The New York Times Media and Advertising critic Stuart Elliot writes in this week’s column that the nation’s insurers are casting a new net to fetch up bikers, separate and apart from campaigns targeting car, truck and suv owners and none so aggressively as Allstate.

You’ve probably seen Allstate’s print versions in the obvious enthusiast books. The effort from Leo Burnett is also running broadcast, cable and web banners, all circled around the Allstate Garage microsite, a really nifty little piece of Flash ingenuity that’s surprisingly practical and used Indian Larry’s Legacy shop for content. Dissin’ OCC? Looks like, well okay with us.

The $10MM campaign’s aimed squarely at the owners of the country’s estimated 9-million registered bikes. What’s the point? To create awareness of Allstate’s mc channel.

Other industry players include market top dog Progressive, Geico and State Farm.