DEFEND YOUR RIDE: Doug And Levi At McKinley Park

Q: How long have you had these bikes for?

Doug: About a week. He makes these.

Q: How did you make them?

Levi: I took apart little kids' bikes and welded new parts for them to make the seats and handlebars bigger.

Q: Nice. What gave you the idea to do that?

L: I don't know. I like bikes, having weird bikes.

D: It's called velocipedophilia, the love of children's bikes.

Q: What are you doing at McKinley Park today?

D: We're just going to ride over to get some frozen yogurt. Nothing much. I have the day off.

L: Just enjoying the day.

Q: What neighborhood do you guys live in?

L: I live on S and 12th.

D: Yeah, and I live in, what is it called—Mansion Flats, F and 14th.

Q: How old are you?

D: I'm 30.

L: Thirty-one.

Q: What do you use these bikes for?

D: For things like today, just riding around when you don't have a long distance to go. We use other bikes for that purpose.

L: For riding, for fun.

Q: Are these hard to ride on?

L: A little bit. They take some balance, yeah.

D: Somewhat, but they're fun.

Q: What's the furthest you've ridden on these?

L: We went to down to Old Sac and around and all over town one day.

D: Maybe six or seven miles at the most.

Q: What's the craziest place you've taken them to?

D: Not much yet, just around the grid, around downtown.

Q: Have you taken any spills on them yet?

D: Oh yeah.

L: A little bit.

Q: Do you guys have cars?

D: Yeah, I've got a '99 Honda Passport. It's not as interesting as this.

Q: Is that your main form of transportation?

D: No, not really. I have another bike that I ride mostly.

Q: And what about you, Levi?

L: I have a fleet of bicycles.

Q: A fleet?! Of just bicycles?

L: Yeah.

Q: Do you have a favorite?

L: A favorite bike? I don't know, it depends.

D: He's got so many bikes like this. There's one that's one bike frame that's mounted on top of another bike frame. One of them is upside down. Then you ride way off the ground. There's another one that's two bikes that are attached together like a centipede. That has three wheels. You lay on your chest when you ride it.

Q: Wow.

L: Yeah, I don't know. I have a ton of different ones. I love them all. They're all good.

Q: So what got you to start creating all these weird bicycles?

L: I don't know.

D: Existential angst.

L: Yeah. Wanting to have new bicycles. I wanted to make something that nobody else had, something that was just totally different.

Q: Does anyone else have one of these, or is it just you two?

L: He's the only one that has it besides me.

D: Yeah, that has this exact kind. There are some other kinds that he makes, too.

Q: If these bikes had a theme song, what would it be?

D: Do do-do-do-do do do do do…

L: Like circus music, for sure.

D: That's what you feel like when you're riding them.

L: They're clown bikes.

Q: What kind of human emotion would they have?

L: Joy.

D: There's this quote at the end of "Much Ado About Nothing" when Benedict says, "Man is a giddy thing, and that is my conclusion." I think that's the emotion they have.

L: The bikes are giddy.

Q: What are you most proud of about these bikes?

L: That you can actually ride them. I don't know. That I made them just out of spare parts and scrap metal.

D: This was made out of a cart handle, right?

L: Like a dolly. Spare pieces of stuff sitting in the yard.

Q: So you assemble them?

L: Well, that one is pretty much normal. I just changed the handlebars and made a big seat post for it.

Q: What is your dream form of transportation?

L: Pedal-driven vehicles.

D: Yeah, I think mine, too.

L: Velocipedes all the way.

D: I'm not like, anti-car or anything, I just really like bikes.

Q: What do you like best about them?

D: I used to ride 30 miles a day going to UC Davis and back when I was finishing my PhD. I liked that because it was swift. I got exercise and got to think and relax all at the same time.

L: You interact with the world differently.

D: Yeah, you get to feel the seasons.

L: You're like in the middle of the elements and everything else that's going on. It's a different pace.

Q: It saves money, too, right?

D: A little bit.

L: I don't pay for gasoline or car insurance or anything else. I haven't in years and years. I ride everywhere.

Q: Is there anything else we should know about these bikes?

D: You'll see more of them soon, if he keeps up the good work.

Q: Are you going to start selling them or just giving them out to your friends?

L: I don't know. I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Q: Have you sold any of your other creations?

L: None of the art bikes, just stuff I've restored. I just started to get these ones all back, so I'm excited. Still putting them together.