Customer Reviews

Soul on Bikes

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Soul On Bikes is a terrific story and even better read. Tobie Gene provides an interesting perspective on the Old South and the rise of Blacks in America. Along the way beatnicks, hippies, urban revolutionaries, Hells Angels, and other counterculture segments of society are respectfully given proper narriative.

Most of all, the real reason to read this book is fun. Words fly off the pages faster than a chopped Harley. Every page reveals yet more interesting details about bike riders and their clubs. As a society open only to Blacks and Harley riders, the East Bay Dragons M.C. has maintained its status as one of our nation's oldest, most formidable organizations.

Here's the real test: I haven't riden in more than 30 years since the last time I put a bike down in traffic and thought it was the end. I'm white and from the east coast. There aren't too many similarities on the surface between the Dragons and me.

Nonetheless, as the book unfolds I can wholly identify with the spirit of the Dragons without having to stretch my imagination.

That's what I call an engaging book.

I must admit I had very little knowledge nor contact with bikers or motorcycle clubs. I had heard of The East Bay Dragons, founded in Oakland and of course, everyone knew the Hell's Angels. Both were synonymous with danger and bad news in my sheltered existence. Their rough manner and their reputation of being bad asses was reason to avoid them. So, it was with great surprise while reading Soul on Bikes: The East Bay Dragons MC and the Black Biker Set, Marcus Book Store's April book club Selection, to find out that the East Bay Dragons is an integral part of Oakland history.

Tobie Gene Levingston and his family were a part of the northern migration to the East Bay from the southern states in the 1950s; his family being from rural Louisiana. Enticed by the burgeoning factories and other labor jobs and longing to escape the drudgery and endless, vicious cycle of sharecropping that so many black families had succumbed to as a legacy of slavery, California offered new beginnings towards a brighter future. Levingston, then in his early twenties began working in an iron foundry. The work was dirty and back breaking but it enabled him to contribute to his family finances and indulge in some luxuries; one of those being cars. He formed a car club but his group ran into some trouble with the local police and as a result disbanded. Not long after that, Levingston became interested in motorcycles and formed The East Bay Dragons, a black motorcycle club that is active to this day.

Because of the problems he had with the car club, Levingston was determined to keep the MC on the straight and narrow. But as this was a group of young black men, just the sight of them on their bikes, raised fear and ire to other residents and law enforcement agencies. There was rivalry with other MCs, white as well as black. There was the political climate of Oakland with racism and later the Black Panther movement. And there were the drugs. Oakland was rampant with drug trade and all the vices that went along with it did not escape some members of the East Bay Dragons. Though Levingston was the heart and moral pulse of the group, he could not control actions of every member. As a result, there were some violent clashes with the police and other MCs.

This book was a historical walk though Oakland and surrounding cities. Streets and locales that are familiar to this Oakland raised reviewer were prevalent all through the manuscript. Blues and prostitution on Seventh Street, East and West Oakland neighborhood haunts, and the evolution of blacks coming of age in a city that until the mid-60s was run by whites. Myths about the East Bay Dragons were debunked; these are fellows with families, jobs, with kids in college, who pay taxes and are home and business owners. Such movies as the Biker Boys with Lawrence Fishburn have brought to light that men and women from all walks of life are in the biker community. I was surprised to learn that Levingston and Sonny Barger of the Hell's Angels were good friends with a history that goes way back. They have much respect for each other (Barger writes the foreword to the book) and the animosity between the two MCs were minimal. The Marcus Bookstore Book Club had our book club discussion and Mr. Levingston along with other members of the East Bay Dragons and the Oakland Invaders, another MC club were invited. It was a sight to behold as they roared down Martin Luther King Boulevard and parked their beautiful bikes along the street outside of the bookstore. Bold, black and bad.

Dera Williams
Marcus Book Club
APOOO BookClub

Too often the motorcycle enthusiast press and mainstream media atempt to portray motorcycling as a sport whiter than ice hockey: "Soul On Bikes" provides a fascinating and wholly unexpected side of two-wheeled culture that few know of. This biograhy combines some very funny and exciting personal insights and rich historical chronicles of the African-American motorcycle scene on the West Coast during the last half century. Tobie Gene Legingston lived through the rough years of the segregated South, became part of the huge black migration to economic independence in the post WWII years and helped create a biking culture - one of working-class pride in Harley-Davidson motorcycles - that continues to this day. You won't read about this in the pages of Easyriders, but "Soul" provides evidence that custom biking is not white, nor black, not Latino, or Asian, but a uniquely American phenomenon appreciated by all kinds of riders.

A good read. I have lived in East Oakland all my life and know the East Bay Dragons very well, but it was great to get the uncensored history about this organization that Mom didnt want to tell me until now (after I read the book). Its a good feeling to know that there is deep history in East Oakland but many people especially of my generation take it for granted.

As a member of the younger generation, it was great to learn what happened on the set before me. It's cool to hear how the different clubs got along and how sometimes color doesn't matter, but sometimes it does. This book is great for anyone wanting to know more about the black biker set.

I bought this book and about a week later found out that tobie gene and sonny barger were going to be at the oakland,ca harley davidson signing books it truly was a pleasure meeting those two I had seen them many times before and they both signed soul on bikes, and dead in 5 heartbeats. The book was very good having grown up in oakland many times I heard the dragons roaring down the streets on their harleys. Soul on bikes is amazing and talks about him growing up and forming first a car club, and later a motorcycle club. So many people when they saw my book simply focused on the negative like the problems the dragons had with some drug dealers, which was talked about in the book briefly, (and to me just enough) but it was good to read about the positives of motorcycle clubs and how it changed some peoples lives for the better. A truly good read.

Soul on Bikes, hands-down, is the best piece of non-fiction I've read in ages. Feeling more like I was face to face with Tobie Gene, listening to his story over coffee, the author grabs hold of your attention and takes you on a mind-swirling, 100 mph, yet poignant ride through modern American history and culture. In a time when mainstream culture is so focused on the self, material wants and reality TV, it's refreshing to see that the human side of life still exists in passion, pride and family.

Soul On Bikes exposes a sector of the biker movement of the 1950s and 60s that goes beyond the images of violence/drugs/mayhem usually portrayed in the media. Yeah, there's some of that, but what Tobie Gene's really describing here is a brotherhood of men who formed together around a love of motorcycles and their community, and also out of protection in a violent time and place. Strength in numbers.
It's also a story of good ol' American get-up-and-go with Tobie's hardworking beginnings as a sharecropper's son, his move to California with his family, and the formation of the East Bay Dragons car club, and eventually motorcycle club. And he's grown his club into the premiere all-black club in the US. Impressive story.

I read this book when it first came out, and I've read it repeatedly over the past four years. I just put it down again last night. This is a fascinating and well-written walk through the Black Biker Set (I ride) and it's a sad reality that no other books like it have come along.

I want to know more about how Mr. Levingston's family dealt with his lifestyle. I want to know more about how American politics factored into their world. I want to know about how and why the Dragons chose their preferred styles of motorcyles over the years. It's reasonably well known that Bay Area Hells Angels generally prefer a certain type of bike while the Dragons are drawn to a different style. I'd like to know the philosophies behind their chosen machines.

And, on a deeper level, I want to know more about the other legendary Black clubs out there. This isn't necessarily a job for Mr. Levingston but for historians and publishers. I want to see more books like this. There are videos out there detailing the Wheels of Soul and another entitled "Glory Road" which is more general. Both are great documents and more are being produced. But where are the written histories to accompany this excellent overview of one of the premier Black clubs?

For potential readers, you can't go wrong with this book. If you enjoy biker books, this one is unique. If you enjoy Black history, again, this is a unique entry. And if you just want to read something off the beaten path, you can't go wrong here.

This book was an excellent read. I enjoyed the historical parallel to events that all black people are aware of and their impact on the lives of folks in Oakland, CA. The book also had many pictures of the older motorcycles. I felt that the book either was sanitized for publication, or our idea of motorcycle gangs (black or white) was a little flawed. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn about the three "B"'s (Blacks, bikes,and brotherhood)...