A1 Plus carries a story on the Armenian branch of the Hye Riders Motorcycle Club (MC). From what I gather, the Hye Riders have just returned from Ukraine or somewhere, and just recently a production crew from France’s First TV Channel contacted me after seeing the posts I made on this blog about the club. They’ll be soon be traveling across the Caucasus and Central Asia and want to produce a documentary on them.

10 years ago when the first biker club was established in Armenia, young men who could ride motorcycles became members of the club. Biking, which means to ride a motorcycle, began in the USA in 1930s, where many biker clubs exist. While in Armenia, biking is quite an unusual kind of sport.

Norayr Martisoyan founded the first Armenian biker club and set up the rules and the principles of the club himself. By becoming the member of the club, each individual takes an oath to be punctual, to have definite principles and to be a reliable person. However, by various reasons the first member of the biker club left it and Martirosyan collected a new team.

[…]

When Perch Gasparyan, head of a biker club in Los Angeles came to Yerevan in 2004 and met Norayr Martirosyan, he offered him to unite the clubs. Norayr accepted the proposal and his club became the branch of the US Armenian biker club renamed “Hye Rider”.

Gasparyan sent uniforms and appropriate accessories for his biker friends in Armenia.

Members of “Hye Rider” participate not only in trips, but also in various charity actions.

Last year Armenians in the US sent toys for children in Armenia and the members of “Hye Rider” took them to an orphanage in Vanadzor.

Anyway, all my posts on the Hye Riders, including an interview with Norayr Martirosian and posts about a custom bike workshop in Armenia, can be found under the Bikers category. An article I wrote last year for Hetq Online accompanied by photos is also available here.