Two-wheeled fraternity: where Moscow bikers hang out

From rockers to bikers: photographs of Moscow in the late 80s by Petra Gall (16 photos)

Author: ☭Koala✩Paella☭

April 13, 2014 11:04

Tags: 80s Moscow bikers informal rockers photos

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"The Motorcycle Tour of a Lifetime" is a forthcoming book and exhibition due to open on Museum Night on May 17th. All photographs were taken by German journalist Petra Gall at the turn of 1980–1990. We present to your attention photographs from the project “Motorcycle Tour of a Lifetime” - an upcoming book and exhibition that is scheduled to open on Museum Night on May 17th. All photographs were taken by German journalist Petra Gall at the turn of 1980–1990, project curator Misha Buster commented on them.

See all photos in the gallery

1. Dancing near the Margarita cafe on Patriarch's Street, which strangely still operates. Patricks in the 1980s was already a fairly advanced place, but since Valera Lysenko (Hedgehog) from Mister Twister moved there, it became associated with the rockabilly party. Mavriky Slepnev, captured in the photo, did a lot for this - the grandson of Papanin and the son of a ballerina, who famously danced at the “Misters” concerts. And then he got sick with a motorcycle and had a hard time driving around the underground passage of Pushkin Square. We called this transition a “pipe.”

2. By the end of the 1980s, when the clashes between rockers and lubbers had already died down—even the New York Times wrote about them—everyone took to the streets of Arbat. Among them were the Hare Krishnas, who, with their awkward appearance and mumbling, annoyed those around them no less than the motor-rocker gangs.

3. A typical Arbat painting from perestroika times, preserved to this day. Such tables with matryoshka leaders and other kitsch have nested next to a crowd of street artists since the late 1980s. Moreover, it was like a facade, because there was also a brisk trade in deficit goods: foreign things, magazines, vinyl.

4. Sheremukha, aka Sharik: Sheremetyevo-2 airport was a traditional place of night pilgrimage for rocker columns, starting either from the backyard of the Moscow Art Theater or from Luzhniki. The purpose of the visits was to show off oneself and to scare foreigners. Plus, be sure to visit the cafe there. The route to the airport often ran through the Badaevsky beer factory and in the morning ended at the exit from the restaurant of the Moscow Hotel. There, paying 1 rub. 50 kopecks, motorcyclists carried helmets filled to the brim with food from the buffet.

5. Before the advent of special units to catch rockers, traffic cops on motorcycles caused outright laughter among hooligans. They couldn’t keep up with motorcyclists, they rode awkwardly, and they looked, let’s say, much less fashionable than the motorcycle traffic cops in helmets and leggings of the 1960s. Aesthetics sagged on many fronts during these years.

6. Backyards of the Moscow Art Theater named after. Gorky is a place that became popular in 1987, when local fashionable guys got on motorcycles and created a separate crowd. Unlike the concert-rocker associations that cultivated heavy metal, she, as if in opposition, preferred the rockabilly style and was inspired by the film “Streets on Fire.”

7. In 1987, Petra Gall met in Moscow the Surgeon (Alexander Zaldastanov - founder of the Night Wolves motorcycle club), Ed (Eduard Ratnikov - president of the TCI concert agency, pictured on the left), Rus (Ruslan Tyurin - founder of the Black Aces motorcycle club, on photo) and Garik (Assa, Oleg Kolomiychuk - a character of the Moscow underground, died in 2012). She immediately found herself in the epicenter of the rocker movement. From this picture you can see that Ed and Rus' outfit combines the aesthetics of London street racers of the 1960s and the sketchy ideas of American motorcycle gangs of the 1950s. The guys wanted to look the coolest, like in the movies and on the covers of foreign magazines.

8. Warriors in the night dumpling shop. These are unforgettable establishments that, together with kebabs and sandwich shops, were referred to under the general term “risers.” Rockers and taxi drivers dined here at night, and office workers and visitors during the day.

9. Another photo from the stand-up. In one of these, on Herzen Street, the Arbat lyuber Shmel got a job as an intern. He was looking for mythical fascists, but instead he found us punks and fed us dumplings for free. After the collapse of the USSR, Shmel was renamed Pelmen and, not finding the fascists, became one himself, joining some Black Hundreds in the early 1990s.

