The Black Label Bike Club is an international freak/mutant bicycle organization specializing in tall bikes and choppers

Chopper bicycle

A chopper bicycle is a bicycle that is designed to get attention and provide a smooth comfortable ride.- About :While the term "chopper" is generally used to describe a motorcycle or bicycle that has had some of its original parts replaced with custom parts, today's definition has grown to include...

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Started in 1992 by Jacob Houle and Per Hanson as the "Hard Times Bike Club" in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, the club has grown to include a chapter in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, Reno, Nevada

Reno, Nevada

Reno is the county seat of Washoe County, Nevada, United States. The city has a population of about 220,500 and is the most populous Nevada city outside of the Las Vegas metropolitan area...

, Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

, Oakland, California

Oakland, California

Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

, Stockholm, Sweden and a nomad chapter loosely based out of New Orleans known as "Nowhere".

The Black Label Bike Club is credited with being the first "outlaw bicycle club", the originators of tall bike jousting, and one of the main contributors to the rise of the tall bike

Tall bike

A tall bike is an unusually tall bicycle often constructed by hobbyists from spare parts. Typically, two conventional bicycle frames are connected, by welding, brazing, or other means, one atop the other...

 culture."Unstoppable". New York Times. April 29, 2007

External links

• Photo Essay in Chief Magazine of the group's annual Bike Kill event, featuring video of "bike jousting"