Inside New Zealand’s Illegal BikeLife (Huntly & Hamilton)

Investigating bikelife groups in Huntly and Hamilton, New Zealand

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oh they they just about knocked into my car a few times and knocked me over when I’ve tried to walk on the pan I almost got wiped out at I came flying past oh May will come kick down your door and kick your [ __ ] hien B TR H us off the bikes we’ll come straight back at you they ain’t going to catch us we ain’t going to stop riding you know B this ain’t crime this is just fun therapy what do you do when the police show up chop again and disappear brother I break my col trying to do a bike life like d man are you still going to ride you want to [Music] see welcome to the Department of information welcome to the DOI investigation on bike life to be honest I don’t know much about bike life other than one use saying it’s gang affiliated and really dangerous so we’ve been trying to infiltrate otata the center of bike life in South Oakland unfortunately our contact is under police investigation so we’ve come down to Hamilton uh there’s some School athletics going on and we’re going to get into bike life has told us to meet him at in New Park so we’re heading there now he said it was just going to be one of them but now there’s now there’s a guys coming out yo yo Griffin yo what is bike life in Hamilton like uh it’s just it’s just starting it’s just starting in Hamilton yeah it’s trying to make it bigger get more people out in the streets stop the crime me stop them open the shops come ride a [ __ ] bike come train why does riding a bike stop crime oh you w know until you get on a bike a you don’t have a helmet on but these guys do why not I’m confident in myself confident way a ride yeah I’ll give you the bit of a Sher [Music] have you seen these guys before riding their bikes I’ve seen one of the guys in Frankton see it’s not about hurting someone maybe they’ll get hurt one day I have ride in India but uh with the speed limit yes not more than that would you go for a ride if it was in the park oh no no I’m quite scared yeah thank you thanks a lot thank you well thanks for talking to us thank you thank you take care man thank the those are the first Commandments right there those boys they’ll come here and then they’ll Scout the area what not if they’re ready then by all means they can come chase us but yeah by way what do you do when the police show up chop again disappear brother what’s going on around us the bikes um I don’t know they’re really loud I haven’t actually ridden a motorbike before but I think they’re really cool and do you see them much around Hamilton no I don’t actually I don’t live in Hamilton but when I am in Hamilton I don’t see them much the guess oh guess [Music] good well I’ve just had a had a taste of that it was uh harder than I thought yeah but pretty good I see why you guys do it it’s pretty fun he we were pretty good for the first beginner jumping on the big 450 oh bit a whiskey throttle in the St but you tamed the Beast oh he tamed it you tamed it Bo Reon I got a future in bike life or well day brother persistence is key we just had a few boys hit us up on Instagram saying that Huntley is the place to be so we’re going to headit to Hunley um see how Hunley gets down with the dough [Music] bikes we’re in Huntley and some bikes are starting to pull up zooming bro a third Rider joins The Fray there he goes hit a wheelie there we go and the gum boots bike life in the gun boots welcome to Hunley I don’t know if they’re going to stop in the chat to us or if they’re just going to ride their bikes real fast they’re all over at a cast we’re going to go chat to them what’s up boys how you guys doing brother Griffin bang brother [Music] you guys all know each other yeah don’t know don’t follow there come around here meet up get for a little ride your cops don’t really mind sometimes they do get aggressive sometimes the poor kid over there it’s just what does it feel like riding on the road like that feels wonderful better than anything else know getting a bit too bored out here start riding around on these some people around don’t like us we don’t really care they need to like us is it legal to ride a background the license uh like police that they just kind of chill with it no not really took my bike off me put it in Mound how long was that for Dar 28 days [Music] they going to do some skids for [Music] us that’s the in C BOS G [Applause] pretty big skids before what’s the what’s the secret just just got to have a big luck and I’m excited [Music] woo woo how’s that 1 to 10 I give it a give it a five how do you rate the Bro skid here n he’s pretty up there he’s pretty good some people aren’t big fans of Huntley what would you say to them big fans of Huntley yeah it’s a pretty cool place yeah what you Reon is like the best thing about Huntley um yeah the people we’re back in Hamilton again they brought all the boys out today oh we just out here riding bikes having fun enjoying the weekend type of feeling you get when you’re out a bik like a crazy feeling it’s a crazy feeling you feel free how do you feel when you’re on that back wheel oh it’s a um feeling you can’t describe unless you’re on that back wheel it’s um you never be more when you’re so close to death bro yeah I can sort of see it as like uh how the skateboarders back in the day everyone used to hate skateboarders skating around and then now look they got them Escape Park no we’re not doing anything to them they just hate they just hate the image but it’s not a bad image just cuz we wear CLS and that it’s such to hide our identities from police and that yeah I’ve been chased a few times um you know we’re on bikes so it’s it’s always easier to get away from them I reckon it’s better than being out there um robbing hous and committing proper crimes bike life is not a crime why it shouldn’t be a crime we’re just riding bikes you know we’re not we’re not robbing