bike

south of market

This guy claims because he modified the rear hub so that it's a freewheel that it isn't a fixie. Well it's still a fixed gear, buddy







there, that's better

In honor of Bike Messenger Appreciation Day 2009, I bring you a real live authentic bike messenger band called Family Scott recorded May 29, 1998 at the CW Saloon, 917 Folsom, San Francisco. This is the first time this recording ever appeared in public (Scott, the lead singer, aka 'dumptruck', is still a bike messenger to this day)

update > messenger art show this evening, Friday, Oct. 9th, held at the ILWU Union Hall, 255-9th Street, beginning at 7pm.

you can right click the player to download - on Firefox (Family.Scott.CW.Saloon.5.29.98.mp3) appr 50 min

updated June 4, 2012 with better player




10-9 = say again?

today is National Bike Messenger Appreciation Day

San Francisco Examiner article

Oregon Live article

Today is Bike Messenger Appreciation Day in San Francisco, AKA 10-9 Day (October 9). They deliver your packages in 1 hour or less, file fix your court documents at Superior court and federal court. Show your appreciation if you're downtown at Post and Market, Battery and Market, and 'The Wall' at Sansome and Market. click logo for homepage





981519 - September 22, 1998

[Messenger Appreciation Day]
Supervisors Ammiano, Leno, Medina
Resolution designating October 9, 1998 as Messenger Appreciation Day.


Supervisors Leno, Medina requested to be added as co-sponsors.
Resolution No. 759-98
ADOPTED



1994 - San Francisco



2007 - San Francisco

remember the alleged bike thief?. He's got a new bike

not likely to be missed going down the street

the Conference Bike rolled through San Francisco today. The, uh, other part of Rebar's Park(ing) day that seems to have slipped by the local media (except for Laughing Squid of course) ................enjoy









Park(ing) Day on Howard street, with the tree made out of bicycle wheels



These are the same people who brought you San Francisos newest park, also caught the attention of John King of the Chronicle, but who never actually made the connection between this public art piece, and that public art piece

read a bit closer on the Rebar Arts Collective here, involved in both of these projects

and now you know, theeeeee rest of the story

not only did 'office space' cubicle droids at SFist get it wrong about bike messengers being a dying breed, they got it wrong about The Wall, along with SF Citizen. But kudos to SF Citzen for linking to this article from 2 years ago, that is somewhat accurate because it's compiled by messengers. Vanishing is pretty much the wrong word to be using. Auto makers and actual professional paid reporters maybe, but not messengers

First, the photo pictured there is not The Wall. The photo that SFist and SF Citizen has is at Battery and Market

This is The Wall at Sansome and Market.



Second, you office workers are looking in the wrong places. here they are from a couple months ago in Golden Gate Park



Third, here's a t-shirt given to me from the downtown San Francisco advertising company that handled the movie when the movie first came out back in 1999. It's a rare version of the t-shirt specially made for us messengers from the office workers. And it's the message we want to send to the people in the cubicles being paid to write for the blogs like SFist



spell it and say it out loud, Brock (this is the back side of the t-shirt)



dying breed, my ass

think of it this way...If email, faxes, and internet were the death knell of delivery, then UPS and Fed Ex would be out of business. But the fact is that both companies are booming worldwide because of it(the internet), and in some other countries, like Ireland, bike messengers actually contract with UPS international for local deliveries, due to certain difficulties with immediate local deliveries (or, the difference between a few hours and a few days)

extremely rare in San Francisco to recover a stolen bike, especially when it's nearly all intact...woohoo!!

and there it is...I caught somebody riding it on the street and followed him for 20 blocks and called the cops

after 20 years, it was high time to get a new one, a Craigslist special.

Much better now. Another Marin, the original mountain bike

this bike was stolen at 6th and Minna at 5:12pm tonight, August 28, 2009. It has faded orange trash/basura stickers all over the frame (click through to enlarge). It is a Marin 'Pine Mountain" steel frame circa 1989. If you see it, call the police, and email me please.



the thief was caught from behind on CCTV at the hotel next door. It is the one time I forgot to lock it :P

the bike frame is 20 years old and heavy steel. They don't make this model anymore. It's probably heavier than most bikes out there and might be hard for the thief to get much out of it, altho it did have some relatively newish parts. Still, after 20 years, it might be time to get a new lighter bike..haha

San Francisco does not have an exclusive license on hipsters and messenger wannabes, oddly called fakengers in other parts of the country

Bike Messenger envy, Philadelphia

Labeled "fakengers" or "FAMs" (for "fake-ass messengers") by their detractors, the burgeoning ranks of courier-emulators make up a peculiar breed. Though often employed in another field -- or, as the oft-true stereotype goes, enrolled in art school -- members of this band of twentysomethings have taken to messengers' garb, gear and wheels in tremendous numbers.

and it's gone corporate

which has resulted in the inevitable bike accessory for real bike messengers



This is a real bike messenger, in New York, and because looking cool is a matter of life and death in todays society, a simple leg amputation seems like a small price to pay for social acceptance, no?

update > this is Monday afternoon, Aug 10, 2009, Terrence, one of the two co-owners of Pump Station



