This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:26 am

I'm certain I posted about this bike before, but I can't find it.
Anyone want to teach me how to get the search engine on here to do anything useful? Silver Orange?

A bike with this bumper sticker was arrested here and the owner impounded.
It turns out many have been blown up or cut up around the country.

From wikipedia
On March 2, 2006 at 5:30 am an Ohio University police officer spotted a bicycle attached to the Oasis restaurant bearing a promotional sticker for the band. The officer saw the words, "This Bike Is a Pipe Bomb" and became concerned. The area was cordoned off, and part of the campus was closed for several hours. The bicycle was subsequently destroyed by the Athens bomb squad despite assurances from the bike's owner that it was just a sticker. The owner, a graduate student, was initially charged with inducing panic, a misdemeanor. However, the charges were dropped a few days later. Later the student was awarded money for the damages to his bicycle.[1][2]

A similar incident occurred in 2001, when a police officer spotted and detained a woman at an Austin, Texas peace rally. Her bicycle was also labeled with the band's sticker. The woman was released after the band's existence was confirmed.[3]

On March 14, 2006 Bellarmine Hall at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA was evacuated because of another bicycle with the band's name painted on it. No charges were filed.[4]

On February 16, 2009, Terminal C at Memphis International Airport was evacuated because of a bicycle with the band's sticker on it. A pilot notified police when he saw the bike, with the band's sticker on it, parked outside of the terminal. Police evacuated the terminal and sent in K9 units; however, no explosive materials were found. Police arrested the owner of the bike but let the owner go a few hours later because he had not committed a crime. [5][6] After hearing about the incident, the band's lead singer urged fans to use caution when they applied the stickers.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/16/tenn.b ... index.html

(CNN) -- A bicycle with a sticker advertising a Florida punk-folk band forced the evacuation of a Memphis, Tennessee, airport terminal late Monday afternoon, authorities said.

A pilot alerted airport police when he saw a bike with a sticker that read "this bike is a pipe bomb" parked near the passenger ramps of Terminal C at Memphis International Airport, according to the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority.

"Terminal C ticketing and baggage claim at the airport were cleared out," said airport spokesman John Greaud. "A K-9 unit responded and found no explosive materials at the scene."

"This Bike is a Pipe Bomb" is the name of a band based in Pensacola, Florida, and this is not the first time in the band's 12-year history the name has caused a commotion.

Bikes sporting similar stickers at college campuses in Ohio and Philadelphia led to building closures, arrests and the bikes' destruction by bomb squads acting on the assumption the sticker was announcing a real threat.

The owner of the Memphis bike was taken into custody by airport police, Greaud said, but was later released because they had no grounds to hold him. Greaud said federal authorities were discussing possible federal charges, but a federal source said it was "a non-event."

Interesting since I once shut that airport down myself.

http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/02 ... es_Caution
http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/dpp/news/02 ... es_Caution
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/lo ... spx?rss=59
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Bike_Is_a_Pipe_Bomb

I went to the Bicycle Film Festival this weekend and I got to see the bike in question and meet the owner.
I also got to see my first Xtracycle longtail kit.
Very impressive.
And someone let me ride their Currie electric too.
And I'm in love.

http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/

SilverOrange · Post by **SilverOrange** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:34 am

Sorry Gyre. No luck from me. To look for an exact phrase enter with AND: "This AND bike AND is AND a AND pipe AND bomb" The only thread or post that comes back with all of these words is this one.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:32 pm

Still, I didn't realize I had to do that for exact phrases, so that helps.
Thanks.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:35 pm

Real pipe bombs don't need to advertise.

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:12 pm

Ugly Dougly wrote:Real pipe bombs don't need to advertise.

...in which case, Advertising could really be camouflage...

my obligatory bomb story;

a good friend gets married and asks me to be his Best Man. I accept, and manage to stumble through without to many faux pas' - and in gratitude he makes me a custom made alarm clock...

...that looks just like a bundle of dynomite with a clock and batteries with wires, etc.

It sits on my graduate student desk at college for most of a year without issues. Everyone has seen it, laughed at it, etc. My students got a kick out of it. Whole world knows about it. Then over Xmas break a new janitor comes across it and freaks out. But what does he do? Call the bomb squad? The police? no, he tries to take it apart...and in the process he breaks it. At which point it is pretty clear it is NOT a bomb (since the wires go no where, the "dynomite" is wood doweling covered with tissue paper, etc). So he calls the campus police then.

So I get called in after break to the Dean, who fortunately was a pretty smart cookie. After the doughboys explained their theory (that I was some sort of stupid wanna-be terrorist that was bent on blowing myself up), I pointed out the Janitors own statements about the timeline, pointed out how obvious it was in that state that it was a toy (so why did he wait until then to call the Police), and asked my School's Director (who was also in the meeting) if he had been aware of the clock during the previous year - at which point he basically declined to answer. I also pointed out the value of the now destroyed (and irreplaceable) clock. After a brief scolding on the merits of my judgement (which I now agree with - after all, an irreplaceable object was left out for any undergrad to steal!) the Dean wrapped it up (in my favor) - although he made me promise to never bring a toy bomb on campus again. I imagine these days it would have turned out differently.....