Meet the New York Ruff Ryders

By

ruff-ryders

You’ve likely heard of the Ruff Ryders through lyrics and videos. But all that talk does little to show the reality behind what is, actually, a motorcycle club. Here, a French film crew sets out to profile the crew, coming away with a human portrait of riders that are hated my many, loved by few and, allegedly, respected by all.

Thanks for the tip, Julien.

  • Raubert Van Harris

    Cliches on Cliches on Cliches

  • oldblue

    Wow.

    That is beyond squidly. Lots of talking, lots of riding in straight lines, plenty of pointless burnouts and posing. People want to be a part of this? Seriously?

    • http://www.TroyRank.com Troy R

      Agreed. This is why people have warped opinions of motorcycling.

  • Frosty_spl

    Stop. Drop. Shut em down, open up shop. Oh. No. That’s how Ruff Ryders roll.

    • http://pinkyracer.com pinkyracer

      ooops. I thought it was “shoot em down.”

      • Frosty_spl

        You are probably right, I may have memorized the radio version, haha.

  • walter

    Atrocious.

  • 10/10ths

    I ride alone. This is not about riding. This about folks who need to be a part of something.

    • nick2ny

      Amen. I ride alone too.

  • always_go_big

    Hey look, idiots can ride bikes too.

  • zipp4

    So, how about some Audi/Ducati news? Anything but this.

  • John

    Pitiful

  • equ

    The U S of A is not just suburbs and mountains. Newsflash, there are inner cities as well. Many there don’t get a good crack at a decent education and what not. And while it may be straight, partially, the cross bronx expressway is no playground. I am saddened by the arrogant commentary here. The level of hating perhaps explains why it took a Frenchman to make the film.

    • i like to eat

      What exactly is your point? That inner cities exist? What does that have to do with dumbasses who ride like assholes and get cops pissed off at everyone on two wheels?

    • Raubert Van Harris

      hating, haters, yada yada. I used to look the other other way until one of these jackasses stole my bike. I don’t hate them but they seriously annoy me. Their behavior is disproportionally harmfull to other riders. I’d rather they just stick to recording bad hip hop like that other dude in the video.

      • DavidMG

        I don’t know, I think I’d be OK with the systematic genocide of their culture through the evils of EDUCATION.

        • BMW11GS

          At first I was scared, then I had a good laugh! yes.

      • zero

        A Ruff Ryder stole your bike?

    • TuffGong

      You don’t have to go to the inner- city or look at black folks to see fools wearing their helmet on top of their heads or doing silly ass burnouts or stunting in traffic.Idiocy knows no race,geographic location or income level…it’s a free country and all that,but folks are also free to call bullshit when they see it….so…”bullshit” on this shit and all the fallout it brings on those who don’t play at the sport…….

    • Ben NYC

      The Cross Bronx Expressway is a freaking death trap.

      I was riding on that in November, hit the biggest pothole you could imagine on an interstate and went airborne. Upon landing, the bike had a terrifying wobble that required every ounce of concentration to stabilize.

    • Scott-jay

      Point is that video depicts fellow motorcyclists.

  • jason

    Man boys. See them all the time zooming in and out of traffic . Wonder how many actually have licenses and insurance.

  • Joe

    Squids today; cafe racers tomorrow.

    In 20 years it will be funny to see kids trying to emulate this lifestyle haha

    • Coreyvwc

      Haha great point. The original “cafe racers” that everyone is now trying to emulate really weren’t too much different than this group of douches…

      • Raubert Van Harris

        It’s all about fakers vs. people with legitimate goals. Squid vs. Club Racer, Cobble Together Cafe Racers vs. Artfully Constructed Masterpieces, Victory vs. Harley Panhead. People will always talk shit on the the fakers.

      • BigRooster

        Yeah, these guys and the 59 Club are exactly the same. Really?

        • Ben

          59ers had more Jesus…

          Also, “cafe racers” were cobbled together out of what ever random crap the broke kids in a church group could get their hands on. “Artfully Masterpieces” with CNC this and polished that are phony.

          • Raubert Van Harris

            I was speaking in the contemporary sense. Ruining a perfectly fine cb550 to try to pick up chicks vs. building something creative an interesting. No disrespect intended towards the 59 club or the original cafe racer movement. PS. I get what you’re saying about putting inverted gixxer forks on a “cafe racer”, it doesn’t make sense to me either.

