Bowery btw Kenmare & Spring

Bowery btw Grand & Broome

AH! The new Blackberry Curve takes wonderful pictures!
This blackberry marks the 4th device i've used to capture images for this blog (and my other blog too). Those devices were a Palm Zire 71, Palm Treo 700p, Motorola krzr, and now a RIM Blackberry 8330 Curve.

The Palm Zire will always be my favorite for its grainy low res images. I miss that clunky old thing.

But the new Curve will no doubt serve me well. It even has a built-in flash for night shots down in the village.

Lafayette btw Prince & Spring

Hands down one of my new favorites. It says "STOLEN" in chalk on the sidewalk with arrows pointing to the bike and a chalk outline of a rider on a bike. Of course this is outside of a bike shop at the same location and they probably use it as an extremely effective sales technique to sell some hardcore locking mechanisms. The best part about this shot is that carnage is probably only 1-2 days old. Meaning they left a complete bike semi-chained to the pole out for just 1 night. The results are obvious.

Baxter btw Hester and Canal

The back rim in bent out of shape, though that is difficult to see from this angle.

Hester btw Baxter and Centre

Stripped clean down in Chinatown.

2nd Ave & St. Mark's Place

I think that's the right location. I took this pic from a cab and didn't record the exact location, but I'm pretty sure that's it.

dunno

I didn't record this location. It's probably somewhere around the Angelica Theater in SoHo.

Stanton and Orchard

And then of course on our way out and heading to go see The Wackness.

Orchard btw Houston and Stanton

On my way to a watering hole to catch up with my cousin Maryclaire (she's in the blue dress in the background, everyone wave). LES never fails to disappoint.

Houston btw Mott & Mulberry

38th btw 8th & 9th Ave

Avenue A btw 11th & 12th St

I found this on the last leg of my quest for Pepsi in a bottle. Surprisingly after wandering all over the East Village this was the only broken bike that I found.

18th St btw 5th & 6th Ave

Nice. Just rip that back tire off. He wasn't using it anyway.

Dunno

AH! These ones kill me! I hate it when I don't record the location, especially for something as satisfying as a set of forks discarded next to--not IN, but beside--the trash. I must research this, find out where I was, and locate this spot again.

1st St btw 1st Ave and Ave A

Unfortunately this angle doesn't get the full effect of the bent rim. But the village never fails to disappoint: broken bikes abound.

6th St btw 1st Ave and Ave A

I could have done a better job capturing this bent rim. Ah well, you'll just have to take my word for it.

Ave A btw 6th & 7th St

1st Ave btw 2nd & 3rd St

I wish I got a better shot on this one; it's a beauty--at least in that perverse brokenbike sense of beauty that I have.

2nd Ave btw 3rd & 4th St

Spring btw Mulberry and Lafayette

I had to double check the blog on this one to be sure I didn't already catch it. I have a good memory for these things and can point out a lot on the street that I already have logged, but I wasn't sure about this until I got home and checked it out. Yup, it's new for me.

Broome btw Broadway and Crosby

Seeing these wrecks with locks still on them cracks me up. Everything but the frame...

Broadway btw 21st & 22nd

The first of a long day of walking around town. I picked up 6 broken bikes in all today. Of them all, the empty rim is the best. It's just another lonely part of the cityscape.

Greenwich & Horatio

Found on a posh west village corner just a few blocks south of the meatpacking district

Lafayette btw Prince & Spring

LM & I had a whole discussion with a random passerby as to whether or not this one was "broken." She's the only one I know that can engage strangers on the sidewalk so easily. The final conclusion was indeed, broken. We had a good laugh discussing the various levels of brokenness then went on with our day.

Elizabeth btw Hester & Grand

This one's all out of focus from a torrential downpour that day.

23rd St btw 6th & 7th Ave

On our way to R.U.B. for some BBQ, saw this on 23rd St.

3rd Ave btw 24th & 25th

42nd btw Park & Lex

Always strange to see broken bikes on these crazy busy intersections.

Hudon btw Morton & Barrow

I found this after walking up Hudson after an interview downtown. I'm never in this neck of the woods and figured I'd wander until I found a Starbucks or a a broken bike. Got this first.

