear his motorcycle vest to the State Fair in Oklahoma City — a prohibition he aims to get lifted.

Oklahoma has more than 140 motorcycle groups, the men say, none of which is vying for territory.

They cannot promise that all motorcyclists are good — bad apples exist in every profession and pastime — but they dispute the idea that people who ride are, by default, troublemakers.

Buskirk said they often encounter the attitude, “If you ride a motorcycle, we don’t want you in our business, we don’t want to deal with you.”

They sometimes get that at the Capitol, too.

The suit-wearing lobbyists, for example, tried to run them off.

“We’ve had a lot of adversity about (being here),” Keiner said. “We’ve had people say, ‘What are you doing here? You can watch this from home.’ These lobbyists don’t want anybody else up here.”

Tough, they said.

They’re at the Capitol, whether wanted or not. The laws affect them, too.

But, whatever you do, don’t call Keiner and Buskirk lobbyists.

“We’re not lobbyists. We’re individuals that are concerned about what’s going on,” Keiner said.

Besides, in addition to the topics that most directly affect motorcyclists, Keiner and Buskirk said they’ve become fascinated with others issues — auto insurance, court costs, open carry and DNA collection among them.

Buttonholing lawmakers, they’ve discovered, is a way to make sure their opinions are counted.

“If we don’t babysit it through and watch it, then your vote doesn’t count,” Keiner said. “You don’t count right there, unless you’re here.”

When the Legislature’s not in session, there’s little doubt about where Keiner and Buskirk will be.

Of course, they’ll be riding their motorcycles.

“It’s freedom. You get to feel everything. The smells. The sounds. The sun on your face. The bugs in your teeth,” said Buskirk, who may be a freshman citizen advocate but has been riding his Harley for more than 30 years.

“That’s how you can tell a motorcyclist has had a good ride,” he added, “is when he smiles and he’s got bugs in his teeth.”

The two men are already smiling — though maybe without the bugs — as they look forward to next year’s Legislative session and the possibilities.

Janelle Stecklein covers the Oklahoma Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jstecklein@cnhi.com.