Five people have been arrested and six vehicles impounded after a police crackdown on illegal dirt bikers in South Auckland over the long weekend.
About 50 bikes gathered at the Manukau Memorial Gardens before heading to Ōtara in convoy, darting in and out of traffic and pulling dangerous wheelies as they rode.
Among the arrests was a Killer Beez gang member, with other gang affiliates also tied up in the action.
Police said more arrests were likely in the coming days.
On the streets of Ōtara, residents and shopkeepers said the disruption from dangerous bikers was becoming part of daily life - and many of those involved were young kids.
Vape store workers Chris Emmanuel and Adaline Tasmania said noise from the "swarms" of dirt bikes hooning along East Tāmaki Road reverberated around their concrete-walled shop.
"It gets to the point where we're literally [a metre] apart from each other and we can't hear anything," Emmanuel said.
A police operation dubbed Operation Metallic Red targeted the bikers over the King's Birthday weekend, with officers chasing them all over Ngāti Ōtara Park.
Emmanuel welcomed the crackdown, and not just because of the racket.
"We don't want to be sitting here minding our own business, doing our jobs, and then see someone - and I don't want to get too grim about it - but have someone crack their skull because they're not wearing a helmet."
Emmanuel said the bikers sometimes surrounded his car, pulling wheelies or standing on their seats, as he drove home from work.
He was not so much scared for himself, but for what could happen to the mostly young bikers.
"They're weaving in and out of traffic and they don't have much mindfulness of the distance between themselves and the other vehicles around them.
"I don't usually get caught but when I do it's like trying to drive through a minefield. It's just chaos."
Tasmania had lived in Ōtara her whole life and said biking was a big part of the lifestyle - but it became a problem when it affected other people.
"I don't think there's any self-awareness from them, or maybe they actually just don't care that they might be disrupting people's peace."
She said young kids were often influenced by social media posts of riders showing off their tricks on busy roads or motorways.
"They feel inspired by the idea of being in a group and being seen to be higher up because they've got bikes and flash things, and people see that, and it looks cool."
Big packs of dirt bikers had become a regular sight for Ōtara residents, and it was getting on some of their nerves.
"It's annoying," one resident said. "They just go all over the roads but it's nighttime when it's annoying because you just hear it and it's late... It makes Ōtara annoying."
Other residents were worried about the safety of pedestrians.
"People can get hurt, elderly people going past on wheelchairs and mobility [scooters]."
Another resident said she liked the idea of kids getting into dirt biking as a sport, but said they were drawn to more dangerous environments like busy roads because of the bragging rights that came along with it.
"They get more praise and more people who go 'woah' when they're out and about in the public.
"I don't think they mind the danger because they've always been in danger anyway. These kids have been brought up on the streets; danger's nothing to them really."
'Just looking for opportunities to grow'
Youth worker Emani Suaesi looked out for many of the kids involved in dirt biking.
He worked at the Ōtara Chillzone, a place young people - some of them with unstable home environments - could go to hang out after school.
"Sometimes we have a pizza day and they come through and have a feed, or we play games here, or go up to the park and play basketball - just that genuine approach with them, to help them out where we can."
Suaesi said this approach helped to build trust with the children, but it could take some time before they started opening up about their home lives.
"A lot of these kids are probably affiliated, their parents are affiliated, [and there are] low-income families around here, so they're just looking for opportunities to grow."
Suaesi said kids sometimes saw these opportunities in dangerous activities like dirt biking, taking their lead from older siblings or relatives.
But he said while gangs were often mixed in with the riding, it was an activity that could be done well in the right environment.
"There's a lot of talent out there - obviously there's a lot of talent - but I think there should be a safer space for these kids to express themselves, not on the roads."
He said there were driver licensing courses in Ōtara that could keep kids doing what they love while working towards a motorbike licence that benefited themselves without putting other road users at risk.
