Neglected Bikes

This morning as I was making my way down Milwaukee Ave. to meet my friend Guy for afternoon tacos. I noticed something that probably most cyclist notice every day.

All the bikes lining a little stretch on Milwaukee Ave. I was surprised to see how many bikes are left out or abandoned along the stretch from Damen to Ashland. Some are probably left outside because their owners don't have space in their apartments and some are left there to just rot and decay.
I took some pictures of these bikes just to show some of the things I saw.
Being the owner of some bikes myself I felt pretty bad for the neglected bikes.
This is the first bike I encountered right on the corner of Milwaukee and Damen.

Sad as it seems no one even cares to pick this bike up and at least set it upright (come to think of it, neither did I, I know, I'm a bastard)
Not sure if something in my head said forget it since the rear wheel was bent all out of shape. It would seem whoever owned this bike, rode it until they could ride no more, parked it and forgot about it.

Now this one was just left there to be cannibalized and just the frame left there to rot. I bet Cisco at West Town Bikes can make this forgotten frame a useful bar stool. Seriously, go there and ask for the bike stool. Cyclist are pretty good at recycling old stuff that comes from our bikes.

Now some of these bikes are left out but are still getting some use, at least that's what I was told from the friend of the owner of this lovely Dutch bike.
As I was taking the picture I was approached by the friend of the owner of the bike who assured me this bike is ridden during the winter. I specially love the name of the bike, which is decaled on the down tube.



















Another thing that I noticed most was that women seem to ride more than men during the winter. I saw at least a good 4 to 1 women to men ratio of ladies riding. Specially this lady riding along Damen. She made riding in style look good, even if she was wearing sweats.




















Yes, that is my shadow behind the stylish woman riding in sweats.
I must say that she was riding pretty fast. I was rather surprised I could even catch up with her and be able to take these pictures.


















I also had a nice surprise during my little photo adventure. As I was finishing taking this picture of 2 people riding West on Milwaukee I heard some one say as they were riding away "I saw you on Momentum!" to which I promptly replied "Say What?" mind you it wasn't a cool "Say what" more of a I didn't hear/surprised/dumbfounded "Say What"




I really should thank Momentum Magazine, for actually printing my ugly mug on their magazine, John Greenfield for asking me to pose for this picture, my friend Greta for being her birthday and stopping at Reckless Records, and Ryan for the sticker that has brought my very own 15 minutes of fame.
You can find more pictures of these neglected/abandoned bikes on my brand spanking new Flicker page.