Biking beautiful in NYC: A photo essay

Amazing outfit - upper west side

The glasses, the bike, the outfit, the face. Love it all. (Seen on the Upper West Side.)
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

I’m working late on a Friday, I’m inspired by the Streets of Chrome photography exhibit I’m headed to tonight, and I hate to end the weekend on a serious note, so I figured I’d share a photo essay from my trip to New York City back in October. As many of you already know, I adored my time there. It was enthralling and inspirational.

I’ve shared a lot photos from that trip, but there are also quite a few that haven’t been on the Front Page yet. One of my fondest memories of the trip was simply observing New Yorkers in their natural habitat and watching street life unfold in front of me. The photos below are testament to the stylish, graceful, bold, diverse, and beautiful people of New York City. I hope love them as much as I do…

1
Broadway protected bike lane and plazas-15

2
NYC 9th Ave protected bike lane-5

3
NYC 9th Ave protected bike lane-7

4
Broadway protected bike lane and plazas-17

5
Clinton St at Delancey-3

6
Broadway protected bike lane and plazas-1

7
Brooklyn Bridge at night-2

8
Bikescapes nyc-24

9
Bikescapes nyc-23

10
Bikescapes nyc-22

11
Bikescapes nyc-18

12
Bikescapes nyc-12

13
Prospect Park-6

14
lowrider

15
Riding in the dark with Times Up

16
Two guys talking

17
Prospect Park-12

Doug Gordon of Brooklyn Spoke.
18
NYC Bike traffic-2

19
Bikescapes nyc-14

Have a great weekend.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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pixelgate
pixelgate
11 years ago

Now this is more like it! I’d do anything to afford living in NYC. The style and originality is 2nd to none.

Kristen
Kristen
11 years ago

Love it. I’m visiting NYC for the first time this fall, and I would love to take advantage of their bikeshare system to see what cycling in that city is like.

c. mark hadfield
11 years ago

beautiful, man. just beautiful.
mark
sitka, alaska

Chris I
Chris I
11 years ago

#3: There are no words.

Spiffy
11 years ago
Reply to  Chris I

I keep thinking he’s about to break into a musical dance number…

Sunny
Sunny
11 years ago

#19 reminds me of a life size Statue of Liberty replica I found turning off the Trolley Trail in Milwaukie. It wasn’t nearly the size of the original, but it must have been at least 4 stories high! Oddly, it was hiding in a parking lot behind some businesses.

Hart Noecker
11 years ago

I don’t get it, why aren’t they all wearing the exact same REI jackets?

Brian
Brian
11 years ago
Reply to  Hart Noecker

because manhattan just got its first rei last year. give it time. . .

patrickz
patrickz
11 years ago

Like a tune that keeps changing..Intrigued by the lady in #12.
Thanks for a beautiful show, Mr. M!

Gracie
Gracie
11 years ago

Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful photos.

mikeybikey
mikeybikey
11 years ago

Yes!

Rol
Rol
11 years ago

#10 = Allen Ginsberg, 1955
Or David Cross, 2005

Alan 1.0
Alan 1.0
11 years ago

#5: Color coordinated longboarder? Really?!

Chris I
Chris I
11 years ago
Reply to  Alan 1.0

There’s a lot of interesting things going on with #5.

Eric Hancock
11 years ago

Awesome — you were all over the city.

bunbun
bunbun
11 years ago

you can’t compare pictures of random people that caught Jonathan’s eye while on vacation in new york with pictures of people going to work at 7am in portland, which were all snapped at the same time/location. portland may not have new yorks style but portland does have style, it just doesn’t get up early or work downtown.

Paul in the 'couve
Paul in the 'couve
11 years ago
Reply to  bunbun

Also New York City is huge and their is MORE of everything in New York and it is triple strength concentrated in Lower Manhattan. It really is the classic “observational selection” bias / fallacy. For every outrageous and stylish cyclist in New York there are plenty of common cyclists. Now, New York is indeed more fashion conscious than PDX and people generally dress differently (?better?) and bright yellow in particular and bright colors in general are far less common on NYC streets. So on the one hand, the NYC pictures and observations shouldn’t be taken to discount that Bike Culture exists in PDX, but at the same time there is a legitimate recognition that a super sized REAL city with 100 times the density of PDX offers cultural expression in doses that PDX really doesn’t touch.

Another example is music and music stores. Just as there are great music venues in PDX and great music stores (guitar stores) but it doesn’t do any injustice to PDX to point out just how many awesome music venues can be accessed within a couple of miles in NYC and the absolutely spectacular music stores (guitar stores) of which I constantly seem to discover more examples.

New York City is “The Big Apple” for a reason…. PDX is a great place to live but it just doesn’t rival New York in any kind of Urban category.

JJ
JJ
11 years ago

#4 looks like a Super Hero!

John Landolfe
11 years ago

I like the mismatched wheel colors!

Al from PA
Al from PA
11 years ago

#18–Headed out to the Bike Crusades…

Anne Hawley
Anne Hawley
11 years ago

#15 looks strangely like she’s got a Mini-Me on the back rack.

Terrific set of images, Jonathan.

joel
11 years ago

love it- so much diversity. the skateboard, bicyclist is my favorite.

Stripes
Stripes
11 years ago

Stylin’. And sweet Jesus – not a frickin’ Dansko clog in sight ala Portland for once – Amen!