New Orleans is a place home to many ways of life. Because of the diversity in the city, there are many different sub cultures within our city. One of our biggest hidden gems is the New Orleans bike culture. If you are from the city we are sure that you have seen them riding on the lake or second lines putting on a show.
The New Orleans bike culture consists of local motorcyclists, and atv riders who really know their way around a bike. We reached out to the owner of one of the most popular NOLA bike pages for an interview. His name is Ziggy (@say_ziggyy), and he is the owner of the popular @NewOrleans_BikeLife page on Instagram. This topic is rather controversial due to the city’s enforcement on riders riding and performing stunts on public highways. We wanted to get the chance to get the riders side of the story since we’ve been seeing local reports from the city’s point of view.
Newtral Groundz: For starters, who’s the rider behind the platform? What’s your name, and how long have you been running the page?
NOLA Bike Life: I’m the creator of the New Orleans Bike Life page. Everyone knows me as Ziggy, and my Instagram name is @say_ziggyy. I’ve been running this page since my sophomore year in high school in 2015.
Newtral Groundz: What inspired you to get into the bike culture?
NOLA Bike Life: What inspired me? I was always around bikes at a young age. My cousin & big brother always had bikes. They had motorbikes, 4 wheelers, and everything in between. I also would get excited when I saw the bikes at the second lines as a kid. I use to dream of having my own bike.
Newtral Groundz: What’s your favorite bike manufacturer?
NOLA Bike Life: My favorite bike manufacturer is Yamaha. Can’t go wrong with Yamaha. #TeamYamaha #YamahaGangOrDontBang lol but I also like the other different brand of bikes too.
Newtral Groundz: What led you to create the page?
NOLA Bike Life: I felt that we needed a outlet for the bike life in New Orleans because no one outside of New Orleans knew we existed. I’ve heard from a ton of out of state riders that they didn’t know we had that culture here. My love for the culture led me to make a Instagram page to show off our riders in the city. I just didn’t see anyone else doing it. I took on the challenge to put the city on the map and get recognized by national riders. It’s been about two years and we’ve accomplished a lot. I don’t just represent the atvs & dirt bikes, I support the street bikes too. I just keep pushing, and don’t take any days off. Now look at the city & the Instagram page.
Newtral Groundz: How do you feel about the city trying to crack down on riders?
NOLA Bike Life: Honestly I don’t feel any type away about them cracking down because they never stick to what they say there going to do lol. They may be hard for like a week or two, then they let they guard down. Honestly it’s more of the older generation that complain about us riding. They complain because they don’t want us to ride down canal street & through the French quarter. We feel that we are giving the tourists more to look at.
Newtral Groundz: Do you feel like a compromise can be reached?
NOLA Bike Life: Yes & no. I say this because when we try let them know our side of the of riding they always try to bad mouth or down talk what we do. Honestly it’s something positive even though we’re bending traffic laws. Other than that what are we really doing to harm the the city? When we ride we normally stop at all red lights and stop signs, unless the police are chasing us. But you know there’s an asshole in every bunch that will do some dumb shit but that’s in every bunch. At the end of the day we still represent #NewOrleansBikelife #NolaBikelife and #504Bikelife
Newtral Groundz: Do you feel that this lifestyle is helping keep our youth out of the streets?
NOLA Bike Life: Yes. I’ll bet my last dollar on that. It’s keeps the youth out of the streets because it’s exciting. You should see the look on the kids faces when the bikes come through. If you ask them what they want for their birthday or Christmas, they are going to say a “bike” meaning dirt bike or 4 wheeler. If you tune into the page we have 1 of the youngest riders in the city doing it. He is 11 years old. His name Jay, better known as “Bikelife Jay”. You look at him and see how many kids want to be like him. Once he gets older he will be the face of New Orleans because he one of the youngest out here doing it!
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