All too often, Los Angeles is typecast as the buxom bimbo to New York's bespectacled intellectual. However, LA isn't just a sprawling cultural wasteland dominated by the automobile and inhabited by vapid celebrities, unctuous entertainment executives, and the aspiring actors/Midwestern transplants who valet their luxury SUVs and pour their coffee for them. There's also a "bike culture" in LA, and they're taking back the streets.
If you don't believe me (or if that video wasn't enough to convince you) just check out this photo, courtesy of Devik in LA:
Yes, here in New York you'll often find fixed-gears locked to street signs and parking meters. In Los Angeles though they just keep them on their cars. Note also the "One Less Car" sticker on the top tube. Sure, the cynics among you may sneer, but keep in mind that this person probably used to somehow use two cars in the course of the day before cobbling together a fixed-gear like the ones he saw on Fixedgeargallery. Either that, or the bike belongs to the driver's teenage child, and the "One Less Car" sticker refers to the fact that his parents refused to buy him that BMW convertible unless he raised his grades to at least a B-. Either way, it's an encouraging sign.In other news, professional cyclist Levi Leipheimer has won the prologue of the Dauphiné Libéré. This is a good indication that Leipheimer should be in top form to not compete in the Tour de France, which is just a few short weeks away.
125 comments:
Armstrong?
Faster Mustache?
tada..
early birds
Wow, top 10, I don't suck so bad.
I really enjoy the roller blading Crimanimals, or garanimals, or whatever.
Los
At a quick glance, the water bottles on that bike look like TA's NYC Century bottles.
It's the orange tops.
But that can't be, that would be just too ironic.
Isn't your one year blog anniversary approaching?
let Levi ride!
C'mon.
A tall bike on the 405 has gotta make ya smile.
The crimanimalz/grrrrranimalz have joined bladers and bikers in an unholy union that should never be. It must be a west coast thing, that in-line-skaters can be part of a "street protest/political statement".
Like throwing a latte instead of a brick.
Not Levi for the 2008 TDF!
This is great for his new public pressure campaign:
"Let Levi Ride (for Contador)"
Response from Prudhomme at the ASO:
"Quoi? Levi-who? le fuck off, mange mes cord du roi culottes, har..har..har."
Is that ML320 Forest Green? Oh the horror.
So a $45,000 German uber-SUV and a mangled Surly hipster-velo. LA is just so ahead in cutting edge social statements.
Take that fixie south from LA to Irvine. Tons of bike lanes, and in all my visits I believe I've seen ONE cyclist on the road. And plenty of parking for the German SUV.
I knew I recognized that bike. Here is the blog of the guy who owns it: http://hollywoodonbike.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-05-29T23%3A48%3A00-07%3A00
first
You should check out the Letle Viride "Live at Budokan" album from '81.
I want myself to want to like Levi. I really do. But I can't bring myself to even want to like him, much less to like him. I don't like Contador much either. I'd rather root for the French. Or a french fry.
Though I do have to express some admiration for whoever manages Bruyneel's pharmacopaea. That guy's Rx letterhead should contain the motto, "If You Haven't Proved it in Court, It Didn't Happen. Clear?"
The ASO is gonna have to pull some little frog out their hat after the awesome Giro. Crazy Frenchmen can keep the biggest farce of the year, (it won't stop me tuning in to watch the spectacle though). Maybe WWE can get the ASO and UCI into the ring for a showdown. Its gone so far already that bringing in another acronym can only make things more interesting.
ASO can bite the dust! I have a write up about the ASO/UCI issue. Take a look and comment.
www.savethelegs.com
The sticker -- on the bike -- on the rack -- on the car. Koan of Smugness?
bikingbadger-
Make it WEC & that way we can all watch on VS.
...bike snob...non sequitor & cryptically referred to, but a serious mille grazie for a connection made...new & interesting paths to explore...enriching...
...again, grazie...ciao...
