God, I hate this.
According to a report from Koreatown311, a cyclist on Friday night’s LA Critical Mass ride has died as a result of a mass fall while riding through the UCLA campus.
Details are sketchy, but reports are a group of riders fell while going downhill on Charles E. Young Drive, leaving several riders injured; at least one suffering critical head injuries.
The only significant hill I know in that area would be the one leading down from the residence halls, past Drake Field.
LA Scanner reports that the victims were taken to Cedar Sinai as well as nearby UCLA hospital. Reportedly, no cars were involved, but there may have been an obstacle in the roadway.
Several reports have said that the victim was not wearing a helmet.
Koreatown311 reports the ride was halted following the collision at the order of the LAPD Incident Commander, with the riders sent back to the starting point at Western and Wilshire.
More details as they become available.
This is the 51st cycling fatality in Southern California this year, the 12th in Los Angeles County, and the third (correction: 4th) in the City of Los Angeles. It is also, to the best of my knowledge, the first to occur on the L.A. Critical Mass ride.
My heartfelt prayers for the victim and his or her family.
Update: A comment from Gina suggests that the police may have been at fault (Update: other witness reports contradict Gina’s statement, and suggest she may have seen a different wreck; see below).
I was there. The police caused the crash. The “obstacle” in the road was an unmarked police car, some wise-ass decided to slow the riders down by pulling out into the middle of the road and parking with one little nark-light on the hood. The family should sue the LAPD. The police need to leave LACM alone, it was fine before they started ‘escorting’ the ride.
More information on the Critical Mass Facebook page, including the name of the victim. However, I won’t post it on here until I know the net-of-kin have been notified. No one should ever find out a loved one has died by reading it here.
Update 2: In an inflammatory report, KNBC-4 has identified the victim as 18-year old Jerico Culata of Los Angeles, who is not the person who was named on the Facebook page in the link above. They place the location as Charles E. Young Drive and De Neve Drive, around 9:50 pm, which places it west of Drake Field, rather than north as I had guessed.
According to the report, Culata lost control of his bike on a downhill curve, and slammed into a masonry wall; despite Gina’s comment above, there is no mention of a police car involved.
A comment from Kryzstov adds additional information, saying Culata may have died instantly. He also clarifies Gina’s comment, suggesting she may have witnessed a different collision.
I witnessed the whole thing. He was right in front of me when he crashed and hit the wall. He unfortunately couldn’t stop because he was riding a fixie and we were coming down a steep hill. Myself and another cyclist were the first two to approach him to see if he was ok. The other cyclist turned him over from being on his stomach and it was clear that he had died instantly. Regarding the other two crashes, the police car that the boy hit was not unmarked and it was parked on the side of the road.
I know that road well, as it’s part of my regular ride when UCLA is out of session. There is a relatively steep downhill with a minor curve, combined with rough pavement in places; I usually have to brake in that section to control my speed.
Update 3: KTLA-5 reports that there may have been as few as 100 cyclists who ride through the UCLA campus, rather than the main group of around 2,500 riders who often participate in L.A. Critical Mass on a nice night.
Both the KNBC and a report from KCBS-2 contain an inappropriate reference about run-ins with the police during Critical Mass rides; while both reference a minor altercation that occurred on the San Diego ride, there is no suggestion that Culata’s death had anything to do with a confrontation between police and the riders. In fact, all indications are that the ride was peaceful from start to finish.
It should also be noted that solo falls like this are exactly what bike helmets were designed to protect against. Whether wearing one last night would have kept Culata alive, we’ll probably never know.
Update 4: According to Krystov, the main body of the Critical Mass ride went through the UCLA campus, rather than an offshoot, which would have put the number of riders at many times the 100 riders cited by KTLA.
And despite the inflammatory news reports linking Culata’s death with an incident on the San Diego Critical Mass ride, it turns out the screwdriver that injured the San Diego police officer was thrown from a balcony along the ride route, rather than by one of the riders.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Krumer urges anyone who witnessed Culata’s fall to contact police investigators.
It would be really great if those who stated that they witnessed the whole thing…please contact West Traffic Division and provide an official statement. 213-473-0220.
I was there. The police caused the crash. The “obstacle” in the road was an unmarked police car, some wise-ass decided to slow the riders down by pulling out into the middle of the road and parking with one little nark-light on the hood. The family should sue the LAPD. The police need to leave LACM alone, it was fine before they started ‘escorting’ the ride.
Thanks Gina. That puts it in a completely different light.
my family is so sad bout that, but we just hope that evrything will be a lesson to everybody. we aRE GOING TO MISS THE BOY!
p.s. A helmet would not have made a difference, a police car pulled into the road to slow the riders down. There really is no way to avoid a head injury when a car does something like that to a cyclist.
boy, you sure were wrong! Bias much??
Actually, a helmet saved my life in a high speed bike crash at 30 with a direct head impact are you sure this couldn’t have been prevented. Have you had a helmet save your life?
How exactly did you crash?
“p.s. A helmet would not have made a difference”
A helmet always makes the difference.
I agree! I never ride without one. Neither should you!
I haven’t ridden without one since 1986; 21 years later, it saved my life.
Bike helmets have their limitations; they are only designed to protect in impacts up to 12.5 mph, so they can be of little value in a high speed collision. But a solo collision like this is exactly what they were designed for.
A helmet makes a difference when it’s a low speed or stationary crash. It also causes rotational damage at normal riding speeds and up, so it makes a difference there as well.
To the best of my knowledge, there have been no creditable studies to support the theory that a well-fitted helmet can rotational damage.