10. The night center of Moscow at the end of the 1980s, filmed during some regular motorcycle tour with stops on Gorky Street for hot bread, just brought from the factory to the Filippovskaya bakery. Nowadays, such a deserted Moscow, immersed in darkness, with crooked streets, has been preserved extremely locally. Together with the mixed smell of wet asphalt and boulevard poplars, with strange passers-by, since all the non-strange ones passed out before the next labor feat, it can safely be called “Moscow.”

11. Near this monument on Kaluga Square, skaters first appeared in the early 1980s - on Riga “rules” and Moscow region boards. 10 years after the powerful rock wave of perestroika, the topic returned again, but in a different fashion. Wide trousers - pipes and pyramids, heavy boots and robes flashed against the backdrop of the same Soviet idols frozen in stone.

12. Sasha the Surgeon morally humiliates a lover he accidentally met on Pushka. A turning point came for the rock movement, when the persecution of everything informal intensified sharply and lubers appeared. It was a collective movement under the auspices of bodybuilding in Lyubertsy near Moscow. Bodybuilders have traveled to Moscow before, but they did not engage in overt social pressure. But those who mowed under lyubers practiced small gop-stop with might and main, for which they were sold. Sasha played an important role in this process, but, despite the fact that clashes between lubers and rockers became legendary, more often such meetings ended in skirmishes and comical performances.

13. Night ride of motorcycle hooligans in the spring of 1989. In such gangs, in the spirit of the movie “Mad Max,” they rushed through the deserted streets of the city, having previously removed the silencers from their “Yavs,” “Chezets,” and sometimes “Dnieper” and “Ural” vehicles. For the most part, Moscow rockers were ordinary guys, whom the more advanced called “telogreechniki”. By 1988, the movement had become so massive and noisy that in the USSR they began making horror films about them like “Accident - the Cop’s Daughter.”

14. In contrast to the previous gothic: here is the exaltation at Luzhniki in 1989 - at the Peace Festival. Despite the subsequent larger Monsters of Rock festival in 1991, the Peace Festival is remembered as the peak of the 1980s. There was no such atmosphere even at the first local concerts of Uriah Heep and Pink Floyd. They brought top stars to Moscow, including Ozzy Osbourne, and for some reason put Moscow new wavers from Stas Namin’s pool on the same stage with them.

15. This is probably 1992. It’s difficult to establish, since in the 1990s the rocker theme was finally replaced by a biker theme with heavy motorcycles, long forks and the first Russian bike clubs. In the photo is Tanya (Eremeeva - Ed.), a friend of the founder of one of the first motorcycle associations "Cossacs" Oleg, aka Kim Il Sung (Oleg Goch. - Ed.). At the very beginning of the 1990s, he managed to travel abroad and bring more or less modern Harleys.

16. Late 1980s, Gallery - as Gostiny Dvor was called by the dudes who hung out there. A shabby, graffiti-covered gothic-decadent piece of the Moscow Empire style, filled with legends about the KGB basements. In those years, an absolutely deserted corner of Moscow, in which the ominous silence was destroyed only by some dull rhythmic sound from a unit working in the courtyard of the Gostinka.

Source:

What is the secret of the Chinese automobile miracle in Russia

“We will experience such tragedies once every 4-5 years if the people responsible for the preparation of mining operations do not have a feeling of real punishment,” the leader of the miners’ trade union, Alexander Sergeev, told the VZGLYAD newspaper. The day before, as a result of the tragedy in the Kuzbass Listvyazhnaya mine, more than 50 people died.

“Such emergencies arise due to non-compliance with mining and safety regulations. It all starts small: they didn’t ventilate properly, they didn’t close the door in time, they didn’t check the safety of electrical equipment. When mining supervision, which is obliged to ensure and apply labor rules in mines, relaxes, such tragedies arise,” said Alexander Sergeev, chairman of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of Russia.

“Yes, natural factors cannot be excluded - the danger of methane and so on. But it is possible to minimize it. As the miners say, an explosion does not happen instantly – it is brewing,” the source added.

