A group of Ontario bikers is having second thoughts about calling themselves the new Satan’s Choice Club after a harsh Facebook condemnation of their club by a senior Hells Angel.

The new club is taking a Facebook slamming by online friends of GTA Hells Angel Donny Petersen.

“Those who take a patch from a respected club, one that has history, courage, who has paid their dues, died, done time and all the rest . . . like what are you thinking?” Petersen himself wrote.

“You are pretenders,” Petersen wrote.

Petersen’s comments received resounding approval from his Facebook friends.

The old Satan’s Choice was on the road for four decades before it ceased to exist when it was absorbed by the Hells Angels in December 2000.

They were once the world’s second largest outlaw motorcycle club, known for their grinning devil patch and their proud Oshawa roots.

“We’re evaluating everything,” a spokesperson for the new club said on the condition of anonymity.

That ranges from changing the name to pulling the club off the road, the spokesperson said. He maintained that the Facebook criticism isn’t a factor.

The comments come a few days after the new club was ridiculed online by Petersen, a longtime GTA biker.

The Hells Angels had previously been silent about the emergence of the new club, which sprouted up in early July in the Ottawa area, where the Hells Angels shut down their clubhouse last fall.

“THE MAN MAKES THE PATCH,” Petersen posted. “THE PATCH DOES NOT MAKE THE MAN.”

Lorne Campbell, a longtime Satan’s Choice member, said he agreed with Petersen’s comments.

Campbell predicted that members of the new club run the risk of public humiliation and beatings if they didn’t immediately fold and stop wearing their grinning devil patches.

“They’ll be laughed at,” said Campbell, who was a member of the Satan’s Choice for 35 years. “They’ll be punched out. They’ll be jumped.”

Campbell stressed that he was not threatening the new Satan’s Choice members himself — just warning them that they can expect a rocky ride from other members of the outlaw biker world if they appear in public wearing the patches.

“It’s an insult,” Campbell said, adding that formation of the new Satan’s Choice is huge news in outlaw biker circles.

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The old club was known for frequent clashes with the law, which landed some members in prison.

The new club planned to be law-abiding and participate in community-minded charity events, its spokesperson said.

It has kept a low profile this summer, Det. Sgt. Len Isnor of the OPP biker squad said.

“We’ve only had a few sightings of them,” Isnor said.

Isnor earlier said police would be watching to make sure there isn’t a threat to the general public.

The new club is made up of Durham- and Ottawa-area bikers.

They moved into the Ottawa area last month and have 48 members and two “strikers” — or prospective members — the spokesperson said.

Campbell said they can’t just put on patches modelled upon the old club. Members of the old Satan’s Choice fought — and sometimes died — because they cherished their patches and being a part of the club, he said.

“I’ve been involved in shootings, stabbings, beatings, the whole gamut,” Campbell said.

Campbell said he thinks the new club should hand in its patches to him and then apologize to the Hells Angels, whose members still include former Satan’s Choice members.

“These guys can’t be proud of who they are,” Campbell said.