Thank you for inquiring about the Chai Riders.
For over twenty one years, the Chai Riders has been the premier Jewish motorcycle club in the New York City metropolitan area. We celebrate the freedom and excitement that motorcycle riding provides. At the same time we promote Jewish heritage, culture and traditional values. We engage in various benefit rides, raising money for Jewish and other worthy charitable causes. We also reach out to the community, rolling up our sleeves and packing food for the needy before Passover, for example. We make a big splash when we visit camps for special needs children every Summer. In the past, we have visited Camp Simcha, Camp HASC, and Camp Kaylie, for example, delighting the children by showing off our motorcycles or giving them rides around the campus. We also have rides where we host disabled IDF veterans and give them rides on our bikes.
We present a most awe-inspiring sight when we participate in the annual Celebrate Israel parade up Fifth Avenue. The crowd roars, along with our engines, as we ride up Fifth Avenue in an awesome display of Jewish strength and pride.
We are an active and founding member club of the Jewish Motorcyclist Alliance and participate every year in the Ride to Remember event, one that raises money and awareness for holocaust education and remembrance projects. We are a participating member club of the American Motorcycle Association, with all its benefits and privileges. We interact with other motorcycle clubs in the area, both Jewish and non-Jewish on matters of mutual interest.
We have special event rides but also try to schedule monthly organized rides on the 4thSunday of every month. We also encourage “pop-up” rides where our members informally arrange for a ride in the country or an area of particular interest. Our calendar lists all of the upcoming rides and events.
Most importantly, we offer a chance for like minded bikers to meet in social settings and be there for one another, with technical questions answered and lifetime friendships being forged. We meet socially for club dinner meetings on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. These dinners take place at popular kosher restaurants and are rotated throughout the geographic area so that members have a chance to participate whether they live in the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester or New Jersey.
We are happy to say we have members from diverse backgrounds. They may be Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, nonobservant, kosher, non-kosher, etc. In fact, we have even had a couple of non-Jewish members. Our members are accountants, bookkeepers, producers, jewelry makers, photographers, doctors, dentists, salespersons, brokers, realtors, technologists, a Rabbi or two (you’d never guess it) and just about every other profession you can think of. We have been written about in many newspapers,
We come together to ride and bond, to kick tires (talk motorcycles and such), or to bench race (kind of like fish stories: “you should have seen the way I handled the bike on that road…”). Some members are not that active and some show up at every event and function. Some ride a little (1,000 miles or less) and some ride a lot (up to 30,000 miles a year.)In summary, we are a group of friendly people who love motorcycles and are also interested in things Jewish. If you are new to this or want to find out more about the Chai Riders, you are welcomed to join us at a club dinner or one of our events and rides. We promise that you will be impressed with the way we operate and you will have the opportunity to network with dozens of like-minded individuals.
Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down.
Yours in motorcycling,
The Chai Riders Motorcycle Club
Any questions: e mail us at [email protected]
Check out these articles about our club:
Jewish link nj : Chai Riders ‘Pack’ With the NYPD Shomrim Society
Jewish link nj : Jewish Motorcyclists Celebrate Shared Jewish Values
Jewish link nj : Chai Riders Motorcyclists Visit Camp HASC
Jewish link nj : Chai Riders’ Celebrating Israel and Motorcycling
L’Chaim : Jewish Bikers Hit The Road
NY Post : Mean Machines, Nice Guys
Chutzpah Magazine : To Life, To Life, Chai Riders