Old school Montreal biker Bobby Chou dead at 68

  Old time biker Bobby Chou has died at 68 after battling a chronic liver problem.
   Chou did not speak a word of English when he moved to Montreal from China at age 10 but quickly became fluent, with one version having him learn the language by reading an entire dictionary.
   He was sent to Weredale boys home and Shawbridge after a period of being out of control, possibly due to his fighting those who bullied him for being different.
   Kwong Yee Robert Chou attended Monkland High School and befriended biker Mike French, who he eventually followed into the Satan's Choice motorcycle gang in 1972.
     The crew was relatively unstructured compared to later biker gangs, with most members barely scraping by on various odd jobs, welfare and petty drug dealing.
    Chou's closest friends Mike French and Brian Powers became increasingly violent and erratic with time.
   Chou's association with the two might have earned him a worse reputation than he merited. Both French and Powers were later murdered.
    Chou mastered kung fu moves, which he employed to fell at least one much-larger opponent in the form of killer John Slawvey who he confronted Chou at Herbie's Bar on Sherbrooke near Prud'homme. (Later divided into Pontos and Aeros bars).
   Chou owed Slawvey money, which led Slawey to call him over.  Chou managed to get the better of him, leaping on him before he could get up. Slawvey's girlfriend eventually ended the conflict by spraying Chou with mace.
   Chou was convicted of assault on May 25, 1977 after a fight with some Irish guys known in West End Gang circles. 

   Chou fought John O'Donnell, 19, at the Moustache bar on Closse.
   Chou asked for matches but O'Donnell didn't have any and the brawl arose.  

See also: 

• Montreal showdown: Iconic barmaid boots terrifying sadist in the head 
• The legend of Mike French, a killer biker from Westmount
• Montreal Satan's Choice motorcycle club - circa 1972 
• Satan's Choice 1967: that epic Montreal photo 

   Brian Powers was also convicted in the affair which saw one man stabbed, another attacked with a bottle, costing a victim a two teeth. Mike French, who was also accused, was acquitted. Charges were dropped against Thomas C. O'Neill, Edward O'Neill and Kevin O'Brien. 

   Chou was no stranger to police. One time legendary war hero and Night Squad Detective Jacques Cinq-Mars introduced himself to to Chou by putting a gun to his head at the Arc (now where the PJ's bar is on St. James), begging Chou to make a move. Chou wisely complied and went off peacefully.
   Throughout this time Chou managed to father five sons and one daughter with at least two different mothers.
 Chou was savagely attacked with a beer bottle about a decade ago by an assailant who came from behind him as he was sitting at the VLTs at Montreal Jazz and Blues bar at 3383 Cavendish. Chou's throat was slashed but he survived.
   Chou had also suffered a serious workplace injury in July 2000 at his his job at Kolostat doing heating and ventilation systems.

Chou is seen at top right. Mike French at far left
and Brian Powers in centre with beard

 In his later years Chou would stroll the west end and play pickup softball games on Sundays at NDG Park, in spite of coping with a liver ailment that eventually killed him.
   He lived on St. James near Cavendish in his later years and said he didn't have a phone, as he said his girlfriend worried that it would lead him to mischief.

    Although many might recall Chou for wild biker mayhem, one close friend from the biker scene recalled Chou for his kindness, noting one episode at a funeral where Chou spent two hours singlehandedly calming a belligerent drunk who was lashing out at everybody in sight.

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