Perhaps a motorcycle-style helmet. Bicycle helmets are more of a cap design though, as they don’t cover your entire head. Meaning that if you hit your head on any side other than the top, the helmet will hit the ground, and the remaining force will continue to move your head down, resulting in said rotational damage. This can be especially augmented in the event of a face first crash while wearing a helmet with a visor.
It’s. Not The cops fault. Cops are there to merely assist with the traffic.. The riders are inresponsible, they don’t wear helmets, they consume alcohol, and ride to close to each other. Everyone always wants to blame the cops. It’s a mid nite ride…. Trouble is out there… Tonite one found it…
Not wearing helmets, consuming alcohol, traveling too close together… Sounds like people riding the same way they drive.
I’m sorry to say this GINA but you are wrong to blame a police car with its lights ON thats trying to keep all other cars out of the way. I was there as well and the reason that all the riders crash is because they have NO BREAKS while riding Fix gear. know that a police woman tried her hardess to keep him alive by giving him CPR until paramedics arrived.Please don’t make anyone a bad guy and send your condolences to the family of the rider that just passed away.
yes, they did try to revive him but unfortunately they couldn’t save my cousin. The damage of the impact was too severe. Thank u and please keep our family in ur prayers especially his mom.
any details on funeral let me know. i was at the end of the trail when that happened. a girl rider almost knocked down my sister on the downhill too..
I’ve never felt that the police have any vendetta against the bicyclists. Quite to the contrary, they have always been helpful with directing me to “the mass” if I take time out to help a broken down bicyclist along the way.
where was the position of the vehicle? can it be confirmed that all the cyclist that crashed were riding fixed without breaks? could any of them not maneuver in time due to inability or position of vehicle.
Also, everyone is a bit quick to defend the police. i hope that many of you saw the event happen.
i am not defending the riders either. i can’t. i wasn’t there. i have seen my share of police behaving badly to not be so ready to be on their side either.
Remove this, you and koreatown311 have no idea what you’re talking about, no is dead. We continued all the way to Sunset/Western where we end every month.
No. As a matter of fact it is true bcuz my cousin is dead.
Koreatown311 may be right this time about the fatality, but even a broken clock is right twice a day.
That account is run by Venice311 aka Alex Thompson, a convicted felon who somehow transformed herself into an LAPD cheerleader for Pacific Division.
Her only local contact appears to be Michael Russell, who is a close affiliate of LAPD Olympic Division… If you have any questions about why a “crime-fighting” Twitter account run by a career criminal is being retweeted by @LAPDOlympic, ask senior lead officer Joe Pelayo.
Hope this provides some context as to where the initial report about this fatality emanated from.
Condolences to the family, friends and the biking community. Hope the truth is sorted out and that justice is served.
Please, everyone, let’s wait until we have more information before we start pointing fingers & assigning blame. Whether an obstruction was deliberately created in order to wreak havoc on the otherwise steady flow of riders or if it was a freak chain of events, people were seriously injured & one may have died. Brakeless or helmetless be damned, blaming the rider without the full facts of the incident is both heartless & infantile. I sincerely hope that a thorough investigation will soon be in the works — an investigation as rigorous as if it were a vehicular or pedestrian incident. Lastly, if a police officer deliberately created an obstacle, then Police Chief Charlie Beck is gonna have his hands full. It’s a helluva week for bad PR for the LAPD this week as it is.
This completely heartbreaking tragedy is compounded by the inevitable rush to assign blame without the facts. I would much rather see katiepoche’s comment added to the body of the post rather than the inflammatory conclusions Gina has drawn.
You’re right, of course. I was trying to stay on top of a breaking story before getting to bed, and Gina’s comment was the first report from the scene. As it turned out, she was either incorrect, or saw a different wreck.
Thank you.
Investigation is happening right now and unfortunately my little cousin lost his life due to whatever cause. we’re staying strong especially for my aunt and uncle and his little brother. he was a great kid and he will truly be missed.
Praying and sending our thoughts to the family. Nuqui-Asistores family in Chicago
The Law Enforcement Agency for UCLA property (which Charles E. Young Drive is entirely located upon) is the University of California Police. LAPD *may* have nothing to do with this as it technically did not take place in their jurisdiction.
thanks katie, your post made a lot of sense to me.
I wasn’t there, and I’m not assigning any blame, but I’m wondering if the police car involved could have been UCPD since it was on-campus. Any confirmation that this was LAPD involved?
My heart goes out to the families and friends of the victim.
If someone died, condolences…
I did just want to inform the crowd of the truth about the Koreatown 311 “group” and what “they” actually have been doing, which is quite nefarious.
It is run by the same convicted felon who is running the Venice 311 account, which has been accused of hyping things up, even of posting fake updates among the police scanner updates to cover up for professional con artist Alex Thompson, her friends in the media, and her LAPD partners.
Trust me, we would love to not HAVE to escort this evening of lawlessness. Hopefully, this tragedy will signal the end of dedicating dept. resources to these riders.
And FYI, the main body of the escorting police force were told not to enter the UCLA campus. If there was a police black and white on the campus, it belongs to UCLA PD.
Gina, get your facts straight score you insert your foot into your mouth again.
I have excellent news for Hendoe1: “We” don’t HAVE to escort Critical Mass, any more than “we” HAVE to fire less-lethal rounds into crowds of civilians when some of them are chalking a sidewalk. “We” choose to do these things; “we” have previously chosen not to do them; and “we” could choose to resume not doing them.
