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Moped Group Takes Over the Streets, Havoc Ensues
Monday, March 30, 2009, by Dakota
God help you if you were stuck in yesterday afternoon's traffic in Hollywood. It was a disaster. At least part of the traffic can be blamed on the LA Latebirds, who held a weekend-long moped rally throughout the city. (You can see a map of their weekend route here.) Clint Chilcott, 23, who drove from Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the rally, tells us he believes that more than 200 people took part in the event, traveling from as far away as New York and Virginia. More about the rally after the jump, but some background: The LA Latebirds are part of Moped Army, a national group originally founded in Milwaukee, and a self-described "group of avid moped riders," according to their web site. And as far as traffic, like the Midnight Ridazz bike gang, moped gangs cork intersections ie block intersections with their bikes. But before you start hating them, read this 2006 Christian Science Monitor article and check out clips from a documentary about Moped Army. Dare we say it, but moped gangs seem sort of cute.
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Why the rally: “It’s a way to get attention. One of things that we do, it’s called corking intersections…people go in and stop in front of the cars, so other people can go through the light…it stirs things up. It brings attention to the cause.”
What to know about moped gangs: “It’s people who enjoy the limitations of a moped. You can spend $3,000 a motorcycle that can go 100 miles per hour. Mopeds can go 30 mph and when we make them go 70 mph.”
On the police: “The cops came out yesterday [Saturday], but then they realized it was futile. They sent up a road block to try and stop us, but they put the roadblock behind us and they only got five of the guys…I don’t think they anyone got arrested.”
On causing a scene: “The funny thing is that when we get going, we have this huge mass, but we leave behind a trail, like a snail. [Mopeds] just start breaking down left and right. These are older mopeds, some of them are 30 years old, and these kids have spent thousands on fine-tuning them, but sometimes they push too hard and they break down.”
On where they stayed: "It was a warehouse [on Santa Fe Avenue in downtown], it was right near for Skid Row. I think [the group] paid $3,000 for it for the weekend..but you go inside and it's full of tents…it’s moped tent city. But it’s funny, all these people are fighting and drunk, and these kids drove from across the city, they drove their Mom’s mini-van and they packed three or four mopeds in the [van] and they drove all night and they’re just trying to sleep."
One car accident: “My moped was getting sort of janky, and it was getting a little dusky. This guy was going to take a right, but he didn’t see me, I just got knocked off my bike. Of course, he’s a guido with spiked up hair and collar up, and he;s with a hot blond girl and they’re in a tricked-up Civic. The only thing he could say was dude, fuck, dude, fuck, dude, so sorry, fuck dude. He said that for five minutes, I was like, I’m ok, I’m ok, ok, just shut up, I'm ok."
I have a friend who rode in that! Moped people are cute, I love them. One of the dudes in Of Montreal is part of the Latebirds and wherever the band goes, he gives out free tix to the show to other members. I got to see Of Montreal for free when they were here a little bit ago! So much fun!
idk if they have differnt meeting spots alll over the city or just the one i saw them at over in sliverlake on the sunset junction at the ice cream place.
i was riding by and and was tripped out.there was about 20 of them all mounting up on there mopeds and they took off on sunset heading eastbound.
hahah i bet it pretty hard to call out the road hazards like we do with that noise lol
200 mopeds "causing traffic" in a city of millions of cars?
how long do they need to cork to get 50 mopeds through a light at 25 mph?
30 seconds? 2 Minutes?
Thats fucking ridiculous.
what more ridiculous is the moped that was jamming in the bike lane on Sunset on Saturday night.
The road was empty too.
If you gonna play with the big boys, get in the the fucking road.
I saw a group of abut 10 kids on razzor scooters the other day. it was like junior high critical mass. I'm gonna start the midnight walkerzz group. who's in????
after the peoples ride I raced a couple of them on 6th street and was able to get ahead.... I was dieing from the fumes riding behind them and it was all I could do to get a breath of fresh air.
We passed like 8 of 'em Saturday night as the MOMSEY road past Union Station towards Alameda. Both groups stopped for the red on opposite sides of the intersection. It was like that episode of Seinfeld when the Bizzaro group meets the regular group.
...of course we were all still talking to eachother, while they probably couldn't have held a conversation even while shouting.
There was actually a Mod revival back in the early eighties, not long after the Quadrophenia movie came out. The headquarters of the scene was the ON Klub on Sunset Blvd in Silver Lake (now a spa).
weird. pretty shitty that they're not subjected to the same emission standards as motorcycles. even two stroke leaf-blowers are banned in a lot of places due to pollution!
the other day as i was riding up a pretty steep hill some dude on a moped was coming down in the opposite direction. i could actually see him turn his head and stare. i don't know why, but i assume it was because he was descending a hill with a motor whereas i was climbing with my legs.
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