Motorcycle Clubs Shrug Off Gang Image In Thailand

[george]

Motorcycle clubs shrug off gang image in Thailand

PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) - The pack cruises into town on machines gleaming with chrome, their revving engines startling bystanders. They wheel up to a local bar and park carefully, putting their iron steeds to rest.

The Black Rose Motorcycle Club has arrived.

This band of bikers - most of them Westerners clad in leather and denim - probably wouldn't attract much attention on the streets of San Francisco or Chicago.

But on the palm-fringed roads of coastal Thailand, they are more than a touch exotic. Pedestrians gawk.

A teenager gives a thumbs-up.

The group is one of the 20 to 30 motorcycle clubs thought to be operating in this Southeast Asian country, many of which count among their members dozens of Westerners, including oil industry workers, soldiers, pilots, mechanics and musicians.

"We're riding fools,'' says Lewis Underwood, 55, of San Francisco, who co-founded The Jesters Motorcycle Club in 1996 in Pattaya, a southeastern Thai resort notorious for its tawdry nightclubs and sex businesses.

A bar owner, Underwood has lived in Thailand for more than 20 years.

Motorcycle clubs like the Black Rose Club cater to bikers of every ilk, but several - like Underwood's - are dedicated to riders of classic American-style cruisers, particularly those made by Harley-Davidson.

As recently as the 1980s, Harleys were rare in Thailand, often imported by individual enthusiasts.

But demand for the bikes grew along with Thailand's economy, which boomed for a decade starting in the mid-1980s.

A dealership opened in the capital, Bangkok, in 1996.

When the local baht currency tumbled during the region's 1997 financial crisis, many foreigners in Thailand rushed to buy Harleys at rock-bottom prices, and the ranks of biker clubs swelled.

The big American motorcycles remain out of reach for most Thais. New Harleys cost as much as 1 million baht (US$24,500).

The biker clubs project a roguish image, with names that evoke the street gang culture of 1950s America: The Jesters, The Immortals, Heaven's Devils, The Ravens.

But despite their tough appearance, many foreign bikers reject the lawlessness associated with motorcycle gangs like the ######'s Angels.

The goal of riding is fun, companionship and even fund-raising for charity, they say.

The Jesters, for instance, have raised more than 14 million baht (US$343,000) for children's foundations over the past seven years, Underwood says.

Another center of biker activity is the southern beach resort of Phuket, where the annual Phuket Bike Week attracts thousands of people and as many as 600 motorcycles.

It is also home to the Black Rose Motorcycle Club, whose 22 members live and own businesses there, primarily restaurants, bars and discotheques catering to tourists.

On a recent afternoon, six Black Rose riders on Harleys and a Honda completed a two-day journey of 900 kilometers (more than 500 miles) from Phuket to Pattaya, to be greeted at a local bar by the Jesters.

With members from about 12 mostly Western countries, Black Rose is "a very international club - French, Italian, German, English, Irish, Thai of course, American - all kinds,'' says Lars Mueller, a 37-year-old Black Rose member from Berlin who has lived in Thailand for 12 years and runs a scuba diving business in Phuket.

He rides a Harley bought locally.

Despite their varying origins, Black Rose members find common ground on the roads of Thailand, which offers smooth rides on first rate highways and country roads amid lush scenery, balmy weather and sunshine.

The riders, who wear leather vests emblazoned with their insignia, have crisscrossed Thailand and they occasionally motor into Malaysia.

The club plans a ride north to Kunming, China, in December.

Thundering into town, the Black Rose riders are hard to miss.

Their hulking bikes dwarf the scooters and small Japanese motorcycles found on Thailand's streets. One member rides a 1520-cc, 6-cylinder Honda Valkyrie - one of the biggest motorcycles anywhere.

Don Wood, a lifelong Harley rider and friend of the Black Rose club, considers Thailand's bikers "good people'' who belong to a kind of global fraternity.

"I've been all over the world and ridden bikes all over the world,'' says Wood, a 57-year-old retired U.S. Army engineer from Myrtle Beach, S. C., who lives in Thailand. "A true Harley rider is the same everywhere in the world.''

-- AP 2004-08-04

[KevinN]

quote''Despite their varying origins, Black Rose members find common ground on the roads of Thailand, which offers smooth rides on first rate highways and country roads amid lush scenery, balmy weather and sunshine."

How very true, nice country to ride in,,now if they could teach the Thai to drive safely and not cross double lines,respect a motorcycles right to be on the hyways,it would be a very nice place to ride, but as things stand, It is not a place to ride for sheer enjoyment of riding.

I have 2 friends that have had crashes and sold their bikes and refuse to ride here anymore.

Not only the fault of motorists, but partly the fault of Thai scoot riders who refuse to recognise the rights of cars also,pass,crowd up in front of cars at stop lights and then start out and never excede 15 MPH in front of cars,cut them off and just plainn act a ###### fool.,so you can not totally blame the motorist for ignoring a biker,except the passing and driving in what ever lane that seems to suit them at that time.

In the states a car driver that acts as do Thai car jockeys, most would find themselves in the hospital to have a bikers boot removed from their rectum., or .45 ball rounds removed from their bodys and holes patched in their cars,chains removed from their faces and windshields replaced.

I ride my bike for short trips to the store or to town,but not for enjoyment anymore..

I left home to ride up to CM awhile back,and within 50 KM I turned around after a truck came off the left shoulder of the road and made a right turn in front of me and forced me over into oncoming traffic, 2 cars passed in unsafe areas and forced me off onto the left shoulder,not worth the trouble to ride 400 KM.

In the states I averaged 65K miles a year on a scoot,every year for years.

[davethailand]

i know people from Black Rose, Jesters, Immortals, Bandido's and they are all great guys, they always visit my bar to watch Lam and never make a problem.

I also sponser the bike shows and we are riding to malaysia for the moto gp in october,

the only snag is after buying a house etc,

NO HARLEY

[KevinN]

Yea, I know a few bandidos, outsiders,Bros Speed,Angels,,from the west coast chapters of the respective clubs. Very fine bunch of gentlemen as you will ever meet on your way to sunday services.

[Begs]

I have done Bike trips all over Thailand...Pattaya to Chiang Mai- Chaing Rai return, Pattaya Penang, Pattaya samui, Pattaya Phuket, Pattaya Isaan, Pattaya Kanchanaburi, Pattaya Trat Aranyaprathet............Great fun.

I went most on a 750 Magna, then i had an 1100cc Honda Shadow, very nice bike, i used to be in The Siam Knights Club, which was the club in Pattaya a long time ago before the Jesters came along.

I had some good trips and some good fun, years ago the Immortals came down from Bangkok to Pattaya, loads of us went up as far as Chonburi to meet them, we all rode into Pattaya together 70 Bikes in all, Police escort through Pattaya and along Beach road, cruising really slow, Traffic cops holding up other traffic and we went straight through red lights. There was a presentation to a local charity from the Bikers , one of the Immortals was the Vice President of the Thai Farmers Bank.

Its Great.