crankandpiston has a rare moment of social activity and attends the opening night of Cafe Rider in Dubai.
When the invite to Cafe Rider’s opening night landed on our virtual desk we had a quick confab and immediately decided not to go. It’s not that we have any prejudice or anything against motorcycles and bikers but, with the exception of our man Mo who likes sitting on a Fat Boy and photographer Arun who seems to have fallen off every bike he has ever ridden, we aren’t too clued up on bike culture here at crankandpiston.com. Here, the car is always the star. Add to this mix an opening night full of smelly biker dudes wrestling each other and, well, you get where we are coming from with our extremely unprejudiced point of view.
And then our social media guru Monja only went and called in to Cafe Rider and reported back that “we should attend”. Monja (love that girl) has one of those annoying noses like Samantha from Bewitched that twitches when she senses something cool, normally pertaining to clever design or things of cultural interest. So, with Frau Frorath giving me my marching orders (you’re not the boss of me!) I scuttled across to Cafe Rider to see what the crazy German (love that girl) was on about. Obviously, I went the day before the opening night to avoid getting embroiled in biker wrestling activities.
What greeted me was not what I had been expecting. Not at all. Damn Monja and her twitching nose but she was right! This Cafe Rider joint is a beautiful warehouse affair with a few choice Brass Balls bobbers decorating the open floor space. A glass-walled custom motorcycle garage with the latest project being worked on at one end, comfortable sofa sitting area at the other and a large coffee bar dominating the back wall. Cafe Rider is more than just a bike shop and café, it’s about people. So I decided to venture back for the opening night. Although I was still determined to avoid the wrestling aspect.
Preconceived ideas about anything in life are usually wrong. The collective people gathered at Cafe Rider were all friendly beyond reproach, from every walk of life and with a shared passion for motorcycles and fine coffee. A dude played guitar, welcome speeches were made and I washed down three tasty shawarma with a couple of shots of caffeine from the bar. All-in-all a very enjoyable evening with great people in a fantastic new hang-out in Dubai.
I wouldn’t even have minded wrestling with some of the bikers.
Thanks to – Cafe Rider
