General Cycling Discussion - adhesive bike decorations

Heya,

Have any of you ever seen those thin little stickers that fit perfectlly in a horizontal position on you bike frame that say "This bike is a pipe bomb"? I've seen those everywhere. Where is it that I get one?

peace soup

Try Microcosm Publishing in Portland. They sell bike stickers locally in all the bike shops, they supported Car Free Day here last September, and they do mail order, too, both retail and wholesale. Good prices, lots of stickers to choose from, great guys and gals to work with, and they do all their mailing and delivery by bike. They'll even print your custom stickers for you! Great 'zines, too, including a variety of local bike 'zines.

Retail:
http://ratserv.com/microcosm/index.html
Wholesale:
http://ratserv.com/microcosm/windex.html

the best sticker they have is " i buy beer for minors" i would never put it on my car but i would love to put it on some ******* cops bumper, i have the bike punk one on my car.

Some of the stickers by Microcosm are fun, but what is this "my bike is a pipe bomb" stuff?

I must be missing something. What is cool about that?

bc pipe bombs are a well known way to terrorize, and your bike's got this hollow tube that could potentially be a pipe bomb, so considering all these things makes the stickers kinda funny- though there's nothin more to it than that

it really isnt funny even with the reasoning. i was always a little disturbed by that one. especially with the world the way it is today.

I think it also might be a sort of theft deterrent.

bc pipe bombs are a well known way to terrorize, and your bike's got this hollow tube that could potentially be a pipe bomb, so considering all these things makes the stickers kinda funny- though there's nothin more to it than that
:mad: I don't see anything funny about it. :(

From a security point of view I don't think police or other agencies would give it much thought.... unless they wanted too. I would ride carefully, a pissed off police office could use this as an excuse to confiscate your bike.

Besides, how could you desecrate a beautiful work of art like a bicycle?

Nothing funny about pork chops either buddy

this bike is a pipe bomb is also the name of a small punk group, you can prolly get stickers through them...

The "pipe bomb" sticker may cause problems when packing a bike for air traval.

The French resistance during WWII made grenades out of frame pumps. Too bad they don't have de Gaulle to be that bold these days.

:mad: I don't see anything funny about it. :(

I don't see anything funny about it either, but enough people do that they offer about four versions of the "This bike is a pipe bomb" sticker.

Must be a generation gap thing. :(

I don't see anything funny about it either, but enough people do that they offer about four versions of the "This bike is a pipe bomb" sticker.

Must be a generation gap thing. :(


Sheesssh... :rolleyes: You people should try to lighten up a bit. Who pee'd in your Rice Crispies this morning? I wouldn't have that sticker on my bike, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Afraid of upsetting the police? Not everybody desires to have police friendly stickers on their bikes. Can't people have a little fun?

Yeah, must be a generation gap. It's a JOKE that is maybe poking fun at stuffy, out of touch, old people like yourselves. Look at the site; most of the stickers promote activism and new ideas. Not unusual for Portland, and not a dangerous phenomina. Relax.

Sheesssh... :rolleyes: You people should try to lighten up a bit. Who pee'd in your Rice Crispies this morning? I wouldn't have that sticker on my bike, but I don't see anything wrong with it. Afraid of upsetting the police? Not everybody desires to have police friendly stickers on their bikes. Can't people have a little fun?

Yeah, must be a generation gap. It's a JOKE that is maybe poking fun at stuffy, out of touch, old people like yourselves. Look at the site; most of the stickers promote activism and new ideas. Not unusual for Portland, and not a dangerous phenomina. Relax.

I think that some of us may be a bit sensitized to terrorism and pipe bombs are a part of that element. That is why it is not so funny to some of us.

I was talking to a friend of mine on the telephone who was walking on a street in Manila when a pipe bomb went off. It knocked him to the ground and killed another person. Two other people were mamed.

To me, pipe bombs aren't funny, so I am trying to understand if I am missing some couched humor or something. If this is an example of Portland's activism and 'new ideas', it isn't very compelling.

I don't see anything funny about it either, but enough people do that they offer about four versions of the "This bike is a pipe bomb" sticker.

