Sent to me from Jordan Schau from Pure Cycles: Here’s a story of one man’s quest to recover his stolen bike with the help of social media and a slice of pizza.
Over 1.5 million bikes are STOLEN each year in the US.
Half of all cyclists report having had a bike stolen at some point.
The vast majority of these bikes are not recovered…but every once and a while a lucky rider manages to get their missing bike back…but it usually doesn’t include ransom notes demanding hot dogs…
On April 19th, New Yorker Nick Diodato became another sad statistic of bike theft. His Pure Cycles’ Wallace was stolen from his apartment building by an enterprising thief. Nick wasted no time setting out to get his bike back.
Armed with surveillance footage of the suspect, a handful of flyers, and a flair for film – Nick took to the streets to ask the city for a hand reuniting him with his ride and #FindNicksBike was born. Nick mobilized his mission on social media – creating a video call to action for New Yorkers.
Despite the best efforts of Nick, the NYPD, and the friendly people of New York, on July 2nd the campaign to #FindNicksBike came to an inconclusive end. From back-alley chop shops, high-end bike stores, and even the seedy underworld of Craig’s List – no stone was left unturned, but Nick’s Wallace was still nowhere to be found…
It looked like Nick’s bike would never be recovered… until the afternoon of July 31st when Nick received a call on his tip line and, just like that, the search was back on! A mysterious caller* had information on Nick’s stolen bike, and they were willing to help him out in exchange for some demands of their own….chiefly pizza and hotdogs. With the help of three local bike shops Nick followed a trail of clues across Manhattan and was reunited with his bicycle!
The moral of the story is don’t ever give up…and if someone wants to trade you pizza for a bike, don’t hesitate!
Yes, only a short 100 miles away from NYC, is the MASSIVE 8th Annual Philly Naked Bike Ride (PNBR) scheduled for Saturday 9/10/2016 starting at 5 PM from a location yet to be disclosed. The public event is free.
Start to save your pennies, because the next Brooklyn Bike Jumble (the largest bicycle flea market in NYC) is on Saturday 9/10/2016 from 10 am to 4 pm, beside The Old Stone House at Washington Park, 336 3rd Street (bet. 4th and 5th Avenue), Brooklyn, NY 11215 (Park Slope) where you can buy both new and used bicycles, parts, clothing, and other accessories.
Long before everybody had a film festival and could make a movie with their iPhone in an instant, Rooftop Films was showcasing movie making artist works to the NYC public. What started as a renegade pop-up venue on a tenement roof in Manhattan has blossomed into a full fledged institution of cinema with submissions of film makers all over the world and screening events in great locations-besides building roofs.
This Monday, we are honored to be included in a outdoor cinema event which celebrates 20 years of short films, just a mere sampling of Rooftops huge archive.
The location couldn’t be better, under the cyclone rollercoaster at Coney Island. 7:30pm.
Here comes the bike culture connection: Jesse Epstein, Christopher Ryan and Me (Michael Green) had such an amazing time in 2002 being part of the Warriors bike ride, a messenger style race based on Walter Hill’s 1979 cult classic–The Warriors.
After forming our “gang” the Electric Vikings…we joined over 800 other participants to battle our way from the Bronx to Coney Island in a legendary bike event in NYC.
After having the ride of our lives…we decided to experiment in crowd sourcing video footage, way before it was cool and cut together a half hour documentary for the 2003 Bicycle Film Festival.
I know, there have been two other Warriors fun rides since the glory days of the early 00’s.
2014-Cyclehawk and Trackordie had a remake with a modern twist, checkpoints were done with photo evidence on Instagram #warriorsnyc.
Then it happened again, in July of this year…
Warriors Fun Ride 7/2/16
So Monday 8/8/16 take a ride to Coney Island, come out and plaaaaaay. I know you can Dig it.
IT’s FREE.
You can say, “we fought all night to get back to this?”
Here is a time line of Warriors Movie and bike culture events.
1979-Walter Hill’s movie is released to the those New Yorkers who didn’t escape the “white-flight” of the late 70’s.
2002-The Messenger community organize a fun ride for a year based on the grimmey cult classic movie. 800 people come out to ride, get lost, get tattooed and survive the semi-gentrified world of NYC.