Rank and file cops assigned to escort duty of critical mass rides are MANDATED to provide this service. We are required to be there, under duress. The resources allocated to this event could be better served, oh I don’t know, fighting actual crime as opposed to putting the general motoring public at risk. But fear not. As long you have city leadership and a command structure of the LAPD that would rather cater to the public as opposed to police it, you may all carry on. You are all evidently entitled to break whatever laws you want.
why u mad tho. its a once a month event. you’re still getting paid so why bitch about it. its hero’s like you that mess events like this up. if you don’t want to be there then you’ll obviously be in a bad mood the whole night and just end up trying to be all hard on some punks running around on bikes. let them be. all those bikes came from somewhere. they were not free. we paid the tax on them at least once on retail. so why cant we have a bit of our own money back and get a safe ride around town once a month? cops shouldn’t get blamed on this anyway. its the lack on breaks that cause accidents. sadly. my sincere condolences.
Although I don’t live in LA anymore, I did ride Critical Mass with the police escort many times. I loved the police escort and apppreciated the opportunity to get to know the officers and build a sense of community with them. If you think that building community amongst the PD and the citizens is useless, then I think you need to reconsider the real purpose of your work. When you can build trust with the community this way, it will HELP you in fighting crime.
Hendoe1, … My fairly obvious point was that “city leadership and [the] command structure of the LAPD” can choose whether or not to police heavy-handedly, have chosen to do so, and could choose not to do so.
Lets keep this conversation polite and respectful, okay? Say whatever you want, but keep the insults out of it.
I don’t feel insulted at all. To my knowledge no one has crossed a line. I will remain anonymous. But I am one of many of the motorcycle officers constantly assigned this detail. My own personal feelings are, I could care less about this ride. You wanna promote bike awareness and safety. I say more power to you. But are these rides really safe? Most of us would say know. I have had co-workers run into by a cyclist or two. If you think being in a bicycle wreck blows, try picking a 700 pound bike off of yourself. Now, we will be courteous to you. Some, because the department says we shall. Most because we were raised that way. But if I’m tellin ya to stay to the right. It’s not because I’m tryin to be a prick. It’s to keep you from gettin run over by one of my brothers on the bike that could care less if you go down.
Hendoe, you should review the LAPD moto and mission statement. To protect and to serve.
Sure, bikinginla, I’ll keep the conversation polite and respectful. And I’ll start by asking you as politely and respectfully as I can why Hendoe1’s impolite and disrespectful comments (to others, not to me) have been allowed to stand, unedited and unrebuked, for a day and a half now? Do LAPD officers have the same exemption from following rules on this blog that they have on the streets?
“So does that mean “Gina” was talking/ typing outta her backside? Probably.” –Hendoe1
“Gina, get your facts straight score you insert your foot into your mouth again.” –Hendoe1
It’s been three days since these not-very-polite, not-very-respectful comments were posted, and you’ve done nothing to remove them or rebuke the police officer who wrote them.
Again: why are some people on this blog “entitled to [their] opinion,” as you put it, and evidently entitled to express them as disrespectully as they please, and others not?
While the things you note may not be polite, none of them rise to the level of a personal attack or a threat against anyone else, or a lack of respect for the victim, which is the standard I use to edit or remove remarks on here.
While I may urge everyone to keep it polite, I don’t remove remarks unless I think they have crossed the line. And please note the word “I” in that statement.
Same rules for everyone. But frankly, I suspect you’re far less offended by his words than the fact that you disagree with him.
PC, Hendoe1 expresses an attitude that is common among police officers, and not entirely without merit. Whether or not you agree with him, he is entitled to his opinion just as you are yours. He had made no personal attacks against anyone, nor has he threatened anyone.
Personally, I would much rather have the officers assigned to Critical Mass out on the streets arresting hit-and-run drivers, and stopping drunk and distracted motorists before they kill one of us.
I never claimed to be offended by Hendoe1’s words. I’m offended by your blatant double standard–cops don’t have to be polite or respectful, the rest of us do or our posts are censored or deleted. I would hope that your own recent brush with censorship might make you rethink that.
Bullshit.
As I have repeatedly pointed out, the only comments that get edited or removed included threats or personal attacks, or show blatant disrespect to the dead. Everyone else — and yes, I do mean everyone, even you — is free to say what they want.
While I often encourage people to be polite, I have never — never — removed a comment unless it crossed that line.
For instance, you have repeatedly insulted me by accusing me of a non-existent double standard, yet I have not made a single attempt to edit or remove anything you’ve said.
I witnessed the whole thing. He was right in front of me when he crashed and hit the wall. He unfortunately couldn’t stop because he was riding a fixie and we were coming down a steep hill. Myself and another cyclist were the first two to approach him to see if he was ok. The other cyclist turned him over from being on his stomach and it was clear that he had died instantly. Regarding the other two crashes, the police car that the boy hit was not unmarked and it was parked on the side of the road.
So does that mean “Gina” was talking/ typing outta her backside? Probably.
Yes.
… I feel bad for the kid and his family, but that should hopefully teach these new generation of … fixie … bike riders a tough and valuable lesson. RIDE BIKES WITH BRAKES. Fixie bikes are a stupid trend especially since they don’t have brakes and you have to rely on muscling the pedals backwards to force the rear wheel to slow down. Not a bike for the un-experienced rider, especially on a high speed ride with hundreds of other riders. Major chance to loose control of your bike.
Apple Jax, you make a valid point, but there has been nothing at this point to say the victim was riding brakeless. Let’s please try not to get ahead of the facts.
And I am editing some of the more inflammatory segments of your comment; please show some respect for the dead.
I have to second this – and also, wear helmets. I almost died due to not wearing a helmet and getting doored. Gears and brakes are not uncool. Riding slow is not uncool. Self preservation is a good thing. The original SF Mass rode slow and pretty safe, for political reasons.
