This past Saturday Mila and I attended the 6th annual Bicycle Fetish Day, a “block party for your bicycle” organized by the City Reliquary. In addition to the usual bicycle-themed art, advocacy, and accessory offerings, prizes were awarded for best vintage bike, best commuter bike, and so on. While the judging was, um, highly subjective, the event it was a good excuse for people with interesting bikes to show them off. Fortunately, despite being held in the heart of h*pster Williamsburg, the Bike Fetish party drew a variety of bike styles and subcultures, including the New York Classic Riders, a vintage Schwinn bicycle club out of Bushwick. I was familiar with these guys from the excellent photographs of Chris Arnade, so it was great to snap a few portraits for myself.
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These handmade Benjamin bikes were beautiful.
An element of danger was ever-present thanks to this wobbly uni/bi-cycle contraption that was continually operated in the middle of the crowd by seemingly intoxicated individuals.
Amateur bike porn!
I was photographing the guy on the left, when the guy on the right ran up, yelling, “Hey, that’s MY fucking bike!”
A tall bike with a touch of practicality to it.
The afternoon ended in a torrential downpour. While the boring squares huddled under a vendor tent, some others decided to show what free spirits they were.“Hey, I’m a free spirit too!”