2nd Ave btw 9th & 10th

This classic bike made it far, but in the end it succumbed to the destruction of all good bikes on the sidewalk

10th St btw 2nd & 3rd

A nice little sample of tires

Broome btw Mott & Elizabeth

I can't tell if there is a broken bike in there or if there are three complete bikes, just with tires and seats locked up separate from the chassis. Just in case, it goes up on the blog.

Spring & Mulberry

Elizabeth btw Prince & Houston

3rd St. & 2nd Ave

Zoomed in and taken from a cab.

Fifth Ave btw 20th & 21st St

One lonely tire as we were on our way from City Bakery to the Flower District.

Prince btw Wooster & Greene

Oh this is a great one. I love the ones covered in stickers. Do people put the stickers on even after the bike is destroyed, or was this already stickered up before it was left for prime picking?

Mott btw Prince & Spring

Another beautiful afternoon downtown, another broken bike. This one, being upside down and stripped clean, cracks me up

Crosby btw Spring and Broome

I was back a week later and this baby was in an equal state of decay.

Broome btw Crosby & Broadway

Down in SoHo on a Friday afternoon

43rd St & 9th Ave

This corner in my old neighborhood never disappoints.

3rd Ave btw 38th & 39th St

I found this beauty apartment shopping in what is now my new neighborhood. (I passed by it after moving in and it was in even worse shape).

Hester btw Mott & Mulberry

More downtown broken bikes

Spring btw Mott & Mulberry

Wow! What a great mess down in NoLita today. Loved these.

Grand btw Elizabeth & Bowery

Strange to see a broken bike in Chinatown, but I guess the bright orange BMX was too tempting to pass up.

Metropark Train Station, NJ

It's a little tough to see because I took the shot from the train heading down to DC, but I counted 3 broken bikes scattered around that railing.

Washington Square East

The Village is by far my favorite broken bike hunting spot. First day off work and I trekked downtown for a change of scenery. Unfortunately this was the only broken bike I saw.

dunno

Sadly this location was lost for all posterity... ah well, to a future of better location blogging I toast!

3rd Ave btw 50th & 51st

What's amazing about this picture is that I sent it to myself and didn't upload until months later, at which point I had lost the location. But I recognized it as Third Ave and used Google Maps Street View to hone in on the right block. Scrolling around, dragging over, zooming in... just an absolutely amazing tool. I could even see the mirrored ground floor (from the building on the left) in the Street View to further confirm the location.

Third Ave btw 52nd & 53rd

Stripped and abandoned on Lex. What's great with this one is that not only was it gone the next day, but it reappeared the day after! Who took this bike away and then returned it to the same spot?

Sixth Ave btw 48th & 49th

Found two today in midtown. Always amazes me when there's just a lonely tire in the middle of New York's busiest avenues.

Lexington btw 52nd & 53rd

55th btw Park & Madison

I was rushing off to a early morning meeting across town and came across was was probably carnage from last night.

Mercer btw Prince & Spring

Down in SoHo getting burgers at Faneli's.

48th btw Lex & 3rd

53rd btw 2nd & 3rd

Flat tires, bent rim, missing seat. Not a disaster, but not a bad find either for a midtown midday lunch break.

55th btw Lex & 3rd

What a great block I live on these days: this is the third broken bike post this year from my block.

Lexington & 50ish

8th Ave btw 49th & 50th

45th btw Lex & 3rd

Busy street in midtown, right in front of half a dozen restaurants. Stripped for parts and left for dead.

Dunno

Problem with this new phone is that unless I email a picture to myself right away, I will never remember where I took the shot

Dunno

Dunno

49th btw 7th & 8th

I can always count on the west side for broken bikes. Got two today.

Lexington Ave btw 53rd & 54th

Right there, smack in the heart of my morning commute was a torn up bike on Lex. What's beautiful was that I got to watch it deteriorate over the next week before being removed before the end of the week (quite possibly by the building management company staff because it was right outside the Citigroup office in midtown).

50th St btw 5th & Madison

Yeah, that's not going anywhere

Dublin, Ireland

God this one is a beauty. A complete mangled, gnarled mess. I love it.