Must be a generation gap thing. :(

Yes it must the generation gap. ;) When I first saw the word pipe bomb.I started thinking about 12/6/02 when CNN discovered terrorist hacked in to Bike Forums.
The last thing we need is Press like that. I can just see some redneck waiting to run us down. :eek:

Good answer, Mike. Me, I dont get the humor in explosives, personally.

Someone mentioned its a punk band. Well if it is, great. I dont see any reason to put their sticker on my bike any more than I would a Starvation Army sticker on a homeless person or a DK sticker on one of the Kennedys headstones.

Personally, I just think someone saw a sticker they dont understand and think it must be trendy. Ironically, that makes it less so.

I agree. Not funny.

Some of the other stickers were funny to me in all fairness.

What is REALLY funny is a BUSINESS SELLING anti capitolism stickers!!!!!

Looks like radical BS to me overall.

Three things:

1. no sense of humor

2. paranoid

3. They said the Clash sold out when they got popular too; I guess if you're both counterculture and successful, y'all just can't win...

nobody said anyone sold out. I just said someone saw a sticker and thought it was "cool" without even understanding what it was. Evidently its a band name, not a cute saying.

We have a sense of humor. Too bad you guys dont have a sense of style.

Actually, I was responding to Avalanche, who said:

What is REALLY funny is a BUSINESS SELLING anti capitolism stickers!!!!!

How is a 'This Bike is a Pipe Bomb' sticker NOT funny, when every SUV and motor vehicle should (but does not) come with a health warning and information on how many first, second and third world citizens have been exploited or died in order to build / fuel the damn thing, not to mention road and highway deaths associated with the product, and hours lost raising the wages to buy and operate the darn thing???

Did you happen to notice the Microcosm sticker "Environmental Stickers Don't Mean Sh*t When They're Stuck on Cars"

How many miles do you drive each year??

Aw, now ya'll got randya cranked up! Dagnabbit! :p

Take cover!

I was base security in the Navy for 18 months,and now work in security.A "This bike is a pipe bomb "sticker is definitely non amusing.

While in college, I did an internship at Fermilab. One day I decided it would be funny to take some of our "Radioactive Waste" stickers and plaster them on my leftover box of pizza I had for lunch, my bike and helmet as well as a drafting tube I kept my drawings and engineering notes in. Lab security was however not amused and was forced to detain me at the gate and temporarily impound everything so they could send it through the decontamination unit.

Really, it's just a sticker. I'd take one. Everyone is so fearful now that a simple sticker is sending people into a tizzy. No, pipebombs are not funny; a sticker about pipebombs is kinda funny.

Here I am: a 22 year old, 120 pound white suburbanite female riding a Specialized Epic down the stairs of the local convention center with a sticker that reads "This bike is a pipebomb." That's a humorous scenerio.

A humorous scenario that would get me strip searched by the security force of the Air Force Base where I work when I try to ride through the gate in the morning. I applaud the irreverence, but you have to remember the events of the recent past, and I'm not just talkin about 9/11. Think about every city around the world where a terrorist act has been committed. The US used to be different, but not anymore. What you choose to express may come back to bite you. Our constitution says you have the right to free speech, and some of us will put our butts on the line to defend what you say, even if we don't agree with it. But, with that freedom comes responsibility. I hate to see any encroachment on our freedoms, but we have to wake up to the fact that those things that we are willing to fight for, and our size and military strength make us a bigger and more attractive target for the whackos of the world. Unfortunately, those few bad apples have put the whole bushel under tighter scrutiny, and sometimes making a joke about it with a simple bumper sticker isn't the best thing to do. I think about this a lot (maybe too much), not only because of where I work, but also because 9/11 is my birthday.

DEMON

A humorous scenario that would get me strip searched by the security force of the Air Force Base where I work when I try to ride through the gate in the morning. I applaud the irreverence, but you have to remember the events of the recent past, and I'm not just talkin about 9/11. Think about every city around the world where a terrorist act has been committed. The US used to be different, but not anymore. What you choose to express may come back to bite you. Our constitution says you have the right to free speech, and some of us will put our butts on the line to defend what you say, even if we don't agree with it. But, with that freedom comes responsibility. I hate to see any encroachment on our freedoms, but we have to wake up to the fact that those things that we are willing to fight for, and our size and military strength make us a bigger and more attractive target for the whackos of the world. Unfortunately, those few bad apples have put the whole bushel under tighter scrutiny, and sometimes making a joke about it with a simple bumper sticker isn't the best thing to do. I think about this a lot (maybe too much), not only because of where I work, but also because 9/11 is my birthday.