2003-The Bicycle Film Festival premieres the documentary: Warriors the bike ride. The documentary is lost in savage world of disgruntled spoilers and those pesky issues of copyright infringement.
2014-after years of cyclistists saying…”when’s the next Warriors ride?” Cycle hawk and Trackordie bust out another event in a very gentrified-NYC.
2015-A Warriors movie reunion is organized at Coney Island, screening the original movie with cast members and hardcore bands.
(There is another one scheduled for September 2016. Info: Here.)
2016-July 2nd, another Warriors fun ride is dug. Participants gather in the Bronx in their gang colors, take Instagram photos all over the city, battle in Sumo costumes and sing Kareokee in front of Barclay’s Center.
Its that time of year again, just when you thought it was safe to go outside, the 2016 Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) is making its NYC appearance from June 22nd to June 26th.
Although the event calendar does not look like it is updated yet, you can check back soon, we are sure, to see this years offering, a perennial long weekend packed with all kinds of amazing bicycling events.
BTW, now that we are on the subject, according the NYC Critical Mass facebook page, 15 cyclists rode at the 5/27/2016 Bike Month event, with no NYPD escort. Something to keep in mind for next month, which coincidentally falls on 6/24/2016, in the middle of the same weekend as the BFF. Still We Ride!
Could this be a long overdue permanent shift in NYPD resources to other assignments, such as to “Drivers Who Endanger Cyclists”, or just a random occurrence?
The 2016 edition of the Warriors Fun Ride is occurring on Saturday, July 2, according to a facebook event page, starting in Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, at 6 PM, and ending in Coney Island, Brooklyn, around 6 AM, the following morning. The all night ride is being organized by Cycle Hawk and Track or Die NYC.
Last held in August of 2014 (review1, review2), the ride is based on the 1979 cult classic movie “The Warriors“, an action thriller film, which centers on a Coney Island gang who must return to their home turf, largely on subways, after they are framed for the murder of a respected gang leader in the Bronx, but you do it by bike!
According to the Track or Die NYC website, the rules for the Warriors Ride are:
1) Your gang can be between 4-9 riders.
2) All bicycles are welcomed, the more creative, the better.
3) Special prize will be awarded to the gang with the best colors.
4) Each gang must have 1 active instagram account. This will help keep track of the points and give updates during the event.
5) Follow @WarriorsNYC on instagram.
According to another facebook event, Time’s Up! as part of the event is hosting a pit stop for some sumo wrestling at La Plaza community garden (9th St & Ave C, Manhattan) starting at 8:30 PM!
So what is keeping you from forming a gang, and coming out to play?
Reportedly, a breakaway group of 8 rogue cyclists (instead of the registered 500 riders), complete with TWO sound bikes, managed to organize an ad hoc ride anyway, and braved the light brief rain, ending up at the bar Tender Trap in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, a possible site, for the after party of the WNBR.
Dry Brooklyn Bike Ravers on Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn:
The WNBR, apart from celebrating what we really look like, takes on an even more serious tone this year, the rider’s nakedness symbolizing their vulnerability on the road, as cyclists Heather Lough and another yet named were already killed in May, raising the 2016 total to at least 8 cyclists killed in NYC.
Whether the NYC WNBR flops like the Bike Rave or not, there is always the Philly Naked Bike Ride to look forward to as well (date yet to be announced), a short 100 miles away where 1,000’s of cyclists ride free every year!
Last Friday night, cloudy, cool, and rainy in NYC, so NYC Critical Mass was not personally experienced, instead, opting to bike to the indoor, and heated annual free Bike Expo New York which closed at 8 PM that night (props go out to the volunteer mechanics from Recycle-A-Bicycle).
Meanwhile, in London, England, youtube video clearly shows a police officer hit a Critical Mass rider with his patrol car, run over and destroy another’s bicycle, and then take off, according to Evening Standard’s better youtube video. Not sure what led up to the confrontation? Apparently there was a questionable arrest before the cyclists’s surrounded the police car.
This contrasts with a report in Streetsblog, ironically today, which claims cycling is “booming” in London. I guess there are two sides to every story?
Here is an eyewitness account of the incident in London:
