European Rider Dispatch, Part 3: ‘Bikers, Die’ Painted on the Road — What's Happening in Germany

Last time I wrote about a single model being quietly regulated out of existence. This time it's more direct. Over the last weekend of July, on the eastern edge of Stuttgart — in Rems-Murr and Esslingen districts — threatening graffiti aimed at riders appeared on nine stretches of road. ‘BIKER STIRB’ (Bikers, die). ‘EIN BIKERSCHWEIN WENIGER’ (one less biker pig). ‘TOD DEN MOTORRADFAHRERN’ (death to motorcyclists). This isn't wording you can wave off as a prank.

Let me lay out the facts first. The locations were L1151 (Schorndorf-Schlichten), L1147 (Schorndorf-Oberberken), L1150 (Hohengehren-Winterbach), plus areas around Weinstadt, Baltmannsweiler, and Esslingen. Most of the spots were corners — chosen, in other words, at exactly the points where a motorcycle has the least margin of grip. Early reports raised suspicion of oil having been spread, but Aalen police headquarters denied it, stating ‘no trace of oil or anything similar was confirmed.’ There's still a chance the paint itself briefly became a hazard, but so far no accidents or injuries have been confirmed. The investigation is proceeding under dangerous interference with road traffic.

What makes this awkward is that it doesn't feel like a one-off act of malice. Similar cases keep stacking up across Europe: oil traps set around Lake Constance, oil spread repeatedly through the Allgäu region — the latter took at least one rider's life in 2011. Britain has seen comparable incidents too. What bothers me is that acts like this are starting to settle onto the shelf marked ‘the usual harassment.’

In terms of the wider social context, there's a long-running noise dispute behind this. On May 15, 2020, Germany's Bundesrat passed a resolution calling for measures against motorcycle noise. The contents were quite strong: capping noise at 80dB(A) under all riding conditions, enabling speed restrictions and motorcycle bans on weekends and holidays on noise grounds, expanding roadside inspections, and requiring owners to keep a logbook when the rider can't be identified. There was even a proposal to exempt electric motorcycles alone from the ban. The federal government didn't adopt it, and the transport minister at the time stated plainly that a ban wasn't on the table. The Bundesrat has no legislative authority. Even so, I see that resolution as the moment the temperature of the debate got set. FEMA, the European riders' federation, pushed back at the time, calling it a lopsided measure that singles out motorcycles specifically — pointing out that luxury cars putting out the same volume through sound systems go untouched.

It's worth thinking about why ‘the road’ is the target too. German state roads are lifelines for daily living and, at the same time, weekend mountain passes. The same stretch of pavement serves both a weekday commute and a holiday playground. That dual use isn't unusual in Europe, but it does tend to generate friction. For a resident, it's someone else's day off passing by, as noise, right outside their own window. That obviously isn't a reason to write a death threat. But there is a clear logic for why the site of this conflict always ends up being a corner-heavy mountain road.

Let me address the regulatory side too. This week brought reports that the EU will require passenger cars and vans newly type-approved from September 2032 to use at least 15% recycled plastic, rising to 25% by 2036. Motorcycles aren't covered for now. But emissions rules and ABS both landed on four wheels first before trickling down to two. Honda getting ahead of the curve by using recycled material on the Africa Twin and NC750X looks, to me, like a move made in anticipation of which way the wind is shifting. What I want to say is: treating regulation itself as the enemy gets you nowhere. The problem is the content, not the fact that it exists.

Here's my opinion. Whoever painted the road is a criminal — there's no room for debate there. But what's genuinely frightening isn't that one culprit; it's that the premise ‘motorcycles are a nuisance’ has managed to earn itself a legitimate seat inside official documents. Once the institutional side says first, ‘that group is fair game for restriction,’ the person painting the road gets to believe he's part of the majority. I've watched this exact pattern play out repeatedly since my time in London. Over there, this gets treated not as a law-and-order issue but as a failure of consensus-building.

Japan is no exception here either. Both pass closures and early-morning complaints usually start with noise. Separating the noisy minority from everyone else is work riders need to do before the authorities do it for them. It looks like the long way around, but I think it's the fastest route to getting the threats off the pavement.