I'm definitely thankful to you, and all others who are out there fighting for us and defending us. Thanks. But, I still just don't see why you people are getting so upset about a bike sticker. I don't think anyone who displays this sticker is out to threaten national security. A sense of humor can be a valuable asset in these scarry times. Lighten up I say.

My father was a Marine and fought in Korea, his daddy was a Marine and fought in WW2 and his daddy was a Marine and fought in WW1 and his daddy was a Marine and fought in the Spanish American War and his daddy was a Cosack and fought in the Russian War and his daddy was Union soldier and fought at Gettysburg and his daddy was British and fought in Boston and Georgetown during the Revolutionary War.

I am a Lover and refuse to fight even though the WTC was basically in my backyard and I watched more carnage than I ever care to see again on that horrid day in the Fall of 2001...

and yet, I find all of those stickers fine.

Different strokes for different folks, I say.

BTW-the first paragraph is 98% BS... beyond my dad and grandad I haven't a clue about any other relations fighting in any wars.

However, I am STILL a Lover. :D

I say lighten up as well for God's sake !!

Has any Japanese people ever taken offence at Oakley naming their sunglasses "thermonuclear protection" sunglasses ? Should rappers stop using the phrase "DA Bomb" out of respect for bomb victims. Should I stop flying on Boeing airplanes, because afterall they are used in terrorist acts at times?

The answer to all of the above is a resounding NO.

LIGHTEN UP

Every one needs to chill, it's not a political statement, it's not meant to offend, the ''This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb'' stickers are from the band This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, a cow punk band from Pensacola Florida. Everyone can rest better now that there's no terrorist master plot to make bikes into pipe bombs. About making money from anti-capitalist stickers, yes as long as there's one free minded individual there will always be anti-capitolistic movements, even if it's just a sticker it got your attention and made you think didn't it?

Does anybody know which shops in PDX sell these stickers? I like the heart & chainring one...

I've got stickers on my bike that say, "Gasoline Kills" and "I Love This Bike". They came from unamerican.com quite a while ago. They really completed the bike, in my opinion.

The humor of something like 'this bike is a pipe bomb' is in the fact that a bike is very much NOT a pipe bomb. In fact, its so not a pipe bomb that the combination is ridiculous. Bikes help people, not hurt them. The absurdity is amusing.

Reverance doesn't mean not talking about something. Its good to have movies about war that let people know how bad it is. Its good to have books about **** so you can see how bad it really is. Avoiding a topic doesn't make it go away. So just work on your senses of humor, and consider the sticker a reminder of your choices when it comes to making something out of steel, a bike or a pipe bomb, your choice.

peace,
sam

"Does anybody know which shops in PDX sell these stickers?"

Try City Bikes or microcosm. City Bikes inner east side on SE Ankeny at 7th and 19th, MC up north at 5307 N. Minnesota Ave.

http://www.citybikes.coop/
http://microcosmpublishing.com/

:)

I saw a bike once that had been painted with chalkboard paint. Then, you can create whatever statements you wanted. People could even leave you messages.

Travelling punk bands are notoriously short on cash, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb is no exception. Usually these bands sell cd's t-shirt and stickers to support their tours. A bicycle size sticker seems like a no-brainer if the name of your band is "This Bike is a Pipe Bomb", and seeing how most punx are ecologically aware and/or poor, most of them ride bikes. They've played Chattanooga several times, and they are very nice people, and they have a grasp on the humor/irony connection. See it's funny 'cuz if you were to put a pipe bomb in your bike, you might not want to advertise it with a sticker. Get it? I've got one on my bike because it angers all the right people.

What is REALLY funny is a BUSINESS SELLING anti capitolism stickers!!!!!

