Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2009

Photos by James Hadfield

The first thing you hear is the roar: a Mad Max clamor that reverberates down the highway. Then you see them: dozens of pimped-out Kawasakis, Suzukis, Hondas and Triumphs slicing through the traffic in a blur of custom paint and turbocharged engines. That’d be the Urban Ryders, Japan’s answer to the blinged-out, hip-hop bikers of the US. Led by Yu-Tang, a short, handsome and disarmingly polite chap from Kawasaki, the group holds periodic meets in the Tokyo area, carving through the streets of Shibuya at night or having stunt sessions down in Yokohama. Metropolis joined the Ryders on an epic daytrip to Hamamatsu, hitching a ride in a car driven with confident abandon by Yu-Tang’s wife Suzuka. Though dodgy weather conspired to prevent some of the group’s Kansai members from making the date, the others still managed to put on one hell of a show. “That was a lot more exhausting than I’d expected,” Yu-Tang admitted as we arrived back in Tokyo on the wrong side of 1am, but something tells us he’ll be back for more soon.