Jim , you're just biased against people with huge domed foreheads...and riders who escaped a major investigation by dubious means then landed up in a team who's DS coordinated the largest doping program in the last decade. That's your bias.
Let Levi Drive.
If you watch the video all the way to the end there's a still of the rollerblading idiot wiping out behind the tall bike guy. Excellent.
letle viride needs a picture of someone else's rear wheel in front of him. snob, i've finally seen it! i was confused by the very high camera shots of the skaters and folks until the tall bike came into view! wow! a practical usage! maybe mello was riding it? maybe little levi could work with bobke and phil at the tour for some "high but not helicoptor high" high shots. fiercly hanging on to someone's wheel, face pained, versus denim shirt clinging wetly to his frail torso.... yes, it has to be. i demand it. let levi ride for the good of, well, good coverage! or at least, kinda high coverage. i will give up my annoying references to geese/milk/cheese and such only if you work some of your insider magic to make this happen. wow i'm excited for the tour like i haven't been since like when, that guy, rode behind some other guys, for like the whole race. and then, he like, won.
An SUV is a truck, not a car. One less car indeed.
- monty P
...like saul raisin pre-rode stages of the TofG before the actual days racing (several years ago) to emphasis his recovery from his crash, i heard levi is going to ride every stage of this years TdF before the roads are even clear, w/ johan b & alberto driving behind selling the leftover millions of those damn t-shirts for ridiculously low prices !!!...
...may be a rumor, so just sayin'...
Thats my car. And my bike. pwned indeed. I had just got back from riding a fundraiser century for the LA Bike Coalition and stopped for coffee. So sue me. Its LA, we drive. Its what we do. Its too late for me to try and salvage my street cred here so I'll take the e-beating. Hey Devick - say Hi to Howard for me next time you're in his shop! Love ya! Jeff
www.la-bike.org
Watch out, folks! bgw has discovered the bold tag!
hw, did you know that the "x" in REV-X stands for "explody?"
Hi Jeff......
No harm ment in any way, just a classic image that I knew BSNYC would also get a kick out of. Sorry if your "street cred" was in anyway tarnished.
C-ya @ Petes.....
...gee, smartypants...do you think it reveals more about my personality or just sez something about an oft times bombastic writing style w/ my use of bold text to emphasis things & italicized phrases for "quotations" or 'thoughts' ???...
...just wonderin' myself...
A guy in a Mercedes sport ute worried about his street cred?
Um, yeah, you keep on keepin' it real there, Dawg. Any other tips for us streetfightin' soldjas on how we too might preserve our voluminous street cred?
"Its LA, we drive. Its what we do."
And a more fuel efficient vehicle wouldn't have worked because...?
L.A. freeways...what a perfect place for rollerbladers. Now if I could only encourage Denver's iPod-wearing skaters to stay off the bike trails (oops, I meant multi-use paths) and go play in heavy freeway traffic...
They can take their dogs along on their retractable leashes, and maybe even encourage some of our "Kruzers" to join them since they move at about the same speed.
HW,
Thanks for the comment! You gotta admit that the juxtaposition of that particular bike with that particular car is pretty amusing. Sort of like riding a tall bike in a Gucci suit.
Thanks also for being cool, and enjoy both rides.
--BSNYC
I realize that people in New York may not have a car and there are a few die hards on the west coast that don't but honestly people... how many of you not from new york don't have a car with a rack on it?
HW - they're laughing at me too...
...let he without sin cast the first stone in a glass house, I always say...
...still you may want to put a bandana around the "one less car" sticker when its on that rack
..and drive the CAR on the freeway, NOT the BIKE
I'm honored(?) to be on the site, haters be damned. But today I hang my head in shame for letting down the *true* cool people. The ones without cars and riding uber-rare bicycles. The planets aligned yesterday with a hipster bike with a One Less Car sticker on my Benz and a photog walking by. Pretty much fucked at that point.
