Low Rider bikes come in quite a few different shapes and sizes. A conventional low rider bike is typically with a 20-inch frame, a big banana seat, and wide handlebars. It is somewhat similar to its cousin, the beach cruiser bike. Some of the stranger bikes are much lower to the ground and more elongated. A lot of times, on the low rider bike the seat itself is quite low. That is the reason the bike is so long, so a rider with long legs can stretch his or her legs out horizontally not vertically. Others compensate for their lowness by having their twisted and ornate handlebars higher and wider than you thought possible.
My chicano buddy’s bike is a classic example of a low rider bike gone haywire and transforming itself into an art object. Ray Martinez’s bright blue and gold beauty has won awards in Tucson, Arizona, and elsewhere. It was produced by a group effort of family and friends to design and construct the bicycle. Low rider bikes range from the low bike with the high banana seat that can ride around the neighborhood, to bikes that are so low, that you literally can’t turn the pedals around. This is like a manual version of the famous low rider cars, that are so low down to the ground that they have to be driven slowly. On the bikes, the heavy level on decoration and ornamentation can be quite devastating, and according to some, devilish.
Just as low rider cars are meant to be driven low and slow so that they can be seen, so are the bicycles. The bikes, especially the show bikes, are so low that many of them are hard to ride at all. One bike has been modified to the point that the pedals would drag on the ground. There even is a perception in some quarters and neighborhoods that low riders are gang members and drug dealers. But car clubs are very much about family and community and friends helping friends. As a matter of fact, many of the club members push their children to build bikes because it’s a way to keep them out of trouble and off the streets.
The Low Rider Bike, Banana Seat Bicycles all have their origins to the late sixties. Your Low Rider Bike can include mirrors, tachometers, extended forks and more. LowRider Bicycles have become a fashion statement. Many people place extra lights on their LowRider Bicycles including Glow lights. Low Rider Bicycles are more of a statement of fashion than a utility instrument used to get from place A to B. Some thirty years later LowRider Bicycles, Beach Cruisers and Chopper Bicycles are back in full swing. Covered with murals of dragons and wizard girls, a low rider can be pretty fancy. A Lowrider is more then a bike. It's a culture. Low rider bicycles are much like their big brothers, the better known low rider cars, elaborately painted, finely sculpted and meant to be seen. The clubs and the family involvement that goes into making the bike and the pride in personally creating an art object is what it’s all about.
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