THE INTERVIEW WITH ENRICO – DEMO IN HAMBURG AGAINST MOTORCYCLE RIDING BAN
Enrico is a biker from Hamburg. I met him during the DEMO against the planned driving bans for motorcycles on the Reeperbahn in Hamburg and asked him his opinion in the live stream.
This was more of a coincidence, unplanned and without a template. Here is the interview again for everyone to understand, in which Enrico spoke openly about the liver, a very good statement in my opinion!
The interview from the Reeperbahn in Hamburg on July 4th, 2020
HARLEYSITE: Welcome to a new edition of Harleysite
Directly from the Reeperbahn opposite Herzblut St. Pauli, in the background Chris Laut from Augenfeindt and Enrico is playing, I found you here. You're someone who knows, right?
ENRICO: Yes, you know, I know why I'm here, let's put it that way, when my basic rights are massively restricted, or should be restricted. I've always been on two wheels my entire life, starting with the Bonanza bike. I've always been there and it's unthinkable for me! I am a taxpayer, I pay taxes for 365 days on a registered vehicle that is not tuned.
I don't see that, I ride my motorcycle to work, whatever the wind and weather, I'm not a fair-weather rider! The whole scene in which I move is massively restricted by such bans, our parties are on Fridays and Saturdays and then I think to myself, we want to go back on Sunday.
And what happens is that we can't ride on Sundays, it's unbelievable, our culture, the culture of motorcyclists and the biker scene, is massively disrupted. Just because a few people, you can't point at all the people, you could be completely wrong. I think with a little understanding and adjustment, many things in life could be better, and that includes the word respect ! Not just spelling, but also simply living, then things will be better.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, respect is also the key word, the Hamburg Harley Days, they always say respect for Hamburg. You should stick to that, it's clear that when you're in a city like Hamburg, where the event takes place, it's not a given that an event of this size will be held, we'll have to see what happens next year. But these are the things that ultimately work together.
ENRICO: Of course we also have economic aspects, if you consider everything that depends on the two wheels that we move.
This is a huge economy. At the moment, many hotels and restaurants that have adapted to the biker scene have come to a complete stop, they are about to stop, their existence is threatened.
HARLEYSITE: The economy is not going well at all right now, especially in the catering industry, I was just down in the Westerwald and you can see how hard the restaurateurs are, also generally with motorcyclists, and they are happy that groups are coming again . Of course you have to adapt to the regulations, but you can do it quickly.
ENRICO: Let's take the region offhand, in the small towns or villages, they live there with their little kiosk, their little coffee, the little snack bar, they live from the motorcycle season, if they didn't have that, they wouldn't have any Existence. Because there is hardly any work for them there.
HARLEYSITE: Your blood pressure goes up straight away!
ENRICO: Yes, of course my blood pressure goes up, it's logical.
I'm sorry about wanting to interfere so massively with my basic rights, I have problems with that. I live in a democracy, I am for democracy, I have my voice and I use it.
HARLEYSITE: Yes and that's why we're here today, a few thousand are still standing at the gates of Hamburg ,
ENRICO: I'm amazed, I'm really amazed that there are so many people here today, we're having bad weather, which isn't unusual for us in Hamburg, but there are still 2000 people who are still on the A7 somewhere, That probably doesn't exist, there will be a little discharge here.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, the Reeperbahn is closed on both sides, we are standing in the middle of it. It's pretty overwhelming what's going on here. The police did a good job, we got down the A7 and they escorted us out in Neumünster. But there was no complete escort because it wasn't a registered parade. But that's not how it works here like in Munich.
ENRICO: One would say that the people who are here now arrived in a very, very disciplined manner. I would like to say this very clearly, we don't have any posers here, no burnouters who are just cranking things up here, that would be completely out of place here. That would be off the mark, against the topic and ourselves. I'm really excited. I'm excited to see what happens on stage, that we'll hear speeches and facts there.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, I don't know exactly, someone was already well prepared on stage, with his piece of paper, who expressed his opinion, so you don't have to be so petty. It is important that everyone is allowed to express their opinion sometimes.
