If you've ever wondered what bouncers do when they're not bouncing, it's definitely reading Nietzsche. But also making sick bikes, if you're former Tunnel and Limelight B&T-repeller Andre Gonzalez, who 10yrs ago hand-built a custom singlespeed with sweet high-rise handlebars in his Hell’s Kitchen apartment before being barraged by demands for cruisers from the people he actually let into clubs, who he took on group rides he very-not-creepily referred to as “playdates”.
After a decade building a clandestine army on wheels, PBC handed out prototypes to downtown types and fashion luminary/ old chick Anna Wintour before finally producing an eight-deep line of downsize-frame/upright-handlebar “East Coast High Riders” that enable you to see over traffic by rolling “upright, not uptight”, even though good posture generally means you're a huge tight-assed loser. Frames come in four colorways including the self-described Black Beauty and the sky-blue Gentleman Jim, and all're mounted with Dre’s trademark chrome ape-hangers, polished cranks, and retro banana seats, which beat the hell out of those seedless grape ones everyone had in the '80s.
A line of three-speed beauties is in the works, and there's always the option of PBC’s by-appointment customization process, which unlocks possibilities from swoopy beach-cruiser frames to deep-dish colored rims and camo paint jobs that will make you look like an Übermensch if the bouncer at Marquee has ever seen one.
Published: July 20, 2012 at 4:00am EDT