Edmonton biker has bullies spinning their wheels

An Edmonton biker and his buddies are standing upfor bullied kids by taking them to schoolon his motorcycle.

"There's been a lot of talk in the media about bullying and I figured maybe I could do something about it," said Steve Enns, a burly biker who put the word out on social media.

He soon connected with Jennifer Hartson, whose seven-year-old son, Xander, was getting bullied at Coloniale Estates School in Beaumont, where he attends Grade 1.

"I think there was maybe some jealousy happening among some of the kids,"Hartsonsaid. "One of them physically assaulted him on one occasion, so he had a little bit of an altercation."

Hartson took Enns and his biker buddies up on their offer to give bullied kids rides to school.

"It's basically to just give them a little bump up,"Ennssaid. "A little ego boost."

'He vomited on my boots'

On Tuesday, Enns and his pals hopped on their iron steeds to pick the youngster up.

"We heard them coming for quite a long time," Hartson said. "There were eight motorcycles, pretty loud. They all lined up along the sidewalk, and when Xander came out he was pretty excited. He was so nervous, very nervous, but he was happy to see them."

So nervous in fact, he got a little nauseous.

"Yeah, he vomited on my boots," Enns said with a chuckle. "So we got him all cleaned up and I wiped off my boots and he said, 'OK I'm ready to go to school now' and we jumped on the bikes and took off."

Xander, who rode on the back of Enns's bike, led the group to his school.

"As we all pulled in there was another school bus pulling in to unload and it worked out really good because all his friends saw him getting off the bike," Enns said.

It's no doubt a sight to behold for bullies.

"Mostly black bikes and a bunch of guys in leather," Enns said. "We try not to make too much of a ruckus but you don't see that at school every day."

Not there to scare

Still, Enns emphasized that the goal wasn't to scare people.

"Absolutely not," Enns said. "This is a show, this is for the kid. We're not there to intentionally intimidate anybody. We're all there with big smiles on our faces."

It seems that one ride had the desired effect.

"It was, of course, really cool for a kid to show up on a bike," Hartson said. "All the other kids kind of started talking to him a little more, and he's just had a big ego boost from it and it's helped him quite a bit."

As for the bullying, Hartson said it has subsided.

"There's been no struggles at all this week," Hartson said. "He's not getting picked on, he seems happier and when he comes home from school.

"There's no complaints anymore."

Hartson can't say enough about Enns.

"He's just a really great guy doing a great thing," she said.

People on Facebook agree. When someone posted about the ride online, the compliments flooded in for Enns, along with additional requests from the parents of bullied kidsand offers to participate from other bikers.

Enns has done this once before about 10 years ago. But on a whim he decided to do it again.

"I had a day off with nothing to do and a full tank of gas,"Ennssaid, who thinks it waswell worth it. "I get to ride, I get to see some smiles."

Xander was lucky to get the first ride. But Enns has a week of holidays coming up and is already committed to helping more kids.

"June 5is my first day of holidays,"Ennssaid, who plans to give two rides on that day. "A little girl, special needs, I'm going to take her to school and then we're going to go for a ride, and we're going to come back and pick up a little boy who's getting bullied and give him a ride home."

Enns has yet to come up with a name for the group but hopes he can keeping it going for as long as possible.