Dublin, Ireland

It was a very productive day, if you were an international broken bike hunter

Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Where broken bikes go to die. It is the final resting place of the broken bikes in Ireland. The elephant graveyard but for bikes.


I was cry because of all the broken beauties back there that I couldnt reach through the iron gates

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland

Essex & Rivington

(I think) Again, with the loss of data. I am sure I took this near Sugar Sweet Sunshine in LES, so we'll go with that location.
But cmon, how great is this one? Standing on its head, stripped to the core. I love it.

(dunno)

I know I shot this from a cab and wrote down the location. But that is now lost because in my infinite ability to procrastinate I deleted the file from my palm (and the note attached to it) before I could post to the web. The pics transfer each sync but the notes I write in them only stay on the palm.

(dunno)

nuts. I have no idea where I too this.

The New Territories, Hong Kong

I never ever thought I would see a broken bike in China. I was so excited to see this, I mean, it's even chained to the railing, and is a decent looking frame at that.

Mott St btw Prince & Houston

Someone spent the time/money on a nice purple-to-white fade only for their beauty to meet this shameful end.


More on the same block. I'm always amazed when the delivery bikes get ripped off. Thoes things are in a constant state of use. How did that happen?

55th St btw Lex & 3rd Aves

Practically right outside my door! Stripped clean and left for pick up.

Grand St btw Mercer & Greene

A lone little one down in SoHo.
(LM was flagging down a cab in the post World Cup Frenzy and i'm busy trying to get this shot off)

6th Ave and 47th St

I don't think this is meant to be pick up with the trash, seeing as how it's chained to the subway entrance. But it's quite a fitting location.

51st St btw Park & Madison

On the way to see a client. Strange to see in this neighborhood. Broken bikes know no bounds.

10th St & 1st Ave

Thanks to Mike Brittain for this one. Bike-part thieves no know bounds. First this is classic because someone hangs their bike from a street sign. Then someone comes along and still pilfers parts.

33rd btw 5th & 6th

A dirty bike, tossed to the curb on a filthy, rainy New York City night.

Spring & Wooster

This is a beauty. I'm going to save this as one of my favs. Dunno why, just like it a lot. Hope you enjoy.

Rivington St btw Suffolk & Clinton

Eventually I am going to upgrade my palm, which means that I won't have this grainy old lens anymore. This is a perfect example of what I am going to miss... here's a blah green bike as the focus of this shot and look how the color adjustment bleeds green through the rest of the shot. Now instead of a just a green bike on grey pavement we've got a puke green bike on a gag green pavement.

The only thing that's more mildly disturbing than my mild obsession with broken bikes is my mild raphsodizing about the camera with which I use to capture the aforementioned mild obsession. And the only thing slightly mildly more disturbing than that... I guess that I really like the green tone of this shot.

Suffolk St btw Stanton & Rivington

I should check back on this one and see how long before the front tire and handlebars are pinched, too. In the meantime the long shadows lines made a good shot.

Clinton St btw Rivington and Delancey

Downtown is always a hotbed of broken bikes. Need handlebars? Help yourself in the LES

Avenue A btw 1st & 2nd St

A nice tire bend in the afternoon sun.

55th btw Lex & 3rd

This is absolutely in my top 5 broken bikes ever.

Outside a Chinese restaurant they are throwing away a freezer unit and two bikes. They stripped the bikes down and put them in the freezer on the sidewalk for the trash. I found this right across the street from my new apartment. I couldn't believe my luck--practically right on my doorstep!! I was so excited about it that a small group of workers from the restaurant who were outside on their smoke break got a big kick out of me laughing to myself and excitedly taking pictures of their trash. I could see and hear them talking about me as I walked down the street...but for this kind of score, I don't care who says what, this is a beauty.

Lafayette btw Spring & Kenmare

I just couldn't believe my luck. After such a dry spell of not seeing broken bikes anywhere, now in one late afternoon I've got not one, not two, not three, but four new one to add to my collection.

Broome & Broadway

And just like that a broken bike blight is brought to an abrupt end. Two corners, two minutes, two broken bikes. This one was even being used by the street vendor as a hanging rack of sorts.