According to him, the cause of the incident lies in the negligence of the supervisory authorities. Moreover, it is not clear - either this is simple carelessness, or they are being put under pressure by the owner, who is only interested in coal production. “Until we break the system of irresponsible mining supervision, nothing will change. Now workers in other mines have “woke up”, but in a few months history will be forgotten and, unfortunately, they will return to the mines. How many times has this already happened,” Sergeev noted.

It is interesting that all the necessary regulations exist, but they are not applied, the expert added. “Our legislation is structured in such a way that everyone around seems to be conscientious. The Investigative Committee is working, the court is too, but there is still a “hole”: people invested with power, money and responsibility do not bear real punishment for what they did,” the interlocutor believes.

“And the management of Listvyazhnaya will probably forget to punish them properly. So they opened a case of death by negligence. By negligence? They apparently carelessly sent people into the mines, knowing that the gas situation there was poor!” – the expert was indignant.

“Safety rules are written in the blood of dead workers and miners.

We have already gone through this, remember “Raspadskaya”. An accident at this mine in 2010 resulted in the death of more than 90 people. Yes, complex standards have been developed and there are many, but they must be observed,” he said.

In his opinion, there are three ways to prevent such emergencies: either stop underground coal mining, which is currently impossible; or send robots instead of people, which is expensive and deprives miners of work; or make changes to the law enforcement and judicial systems. “Because now the article on causing death by negligence does not work. It is necessary to make a person understand that he will bear real responsibility for the death of people. This will allow us to minimize such cases in 5-10 years,” the source believes.

“Otherwise it will be like all previous times. Take the Ulyanovskaya mine, whose director was released from prison, essentially under an amnesty, after just over two years in prison. Then a methane explosion at this enterprise killed 110 people in 2007. But the executors of management’s instructions received real sentences. For example, a mechanic, on instructions from his superiors, installed a jumper on electrical equipment,” recalled Sergeev.

“So let them do at least moderate punishment for such things. Let the deadlines increase so that bosses can stop and think: “It’s better if I don’t get my money, but I’ll tell the director about the problem. He will get itchy and go to the owner to explain the situation,” he concluded.

Earlier it became known that at the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Kemerovo region, 52 people were killed as a result of an explosion, including six mine rescuers. As of Friday morning, 63 people sought medical help after the emergency, thirteen of them were prescribed outpatient treatment, the remaining patients were hospitalized in four hospitals in Kuzbass. A rescuer was later found alive in the mine.

Let us remind you that smoke at the mine occurred on the morning of November 25. At that moment there were 285 people there. Most of them were taken out, and mine rescuers went after the rest. However, during rescue operations, the mine rescue team stopped communicating. The cause of the emergency, according to preliminary data, was a methane explosion.

It was reported that, on behalf of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, victims of the emergency at the Listvyazhnaya mine in Kuzbass will receive all the necessary medical, psychological and other assistance. It also became known about arrests in connection with the accident. In particular, the director of the mine, his first deputy and the head of the site were detained. The investigation opened a case under Part 3 of Art. 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Violation of industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence.”

It is noteworthy that Listvyazhnaya director Sergei Makhrakov was recognized as the best coal mine manager in 2021 following the results of a regional competition. State Duma deputy Oleg Morozov told the newspaper VZGLYAD that the cause of the tragedy was the “notorious human factor” and announced the first conclusions on the emergency.

After the tragedy, a case of negligence was also opened against employees of Rostekhnadzor. And the Kuzbass prosecutor's office found violations at six facilities. The wife of the man who died at the Listvyazhnaya mine said that ten days before the tragedy there was a fire at the mine. The miner told how miners saved each other after the explosion.

Road brotherhood. Real bikers don't abandon their own

MotoMoscow_19_04_16

Bikers have long ceased to be exotic in Moscow, which can only be found in Western films. The motorcycle movement brings together people of different ages, different incomes, and different beliefs. They have one thing in common: a passion for travel and a devoted love for the road.

SPIRIT OF FREEDOM

— Andrey , your club is one of the largest in Moscow. What makes motorcyclists unite ?

