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Bicycle Demolition derby
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Watching just the first minute of that makes me angry. All I see is a young fool risking his life to destroy a good condition vintage bike. Most of us were rough on bikes as kids but my parents taught me to not tear them up because there was no money for a replacement.
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It's art, It's called performance art. It has to be preformed live though, should be in the MOMA or Guggenheim, needs to be appreciated on any level and getting mad is one level of appreciation.
Ha. Fair enough; i suppose one man's waste is another man's art. I'm not necessarily mad, just mildly disappointed in someone squandering a perfectly good bike, especially considering that nearby ppl might have appreciated that bike. I wonder if mild disappointment is the reaction that the "artist" had hoped to elicit....
Sorry, I don't believe purposely destroying art (vintage bikes) is art. In anyway shape or form.
I did beat on my predator, warranted and built strong, when I was a young teen, jumping picnic tables, small cliffs, riding it in the canal, etc. Boys in a small farming town gotta find stuff to occupy their time. Never broke a wheel or frame. And still have and ride that bike today, 30 something years later.
Its their own property, I understand they can do what they want with it, but jeez...
I did beat on my predator, warranted and built strong, when I was a young teen, jumping picnic tables, small cliffs, riding it in the canal, etc. Boys in a small farming town gotta find stuff to occupy their time. Never broke a wheel or frame. And still have and ride that bike today, 30 something years later.
Its their own property, I understand they can do what they want with it, but jeez...
I think that kids or even big immature lugs such as myself, we break frames and components from time to time, in the line of duty. I think that's different. I might ride my bike hard, i might be using certain frames/parts for arguably "off-label" purposes, but I'm riding the bike that way for the fun of riding--i'm not trying to bend the seat tube or taco a wheel. In fact, I'm generally hoping that nothing will break during my ride....but sometimes, sure, things like that occur.
I agree with Chewy; the beater bikes in the video are more artistic than the beatings are....
Now, here's some artistic cycling:
I agree with Chewy; the beater bikes in the video are more artistic than the beatings are....
Now, here's some artistic cycling:
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I agree with everyone. I hate performance art. There is a documentary on Netflix where a woman sits at a table all day and doesn't move. There were people waiting all night outside the MOMA for a chance to sit opposite her and stare at her. Hollywood celebrates were there staring at her. It was proclaimed in the highest art circles. You can go stare at the guards at Buckingham Palace for free. The bike demo derby is way more artistic, the people making it probably didn't even know about performance art, but their purpose was to entertain, in some way. It makes me wish I hadn't stripped all the bikes in my scrap trailer. Instead I could have charged people for the privilege of destroying a bike and given the scrape and proceeds from the demolition to the volunteer fire department. Of course my bikes are 90s Mongooses and Huffys with cross threaded pedals and bent parts. As far as destroying bikes goes, you have to remember that there is a big tradition of doing that in Europe. They have to dredge the 100 miles of canals in Amsterdam yearly and remove 18,000 bikes from them. They would clog up barge traffic otherwise. They use shovel dredges and place them on barges for disposal. Many of these are vintage. Just look at all the water stained vintage Dutch bicycle head badges that are for sale on the net.
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The Renaissance Man
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The most startling part of the video to me is the 1,300,000+ views and 4.000+ likes, 
while the Slovak Championship in Artistic cycling video has 1600 views and 7 likes.
I have to admit though, I didn't know that either existed.
while the Slovak Championship in Artistic cycling video has 1600 views and 7 likes.I have to admit though, I didn't know that either existed.
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The most startling part of the video to me is the 1,300,000+ views and 4.000+ likes,
I have to admit though, I didn't know that either existed.
It's sad because it shows the mindset of so many people today. Just about anything that involves destruction and recklessness is popular.
What the guy in the first video is doing is just wasteful and unwarranted. I saw "bicycle demolition derby" and thought it would be like the events we used to participate in when I lived in Richmond, VA. In those cases we actually built frankenbikes from random parts and tried to ruin each other in much the way a car demo derby works. We would strap junk to our legs for protection and try to destroy each others junk bikes whilst we were still riding them. Still wasteful, but of more substance than one guy flinging a high quality machine down steps. And tons more fun I'd say.
I lived in Richmond VA in 95/96. Some guys there were doing bicycle jousting back then, but I didn't even have a bike the whole time i lived there.
They built beaters up, made themselves padded armor, and used pvc with foam padding as lances. I really wish I'd participated.... Not sure what the interest level would be around here in 2015...destroying a bike just cause you think it's art is the lames thing i heard of
we used to ghost ride junk bikes because other wise they would just break from normal riding . those kent bikes don't last long !
we used to ghost ride junk bikes because other wise they would just break from normal riding . those kent bikes don't last long !
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It's a very common girls bike. Big whoop. I've cut up wasted more than one of those.
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This is weird, I didn't remove the above photos? They showed a barge dredging up bicycles in Amsterdam, a vintage bike pulled form an Amsterdam canal and a barge full of drowned bikes in Amsterdam. This annual cleaning of the canals of bikes has been going on for years. Amsterdam has something like 750,000 people and 800,000+ registered bikes. If yours is old or vandals take it, into the canal it goes for disposal.I agree with everyone. I hate performance art. There is a documentary on Netflix where a woman sits at a table all day and doesn't move. There were people waiting all night outside the MOMA for a chance to sit opposite her and stare at her. Hollywood celebrates were there staring at her. It was proclaimed in the highest art circles. You can go stare at the guards at Buckingham Palace for free. The bike demo derby is way more artistic, the people making it probably didn't even know about performance art, but their purpose was to entertain, in some way. It makes me wish I hadn't stripped all the bikes in my scrap trailer. Instead I could have charged people for the privilege of destroying a bike and given the scrape and proceeds from the demolition to the volunteer fire department. Of course my bikes are 90s Mongooses and Huffys with cross threaded pedals and bent parts. As far as destroying bikes goes, you have to remember that there is a big tradition of doing that in Europe. They have to dredge the 100 miles of canals in Amsterdam yearly and remove 18,000 bikes from them. They would clog up barge traffic otherwise. They use shovel dredges and place them on barges for disposal. Many of these are vintage. Just look at all the water stained vintage Dutch bicycle head badges that are for sale on the net.
I was in Richmond in 95-97, I was doing the jousting. Of course now on Belle Isle they have Slaughterama, where they do tall bike jousting and way worse. Also I think NJ has Black Label Bicycle Club, and they are way into the freakbikes and jousting.I lived in Richmond VA in 95/96. Some guys there were doing bicycle jousting back then, but I didn't even have a bike the whole time i lived there.
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never herd of bike jousting. That sounds interesting. We used to ram into each other and bend wheels.
The latter you describe was our derby when we were kids. The jousting is fun, but I won't do it from a tall bike. You just get a long pole, usually pvc, and ducktape a large bulky piece of foam to the end, wrap that with a rag and tape or tie the rag too. Then just act like a knight with a bicycle instead of a horse.