ENRICO: He presented numbers, factual numbers that can also be verified. All well and good, as I've heard, many speakers are still on the motorway and can't get in here. That's why they play a little more music now, which is of course a shame. But an organization like this, it's not easy to organize something like that.
HARLEYSITE: This is the first time!
ENRICO: Exactly, the first time, but they did it really well. And I hope that the speakers will get through and that we will hear a few more statements.
HARLEYSITE: We would like to hear a few statements. Just like you, you've already made some good statements,
ENRICO: Yes, that's right, absolutely! You're represented here and it's a nice feeling in Corona times, just this community again, a bunch of bikers here on the Reeperbahn, it's a great moment. It brings normal life back to some extent.
HARLEYSITE: In general, the topic of Harley-Davidson is always in the foreground for me, but at the forefront we are all motorcyclists.
ENRICO: That's right!
HARLEYSITE: I used to ride other machines and at some point I stuck with Harley.
ENRICO: It doesn't matter what motorcycle you drive, if you sit on it and say, that's my moped, then that's your moped, no matter what brand it says.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, that's exactly how it is! I drove down here this morning with others from Rendsburg / Eckernförde, with Kawasaki etc., it doesn't matter, we have an issue that we have to tackle together in the whole scene and we just have to stick together now.
ENRICO: The topic of unity is such a thing when you see in the media how people beat each other up and accuse each other, yes, it's you with your loud Harley, you with your flap exhaust system, you with your exhaust and everyone always hits the omme (head) and presents themselves as innocent.
No! We ourselves have the gas tap in our hands, we decide how much speed we bring into the engine, we decide how far we open which flap, to put it in a nutshell, a very simple story.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, but often it's not the only problem. If you live on a street like this somewhere in the Harz Mountains, you just have a background noise when 20/30 motorcyclists come along, the tires, the engines make noises, that's just loud.
ENRICO: Man, I live on the outskirts of Hamburg, on the farm, the tractors are running there, the wood is being split, the mowers are being cut, there are all sorts of things going on there, it's all part of it, that's just life!
HARLEYSITE: Yes, that's life!
ENRICO: Of course I can understand if there's a small town somewhere in the Harz Mountains where 600 motorcycles are heating up every day and they're pulling the thing up really high at the entrance to the town, man, that doesn't have to be the case. That doesn't have to be the case! But I'm not the one taking the measures either. Everyone has to write it down for themselves and say, that's good, or that's good.
HARLEYSITE: Yes Enrico, that's a good statement, because that's exactly how it is!
ENRICO: We decide and it is partly our own fault that we have to do a demo today. Of course, those who ultimately cause the noise don't make it any easier.
HARLEYSITE: But I'm also of the opinion that it's not just the loud machines, but the presence of many motorcyclists in one place.
ENRICO: Yes, of course, if a group drives in somewhere, I'll say 10/12 machines, then of course it's concentrated. It's just like that, when you drive somewhere, there are these noise boards and those with this speed scale, for example. We have enough options to make routes quieter, we don't need new laws and bans! We don't need them! What we have is enough; if we used it, we wouldn't have any problems
We need more communication between each other, between bikers and the population, that is absolutely important. That we communicate more and that you can talk to someone calmly, which happens often enough when you are standing somewhere with the machines waiting for them, you drive off because they want to hear the sound of the machines, the Harleys.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, that's how it is. They also understood this earlier in Hamburg. They were standing next to us in the car in a traffic jam and gave a thumbs up, everything was fine. Actually, you have to be surprised, you're also a driver and don't like being stuck in traffic and today you're a motorcyclist, but still, the understanding is there. Maybe it's also because the farmers go to Berlin to demonstrate, yesterday the showmen, today the motorcyclists, there's a bit of unrest in the country. I sometimes get the impression that there's a lot of movement here, a lot of people are dissatisfied.