Here’s the info on the guy that died lastnight during the event. We saw him. When the police got to him, he sat up and we thought he was ok, but I guess his internal injuries were bad. Wearing a helmet next time. I wish his family all the best, sorry for thier loss. http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Bicyclist-Dies-Westwood-Critical-Mass-168255356.html?fullSite=y
You may have seen another victim; there were several people injured, and reports are that there may have been more than one collision.
The victim in this case, Jerico Culata, suffered major head injuries, rather than internal injuries, so he was unlikely to be the person you saw.
Let’s give thanks that only one person was seriously injured last night; from the sounds of it, it could have been far worse.
RIP my fellow rida I hope your family will pull through this. My thought are with them.
Lets hope this is the end of the guiding tour of LACM.
If the LAPD and the idiots that “guide” the mass around doesn’t get sued, I’ll be amazed!
Check your facts Allen. The LAPD didn’t cause this tragic accident and are therefore not liable.
Maybe they didn’t cause it. You don’t know either way.
They did help lead it, therefor they could be negligible.
And it’s A-l-l-a-n
It could be Alien for all I care. LAPD does not lead these rides. We just try and make sure these youngsters are not taken out by vehicles.
From what I can infer from the limited information available, it would appear that this group may have been an offshoot of the main body of riders, and as such, may not have been escorted by the LAPD. Most likely, any police cruiser that might have been onsite would have been UC police.
Whether you like or hate the idea of LAPD escorting Critical Mass, they are unlikely to bear any responsibility for this tragedy.
For what it’s worth, he crashed right in front of me (as did the other two) and it wasn’t an offshoot. The main group all came through this area.
And you could be Hoedoe1 for all I care. We’ll see if the LAPD and the yahoos that “control” the ride will be held up for trial. From my experience it’s planned that these said yahoos and the LAPD scheme on where to take this ride.
This maybe the death of the LAPD participating too.
(My apologizes to the family of Jerico’s for the above reference.)
The LAPD is there for a variety of reasons but in part to protect people who drive from there own behavior. As I mentioned I’ve been hit before by a drug addled but still lethal assailant when the cops finally respond too late and only distract and then ‘protect’ the resisting arrest bastards. In the recent attack noted here where driver chased his ‘prey’ onto a ‘gulf’ lawn he didn’t manage to disable the car and such is nonviolence but also as it is rarely practiced. Although the necessary ‘kit’ now includes a paintball gun and some of them have a ‘clip’ sufficient to cover quickly an entire windshield that’s not necessary. The law allows someone in such pursuit to be resisted with lethal force- one bullet through the glass. In some states doubt is not sufficient that it might not be cop- anymore, although this has not been taken all the way up I don’t think as it was settled law for a long time that such dought is more then sufficient to evade and is probably still the case in CA or never was. Let’s face it though- not only are entire roads given to people wasting energy exclusively driving four passenger vehicles empty of any passengers beyodn the driver but almost no roads are given to us- and when they arethey are always inferior with rare the exception of even an overpass in part because the law requires sufficient space to pass a wheelchair etc. when bikes require only a tiny fraction of that cost to be safely accomidatd as LA’s manual notes for stairs -an inch or two for the wheels is sufficient- ironic- that to be accomidated the otehr users have to have steps- lest the motor industry claim that only robots are good enough to load those unable towalk on bus’s.
Cars are not necessarally not bikes. What generally makes a carversus a bike is there lethality and global impact. IMpact includes the ‘tied up’ capital as that more then anything impacts scale.
I was once very young and even more nieve (impoverished) when it comes to what bike shops peddle. It’s not road worthy- and back then i was frustrated about being told I d idn’t want the incredible not just criminally obsceneely overpriiced ultralight time trial bikes. That they would not be useful around town. Now I agree except that almost nothing sold is very useful. This includes tires that go flat, lights that don’t illuminate shit in the road sufficient, axlles and bearings that require expensive maintenance, uncomfortable seats with insufficient suspensions to compensate for our achiles tendons not buffering rough terrain sufficient for our vertabrae,essentially almost everyting that is sold domestically.
Now that I’m old enough to drink, and lead, I’m attempting to do that. My time is valuable- when I was a kid it had takers at several times the typical western civ adult, not just ‘american’ professional. IJ don’t have the time to spell check-even though i used to spend a buck a word of cpu time doing that for larks. FUrther I don’t believee in standardised spelling as it’s clearly a mutation in written language nowo being evolved back away from with inferior forms like speech and video and littel analog iconagraphy around except from madision avenue of coruse.
Don’t be so careful what you ask for. SOme knew the man- and genuinely want to know what they can do. They can get arrested howver many times operating a decent bike. It does not cost thosunds of dollars. You buy a lithium starting battery- put a motoor in, use other then mere ‘nailing jelly to a tree’ techniques to protect your rims,and your off.
Native Americaans used to take beatigns for there rights- over and over tghey ponied up to get beaten ‘by the man.’ and evenutally they overcame at least in part- we can as well.
Dare go 21 mph without a license or sweat. Serve the time- the most eledgibled among uswill bewaiting for your release with hugsand more and we will save this planet or die no sooner – in general, and that’s what heroism is- by failing.
Looks like there’s a pic of Jerico at, looks like his fb page,
http://www.facebook.com/soulfuresh
Its the victims fault and he wasn’t Wearing a helmet. The victim should of known the risk he took by riding Brakeless.
We don’t know yet how or why this tragedy occurred. And while there has been much speculation that he was riding a brakeless fixed gear, that has not been confirmed.
Did he have a helmet,lights front and back? These items make a huge difference. Again its sad someone young died but its not a huge surprise. Events like this keep happening. The police are not to blame all the time. Safety and proper individual Responsibility is something all cyclists should know.
I’m sure the riding community is already on this, but just in case we should help in any way possible to give a hand to the victims family and show the family why this boy loved the bike scene so much.
