Thursday, March 28, 2024

Andrew Briggs of Angels Chopper Bike Club Association as Featured on People of Victoria

Share

DSC_0018bWe had a chat today with Andrew Briggs, well-known for his intimate Victoria House Concert B sessions about one of his other loves, his charitable work with Angels Chopper Bike Club. Featured on People of Victoria, here is the remainder of the interview:

“I went to an Awolnation concert down at Legends, when it was still called that and I met this man, his name was Mike Harrington. He started Angels Chopper Bike Club Association or ACBC. And I was talking to him about it and he was interested in my House Concerts. I asked him what he did and he said “I’m sort of starting up this little bike club with my family.” So afterwards he came to one of my House Concerts, and we started talking about the costs. So I said “How about I give you all my bottles?” coz I had a whole bunch of bottles from the concerts, “And let’s earn money that way.” And that’s how I initially got involved.”

“I was interested because basically he took kids off the street.  It was a very small club, he just knew a couple kids that were on the street and what they would do is they would take their bicycles and they would make them better than bikes – so chopper bikes.”

“The kids, they would ride down to the arena when say Gene Simmons was playing and they’d make a little picnic out of it. They’d stay in the parking lot until the roadie would come out or the band member and they’d say, “Hey, can we get your autograph?” And then the roadie would say “Wow, that’s such a cool bike!” And they’d let him ride it and they would tell the musician and the musician would come out and ride it and they’d take the kids in and ride around in the stadium, inside or wherever. And have them in their dressing room and stuff. So it kind of morphed into us now telling the musicians we’re coming and we bring a bunch of kids there.”

“Now we make chopper bikes for musicians, for free. Most of them that we’ve done Gene Simmons, Ice Cube, Ozzy Osborne, Chris Cornell, Sarah McLachlan, Van Halen and more, we let them know that we’ve made them. For example one of the big ones, Gene Simmons, he was overwhelmed with it. He took it in, he had the whole family sign it – and it kind of makes the life of the kids who make the bike.”

“So the mission was to take the kids off the street, to teach them to socialize, how to do technical things with their hands with the help of people like Harley Davidson and other companies in town. All these business out there that are really giving us lots. Coz it’s non-profit, we have no funds. We get ours from our bottles. I just did a bottle run and I got $550, one huge truck, it’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it. Not only does it take kids off the street, but it also brings the parents in, because they find it really cool saying “I used to have a bike like that!” and they start bonding.”

For more information visit: http://www.acbcbikes.com/

“This 9 year old he built Chris Cornell, from Soundgarden, a bike. When he was 11, Chris Cornell came to town. So we…

Posted by People of Victoria on Thursday, April 9, 2015

mm
Victoria Buzz Staffhttps://www.victoriabuzz.com
Your inside source for Greater Victoria happenings. Established in 2012.

Read more

Latest Stories