Tokyo, 4 June, /AJMEDIA/
Although it’s often associated with illegal activity, there’s still something romantic about casting off the shackles of society and feeling the wind through your hair as you tear across the country on two wheels… and riding a bicycle is kind of neat too, I guess.
Last week a gang of bike-a-doodles took to the famous Shibuya Scramble intersection to show off their rad bicycles and sick tricks like wheelies and more wheelies. About 10 riders in total went in circles around the intersection and interfered with both pedestrian and car traffic as they aimlessly weaved around everyone trying to go about their lives.
As if in defiance of the bicycle’s very definition of a two-wheeled vehicle, they continuously did wheelies as they ran red lights and took videos of each other doing even more wheelies. This followed a similar video posted on social media a few days earlier, showing a group of bike-a-doodles riding along Yasukuni-dori. You’re probably not going to believe this, but they were doing wheelies at the time too.
Online comments were mixed.
“They must be from out of town… way out of town.”
“They got all their friends together for a bike ride. How cute!”
“They’re a regular Team Rocket, those guys.”
“At least it’s not as noisy as motorcycles.”
“It’s funny because they can’t even afford motorbikes.”
“Modern depression-era bikers.”
“They couldn’t even get hand-me-down motorbikes from the older kids.”
“At least they’re giving us all something to laugh at.”
“This kind of thing should be out of your system by junior high.”
“Are they environmentally conscious bikers?”
“I wonder if they twist their hands on the handlebars and make ‘brrrrrrrrr’ sounds with their mouths.”
“Those poor kids. That’s so sad.”
Those people must not have seen the wheelies, because if they did, they’d be singing a different tune. Meanwhile, lawyer Koji Mizogami told media that actions on bicycles are also covered by the Road Traffic Act and points out that their reckless and disruptive behavior could result in fines as high as 500,000 yen or up to three months in prison, and all the wheelies in the world won’t get them out of that.
