Harley Weekend Luebeck 20.-22.08.10

www.harley-weekend-luebeck.de

This is an annual event held in the Northern German UNESCO-World-Heritage township of Luebeck, celebrating the HD lifestyle and providing a platform for dealership and customisation merchants to address the ever growing fans of cruiser-dom. The three-day program was impressive, counting fortyeight bands and other entertainment items performing on two stages. One of the highlights was the band Torfrock, a well known rockband that convinces with distinct Northern dialect and humour laden lyrics.

The whole Harley Village area along the Hansa-Harbour was well worth exploring and provided plenty of interest and great variety of food and beverage stalls, Rainer Schwarz, a German stunt rider was showing off his skills and impressed with balance and control. It is pretty amazing to see a Harley being taken through its paces, popping wheelies, stoppies and drawing doghnuts.


briefing of safety staff

We were there on Saturday to participate in a massive parade through the town centre and out to meet the Baltic Sea at Travemuende. It was amazing to see the amount of cheerfully waving people lining the streets of Luebeck, as we rode by heritage protected buildings that have been there since the 15th century. The course was well organised with many officials keeping the traffic at bay and the riders well paced. Once we got out of town we rode along the Autobahn -pretty straight forward, but I guess that’s just what the average cruiser is built for: going straight down the road…

Even along the Autobahn, across the overpasses hundreds of spectators were waving, cheering and enjoying sights and sounds of loud pipes. It was quite a spectacle!


Once we arrived at the Baltic beach promenade in Travemuende.. Beach and Bikes is a somewhat strange combination…it was suddenly populated by a strange mix of people: some wearing bathers and others leathers…what an outrageous culture clash! We took a quick breather, sat down in a café and enjoyed a good gork at the passing crowds.

Back on the road I can’t stop thinking about how much time and money bikers in Germany spend on their bikes to customise them. I saw a trike that was made up of the rear half of a VW Beetle. I saw a glow in the dark Harley, a multitude of appendices, plenty of skulls and chrome and chrome and more chrome. Winter is a time to think up innovative enhancements … customisations…time to pull the bike apart to add bits and pieces…to create the individual touch.

Compared to what I get to see at home, it was a mind blowing meet…especially riding in such a huge numbers and seeing the public right behind us. So much of our time is spent taking an ‘us vs them’ approach, but here we were amongst friends. It feels great to be approved of!

On our way to the meet, in an ever growing group of bikes and these being mainly loudly piped, powerful Harleys, I could not help but notice that people either shake their heads or smile knowingly as we rode past…and those that smiled way outnumbered those that expressed their disapproval, which made me feel great to be a biker. It is good to see that there is increasing support for the average biker out on the streets. Let’s move away from the notorious 'us and them' and enjoy our status as an acceptable middle aged subculture, an integral part of society. No longer the realm of the 1%er, the outcast, but accepted for who we are: a growing number of individuals, who share their love of a largely perceived semi freedom, a love of the road. Vive la difference!

A different choice of club names is highly visible via the ‘colours’ worn by German bikers. Some hit the nail on the head, but others certainly put a little smirk on my face. Amongst those I recall are ‘The Lion Kings” and “Rugrats” and believe it or not: “Wild Hogs”! it makes me wonder sometimes… some German translations are a bit dodgy too, but I guess I could be guilty of that at times as well.