Hitting the road: Motorcycle riding club embraces diversity

By John Redmond

With the warmer spring weather just around the corner, clubs and groups whose activities involve participating in outdoor events are gearing up for a year of adventure and excitement.

One such group is the Yongsan Road Dragons (YRD), a riding club of local and expat motorcycle enthusiasts with a chapter based in Seoul.

The group welcomes anyone who rides or is thinking about riding in Korea.

“We are an open riding club made up of DoD (Department of Defense) personnel, expats and local nationals in Seoul,” the club Facebook page states.

The YRD is a riding club, not to be confused with a motorcycle club, whose primary purpose is to ride motorcycles.

Members of riding clubs get together to enjoy rides, with YRD trips spanning the entire peninsula, some lasting for days.

Motorcycle clubs are more about the social aspects of being together, the brotherhood, or creating a framework by which members can find their place in a common goal.

The YRD is considered to be the oldest riding club in Korea, dating back to the early 1980s, and specializes in mountain rides.

“We’re known for hardcore riding, we’re mountain riders,” club president Robert Edwards, aka Curly, told The Korea Times. “We don’t spend our time on straight and narrow, or straight and flat roads. That’s just how we get to the mountains.”

“We ride in the mountains. We stay in the mountains. Everything we do is in the mountains”

In keeping with the spirit of a riding club, the YRD is not about speed, but embraces what many consider to be some of the better motorcycle rides.

“The aim of the group is to ride and see Korea,” Edwards said. “The best way to see Korea is from a motorcycle.”

The group welcomes any motorcycle make or model, as long as it is over 400cc. And for safety reasons, new members must pass a check ride with the club safety officer and/or road captain(s) before joining a club ride.

“Our requirements to be a member are your bike has to be at least 400cc or better, and we prefer better, and you have to pass a check ride,” Edwards said. “The check ride determines the minimum standard for riding with us. Not how hard and fast we usually ride, that’s where our mentorship program comes in. Once a person passes the check ride, we then mentor him further on. Even if you don’t pass the check ride, you can still ride with us and we will mentor you to bring you up to our standard.”

Government sanctioned and approved by the United States Department of Defense (DoD), membership is not open to members or prospects associated with the “one-percent.”

Some outlaw motorcycle clubs can be distinguished by a “one-percent” patch worn on the colors. This is said to refer to a comment by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) that 99 percent of motorcyclists were law-abiding citizens, implying the last 1 percent were outlaws.

The Hells Angels Motorcycle Club (HAMC) is a worldwide one-percenter motorcycle club.

YRD group runs include a “Chase the Sun” weekend ride and the “Tour De Corea,” a slightly more challenging undertaking.

For a Chase the Sun, the group starts in Seoul, rides to the east coast for the sunrise, then travels along the mountain roads to greet the sunset on the west coast. This is all done in a day. The following day the group rides back to Seoul.

The Tour De Corea is a long ride that can exceed 1,500 kilometers and last up to four days, with regular distances of 500 kilometers a day.

The other Road Dragons chapter is in Daegu.

For more information, visit the Yongsan Road Dragons Facebook page.