I have just learned about this and read down to the point in hte comments where page down stopped working and from then on read much but not every word yet- I assure everyone I will read every word here soon- this weekend, No matter what, and with comprehension and probably won’t post more then one followup comment beyond this this weekend and finally that right now I have a lot on my plate but realise that many of our youth will not pay attention to anything here if they have already not already tuned out.
The facts are well enough known by me- a bicyclist died from the greed and unaccountablity of local and night peddlers of insane technology that serves only to pad there pockets iwth unearned profits.
Iwould not lie to you.
As scientist, as a lifetime bicyclist, as someone who has owned cars but never used them, as someone who would of risked my life to cushion the guys impact had I been there, as someone who has been on this monthly ride countless times, IN la, and has noted the heavy youth not just ‘police’ presence, who was suspected by the 20 somethings of being undercover in fact, I care only about reducing hte casualties and not at all about hurting however well intentioned (and commensurately ignorant) our car servering evil doing dealers.
It is simple.
Many of you ride bikes that have been in use for decades. They are made of steel pipe that is inexpensively extruded, expeditiouisly welded, and equiped in many cases with brakes that use the riders weight and inertia to lock as there tires traction exceeds the potential force even that can exert.
ALmosot all the critical mass riders though have used there own abilities and knowledge to afford wheels with often only part time low paidi income and routinely supporting themselves completely while attneding schoool and as most know raising not just payinghte bills of younger siblings even tuition with little or no public aid.
I.E. much like the typical car buyer before a man named Nader who has been successful in gettin gon the b allot in many states for president of of all our states obtained the protection of congrssional committee’s long enough to have his understanding of the facts be reflected in law- so what would of been impossible to afford as a buyer of a car became required and as obviously insignificant in cost as a seat belt.
He was though and is now incompetent tothe lareger question ofo sane vehicle choice. IN his defense he would say “if your evil enough to want aq car then it would if you knew what your buying at all have no lack of this, and that, etc.” but the problem is in the urban case, in the case of hte 99% of us, it is the energy consumed to obtain this illusion of safety that instead kills and not just people but the planet. With it’s ash go our bodies- when we put the nozzzle in the tank it is exactly as though we spray it from KKK sheets onto the reservations of blue collar workers in our society even and when we turn the key we light the match.
So we respond by dropping into the basement of -if its’ still inthe basement, some ‘fixie’ for what seems to work. It’s fast, it’s not a paini literally topeddle if we are not going far and not fearing never having ai chance to buy one for our futureu children, and it comes in appealing tire colors and su9ch.
It is however a death trap that the motor industry exercises great glee in seeing as it’s competition. As eve nwalmart gets into this act, braggin about fat aluminum dictator labor welded ‘bikes’ that econsmist note are better ‘values’ then ever, some of us who are elders have little venue to help. This is my venue.
Ampedbikes is about to release a low wattage hub motor like that otherwise available only offshore from one ofthe greatest makers of bikes for probably under ONE percent of it’s cost. Local dealers have suppressed all speech on what a power assist does to the systems engineering of a bike. It enables safety- real safety, without having to travel slwoer like this blogger notes or whoever noted Denmark enjoys.
And lets’ be clear. IF seat belets had not beeen mandated the mircal of friction welding that allows for air bags, of using internal combustion for someting actually useful, for perhaps the first time ever, would of never been engineered. But instead for more money they want ot sell us a 600 lumen dim bulb with a profti margin near 99%. A margin ten times as much in dollars as any decent businessmen would charge. It is that monstously evil markup that makes almost all of us lack even that when at dx you can buy several timeis as much light for a small fraction- oveoro a thousand real lumens for under 50 bucks yes including hte charger and ‘lithium’ battery etc.
I do not advise it though.
We need honorable dealers.
Like those in NYC who sell illegal electric bikes- any bike htere is illegal. Any modern one.
THe modern bike, again, is one that remains safe and usable for transportation.As our cities demolish movie theaters to prevent them from being useed as venues for teen bands able ot project htere insights to tteens far and wide it is almost impossible to get any truth postged on facebook even on one’s ‘own’ page. TH AI there simply says “we can not post this”. I”m not kidding.
As the old rag for bastards too fat to use regular toilet(check therestroom in any exchange) frequently notes Zuckerberg has to go if he’s not going to concern himself more exclusively with wooing GMC’s account. He needs ot do what MYspace did, what ‘collegeclub’ did… get all the sexual health information off the sight, removed all wicki content, turn it back into an idiot box like Amazon is goioong to be giving away for free this christmasss.
Real bikes exist. People desiging htem are being exectued and thereh organs harvested in Korea and/or China I assure you. YO Ucan buy a lithium nanophosphate battery and conceal it in an ordinary high school backpack (why do you think htey are trying ot stop us from having opaque or sufficeint volume to carry at textbook but instead haul lithium supply depleting for no good reason ‘pads’ around? why does the tampon make competing girls dissappear fromthe sides of handsom hunks on the same idiot box of yesteryear htis monring on MTV’s retrotv (the hills.. 2008, showing FIDM etc. scenes close to my heart having had the honor of holding my girlfriend while she shed tears after a date ‘roofie’ toter raped her and we couldn’t find any counseling despite living in a city for more then an hour trying that got mnay of htere rare male students to perk up there ears and linger around it being even better then the fodder on mtv mobile ).. hte ame reason obviously.. madison avenue cars not about utitily anyomr hten those small business of there time that an old god of thought De Sade wrote about. BIkeporn is fixie. Is is hte airmattress in the back of hte windowless van.