I've grown to love the regulars' postings as much as BSNYC's. Thanks guys. More beer than riding today.
I remember skateboarding in LA in the late 90s and it was more driving than skating. Haven't ridden there. I can only imagine. Neighborhoods rule.
I remember skateboarding in LA in the late 90s and it was more driving than skating. Haven't ridden there. I can only imagine. Neighborhoods rule.
I remember skateboarding in LA in the late 90s and it was more driving than skating. Haven't ridden there. I can only imagine. Neighborhoods rule.
hw,
Just remember the BSNYC commenter's motto:
"If you're not exactly like us, you're wrong."
So please, stop enjoying life to your own tune and get in line, man! The anti-establishment is the new establishment!
...hw...being young & idealistic & trying to do everything on a bike is one thing...being practical & realizing that the opportunity to expand one's horizons can occasionally depend on petro-chemicals ain't no thing...
...i didn't own a car until i was forty years old cuz i was "a bike guy"...now, i appreciate using up the odd high priced dinosaur to broaden my world...
...& i can't imagine there's a need to apologize for it...
If your aim is good, you can throw a stone anywhere.
Me? My house has polycarbonate windows and the bikes go inside the van.
hw-
I felt pretty much the same when I heard Levi's t-shirts were going to be deeply discounted. When will I learn to never pay full retail?!?
And its not even that I wanted letle to ride so much, I was just looking forward to all the coverage of Chris Horner riding in front.
Now I could be wrong on a few levels here, but...
Is that:
a. A converted road frame
and
b. A Surly chain tug on the dropout?
I'll admit that I've never used chain tugs and don't claim complete mechanical expertise, but aren't those variables confounding?
"Like throwing a latte instead of a brick."
Bwahahaha! Thanks krazygl00.
Also, why do I dislike bladers so much? I mean other than their oppresive leg-span; I feel there is something else that rubs me the wrong way.
Perhaps it's an "If you're not exactly like us, you're wrong" thing.
re: rollerblader in los Crimanimalz video.
is that a three-in-one TOOL in your cargo shorts or are you just happy to be one less car on the street?
and JEFF...
I'm glad you can find the humor in your predicament, but after looking at you blog it seems that you have a photo of your bike on EVERY mode of transportation in los angeles. waiting for a train, on the back of a car & on the front of a bus. here's one for ya. you parked your benz on rodeo in bike line, a tow truck comes to move it. it takes your suv with the bike on the back down wilshire where a rollerblader waitng for a bus decides to skitch on your bike rack. the tow truck hits dowtown and the entire motorcade gets hits by a train..."you can make anything happen"...
Sorry, but it appears you own one less BIKE on the road.
"I know him pretty well and he's a solid dude and has been riding bikes for a long, long time for whatever thats worth."
HW-
I think it's the posing that ruffles a bit. I happen to only have a single car in my three person(soon to be four) plus dog family. I bike to work, and the shop and whatnot. I, however, don't have a "one less car" sticker on any of my bikes. But then, I'm not in LA, and street cred is way down my list.
Douche.
"Douche" ????
was that a copy/paste mistake from the star trek forum you're trolling on or was that your way to prove how low on your list street cred is?
or is it just irony which is supposed to be funny which makes it ok?
(or does someone in your immediate surroundings, uh, you know, smell?)
Ok los(t) Crimanimalz. Are you sayin' if I rode a bike I'd be livin' on the side of the LA Freeway? So wild they are.
I feel inspired to get out some majic markers, scribble on some tats, trimm my pants and cruise over to the rail-to-trail and spin through the dog poop.
I might not even wear a helmet.
Looking for a bumper sticker for my (increasingly unused) truck:
'One less self-satisfied cyclist'
not everyone is LA drives to ride.
http://www.bikeswarm.org/2008/03/ride-to-the-ride.html
oops, the "ml" was chopped off the link. it's also at
http://tinyurl.com/53vbmc
Congrats anon 5:01, you win the Heinz award (for making the 57th comment).