anything we’re not doing anything bad we just riding together as a as a group yeah as a team good thing for some of us especially for some of the people and where they come from and what they’ve got around them it’s a positive Avenue I see for them to spend their time doing not causing any Mischief if you know what I mean I don’t know what you mean instead of scrolling on your phone all day and getting those little HS of dopamine or if you’re smoking drugs and um this is way better than doing this I’m actually not even good enough to rra up the grass I’ve been trying to but then I’m proud that I can’t because I just ride peacefully not all of us are ripping the grass up checking my glove on so I can so it looks cool okay I have tedds all over my body here wow big AG this Ted is actually my partner in my sister actually she might be want be king to do an interview s what are you up to this game for my son just having fun I believe probably who created it um created it out of fun you know put it together um you know what it does was fun fast kind of like a old hey but it’s like a riding roller coaster just the same thing you get from there I’ve noticed it’s a pretty uh male dominated scene by life why aren’t they more women in it uh I don’t know they they can be pretty intimidating um especially if I don’t start from a line of woman anyway if you ain’t getting shown from a woman it can be intimidating I never knew about box what’s going up yeah so now I’m in that era SP life era but it a a what’s most important in life to you love friendship family family just succeeding in life just doing well having your friends and family do well want to have life live fast ride hard live long but it’ll if it uh happens to be away where life goes sooner than that then hopefully it’s on my bike these are for my little brother rest in peace forever Med cunning him for dog my little brother he passed away in last year suicide do you think about him a lot every day we all do keeps me safe why we out here doing it too keeps me safe UB day why do you guys choose to wear these jumpers around to show how proud of him we are no matter what he did we always still love him always still be proud [ __ ] we’ll ride this around town ripping him whether it’s good or bad he’s on my back protecting him for M Dog rest in peace [Music] apparently the police were on their way so everyone left in a hurry we headed back to Huntley to go see some more bikes and maybe some horses while we’ve been filming for this video police have been undertaking Operation Hawk targeting dirt bikers in W cutter this has involved raiding local garages and impounding dirt bikes believed to have been ridden recklessly and without permits the locals have been pretty vocal on their Facebook Community page so we’ve come to the main street in Huntley to see what they have to say what do you know about bike life oh they got to get around somehow don’t they know it’s just a Pastime for them I don’t think nothing bad about them just be careful I’m very loud hav got no respectful people they seem to be courteous to the other cars they realize that you know there are other vehicles Etc oh they they’ve just about knocked me knocked into my car a few times and knocked me over when I’ve tried to walk on the pican I almost got wiped out last Saturday in town here and this mother I came flying past I had to step back L of the parents don’t probably care they they’re just too busy doing they what they want to do and they probably would probably law Breakers too do you know anyone who’s part of bike life my son yeah yeah what do you think the community thinks of them oh they don’t want them hey Community just doesn’t want them around but hey what can our kids do hey what can they do check them something else to do a maybe I think it’s exciting for them probably and maybe a bit of Fame because now there’s people doing interviews about them I don’t know it wasn’t when me we’ve been here what 20 years yeah and it wasn’t wasn’t being wasn’t be being we can’t control what they’re going to take off and do out of our own out of our own reach as long as they’re safe good would you do it if you were younger I still do very yeah yeah [Music] what is living in Huntley like good I’ll be like it yeah but one thing that Huntley does have above other places that I know of anyway is that the people are friendly they’ll say hi to you on the street it’s pretty uh rough especially on on that side there’s a lot of crime um they just don’t care is there a divide between West and East in Huntley uh there is a bit to some people yes what’s the difference uh some people just don’t like it over in huntt West more well off side on that side and more poverty on the side on the huntting West Side the East side’s getting bad too yeah they’re breaking into houses and thinking that they can just go and and and help themselves and pick on the old elderly what do you hope happens with the bikers in Huntley put them all in jail shoot them why is that oh then they won’t do it again get off the roads go and find a find a dirt track go and find somewhere to to to ride your ride them otherwise you you these could get badly injured or hurt somebody that’s just trying to drive why did you say you were on the fence about it uh cuz my son’s had so many accidents and stuff um on a motorbike and I just don’t want um other parents to go through that or to pick their children up off the ground how does that feel when you find out news like that uh whole another feeling you just don’t ever want to feel in your life yeah it’s it’s heartbreaking yeah a no [Music] good how’s it going no it’s going all good what’s happening huh what’s happening down there no just a bit of a ride out little one what are you up to here we just riding oh I just come to chill out with the boys ride motorbikes my son son come down to ride as well I’ve been riding bikes most of my life but we’re just more or less riding in the mud and stuff not doing