It works to go fast like ice skaktes did when I was in elementary schooool. It tempts even hot twenty somethigns like a neighbor In DTLA who recently calle dme after finding herself drunk again and wanting todust hers off and ya know if you don’t rid eeven every month or so you do need ot put more air in- the pressure being so hight in it’s tubes.
Iused to believe in reducing breaking AND acceleration capacity. I used to watcht the olympics differnetly too- but now when I see an insane metal chain I don’t blame it’s maker- Iblame the dealer swho dare sell it instead of kevlar belts bringing hter ecost of owning to much less then heavy metal however clean hte greease sold at ten bucks a four ounce bottle iwth it’s wendy’s like 1900’s snake oil labeling.
Los Angeles has embraced fixie style bikes, unbatteried, poorly braked, nonexistently accelerating, crap, for it’s ‘sharing’ program. Making it necessary for anyone with someplace ot go and not six bucks an hour to spend need to own AND procure there own.
After all- how could they afford to give away the free parking to the nazi’s behind bike natioin if they put out of business the chinese electrici BATTEWRY transit purveryors who kick back millions ot politctions who waste billions on that gimmick instead ofwhat san Franciso has had inther emuni system- rubber tired buses that having literrally fishing poles on top ot catch al lthe electrons they need winhtout needing more then a few blocks worht of lithium ot make the cost of the wires NEGLIGIBLE!
DOn’t trust ANYOEN over 30. THey considered your friend expendable and will have you worse then sucking them off when they have even you blaming hte deceased any iota. He was innocent. HIs death was deliberately imposed to delay the extincitoni of cars at hte expense of white phophoro being dumped lit on yhour peers a few seconds away on hte web. I can’t tell you ot lynch the Mayor not just because I believe fully in nonviolence- rather I can say find out howmany days you have to wait until yo ucan be mayor and pick someone your age to relieve the evil doers of that seats ‘power’ RIGHT NOW. BEFORE THE SUN SETS FOR THE FIRST TIME WIHTOUT YOURO FRIEDND NOMINATE A PEER TO LEAD US INTO WHAT REMAINS OF THIS MILLENIUM IN WAYS THat won’t have hte next consider the likes of ‘even’ him expendable.
Did anyone understand what this guy was saying?
I have read what I wrote many times and do understand and did before I wrote it. I wanted to respond to the notion that you can somehow other then shamefully cover your cranium, pad your skull, broadcast an irrational message, in any ride the purpose of which according to it’s escorts even or merely, is advocacy.
Advocacy for ‘bikes.’ By bikes we all mean different things- but not even the word is “pedal moble’s”. Any car dealer though serves his own interest putting us in segregated and unequal lanes, lines his pockets calling us ‘human’ powered, enjoyed madison avenue’s multiinterests in mocking what ‘humans’ do as it shows they paying off a roof rack owner who destroys his ‘bikes’ by forgetting his garage is not tall enough to park them on top even if evil roads and bridges allow that. (I have previously noted that we spend far too much having bridges be taller then necessary and frankly most bridges are for individuals so should not be tall enough for other then recumbent bikes which need such a kick to be more widely tried and by lowering the maxium height of vehicles used by individuals they would not need to carry flags any longer nor cost more then a hundred bucks for a decent one nor enjoy there cult following which might very well even lead the ‘deviant’ aspect to our movement instead of taking as it’s first principle mainstreaming)
A man has died. Some are frustrated to have to read more then a few seconds before typing frivolity again themselves. The purported cop joins me in typing “know” instead of “NO” in haste and waste. We all ignore too much that los angeles is buying electric bikes for it’s ‘swat’ teams not wanting to piss off carf dealers too much but needing them to bad to nothave them in there arsenal.
WHen you put a lithium ions batteries innards in a blender a bit you change it’s taste- it digests differently, and we have a word for that “power.” Power as in the thump you get when you put extra altenators in a car to pump tunes etc. out with massive electric magnets attached to plungers connected to our bodies by air and the drums in our ears. Power. As is Sea, AIr or Land. Specifically at 12 volts now 1200 amps for a ‘car’ battery replacement. Or 15,000 additional watts available to your wheels if you pop one of those light weight babies into your backpack and conceal the motor in a olympian like solid disc wheel. Lance never came even close to a single thousand watts over any of us of course. But we all act like it’s not a bargain to spend a quarter grand on such a team of horses to blow anyone in any car away at the intersection. Fixies without brakes are dueto the lame power any peddle powered fetishistic indigenous ‘tool’ out there lacks- without power,who needs abrake? Seriously- only the grfoup ridewith it’s revelations of what’s going on outthre can distract us on a hill say into leaving too soon. Blaminganyone for not wearing a helmet is like asking a lemming why they paused to smell a rose.
I believe in class actions. We have the convenience of knowing who the defendents are- of even knowing how many miles they have perpetrated in registration and insurance records. It’s so time to bring litigation tocompensate us for asthma and even this riders death against those who own and operate ‘auto’ moble’s. becaust itis in there ‘automatic’ operation that we have poisoned our air and destroyed in fact our very biosphere worldwide. If only one decent lawyer lived in our county willing to make this man’s estate be the lead plaintiff…..
I mean it. When I say deliberate I mean knowing and benefiting. To ‘run’ a car ‘lot’ is to know, to need to know, to be as guilty as presuming they know of the pure so pure so rarefiedly pure evil of it’s merchandising. It is not very sunny in San Franciso butthat does not excuse them not evangelising there MUNI systme before it was too late adn ithas been now fora decade nearly, again. Some hope ina four bus per thousand souls moved upstart exists- redeeming the nation that gave us Adolf, or rather set the precedent for what Mecedes can’t wash away with Led’s on it’s ‘zero’ (car likeness) million dollar contraption.
