The Wolfmen

THE WOLFMEN

Russia's equivalent to the Hell's Angels, just a little friendlier

Russia's largest motorcycle club, The Night Wolves, was born in an era of uncertainty and chaos that in the West is affectionately know as Perestroika. Among other things, the previously unheard-of freedoms led to a cultural explosion of rock music and rebellion, and for the first time, non-government-sanctioned groups could enjoy the right to assemble.

"Bock music was just taking snape then," says longtime Night Wolf Andrei Sazonov. "I was playing in a group called Shakh and concerts were rough, since the police and Komsomoltsov (communist youth group) would come to the shows, storm the stage and try to beat us upS"

At the time, the Night Wolves were little more than a group of teenagers and twentysomethings on Urals who would work together to protect musicians at rock con ceils. "We were beaten up and thrown in jail many times," Sazonov says with a sigh.

After Perestroika ended and the Soviet Union cotlapsed, the police, no longer certain where tomorrow’s paycheck would come from, lost interest in breaking up illegal rock concerts. By 1989, the group of guys with guitars and Urals adopted the name “Night Wolves,” but it wasn’t until 10 years later that they would be officially recognized by the government as a club. Now, they represent the largest motorcycle club in Russia with chapters all across the country and in other parts of the former Soviet Union.

The Night Wolves have grown more enterprising over the years. Three years ago, they purchased a junkyard on the outskirts of Moscow and began building their new headquarters, Biker Center. It’s a theme bar, tuning shop, tattoo parlor, nightclub and rock concert stage rolled into one, sort of a bad-ass starter mall for the budding Russian biker. Unlike the antiestablishment ethos of early motorcycle clubs in America, the Wolves have moved right into marketing themselves and their products. They have even introduced their own line of riding gear, Wolf Wear. Bike Center is also home to Moscow’s only Harley-Davidson dealer.

“We tried to become a Harley club in 1997, but it didn’t work out,” says Sazonov. “It was too expensive and difficult to get parts. Now, we chop up Urals instead.”

As for a credo, the group only insists that members be civilized and decent members of society who like to ride. Drug addicts and alcoholics are not allowed. Still, the Night Wolves are strictly a brotherhood of bikers, because women are excluded.

They won’t hear about changing their politically incorrect policy, either. “There’s a simple reason why women can’t join,” says Sazonov. “This is a men’s club. Let them make their own club if they don’t like it.”

Who knew Russian bikers and the Augusta National Golf Club had something in common?

-Lucas Romriell