RAMBLERS - A three-piece-patch out of Switzerland: “Rock hard. . .ride free.”
RAPIDOS - Another of the Germanic Bandidos support clubs.
RAPPERS - We don’t know if they’re rapping about it, but this club made it onto the law enforcement map in Georgia.
RAPTORZ - They made the law enforcement map in Iowa although they do say that they are not a one percent club—they are a brotherhood. They are also Sons of Silence supporters.
RARE BREED - A couple of clubs share in the rareness of this breed:
One was a UK club that was patched over to the Outlaws MC many years ago.
A second is a primarily African-American motorcycle club established in 1989 in Southern California with chapters there and in Georgia. The club’s pride is so evident in its bikes: “Rare Breed members have built some of the most beautiful Harleys in the world and have logged thousands of miles riding them across America. Our bikes, often referred to as ‘Cali-Style,’ have been in movies and graced the pages of many magazines.”
RATS - Established in 1980, this German club has a center patch that’s not for anyone with muriphobia!
RATTLERS - Established back in the 1950s by James “Heavy” Evans, this is a “classic,” mixed-race motorcycle club out of the Bay area. The Rattlers are described by East Bay Dragons’ founder Tobie Gene Levingston in his book, Soul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set:
Then, of course, there were the Rattlers in San Francisco. The Rattlers were a mixed club, though mostly Black, who had chapters up and running in Frisco and Los Angeles. By mixed, I mean they had a couple of white boys as members. They rode Harley choppers and full dressers. James “Heavy” Evans, the motorcycle-racing king of California joined the Rattlers as a founding member on Christmas Eve 1955. . . . In San Francisco, the three clubs that mixed it up were the Hells Angels, the Gypsy Jokers, and the Rattlers. The Rattlers’ turf was the Fillmore district. Like Oakland’s Seventh and Market, the Fillmore at night in San Francisco was brimming with pimps, whores, card sharks, thieves, and murderers. The rattlers kept a hole-in-the-wall clubhouse right on the corner of Ellis and Fillmore Streets. If you could handle yourself on the streets of the Fillmore, you were tough enough.
RAVEN - A three-piece-patch motorcycle club out of Coastland, Germany, celebrating their fifteenth year.
RAVENHEAD - Established with roots going back to 1971, this three-piece patch motorcycle club in the UK evolved from the Vikings MC and Lupus MC, becoming Ravenhead MC in 2003. “Ride Hard, Ride Free!”
RAZORBACK, RAZORBACKS - There are three Razorback(s) MCs.
Our first is a Razorback MC in Germany that began life as a “sleeve patch” club in 1993 but evolved into a three-piece-patch club in 1999.
Next is the three-piece-patch, diamond-patch Razorbacks MC in Singapore: “We are not affiliated to any clubs. We are who we are.”
Then there is the Razorbacks MC in Switzerland, a powerful HAMC (Hells Angels Motorcycle Club) support club.
“Razor” is their “P” and his understanding of the MC scene in Switzerland definitely comes from the inside:
The Razorbacks and a look at Motorcycle Clubs in Switzerland
Switzerland with its roughly eight million inhabitants is a relatively small country. Still, the density of population is one of the highest in the world because only around seven percent of the land is actually populated. This fact and the wealth of its inhabitants may be two of the reasons many people in Switzerland search out their freedom on the road—very often on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Switzerland has a relatively high rate of Harley bikers. Since this country has a militia army, most of the bikers are actually members of the Swiss Army or are veterans.
Today, there are twenty-three official back-patch clubs, of which two are currently on probationary status, and some of the clubs are represented in different chapters. In addition, we have the so-called front-patch clubs. Currently there are twelve of those clubs but none of them have spread out with different chapters.
You can find a list of the official Swiss Clubs on the web (www.bike-time.ch).
