I wasn't around much, but they did make the Spectator.
Posted with full permission from the Hamilton Spectator
They're hog wild about motorcycles
TV show aims to repair bad image of Harley-Davidson riders
By Rob Faulkner
Additional Articles by this Columnist
The Hamilton Spectator
Scott Gardner, the Hamilton Spectator
An episode filming in Hamilton on the weekend featured the annual Percy Poole Memorial Turkey Run.
An upcoming TV show "by bikers, for bikers" rolled into town this weekend to film a group of local riders in a bid to fix the bad reputation of Harley-Davidson buffs.
But the show, BikerTV.ca, faces a rough ride.
BikerTV.ca: The Best of the V-Twin World claims it's the world's first "biker lifestyle program." and says it's funded entirely by motorcycle-industry sponsors. The series grew out of producer Tom Mann's concern that the "horrors" of the Quebec biker wars between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine was smearing the hobby he loved.
"I just grew to feel that (it) was tainting the whole Harley world," said Toronto's Mann, who's been riding 30 years. "Riders are from all walks of life. And stereotyping them as criminals just isn't accurate."
But Mann's efforts to rehabilitate the biker image are coloured somewhat by his close association with the Hells Angels Ontario spokesman, Donny Petersen. Petersen -- who has been a member of outlaw biker gangs for over two decades but has no criminal record -- is a friend of Mann's and contributes a regular segment to the show, Tech Line with Donny Petersen.
Mann said Petersen, who writes for American Iron magazine, is North America's most-read (motorcycle) technical writer. And also one of his good friends. The two have known each other for 30 years.
"He has absolutely no criminal record. What he does in his personal life is none of my business."
The show, Mann insisted, "has absolutely nothing to do with any clubs, or anything whatsoever."
"There's no politics, no discussion of politics, no colours, no nothing."
BikerTV.ca will feature the art, music, girls, parties, drag races and rides of the legit biker scene. Part of the series is a biker travelogue, profiling the best routes and pit stops in Ontario.
Yesterday, Mann's crew filmed members of Hamilton's 200-strong Harley Owners Group (HOG) as they left Poole's Cycle on their annual Turkey Run charity ride.
"Every year (organizers) go out early and put signs and directions on lampposts and trees ... you don't know exactly where you're going when you start out," explained road captain Dennis Allison, a Burlington headhunter by day who rides a 1,200 cc Sportster.
After meeting Mann at a motorcycle event, Allison invited the filmmaker to join the HOG on the scenic rural route. Mann scrambled to get overhead shots from bridges, and shots inside the pack as Hamilton riders rumbled on.
Mann's show comes three years after his documentary, Chrome and Thunder: The Ontario Biker Reality, for CHUM Television, which came out at the same time the Hells Angels were invading Ontario enmasse. As a result, he included interviews with police, gang experts and gang members about the "one percenters," the criminal biker gangs.
But, with the 15-year-old Hamilton HOG chapter that supports charities, he found a group that "really emulates our values at BikerTV.ca: work hard, play hard and ride safe."
The challenge Mann faces in polishing the biker image was clearly highlighted, however, when several members of Hamilton's Red Devils -- Canada's oldest outlaw biker gang -- showed up yesterday for the filmed ride wearing "colours" and club insignias or tattoos.
"I had zero to do with the Red Devils coming here. I was as surprised as anyone else," Mann said, adding that they won't be appearing in the show.
"They just happened to be here ... they could be Harley owner group members. I don't know."
Mann, who said he's never met a Red Devil gang member, said their presence doesn't faze him.
"If at one of our events there happens to be any members of any club, we're not going to kind of run (away), that's just life."
BikerTV.ca has shot HOG chapters in Windsor, Ottawa and London. The footage is for the show's Ride of the Week segment, with its host Heather Ireland. Its soundtrack will feature tunes by Hamilton's Tom Wilson among others.
"When you're on your bike on vacation and roll into Hamilton, and you're from Lord-knows-where, Wisconsin, a natural question is, 'Where's the Harley dealership, for service and a souvenir T-shirt? Where's a good three-hour ride ... and a biker-friendly bar where you can grab a sandwich?'" Mann said.
With answers, BikerTV.ca will air in six half-hour episodes on CH TV, likely at 10 a.m. Sundays, starting in late December or early January.
BikerTV is funded by sponsors such as Burlington's Mid-USA Motorcycle Parts and Hamilton's Advanced Welding Techniques.
It has no network or government funding, Mann said. It's no infomercial, he adds.
rfaulkner@thespec.com