Sort of in the realm of PETA supporters wearing leather shoes I guess. Some of those stickers are so far in left field they'd make Castro look right wing.

how did this thread turn into an apology to military people and a discussion about patriotism?

ITS A STICKER... Can you REALLY say that you feel that strongly about this sticker? Would you guys act this way if you saw someone sporting this on the street?

The humor of something like 'this bike is a pipe bomb' is in the fact that a bike is very much NOT a pipe bomb. In fact, its so not a pipe bomb that the combination is ridiculous. Bikes help people, not hurt them. The absurdity is amusing.

Reverance doesn't mean not talking about something. Its good to have movies about war that let people know how bad it is. Its good to have books about **** so you can see how bad it really is. Avoiding a topic doesn't make it go away. So just work on your senses of humor, and consider the sticker a reminder of your choices when it comes to making something out of steel, a bike or a pipe bomb, your choice.

peace,
sam

its a sense of humor issue, but its also a sense of reality issue

The bike is a tool, not a bomb, and i basically see "this bike is a pipe bomb" (regardless of the band from FL) as a mimicry based at fear consumers and of all of the greedy decisions people in power of this bloody country have made.
If anything, on a worldly standpoint, seeing this sticker has opened my mind and is meant to be just a taste of a society that you dont want.
Its also mimicking what the self proclaimed pros on the right are promoting. that anything or anyone could have a bomb in it.....
Of course! root reason being? (you mean we have to get into that?)....under the table relations/ mishaps, competition of separatists and religion, mass-media, the patriot-act, code warnings, the market/corporations, american leaders breaking the law and then failing. too much money and politics involved. then you have personal issues.
all discombobulated into one big ball of oh****ttt.
thats what you can blame for unfortunate outcomes, and this sticker (if you dont like it).
you get the big picture
try to understand.
Whether you ride to ride, to excercise, to commute, whatever, we all ride and have that in commonso look a little more into the reality of it all.

Cycling is a metaphor for freedom (for free).

anything to help people to understand the insanity thats going through peoples heads... well, your head, is a good thing.
move on, the times are a changing, theres more than meets the eye. I am a real american, fight for the rights of everyman.
(there are so many more lame cliches, but you get it... i hope)
-=steve

a few oxymorons to get you into that "decieved" mood--

non dairy creamer
plastic glass
authentic reproduction
true replica
genuine veneer
standard options
military intellegence
Patriot Act...

the best sticker they have is " i buy beer for minors" i would never put it on my car but i would love to put it on some ******* cops bumper, i have the bike punk one on my car.

I bought a bunch of stickers from them and put them on both racks. That one is definately on the top tube. :-D

hey. i don't know how old this thread is, but i think it's really funny since these are my stickers and i just joined up a few weeks ago. This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb is my punk band from pensacola florida. we started in january of 96 or so...long before america was so scared and paranoid, or offended that anyone would say the word bomb for any reason whatsoever. we have gotten lots of flack recently and also some good stuff, too, like the d.c. metro being shut down for over two hours because of the sticker. bikes being "stolen"by campus police only to be sued later, returning the bike and apologizing profusely, and general mayhem and hysteria. i really don't know where i'm going with this.
yes in some cities i guess it would be some measly theft deterrent, but i doubt it. it mostly just scares wal-mart security in all the stories i've heard. when we started the band it was the only name that ever made sense. we were all bike enthusiasts, and it was serious, yet very very funny. oh, by the way i really like this forum a lot. it's good to talk to bikers and not just my group of punk friends (who are amazing, by the way and i love the dawgschitt out of them) it's weird talking to you guys, but i like it.
it's a little funny and a little bit sad too to go to other cities and people wanting the sticker but not wanting to stay for the show. i can't blame em though. if someone came to my town and had a sticker that i liked but i knew i wouldn't like their music, i'd probably do the same thing. well, i have rambled enough.