wheelstands or anything got a few injuries that’s why I haven’t been riding yeah due due to doing wheel stands broken arm um compound fracture that I’m still getting over yeah what happened I crashed into the trees over there I had a tree stump you can’t really stop it cuz the bikes have been here since I’ve been growing up anyway yeah do the locals not like you guys very much uh some some some locals do like the ones around here I I say they do but it’s just more of the new people that move into town that don’t know what Hunley is like yeah when’s she going to get a bikee oh they had one the brother blew it up interview this fell over here his bike hard bike hard talk to me if you got a m bike what happened to your arm uh break my color what happened I was trying to do a bike life like them man trying to do wheelie but I was drunk and I come off come backwards did it hurt a lot no I don’t feel nothing nothing you want how come that’s a stupid question man I was drunk by the stain [ __ ] is it dangerous riding your bike trunk no never are you still going to ride you want to see I don’t want to make you crash you see yeah if you want start talk me through it got my leg break my liment morning [Music] [Music] start what’s what’s your name uh Conway tell me about your bike uh it’s a pretty Beast it’s good Beast you know gets me around did you have to save up for this bike uh not just bought straight out of the shop you know shout out to them are you scared of crashing at all uh depends on the damage cuz if it’s my bike then yeah most likely carry CU I know my parents w p for for it they tell me to pay for it they don’t mind me doing wheelies on the grass but on the road is a different story do you still do them on the road yep snitching on your snitching on myself cuz what if your parents see this uh if they do then shout out to them on that one what do you want to be when you’re older um for a job I want to be a bank manager and then and my speed time on a Roblox what do you know about bike left oh it’s a starle not a game the one [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] this where all the bikes started bus this where we all came down and fun used to come down here for swim when did you start calling at bike life my [ __ ] when we first started doing whe man we first started touching their phot in 36 it’s definitely not a um a sport for everyone especially if you’re going to crash come on now we talking about CR you just healed up brother you just healed brother what happened to you snapped the leg on a dir bike why do you guys keep writing if it’s so dangerous brother fun happy place bro find it doing keep keeps the Young on and all the kids out of trouble you know going out there doing silly stuff like stealing bro Car Chasers what would you guys be doing if you weren’t riding bikes probably stealing bro robing anything else you’d like to say uh n just bik up guns down B I didn’t even know where we off to who’s in charge no one’s pretty much in charge they just ride together pretty much these trains brother these are my trains so you tag these trains all of these trains so we in a different area of Hunley like where are we what’s the East Side the east side is the ship side many people live over on the east be they come how often you got to fill up often often five times a day five times a day takes me $15 for a full tank on this and it lasts like about like five maybe like a couple hours no five day what are you doing there oh boss you have to like [ __ ] it’s G it’s I’m getting interview who are you uh I’m I’m Charlotte I’m a worker here at mobile I’m actually first cousin that’s my first cousin do you like when they come through oh [ __ ] it it’s mean a seeing oh sorry am I allowed to play tot sorry um no it’s mean a seeing them come through you know you can see how passionate they are in this um everyone else might not agree with me though but oh just all their tricks you know seeing them getting up at the road doing wheelies going up the road seeing how cool they all look together [Music] come [Music] [Music] how do you guys all contact each other is it like a big group chat no no just play the game just play the game oh yeah should go for ride tomorrow then that’ll spit around spit around and everyone will just come down here once you hear one bike you’ll hear another one then another one then you’ll just carry on then that’s all of us are you a bit of a bike life leader oh no I wouldn’t say that I would say equal say we’re all equal we all equal no one then everyone will just stop beefing after that so is this wheelchair life yeah this is uh wheelie life you’re basically I’m pun you going to ask us about the police yeah what do you think of the police man [ __ ] the police why CU they ain’t going to catch us we ain’t going to stop riding you know [Music] boss [ __ ] the police that’s all I got to say boss how careful do you have to be tonight get CAU oh you know don’t need to be careful you just need to be dangerous e take them on dangerous tracks where they can’t drive some of the bikes we have around a hotty so hot yeah what does that mean oh it’s a bit too much just borrowed a borrowed bike are some of the bikes around here today borrowed no no no no no all of these are legit legit legit legit legit do people steal bikes much um trying to bring them back into why do you reckon the cops want to stop you all the complaints that been happening all the complaints they be putting up false accusations they be saying they little kid toys I don’t know why they’re not doing anything else going to stop some real crime this ain’t crime this is just therapy what do you call it therapy no just releases all the anger releases everything the boys are feeling the bed down bring them out just ride around with them you know it’s a good life on this love our life [Music] [Music] [Music] Pang name [Music] [Music] they looking at us [Music] [Music] what’s it like being famous oh I’m not really famous but