— I want to immediately explain that our organization is informal. Every year we open the season with a motorcycle rally; on April 23, one and a half thousand motorcyclists took part in it. Websites, forums, groups on social networks, Internet walkie-talkies - all these communication channels make it possible not only to communicate, but also to arrange meetings, lead projects, participate in competitions and much more.

— How people come to the motorcycle world?

- Each in their own way. There are those who have been riding on two wheels almost since childhood, and their lives are inextricably linked with this culture. But today, many people switch to motorcycles in adulthood. Some do it to avoid traffic jams, others engage in motorsports, and others want to be more attractive to the opposite sex.

— What motivated you??

— The spirit of freedom, the wind of wandering and the thirst for independence.

— How did you get your first motorcycle ? Did you receive it as a gift?

- No, I’m able to buy myself a motorcycle and I think it’s right - everyone should earn the right to come into the motorcycle world with their own feet. And make money - literally. For many, the first motorcycle was the Ural or Voskhod, but in my life there was no such equipment. In 2009, I started my journey with a 600 cc Suzuki motorcycle - a quiet road worker. After him, I changed many brands and models - from ultra-fast sportbikes to choppers. Now I have two reliable and beloved horses in my garage - the Honda CBR 1100, one of the fastest motorcycles in the world, allowing you to reach speeds of 300 kilometers per hour or more.

“But you can’t drive at that speed on Russian roads.”

- You're right. You can experience it to its fullest only in Germany, where there are no speed limits on motorways, but you can travel huge distances in a matter of hours. It's crowded in the city. The second motorcycle is the Honda Gold Wing, this is the same bike that they say “with lights and music.” Big and luxurious king of the roads.

- How so? The imagination pictures a biker riding an American Harley or Indiana...

— Contrary to popular belief, these motorcycles are not popular with all drivers. Yes, they have charisma, traditions, history. But my Gold Wing, for example, has an unsurpassed level of technical equipment, protection in case of accidents, a six-cylinder powerful boxer engine with a capacity of 1800 cubic meters, an airbag, an on-board computer and more than 100 liters of luggage compartments. Well, and most importantly, for me personally it is much more convenient than others. A 500-kilogram “ship” should not be recommended to beginners; it takes several years to build such a motorcycle, gaining experience and gradually increasing the capacity.

After all, even the smallest motorcycle with an engine of 400 cubic centimeters accelerates like a sports car, and when the volume exceeds a liter, they must be compared with Formula 1 cars.

THE WHOLE WORLD AT YOUR PALM

— Have you ever traveled on a motorcycle somewhere far, far away? How was it?

— Of course, I had to: every vacation I try to go somewhere with it. Traveled from Moscow to Magadan. One day, the unexpected happened: the motorcycle broke down 400 kilometers from a point where there is cellular communication. Truckers, who pass along the road once every few hours, came to the rescue. I was lucky, I didn't have to wait too long. The guys helped repair the iron horse.

In general, truckers are bikers’ best friends. By the way, I have long noticed an interesting pattern: the further you are from civilization, the easier it is to find professional roadside assistance.

—Have you traveled abroad?

- Necessarily. I have traveled to 40 countries around the world. Norway, Portugal, Greece, Albania were especially memorable.

When I was traveling around Serbia, there was martial law there. The Balkan wars and NATO intervention were in full swing.

I'm driving along the road, and a tank comes towards me. But no one bothered the motorcyclists on the track.

And in Norway, when I approached the northernmost point, I had to walk several kilometers in the snow. I saw mountain goats there. It was funny when in Portugal I met Russian bikers whom I didn’t know before.

— What are your plans for this year?

“This season we will pay attention to improving contact with motorists. At the beginning of April, we held an action together with the Moscow State Traffic Safety Inspectorate at the crossroads of the city, when we distributed leaflets to car drivers with information on how to avoid accidents involving bikers. To do this, you need to adhere to only four rules: when maneuvering, look in the mirrors twice when opening the doors, check for obstacles from behind, turn on the turn signals and avoid sudden maneuvers. We were prompted to take this action by the fact that motorists are at fault in 70 percent of road accidents involving motorcyclists. Moreover, this is not our opinion, but official statistics.