Everyone in this thread -besides me -that has blown a bike apart because the security forces called it in as a suspicious object raise your right hand! Thought so. Let me make a few points please:

1. The sticker is funny in a way that is hard to describe.
2. Bring a bike with the word “bomb” on it anywhere near a Federal facility and the gate/door/road guard with the GED education will call the police/security forces because “well if I didn’t call it in and it really was a bomb, I’d lose this $8.00 an hour job.”
3. The bomb squad (EOD) that responds lives to blow up stuff in front of a crowd. A hippie punk’s bike is all the more delicious. Yes, I used the word “hippie.” To them (formerly me) you all look alike.
4. No bike made can standup to a .50 Cal Dearmer, Det-Cord and the evil intent of an EOD man bent on destruction. Explosives in the hand of an EOD man are like oils in the hand of Vermeer. You won’t believe what happens when he tries to open every single void in your bike with the minimum amount of explosives necessary. Had a Brooks Saddle on your Fixie? Nope, You now own 900 grams of scrap metal with a leather vapor aroma.
5. The EOD guy gets to take your bike apart even if you run up to the police tape line with a WiFi enabled laptop showing this very discussion as proof your bike is a harmless tool of environmental harmony. You will very likely get a bill from the Feds for the cost of shredding your bike. {Raising Arizona**I suggest you pay it. {/Raising Arizona**
6. I come from an unbroken heredity chain of military people that have fought on God’s side of every war since the Hittites smashed the Babylonian Capitalists Running Dogs of the Euphrates River Valley. Yes, my patriotism pedigree is indeed rich and dwarfs your own. Ha!

;)

What an eccentric, yet awesome, post.

OK I'm not even going to read all that...adhesive bike decor? GAY!

Current website is www.microcosmpublishing.com

there are lots of stickers still though...


Try Microcosm Publishing in Portland. They sell bike stickers locally in all the bike shops, they supported Car Free Day here last September, and they do mail order, too, both retail and wholesale. Good prices, lots of stickers to choose from, great guys and gals to work with, and they do all their mailing and delivery by bike. They'll even print your custom stickers for you! Great 'zines, too, including a variety of local bike 'zines.

Retail:
http://ratserv.com/microcosm/index.html
Wholesale:
http://ratserv.com/microcosm/windex.html

More importantly, I want to get those tassles that hang out of the ends of handlebars. My new Giant has holes in the rubber grips for just such things, but no one here sells them, not even my apparently over accessorised LBS. Screw the sticker issue, where have all the fairdinkum bike enhancements disappeared to since I bought my Speargun blue Malvern Star Boy's bike???

More importantly, I want to get those tassles that hang out of the ends of handlebars. My new Giant has holes in the rubber grips for just such things, but no one here sells them, not even my apparently over accessorised LBS. Screw the sticker issue, where have all the fairdinkum bike enhancements disappeared to since I bought my Speargun blue Malvern Star Boy's bike???

Ya could try these on ebay for a buck. Not exactly what you're looking for--but pretty *****in'. I'm always glad to see a post from you. Elevates the dialogue to an entirely new level. :rolleyes: :D :)

'Your cars exhaust is an enviromental pipe bomb'

Your spelling of capitalism is equally amusing.

Just because someone is selling something, it does not make them a business nor does it mean that maximum profit (i.e. capitalism is desired).

None of the people at Microcosm drive or own cars!

Sometimes under-represented views are hard to express when you can't find stickers or t-shirts that state your feelings. Sometimes it's worth losing money on a project to express a point of view.


I agree. Not funny.

Some of the other stickers were funny to me in all fairness.

What is REALLY funny is a BUSINESS SELLING anti capitolism stickers!!!!!

Looks like radical BS to me overall.

Whatever you do, if you don't want it to be permenant, put a layer of electrical tape underneath the sticker, that way you can tear it off later w/o leaving residue behind.

While in college, I did an internship at Fermilab. One day I decided it would be funny to take some of our "Radioactive Waste" stickers and plaster them on my leftover box of pizza I had for lunch, my bike and helmet as well as a drafting tube I kept my drawings and engineering notes in. Lab security was however not amused and was forced to detain me at the gate and temporarily impound everything so they could send it through the decontamination unit.

ROTFLOL! I tried to explain to my brother why I don't think biohazard stickers are a good idea, but luckily I am the one working in the bio lab so his precious piece of wood hasn't been shoved through an autoclave yet. Did I mention it's a '58 reissue Gibson black beauty guitar?