Meet the social media sensation spreading joy whilst motorcycling around London

Harvey King, better known as Harvey Rides Bikes, spreads joy by dishing out high fives, fist pumps and sweets as he films his two-wheeled journeys around London.

The genuine encounters have led him to becoming one of the most popular and recognisable motorcyclists in the city, something the social media personality still struggles to comprehend.

“It’s been mad. I never would have thought it would get to this sort of level, whatever this is. It’s crazy,” Mr King told motorbike podcast Full Chat.

“I can think of two people off the top of my brain where people have gone: ‘I’m ok, can you leave?’ I haven’t got a Haribo deal, I’ve bought them all. I think I’m over £1,000 down in sweets.

“One of the big reasons I do what I do is that I think there’s a stigma with bikers in general. There’s a stereotype that people don’t like us and I think that varies from country to country. You see videos go viral of people doing fly-bys at 200mph, popping a wheely, riding away from police or smashing a mirror. There’s gangs in America blocking traffic and these people are getting millions and millions of views.

“I’ve met someone at traffic lights and then gone out for dinner with them and their friends. Or then I’ve had a BBQ and they’ve joined my mates. I want to tell those stories and what biking is for me and a bunch of my friends. Every single day I was getting home to my house mates and saying ‘this happened and then this happened’ and ‘I wish I was filming it’ and that’s what led to me filming my commute to work.”

The former personal trainer started riding when he spent a short time working in the property industry and was given a company motorbike. He left after six months and soon sold the 125cc bike.

Eight years later, a brief encounter with his uncle’s Kawasaki Z1000 reignited his love for being in the saddle and he hasn’t looked back after passing his test and purchasing the same model.

Now, he’s using two years of savings to support producing content full-time and already has 12 months’ worth of content up his sleeve. A total of 1.3million people follow his escapades on Instagram, he has almost 390,000 followers on TikTok and more than 186,000 subscribers on YouTube. For a lengthy period, he posted anonymously from behind his helmet but decided to reveal his identity five months ago.

“I went from 600k to 1.1mill(ion) on Instagram in 10 days and those were all videos where I didn’t show my face,” the social media personality added during the episode.

“They were all going round London with Go-Pro footage and it was the original videos. Now I’m able to talk on stories, you know who it is, and I think it will resonate with people more knowing I’m not this faceless entity.

“Being anonymous was fun and I leaned into it. It was beneficial to my account to begin with. I was very nervous to do it because I did wonder if the page and channel heavily relied on the fact I was anonymous. I wanted to be able to talk to camera and tell stories and it opens more doors. I’m starting a podcast with my friend Will so creatively I think it helps.

“I ride to the gym every single morning and then ride home. If nothing happens I don’t mind and if something happens it’s great. Sometimes I get three seconds of someone saying ‘nice bike’ or sometimes there’s a particular day when 10 people recognise me or I’m just talking loads or singing. Then I’ve got four reels and one YouTube video in a day.

“I want to grow out my YouTube and if this is going to be a long-term thing, I think YouTube has to work. That’s where the money is through ad revenue, views, opportunity and the people on there follow your journey a lot more.”