ROAD NAMES

— Bikers are paid attention to because of their unusual image. Who dresses motorcyclists?

— There is a special person in our company, his name is Andrey Simon. Although he himself does not ride on two wheels, he is one of the motorcyclists. He specially sews clothes for bikers. He cannot be called a tailor, he is an artist, as every time he makes individual clothes as a work of art. He adjusts both the trousers and the jacket to the required size, because if they are a little larger, the wind will blow when driving, and the driver will feel uncomfortable. Therefore, it is very important for a biker that clothes fit comfortably. After all, motorcyclists try to wear high-quality clothing and equipment, with knee pads and protection on the back, so that the material does not tear when it comes into contact with the asphalt when falling from a vehicle. There is an opinion that biker clothing should be so tight that if, for example, the pants are placed on the floor, they will stand up.

This, of course, is not always the case, but it is a fact that clothes should not only be beautiful and functional, but also reliable.

— I noticed that bikers call each other in a special way. Are these nicknames?

“I don’t want us to be confused with the criminal world.” We don't have nicknames, but road names. This happens because many drivers have the same name and ride the same brand of motorcycle. In order to distinguish them, road names are used. Sometimes they are born involuntarily. For example, there is a biker Dmitry Meshkov, a student at Moscow State University, a lover of high-speed riding.

When the motorcycle muffler is revved up, it makes a loud rumbling sound (motorcyclists usually call this “vroom-vroom”). One day he drove up to us. And someone said: “Oh, Vroom has arrived.” That’s how this travel name stuck to him.= And we also have one small girl who manages to visit ten places at the same time! At any event, she manages to talk to hundreds of people, moving at breathtaking speed. Because of this, she was nicknamed Smskoy.

Therefore, in our association the phrase “SMS has arrived” is not taken in its literal sense. It is rare when a person is assigned a nickname that he came up with for himself. More often he is “rewarded” by his comrades. One guy with the common surname Zaytsev received the name Zay, and everyone has it written that way in their phones. Imagine the picture when I’m sitting at home, the phone rings and “Zay” is displayed on the screen. What will be the reaction of relatives? To put it mildly, they may not understand.

— By the way, about relatives. How do your loved ones feel about your hobby? Are you worried?

— First of all, it’s worth remembering that every motorcyclist is welcome at home. My mother always worries about me, but supports my hobby, understanding that a motorcycle is not just a hobby, but my life. Often, the relatives of many motorcyclists are worried, because everyone understands that bikers are at risk. But experience, constant learning and self-improvement, attentiveness on the road, respect for other road users and, of course, constant interaction with friends and like-minded people reduce this risk to a minimum.

The head of the MotoMoscow movement, Andrei Ivanov, rode thousands of kilometers of roads on his favorite Honda Gold Wing motorcycle, both in Russia and in foreign countries / Photo: Natalya Feoktistova

Moscow motorcyclists Irina and Igor joined dozens of like-minded bikers at an observation deck not far from Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. On April 23, one of the large-scale events dedicated to the opening of the motorcycle season in the capital took place here. The bikers actively exchanged first impressions, made plans for summer travel, and showed each other brand new equipment and equipment. Later they organized a run along the Third Transport Ring and finished in Sokolniki Park, where they took part in the festive exhibition MotoSpring 2016. As employees of the capital's State Traffic Inspectorate reported yesterday, the opening of the motorcycle season in Moscow passed without serious incidents.

GOOD DEED

Motorcyclists not only ride on the streets, but also help people. The MotoMoscow club has organized several charity projects of various types. Their leaders talk about each of them.

Alexey Golova, head of the Road Control service:

— The movement is created in order to detect problem areas on the road. Not only motorcyclists participate in “Road Control”. Any driver who sees a defect on the road reports it to the group coordinator, the information is posted on a social network and sent to the traffic police. Police officers take action and then report back on their work in our community. For example: since the beginning of March, bikers have detected more than 60 violations. More than a week ago, members of MotoMoskva discovered numerous potholes on the Third Transport Ring in the area of the Riga overpass. Following our complaint, the road surface was replaced within a few days.

