How it grew

Dubai chapter history … as told by Geoff Stringer (founder)

There I was driving down Satwa in late 1990. As I stopped at the lights a motorbike drew up at the side of me.

As I inspected the bike. Two tone blue with lots of chrome, I realised I was alongside one of the first Harley Davidson's I had seen in the Middle East.

Not only that, the driver was a friend of mine, Kieran Hodge. This instantly took me back to my early days of biking in England where I had once seen a Harley, fully chopped and glistening disappearing into the distance with a leather-clad rider. Easy rider was for me but lack of funds and college made it out of reach.

Before I could roll the window down to say hi the lights changed, the pitch of the deep rumbling changed, and away went the Harley with Kieran into the distance.

As soon as I could get to a phone I rang Kieran and asked where he had got the Harley.

First Harleys

It turns out it was one of the first two bikes to come into the UAE and was from a shop in Abu Dhabi.

It was in late 1991 that I came across the new Harley showroom in Al Aweer. As with many people a five-minute visit resulted in a one-hour tour and damage to the bank balance.

I then joined with the Harley riders that were now gathering on various nights and weekends to ride and be seen.

At this stage there were some 10-15 riders in Dubai. There was never a formal club at the beginning. Riders would meet in the Lodge or at someone's house prior to a ride.

The Lodge was a familiar and convenient stomping ground and meetings were often held there.

Big Jim was one of the earlier riders on his silver Fatboy with the chrome Hog on the front fender.

He has left Dubai but is still remembered. He stood up from the group in one of the earlier meetings and said "this is a family and families stick together". This I still hear in my mind and draw resolution from when times are difficult.

There were no leaders, no nationalities, no marshals or committee in the early days, just people wanting to ride their Harley's and have fun with other Harley riders.

The organising was down to a few individuals, Kieran Hodge, Rolph and Sue Fischer and a few others who would take the responsibility for saying when and where there would be a ride.

I eventually joined HOG International in 1993 and soon after the HOG Dubai Chapter was formed.

Many events such as weekend rides to Al Ain and Fujairah with bands and barbecues awaiting our arrival were organised over the years.

The first fully organised charity run was to the Hatta Fort Hotel in 1993. It was discussed and decided that it would be a fun family day and we would ride for a charity.

This still stands and is one of the favourite rides of the year.

A great day was had by all and some Dh70,000 plus was achieved.

This was the era of the instigation of the Harley chapter. As the number of riders grew, the importance of having a formalised chapter was not only required but needed to be able to have gatherings.

At those times large gatherings were not appreciated by the local authorities.

So to overcome this problem, recognition by the authorities was a necessary requirement.

Acceptance into the local motor sports association, again in its infancy at that time, required an international recognition of the Harley Group.

HOG was contacted in 1994 and the HOG chapter was realised. A full committee was installed and membership grew.

There were 40 or 50 riders in the early days but as word went out, this grew and over the years has risen to its present day of about 150 members.

We are asked every year to have a bigger involvement in the Dubai Shopping Festival with roads being closed specifically for our productions and continually being asked at these events to produce more and more noise and larger turnouts.

The relationship we have today with the police, local authorities and retailers could never have been envisaged in the early days of a few Harley enthusiasts in a foreign country.

The future looks promising due to the vast increase in construction and the changing policies of the UAE.

This will, in turn, bring in new personnel for work and hopefully new members to the club. The family will increase.