New Yorkers on Bikes: A photo gallery

— This story is from my recent trip to New York City. See more coverage here.

I’m still going through photos, videos and notes from my trip to New York City last week. Still to come, I’ve got a story about Oonee, a very interesting company that builds and deploys modular bike parking pods. I also want to share videos and photos of the bewildering array of bike infrastructure I experienced. I might also share a story about e-bikes and “deliveristas” that I got from the Vision Zero Conference.

But before I get to that, I wanted to introduce you to a few more of my favorite characters. You met some of them on my first post; but I photographed so many more in the following three days. Call me strange, or whatever else you want, but I’ve developed an undeniable love for documenting people riding bikes in different cities and cultures. I’ve done this for years, and it hasn’t gotten old (hence my use of the word “love”).

Photographing people on their bikes in New York City was an absolute joy. I hope you love enjoy these images as much as I do. I’ve numbered them to make it easier to refer to specific folks in the comments. I’ve shared the location and other thoughts when possible in the caption. (Note: This doesn’t include delivery riders because I plan to share those in a separate post.)

1.

I chased this kid and his crew many blocks to get this shot. And I was biking the wrong way on a sidewalk when I took this! W 125th and Frederick Douglass Blvd in Harlem.

2.

This guy was having trouble getting his bike rolling when I came across him on 3rd Avenue in Spanish Harlem.

3.

3rd Ave, East Harlem

4.

E 17th at Stuyvesant Square Park

5.

E 17th at Stuyvesant Square Park

6.

E 17th at Stuyvesant Square Park

7.

1st Ave and E 14th, Gramercy Park area (I think).

8.

Somewhere on the east side of Manhattan. Honestly cannot recall.

9.

I didn’t plan this, but the colors make me so happy (he was riding in the same crew as the kid above him).

10.


11.


12.


13.

E 14th Street near StuyTown

14.

E 14th Street near StuyTown.

15.

E 14th Street near StuyTown

16.

E 14th Street near StuyTown

17.

Barclay’s Center on Atlantic in Brooklyn.

18.

Hudson River Greenway. He’s trying to calm his dog down. It was barking like crazy!

19.

Hudson River Greenway

20.

Greenwich Village near Washington Square Park.

If you like these, check out more of them on this post. And stay tuned for my ode to delivery riders.

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, contact me 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 paying subscriber.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

8 Comments
oldest
newest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
BB
BB
1 year ago

Wonderful! Great shots.

TJ
TJ
1 year ago

Ty for taking such great pictures!

pierre delecto
pierre delecto
1 year ago

The e-bike with the two massive batteries and the guy sitting on the top-tube throttling his way through traffic while his friend sits on the saddle is wild. I absolutely @#$%ing welcome non-pedal vehicles in our bike micromobility lanes.

Lois Leveen
Lois Leveen
1 year ago

Did you decode the hidden message in this post?
Jonathan photographed folks across a huge geographical area encompassing two boroughs … thereby demonstrating how easy biking makes traveling significant swathes of the city, camera in hand, interacting with folks from different neighborhoods/communities.
(Admittedly, we only get a tiny bite of Brooklyn here. But still.)

Over the past decade or so, Bikeshare has become the primary way I travel around New York City when I’m there. It really exemplifies how efficient and joyous bicycling can be. Granted, the Bikeshare pencils out cheaper there than in Portland and has both conventional and ebike options, as I prefer the former. And also, bicycling there reminds me of the old commercial that ran to promote tourism decades ago … “I love New York. It makes my heart beat faster.”

pierre_delecto
pierre_delecto
1 year ago
Reply to  Lois Leveen

Did you decode the hidden message in this post?

It really exemplifies how efficient and joyous bicycling can be. 

Cycling is a boring, utilitarian, basic, and normal way to get from point A to B?

Charmaine Ruppolt
Charmaine Ruppolt
1 year ago

I love biking in NYC! It’s like a 3-ring circus all around you! Always something to look at. 🙂

Cathy Tuttle
1 year ago

My oh my, Jonathan, You ❤️ NY! Comes through in every photo.

And what a game changer a fully built out CitiBike share system has been, yes?

robert
robert
1 year ago

my friend who bumped into David Byrne before riding across the Brooklyn Bridge and chatting with him.

etsu