Subculture alert: Boom Box Bikes in Queens, NY

Boom box music bike in Richmond Hill, queens NY

This tip was passed on by my friend Sally, who was such an early Internet adopter that she actually has www.sally.com as her personal domain name. Think about that.

Yesterday the New York Times ran an article about a gang of teenagers in Richmond Hill, Queens (NY) who build outrageous two-wheeled sound systems to cruise the streets . They “engineer” up to a couple hundred kilos of speakers, batteries and electronics and a few thousand watts of amplification onto BMX bikes and then DJ from iPods at deafening volume. Cool. 

The kids are from Guyanese and Trinidadian backgrounds and apparently this is a popular hobby in various areas around the Caribbean.

Below are a few photos but you can read the full article in the Times. 

ghetto blaster bikes in queens trinidadian stereo bike  DJ bikes in queens NY

Who says kids are lazy and don’t get out of the house these days?

(all photos: Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

5 Responses to “Subculture alert: Boom Box Bikes in Queens, NY”

  1. Feddo Says:

    I like the pic of the Trinidadian kid in a white tank top. I think he needs some kind of Workcycles-industrial-strength wheel and bearings!

    And maybe just a tiny bit more air in his rear tire… just a touch…..

  2. henry Says:

    I don’t think these guys are too interested in the bicycle parts of their machines. The focus is definitely on the music making, especially when you compare the investments in stereo vs. bike: a few thousand to a couple hundred. I have a feeling that their sophistication and capabilities with electronics are a few levels higher than with mechanics.

    Still I bet these kids could do some cool stuff with a bakfiets… or whatever they’d deem cool from the Workcycles stable.

  3. feddomw Says:

    It ain’t about speed, that’s for sure…. Funny you mention the bakfiets, I was just wondering where they get their power from. You could fit quite a few car batteries in a cargobike…

  4. Math You Says:

    This …is… riduculous… ly AWESOME!
    I’m a dude in Denver that is into guerilla electronic art, and am planning a ghettoblaster dance party where we all show up with boom boxes, and tune to a DJ being transmitted on the same station. Somebody said, “Dude, you should put it on a bike.” I figure, good idea, WTF? Well here it is… AWESOME

  5. BAKFIETS EN MEER » Blog Archive » Dekochari: Japanese Art Bikes Says:

    […] bikes have lots in common with the Queens, NY “boom box bikes” I wrote about in […]

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