            • tomwito

              If a kid back in the 60′s had an opportunity to put any modern sportbike parts on their bikes I’m sure they would. Better brakes and suspension, yeah why would anyone want that? The whole culture was about improving performance so why not?

  • Brede Howard

    dude riding with his legs out for balance for 100 feet off the start. how experienced

    • Frosty_spl

      Scared of falling down doing 30, but will pull wheelies at 100. lol

    • Myles

      It’s simply the American way: push harder, faster. Get “better”, faster. Etc.

      Look at what America has done to the martial arts. Kung Fu used to be “Hard Work”. A lifetime of learning ultimate body control, pace of breath, visualization of every fucking muscle and tendon in the body. Now it’s:

      http://www.wrestlesite.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/brock-lesnar-ufc-91-weigh-in.jpg

      We bastardize things in America, because we have no history (well, we burned the history of the land). It’s the way we’ve always been.

      • http://rider49er.blogspot.com Mark D [EX500]

        “America is the only country in History to go from Barbarism to Decadence, without Civilization in between.”

        • Myles

          There was certainly Civilization in my hometown before European influence. You know Pocahontas? She was a real person. Her old man led a confederation of ~30 tribes that was ~20,000 people strong. Whattup Richmond VA, Whattup Middle Peninsula. Just because a people didn’t have grand ideas of colonization doesn’t mean they weren’t civilized. I means their hometowns and governments didn’t suck.

          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powhatan

      • Campisi

        … It’s the opposite with TaeKwonDo. A rank that would take ten years to obtain in America can be obtained here in Korea in less than half that time. Training here is difficult, sure, but I wouldn’t venture it to be even half-again as difficult as it was in the States.

        It’s more about money in the States than anything. UFC makes somebody a lot more money than others embarking on a lifetime of individual personal training and development does, so it’s what the public sees and is told to enjoy.

  • http://www.ninja250blog.com R.Sallee (Ninja 250)

    Interesting mini-doc. I ride a Ninja 250 in an Aerostich Roadcrafter, so the opposite of these guys. But I got no problem with what they do.

  • http://rider49er.blogspot.com Mark D [EX500]

    Holy crap, bedazzled Route 95 patches.

  • i like to eat

    Fuck these guys. Retards like these are a major reason why cops have a hardon for motorcyclists in NYC and areas nearby. They are little boys playing dress-up and making life harder for all other riders.

  • Your_Mom

    I have no better idea of what the Ruff Ryders are or anything about them – except a few snippets – than before I started viewing the video. They love their fallen comrades. They are either from Harlem or the Bronx. And – er something.

    • Filipe

      +1

    • isambard

      Agreed. Potentially fascinating subject. Some pretty images. Zero insight.

      It’s the Vice magazine approach: fetishizing poverty as a hipster aesthetic.

  • NewOldSchool

    Its everything we detest about the Harley clan.

  • Kirill

    I don’t see much difference between these guys and people like NYCSkank or whatever the hell his name is – people doing dumb shit on bikes is people doing dumb shit on bikes. Hell, they’re no different than any Bro biker club here in SoCal except for skin tone and musical tastes.

  • FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

    HFL community knows how to bring the acrimony.

    I don’t agree with what they do, but the vid did humanize a couple of the members. That’s a modest enough goal if that’s what the goal was.

    Definitely worth posting.

  • Tony

    Meet these fools on any given weekend at NJMP and I assure I wills smoke any them on my 675 vs their “busas, gixxers, whatever bullshit” they bring. This is why my insurance premiums on Sport Classic are a joke. Why are you guys giving this shit attention?

  • filly-fuzz

    Man, these dude are about as deep as a paddle pool.

  • Korayama

    Heard O squid.

  • TuffGong

    You don’t have to go to the inner- city or look at black folks to see fools wearing their helmet on top of their heads or doing silly ass burnouts or stunting in traffic.Idiocy knows no race,geographic location or income level…it’s a free country and all that,but folks are also free to call bullshit when they see it….so…”bullshit” on this shit and all the fallout it brings on those who don’t play at the sport…….

