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.

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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.

Yeghegnadzor, Vayots Dzor, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

While out in the field with Habitat for Humanity today, a pleasant surprise was running into the Hye Riders on their way back to Yerevan from Stepanakert, Nagorno Karabakh. Armenia is so small. Anyway, I blogged about the Hye Riders here, here, here, here, and here.

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Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Hetq Online has published the article on Armenia’s Hye Riders that was based on the interviews I posted in the past few days. This was undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable stories that I’ve spent time on in recent months, and maybe even in the past year or two.

YEREVAN, Armenia — It’s midday on a typical Saturday towards the end of May, and after a cold and almost dehabilitating winter, Armenia has started to come alive. Government officials and their business associates or relatives have already started to open up the scores of cafes that have decimated Yerevan’s parks and green areas, and as the heat increases, hemlines have already started to get shorter. Soon the city will be awash with the colors dictated by the latest “fashion.”

Which must make a dozen Armenians dressed from head to toe in black leather seem odd to a population that considers evening dress wear and pointed walking shoes the norm for everyday apparel. Of course, the leather-clad group of men assembling by the side of a road leading down into Yerevan’s Hrazdan Gorge are not your average Armenian. The motorcycles resting on their side stands give that one away.

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After the prep talk that will outline the route the 12 bikes will take around the city before departing for the birthplace of Mesrop Mashtots, creator of the Armenian alphabet, in Oshagan, and later the former health resort town of Arzni, the sound of four-stroke motorcycle engines fills the air. Touring the central streets of Yerevan, heads turn and some pedestrians, especially children, smile. Only a few onlookers seem shocked by the sight of a dozen bikers riding down the road.

The Hye Riders are the local chapter of the motorcycle club (MCC) with the same name founded seven years ago in the United States by Armenian-American biker Berj Kasbarian. According to Martirosian, Hye Riders has over 50 members in the United States now, as well as over two dozen members in France and Syria combined. A year ago, Martirosian formed the Hayastan branch, which now boasts 15 members.

The full article can be read here, and just to remind you again, the founding US Chapter of the MCC have a really nice web site here.

Norayr Martirosyan, Ashtarak, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

Following on from my previous posts on the Armenian branch of the Hye Riders MCC here, here and here, I’ve finally managed to write up last week’s interview with the motorcycle club’s local leader, Norayr Martirosian. Later this evening I’ll sort out writing the article and putting together the photo story based upon yesterday’s opening of the riding season in Armenia for tomorrow’s Hetq Online.

In the meantime, here’s the transcript of the interview with Norik.

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Samuel, Marmarashen, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

As many of you might have guessed from the previous post, yesterday I went on the back of a bike to Marmarashen in the Ararat region of Armenia to meet some more members of the Hayastan chapter of the Hye Riders Motorcycle Club (MCC). Who would have thought that there’d effectively be a custom motorcycle workshop 20 minutes outside of Yerevan?

Basically, Samuel, his brother Vahan and friend Tigran seem to be doing a great job in creating some beautiful looking bikes, including one for an Australian-Armenian photographer complete with bracket on the front so that a camera can be attached to photograph his journeys when he next returns to Armenia.

I briefly interviewed Samuel and Tigran on their love for motorcycles and customizing bikes.

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Tatul, Marmarashen, Ararat Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

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Areg, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Hetq Online 2006

When I was living and studying in Bristol in the UK, most of my friends were bikers. Indeed, I didn’t even bother to finish my driving lessons, and instead chose to ride a motorcycle myself. Cars were boring, but motorcycles were fun, and the whole sub-culture that went along with it was a lifestyle in itself. After a few crashes and a move to London, I never sat on another bike although the temptation — even in Yerevan — is great.

Which is why I’m glad that Areg, a young biker in Yerevan, drew my attention to the albeit small biking scene in Armenia. He even has his own blog on the subject matter, and has posted something on his journey, with Nessuna on pillion, to meet up with me when I recently stayed overnight in the Yezidi village of Alagyaz.

I left the Rebel outside in the night. At 5AM, when I had to leave the village and head back to Yerevan, I found the poor vehicle covered with a thin layer of ice. No lie! It is a greatly mysterious miracle to me how I managed to start the motorcycle in that extremely hopeless condition! The only explanation for that would be the superstition that bikes love to feel loved and cared But the cold weather is not only bad. Actually, its very good if you manage to start the engine. During the whole way back the engine performance was excellent, I even beat the personal record of speed on the Rebel. The engine did not overheat a single time and despite the yucky fuel that I had got in my tank the first day, it did not have any problems at all.

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