Starting up a new MC requires getting approval by the Confederation of all back-patch MC’s, including approval of turf and design and color of the patches. For more than twenty-five years now we live by this system of peaceful coexistence based on mutual respect and it is maintained by many shared activities like runs, parties, and other events. The friendly and respectful relations are also upheld to MCs and chapters abroad. Clubs and lone riders are warmly welcomed in our community as friends, as long as they show due respect and proper compliance to our rules. They can move freely and unchallenged throughout Switzerland and the regions, where MCs are residing. And most festivals and parties are open to the public.
Of the American Big Four only the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club runs chapters in Switzerland. HAMC is without any doubt the largest back-patch club in this country. The charter of Liechtenstein included, HAMC is one of the three international clubs in Switzerland and is represented by eight charters spread all over the country. Broncos MC and Hurricanes MC are likewise running chapters in the neighboring countries of Europe.
REBEL ROUSERS - Established in 1965, “the oldest North Carolina–based club” is an HAMC support motorcycle club.
REBELLIONS - A three-piece club out of Estonia.
REBELS - Established in 1969 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, by Clint Jacks, their motto says it all: “Like us or hate us, you better get used to us.” In the strength-flexing dynamic of Australian motorcycle clubs, they are the biggest. Their original name was the Confederates and their national “P” is former boxer Alex Vella.
In 2000, author Daniel Wolf’s book The Rebels: A Brotherhood of Outlaw Bikers was released, detailing life with the Canadian Rebels MC in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The Name “Rebels” has been used by many, many clubs around the world, including in the U.S., as seen in the cut above.
RED DEVILS - Now we turn red—and it’s perfect that our first motorcycle club in the crimson corner of this encyclopedia is “Canada’s Oldest 1% Motorcycle club” and more. The Red Devils MC is world-wide, a major support club for the HAMC.
RED EMERALDS - Established in 1964 and a “classic” club on the East Coast. The Red Emeralds are “Boston’s oldest continually running motorcycle club.”
RED INDIANS - Established in 2001, this motorcycle club in Poland is an HAMC support club.
RED KNIGHT’S - Established in 2004, diamond-patch 1%ers out of Portugal.
RED LION’S - Established in 1988, a full-out one percent club out of Sud Tirol, Italy.
RED NATION - A one percent motorcycle club out of Northern California that made the law enforcement map out there. The motorcycle club specifically notes that “we are no longer a Native American motorcycle club.”
There is, however, a Red Nations American Indian Motorcycle Council that calls itself a “100%’er Club.”
REDNECKS - A three-piece-patch club from, no, not below the Mason-Dixon, but Denmark!
RED RIDERS - Established in 2008, with ex-members of The Riders MC in Bulgaria. They are an HAMC support club.
RED SCORPIONS - Yet another of the motorcycle clubs mentioned on one of the strangest (and never-ending) “anti gang” websites in the universe, as an associate club of the HAMC in Canada.
RED THUNDER - “A motorcycle club only for Native Americans and their Descendants” in Washington State. In their diamond patch is stitched “1st.”
RED WARRIORS - Another of the “red” Euro HAMC support clubs—this one is in Poland.
RED WOLVES - A three-piece-patch, diamond-patch 1% club out of Turkey. Another of the Eurasian “official support clubs of the 81 world.”
RENEGADE, RENEGADES, RENEGADE’S - As we leave the red road, we begin our ride with some renegades:
These Renegades made it onto the law enforcement map in Virginia and were another of the clubs cited in the aforementioned Alexandria, Virginia, Grand Jury June 2010 indictment of the Outlaws MC (see Desperados).
There is a Detroit Renegades MC that dates back to the 1960s.
RENEGADES - A Renegade MC in England has put on the big “Pissed Indian Rally” for many years.
There’s a Renegade’s MC in South Africa also with roots back to the 1960s.
And one more Renegades becomes yet another of the motorcycle clubs mentioned on what we now lovingly call “one of the strangest (and never-ending) ‘anti-gang’ websites in the universe,” as an associate club of the HAMC in Canada.
