Oakland North

Scraper bikes and their loyal followers (including me) took to the streets of Oakland last weekend. Over 100 people (this is my own unscientific guess) got on bikes and joined the “Healin’ from Killin’” bike ride for peace. With 60 murders in Oakland so far this year, the scraper bike crew wanted to come out and ride against gun violence.

We met up at Lake Merritt, circled the lake and cruised up to Broadway, where Baby Champ (aka Da Scraper Bike King) led the masses in a group circle round and round the intersection. It felt like we had our own soundtrack because the whole time we were rollin’ music blasted out of different boom boxes hitched to scraper bikes.

“Yellow, green, orange with bling, scraper bikes is on the scene.” We then rode up Broadway through Mosswood Park and ended at DeFemery Park in West Oakland. The original scraper bike crew leapt on stage and immediately began rapping their hit song “Scraper Bike,” (I posted their video below).

The scene was seriously amazing—tons of people with bikes, all ages, all types of bikes. There was a moment of silence for Oscar Grant and then a contest for the most innovative scraper bike. The theme this year was food and drink, scraper riders decked out their bikes in all different styles: Funyuns, Big Mac, Cherry Pepsi. The winner, Starbucks, had a fake Starbucks Frappacino for his seat post (genius).

Here are some pictures I took:

Riding around the intersection on Broadway.

Not a scraper bike rider, but along for the ride.

Scraper bike riders start young.

Rollin' through West Oakland.

Now and Later and Funyuns.

Scraper bike equipped with a sound system.

Impromptu dance on the stage.

Winning Starbucks bike.