Bikers Seek to Change Their Image

A Reykjavík motorcycle club is hoping to change the way people look at bikers – by offering coffee and waffles.

Hamrablaðið, the newspaper of the east Reykjavík neighbourhood of Hamrahverfi, reports that waffles and coffee will be offered at the neighbourhood bakery, free of charge to all comers, until 20:00 tonight. The event is being sponsored by a neighbourhood motorcycle club, M.C. Hamrarar.

“We are always seeing news stories about bikers being associated with drugs and violence,” M.C. Hamrarar chairperson Þórhallur “Laddi” Sigurðsson told reporters. “We want to show people that this is just a vicious stereotype.”

Þórhallur points out, for example, that even the Hells Angels have been active in charity work, often helping to raise money for disadvantaged children.

“We want to be free to do what we want to do,” said Þórhallur. “We want to be free to ride our machines without being hassled by the man.”

Despite these assurances, there has been considerable pressure from neighbourhood watch groups to keep M.C. Hamrarar from maintaining their clubhouse in Grafavogur. Nonetheless, Þórhallur remains optimistic.

“We are a perfectly legitimate and legal club, just like any other,” he said. “There are just some basic human rights that cannot be violated. You can’t touch this.”