it’s just yeah once you get on a bike you’ll start to get well known around this city yeah oh so we outside your house here yeah oh it’s it’s kind of the Mansion you know if I’m just being honest too easy what what have you been up to since uh we last saw you uh I’ve just been watching my Instagram fly up and uh just playing the game with the boys in it having a fun time there’s a lot of old people here it’s not really it’s not really a town you would want to ride bikes in but yeah no we don’t listen we just we are around like everywhere just wheeling in there bur El just see the farest I’ve been riding is probably to the probably when we went for that last interview on the East MH I’m only allowed a standless park but I still go on the roads got no ears these are just painted on that’s pretty bad yeah I like that that’s pretty bad oh a little bit of yo how are you how are you how are you boys doing how did you get into bikes the young man video sitting on the Alley how did you get him into bikes how did I get who into bikes him this guy yeah I’m riding up and down the street and he come out me I ask him if I could ask him if he could fix my bik for me whose house is this uh this is our house this is our safe spot our safe house what does bike life mean to you free being free bro you free to ride free when any problems happen you can get out and ride how did you get into bike life I think I was born into black life it’s the thing you see I only get away that’s how I only get away anyway what makes you feel down the outside the real life the real life brother what do you want to be when you grow up I still want to stick to the same thing bank manager why a bank manager cuz um if you look at the money cuz they’ll come on to a financial manager and then you just get bans on bans and then like you would have a whole garage full of v-rods cars and it I’m just going to go on that one night I’m going to go on the spending I’m just going to full just full spend up and then when I’m broke I’m going to wait to my next payment and start spending again so most lik to buy everything what’s it like growing up in Huntley kind of dangerous you know cuz kind of kind of witnessed a lot of um parent demos um I just witness one right there I think that’s because of someone’s getting hurt cuz they all like live right next to I think someone just got a bloody today forgot to get the reboot card you know pretty RS I’m just waiting till the day I kind of move out Hunley when that happens but once I see the box I low want to stay in Hunley cuz that they all used to me and like they know me in it I don’t want to be going to a different city and [ __ ] hey who are you where did I grow up oh I grew up from P door Wellington was it oh that was tough life a tough life for me what was tough um growing up all the lessons to learn fresh straight off the bet what’s a memory from poty do that you have I’ve got too many bad ones brother if I didn’t move here I wouldn’t be sitting here why not probably would have been locked up or someone you didn’t even want to look at why do bikes keep people out of trouble it’s cuz it’s your only getaway you know it’s your only bit of Freedom you get to yourself I know it sounds selfish but how come you’re into B life and your friends are into rugby and soccer oh because I don’t think they really understand the feeling cuz when I’m cuz it’s basically like all the other people say that like would like would you rather ride us making some loud noise coming around your house or like robbing shops and like like back then I used to always think like that’s like free money in it but I don’t really know the consequences so I was going to think to doing that but then I just got onto a bike and I was like all happy in it Jon that’s true if you weren’t riding bikes you’d be rubbing shops if I was older yeah if I was way too older but if I wasn’t then i’ would most likely be playing around this park or going to the east side park and just be myself but if I was older if there’s nothing else to do yeah that almost lik to be me why do you think people will rob things if there’s nothing else to do oh because people can get bored easily and when you get bored easily then ah you’re up to no good does it need to be bikes though yeah has to be couldn’t just be rugby or football or something oh we’ve all done that we’ve all played rugby we all played basketball we’ve been fighting for our Liv we’ve been ever since we’ve been out born so you know what haven’t we haven’t done what have you had to fight for Staying Alive brother are you scared of death no no I’m not why not I don’t know brother we all live once so you know live it up to the fullest what’s your favorite memory from Huntley uh probably when um oh when we were all riding at like this late time and like we went to um one of our East Side Lookouts and then we seen this nice um Sunset and we all took a photo but I don’t know where that photo went that was that was long G when you’re older how do you think you’re going to look back on these days worked that’s that’s that’s that that’s what I would be saying right now we good how do you think you’ll look back on these days have laugh probably have good laugh tried my best what project are you guys working on in here well we’ve got a wheie simulator that we’re trying to work on outside over here so we can put a motor bike on us so you can learn how to wheelie what’s this this is quite a Contraption oh it’s a it’s a little bits of pieces that we had lying around the house we just put it together what you is this safe kind of [Applause] [Music] take y hey there he is he’s coming on he’s coming on whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa slow down slow we go go wo wo slow down boss slow down there we go that’s the [Music] one he’s loving it you nice so what do you think about that n that’s sick actually okay we made it made it out of material scrap some [Music] materials this is the one wh yep that’s too late