  • pplassm

    I am unable to see the video here, but I looked for “Ruff Ryders” in youtube. I saw a bunch of videos of guys stunting dirt bikes through NYC.

    This type of behavior in Baltimore brings a yearly attempt by the Maryland legislature to outlaw dirt bikes throughout the state. Actions have consequences.

    However, aren’t we all just a little jealous? We all did crazy, stupid stuff when young. These guys are just pushing the envelope.

    • Raubert Van Harris

      Pushing the envelope HAHAHAHA!! Ed and Nick (those guys who make the Icon videos) are pushing the envelope. These guys just use motorcycles as props in some kind of archaic mating ritual.

      • BMW11GS

        I enjoyed that elucidation.

  • Michael

    These guys should be sponsored by Burger King Chicken Strips.

  • oldnick

    OMG. I’ve passed through a wormhole to a parallel universe where “Biker Boyz” looks like high art.
    HFL you owe me 8 minutes of my life. (But I forgive you because you have given so much in the past.)

  • http://www.muthalovin.com the_doctor

    HFL, thank you for covering all aspects of motorcycle culture. Thankfully, I chose not to watch this video as I know what to expect, and I would be quite offended.

  • Skank NYCFastest

    Lmao. You all sound like a bunch of little cry babies.
    Let me school you all real fast.
    These RR’s are not riders. They hang out in their hood(up-town and Bronx), pose on the street corners with their bling patches, do their thing in their hood because they can get away with it-where it’s excepted, and cops don’t give a fuck.
    I’m born and raised in Queens NY. 42 years and I never seen any of these guys doing anything wrong. Usually they’re just hanging out.
    They got their few minutes to put on a show for the camera. Period.

    • Raubert Van Harris

      Then why are they interviewing that dude who’s talking about all the fucked up shit he did before he went to prison?

      • Skank NYCFastest

        He’s telling his side of story and Im sure it’s a little over exaggerated..I’m sure he went to prison and like most black males locked up it was drug related, some $20 crack sale to a under cover cop or some bullshit robbery. Believe that.

    • Edward

      schooling excepted

    • Campisi

      I more or less agree. They’re essentially just putzing around with their friends as a social club that involves doing stupid crap with motorcycles and whatnot. You have about as much chance of being hurt because of what they’re doing as you do being hurt as collateral damage during a pointless police chase.

      If you want to call them “trash,” then fine (I certainly don’t think what they’re doing is a good idea). They’re only trash once society throws them away.

    • Ben

      Thanks Skank. Basically thats what I figured.

      Hahaha I know a plumber and boat mechanic that did fucked up stuff and went to prison too, they dont have bejazzled patches…

  • runrun

    i’m paying for access to this crap? stupid me.

  • tbowdre

    what the fuck is with all the comments full of venom?

    Do you seriously think this small group of people affects your life? at all?

    It Just seems like a bunch of motorcycle enthusiasts enjoying the ride.

    lighten up people

    • Roman

      I get where you’re coming from, but guys of this ilk to effect your life if you live in the city. Riding around on unplated dirtbikes and ATVs, running from cops wrong way down the one way street, etc. I’m all about everyone doing their own thing, but it’s not quite as harmless as you make it out.

      It also effects the way the nonriding public perceives all riders. That said, I enjoyed the vid, it’s a look at subculture most of the readers on this site probably have very little in common with.

  • http://lightsoutknivesout.tumblr.com/ Scott Pargett

    I think the message here is that motorcycles are a conduit that still unites people regardless of our surface level differences.

    I was talking to Keith Code about some of the upcoming dates they were gonna be doing for CSS instruction, he mentioned many of the places they would going, including Abu Dhabi, which is the last place I imagine when I think of motorcycle racing.

    I think the Ruff Ryders are just doing their thing, which is more than most people can say. Beats sitting at a computer talking shit.

    • http://twitter.com/metabomber Jesse

      “I think the message here is that motorcycles are a conduit that still unites people regardless of our surface level differences.”
      - Exactly what I got from this. YKINMK, BYKIOKT. Dunno why that’s so hard for folks.

      “Beats sitting at a computer talking shit.”
      - I karmically award you one beer or liquor drink of your choice, sir.

  • http://lightsoutknivesout.tumblr.com/ Scott Pargett

    P.S. Anyone know how Mike “Dollar” Diaz passed?

