“Come as a guest, leave as a friend” There is something in the slogan!
That was the Hamburg Harley Days 2018, the new date for 2019 has already been set, but what do we take with us from the cosmopolitan city of Hamburg ? Some of us, a little less, had to watch as their bike was taken away in a disgraced car because they had some defects on their bike that needed to be clarified.
But let's start from the beginning, 2018 was by far the worst weather in years, the rain stopped many visitors from attending the event in Hamburg. Many hotels are booked for next year immediately after the event, but this year things will probably be different. It wasn't just the bad weather that had arrived, the city of Hamburg was sending more and more signals that they didn't actually want the event.
No parade on the Reeperbahn!
It started in advance with the route of the parade, which was no longer supposed to go over the Reeperbahn for environmental and noise protection reasons, but mainly through the harbor area. Despite intensive efforts by the organizer, the authorities' decision could not be shaken, after all the spectacular Köhlbrand Bridge was still on the route. When we think back over the years how many people waited expectantly on the streets on the way to the Reeperbahn for the top of the Harley Parade, it quickly gives us tingles and goosebumps. That was topped when we arrived at the Reeperbahn, the US reality TV star Paul Teutul Sr. is still raving about the moment when he drove across the Reeperbahn on the Road King, that's now over.
And as if all that wasn't sad enough, the police increased their staff especially for the event to carry out special motorcycle checks. It started on Friday evening, until midnight they took the bikers out at checkpoints to check them. Last year someone was charged, but it was unclear whether everything was correct or not. In this case, documents will be submitted later or an expert will clarify the situation. In any case, the weekend is over for this visitor, something like this already happened last year.
The proportionality is often not there, most Harley riders won't put up with it either, but the aim of the campaign is to scare the bikers and to be uncomfortable, who wants to be so annoyed after the event. At some point the time has come and the number of visitors will decline and an event like in Hamburg doesn't really deserve that, but where red-green rules you can't expect much.
Anyone who really violates the rule on a massive scale perhaps doesn't deserve anything else. The organizer has been promoting consideration for years, especially in the side streets, but at the moment you can't shake the feeling that the rule of law only takes action where there is money to be made gives. In addition, the EU punitive tariffs on Harleys, even if they have not yet been passed, politics is having more and more influence on our free time and obviously thinks they have to regulate everything for us. Live and let live should be the motto, other events in Hamburg are not so denounced and when the big ships blow up their exhaust fumes in the port of Hamburg, people are obviously not particularly interested, there are double standards here!
Sad for Hamburg!
Unfortunately, the slogan “Come as a guest, leave as a friend” can be taken literally by some bikers.
If you still want to go to Hamburg in 2019, you can now your hotel cheaply here.
External link: Film on Bild.de