For nearly 30 years – half of his life – the biker Freeman has been racing at full speed along the Ukrainian roads on his motor trike, wind in his face. Even at 60, his character won’t change: his trike is his life. Assembled with his own hands, the trike allows its owner to live a life he had long been dreaming of, aloof from society.
His love for freedom did not prevent the man from creating a family: he was lucky to find a woman who completely shares his views. Augusta is 25 years younger than himself. To be always near, she abandoned her job as a commercial director, and an apartment in Kyiv. The couple are raising Valeria, 11, who also enjoys accompanying her dad riding “The Little Wolf.” This is the nickname the family use to fondly refer to their trike.
FAMILY NEST
This unusual couple lives in a quiet village in Makariv raion near Kyiv. The place totally satisfies the bikers’ main requirement to stay as far as possible from the city bustle and those whom they nickname “civilians” among themselves.
A tall wooden fence encloses three plots, each about 0.10 hectares. On one of them rise the walls of the future home. Opposite sits a whitewashed country hut with extensions, facing the lake. A mongrel dog, Julia, welcomes us wagging its tail happily. The hosts, Serhii “Freeman” (the nickname is self-explanatory) and Augusta, are very hospitable. In the middle of the yard sits a barbeque grill, and a long table next to it – in a word, all amenities for merry get-togethers.
“Now, we’re going to treat you to some kebabs, and don’t you even try to refuse. You are a biker’s guests, not a beast’s,” Serhii laughs as he gets out beer bottles and places them on the table. Indeed, these people have a well-earned reputation for their hospitality. “This is my nephew’s place. He’s also a biker; he’s young and still has a desire to build a house. As far as I go, I just as well could do with a caravan to live in.”
As if to prove his words, he unlocks the door of the caravan sitting in the yard next to the barbeque. Augusta only smiles to this, offers us some tea, and shows us into the house. Several rooms are just in the process of redecoration, but everywhere the homemaker’s care speaks for itself. Everything is neat and cozy.
We were especially impressed to see the bathroom with a large spa – an uncommon sight in a village home. Each room is decorated with biker photos or posters. A special poster hangs above the bed in the bedroom: a profile portrait of Freeman himself, in his complete outfit, a leather bandanna and goggles.
Meanwhile, Serhii puts on his leather jacket carrying, according to the regulations, his name. His face instantly clears up as he gently tends his “Wolf” – a posh black motor trike with leather seats. In this village setting, with a wooden verandah and almost a dozen beehives, this wonder vehicle does look like a miracle.
“Do you make your own honey?” We are amazed.
“Well, sometimes I have to,” the biker laughs back, but now he is completely absorbed in his three-wheel “friend”. The trike is his own creation. Four years ago Freeman assembled it with his own hands, using mostly the parts from a Volkswagen Transporter T2. Serhii made his first trike back in the 1990s, using the domestic make Zaporozhets, and named his creation “Cobra.”
PRINCIPLES
Since he turned 15, Serhii has lived on his own. He left his home in Kyiv for Dnipropetrovsk where he studied at a technical school to become an electrician. He has always loved exercise and took up rowing as a sport.
After graduation he worked in the North as a sound technician for a music band and later, as a circuit installer. And then he was captured by the road. Until now, he has no house of his own. When asked how bikers make a living, Serhii only smiles.
“Who will tell you the truth? I’m retired, but I have never gotten my pension.”
Serhii “Freeman” is a member of the National Motorcycle Association of Ukraine. It was created by motorcyclists and bikers as a kind of trade union. One of the programs, Motohelp, runs in Ukraine to provide assistance to motorcyclists who got injured in road accidents or have trouble with the law.
There is hardly anyone else besides a biker who can better understand a car driver in need of help on the road. That is why they consider it their duty to help drivers. Every experienced biker knows what an accident is. Freeman himself had to spend a month in hospital and another month learning to walk again.
“I somehow contrived to raise my first trike, “Cobra,” on its two wheels, and failed to follow the bend. My fault. You know, a biker has a moment when he believes that he rides better than anyone else, and then he becomes careless. It is particularly true of the young ones. As a result, sad news comes suddenly, someone is dead.
“Once there was a late phone call, I looked at the display – it was from Liokha ‘Subaru.’ I answered the call only to hear a strange voice, ‘Your friend is lying here in the ditch.’ I’m like, ‘So put the phone in his pocket, he’ll sleep it off and ride on.’ And he’s like, ‘No way, he isn’t driving anywhere anymore’.”
