What separates a real biker from your average motorcycle rider?

Well, you can ask the guys over at the Gyumri motorcycle club the “Hye Riders”.

They’ll tell you a real bike does it for the freedom, for the feeling you get from riding on two wheels under the open skies, the wind blowing through your hair. Then too, being a biker has a sexual aspect to it.

The Armenian bikers from Gyumri describe the bikes they ride as an iron horse on two wheels. It’s a lifestyle and a fraternity for these dudes.

While the biking lifestyle appeared late in traditional Gyumri, it soon set done deep roots.

In 2005, when Armenians formed a dancing chain around Aragats there were some 15 bikers participating and they attracted the attention of Berj Kasparian, an American-Armenian who helped form Armenian bikers clubs in the States.

There was a bikers’ cub in Yerevan and so it was Gyumri’s turn. They accepted Berj’s proposal to create a club in Armenia’s second city.

Tigran Poghosyan, one of the Hye Riders, is a teacher by profession who serves as the coordinator for the club’s activities. He gives lessons on military training.

“Hey, we figured, why shouldn’t we have a club as well? Berj approached us and we became buddies. He wanted to ride our old Soviet motorcycles which he regarded as toys. Geez, there was no comparison to the bikes they were riding in the States. Any way, we formed the club here in Gyumri that belongs to the Armenian bikers’ association in America,” Tigran says.

There are ten permanent members in the Gyumri club. The eldest is Mnatsakan at 49. The youngest, at 23, is Nikita. They all wear leather jackets with the words Hye Riders emblazoned on the back.

There’s another Tigran in the club. They call him Tigran Junior. He’s 33 and works as a stone cutter. Tigran Senior, the teacher, is 41.

Then there’s 23 year-old Nikita, a soldier; 37 year-old Stepan, a machine turner; and Mnatsakan, an electrician.

Bikers portray their unique lifestyle and attitude as tattoos on the arms.  Slogans like “Live to Ride and Ride to Live”  and “Born to be Wild” are  good examples  summing up the essence of being a biker.

But the tradition of getting tattoos still hasn’t infected the bikers of Gyumri in a big way. One of the Gyumri bikers, a dude named Stepan, says he’ll be getting the Hye Riders name tattooed on his right shoulder.

Stepan’s the only one of the bikers who has been in four accidents, resulting in many broken bones. The rest of the guys call him “trouble”.

“Whenever we hear about an accident near Leninakan, we call up Stepan to find out if it was him or not,” Mnatsakan joked.

Stepan says that car drivers in Armenia still don’t understand the concept of sharing the road, especially with motorcycles.

Robert is a businessman who only gets to ride a motorcycle four days a month, on Sundays. He says they’re the best days for unwinding.

“Believe me I can’t wait for Sunday to come. I forget about the problems and concerns that have piled up during the rest of the week,” he confesses.

The bikers of Gyumri dream of one day having their own building to house the club office and a hotel to house other motorcycle enthusiasts, whether Armenian or foreigners.

Robert says that many foreign bikers pass through Gyumri in the summer but have no place to stay because the local hotels are so expensive.

“We have a place but just don’t have the cash to fix it up the way we want,” he says.

In the meantime, the Hye Riders of Gyumri will hit the road with the leather jackets and their iron horses glistening in the summer sun.