ST. LOUIS — The Streetfighterz held the 16th annual 'Ride of the Century' in St. Louis on Saturday.
Some call the St. Louis Streetfighterz, 'The Adrenaline Kings of Social Media,' where they have more than 140,000 Instagram followers. The group is a St. Louis motorcycle stunt team formed by three close friends back in 1999. The riders shoot video with GoPros, edit and distribute their own videos. They sell these video on the Streetfighterz website where fans can buy T-shirts and other merchandise. The Streetfighterz team travels all around the country where they are hired to perform stunt shows at all kinds of events.
The event started out small, but grows larger every year. Hundreds of motorcyclists slowed traffic on St Louis interstates this weekend. Motorcycle enthusiasts travel to St. Louis from all over the country to show off on the streets.
Some riders who do illegal tricks on the highways and streets have given the ride a bad reputation. Every year, police increase enforcement on the route areas.
Before the 2018 ride, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police department issued this statement:
Motorists should be alert for motorcyclists, give them space and contact the police if they observe illegal behavior. Motorists are discouraged from confronting motorcyclists and should let law enforcement address any traffic-related violations. Motorists can help by providing location, direction of travel and description of violators. Popping wheelies and doing other stunts on a motorcycle is considered careless and reckless driving. Safety is, of course, our main priority and we urge all motorcyclists to drive safely and obey all traffic laws.
WARNING: Some of the videos below may contain graphic language.
Since the event, hundreds of videos of stunts have been posted to Facebook and Instagram.
A few of the videos show apparent road rage incidents where motorists and pedestrians were assaulted by motorcyclists.
Robert Allen took this cellphone video Saturday afternoon in the 300 block of Broadway in downtown St. Louis.You see a man get out of the passenger seat of a car and get punched in the face and stomach multiple times. The biker gets back on the motorcycle and takes off.
Police told 5 On Your Side they responded to a call, but when they got there everybody involved had left the scene.
We talked to a man who has been on the Ride of the Century for 12 years. Rando Jay said he was upset by what he witnessed in the road rage videos.
“The people acting out in those videos do not represent St. Louis, the Streetfighterz, or the motorcyclists I know and love. I want to see our community come together. I do this for the young kids to stay out of trouble with drugs and fighting as well as supporting the local economy by bringing in money for the city through hotels and restaurants. I want our city to be represented as well as possible, and what you may have seen on those Facebook clips is not an accurate representation of the people who bring this stunt riding community together.”
An argument between three pedestrians and a group of motorcyclists was caught on GoPro camera and posted to an out-of-state motorcyclist's Instagram page.
A post shared by Team 636 (@brian_636) on
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said they responded to three separate calls involving motorcyclists, but every time they arrived the alleged victim and suspects were nowhere to be found.
Police said they ticketed nine motorcyclists over the weekend. In total 15 tickets were written ranging from excessive noise, no state vehicle license and obstructed/improperly affixed state vehicle license plates. The nine motorcyclists who received tickets also had their motorcycles towed.
5 On Your Side also reached out to the Missouri State Highway Patrol to find out if they wrote any tickets, made arrests or handled any accidents. Those numbers have not been made available yet.
The ride traveled from St. Louis into Illinois, stopped in St. Louis County and then back into city limits. St. Louis County police said, “We were not notified of any problems over the weekend.”
A video posted to Reddit shows motorcyclists riding under the Arch.
The Streetfighterz organization issued this statement in response to his story:
“Some things happened this year that the group has no control over. We just want people to come out, ride their bikes and have a good time. We don’t want to see anybody hurt. We also don’t approve of destruction of property unless it’s burnouts on the pavement. Most of the chaos came from exiting the highway right as people were leaving the baseball game... so with the traffic, people, and bikes, it created too much activity in one concentrated area. We obviously don’t approve of any destruction of property and want everyone to have a great/safe time here in St. Louis. We’ll have to do a better job of keeping bikes out of the downtown area along with knowing the schedules of other local events in the future.”