There were once intellectuals in New York?
when williamsburg was colonial.
ok ok after reading all of this I see the irony in my ways. I just grabbed one of my 11 bikes and threw it on my one car, didn't really think about the stickers. I must have looked pretty rad driving down the 101, flying my OLC...
douchely yours,
Jeff
teeheehee. "then, he like, won"....... you forget so soon? he won like a whole stage too. like, totally, by hims, like, self. and everything! like wow!
Now you're just making matters worse...
Are there "OLC" stickers on ALL 11 bikes or just the one you threw on the back of your only Mercededs SUV?
you guys are great. best summer ever.
let levi cry!
Would you please present the SECOND water bottle (filled with piss) from fixed gear exhibit #11 to the bailiff for inspection?
order.
ORDER!
ok, ok. what i meant to say was that my only bike had a flat so my "friend" said he would give me a ride in HIS SUV that had HIS stupid bike on the back. a "friend" of HIS put the OLC sticker on the bike as a gag! When I saw it at the bike shop i was like, "Dude I bet you looked totally rad on the 101 flying this OLC sticker on YOUR bike!" tha was so embarrassing.
I tried to tell my "friend" to buy a road bike,
Jeff
Sycophantic Backstabber, you dislike rollerbladers so much because they cruise airport mens rooms looking for anonymous gay sex.
hw,
it's not the "irony" of your ways, it's the error.
Jeff, the problem is you need a few MORE cars. The Mercedes is cool for the carbon road bike or the full suspension, but your stickered up KHS requires something like a 1987 Toyota with an anarchy decal and faded KXLU sticker.
you need like 11 cars and 22 bike racks. you can choose to carry your bike in the front OR the back. get creative. switch it up. you could do two bikes at the same time. front aerospoke on the bike in the front and rear aerospoke on the bike in the back. the possibilities are endless. 11 whole bikes? but seriously, you are a douche.
HW a douche?
I think not.
But you should consider removing the water bottles when carrying the bike on the rack.
From the video with BSNYC's post, it looks like enough bike accessories have already rattled loose on LA's Freeways.
From time to time, this site hits on something which seperates the true cyclist from the poser. Sometimes this is on purpose, but more often it is a byproduct of the main topic. What real cyclist has a trunk-mounted bike carrier? Who is going to risk losing their precious bike to an inattentive tailgater? Considering our monetary and emotional attachment to our bikes, put the damn thing on the roof where it belongs, and don't forget that its up there when you pull into drive-throughs and parking garages.
Anonymous 5:41,
Sometimes it feels like the bsnyc comment section is a huge, steamy, airport mens room looking for throbbing anonymous gay sex to happen!
what would make that picture even better would be a calvin & hobbes sticker on the bike with calvin pissing on a mercedes
He doesn't actually ride the bike... ever...
http://bp1.blogger.com/_lKk3zuWCYcI/R2bJkfWg8BI/AAAAAAAAAOM/CM-_078MtH4/s1600-h/DSC_0813.JPG
Hey... who's that in the next stall touching my foot? And what is this hole in the wall for?
Hey Syco B/S is that a Freudian slip you are wearing or are you just happy to be hangin in the Boys Room... just sayin
Guys, I saw HW actually riding the bike in the charity ride he mentioned. And he is certainly not a douche. And as someone with bike racks on my roof I don't begrudge him his hitch rack.
He is just lucky there is not a pic of him sporting his current porn 'stache standing next to the bike. Talk about the bathroom stall.
Jeff, let us know if all this good natured joshing has made you want to offload the bike--I will keep my eye on craigslist.
coming soon: new bumper sticker for my Benz:
http://spume.wordpress.com/2008/01/30/one-less-car-vs-one-less-bike/
xoxo
Jeff
sticker
RE: hitch mounted bike racks. Yes, put the bikes on the roof, and the Kayaks on the back!
