Cool bikes, pt. 2: Bikes and Hip-Hop combine for green streets, against youth violence

Lately I've been looking into cool-looking bikes, and what I'm finding is that behind every cool bike there's an even cooler story. Last week I covered NYC teens that build giant sound-systems for their bikes, and proposed that maybe this kind of bicycle tinkering is taking over old-fashioned car-culture.

Well, Scraper Bikes have been bringing together Oakland teens for a few years now. They're cheap to make (shiny candy-wrappers and spray-paint are all you need), and its easy to learn how to make one. Plus, there's a Scraper Bikes song which has received national attention.

But the bikes aren't even the most impressive result:

"Actually, scraper bikes saved my life," says Tyrone Stevenson Jr., who prefers the title "Scraper Bike King."

"Because I was at a young age, getting into a lot of serious trouble, selling drugs and on the verge of going to jail. So my mom told me this is a way to channel anger and frustration, just focusing on something that's creative, something that's me, and the bikes is me." -from NPR.

Stevenson's bike got other young people interested, leading him to teach others in turn. It quickly turned into a community movement: the bikes provide a cheap and environmentally friendly way to look really cool, a creative and social outlet, and have also become a way for Stevenson to organize young people against gun violence in their communities. Streetfilms' coverage of the 'Bike 4 Life' Scraper Bike ride shows this all in action:




For more info check out the extensive coverage at Streetfilms, NPR, and WireTap Magazine.