David Byrne Bike Rack Encounters

I recently had the privilege of visiting the greatest city in the world, NYNY. My experience was punctuated by the opportunity to tour the city by bicycle, courtesy of a bike provided by a friend who lives nearby (along the Hudson River train line). I managed to bring my bamboo panniers to carry my stuff, and pretty much covered the island of Manhattan via peddle power. Great experience, exhilerating at times (weaving through traffic on 5th Avenue). Biking the city streets is not for woosies, though the locals are much more daring than I dared to be. I did, however, manage to cross paths with New Yorks finest (a warning that biking is not allowed on city sidewalks). I also left some blood on the streets, after getting my front wheel caught in a grate that crossed my path. And, no visit to NYNY would be complete without getting ripped off (my rear flashing light attachment).

The subject of this post, however, is my encounter with David Byrnes' bike racks. The guy (former lead singer for the talking heads, and longtime New York biker), was commissioned by the city to

judge a bike rack design contest. He decided to just design them himself, and put up several

racks throughout Mahhattan and Brooklyn. I decided to devote a day to a quest of all the

David Byrne bike racks I could find, and photograph my faithful steed tied to them.

The pics that accompany this blog are the result.

1. The artsy, modern art rack in front of MOMA. The street vender guy said the rack had just been installed two days prior. Cool!

2. The reclining nude, ala trucker mud flap, around times square.

3. The high heel rack on 5th Avenue- a high fashion motif.

4. The Coffee cup rack outside a bakery frequented by Columbia University students on the Upper West Side.

5. The dollar sign rack on Wall Street- appropriate enough!

6. The guitar bike rack in Williamsburg in Brooklyn. I did not find this rack until we took the subway there to visit the Brooklyn Brewery. A cool neighborhood, the rack had already been decorated by locals- for whatever reason.