Oh, and I for one have never encountered an inline skater while cruising for sex in men's rooms.
davev
I don't think he's wiping out, just doing an old roller skating move. Old school!
Broomie, that's probably because they get snatched too quickly!
Here's the thing, HW defenders. HW could be the coolest fucking guy since Jeff Bridges was bowling, drinking white russians and looking to get his rug back, but he is still an asshole for putting a one less car sticker on his fakenger bike, when he has actually got a car (about the most offensive Bobo car since Land Rover Defenders became scarce). It's like getting that stupid iM tattoo, even if you are not an ironman, or flashing your wedding band under the stall, even if you just need toilet paper.
"I know him pretty well and he's a solid dude and has been riding bikes for a long, long time for whatever thats worth."
ps. there's a skid contest in Albuquerque NM this weekend. should be RAD.
SD
Dude,
When a guy comes forward and says "yes, its true, its me", in the spirit of fun, even in a "tough room" we take the edge off a bit. Trust me, even the snob is guilty of some of the things he writes about - otherwise how would he know?
so...
you're next...
send us pics of your bike, your car, your bike on your car, your mother...
...you get the point
(but the second pic of the bike on the mini bus makes me howl, btw)
"HAD to take the bus, the hills are way too steep for fixed...HAD to take the subway, way too drunk to ride fixed...HAD to take the Mercedes, how else was i going to get to West Hollywood...HAD to... ... ...
ITS ME!
douchely yours,
ITS ME!
"I know him pretty well and he's a solid dude and has been riding bikes for a long, long time for whatever thats worth."
dildo,
Coming from a guy with a disabled profile that last threat means a lot.
this just in...the pista-dex in columbus ohio, skyrocketing to an outrageous $800
Classic Bianchi Pista track bike w/ pro-max hubs - $800 (North Campus)
that is on craigslist by the way... http://columbus.craigslist.org/bik/713873023.html
did you see what removing the top tube pad revealed?...the highly coveted "pista" sticker! thats worth at least $300 alone. the top tube pad has to be worth at least that much because it is preserving the valued emblem. all in all a killer deal (basically getting the complete for FREE!) especially for NORTH CAMPUS.
how can it be a classic if there arent any dings or rust?
I didn't realize tickets for South America were so cheap! Pistas really are worth their weight in gold. Or maybe that's pesos...Even if this dude could sell 50 Pistas he probably would make enough for gas money to Dayton.
TECH3B,
horizontal dropouts spotted on craigslist nyc for your track to mountain bike conversion project! priceless.
sorry. horizontal dropouts
"disabled profile"?
not sure what you mean
daddo, dude-
Yes we all do silly things. SOme of us wear stupid lycra all the time while riding, some of us decorate our bikes like our 8th grade three ring binder, and some of us smugly look down on cagers. I'm fine with some dick putting self-righteous stickers all over their bike in an effort to gain valuable street cred, so long as he can laugh at himself. But don't wear your Meat is Murder t-shirt to the churrascaria.
For the record, my Mom is HOT.
So that is a long winded way of saying "no way, no pics these bike snobs will roast me alive"
"For the record, my Mom is HOT."
maybe so, but I hear she needs to...
...douche.
mmm...vegetarian churrascaria..mmmm.
SUVs are gravity black holes for irony.
People buy then for safety, when they are far more dangerous than any vehicle on the road. When I think safety, I think, "slow braking, heavy and tippy".
People buy them for luxury, when they are just rebadged utility trucks with 1950s technology. People buy then for status, yet how many SUV drivers say, "hiya..I drive an SUV, ..yea...that's right..."
People buy hybrid SUVs for fuel economy, now that 20mpg is "economical".
People feel bad about the gas-guzzler stigma, so they buy a Toyota SUV that gets the same 15mpg.
And of course, what is an SUV without the "Support the Troops" ribbon of hope, where supporting the troops involves giving more money to the Saudis for better roadside bombs in Falujah.
