Photos: Visiting Motorcycle Group In Hamilton
The arrival of the Celebrity Summit cruise ship in Dockyard on Wednesday [May 6] resulted in more than just traditional visitors arriving, as the cruise ship also transported members of the ETA Motorcycle Cruising Club as well as their motorbikes.
The group, which makes regular visits to the island, were out touring on their bikes today [May 7] and stopped at City Hall in Hamilton, attracting a number of interested locals who stopped to check out the motorcycles.
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Bike that sounded like bikes SHOULD sound…lovely low grumble…as opposed to the ear-splitting racket out local chaps ride!!!
Heh, the low grumble is still pretty loud on some of those machines. But pretty cool seeing these vehicles today.
So an open exhausted (read: no muffler at all), 1600+cc V-twin Harley is a “low rumble” but a 150cc with a less restricted muffler is an ear splitting racket? I bet you, like TCD honchos, the cops and our policy makers, think Bermudians are incapable of safely riding a real motorcycle.
pretty sure he/she is refering to those obnoxous v50′s that ppl take the baffles (read: silencers) out of to give them the false feeling that their bikes will go an extra 5kph faster…
I wonder if TCD made special allowances for them and if the government benefited financially from those expensive cycles riding around on our roads. Should be interesting if they revealed any money received.
For your information, these riders contribute greatly to the economy as they spend money on gas, & they spend in our shops!!! In fact, Bermuda is their favorite destination out of all the islands they visit! Why? Because they love the hospitality & the friendliness of the people. They’ve been coming here for at least the last 6 years! So we must be doing something right!! !
As someone who has been involved with these rides since they began (almost 8 years ago) I can assure you that there is nothing underhanded or covert about them being here. (And they have been visiting under both the PLP and OBA governments – so their presence is not politically driven at all!) Clearly there is an allowance for motorcycles of this size to be on our roads but all appropriate chanels to get that approval are followed. The organizers of these rides (who are not Bermudian but work through the cruise ships) obtain all the necessary permits and governmental/customs clearance in order for the riders to come off the ships. The riders do not ride on our roads without both a police escort and the Bermuda Long Riders Motorcycle club marshalling with the police.
The biggest benefit is that this is a positive tourism tool for our island. The Bike club, police and the locals who come out to view the bikes along the rides not only get to see amazing vehicles that normally would not be on our roads, but also interact on a personal level with the tourist riders. We are the most popular stop on their cruises year after year because of our energy, excitement and hospitality.
The Long Riders and local riders that join each ride volunteer to facilitate these rides and the rides themselves are designed to not only entertain the guest riders but have them visit local areas like St.Georges and Hamilton, visit the shops and local restaurants – thus putting back financially into our economy.
If you have had the pleasure of meeting any of the people who come on these cruises, they are a vast array of people – young, old, black, white, latino – you name it they come from from all walks of life and various backgrounds. The one thing they all have in common with most of us is that we are all motorcycle people! And they love that we are a welcoming people.
In short this is good PR and Tourism that you cannot buy – and really, who can complain about that?!?