Federal investigators estimate that more than 500 motorcycle gangs operate outside the law, with many of the hard-core outfits dealing in drugs, guns and prostitution, investigators say. Criminal bikers are on the rise again because police are focusing much of their attention on battling street gangs and crack cocaine, according to police intelligence experts attending an Orlando conference on motorcycle gangs. Many motorcycle clubs are legitimate groups, the experts said, but an estimated 2,100 bikers are full-fledged members of criminal gangs, and thousands more are associates who either ride with them or deal in drugs, they said. The conference last week offered seminars of biker-gang trends. It drew 220 officers, many of them undercover agents, from the United States, Britain, Australia, France, Germany, Holland, Norway and Canada. During the 1980s, police increasingly were able to target major gangs such as the Hell's Angels, Outlaws, Bandidos and Pagans, said Detective Sgt. Terry Katz, a Maryland state trooper and national expert on bikers. But with the emergence of street gangs like the Crips and Bloods, and foreign imports such as Jamaican "posses" and Asian gangs, police have their hands full. Gangs such as the Hell's Angels and Outlaws routinely deal in guns, explosives and prostitution, investigators say. Authorities also charge that biker gangs control the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine, or speed. "Methamphetamine is more dangerous than crack cocaine ever will be," Katz said. "It causes a high that lasts eight to 24 hours which causes highly aggressive behavior, compared to a 30-minute high for crack." Gangs like the Hell's Angels and Outlaws for years have said that police allegations against them are exaggerated. Katz said the Outlaws motorcycle club, the nation's second largest club and most dominant in Florida, has doubled its membership in the state in the past several years. Because it is popular with motorcycle racers and riders, Daytona Beach increasingly is becoming a hot spot for gang members. "Year-round vice" is one reason, said Keith Touchton, an investigator with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. "Every year (during Spring Break), I notice the closeness between the bikers and the students. They're using the college kids to sell their drugs."