Ethnography of C.R.A.N.K Mob

(Video is from an earlier C.R.A.N.K Mob, not from September 19, 2009)

C.R.A.N.K Mob is a monthly bike ride, which has become the Mecca of cyclist in Los Angeles. On September 19, 2009 the last C.R.A.N.K Mob took place and it was a party on wheels much like every other month. The first time that I went to this event was exactly one year ago. Of all of the group bike rides that I have been on, C.R.A.N.K Mob is always the largest and wildest. This time however, I would be riding and at the same time observing people and looking for instances of radical romance and culture.

As I sat amidst the madness that is C.R.A.N.K Mob, I began to observe different groups of

 people and their behavior. Group bike rides such as this one alw

ays have breaks in between. My observations are from th

e first stop, an empty parking lot in Downtown, LA, one block away from the Staples Center. There were easily 250- 300 cyclist present so I only observed a few people. There was an overflow of young adults and teenagers with fixed gear bicycles (a type of single speed bicycle which involves endless pedaling). The first group that I noticed was a clique of Latino teens, three males and one female. A vast majority of the teens that go to group bike rides own flashy and extremely expensive bikes, and this group was no exception. Two of the males had bright blue bikes, the other had a white bike and the female had a hot pink bike. Bright frames with thick, matching rims and tires are the most desirable bicycle parts for teenagers nowadays. The three males wore similar cl

othing, tight fitting jeans as well as fitted T-shirts. One of them was wearing Nike SB's another was wearing Vans and the other had on some type of slip-on shoes. The girl was also wearing tight jeans and Vans and a white shirt. Like many other teenage cyclist, this girl had a unique haircut. She had a variation of a mohawk with designs cut into the sides of her head. As I observed this group of kids I noticed that they started to drink alcohol (of the 40 oz. variety) and also smoking marijuana.

C.R.A.N.K Mob has become almost sacred to a lot of cyclist and they show their love and respect for the ride by dressing up in costumes. Since this was the two-year anniversary of C.R.A.N.K Mob people dressed as they would for Christmas because this month' s theme was C.R.A.N.K-mas. The people that were dressed in costumes were the easiest to pick out of the enormous crowd so I observed them. There were numerous males

 and females wearing Santa clause hats. Others

 wore more attention grabbing costumes such as these guys (it's easier to show them than try to describe them). There was also a guy who had a full body suit that seemed was made out of blue spandex. These three guys seemed to be the more popular riders as they were surrounded by more people. They dressed in a way that would cause attention and they certainly received tons of attention. For most of the time that I watched them they seemed to be talking to groups of people. They occasionally drank from their beers while they were conversing with their friends/ acquaintances.

Bicycle culture is influenced by numerous factors and the people that are 

part of this culture follow what is considered to be normal just as in other cultures. "Culture is s

een as having its own specific meanings, rules and practices which are not reducible to, or explainable solely in terms of, another category or level of a social formation," (Barker 9). Bicycles have grown in popularity in the past year and are becoming 'cool'. As Jacques Derrida argues in "Differance", the meanings of words have several meanings and never have a final definition, so what is cool to one

 person might not be cool for another person. So

 there are other reasons as to why the popularity of bicycles has grown. Materialism and capitalism are at work in bicycle culture, in Los Angeles, now more than

 ever. Owning a bicycle was once just a personal preference, but now it is becoming a norm and a commodity because of materialism and capitalism. As Karl Marx believed, "commoditizat

ion is the process associated with capitalism by which objects are turned into commodities. The surface appearance of goods sold in the marketplace obscures the origins of those commodities in an exploitative relationship," (Barker 13). That is,

 bikes can now be easily sold therefore becoming easily exploited for profit in a capitalist system. Since bicycles are now in mainstream popular culture, materialism is responsible for people's desire to own the most expensive, and flashiest bicycle.

The trends that most cyclist follow or try not to follow are dictated by popular culture. Prior to the rise in popularity of bikes, cyclists were part of an underground culture. This culture was also once considered counter-cultural, but now it has become a dominant culture. I decided to focus more on people's appearances and the type of bicycle that they rode because it is more characteristic of popular culture as well as materialism and capitalism. Since most of the cyclist that showed up to C.R.A.N.K Mob showed up with friends rather than lovers, I did not focus on much on romantic relationships. However, from my observations, I realized that many of the riders were with close friends. The meaning of love is ambiguous, so friendships are considered a form of loving relationships. Though friendship is not the same as love between two people it can still be part of radical romance. There were outgoing people as well as laid back and quiet people that got along well. Friendships do not rely on love, but people still feel love for their friends.

Works Cited
Barker, Chris. Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice Third Edition. Sage Publications Ltd, Thousand Oaks, CA 2000.
Derrida, Jacques. "Differance"