Faux ghost bikes

we should spray the bike another colour, really badly.

Faust Bikes?

Goethe Bikes?

can tynan smear his shit on it instead? would keep the thing from being stripped, kind of like doing the shop a favor? :D

This shop needs several people to visit at separate times, days etc, just to ask 'who died out there?'. Starting with a pertinent question would be best, and when they say 'no one...why....' (which they will), they can have it explained to them again.

If Ghostbike.org has any leaflets, it would be useful to take them in and elaborate further. If you get fobbed off by the casual staff, ask to speak to the manager about how offensive it is to RTA victims' families. The more people that go in and ask about it, the more this shop will learn about ghostbikes and perhaps change its ways/the bike.

They need asking politely several times before anyone embarks upon a guerilla campaign of what is essentially vandalism.

Sorry, but this is utter nonsense. Completely white bikes are not the sole property of the Ghost Bikes movement. Ghost Bikes as a phenomenon are not nearly widely known enough by the general public (or even a good deal of cyclists for that matter) for the majority of people to get confused in the first place. This smacks of good intentions and a great idea (Ghost Bikes) turned 'worthy' and 'holier than thou'. And if and when people do generally speaking know what a Ghost Bike is it should be fairly obvious to them that the white bike stuck up outside a thrift shop is simply a white bike...

To start trying to claim this sort of thing as intellectual property for a movement that started with a piece of street art is overly sensitive in the extreme. What if Charge produce an all white bike? White seat/stem/rims/hubs/frame/forks/etc. Would that also be out of order and in some way disrespectful but only when these bikes were chained up? Where do you draw the line? What you're suggesting here is some form of censorship...

Riders on white bikes should take alternative routes to avoid the ghosties, it just makes sense?

Sorry, but this is utter nonsense. Completely white bikes are not the sole property of the Ghost Bikes movement. Ghost Bikes as a phenomenon are not nearly widely known enough by the general public (or even a good deal of cyclists for that matter) for the majority of people to get confused in the first place. This smacks of good intentions and a great idea (Ghost Bikes) turned 'worthy' and 'holier than thou'. And if and when people do generally speaking know what a Ghost Bike is it should be fairly obvious to them that the white bike stuck up outside a thrift shop is simply a white bike...

To start trying to claim this sort of thing as intellectual property for a movement that started with a piece of street art is overly sensitive in the extreme. What if Charge produce an all white bike? White seat/stem/rims/hubs/frame/forks/etc. Would that also be out of order and in some way disrespectful but only when these bikes were chained up? Where do you draw the line? What you're suggesting here is some form of censorship...

Yep... its a white bike.

can tynan smear his shit on it instead? would keep the thing from being stripped, kind of like doing the shop a favor? :D

I'm primed and ready to go.

I saw the one on Brick Lane and thought they had just hung their sign on it. I called them c**ts in a loud voice.

Does anyone know anything about the bike locked up at the south end of proctor street (where I sometimes see Tommy track standing before turning east onto High Holborn) that is totally spray painted pale gold?

AFAIK, there has not been a death there...

It didn't look like this did it?...

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Have to say that even though I've been riding for years (BMX, trials, DH and commuting) I didn't know what a ghost bike was until I came across this thread. Will be sure to spread the word among my riding friends though.

I was just mentioning this BL 'ghost' bike on another thread. I rarely go that way (I'm not hip enough) but if I do I'll stop in and speak to them.

It does highlight the problem that most people don't know what ghost bikes are about. Maybe Greasy Slag will put paid to that with his efforts.

i also did not know what a ghost bike was, untill recently! i will pass around the word also though.

and has anyone noticed the ghost bike on essex road is being scavenged for parts?

I dunno its gonna get binned by the council at some point anyway. Why not let the pieces get used. Surely thats what its all about. Bikes for ppl.

They're not gonna nick the frame are they? Maybe just make it not worth nicking next time (bend forks, fuck wheels up a bit, dent frame, etc... b4 painting)

I popped in yesterday to the BL thrift store

they said they were not too clued up about ghost bikes

I explained that their sign for a shop was effectively a gravestone

I think they will be changing its colour after I explained it was in quite bad taste.

we should spray the bike another colour, really badly.

why not just offer to respray it for them?

I walked past it on Sunday just gone and it had a big sign hanging from the top tube basically saying something like 'THRIFT STORE 100 YARDS ON THE RIGHT'. I reckon it might be a bike painted white doubling up as a sign for a thrift store...

that's exactly what it is, an advertising tool. but to those of us in the know and who acknowledge and respect the ghost bike movement, its kinda bad taste.

good work james, some simple badgering might make them change the colour.

that's exactly what it is, an advertising tool. but to those of us in the know and who acknowledge and respect the ghost bike movement, its kinda bad taste.

good work james, some simple badgering might make them change the colour.

Each to their own. I also acknowledge and respect the Ghost Bike movement (it's a brilliant idea) but still see the bike in question as utterly harmless. When I saw it it was very clear that it is a bike painted white advertising a thrift store (the sign on the bike was very clear), quite how it might detract from the movement is beyond me.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Just try not to leave the owners/workers of the thrift store thinking that cyclists are over-sensitive zealots. We have enough challenges with our public persona as it is.

:)

dudes you can't tell someone who has sprayed a bike white in all innocence that it's in bad taste! It's not! Bad taste would be pretending it was a ghost bike and using the idea of a ghost bike to market something - if this is what they've done then they are shits, but it seems very very unlikely. let's not get bullying non-cyclists here.

stick to letting them know a chained up all-white bike is starting to symbolise something else these days but don't have a go at them for it. Just because it means something to you it doesn't necessarily mean something to others. And even then, a white bike is a white bike.

btw tallsam, not sure a buckled and bent ghost bike would be palletable really seeing as they are marking road deaths.

a white bike is a white bike.

double racist!!

in tandem?

fair enough, i know its not a big deal. the only reason i mentioned this in the first place was i saw the bike, thought someone had died dead on brick lane and then noticed the sign and thought it was bad taste. i'm not up for bullying, just raising their awareness that this is how their marketing could be perceived.

I think this is slightly misguided. Obviously people feel strongly about the topic, but I think there are more meaningful ways of advancing the cause than pestering a little shop beside B/L. This bike is synonymous with something poingant to you, but maybe not to them. The proprietors have been made aware and as a result those of you who went in have connected with maybe one or two people who might see the other ghost bikes draw the parrallel. They might even remove their sign/bike or change its colour as a result of your collective contact, but thats the end of it. Maybe as an alternative if you stood beside one of the real ones and take 5 minutes to tell 5 passers-by about their significance, I think you would have made a more tangible contribution to the campaign. I'd have thought that its about awareness raising after all, and the white bikes are just one mechanism for doing so.

I think VanUdens post a couple of days ago was the most sensible on the thread.

Anyhoo, my 2 cents.

Should probably also say that I draw the parallel every time I see it, so I can totally understand where the sentiment is coming from.

btw tallsam, not sure a buckled and bent ghost bike would be palletable really seeing as they are marking road deaths.

Well how about sticking a few bolts through the frame & Forks. Or just drilling lots of holes in it. Nobody would nick a frame with holes in it. Probably too much work though.
Better yet drill through the frame and bolt it to a solid object, round off the heads and theres no need for a lock!