To the biker nothing beats the euphoric feeling of the wind in one’s face, the feeling of freedom and power as he motors down life’s highways and byways crisscrossing curves and negotiating tight or remote traffic.
Motor Bikes also holds a certain mystique to the non-biker many of whom would like to share the thrill but dare not.
Children almost without exception are excited by the motorbike and harkens its approach. Adult non-bikers, a bit more conservative sometimes revile the biker, maybe on the noisiness of his machine and his daredevil attitude but secretly we all envy him, at least a little.
Indeed a motor car or van as fancy as it may be just does not elicit the kind of emotions that a motorbike does.
The motorbike is also quite a versatile machine. A means of transportation, recreation, labor or competitive sport on the streets or off and they also come in shapes, sizes and designs to suit every purpose and terrain.
Grenada has its own committed and devoted group of bikers and biking enthusiasts and they have kept the movement alive over the decades.
Jason Phillip was literally born into biking, his father having been one of the pioneers of biking and repairers of the machines. It is no wonder then that the young man should choose as his choice of business one related to bikes and biking.
The owner and operator of Maxx Motors located at La Borie in St. George’s is as zealous about motorbikes now as he was as a child when he was taken for rides by his dad.
Talking to the Barnacle Newspaper Jason said back in the early seventies his father and his father’s compatriots were in the habit of riding around the island at Easter time for the fun of it.
There was no organized club in existence then but they united as a group of bikers and even rode on Sundays as a group as well.
Jason recalls these biking men congregating in his father’s yard on Sunday mornings where they would do their servicing and repairs themselves and later in the day would all go for a ride as a means of relaxation.
As far as Jason memory serves him the first organized biking group would have been the Bikers’ Club pioneered by people like Boogie, Troy, Mitchie and others and that would have been formed somewhere in the early 90’s.
The group then went through some transitions and was dormant for a few years although they continued to organize the annual Easter rides.
 In early 2003 another group of bikers including Jason started riding on a Sunday much like his father and his companions had done three decades earlier. One day they decided to enquire about the Bikers’ Club and discovered that it was largely inactive. They decided to reorganize and the new Bikers’ Club was born including in its rank many new faces along with some of the original club members.
 Since then the club has been involved in a lot of activities, charitable movements, organizing bikers’ rides and now there is a motor cross track which has been built at Moonlight City.
Jason said the club is moving ahead slowly but surely, introducing new activities for the biking community.
Jason related that traditionally biking has been something of a taboo in Grenada and persons owning motor cycles have been dubbed renegades or bad boys and that attitude has stemmed from the influence of the United States and Europe.
In those places there is the phenomenon of bikers congregating on weekends especially and because of the mass gathering certain undesirable things were almost unavoidable including fights and police inevitably began to take notice and became more active in dealing with bikers, pulling them over and generally giving the impression that they were out to make trouble.
Because of this bikers got this bad image and with the assistance of Hollywood bikers are seen as bad boys and this stigma has spread all over the world.
The young biker pointed out that while there are a few bad apples in every situation, generally speaking there are people in all walks of life who enjoy biking.
In his opinion the majority of bikers are free spirited individuals who use the adrenalin rush of biking as their way to relax but there are also a lot of controlling people using biking as their way of enjoyment or their mode of transportation.
On essence different people look at the motorcycle in different ways and a significant reason for this is that there are so many different types of bikes for different purposes. There are many models of street bikes then there are the dirt bikes which have a number of purposes including the four wheel type or the quad which can be used by farmers to transport their produce out of the farmland by hooking some kind of wagon to the bike.
The quad bikes also have attachments that can allow them to be used to plough the fields or mow large areas plus other uses.
The motorbike is also the most cost effective means of transportation or speed sport machine. It can also access places that other means of transport cannot.
With regard to motorbike speed racing Jason said this must be controlled and the proper facilities must be had. Therefore until government or some private entrepreneur decides to organize an area dedicated to motor sports where safety and other measures can be observed this will have to be on hold.
There is a lot of potential however for the off-road aspect of the sport.
Jason estimates that there are between 1500 and 1800 bikes in Grenada at present and there are also female bikers who are as daring and enthusiastic as their male counterparts and the interest in biking is increasing in all parts of the island including Carriacou.
Will he always be a biker? Jason said he was born a biker, grew up a biker and will most likely die a biker. He loves the machines, loves to decorate and repair them and can’t help getting involved in providing parts for them.
He said biking is here to stay noting that even the police force has recognized the functionality and versatility of motorcycles and has recently acquired a new set.
He sees motorcycles as the future of transportation in Grenada because of the price of fuel, the congestion on the roads and the scarcity of parking on any average day.