Popular motorcycle social media personality Harvey Rides Bikes appears on Full Chat to discuss his rapid rise to internet fame and biking journey.
The Instagram sensation, whose real name is Harvey King, has 1.2million followers and is best known for his videos of riding through the streets of London, meeting up with fellow bikers and handing out sweets and free food to the public and his followers.
He sat down with hosts David Prutton and Iwan Thomas to discuss how he fell into riding a motorcycle due to his old job, and what his future plans are for his content.
Harvey Rides Bikes on becoming obsessed with biking after riding a Kawasaki Z1000
Harvey detailed how he first started riding motorcycles after securing a job in the property industry, before eventually falling in love with his uncle’s Kawasaki Z1000.
“I’ve been riding for three years. I used to be a personal trainer and one of my clients liked me and wanted to hire me in the property industry, and he gave me a company motorbike, like a company car, so I could get around London doing property inspections and lettings,” Harvey explained.
“I loved zipping around on a 125cc in the London traffic. There was this corner in Kingston where I used to live on a one-way system, and it was long and sweeping, and I tried to get lower and lower and lower every single day.
“I loved it. And that lasted about six months. He got rid of me actually, but he gave me the bike and offered me loads of money to leave.
“I couldn’t afford it at the time, but I tried to do my theory and was going to do my test. But I failed my theory, and then I sold the bike and left riding by the wayside because even if I passed, I couldn’t afford a bike anyway.
“I had it in me and thought I do love riding. Eight years later I was round my uncle’s house and he’s got a Z1000. I asked if I could sit on it. So I’m sitting on it, making noises, pressing all the buttons and trying to remember all the levers.
“He said ‘you can ride it if you want,’ so he puts all the gear on me, he starts it and I stall it three times on the gravel. I forgot that first gear is down, so I’m just trying to get it up into second.
“We went round his private airfield and I completely fell in love. Within five minutes, all the muscle memory came back and I was flying. It was amazing.
“I got off the bike and I booked in my theory, booked in my test, bought a bike before I even passed. It was all I could think about. A few months later I passed and bought a Z1000.”
Plenty more episodes of Full Chat to enjoy
Series three’s engine is well and truly warm, but we’ve also got a host of episodes for you to listen to if you’ve missed the previous two series of our motorcycling podcast.
You can listen to Full Chat on Spotify, Apple, YouTube or various other platforms if you want to see what all the fuss is about.