It's official. The race is on for most famous bike of 2008.
Entry #1
In NYC (and I think this has since spread to other cities) when a cyclist is killed a Ghost Bike is put in the location where the tragedy occurred. It didn't take long for a corporation to come along and pervert the ghost bike concept.
A few weeks ago a retail/fashion chain put bright orange bikes all over NYC with their website emblazoned along the side:
Naturally this caused an uproar in the cycling community and swift action by the NYPD.
Entry #2
A couple of days ago it is alleged that someone on a bicycle bombed a military recruitment center in Times Square in NYC. Within days the suspected bicycle was recovered.
I'm not sure what message the "bomber" was trying to send via his/her choice of bike; however, I do have two ideas.
1. The bomber did not want to implicate the cycling community of the greater NYC area so he/she purposely used a bike that no serious cyclist would be caught dead riding. In fact, the bomber went to great risk in this endeavor by leaving all the reflectors on the bike. It must have been a tough choice, leave the reflectors on and perhaps be seen or leave them off and risk implicating serious cyclists (note: cool cyclists remove all reflectors, I learned this on my first group ride when everyone laughed and chuckled as they rode by me).
The kickstand is also a nice touch, I imagine the bombers get away could have been much faster without the extra grams.
2. Given that it's an old bike and is outfitted with suicide bars this could very well have been a failed suicide bombing mission.
P.S.
Obviously the individual that did this feels strongly against the U.S. military. Can we tell by the bike that was used what political candidate the rider probably supports. Does this bike scream out Hillary? Obama? maybe Ron Paul?