REINDEERSHIT - Established in 1993, in Finland, this is one of those back patches that wearing on a regular basis might take a little getting used to. Their center patch always generates a bit of a Pavlovian reaction—it looks a lot like the Jägermeister label (if the deer had been dead awhile, of course).
RESERVOIR DOGS - One Reservoir Dogs MC made the law enforcement map in Connecticut. There is also a family club on the other coast with the name.
RESURRECTION - This motorcycle club made it onto the law enforcement map in Washington State. And in 2000, a Resurrection MC received a “special thanks” in the monumental movie Girl Gone Bad featuring Gail Chambers, Giggles, and other top-level stars.
RIGHTEOUS & UNRULY - Established in 1994, they are among the motorcycle club crowd that made the law enforcement map in Connecticut—but it is primarily a drug rehab group.
RIGHTEOUS ONES - They righteously made it onto the law enforcement map in the Silver State.
RIPPERS - Established in 2007, in Italy, they are another of the tough throng of Bandidos Support Clubs.
ROAD CAT’S - With these cats, we start down the long path of road-named clubs. Established in 1998 in Maru, France, the Road Cat’s are an HAMC Support Club.
ROAD DEMONS - A diamond-patch 1% HAMC Support Club in Spain.
ROAD HOGS - Established in 1987, a three-piece-patch motorcycle club in Denmark.
ROAD KNIGHTS - The Road Knights Motorcycle Club make all of the “gang” lists in New Zealand. They are based in the South Island of New Zealand with chapters in Invercargill, Dunedin, and Timaru.
ROAD RATS - Established “back in the 1960s” in England, this club seems to have an admirable degree of self-awareness: “At one time or another the Road Rats have pissed off nearly every major club in this country and many abroad. . .”
ROAD REAPERS - Established in 2001 by Mike “Steel” in Gravesend (pronounced Grave’s End!), Brooklyn, New York. The club has chapters in Virginia and Minnesota, and prospect clubs in Maryland and Florida. “All chapters support 81 World Wide.”
ROAD REBELS - Established in 1985, a motorcycle club in Munich, Germany.
ROAD RUNNER, ROAD RUNNERS, ROADRUNNERS We have several Road Runners speeding around the world: a Road Runner MC in Germany; one diamond-patch 1% Road Runners MC out of Poland; an AMA club in Wisconsin that dates back to 1979; a three-piece-patch Road Runners in Malaysia; a Roadrunners MC in Bern, Switzerland; and one in Denmark.
And then there is another of those clubs that you hear about in reminiscing mentions, those classic clubs of which you’d love to run into an old member. In this case, there apparently was a Road Runners around Chicago in the 1950s. The “P” was an uncle of Charley Chan, current “P” of the Boozefighters Chapter 37, but Charley’s uncle left little info beyond that.
Beep, beep!
ROAD TRAMPS - Established in 1987, this diamond-patch 1% motorcycle club in Ireland evolved through the Reapers MC, Limerick.
ROAD VULTURES - Old-school stuff here—these biker buzzards were established in 1958 in New York. And they made it onto the 2010 law enforcement map there, too!
ROCK MACHINE - Established in the mid-1980s (some say 1986 to be exact) in Montreal, Canada, by Salvatore Cazzetta, a former friend of Red and White leader “Moms” Boucher. The issues that went on in the 1990s involving the Rock Machine, the Hells Angels, and other Canadian clubs are legendary, bloody, riddled with law enforcement action, and have been the subject of an armful of books. The media and the authorities called those years the Quebec Biker War and alleged the conflict to be over competition for the drug trade. In 2000, the majority of the Rock Machine patched over to the Bandidos—some went to the Angels. In 2007–2008 the Rock Machine began to go “back to its roots” and now has Canadian, U.S., and Australian chapters.
ROCKERS - Established in 1992 in Montreal, Canada. They were another of the Canadian clubs so integral to the entire “scene” that was the motorcycle club conflicts of the 1990s. In 2001, the Canadian authorities focused their Operation Springtime on the Rockers, resulting in arrests and trials of members on various charges.
ROGUES - We have several Rogues to put into our gallery:
This first club made it onto the law enforcement map in Oklahoma and made the newspapers there in April 2010 when their clubhouse was raided by Tulsa County Sherriff’s Deputies—a raid that resulted in the deputies’ shooting of Russel Doza. The shooting caused a public outcry because the raid—ostensibly a drug raid—evidently brought no results.
Another interesting distinction that the club has is that it seems to be the first motorcycle club joined by the controversial author Edward Winterhalder.
There is also a Rogues MC in the Netherlands, linked to Brother Speed MC in the U.S., that just celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary.
The Rogues in Holland were established in 1979, and are a full one percenter motorcycle club.
ROGUES GALLERY - A heavy player in the Great Nordic Biker Wars in Scandinavia.
ROLLING ANARCHY - Established in 2000. Unlike the fictional Sons of Anarchy, these guys seem to put their money where their anarchistic mouths are! As they considered a name they really put some thought into it:
“The word ‘Anarchy’ must be in the club’s name; the club must unite individuals. . .individuals who didn’t want anyone to rule over them.”
Understood. Next was the “Rolling” part:
“The word ‘Rolling,’ however, was added after hot debates that required more than one day and more than one shot of tequila. It was finally agreed that the word ‘Rolling’ also expressed the club’s essence: ride always, ride everywhere, and ride no matter what.”
—“How about a leader for the meeting?”
—“Fuck the leader!” (Literally: stick the leader in a cunt)
—“How about a president?”
—“Fuck the president!” (as above)
And:
Generally, the club’s regulations have only two paragraphs:
1. Screw it all (loosely translated from some very bad words, like “FTW”)
2. Shut up and drink (also loosely translated)
There is one rule for clothing: “A denim vest, in memory of the golden age of biking in the 60s and 70s.”
ROLLING WHEELS - Established in 1976 in Berlin, this club is riesige with chapters throughout Germany and a tight support club system with Dark Division.
RONDOS - Established in 1974, a three-piece patch motorcycle club in Germany.
RONINS - One of Italy’s many Bandidos support clubs.
ROTTEN DEAD - This three-piece patch club out of Pusan, South Korea, should be making slasher flicks in Hollywood! Their center patch is a “decayed zombie head with gaping jaws. A zombie was chosen as the club’s logo and central patch because the founders were both fans of zombie movies, and as one of them put it: ‘Zombies are cool.’ The name Rotten Dead was chosen both to describe the zombie, as well as to signify that the motorcycle brotherhood survives beyond the grave. That sentiment, ‘Brotherhood survives beyond the grave’ was chosen as the club’s motto. The club’s colors are purple and gray, a good rotting flesh and pus color.”
ROUGH RIDERS - There are at least two Rough Riders: One, established in 1976, is a motorcycle club in Germany. There is also a veteran-oriented club that has been riding in Southern California for many years.
RUM POT RUSTLERS - These boys made the law enforcement map in Massachusetts. They also made the April 2001 National Drug Intelligence Center’s Massachusetts Drug Threat Assessment manual with some harsh, if not perhaps exaggerated and possibly presumptive comments:
The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is the most significant OMG involved in drug trafficking in Massachusetts. The HAMC has established chapters in Lowell, Lynn/Salem (headquartered in Lynn), Cape Cod (headquartered in Buzzards Bay), and Lee/Berkshire (headquartered in Lee). All but the Cape Cod chapter have been active in recent years. Other OMGs are associated with the Hells Angels as part of a “coalition,” which means they pay monthly dues to the Hells Angels in exchange for the right to wear motorcycle club patches. If they fail to pay, the HAMC forces them out of existence. Noncoalition OMGs include the Devil’s Disciples (in the city of Hull), Diablos (Westfield), East Coast MF (New Bedford), Nomads (Norton), Outlaws (Brockton), and Rum Pot Rustlers (Somerville). At least some of these gangs distribute drugs, but their involvement is less significant than that of the HAMC.
ESTABLISHED: 1950s