The boy was my friend. I do not take his death lightly. Anyone selling cars should be imprisoned till years without another manslaughter go by. Perhaps a short amenesty for any willing to plow up there asphault and provide space to visit the coffins of those we’ve lost just this quarter is indicated, but first come first serve only, they have MANY MANY MANY TIMES more land that even giving an acre to each slain would require. The rest of them can share a ‘dorm’, ten to a ‘room’, take turns on one toilet per hundred with the water only on once an hour orso toflush once, except perhaps first tihng in the moring hten we’ll gtive them a bonus flush, no charge.
I now ask another pertinent question: What in the world does any of this have to do with the crash at Cop Mass?
I don’t want to set Karl off at all. But I think a recurring theme is “cars are bad-bikes are good”. Whatever the case, he does not use spell check.
Hey Karl,
“Mind if I play through?” – Caddyshack
My account from the top of the hill…
It was a welcome relief after the long climb. It was steeper than I expected and required plenty of braking. I could smell the burnt rubber in the air from the bikes in front. I assumed it was from fixies. There was a mix of people going too slowly, reasonably, and trying to bomb the hill. Want to note that I was in the first third of the pack, so I did not witness the crash. The road was pretty narrow and there was some construction going on. We were squeezed at a couple of pint because of this.
This was my first ride. I read up on the ride ahead of time. The la mass site says bikes should have at least one brake. I saw some bikes with one brake.
Condolences to the family.
It would be really great if those who stated that they witnessed the whole thing…please contact West Traffic Division and provide an official statement. 213-473-0220.
I did this ride and it was great from start to finish. I did not witness the accident, but I read up on LA Critical Mass. It is the only group ride that specifically states, “bikes should have a least one brake” , it also strongly suggests wearing a helmet. This ride is huge and attracts various riders of different skill levels. The police presence is welcome since they block car traffic, which in my opinion is most dangerous aspect of riding on the road. I am deeply saddened by the death of a bicyclist. I read on Facebook that he was an avid and passionate cyclist. This was a tragic accident, but statistically speaking you are more likely to die driving a car or even being a pedestrian. If anything, we should view this tragedy as a wake up call for all cyclists to ensure their safety. Ride with brakes, use a helmet and exert caution when riding on the roads. With the popularity of cycling increasing in Los Angeles to extraordinary levels, it is important that car drivers and the public at large is made aware that bicycles are now an integral part of the road traffic. They are not going away. If anything we should praise the life of this young man who rode his bike proudly and happily, and in his memory insure that all bicycle riders are allowed a safe and enjoyable ride on the road.
Right personal vehicles in the form of contained and not bikes and trikes but otherwise always ultralights or inexpensive treading lightly energy and pollution wise are here to stay. But cars as we know them are not- and to help push them over the cliff this months ride, the real one,will start at midnight, and be no shirts allowed nor helmets. Location to be announced and special out of State organisers and attendee’s obvious but anyone is invited.
We will bare our flesh and expose our noggins to not forget those who are gone for being considered expendable by the powers to be of yesterday so we can have a new regime where all are created equal once again and finally getting actual protection from law not plastic in theory only merely.
The real war is against oil and he was drafted as fodder- I enlist and am no kamikaze but will welcome prisoners needing pennance especially to join us. Step out of your car- pick up a bike nation and leave your shirt at home it’ll be a warm night even at the end of this month. Frankly rain won’t hurt us the trip will be short solemn and silent. Bring sunglasses if your sensitive to flashes I promise you won’t get burned.
Witnesses i hope you please come forward. Everyone else…shut up!
Jaywalker, please don’t come on my site and tell other people to shut up. I allow anyone to comment on here as long as they don’t threaten others or make personal attacks, and it is important that people have a chance to grieve and discuss what happened.
You are free to moderate discussion on your own site; please allow me to moderate it on mine.
Sad and unfortunate. But ultimately, you are responsible for your own safety, including where and when you ride your bike.
I would explicitly ask that Ralph Nader join this discussion now as I’m sure he has heard Mr. Oishi’s lament for some half a century now- it is familiar to anyone who cars about public health- from transfat to ‘haze’ efforts now getting a bunch of blowhards who can barely read the remarks others have prepared for them into the public record. This video had the lights on incredibly bright except for the tables that had the listeners and like a miracle they tuurned off and the motorised blinds opened eventually to let the remaining sunlight in and it was a breath of freshness and then much later when they figured how to turn the lights back on after the sun had actually set the EPA could be seen- could be seen finally and the stunt with the french fries brings us back to our deceased adult who will not get his Christmass gifts and will not be happy to have us consider a renewed awarness of just how lethal it can be out there. WE already knew that.
INformed consent is a wonderful thing. Everyoen is calling in saying they are energy voters- not realising that the saviings there ‘leaders’ are saying they’ll suffer without amount to less then one fast food meal a year. As with seatbelts, air bags, even daytime running lights, they are insignificant. People die everyday because the cost- the too often pennies not nickels or dimes per bike is out of the pockeet of the facgtory which is still likethe farmer when it comes to most bikes bought.
AONE every time I request literature sends me a broken link that I have to find the time to debug.Well first and last time they did that is.. and in ther ewhite papers you can find gems- like to GM “battery contains a ten dollar part you won’t have to source elsewhere!”. Yes, to a car maker saving ten bucks is a big deal.
It’s gravy.
When someone dies guess what that costs them per car sold? Typically? Squat. NOthing. NOt one penny. IN fact the kids end up getting pregnent so they end up selling more cars. For many car makers if the tragic fatalities ended they woudl in not just having to live without replacement business from insurers totaling thereh ware have to sell so much fewer cars as peopel woudl not be in grief buying and impregnatiing children they don’t really want and can’t be best for.
