Fast Eddie

i was invited, visited, and loved a site called www.zoobomb.net ya gotta check this out! this group is having a blast in portland oregon and im wanting to make a road trip up there (im in kansas city) and ive started a new custom 16" modified bike for the occosion! i really dig these kinds of events. fast eddie outty

Blue Order

I live on the hill these guys ride down. I've seen some of them them do some pretty stupid things. Ride down a hill at top speed, at night, with dark clothing and no lights, no helmets, blowing through stop signs on their way down. 1, 2, 3, 4 cyclists blowing the stop sign. I know the streets there, and the traffic. I've seen the cars racing up the street through that same intersection. Why were those Zoobombers not killed that night? Because there was no car at the intersection. But they couldn't have possibly known that no car was approaching. If those particular riders keep doing that, they're going to find out about it, though.

Zoobomb if you want to, but use your brains.

randya

ZooBomb is about 3-1/2 years old, every Sunday night from 20 to 200 cyclists roll up to five runs in all kinds of weather, plus ride in special events like the ZooBomb Century, Winter and Summer minibike Olympics and the Mt. Hood Bomb, there have certainly been some injuries but not one fatality.

You don't have any personal experience riding ZooBomb, do you?

I thought so.

Blue Order

No, I don't have any personal experience riding zoobomb. But I do know my neighborhood, and the zoobombers don't. I walk it every night. I know the traffic. I know the streets. I know the intersections. Anybody who rides full speed at night, in dark clothing, with no lights, and blows a stop sign where I saw them do it is asking to have their brains splattered all over the street. And it will happen if they keep blowing that particular stop sign. Guaranteed.

Then we can round up a posse and lynch the "cager" who killed a cyclist.

If somebody reads that as anti-zoobomb, they need to brush up on their reading comprehension skills.

marcelinyc

you forgot to add "yet"

randya

ZooBombers know the streets, traffic patterns and intersections as well as you do, they've collectively ridden this hill hundreds if not thousands of times. There is a reason ZooBomb is a late Sunday night activity, at that time there's less traffic and less risk.

randya

My daily commute is more dangerous than ZooBombing.

Blue Order

You don't even know which hill I was referring to, so no, they don't know it as well as I do. And I've seen cars going through that intersection at all hours. The zoobombers I saw were trying a route I never saw them take before. That intersection is blind, because it's on a hill, meaning that whatever street the cars are on, they can't see what's coming from the cross street in either direction. That's why there's a stop sign at the intersection-- to make traffic stop before proceeding, so the cars can see what's coming the other way. Only it's not a 4-way stop sign-- it's a two way stop sign. Cars on one of the cross streets must stop, cars on the other cross street just proceed through. And yes, some of those cars are speeding. Even if the cars were going the speed limit, there is no way on Earth the driver of the car would see the zoobombers I saw that night until it was too late. And there is no way on Earth the zoobombers would see the car either.

Not that they were even looking for cross traffic as they blew the stop sign.

I suppose in the end, it's all gene pool stuff.

randya

How 'bout putting a name on the specific intersection?

Blue Order

Intersection of SW Park Place and SW Saint Clair. Riders going downhill (obviously) on SW Park. Stop signs on SW Park, none on SW Saint Clair.

randya

I figured that was the intersection. One of many tried and true ZooBomb routes, if you've only seen ZooBombers there once, you're not paying as close attention as you claim. FYI, standard ZB practice is to yell 'car' or 'clear' if a hazard is or isn't present, respectively. IMO, it's safer to run the stop than risk locking up a coaster brake at high speed and crashing. Make no mistake, there are risks to ZooBombing; it's about either speed or fun, depending on who you ask.

Blue Order

I'm paying more attention than they were. They didn't even look to see if cars were coming. I know, because I was on the corner, watching in disbelief.

Like I said, it's all gene pool stuff. Too many humans crowding other species off the planet anyway, so if some Zoobomber wants to blow the stop sign on a blind intersection, fine with me.

randya

Obviously you are more risk-averse than the ZooBombers.

Blue Order

It's called intelligence. Supposedly a hallmark of the species.

Supposedly.

randya

Whatever.

zoogirl

Jeez, that thread title had me nervous for a minute there!

lyledriver

A local chopper club (MC3) just started doing this in Vancouver this past year.
Except, they go up the SFU hill.. and call it SFUbombing of course.

Some of the SFUbomb bikes are pretty hardcore. Chainrings so big they're almost scraping the pavement. I think one of the criteria is that they have to fit in a duffel bag to ride the bus up the mountain.

..I think I'd rather ride something a little more stable

randya

Using public transit to get up the hill and riding little bikes are both part of the fun.

Blue Order

Any photos of the bicycle "mountain" across from Rocco's?

Blue Order

OK, I need to eat a big slice of humble pie...I was wrong. The Zoobombers were NOT blowing the stop sign at that intersection. I took a look today on my way to school, and the stop sign is on Saint Clair, not Park, so they were (mostly) obeying the law (with the possible exception of speeding).

FlatTop

Thanks for setting the record straight, Blue Order.

I've been curious about these little bikes. I didn't think they had hubs and bottom brackets that were strong enough for big people to go bombing down a hill on. What do you do to set one up?

randya

Some of the bikes come straight from the Goodwill, $3, white MX3 tires, coaster brakes and all, that's what you'll find on the 'pile'. Other riders soup their bikes up with higher gearing, better wheels/tires/brakes/etc. Smaller is better, 16" wheels are 'standard minibike' size, BMX bikes are cheating; what you want are kids bikes, oldschool schwinns, etc. Some folks ride boards, scooters, Barbie cars and all kinds of strange contraptions down the hill. Fast Eddie is more serious about building straight-up gravity bikes, but some pedaling is required on most ZooBomb runs. I've got one Huffy that's been on a lot of ZooBombs, but all that's left from the original bike are the frame and handlebars. My typical setup is a coaster brake w/ one rim brake, banana seat, dyno lights, BMX tires. Even the stock library or pile bikes - mostly xmart junk - actually take a lot of abuse before they give up the ghost.

Fast Eddie

wow, ive never talked w/ a russion super model! unless ya count the "mail order bride" fiasco lol the rear axl in coaster brake hubs are the same diameter as the rear axl in a 26" bike. the front axls are often the same size too so they'll hold an adult. the frames are smaller but they'll hold also, just hard to fit an adult on one, especially with my 30-something waistline! i have got to hit one of those events sometime, its a 2 day drive from here in kc but it just sounds like too much fun! fast eddie outty

FlatTop

Thanks Randya, Fast Eddie. Makes me think twice every time I see a little bike at a thrift or in a dumpster..."Hey, I could be going 50 mph downhill on that!"

randya

To fit a larger adult on a 16" kids bike, you move the seat back and up and the handlebars forward to horizontal, if that makes sense. You can use BMX seat posts or substitute a mountain bike handlebar for the seatpost.