ENRICO: There are very, very many points currently that are very, very sensitive. Above all, the economy is being massively attacked and what is currently happening to the farmers, I think that can't be true! And I think it's good that they're taking to the streets, I think it's good that they're showing the flag with the tractors and that's what we're doing here now, we're showing the flag together! So that the people who make the decisions wake up and maybe think about it. They come from a different corner of society and have nothing to do with us.
HARLEYSITE: They live in an ivory house!
ENRICO: Exactly, they live in an ivory house, they live in their world, we don't really have that, we're just forbidden. That's just made too easy, about 4.5 million motorcycles are 4.5 million votes, you should think about that carefully and the total population, I want to go out on a limb, I think we are 86 million.
HARLEYSITE: There may be 86 now
ENRICO: Yes, and 4.5 million of them are motorcyclists, that's quite an order of magnitude.
HARLEYSITE: There are more, because the seasonal drivers are not included in the statistics, then there are those who ride motorcycles every now and then and now perhaps cannot ride a motorcycle at all due to the crisis, but would like to and would like to, or family, There are countless reasons why you might not be a motorcyclist at the moment. So I think this number, 4.5 million motorcyclists, is low, there are certainly more.
ENRICO: Yes, absolutely, I can well imagine there are more. And if they are motorcyclists, scooter riders or something like that, I definitely won't allow myself to be banned from riding a motorcycle and I won't waste any energy on the regenerative electric drive because that's the end of every adventure. Last year I rode a motorcycle with a good friend for 6,000 kilometers in 18 days. We camped, off the beaten track, in beautiful nature, I couldn't imagine doing that with an e-bike. Or ride with a few people, everyone has roughly the same range, they all have an e-bike, then try to fill up 12 machines on the way, you can just take a motel.
HARLEYSITE: I've ridden the e-bikes, they're fun, fun, but that's a different matter!
ENRICO: This is something for the young people who are now coming along, for us old warhorses, I want to have a tank, I want to have petrol in it and I also want to have my petrol conversations and not e-conversations, I'm not interested in that, with a sound processor and all that stuff, I don't need it. The engine has its own noise, I need that.
HARLEYSITE: Especially that moment in Norway when the fire is crackling or the hot engine is still crackling from driving, that's...
ENRICO: That's branding for life, that's what you take with you, those are the campfire stories that you then share with your friends. I will continue to do this as long as I can, as long as I exist and as long as there is gasoline.
HARLEYSITE: That's sending shivers down my spine right now, I had such a great experience with my buddies up there in Norway, but you can have that somewhere else, it's generally about motorcycling. I was just in the Westerwald, where you can also drive beautifully, but you also want to be able to drive and want to be welcome.
ENRICO: Of course, as I said at the beginning, we all pay vehicle taxes, we have registered motorcycle vehicles, if they are not tampered with, there is no argument to exclude us here, or anything, that is, I would just say, completely wrong.
HARLEYSITE: There was another debate on July 1st, it was on the agenda again, but we don't want to comment politically now, I'll say, but it's always the same parties that mobilize against us, or against everything. But we'll have to see how it all develops.
ENRICO: If we now talk about politics and the parties, you wouldn't have enough time. There's a lot going on at the moment, but you have to be able to question it and not always beat it with the club. One thing is very clear that we have to do something for this planet, that is completely out of the question, but with moderation, with moderation, with a sense of proportion and not driving an entire country into the wall in “clamps on, clamps on”, economically, That's not how it works. We will lose the economic status we have.
HARLEYSITE: Normally politics, politicians are supposed to be a reflection of society, and you're usually included in that.
ENRICO: More of a reflection of herself than of society, sometimes a bit otherworldly, trapped in her own mind.
No, we are the people, that's just how it is, we are the people.
HARLEYSITE: Now let's see who the people are, take a quick spin. This is the lifeblood of St. Pauli, how many people do you think are here?
ENRICO: I would easily go for it, so there are at least 1000 people here at the start, I would almost even go for 1200. So this is clearly a good story. It's almost like Harley Days.
HARLEYSITE: Yes, I've been tingling the whole time, it's a good feeling.
I would say that was the word for Sunday, you actually said it all!
ENRICO: Yes, completely free from the liver
Enrico thank you very much!