On weekday afternoons during the commute you'll likely find Terrence or Mike at this corner of Post and Market. During the day they say they've been getting lots of work just by word of mouth, where they go to peoples houses and fix bikes there. Apparently there's a need for on call bike fixers, rather than taking them to a normal shop. There seems to be some sort of backlog of broken bikes at peoples houses that people have been unwilling to drag down to a bike shop, so it could be that these two bike messengers are literally putting more bikes on the street

As it stands now, they might actually have to get a second station and a third mechanic if it keeps up like this, and that's before they even have a dedicated phone. And Pump Station is indeed registered with the City of San Francisco

Mostly for now, during this first couple weeks, they are charging things like 5 bucks for a tube, and then rely on tips for actually changing the tire. They seem to be happy so far

(previously, posted Monday morning) Pump station - week 2

no dedicated phone number yet, but they're working on it. They are starting to get a regular schedule, which is:

weekdays - on Market street between Post and Fremont. The below photo is at Post and Market from Friday evening commute, and shows Mike already working on 2 bikes

Saturdays is planned for near Zeitgeist on Valencia and 14th and Sundays at the Hall of Flowers - Conservatory in Golden Gate Park

this is another first for San Francisco, and it's barely gotten off the ground. Pump Station is recently created by a couple of bike messengers to offer mobile bike repair in downtown San Francisco. So far they can change flats, true wheels, and fix a bunch of other stuff, but not the really heavy duty stuff like repacking hubs. It's common stuff, like tubes for 5 bucks, the whole flat fixed in 10 minutes for maybe 10 bucks, cables, gears

As of this week, there's no way to contact them other than finding this bike pictured below, downtown, probably near and around bike messengers at 1 Post, or Battery and Market

Blog will be updated if they ever get a cell phone....or something

The Dutchies invade San Francisco! On display 4 days a week at 577 Market next to the defunct Stacy's Bookstore

http://www.mydutchbike.com/

this first one could be the next hipster trend. There's a real single track fixie for you. weeeeee



I have friends in Holland and most of these bikes are not very common in modern Holland. The cargo bike below is sometimes seen in city centers where families go out to the park or something. A more common cargo bike







Most of these bikes are called 'granny bikes' in local Dutch parlance (Omafiets). They are not very common in Holland in new condition like this, except for the last one. Quote from a friend in Holland earlier today

usually granny bikes here are old, rusty and often stripped. Most new bikes sold here (as far as i know) are more to the hybrid side.... with lighter frames, 21 (or more) gears etc... fully equipped to be safe though, but borrowed technology from mountainbikes (that's why they're called 'hybrid')

This last one is probably the most common bike, of these photos, actually seen in Holland today



the funny thing about these bikes, and below, is in Holland they are usually clunkers, cheap bikes that everybody uses for commuting around because bikes get stolen so much in Holland, nobody takes their good bikes out unless they have a place to park it inside. Ironically, Mydutchbike.com on Market street has these same type of bike new, for maybe 1000 bucks or more, but in Holland, there maybe a couple hundred at most..Or more like 50 bucks for an older one

This is mostly because up until recently in Holland, U-Locks like Kryptonite locks were relatively rare and everybody used cable locks for many years there (since the 60's) and they are easily cut with bolt cutters. So basically, if you're in Holland, you're probably riding a clunker around every day, and nobody really cares that much because there's a huge revolving bike circuit of these old clunkers in Holland, going through 20 owners in a few years. It's a different thing, culturally, where here in San Francisco, nobody uses cable locks, and everybody uses U-Locks, so people are more likely to have their good bikes out in public

the city of Nijmegen, Netherlands 2004



Utrecht, Netherlands, City Centre, 2006





This is also, Utrecht, Netherlands

what bike messengers think of hipsters. Hipster boys can't fuck. Any questions?



bike messenger Mimi, goin down Grove past city hall



Mimi makes nice hand made messenger radio holsters, but there isn't much time left to get one, as she's leaving town for awhile. You can find her sometimes at the statue at Battery and Market

from an article 13 reasons why the fixie fad should end

The article uses a photo of the rare San Francisco Bike Messenger Association (SFBMA) belt buckle, from this blog. Only 25 of those were ever made

The most recent victim of this trend is that of the once-edgy bike messengers. Actual bike messengers are now faced with the decision to either just suck it up and be confused with mobs of posers, or simply change careers.

this is a a real San Francisco bike messenger. His name is Junior and has been around forever. Nobody confuses him with fixie poseurs

Real bike messengers work hard, and some get seriously injured or even killed in accidents. It’s a risky job, and often a thankless one, with their main clients being the snobby suits in high-rise buildings who want their parcels ASAP. Posers running around acting like the real deal damage any respect these guys have earned, and that’s pretty damn lame.

yep, pretty lame

this is a real San Francisco bike messenger work bike, high up in the woods of Purisima Creek redwoods in San Mateo county. It's over 20 years old, the original steel frame model and no longer made, and hard to find these days. You will never ever see a fixie out in the woods like that, climbing up dirt trails at 2000 feet



one less fixie, indeed




also, Berlin has banned fixies