Among the Ukrainian bikers there are true wanderers, who have traveled the world and have first-hand experience of the life on the roads. One of them is Yurii Popovych, nicknamed Magister. He used his own money to erect a monument to the deceased bikers near Bila Tserkva: a motorbike heading for the sky from a tall pedestal.
FREEDOM
“Bikers form a fraternity built on an intensive sense of freedom, i.e., on the right to a free choice: where, with whom, and how you will travel,” said Freeman. “I think that as a species, they will soon be gone like dinosaurs. There are fewer and fewer people who can afford to live freely. A true biker seeks a life without restrictions, e.g., he will choose motorways farther from cities and police radars, which limit the freedom of traveling. Germans, who come to visit us, can never get used to our freedom, from paying in cash instead of plastic cards to the freedom of making campfires in the forest.”
Despite the fact that this subculture originated and took shape in the US in the mid-1950s, Freeman thinks that in Ukraine a special kind of bikers has formed — Slavic bikers.
“Ukrainian bikers are distinct from the others due to their kindness and a sense of brotherhood, and you also have to mention their generosity: the tradition of feasts and mass celebrations,” said Freeman. “Asking about someone’s job and earnings is typically considered indecent. It is the individual that is valuable, rather than his status. Also, everyone knows the value of words. ‘Said and done’ is an unwritten law. Otherwise, there will be just a good beating.”
It is a common knowledge that each member of this community has a nickname. This is also a kind of protest against society. Bikers get their monickers for their most prominent features or peculiarities.
“We have a friend whose nickname is Troll. He got so named not due to his ugly looks, but because he is a trolleybus driver and likes tricks. Once he was hurrying to meet his date. He disconnected his trolleybus, drove downhill across the city to another end, got connected to the wires there and arrived on time. A true biker, in a word,” related Freeman.
When spring comes, all bikers get ready to set off. Our heroes have already decided on this year’s route. First they are going to the opening of the season in Kyiv, then to biker rallies Tarasova Hora in Kaniv, Cherkasy oblast, and in Odesa, and then they will see where else they want to go. When they travel far, Freeman and Augusta go by themselves. At this stage, they do not risk taking their little daughter along.
IN THE SHADOW
The biker’s passion for motorcycles, as well as his entire life style, typically has nothing to do with women.
“For a biker, a girl on a motorbike is like a hidden fault in the engine: you know that it’s going to show, but you never know when exactly. Not long ago, a new type of motorcycle appeared, Egoist. It only has one seat, to avoid the temptation to carry trouble with you,” said Freeman.
A woman who likes to travel in comfort has nothing to do next to a biker. To demand staying the night at a hotel or traveling abroad by train equals to breaking up your relationship. The ability to demand nothing of each other but love and devotion – this is what underlies the families united by a passion for living on the road.
“If people are patient enough not to demand anything from their pet in exchange for their love, why find fault with the woman?” the biker wonders. “Cook your own food if your wife can’t cook. I, for one thing, have been promising to make French fries for the five years of our life together, and my wife still believes that a day will come when I do this. However, I make coffee every morning.”
According to the bikers’ unwritten laws, the woman has no vote at their rallies. She must be happy just being there.
Augusta shared some rules of this particular aspect of family life: “A biker’s wife has to be able to quietly enjoy her husband’s glory. If you want to accompany your man to the rallies, just stay quiet and don’t make trouble.
“If my husband wants me to hand over a screwdriver, I will; if he wants a wrench, always welcome; should he need help repairing, no problem. It’s unacceptable for a woman to voice her opinion publicly or, worse still, take the charge.
“Generally, the woman belongs at home. She has to take care of her man and children, cook, and clean – this is my deepest conviction!”
Serhii and Augusta were wed at the local church. However, the woman dreams of a true biker wedding, in a white leather outfit. The question of loyalty for this couple ranks among the principal ones. They got used to trusting each other, as the main law of biker rallies is to keep your hands off other bikers’ motorcycles and women.
Leaving the happy couple’s household, I caught myself thinking about their recipe for happiness. It is perhaps the gift of letting yourself be free and at the same time, letting your partner enjoy freedom. Many people have mixed feelings towards bikers: they are admired by some, and sometimes feared by others. Yet after meeting this family I have had a feeling that we have gained good, distinctive, and reliable friends.
