Inside Tbilisi’s Biker Bar

Onnik James Krikorian

Tbilisi’s Biker Bar – © Onnik James Krikorian 2015

Children playing in potato sacks and on bicycles pass by as half a dozen motorbikes park on what is otherwise the approach to their homes. For the past six months the sight and sound of the Cross Riders Motorcycle Club (MC) pulling up outside their clubhouse and bar has become part of everyday life.

Grisha Avetisyan – © Onnik James Krikorian 2015

Despite the negative stereotypes that bikers often attract, nobody is concerned. Through the window above, 26-year-old Grisha Avetisyan, one of Cross Riders’ co-founders, can be seen tattooing a client while others drink in the larger room next door.

“It’s a clubhouse, bar, and chapter,” explains Cross Rider’s 23-year-old president, Gio Chkhartishvili, who established the MC two years alongside friend and vice-president Beka Nizharadze.

In the aftermath of the Tbilisi flood, the Cross Riders MC were also crucial to circumvent Tbilisi’s chaotic roads by transporting supplies and medicines for the victims through terrible traffic jams that have become a common feature of the city.

Although bikers are often in the majority at the bar, the clientele is mixed, attracting students, young professionals, and even visitors from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Tajikistan. The music is varied too, although rock and metal is more commonplace. Nevertheless, even old rock ’n’ roll classics from the 1950s can get the clientele on their feet and dancing. Spontaneous jam sessions by local musicians are also an attraction while profits from the bar go to the MC’s budget.

Twenty-year-old Qeti Mindiashvili is one of the bartenders. “I don’t like Cross Riders,” she jokes.

“We are establishing a new culture,” adds Makashvili. “We are very local, we are very genuine, and we are doing things they way we want to do them. We are not copying anyone. We have our own rules and we have our own standards. We found our freedom on the roads.”