All this is fixed by Detroit however, SUVs are passe, they have been replaced by "cross-overs", which are exactly as big as an SUV, but allow you to cross-over seamlessly into irony.
Give Levi a break...he had cheek and elbow injuries.
That's the first time I've ever heard of an athlete suffering a cheek injury.
So, what, he nicked himself shaving? Or maybe he went down while cornering hard and busted an ass cheek?
New bike sticker... "My other bike is a MERC SUV"
I'm gonna get fragged for saying this, but I too own a ML 430. Bought it used for the same price as a new truck (yes, I call it a truck), and it gets better gas mileage than some of the cross-over/hybrid/whatever you want to call these new SUV's. It's not great (23 mpg), but considering I only drive it once a week and work from home, my total gas consumption is far less than others out there even with hybrids. Could it be lower if I owned a Prius, yes; but I don't, so what? Never thought I'd own a benzo, but the thing is nice, no arguing that. As for riding....just ride and enjoy. I realize that it's a lifestyle for some and immersion in all of it's attitudes, biases and prejudices comes with the territory for others; but that lifestyle should be about the pure joy of riding, not what our cars say about us. Bottom line, my vehicle still gets better mpg than many toyota trucks with campers which garner far more respect amongst the biking bourgeois out there; but then we have to ask ourselves if we're going to let our attitudes be shaped by looks and perception alone, or something more substantative.....such as which color of bike is lamer than another.
Ha ha, that's irony. A "one less car sticker" on a bike on a car?
I bike to work, I ride to the bike shop, I go on longe rides on Sunday. I've biked most roads in New Jersey, from winding backroads to 4 lane Morris Ave going thru Union/Elizabeth. I have been hit by cars a few times, had bottles thrown at me. I ride a fixed gear or roadbike more than I drive.
I do own a car, but I take pride in not using it excessively and in fact when the radiator died a few days ago I was in no rush to fix it as I normally ride more anyway. I cannot imagine a true cyclist posing a picture of their bicycle on/inside a car, if only because the bicycle is best viewed as it is -- a vehicle, not cargo. It'[s not about car-hate, it's about appreciating the bike.
I often find the bikesnob's sensahuma funny, sometimes trying, but this time it's spot on. One less car? Gimma a bloody break!
- Elvis
i would concur the "one less car" regards his need to get an SUV to facilitate a bike rack of that size.
I don't know whats more ironic. . . .
HW's attempt at being Ed Bagley Jr.,
or the fact that Film School students, and trust-fund assholes in NYC, feel it's their duty to rip on Film school students and trust-fund assholes in LA.
A hipster is a hipster no matter what coast they are on. .
You were both from a small town in Wisconsin at some point anyway.
Bring your borough hoppin ass over here and try commuting from Santa Monica, to Burbank back and forth every other day!
Sorry about that, had to vent a little.
One less car, that's great. Hehe. One less SUV.
fist!
i can appreciate the irony here, and even enjoy making fun of rich douche triathletes, (im a triathlete) but they do serve a purpose. they keep my local bike shop in business when they buy high margin components such as aerospokes for his townie bike.
I this is an encouraging sign! Riding a bike is sport! It makes you healthier, more aware of your surroundings then when driving in a car and is friendlier to the environment. Go LA!
"One Less Car" sticker on the top tube. Sure, the cynics among you may sneer, but keep in mind that this person probably used to somehow use two cars in the course of the day before cobbling together a fixed-gear like the ones he saw on Fixedgeargallery.
---------------
Salvage Car
great source for bikers.
The structure of the bike is excellent. I like drive it.
I'm still learning from you, but I'm trying to achieve my goals. I certainly enjoy reading all that is posted on your blog. Keeps the information coming. I loved it!
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Sweet ride man. I am down here in Orlando, FL and I try to get at least a 20 mile ride in a day through the city. Next time I am in NYC, I am going to bring my bike! Now I am pumped to go ride tomorrow after seeing this tonight.
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