Crosby btw Spring & Broome

There has been such a drought of broken bikes in my life. Had it really been two months since...? forgive me blogger, it has been two months since my post. The Sunday brunch crowd was only mildly disturbed by my mild obsession.

1st Ave btw 3rd & 4th

I walked all day in the blizzard hunting for great snow shots and of course hunting for a broken bike. I easily covered a dozen blocks in the east village/alphabet city and this was the only one I could find. Buried in three feet of snow, two bikes front-to-back, at least one is torn up.

32nd St btw 6th & 7th

This is a great one. Delivery basket, in place. Front tire, gone.

5th Ave btw 34th & 35th

Again, even on one of the most heavily trafficked sites in the city, your front tire is not safe. Never safe from the lucrative business of second-hand bike parts.

Broken Bike Blog Broken

somewhere around here i couldn't publish the blog anymore. don't know what happened but glad that all my aimless tinkering got it figured out. or at least that it got all figured out by itself

4nd & 9th

This was a beauty. An all white one picked nearly clean right on the corner of 42nd St and 9th Ave. Granted, it's close to the bus station and some other less-than-savory locales, but still, this is one highly trafficked corner. But look at the sweet rims and one remaining white tire on this one.

23rd St btw Park & Lexington Ave

This is a crazy busy street, all day, all night, always people and cars. One would think their bike would be at least moderately safe. Guess not.

Lexington btw 39th & 40th St

One lonely tire... and a rusty chain.
That's beautiful.

Stanton btw Clinton & Attorney St

What I love about this one is that back tire. It was kinked but not fully bent and so covered in frost it looked crispy. The other two random tires are just bonus.

1st Ave btw 1st & 2nd St

Nothing like a stroll through the Easy Village and LES to restock the broken bike blog.

45th btw Lex & 3rd

45rd btw 8th & 9th

Somewhere in a lonely and loud downtown lounge, some hipster is crying in his redbull, mourning the loss of his sweet BMX bike with all the stickers of every garage band no one's ever heard of and no one probably every will. Hey my unshaven friend, here's the remnants of your BMX's former glorious existence.

50th St btw 7th Ave & Broadway

Who are you people that chain your bikes to trees and leave them there for weeks on end? And with a delivery-guy basket to boot? Do you really expect them to survive? Don't you see the carnage on every street? Am I the only person who really cares?
Quite possibly.

Hester btw Baxter & Mulberry

You don't see many broken bikes in Chinatown. I grab them when I do come across them. Though broke the tire, tube, and wheel are all still together.

45th btw 8th & 9th

Walking to work one morning, look at this, someone throwing away a perfectly good 1970's era 10-speed. Don't they know you can just chain it to a tree and it will slowly disappear piece by rusty piece?

43rd btw 8th & 9th

I was monitoring this bike for a while. I would walk by it a few times a week (since it's in my hood). It was chained to the tree for weeks, never touched by the mischievous bicycle part thieves. Then one day both tires were gone. Fantastic. It's like entropy in action!

Broadway & 13th

On the next corner a yellow frame basking in the afternoon sun.

Broadway btw 12th & 13th

A long lean shadow leading to the remnants of a tire and some rear forks. This baby must have been here a while.

My Life Is Complete

In all seriousness this should be the final post. This post should be the post that ends all posts.

Walking through the Helmsley pedestrian tunnel on Park Ave btw 45th & 46th, I saw this guy. He's casually stolling down the street carrying what is quite obviously a freshly torn-off-the-lock broken bike. I wanted to run up and ask him, did he pull that off on his own? Or was it already pulled off the lock? did he bother to detach the derailer or just yank it out by sheer force? Where are you going with this? How much do you expect to get in return for your efforts? Is there a broken bike chop shop that deals exclusively in broken bike goods? Is it lucrative? Do you make your living doing this or do you dabble in other broken goods?

I wanted to thank him for showing me that people do really, actually, make off with these bikes and bike parts.

But instead I got the money shot and just kept walking

9th St & 2nd Ave

double curb crunch. very nice.

15th btw 6th & 7th

a nice big round... wheel...


and a nice big missing... wheel

(nuts)

I can't remember where I took these shots. nuts. nice set up just can't remember where

43rd & 9th

I watched this baby degrade over a period weeks. Here it is after a couple of weeks of getting worked.

