Cyclecide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cyclecide is an American bicycle club based in San Francisco, California, composed of clowns, altered bikes, and a traveling show called "The Bike Rodeo", which is a public performance, and not a bicycle rodeo, a children's bicycle safety clinic.
In the beginning
Jarico Reese and Erin Peruse organized the first Bike Rodeo on May 23, 1996, outside of Cyclone Warehouse in San Francisco. The event was a call to all local artists to build any type of bicycle attraction they could think of and bring it to the Bike Rodeo. The show was a massive success with several people flinging themselves off of a 3-foot burning bike ramp at the end of the show.[citation needed] This show solidified the group and they decided to host more events.
An inspiration for many bicycle gangs, including Cyclecide, is the C.h.u.n.k. 666 zine.
Who are they
"Cyclecide is a group of people in San Francisco who take junked bikes, alter them, and weld them into tall bikes, choppers, and other contraptions. Welding is fun."[1] The group is composed of welders, musicians, seamstresses, inventors, and bicycle enthusiasts.[citation needed]
Contraptions
Bikes
Cyclecide takes bikes out of the junkyard and "pre-cycles" them—they turn them into art before they get recycled.[2] Tall bikes—the symbol[citation needed] of the bicycle subculture—are a staple in the Cyclecide fleet. Some bikes are welded into bicycle choppers. The Suburban Intruder is a Frankenstein combination of a push mower and a bicycle: "2000 are in production to mow a strip across America", states Reese in a performance.[3] Other bikes have names like 666 Chopper, Twelve Pack Fetch, Bone Bike, and Bumblebee.
Rides
Cyclecide also creates bike powered carnival rides. The first were quite primitive—the bicycle teeter-totter was a 10-foot 4x4 piece of wood with a 3-foot fulcrum. Then came the Bicycle Carousel—just like the one at the carnival, but you have to pedal the bikes to make it go around. Paul daPlumber designed and welded a two-seated, pedal-powered Ferris wheel for Cyclecide.
Other notable rides are the Cyclefuge, Whirl'N'Hurl, Spanking Bike, and Dizzy Toy.[4]