Dmitry Smokin, project manager “Motomoskva. Road accident":

— In 2011, there was a high-profile accident involving a motorcyclist and a motorist. After it, we realized that our comrades, even with a minor fall, receive more serious injuries than car drivers. Then an initiative group was created, which included about 200 people. Now there are fewer activists left - about 50-60, but they regularly go to road accidents. Throughout Russia there is a toll-free number 8 (800) 775-17-34, which anyone who has seen an accident involving a motorcyclist can call. Information is sent to the initiative group, which goes to the scene of the incident. As a rule, we help inform the victim’s relatives about the accident; there have even been cases of rescue of motorcyclists.

Anastasia Artanova, activist of the Blood Motorcycle Service:

— Blood donation events are held by activists of our movement regularly, at least four times a year, and each time more than 400 people come to donate blood. And the fact that we regularly cover this event on social networks is not PR. After all, motorcyclists are mostly kind and open people, and our task today is to tell the world, motorists, pedestrians and all road users that the road is the same for everyone and there is a place on it not only for entertainment, meetings and trips, but also for good deeds. We hope more donors will join us to help save lives.

I would like to note that all motorcyclists become donors free of charge, and blood can go to any person who needs it.

Elizaveta Yakovleva, head of the charity project “Motohearts”:

— “Motorhearts” is a charity project during which our bikers provide assistance to orphanages far from Moscow. During the season, we go to orphanages on motorcycles every Saturday. We recently delivered an air hockey table to the city of Vyazma. We also had a chance to visit the cities of Sosinsky and Lyudinovo in the Kaluga region - we went there in a convoy of two dozen motorcycles to play with the children. They organized a game with riddles for the children: they handed out cards, which the children had to use to find our motorcyclists dressed as cowboys. The latter gave the children tasks and rewarded those who distinguished themselves. But most of all, boys and girls like to ride motorcycles with us.

DIRECT SPEECH

Deputy of the Meshchansky district Alexey Bondarenko:

For me, a motorcycle is an ideal means of communicating with voters within the Central District. Residents called and reported a problem - he sat down and quickly got to them, and did not have to pay for parking. And as a professional doctor, I have long dreamed of creating motorized brigades of paramedics (paramedics) in Moscow. This practice exists in some countries, and it has shown to be effective during rush hours, when it becomes especially difficult to reach the patient due to traffic jams.

REFERENCE

The MotoMoscow association was created in 2013 and is the largest community of motorcyclists in the capital. Currently, the club unites more than 25 thousand people. On a voluntary and free basis, the association operates the services “MotoMoscow”, “MotoMoscow.Accident”, “Donor Service”, “Moscow.RENT”, “MotoMoscow.Road Control”, “MotoHearts”, “Motorcycle Blood Service” and others.

Motorcyclists have favorite gathering places in the city. The main one is the observation deck on Vorobyovy Gory, which the bikers themselves simply call “the mountain.” Every year the opening of the motorcycle season is celebrated here. Bikers can also be found on Khodynka Field. There's plenty of space and they don't interfere with other road users.

BY THE WAY

Recently, motorcycle sales have been falling in Moscow. Moreover, this mainly applies to the most popular models. Thus, in the first quarter of 2021, 204 motorcycles with an engine capacity of 600 cubic centimeters or more were sold in the capital. This is 45 percent less than the same figure in 2015 - then the capital’s motorcyclists purchased 372 new cars.

— Sales of all brands from the ten most popular brands during this period decreased by more than a third, except Harley-Davidson. The growth in sales of motorcycles of this brand amounted to 54.3%, to 54 units, reported the analytical agency Autostat.

A significant decrease in sales for January-March 2021 was recorded for such a popular model as BMW. Its sales fell from 167 to 90 units. Also in the capital, Honda, Kawasaki and Yamaha motorcycles began to be purchased less

Photo: RIA Novosti

NUMBER

25 thousand motorcyclists are united by the MotoMoscow club. In total, about 100 thousand motorcycles are registered in Moscow. Their owners are united in 30 clubs of varying sizes.