This is why young men die on wheels legally sold while laws in CHINA and NYC and even here prevent bikes that because they can help ANYONE get to and from work so much faster cost omuch mucch less to own and also don’t kill the owner.
This is small detail I realise. But those who think it’sb about breaks have it wrong. I’m sorry- this is not personal to yoru stupidity or lack of it. Bikes canb e made dangerous. My hometown has dealers that have time trial bikes leering inf the front doors path. BIkes they’ll sell to anyone with over ten grand to drop- that way nothing, that are basically useless.
FIxies are very expensive of course. Onl yif you count the cost of death- but I do, and you should as well. They are not being used as toys but rather tools and are unfit for that purpose. As are the rental bikes we are closer an dcloser to being stuck with not just for a decade- sayign amere decade is like saying you’ll smoke just until you leave home. AONE also sells it’s batteries to BMW etc. just like RJR reynolds gives packs of cigarettes to anyone with a mailing address willing ot claim there adults.
IT’s not adddicted to speed that we are- but to “four passenger or more” demented creations that deny almost never do they carry more then two.Almost never.
California thinks it’s a good idea to give anyoen able to run three school buses on batteries a quarter million off there cost. ($255,000 actually before operatring costo savings which if you buyfrom SMUD is at about two cents a kwh- that’s barely ten percent of what people pay for power elsewhere and a tiny tiny fraction of what diesel fuel costs for a 250 passenger bus Los angeles desperating needs billions of dollars of becaause they actually have infrastrucure like electrostatic energys storage (now about twenty bucks a farad on mouser.com!!!!) becaues teh auto industry needs such continued enabling to prevent us from having such super bus’s that would nix plans to ditch youth into overcrowded subways until there stupid enough to buy cars of there own.
It is FOrd who says- if your not going to buy one of our creaations you deserve to get raped on a train.For generations such assaults have occured not just in Japan but here, everywhere, with the manageemnet seeing it as decongesting relieving them of performance obligations by reducing demand allowing them to waste money tunneling with thousnd dollar a day construction workers gettin gthe lions share of transit dollars insteadof passengers.
THe young man didnt’ die for no reason- his deaht was the result of apathy at the ballot box. Republicans need those out of wedlock teen pregnancy to feed there canons. THey need to sacrifice special ops lives to recruit more and more fodder for future occupations. His death was politcial personal sacrifice always is. It was no accident. It was not his fault. Brakes had nothing to do with it. Safety is for the villalge to impose and instead we starch long sleeve search for car lot animals to gorge on our best and brightests very guts.
“if your not going to buy one of our creaations you deserve to get raped on a train.”
Ummm…. Well said?
Couldn’t have put it better myself, Wes.
“search” is actually “shirts” lol
“search” is actually “shirts” lol
Now I understand.
[…] Witness Says Culata Riding Fixie, Couldn’t Stop at Time of Crash (Biking In L.A. Comments) […]
One thing for sure, there will less riders next Critical Mass. “Humans are 100% motivated by fear” (overheard on the TV from “True Blood”).
Well, the bike he was riding was in fact a fixed gear brakeless bike. It was also stolen.
IF he didn’t buy it new that’s a compliment but when we pay too much for things new- as bike owners almost always do, we create insanity like the following and in memory of the fallen I’m sharing a ‘hot’ tip if you want to live near the coronado bridge for some reason and believe that buying a home in a community of seven homes, even if four or more are rented, for less then it with a carport sold by HUD recently, as you got a bike, and LESS THEN A SEVENTH OF WHAT YOU WOULD OF NEEDED AS A DOWNPAYMENT BACK WHEN DOWNPAYMENTS WHERE OPTIONAL. I’m just providing the bing ordinates now as it’s not on the market formally but the price has just changed apparenlty the lender wants more then the contracted buyer offered so it’s in backup offer status with obviously anyone willing to confirm that having a chance to get it for maybe .. less then your bike cost or could cost given your reduced cost of housing.. again owning for about nine months payment on the identical units defaulted mortgage….. yes I know a friend is dead and everyone is here for that but we got to live someplace if we are to live well and avenge his death…. a few dozen grand. This might be less then the land value despite it being in great condition! Get bikes on that bridge and hot or not wheel owning bro’s won’t be killed by there owners driving instead 45 mpg landrovers so proudly- to haveany of us fight we got to have the time- so I’m asking, buy this and fight, get a loan from a bikeshop, there is dirtier money I suppose and sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do:
http://www.bing.com/maps/default.aspx?cp=32.75032~-117.089371&style=b&dir=0&sp=Point.32.75032_-117.089371_4040%2049th%20St%20Apt%201%2C%20San%20Diego%2C%20CA%2092105_%2440%2C000%201%20bed%2C%201.0%20bath
I think I speak for us all when I say that no one here really cares. Also, where in the world can you get a Land Rover with 45mpg!?
So then is the story that this person died while fighting for a good cause?
I remember the news during this event and a paramedic said that the reason why the police are trying to stop these bicycle demonstrations is because for one they block emergency vehicles from responding to emergencies. If someone was having a heart attack, how could the fire dept respond when there are thousands of people blocking the street?
I don’t know, Donny. How do emergency vehicles possibly get through when the street are full of cars, which take up much more space than bikes? Yet somehow, they seem to manage.
As for fighting for a good cause, you said that, not me.
If cars are deliberately blocking streets, intersections and physically preventing other vehicles and pedestrians from passing then that would be a equal comparison.
“Sharing the road” does not mean illegally taking the road the way Critical Mass does. The better way to educate citizens is how Critical Manners does it.
Tonye Cole
Update: L.A. Critical Mass rider killed in Westwood fall | BikinginLA