See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.
By Danielle Furfaro
Brooklyn Daily
They specialize in chains and rubber.
People who love bicycles are gathering once again at the Williamsburg institution City Reliquary to celebrate Bike Fetish Day — a day where it’s okay to admit you love bikes a bit more than you should.
“We use the word ‘fetish’ because it describes the bicycle as an object of irrational reverence or obsessive devotion,” said City Reliquary president Bill Scanga.
Bicycles are the main event, but in the gear-centric borough of Brooklyn, friendships are forged over much less than matching handle bar tassels. The festival, now in its ninth year, gives bike lovers of all stripes an excuse to bond over their unique take on the two wheeled machine.
“There are so many different groups of people using the bicycle in so many ways,” said Scanga, mentioning Bushwick’s Puerto Rican Schwinn Club and bike messengers. “So, this is an event about New York City diversity as seen through the bicycle.”
A variety of competitions, including best mutant bike, best handmade bike, and best ugly bike, will give cyclists many different ways to show off their passion and personality.
“I like ‘fastest looking bike’ as a [competition] category,” Scanga said.
Mostly, he’s hoping that riders show up with as many weird bikes as possible, making the event a great opportunity for connoisseurs to sample some of the more strange and beautiful bicycle experiments in the city.
“I hope we get some ‘tall bike’ clubs this year,” Scanga said. “Puerto Rican clubs, like the Classic Riders and the Puerto Rican Schwinn Club, bring bikes that are absolutely magnificent.”
Bike Fetish Day at the City Reliquary [370 Metropolitan Ave. between Hope and Grand streets in Williamsburg, (718) 782–4842, www.cityreliquary.org]. May 25, noon–6 pm.
Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurfaro@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2511. Follow her at twitter.com/DanielleFurfaro.