Motorcycling Looser-style: the openness in this band is contagious!

The stranger knows another stranger in Beremend, where one of the annual Looser's Bash events, Better Together, is taking place. As clumsy as the name is, it's also a meaningful one, because the team really believes everything is better together. Festivals, motorbike rides, wandering, meeting new communities, discovering new landscapes, and enjoying uplifting experiences. We get sucked in by the feeling of life, and marvel at the built motorcycles, cafe racers, hippie buses, Simsons and the recently rolled off production line Harley Davidson Pan America next to Beremendy Smithy. Our fantasy is broken by an eight-year-old girl scooting past on an electric motorbike. Her name is Natasha, who has her biker girl gang in Budapest. Do you want to be a part of such a community? No one is singled out here, and lay questions are readily answered. The owners of the machines, of which there are plenty, feel particularly honoured to be asked. This year's event attracted guests from all over the country, some people travelled hundreds of kilometres to spend the weekend here. When we arrive, the races are about to start on the nearby field, so we catch Levente Trellay, a regular member of Iron and Wind from Budapest, who is a permanent co-organiser of the Pécs team's events. He admits they complement each other well, with rural informality finding a surprising harmony with the creativity of the capital. It's not about the motorbike – many people misunderstand that. It's just a link. After an hour, the motorbike is put to one side, and it's back to the joyful togetherness, anecdotes, and exchange of ideas. Also, it's thanks to these community-building events we get to go to special places like the one we're in now. That's what it's all about," he says, and he's in a hurry to get going because the races are scheduled to start just as the sun is setting. It's a particularly romantic scene, as the riders race past a row of torches in the purple sunset. Very creative.   

The organisers are also keen to get as many people out of their sofa as possible with their annual events. They also try to reach people who have petrol in their veins, and those who just want to get rolling. The season-opening Burgers&Wheels, for example, is categorised as "a small biker" by Márió Kászonyi-Nemes, the Looser's Bash programme officer. As he says, the party in the inner courtyard of the former glove factory in Pécs is all about brutal burgers, craft beers, concerts, and relaxation. The event is also family-friendly, and the organisers welcome youngsters on children's motorbikes, pedal cars and other vehicles. Of course, there is also joint rolling, buzzing, and talking about professional things, but most of the participants are just enthusiastic curiosity seekers. "Our third permanent annual event is the Winter Trophy at the end of autumn, held on an off-road track in Himesháza. More technical drivers are invited to test their skills in three different races. Here we're usually wallowing in the snow and frost with our enduros, waist-deep in mud. We don't even know why, but we enjoy it," sums up Mário. With these guys, nothing is serious, just a relaxed approach to life, so there's plenty of spontaneous rolling around, sometimes in the Budapest nightlife, sometimes in the Balaton Uplands. As Viktor Molnár, one founders of Looser's Bash said, the main thing is openness, everything else is secondary. We were convinced, so we will definitely visit these guys at their next event. Who knows, we might even bring our vehicle.