  • Kerry

    Thanks for the video and background HFL. I’ve never heard about these guys before and judging by a number of comments here, can understand why they are not generally liked by others.

    I don’t live in their world, never have and likely ever will. It’s probably an interesting thing to understand how they emerged from and are a reflection of the environment in which they grew up and live today.

    It really doesn’t matter how I feel about them. They are there and it’s nice that an outsider (French journalists) chose to produce something about them. My only comment here is that all the cuts to black make the whole video even harder to watch.

  • Gregory

    Would my KLR– with a milkcrate, Oregon plates and a Canadian flag sticker– fit in with that crowd?

    -g

    • Charlie

      No, but you can join my club of middle aged men riding BSA’s and GS’s. But we stop often – enlarged prostrates.

    • Campisi

      You, sir, need to open an Oregon branch of the Clandestine M.C. immediately.

  • PCPaul

    What a bunch of asshats…

  • Ken

    Thanks for the insight into a different aspect of Motorcycling. Hopefully next time the video will have a better rapper. Man that guy sucked.

  • AHA

    Wow, I heard there were people that took Vin Diesel seriously but never believed it until now.

  • equ

    I seriously cannot believe the amount of hate… I look nothing like them (with my solid neon helmet, plain alpinestars jacket/gloves/boots, hfl subscription, retro low-hp w650 etc. etc.)… It’s a semi-sappy video of some folks just hanging out, one of the less harmful activities in the ‘hood. At least they’re not jamming straight pipes down my ears like some H-D and H-D wannabes like to do.

    I live in the NYC/NNJ area, not once has a cop been unfriendly to me when I’m on a motorcycle. If anything, I’ve been 100% treated well by police. So how did these guys hurt motorcyclists’ image again?

    Any one above who called them a “retard”, “idiot”, “moron”, “asshat” and meant it or anyone who boasted how they would hand it to the ruff ryderz on a track or what not, said something not so flattering about themselves.

    • Tony

      Like?

      What color is your neon helmet?

      • FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

        Black

    • i like to eat

      These guys do wheelies in traffic and run away from cops. How does this not harm motorcyclists’ image? I live in NYC, and whenever I’ve been pulled over on my bike, cops are total assholes to me and they half expect me to run. You can’t tell me that this doesn’t have anything to do with morons like these guys.

  • The Blue Rider

    I don’t get the hate either. I just saw some stylized guys doing squiddy shit on bikes and hanging out… What pissed me off was the fella spinning his bike around and then tossing it down. That’s some dumbass bullshit right there.

    All I ever wonder about stuff like this is, where do they get the money for the toys, if their life is so rough?

    • Duncan

      Probably get their money from you and me (AKA: government assistance). When I was working two jobs (and going to school) I did a lot of work for landlords on their low income units (go-figure). These folks seemed to have enough money for smokes, 40 oz’ers and video games while they bitched about their existence.I can’t even figure how they could afford weed and not rubbers… Yep, the MAN was keeping them down…So fortunate to have had parents who instilled values ….

    • i like to eat

      “Squiddly shit on bikes” makes all motorcyclists look bad.

  • Adrian_B

    Yawn.
    Next.

  • knanthrup

    At first I’m like… where are these guys to defend themselves on here? And then I’m like… oh wait it takes money to pay for a subscription to this site….

    ba dum bum

  • Groomez

    Could not watch it all. Biking clubs are fucking gay.

  • ike6116

    People equating the Ruff Ryderz with Harley pirates are WAY WAYYYYY OFF.

    Black people from the inner city are WAY scarier than people who watch Sons Of Anarchy every tuesday night on FiOS.

  • Courtney

    Where do you people live ? Seriously, a group black guys hanging around, and doing squidly shit is shocking ??? I thought HFL subscribers were cool, but damn, this venom reeks of Tea Bagger paranoia. I am sure you will find these guys are no worse or better than many in your own family, whatever race or tribe you cling to for security.

    • Matthew Applin

      +1000.

      You guys stopped just short of spewing KKK propaganda. Shucks. Just missed it!

  • Jon Skarimbas

    ZZzzzzz snore boring. As anyone who saw Black Sheep Sqadron or any Urban Street Bike Warriors films 10 years go already knows. These guys are total fakes.