43rd St btw 8th & 9th

God Bless America, God Bless New York City, and God Bless Broken Bikes. LOOK AT THIS. Coupe de Grace!! The seat, front forks and tire of a motorcycle. I felt like I hit the jackpot. God Bless America and its enterprising thieves who will do crazy things like steal just parts of a bike or motorcycle and leave the rest for scraps.

Wall St btw William & Broad

The great thing about my job is that I get out and see a lot of this fine city... and see countless broken bikes all over the city. What I want to know is how someone manages to steal tires within one block of the NYSE--one of the most heavily guarded areas of New York City.

20th St btw 8th & 9th

stipped bare. save for that front tire.

Bayard & Elizabeth St

These are really sweet curb crunchers. Slipped right on the curb, run right over, bent right down.

34th St btw 2nd & 3rd Aves

47th St & 9th Ave

Allen & Delancy

West Houston & Allen

14th St. btw 8th & 9th Aves

a nice mangled tire


and a rusty wreck

17th St & Broadway

funny the things you find on your camera (complete with comments) after a good night out with the boys

Rivington btw Suffolk & Norfolk

up-turned handlebars. what purpose does that serve?


This is a beauty. Top on my list simply for the old metal chair with random junk next to it. A work of art right there on the street.

9th Ave btw 43rd & 44th

Just a flat, but unusual to see a delivery bike with a flat.

Houston & Essex

Tire slashing? I should check back next week to see if that seat is still attached, bet it'll be as good as gone.

2nd St btw 1st & 2nd Aves

At night in the East Village. Chained the tires together but the rest of this baby is gone. Who's the nutcase walking around stealing bike seats? Is the second hand market for bicycle seats really that lucrative? It must be at the rate they disappear in this town.

Ave A btw 12th & 13th St.

i can't tell where one ends and the other begins. i wonder how long these bikes sit here before they get stripped down. and is the market for hot bicycle tires/pedals/seats/handlebars/whatever really that lucrative?

12th St. btw Ave A & B

at first i thought this was part of someone's trash but upon closer inspection it looks like it had been on the street rusting for a few weeks. either way, it was mine for the shooting.

11th St. btw Ave A & B

if you don't chain it down, it's gone.

10th St. btw 1st & 2nd Aves

a beautiful bike with white walls and fenders fell victim to the curb crush


stripped and cleaned on the same street.

Baxter btw White & Walker St.

I hit the motherload

Six bikes chained to a tree. All in various states of disrepair and disassembly. For this I had to take out my good camera and take a few shots.

Lafayette & Canal

Still chained to the post, this girl's bike was pretty well cleaned out. These two tourists were wondering aloud why I was taking a picture of it. I just ignored them and went on my merry way

46th btw 8th & 9th

Walking to work in the morning. Probably a product of the night before. No tires, no lock, no seat, no nothing. This baby got worked.

The Beginning

This isn't actually the beginning since I have been taking pictures of broken bikes for the last few years. The problem has been with "serious" photography equipment, I don't take it with me everywhere I go and so I may come across an awesome broken bike but have no camera. Now with my handy-dandy little Zire71, I've got that resolved.


My thing with broken bikes is that they all have such personality. Each has its own unique flavor and intriguing story. I met a guy that did a whole photography art show in SF featuring his pictures of broken bikes. As for me and my blogs, this is nothing so spectacular. This is simple and speculative in nature.


One thing NYC has a lot of are broken bikes. Here begins my attempt to capture as many on digital film as possible.

Ludlow & Rivington

Walking to Paul's Boutique in the LES the lightbulb went off... broken bikes that i've been taking pictures of sporadically can now become a full-time obsession. becuase i don't have enough hobbies; i mean i only work 10-11 hours a day, go to kung fu 3 days a week, shoot occassionally for nyc2012, and have a girlfriend. yep, not enough to do. so here it is: a broken bike. a classic fell over, run over scenario.


the other corner of Ludlow, closer to Delancey was more interesting: a tangle of bikes, chains, parts, and who knows what else. how many bikes are in here? i'd love to see the progression of this over a few months. maybe i'll stop back... ... ... maybe