Cool Bikes: The ChiTown Cruisers

This post continues our series of articles exploring the many possibilities for awesome bikes that exist.

Our search takes us to Chicago and the ChiTown Cruisers, a loose group of Puerto Rican men who get together on sunday afternoons to ride leisurely around their Chicago neighborhoods and show off their awesome bikes.

I found out about the ChiTown Cruisers from J. Harry Wray's book, Pedal Power. Riders who join in with the Cruisers had one many rule: they must ride classic, single-speed Schwinn bikes. But it's not just about old-school bikes.

As you can see from the above picture, the ChiTown Cruisers take pride in rebuilding and restoring their bikes, which by the end resemble chopper motorcycles with shiny parts, Puerto Rican and American flags, low-rider handlebars, horns, and more. They ride leisurely to different spots in Chicago, giving others in the city a chance to check out the bikes that they've worked on.

"Part of the pleasure of the club comes from building and adapting bikes," the book notes, "[and] it is like a teenage or vintage car club in this respect... When asked their reasons for joining, camaraderie and 'good clean fun' topped the list. Getting exercise was also important. Several also mentioned sigh-seeing and the pleasure of taking younger riders places they had never been before...Virtually all the riders agrees that riding in this club stimulated them to ride more at other times."

I've heard people mention similar groups in other cities, and maybe even in Philly. Anyone know anything? Or have any good photos of cool bikes?